Engie Begins Construction of its Biggest Wind Complex

Engie has begun the construction work on the Campo Largo 2 Wind Farm Brazil, at 361.2 MW the project will be Engie’s worldwide biggest wind energy complex.

French multinational electric utility company, Engie has announced that it has begun the construction work on the Campo Largo 2 Wind Farm, in the State of Bahia, Brazil. At 361.2 MW installed capacity, the project will be Engie’s worldwide biggest wind energy complex, to date.

The work on the project was initiated after the State Environment and Water Resources Institute (Inema) granted the installation license and the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) gave the required consent.

“ENGIE is already playing an effective role in Brazil’s energy transition process. Campo Largo 2 will strengthen our growth strategy based on renewable energy sources in the region,” said Maurício Bahr, CEO of ENGIE Brasil and chairman of the board of ENGIE Brasil Energia.

The Campo Largo comprises 11 wind farms which will be developed using 86 4.2-MW turbines and will be ENGIE biggest wind complex when it begins operating, at 361.2-MW installed capacity. The project, which is intended for the free energy market, is being built next to two other complexes: Campo Largo I (326.7 MW) and Umburanas (360 MW).

ENGIE aims to enlist Campo Largo 2 under the UN Clean Development Mechanism, thereby contributing to an increasingly clean energy matrix. The investment is estimated at R$ 2 billion (USD 47.77 million) and the first generator units are expected to begin commercial operations in late 2020, with the last ones slated for completion in March 2021.

“We expect to have built access-ways and the equipment assembly areas by year-end, which will enable building the first wind turbine bases,” said ENGIE Brasil Energia’s CEO, Eduardo Sattamini. This will involve 75 km of access-ways and 101 km of medium-voltage networks. “We will also be heavily engaged in the medium-voltage networks and expansion of the existing substation,” he added.

Assembly of the wind turbines is slated to begin late in the second half of 2020. The electric energy generated in the complex will be entirely sold on the free market. This means that the Group is building the wind complex in the absence of pre-existing energy sales on Federal Government-sponsored auctions. “We currently have over one hundred free-market agreements in force to enable the project,” Sattamini concludes. “One is a contract for 30 MW with the Claro Group, representing the Claro, Embratel and NET brands, which made the wind complex feasible last year.”

The firm has also announced that it has started commercial operation of the Tres Mesas III wind farm, the first of eight energy generation projects with zero carbon emissions being built by the Group in Mexico.