Brazil projects a new record of 29 gigawatts of wind power capacity in 2023

Brazil will beat a new record in its installed wind energy capacity this year, with the forecast to reach 29 gigawatts (GW), official sources announced yesterday.

In declarations to the state-owned Agencia Brasil, the general director of the Brazilian Wind Energy Association (Abeeolica), Elbia Gannoum, assured that the country’s challenge right now is to try to get closer to the two leading countries in the world in installed wind energy capacity, China and the United States.

As of 2021, Brazil ranks sixth in the world in installed wind power capacity.

As of February, 890 wind farms have been found in 12 Brazilian states, with 25.04 GW of installed capacity in commercial operation, benefiting 108.7 million inhabitants, half of the country.

Of this total, 85 percent are in the country’s northeast region.

Of the 890 parks installed, 130 projects have been financed by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) since 2005, totaling 18,654 megawatts (MW).

“By the end of 2023, we will have 29 GW of installed capacity. That is our forecast in terms of power,” Gannoum said.

Abeeolica forecasts that by 2028, Brazil will have 44.78 GW of installed capacity for this type of energy, whose share in the national matrix currently reaches 13.2 percent. Wind energy is responsible for 20 percent of the country’s energy generation needs.

In addition, Gannoum highlighted the economic and social development generated by wind energy in Brazil, detailing that outside the northeast region, the gross domestic product of cities with installed wind farms grew by 21 percent, and the human development index increased by 20 percent “due to the arrival of the farms”.

On the other hand, 2.9 reais (about $0.56) are returned to the economy for each real investment in wind energy.

From 2011 to 2020, Brazil invested US$35.8 billion in the wind sector and generated about US$63 billion in the Brazilian economy, of which about US$21.5 billion were direct investments directed to the construction of wind farms.

According to Abeeólica, 10.7 jobs are created for each megawatt installed. From 2011 to 2020, almost 190,000 jobs were created in the sector.