GE to produce wind energy generators in Brazil
Valor Econômico
The perspective of sales up to 3 thousand megawatts (MW) of wind energy in the auction the Federal Government will hold on December 18 assured the entrance of another large international manufacturer of wind turbines in the still small Brazilian market. In January, North American General Electric should start delivering the orders in its Campinas (SP) plant, where it concluded an investment of R$ 145 million (US$ 84.3 million) to adjust its production lines this month.
According to the company, the wind turbines will have 60% of national content. But depending on the demand generated by the auction in December, the national content may reach 100%. "There is a very big pressure in every country to make the local production. And we are confident both in the Brazilian demand and in the possibility of turning the country into an export platform", affirmed the International Vice-President of General Electric and person responsible for the part of infrastructure and energy of the company, John Krenicki. The officer affirmed the production of components for the energy industry remained relatively immune to the effects of the global economic crisis started in September, 2008. "This is a long term industry. One wind tower assures energy for ever. This way it is not affected for immediate events", he commented.
Today, in Brazil, GE only supplies the technology for the production of wind blades made by Tecsis, a company installed in Sorocaba (SP) whose main client is the North American multinational company. Through Tecsis, GE exported nearly US$ 300 million of this product from Brazil to European Community and to Japan last year. There was no catering to the national demand. Last year, Tecsis received a US$ 120 million financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in order to increase its production in the country.
Most of the projects is far from the GE plant. The Northeast region is the place with the biggest number of projects, amounting to 322 proposals, which should generate 9,549 MW. Rio Grande do Sul is the origin of 86 projects, amounting to 2,894 MW. Currently, the wind park installed in Brazil achieves 550 MW, the equivalent to the demand of Peru and five times less than the demand of Mexico. In the Brazilian energy matrix, the wind energy is still little representative and it is responsible for 0.23%.
The lack of a national production of components is precisely one of the bottlenecks that hinders this type of energy to develop. For the December auction, however, the Government has not established minimum levels of local production of components. It only determined that the wind parks will not be allowed to have used parts. The contracts that will be bid in December will have the beginning of production in July, 2012, and should guarantee the supply of energy to the contracting party for twenty years. GE does not disclose what will be the installed capacity of its unit of Campinas. In global terms, the production of components of wind energy of the company guarantees the generation of the equivalent to 15 thousand MW.