Commissioning spree boosts Latin America’s onshore wind capacity

Several large wind farms have recently been reported as reaching full commercial operations in Latin America, according to information gathered by Windpower Intelligence, the data and research division of Windpower Monthly.

The newly online wind farms have added nearly 850MW of capacity in Brazil, Chile and Mexico.

Brazil saw the largest amount of capacity being brought online, at three projects: TotalEnergies’ 92.3MW Terra Santa Terra Santa (92.3MW) OnshoreCaiçara do Norte, State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, Central & South America Click to see full details and 67.5MW Maral Maral (67.5MW) OnshoreState of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, Central & South America Click to see full details, both in Rio Grande do Norte, and the final part of Neonergia’s 471MW Chafariz Complex Chafariz Complex (471MW) OnshoreSanta Luzia, State of Paraíba, Brazil, Central & South America Click to see full details, which started delivering to the grid last August.

Iberdrola subsidiary Neoenergia had begun construction of the Chafariz Complex in October 2019. It has now successfully installed and connected 136 of Siemens Gamesa’s SG 3.4-132 turbines. 

The project, which is located in the north-eastern state of Paraíba, will supply some of the electricity it generates to J&F Group, one of Brazil’s largest private business groups, under a ten-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed last November.

In Chile, the 110MW Los Olmos Los Olmos (110MW) OnshoreMulchén, Bio Bio, Chile, Central & South America Click to see full details wind farm, developed by a project company owned by AES Corporation (51%) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP, 49%), was commissioned earlier this month. 

It is the largest of 12 online projects located in the Biobío region of central Chile, where another 16 wind farms, for a total capacity of 2.5GW, are currently under development.

In Mexico, IEnova and Saavi Energía’s 108MW Energía Sierra Juárez II Energía Sierra Juárez II (108MW) OnshoreTecate, Baja California, Mexico, North America Click to see full details began operations in Tecate, Baja California. It is the first cross-border renewable energy project between Mexico and the US, supplying electricity to the California electricity market.