Rio de Janeiro - Long a world leader in alternate energy sources such as ethanol and bio-diesel, Petrobras announced today that its first complete wind farm, a complex of four separate installations in the Northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, has now come on line, eight months ahead of schedule.
The state-controlled energy giant, second largest energy company in the world, also second largest company of any type, by market capitalization, according to Bloomberg, has long been heavily involved with alternate energy-non fossil fuels. This coupled with massive offshore producing fields and reserves estimated at 100Billion bbl., guarantee Brazilôs energy independence and make Brazil the largest non-OPEC petroleum seller.
The complex is now operating commercially generating Aeolic energy and selling electricity into the National Grid, the National Interconnected System. The four separate installations in the complex together represent an investment of R$424Million.
Each of the four sites in the complex is fitted with 52 turbines of 2Megawatts each giving each of the four total output of 104 MW, enough to supply 350,000 people. Each turbine, windmills actually, weighs approximately 300 tons in a concrete and steel tower 108 meters in height and a three-blade propeller of 42-meter long fiberglass blades. Each unit's transmission system is equipped with an internal 34.5-kilovolt (kV) distribution network, a 34.5/138-kV transformer substation, and a 138-kV transmission line.
The turbines are built by Wobben, a Brazilian company funded by Enercon, Gmbh, a German company generally acknowledged to be a world leader in the field with more than 20 yearsô experience. But the turbines are manufactured by a Brazilian company at three different factory sites here in Brazil.
Wobbenôs Brazilian-built turbines have also been exported from Brazil to other countries. This is another example along with automobile makers, electronics manufacturers, and others in a growing trend of foreign manufacturers selling here in Brazil goods they manufacture here in Brazil at Brazilian companies staffed with Brazilian executives, managers, technicians and workers.
Special to Homes Go Fast
by Steven Glazer, Fortaleza, Ceará
slglazer(@)gmail.com & Skype = force-br
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Nick Marr
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