On April 24, ENGIE Brasil Energia’s Umburanas Wind Complex in the state of Bahia, built at an investment of R$ 1.8 billion, received authorization from the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) to begin full commercial operations. The project consists of 18 wind farms with 144 wind turbines which will add a further 360 MW to the company’s total installed energy of 8,365.5 MW, 900 MW of this from wind power. If other group operations are included, ENGIE has an installed capacity of more than 10 thousand MW in Brazil.

“Over the past few years, wind generation has been the fastest growing energy source in Brazil. As leader in the private sector for energy generation, ENGIE has accompanied this tendency. We concluded the Umburanas Complex in record time, a clear demonstration of the company’s efficiency in the implementation of these projects”, says the Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE Brasil Energia, Eduardo Sattamini.

Between the start on the civil construction work in November 2017 and entry into commercial operations of the first wind farm in January 2019, there were just 13 months. Again in 2019, in only four months, all 18 wind parks were in commercial operations, a unique achievement for the company.

Situated in the municipalities of Umburanas and Sento Sé, 420 km from the state capital of Salvador, Umburanas together with the adjacent Campo Largo Wind Complex – I (326.7 MW) in commercial operations since December, form the largest wind cluster ever built by ENGIE in Brazil, investments totaling R$ 3.5 billion. With completion scheduled for the second half of 2019, the second phase of the Campo Largo Wind Complex, its capacity entirely taken up by agreements sold by ENGIE in the free energy market, will add a further 360 MW for feeding into the National Interconnected System. Consequently, the ENGIE cluster in Bahia will total more than 1 GW of installed capacity.

For the Chief Generation Officer at ENGIE Brasil Energia, José Luiz Laydner, the decisive factors for the efficiency and velocity of execution of the work were team commitment and the unlimited support of other areas of the company: “We have a strong team able to manage the projects in all their aspects, working autonomously and on an integrated basis”, the officer declares.

SOCIAL PROJECTS – ENGIE has invested about R$ 15 million in social projects in the municipalities of Umburanas and Sento Sé, the site of its two wind complexes. Resources have been applied in programs for improving the quality of life of the population such as the Adult Literacy Course (AJA), from which 107 students have already graduated, the majority of them elderly from the local communities. The Company allocated an investment of R$ 700 thousand to this outreach project. Another important initiative of a social nature was the installation of Community Vegetable Gardens in Rodoleiro, Barriguda Brasília, Campo Largo, Gruna and Demanda. Here some R$ 980 thousand was invested in the implementation, technical supervision and planning of the commercialization of the products. The investments benefit 21 families which saw their expenses with food purchases reduced as well as an improvement in their nutritional wellbeing and incomes.

“The social projects and the involvement with the communities is essential to the success of our projects. They facilitate an improvement in the reality of the people in a direct way and consequently broaden the possibilities which life offers and contributes to a more effective citizenship”, Sattamini concludes.