Statkraft Begins 519 MW Brazilian Wind Farm; It’s Largest Outside Europe

Statkraft To Initiate 3GW Renewable Energy Projects in Ireland by 2030. Photo: Pexels

Statkraft has announced the inauguration of its largest wind farm outside Europe – the 519 MW Ventos de Santa Eugênia Wind Complex – that is now coming up in Bahia, Brazil. Also, it is among the first hybrid projects in Brazil once the planned solar farm of 163 MW is added to optimise energy production.

Located in the Bahia region, the Statkraft wind complex spans a comprehensive area of 489 hectares. The project consists of 14 wind farms with 91 wind turbines, each with a generation capacity of 5.7 MW. Renewable energy production should reach 2,300 GWh per year, enough to supply 1.17 million Brazilian households. At peak, the project development employed almost 2,000 workers.

Construction of the Ventos de Santa Eugênia hybrid solar farm will start later this year. Using battery technology, the energy complex will have a combined capacity of 682 MW. Operations are planned in 2025.

“It places Statkraft among the ten largest wind companies in the most important energy market in Latin America with significant value creation potential for Statkraft,” says Statkraft CEO Christian Rynning-Tønnesen, who attended the inauguration on February 6.

“Statkraft views Brazil as an exciting market with great potential and we have high ambitions. We have over time built a strong organisation, profitable operations and a considerable pipeline which gives us the necessary platform to further develop and operate renewables within several technologies. In addition, we have developed a market team in Brazil, positioning us well to understand the market complexity and the customer needs,” says Ingeborg Dårflot, Executive VP for Statkraft international business.

Expansive Growth in Brazil in 2024

The Ventos de Santa Eugênia wind complex adds 519 MW to Statkraft’s capacity in Brazil. Statkraft said that it has increased its total generation capacity in Brazil fivefold in less than a year and this has come through a slew of acquisitions, assets under construction and projects in pipeline.

Statkraft said that in 2024, the company expects to have more than 2.200 MW of generation capacity in hydropower, solar, wind and battery technologies in Brazil alone.

Recently, the company announced its plans to roll out 3000MW of renewable energy projects in Ireland by 2030. Also, Vindkraft Värmland and Njordr, the Nordic developer have sold its 100 per cent of shares in the joint company, Njordr Offshore Wind (NOW) that owns 21-GW of wind power portfolio, to Statkraft.