Brazil wind energy generation rockets 216% in 3 yrs

Brazil’s wind power generation expanded by 216% in the last three years, a publication of local daily O Estado de Sao Paulo from yesterday showed.

In 2009, the share of wind energy in the country’s combined power generation stood at only 0.6%, the daily said.

Also, from 2009 to 2012, the price of wind power fell to BRL 100 per MWh (USD 49.228/EUR 38.159) from over BRL 300 per MWh, turning the ventures more competitive than, for example, small-scale hydroelectric power plants (HPPs).

By 2016, when all wind farms’ projects awarded at the recent government-held auctions will be completed and launched, the country will have 8,400 MW of installed wind power capacity which represents investments worth BRL 25 billion, according to the daily.

According to the latest update of Brazil’s 10-year energy plan elaborated by state-run energy research company EPE, the installed capacity of wind power will reach 16,000 MW in 2020, or 9% of the country’s entire energy generation park.

The estimates of Brazilian wind energy industry association Abeeolica are even more optimistic. The expectation of Abeeolica’s president, Elbia Melo, is that local wind power capacity will ramp up to 20,000 MW by the end of this decade.

(BRL 1 = USD 0.492/EUR 0.382)
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