American General Electric
Brazil, blessed with enormous resources fossil and hydroelectric, is going through a boom in wind energy, thanks to their lower prices of production, coupled with the Government incentives that attract an increasing number of foreign companies. The country’s wind energy sector has a current capacity of about 1,400 MW, and is expected this figure to be multiplied by eight for 2014, according to the Brazilian Association of wind energy, ABEeolica. A study on IHS emerging energy Research Institute indicates that Brazil, main market of wind energy in Latin America, will have 31.6 gigawatts (a gigawatt equals 1000 MW) of installed capacity for 2025. In an energy auction organized in August passed by the Government, the owners of 44 farms of wind in Brazil won 39% of the total capacity offered, offering for the first time an average price of 99,58 reals ($62,91) per megawatt-hour, below the average of two projects of gas (103,26 real) and a project hydroelectric (102 reais). Lower production prices, Government incentives and growing energy demand in Brazil have attracted a significant number of foreign companies. Wobben Windpower, subsidiary of the German group Enercon, installed the first factory of wind turbines in the 1990s and expected install 22 wind farms totalling 554 MW by the end of 2012. This company, followed the Spanish Gamesa, the Argentine Impsa, the German Siemens, the Danish Vestas – the largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the world, india Suzlon and GE Wind (a branch of GE Energy, a subsidiary of the American General Electric). The last to join the Group of investors is the French Alstom engineering giant, which on Wednesday opened a plant of construction of wind turbines in Bahia (northeast), its first in Latin America. The greatest potential lies in the northeast of the country, especially in the States of Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte and Ceara, due to the high speeds of the winds and the low incidence of turbulence such as tornadoes or hurricanes.