Porto Alegre - By December, 2006, Rio Grande do Sul will possess the largest eolian energy park in Brazil and the second largest in the world, in the municipality of Osório, on the northern coast of the state. According to governor Germano Rigotto, the project represents a US$ 230 million investment by the Spanish company, Enerfin.

Enerfin will also install a factory in Osório to manufacture the 98-meter tall concrete towers that will support the wind-powered generators. This unit will cost an additional R$ 40 million in investments.

The president of Enerfin, Guillermo Planas, said that the 75 towers to be installed in the locale will produce a total of 150 megawatts . He announced that the project will get underway in May, 2005. "It will be the world's most modern eolian plant. This technology does not exist even in Spain. Only in Germany is there something similar," he said.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Shirley Prestes
Translator: David Silberstein
12/03/2004