Millennium Wind Farm is Pacific Hydro's first renewable energy development in Brazil. Located in the state of Paraiba in northeast Brazil, the site was an ideal location with strong coastal winds, large land area for wind generator placement, easy access for construction vehicles and machinery as well as ready connection to the Electricity Grid.
Each year the project generates enough clean electricity to power 40,000 homes and avoids the emission of 30,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution.
The A$32 million project has already made a significant contribution to the local economy with the 13 Enercon wind generators manufactured locally by Wobben, an Enercon subsidiary in Brazil.
The energy from the wind farm is sold under a long term sales agreement to Eletrobrás, the Brazilian state-owned generation, transmission and distribution business.
With excellent wind resources, a rapidly growing economy and strong government incentives for renewable energy projects, Brazil presents fantastic opportunities for wind farm development. And with 10 per cent of all Brazil's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, this gentle breeze of change will soon be a powerful gale.
As the first wind farm developer in Brazil, Pacific Hydro is set to be a major player in this clean, green future. They have plans to develop up to 300MW of new wind farms in the country's northeast. This will not only assist Brazil in meeting its growing energy demand, but will also help support its growing economy in a sustainable manner.
With Brazil having ratified the Kyoto Protocol and with a strong policy framework to support the implementation of renewable energy, the market provides enormous opportunities for Pacific Hydro to expand its Latin American operations and diversify its portfolio of projects.
Pacific Hydro’s acquisition of SES Ltda follows the announcement by the Brazilian Government to introduce a policy framework (known as “PROINFA” to increase renewable energy in the country to 10% by 2020).
While the Brazilian market is currently hydro-dominated, it has excellent wind resources like Australia. This acquisition will see them investing more than half a billion Australian dollars in the coming years to develop over 300MW of clean energy assets in Brazil.
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