Alstom: Good winds boost wind power in Brazil

Recently, GWEC – the global wind power council – released the statistics related to the 2013 market, which presented a cumulative capacity of 318,137 MW, which represents an increase of nearly 200,000 MW in the past five years.

In Brazil, the situation was also of consolidation, leaving even greater expectations for 2014. With 4.7GW of power hired in the power auctions of the regulated market (ACR), 142% more than the 2GW goal, 2013 was a record year, according to data from Abeeolica (Brazilian Wind Power Association). In all, 4 auctions were held for power coming from new projects. The wind source was contemplated to participate in 3 of them.

With the total volume of wind power hired in 2013, this source will contribute for the generation of over 70 thousand jobs, R$ 21.2 billion in investments, 8.5 million houses supplied and 4 million tons of CO2 avoided, according to data from Abeeólica. The Brazilian wind potential is estimated at 300GW, and the expectation of the Brazilian power sector is to contract at least 2 GW a year until 2020, adding, from 2012, over 20GW of wind power to the system and moving around US$ 50bi.

Focused on this expanding market, Alstom made several investments in Brazil. The company opened its first unit of the sector in November 2011 in Camaçari, state of Bahia, to produce wind turbine nacelles. In 2013 it opened its first wind tower plant in Latin America, in the city of Canoas, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Both projects, together, received R$ 80 million in investments.

These projects became a source of production for the ECO 100 line, a series of equipment by Alstom which feature state-of-the-art technology in the concept of wind power production. With rotors with diameters between 100 meters and 122 meters (the reaching range of the ECO 100 wind turbine), it offers high yield and leading efficiency in all wind classes. The ECO 100 is proper for strong winds, ECO 110 is for medium and strong winds and ECO 122 is for medium and low winds. A single turbine of the ECO 100 series can avoid the production of up to 7 thousand tons of CO2 a year. 

With its 122m diameter rotor, one of the largest in the onshore 2MW to 3MW segment, one of the turbines of the series is ECO 122. It offers a unique combination of high power and high capacity factor to increase the production of power in region with low to average speed winds, characteristics of Brazil’s South and Northeast regions. ECO 122 is the latest evolution of Alstom’s ECO 100 platform, and the result of over 30 years of experience in the design of wind turbines. 

All wind turbines by Alstom present the PURE TORQUE™ concept, an exclusive and proven mechanical project that protects the transmission system against deflection loads to ensure greater reliability, superior operational availability and lower maintenance costs. The rotor is mounted over a resistant machined steel axle, which transmits the gravitational load and deflection tensions through two sets of bearings for the tower. Meanwhile, the transmission axle mounted on the front part of the rotating axle, which is elastic, transfers pure torque to the transmission system, free from the undesirable efforts that may arise during the operation of the machine.

“We always study what clients need, the characteristics of their projects and their needs, to make the most adequate proposal in economic and technical terms. We combine the proper amounts of wind turbines and technical support to bring greater efficiency to plants”, says Roberto Miranda, Alstom’s Business Development Director.

The company has already signed important contracts in the Brazilian market, with companies such as Casa dos Ventos, Enerplan and Queiroz Galvão, in addition to being responsible for one of the world’s largest onshore projects with Renova Energia, for the generation of additional 1.2 GW in new projects in Bahia.

Alstom builds and operates wind plants at global level – currently, over 2,500 turbines are already installed or under construction in over 150 wind plants, supplying over 4,000 MW.