Brazil: Enel starts construction of 90 MW wind farm

Enel, through its subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil Participações Ltda. (“EGPB”), has started construction of Cristalândia wind farm which is located in the municipalities of Brumado, Rio de Contas and Dom Basilio in Brazil’s north-eastern state of Bahia.

The new facility will have a total installed capacity of 90 MW and is expected to enter into service in the second half of 2017. Once completed, Cristalândia will be able to generate more than 350 GWh per year, enough to meet the annual consumption needs of more than 170,000 Brazilian households while avoiding the emission of about 118,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Enel will be investing approximately 190 million US dollars in the construction of Cristalândia.

The plant was awarded to EGPB through the LFA (Leilão de Fontes Alternativas) public renewable energy auction in April 2015. The project is supported by 20-year power purchase agreements with a pool of Brazilian electricity distribution companies.

Cristalândia is the Enel Group’s sixth wind farm in Bahia, a state where the Group’s Brazilian renewable company EGPB already operates 264 MW of wind power capacity and is currently building the 180 MW Delfina wind project, the 254 MW Ituverava solar pv facility, which is the largest Enel solar plant currently under construction, and the 158 MW Lapa solar park. The company has been awarded a further 172 MW of wind capacity and 103 MW of PV capacity in Bahia through public tenders.

The Enel Group’s Brazilian renewable subsidiary currently has a total installed capacity of 546 MW, of which 401 MW comes from wind, 12 MW from PV solar and 133 MW from hydro. Moreover, the company has 442 MW of wind, 102 MW of hydro and 807 MW of solar projects currently in execution.