The presidents of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), Guido Mantega, and of the wind energy company Ventos do Sul Energia, Telmo Magadan, signed today in São Paulo, a financing contract of US$ 206.07 million for the construction of three wind energy farms in the city of Osório, in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
According to information from the Brazilian government and the BNDES, the complex will be the second greatest of the sort in the world and the largest in Latin America.
According to the BNDES, the project will have the capacity of generating 150 megawatts of electric energy and will create 500 direct employment opportunities during its installation. The forecast is that it starts its operations on the second semester in 2006.
According to the country’s presidency, today in Brazil there are only 28.6 MW of wind-generated energy installed, just 0.03% of the national capacity for generating energy.
The financing by the BNDES corresponds to 69% of the total value of the undertaking, which will take place under the Financial Support Program for Alternative Energy Sources (Proinfa) of the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The contract was signed in a ceremony at the Anhembi Conventions Palace in São Paulo, and counted also on the presence of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ministers Luiz Fernando Furlan (Development, Industry and Foreign Trade), Celso Amorim (Foreign Relations) and Sérgio Resende (Science and Technology).
The Proinfa foresees total investments of US$ 4.121 billion in projects for wind energy, biomass and small hydroelectric plants. The company Ventos do Sul is a specific purpose company, in this case the construction of the three plants in Osório, which has as partners the Spanish Enerfin Enervento, which is controlled by Elecnor; Wobbe, the Brazilian subsidiary of the German group Enercon; and the Brazilian CIP Brasil.
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