Construction of the Campo Largo 2 Wind Farm, in the State of Bahia, began in June, after the State Environment and Water Resources Institute (Inema) granted the installation license and the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan) gave the required consent. Campo Largo comprises 11 wind farms with 86 3.2-MW turbines, and will be ENGIE’s biggest wind complex when it begins operating, at 361.2-MW installed capacity. The project, which is intended for the free energy market, is being built next to two other complexes: Campo Largo I (326.7 MW) and Umburanas (360 MW). ENGIE aims to enlist Campo Largo 2 under the UN Clean Development Mechanism, thereby contributing to an increasingly clean energy matrix.

“When it enters the commercial operation phase, Campo Largo 2 will cause ENGIE to exceed 1 GW in installed wind energy capacity in Brazil. It is a milestone for the company, which plays an effective role in the national energy transition process, and will reinforce our strategy of growth from renewable energy sources,” said ENGIE Brasil Energia’s CEO, Eduardo Sattamini. The investment is estimated at R$ 2 billion and the first generator units are expected to begin commercial operations in late 2020, with the last ones slated for completion in March 2021. “By hitting the 1 GW wind energy generation in Brazil, we will make a decisive contribution to the ENGIE Group’s objective of putting 9 GW from this energy source into operation worldwide in three years, increasing our renewable generation capacity, as part of our global strategy,” pointed out Maurício Bahr, CEO of ENGIE Brasil and Chairman of the Board of ENGIE Brasil Energia.

“We expect to have built accessways and the equipment assembly areas by yearend, which will enable building the first wind turbine bases,” Sattamini stated. This will involve 75 km of accessways and 101 km of medium-voltage networks. “We will also be heavily engaged in the medium-voltage networks and expansion of the existing substation,” he added. Assembly of the wind turbines is slated to begin late in the second half of 2020.

The project’ biggest challenge lies in logistics, as the magnitude of the equipment raises implementation of the complex to a new complexity level. “The wind turbines are bigger than the ones currently in place and the transportation distance will exceed one thousand kilometers in some cases,” the executive explained. The chosen wind turbine is the 4.2-MW Vestas V150.

FREE CUSTOMERS – The electric energy generated in the complex will be entirely sold on the free market. This means that ENGIE  is building the wind complex in the absence of pre-existing energy sales on Federal Government-sponsored auctions. “We currently have over one hundred free-market agreements in force to enable the project,” Sattamini concludes. One is a contract for 30 aMW with the Claro Group, representing the Claro, Embratel and NET brands, which made the wind complex feasible last year.