Engebasa invests in Aeolian energy and grows
Valor Econômico
Portuguese José Quina Diogo got used, in life, to face the unknown and bet on the future. At only 14 he bet on the area of mechanics to try to become successful in the new country. And he made it. Twenty years later, he built Engebasa, installed in Cubatão (SP), to cater mainly to the former Cosipa, currently, Usiminas. Last year, at 70, the emigrant decided to give businesses a new path and invested in the construction of towers for Aeolian energy, an area in which the country is still crawling.
Put up in 2008, in 13 months the new business of the company produced 80 towers ordered by two large propeller and wind turbine manufacturers: Argentine Impsa and Indian Suzlon, installed in the Northeast. This week, the municipality of Camocin (CE) opens a new wind energy park with 50 wind turbines and capacity to produce 104.1 megawatts (MW). In this project, Engebasa participates with 40% of the towers. The risk of the business tends to be even farther reverted with the bidding scheduled for November 25, when the country will offer the private sector the opportunity to increase the wind energy installed capacity from the current 390 MW to 1.4 thousand MW at the end of 2010. It was only 29 MW in 2005.
The owner confesses it is the towers that are holding the earnings of the Cubatão unit. Its main machining clients were struck by the economic crisis and there was an abrupt fall in orders. 90% of the gross income estimated for 2009, R$ 55 million (US$ 28.9 million), should come from the production of towers. For 2010, with sales forecast for all productions (machining and towers), equivalent to R$ 130 million (US$ 68.4 million), the towers should still correspond to nearly 85%.
For that, the company is investing R$ 11 million (US$ 5.8 million) in the increase of 10 thousand square meters in the operational area and in the acquisition of equipment, like welding machines, ironing machines, and paint booths, among others. The goal is to increase the production from 8 to 14 towers a month, which provides a projection of 168 units a year. The number of employees should increase from 230 to 280.