Brazil can reach growth potential with wind energy
Brazil currently has the capacity to produce 22 to 25 thousand megawatts of wind energy. The Northeast region alone is responsible for 90% of this national production. There are ways to expand this capacity, through research and studies involving industry and academia, as explained by Bruno Carmo, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnic School of USP and deputy scientific director of the RCGI (Research Center for Greenhouse Gas Innovation): “We have always been working very closely with the industry, park operators and manufacturers, in order to carry out research that has relevance and social and economic impact for Brazilian society”.
advances
In 2022, the country was the third in the world to install more wind farms and is of great importance for the world economy: “Wind energy has a natural variability, so you have to know how to deal with it a little and combine this source of energy with others. Brazil has a greater potential than that, wind energy is already the second most important source in Brazil’s electrical energy matrix. It started mainly in the most coastal and coastal region of the Northeast, where the winds are of excellent quality, very regular”, explains Carmo.
As a reflection of the high energy production coming from the Northeast, states in this region are the main ones in the expansion of wind activity: “Nowadays, the frontier of expansion is more in the interior of Bahia, Maranhão, Piauí, where we have several parks important being built. There is also something in the south, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, but in a slightly smaller capacity”.
Because it is already a known and explored technology, the challenges involve innovation and improvements in what already exists. Carmo brings examples of methods that are being tested: “All current challenges are always towards optimizing the productivity of this form of energy and also exploring new frontiers, the use of wind turbines in more complex terrain, subject to greater variability than in flatter terrain; Another application, which is an important example, is that of wind turbines mounted on floating platforms, which make it possible to extract wind energy in places where the water depth is deeper. There are several challenges to understand which is the best floating system design and mooring systems so that you have, at the same time, a safe system that will not fail and that is economically viable”, he concludes.