Global offshore wind developer Corio Generation and Brazilian shipyard and marine construction company Estaleiros do Brasil (EBR) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore how EBR’s facilities could support future offshore wind projects off Brazil’s south coast.
Corio and EBR will look at how EBR’s existing infrastructure, located close to Rio Grande port in Brazil’s southern province of Rio Grande do Sul, could support the deployment of two windfarms planned for the south of the country - Cassino Offshore Wind (1,200+ MW) and Rio Grande Offshore Wind (1,200+ MW) - with the potential to enter commercial negotiations to reserve part of an area used to facilitate the projects.
Corio is aiming to develop five offshore wind farms in Brazil, totalling up to 6 GW, as part of its significant global portfolio of projects across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Four of these projects, totalling approximately 4.8 GW, are located off the southern and south-eastern coastlines of the country.
The EBR shipyard covers an area of ??approximately 1.7 million m², with extensive facilities for building floating platforms for the oil and gas industry. This expertise could be adapted and utilised for the construction of offshore wind farms.
Ricardo de Luca, Country Director of Brazil at Corio Generation, said: “With its long coastline and favourable sea conditions, Brazil has incredible potential to harness the power of offshore wind and build a future based on clean, green energy and a prosperous low-carbon economy.
“That journey will require the development of suitable port infrastructure, for building and then maintaining Brazil’s offshore wind farms, so we very much look forward to working with Estaleiros do Brasil and exploring how their shipyard and their engineering expertise could help establish a hub for future wind farm development in southern Brazil and drive the growth of the offshore wind sector more widely.”
Wataru Nosaka, CEO of EBR, said: “There is a lot of synergy between offshore wind projects and the oil and gas industry in areas such as operations, maintenance, logistics and port infrastructure. We are sure that EBR can be an excellent partner for Corio and make an important contribution to the development of offshore wind in Brazil.
“Our shipyard has a long-standing presence in the south of the country, training and employing thousands of workers over many decades, and that is why we warmly welcome the opportunity to jointly evaluate the potential for EBR and the region of São José do Norte to become the centre of offshore wind in the south of Brazil.”
The advancement of offshore wind in southern Brazil has the potential to not only support increased generation of clean, renewable energy but also stimulate investment in regions such as Rio Grande do Sul that have been severely impacted by intense flooding in recent months.
Corio is developing its proposed 6 GW portfolio of fixed-bottom offshore wind projects in Brazil together with Servtec, a leading power generation company that played a major role in the establishment of the country’s onshore wind industry.
