RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – Brazil will hold its first tender for offshore wind energy by October, an Environment Ministry official announced yesterday, saying the country has “unbelievable” potential in the emerging green energy source.
The federal government has launched a task force whose mission will be to finalise rules and regulations for companies interested in setting up offshore wind farms in Brazil, with the aim of holding the first tender by September or October, said the Environment Ministry’s Marcelo Freire.
Brazil claims huge potential as an offshore wind energy producer, pointing to its enormous coastline, steady winds and relatively shallow waters. Looking at “high-viability projects” alone, Brazil has around 700 gigawatts of capacity, the ministry says – four times the country’s entire energy production currently, and nearly 20 times all the offshore wind power produced worldwide today.
“Brazil has unbelievable potential to be a major exporter of green energy,” Freire, the deputy secretary for climate and international relations, told AFP.
“At a time when Europe urgently needs to find alternative energy sources, Brazil has the potential to produce four times its current energy output with offshore wind,” he said from Oslo, Norway, on the sidelines of a maritime conference where he announced the new initiative.
