Enel Green Power starts operation of 716-MW wind farm in Brazil

Italian renewables company Enel Green Power on Thursday announced that its 716-MW Lagoa dos Ventos wind farm in Brazil started commercial operation.

The mega-project involved an investment of some BRL 3 billion (USD 592m/EUR 486m) and was delivered via Enel Green Power Brasil Participacoes Ltda (EGPB), the Brazilian unit within the Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) electric utility group.

Lagoa dos Ventos is Enel Green Power's largest operational wind energy installation anywhere and the largest working wind farm in South America, the company said.

Located in Brazil’s northeastern state of Piaui, the wind farm is equipped with 230 turbines and is expected to generate more than 3.3 TWh per year.

In December 2017, Enel Green Power was awarded a 510-MW piece of Lagoa dos Ventos in Brazil's A-6 public tender and will supply the resulting power under 20-year contracts with a pool of distribution companies operating in the regulated market.

The output from the remaining 206-MW will go to the free market for sale to retail customers.

At present, Enel is building the 396-MW Lagoa dos Ventos III wind farm, which will raise the number of turbines at the complex to 302 and the installed capacity to 1.1 GW.

With the new addition, the Lagoa dos Ventos complex will be capable of generating about 5 TWh of clean power annually.

The Italian group has around 3.7 GW of installed renewable energy capacity in Brazil, including 1,498 MW from wind farms and 979 MW from solar photovoltaic plants.

(BRL 1.0 = USD 0.197/EUR 0.162)

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