After announcing long-term agreements with the technological multinational TIVIT, the shoe manufacturer Vulcabras Azaleia and, more recently, with the Anglo-American mining company, Casa dos Ventos, one of the pioneers and important investors in the development of wind projects in Brazil, celebrates association with Grupo Moura, the largest battery manufacturer in South America. The agreement envisages transforming Moura’s energy matrix into 100% with wind energy, fulfilling the organization’s total electricity consumption since 2022 with wind energy, through the Rio do Vento wind farm (504 MW), in Rio Grande do Norte .
With the new association, Casa dos Ventos reaffirms its strategy of offering wind energy directly to large and medium-sized companies and reinforces its commitment to democratize access to wind energy. As with other contracts, the developer of wind projects gives the partner the opportunity to become a partner of the wind plant and, consequently, a self-producer of wind energy, a category to which the Moura Group joins, participating As an energy consumer and shareholder of the company through a long-term agreement.
“We have developed a customized model that meets different needs, from electro-intensive, such as Vale, to companies with lower consumption, such as TIVIT, Vulcabras Azaleia and now Grupo Moura”, explains Lucas Araripe, director of New Business at Casa dos Ventos.
The Rio do Vento complex is located in one of the best wind regions in Brazil and will become one of the largest wind projects in the country. “The unique condition of the wind resource, combined with the economies of scale of the project, give us the condition to offer contracts at very competitive prices,” adds Araripe.
With the use of clean energy, the Pernambuco company will avoid the emission of 60,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, equivalent to the carbon captured by planting 360,000 trees. “We have observed a strong trend of companies seeking measures to decarbonise their activities. The wind energy source not only meets this objective, but also provides economic benefits, given that it is the source of the lowest generation cost in Brazil,” Araripe stands out.
“At Moura Group, one of the pillars of the organizational culture is the adoption of sustainable principles and respect for the Environment in a transversal manner. All the company’s environmental policies, which range from the correct disposal of solid waste, the reuse of water and energy efficiency, are guided by the best global practices.With the partnership with Casa dos Ventos in this company, our products will be manufactured and will come out using stored renewable energy, this will be an important step in the search to reduce emissions carbon in our operations, sustainability of the company with responsibility and the pride of being a reference in Brazil, “says the director of Metals and Sustainability of the Moura Group, Arnolfo Menezes.
Rio do Vento has 120 V150-4.2 MW wind turbines from the Danish Vestas, world leader in the manufacture of wind turbines, and is located in the municipalities of Caiçara do Rio do Vento, Riachuelo, Ruy Barbosa and Bento Fernandes. The commercial operation is scheduled for the second half of 2021.
Casa dos Ventos is considering the doubling of the wind complex and has already started negotiations to expand Rio do Vento. With Rio do Vento II, the wind farm will double its installed capacity, adding more than 1 GW and becoming one of the largest wind farms in the world.
In addition to its duplication, the company is studying the hybridization of the project, combining two clean and renewable sources: wind and sun. “For the second phase, we will take advantage of the connection infrastructure of the first phase and carry out the operation of the plants in an optimized way. Rio do Vento will be one of the energy assets with the lowest cost of generation in the world. A unique opportunity to companies to reduce their energy footprints. ” carbon and obtain savings in energy consumption “, concluded Araripe.
In addition to Rio do Vento and its expansion, the company is developing a third 350 MW wind farm in Bahia, which is also targeting long-term corporate contracts.
