Oil majors Petrobras and Equinor plan 4GW offshore wind off Brazil

Brazilian state-owned oil giant Petrobras and Norwegian energy major Equinor are exploring the potential for about 4GW of offshore wind capacity off the coast of south-east Brazil.

The two companies are “jointly evaluating the environmental feasibility of the project”, the Petrobras stated.

Equinor filed an application to start the environmental permitting process for the Aracatu project in August 2020.

The project would be located about 20km from the shore, in the Campos Basin off the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro state.

The project partners have not confirmed when they hope to complete the project.

Petrobras and Equinor signed a pact to explore the potential for Brazilian offshore wind development in 2018.

Since then, Brazilian offshore wind development has been slow under renewables-sceptic president Jair Bolsonaro.

However, Brazil is preparing a system for licensing seabed areas and holding competitive tenders for its nascent offshore wind sector, and the Brazilian wind power industry hopes the country’s first project permits could be awarded later this year. 

Amid this slowly building momentum for the Brazilian offshore wind sector. Oil major Shell is reportedly looking to develop 17GW of offshore wind capacity in Brazilian waters.

And even prior to Shell’s announcement, developers had already requested environmental permits for more than 80GW of offshore wind capacity, according to data from Brazil’s energy regulator Ibama.