With a total installed capacity of 326.7 MW, the  Campo Largo Wind Complex went into full commercial operation on December, 21, 2018. Located in the municipalities of Umburanas and Sento Sé in the state of Bahia, the complex is made up of 11 wind farms  with a total of 121 wind turbines. Some R$ 2 billion has been invested during in this first phase of the project.

“The increased share of wind and solar power in the Brazilian energy matrix is irreversible,  bearing out the assertiveness of our decision to invest in this segment more than a decade ago now”, declared ENGIE Brasil Energia’s Chief Executive Officer, Eduardo Sattamini.  “We shall continue to pursue the development of new projects at the same time always maintaining the financial discipline we have demonstrated in our investments”.

The work of installing Campo Largo began in September 2016. In May 2018, the project began generating power, operations being phased in gradually thereafter. In November 2018, assembly of the wind turbines was completed, in the same period the final operational license being granted out of the 11 scheduled for the first stage of the Complex.

Given its enormity, the project’s major challenge was the logistics for executing the activities over an extensive area and involving 1,400 people at its peak on more than 40 parallel  work fronts. Over one thousand key wind turbine components were transported, about 4 thousand tons of steel and 45 thousand m³ of concrete used together with the installation of 63 kilometers of internal access roads, 53 km of transmission lines including 116 metallic turbine towers and a 85 km medium voltage network with more than 1,000 utility poles.

Campo Largo was ENGIE’s first investment in wind power in the state of Bahia. Says the chief executive officer, the expectation is that the company will become one of the largest investors in the region. “We already have another investment in the Umburanas complex, the first generator unit for which scheduled to go into commercial operations shortly, and we have approved the expansion of the second phase of Campo Largo, a project supported by long term agreements in the free energy market.”, Sattamini notes.