Brazil Wind Power – Should It Add More

There can be no doubt that Brazil Wind Power has done a great job of moving away from those contaminating fossil fuels.  As an example, in 2009 Brazil produced an astonishing 85% of its electricity from renewable resources. Very few other large countries can match that; neighboring Argentina only produces just over a quarter of its electricity from renewable sources. Globally the world only produces less than a fifth of its power from renewable sources.

How have they done it? Mainly through hydropower – over 75% of its renewable energy being produced from this resource.

roberto Kishinamo1 Brazil Wind Power   Should It Add More
Roberto Kishinami

That may be why Brazil has been slow to embrace wind power and go for increasing its renewably-produced electricity towards 100%. There is an estimated potential for Brazil to produce 300GW from wind power; whereas hydropower projects have an energy potential of the only 260GW and are costing in excess of $150 billion. Wind power investments are currently less than $4 billion.

Brazil seems strangely reluctant to add to its green energy production by building wind farms. Brazil’s 10-year energy expansion plan includes increasing installed hydropower capacity from 85GW to 119 GW by 2022.  But all other renewable energy (biomass, wind and small hydroelectric) is only planned to rise from 15GW to 38GW in the same period.

More worryingly, it seems that the country has not turned away from fossil fuels. Brazil plans to increase oil production to 5 million barrels a day by 2023. Many see this as a serious back-tracking on previous commitments for a clean energy future.

Itaipu dam 300x2291 Brazil Wind Power   Should It Add More
Itaipu Dam, on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, is one of Brazil’s largest hydroelectric dams

One such person is Roberto Kishinami, the former executive director of Greenpeace Brazil and international board member for ActionAid.  Because wind is the second most competitive renewable resource in Brazil and the costs have been reducing for a number of years, he finds the Brazilian Government’s direction is illogical. He is quoted as saying:

 “This is a kind of schizophrenic plan. Solar, wind and biomass are the alternatives for the future. The choices the Brazilian government is taking in the energy sector are going backward and will squander the investments. This will make us attached to an old model based on fossil fuels that have no future and shall end in three decades. The estimation of wind potential can even be much higher because right now we are only calculating infrastructure onshore with a certain meter high of a wind turbine and a speed average of seven meters/second.” 

Most existing wind farms have turbine heights of about 30 to 60 meters high. But new plants under construction will be at least 100 meters tall and will have the capacity to generate more energy more reliably. Indeed Kishinami considers that Brazil should have a national plan for installing no less than 1GW of additional wind capacity every year.

Brazil wind plant 300x1621 Brazil Wind Power   Should It Add More

It is also true to say that the most abundant winds can be found in the poorer areas of Brazil and therefore increased investment in wind in those areas has the potential to increase the quality of life there for the people. The small-holding farmers will not be forced to give up farming or cattle-raising to accommodate wind farms. But their incomes will be enhanced by increased revenue from turbines on their land over two decades or so. It would seem like a win-win scenario.

By the end of this year (2014) there should be a total of 140 wind farms across Brazil providing energy to 12 million homes. It could be a lot higher- Brazil already produces some of the cheapest wind power anywhere in the world.