By Brazil Stock Guide – Brazil’s largest wind turbine, with 7 megawatts of capacity, has begun operations in a Statkraft wind complex in Bahia, Folha de S. Paulo reported Thursday. The project is the result of a joint effort by Petrobras (PETR4.SA), WEG (WEGE3.SA) and Statkraft, backed by a R$130 million investment from Petrobras with resources from Brazil’s oil regulator ANP, development bank BNDES and the Ministry of the Environment.
The turbine, developed by WEG under a 2023 agreement with Petrobras, towers 220 meters from ground to blade tip and weighs 1,830 tons. According to Petrobras’s Director of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Renata Baruzzi, the initiative serves both strategic and technological purposes.
“By directing part of its investments to co-create a new generation of wind energy equipment, Petrobras acquires knowledge that can support the company in future projects, while contributing to the diversification of Brazil’s energy matrix,” she said.
WEG said the equipment could eventually be mass-produced “depending on market demand for new wind projects.” Still, the company highlighted that current conditions are challenging: a slowdown in new contracts has led to plant closures and the exit of some players from the domestic wind supply chain.
The 7 MW unit reduces costs by generating more power per square meter of land, decreasing the need for multiple turbines and lowering installation and maintenance expenses, the companies said.
Leave a Reply