Rio do Fogo Wind Farm

active

In February 2005, the state controlled utility Electrobras signed a 20 year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Spanish firm Iberdrola SA for energy from a new 49 MW wind farm titled Rio do Fogo in Rio Grande do Norte state. The new wind farm had an estimated cost of US $93 million and was developed by Enerbrasil, Iberdrola SA’s subsidiary. The project was developed under the federal initiative of ProInfra funding of US $5.5 billion through BNDES, the Brazilian development bank. ProInfra was created by the Brazilian ministry of mines and energy to diversify Brazilian energy supply and expand its capacity by 3.3 thousand megawatts. The project reached financial closure in April 2006 upon the granting of a direct loan from BNDES for US $31.5 million (R $68 million) and a second tranche underwritten by Banco ABN AMRO Real for an additional US $31.5 million. 65% of the project was financed through debt and the remaining 35% was financed through equity. Iberdrola SA owned the project through its subsidiary Enerbrasil. As of 2006, the project had completed its first phase of construction. Construction of the wind farm was completed by Wobben Windpower Ltda, the local Brazilian manufacturing facility of Enercon GmbH of Germany. It became operational in 2007.