Petrobras to Assess Offshore Wind Pilot Project in Rio Grande do Norte

April 30, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Brazilian oil and gas major Petrobras and the government of Rio Grande do Norte have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to conduct a feasibility study for a pilot offshore wind project in the state.

Petrobras Rio Grande do Norte — *Source: Petrobras*

The MoU foresees that the Brazilian state will promote actions such as aligning the project with state programmes and policies, supporting the processes needed for studies and research for the development and implementation of the project.

Petrobras will provide studies on the possible environmental and social impacts resulting from the project’s installation, working in synergy to make the pilot project viable, said the company.

“Rio Grande do Norte has a natural vocation, an excellent wind regime for offshore wind projects and we believe that the state’s vocation should be capitalised on,” said Jean Paul Prates, Petrobras President.

Petrobras has the greatest potential in offshore wind projects under study in Brazil in terms of capacity filed with the Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA).

The company has requested the start of the licensing process for projects in ten areas with a total potential of 23 GW.

Seven areas are in the Northeast (three in Rio Grande do Norte, three in Ceará and one in Maranhão); two in the Southeast (one in Rio de Janeiro and one in Espírito Santo); and one in the South of the country in Rio Grande do Sul.

The company is also carrying out studies in seven areas in partnership with Equinor, totalling a further 14.5 GW of total potential.

In addition, the company is conducting the largest wind mapping campaign in Brazil. Last year, Petrobras completed a decade of offshore wind measurements and is intensifying campaigns in some locations in the Brazilian Sea.

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In April, Brazil’s SENAI Institute for Innovation in Renewable Energies (ISI-ER) revealed that it expects to receive a licence for a pilot offshore wind project in the state of Rio Grande do Norte in the second half of this year.

The environmental licence is for a two-turbine, 22 MW offshore wind project at a site located 20 kilometres off the coast of Areia Branca, near the Port-Island of Areia Branca.