Petrobras and Equinor plan 4GW offshore wind farm off Brazil

Brazilian state-owned oil giant Petrobras and Norwegian energy major Equinor are evaluating the feasibility of a 4 GW offshore wind farm off the coast of south-east Brazil in Aracatu, the companies said.

The partnership follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the two companies signed in 2018, two years before Equinor submitted an application for environmental characterisation for the Aracatu offshore wind farm, Petrobas said in a statement.

The two companies are “jointly evaluating the environmental feasibility of the project,” Petrobras said.

The project would be located about 20km from the shore, in the Campos Basin off the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro state, but the companies have not confirmed yet when they hope to complete the project.

As per information from Brazil’s Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), the Aracatu project is shown to have an installed capacity of 3,840 MW, including 12 MW wind turbines.

In recent months, Brazil has moved to build a system for licensing seabed areas and holding competitive tenders for its nascent offshore wind sector. The wind power industry hopes that Brazil’s first project permits could be awarded later this year.

Equinor has applied for environmental investigations for six projects in four Brazilian states, with a total of 14.37 GW under review. Oil major Shell is also reportedly looking to develop 17GW of offshore wind capacity in Brazilian waters.