Brazil's first offshore wind farm with environmental license seeks investors.

SENAI and DOIS A Engenharia have launched a call for proposals aimed at attracting investment partners for a pilot offshore wind energy plant project.

The future project is the first national initiative of its kind to receive a preliminary license from IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources).

Companies interested in joining the project's "Multilateral Cooperative Arrangement," which follows the Joint Industry Project (JIP) model, can access the call for proposals and register starting November 28th.

The expectation is that the contracts will be signed starting in December of this year and that the project will begin in April 2026.

Features

The pilot plant will be installed in the sea off Areia Branca, a municipality in Rio Grande do Norte located 330 km from Natal. It foresees the installation of two wind turbines, with a combined power of 24,5 MW. The site is 20 kilometers from the coast and 4,5 km from the Areia Branca Island Port.

The project will serve as a real-world testing site for future wind turbines on the Brazilian coast. The goal is to validate internationally established technologies and, primarily, to develop solutions for local conditions.

The region of Brazil's Equatorial Margin to be utilized by the project has special wind conditions, with speeds exceeding 10 meters per second and high consistency. The projected capacity factor for the plant is over 60%, a rate higher than the best exploitable locations globally.

Due to the local characteristics of very shallow sea and soils derived from limestone, the technical solution is being developed based on a gravity-fed model that rests on the seabed without the need for drilling.

The deployment logistics are based on a model from the Spanish company Esteyco, licensed in Brazil by DOIS A Engenharia. This will allow for the complete assembly of the towers on land, with transport to the sea using conventional tugboats, eliminating the need for large ships and specialized equipment.

Precast concrete telescopic towers will be used, a technology that allows the wind turbine to be mounted on the tower without the need for large cranes. This also makes it possible for the equipment to be transported by conventional tugboat to the final installation point, where the wind turbine will then be raised to the height at which it will operate.

Another component to be developed involves auxiliary floating systems, used to stabilize and transport the turbine structure at sea.

Schedule

The first phase of the project, which involves engineering designs and analyses of production conditions, will have a projected investment of approximately R$ 42 million, with risk sharing among the participants. This phase is expected to last between 16 and 18 months, starting from the signing of the contract.

SENAI of Rio Grande do Norte leads the project through its Research, Development and Innovation Center, which is dedicated to renewable energy.

MME concludes consultation stage on offshore wind power; proposal remains under analysis

According to SENAI, the central importance of the initiative is to develop Brazil's supply chain and increase the share of national content in the new offshore industry.

The goal is to accelerate the nationalization of solutions and reduce dependence on specialized vessels and equipment that are not readily available in the country. 

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