RICARDO RICARDI – Enseada’s CEO

The good winds blowing in the small municipality of Maragogipe, a city near Salvador, are helping the country to become a Latin American reference in the production of clean, renewable energy, aligned with the urgent demands of the 21st century for sustainability and reduction in the impacts generated by climate change. Much in the same way that the economy and the energy matrices need to adapt, Enseada shipyard, of the Novonor group, has undergone a structural transformation to meet the new air and become a logistics and industrial complex that has served as a reference in infrastructure for the logistics needed for offshore wind energy – a global trend and with important geopolitical advances at COP27 (United Nations Climate Change Conference), held in November. The facility, which is one of the largest ports in the Northeast of Brazil, currently houses 40 wind turbines that shall help to leverage the current 22 GW, available in the national territory through the installed equipment, to more than 30 GW in these next 10 years. The presence of Enseada to receive this infrastructure is strategic in the region, since the state of Bahia alone accounts for 70% of future installations.

An indispensable source for the generation of clean energy, the wind solution has, in recent years, gained an increasingly solid presence, which is reflected in the equipment manufacturing and assembly industry in the country, the result of investments that boost sustainability on other fronts such as, for example, the generation of work and income for thousands of families, with social, environmental and socioeconomic advances that meet the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN). In business, it is no different. There is a great trend in Brazil that the migration of wind energy to offshore fields generates new opportunities for advancement in the sector and, consequently, energy potential. With a privileged coastline of 9,200 kilometers, the installation of wind turbines on the high seas is already a reality. The Global Offshore Wind Alliance (Gowa), for instance, considers 2021 to be one of the best years since the first wind turbines were installed offshore. Last year, more than 20 GW were created in the world through the offshore model, thanks to work done by countries such as China and Belgium. The year also marked the launch of the Gemini park in the Netherlands. With 150 wind turbines, 85 kilometers off the coast of the country.

During the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), a group of countries formed by Germany, Belgium, Colombia, United States, Netherlands, Ireland and United Kingdom have signed an important pact with Gowa. The nations pledge to accelerate investments precisely in offshore wind energy. The commitment was pulled by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), to mobilize public and private initiatives to remove barriers, as reported by EPBR. According to the agency, the generation of this type of energy needs to exceed 2,000 GW in the next three decades.

According to Irena, the decarbonization process should limit the global temperature increase by up to 1.5°C by the end of the 21st century. In this scenario, Brazil is emerging as a promising offshore wind market, in which the characteristics of the investments and players involved are often distinct from onshore projects. Among the differences is the size of the wind turbines, which, in the case of offshore, are significantly larger both in terms of height and swept area, and require different foundation or flotation structures. However, regardless of multilateral agreements in international geopolitics, the market needs to overcome a number of challenges. The key issue is to migrate installed capacity on land to the ocean in a competitive

manner, while it is necessary to renew and upgrade existing infrastructure to meet the demand for new and larger wind turbines.

This process needs to be optimized to the maximum if the offshore wind market is to be effectively sustainable, as wind generation is likely to continue to compete with other energy sources. Enseada, which started out offshore and is the result of an investment of around USD 1 billion, has all the necessary attributes to play a leading role in the energy of the future.

This article was originally published in Correio Brasiliense newspaper on 01/06/2023 and is available at the link below: https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/opiniao/2023/01/amp/5064184-artigo-ventos-eolicos-para-novos-ares-no-setor-de-energia.html