Enel starts operations of Delfina wind farm in Brazil

Enel, through its Brazilian renewable subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil Participações ("EGPB"), has begun operation of its Delfina wind farm, which has a total installed capacity of 180 MW. The facility is located in the municipality of Campo Formoso, in Brazil’s north-eastern state of Bahia.

“The entry into service of Delfina, which is Enel’s largest wind farm in Brazil, is a testament to our team’s ability to quickly and efficiently build and commission our projects, making Brazil a leading contributor to the Group’s growth in renewables”, said Carlo Zorzoli, Enel’s Country Manager in Brazil. “Delfina’s start of operation reinforces our commitment to Brazil’s growing renewable energy sector, and thanks to the sustainable initiatives we are implementing in the areas surrounding the plant, we are contributing to local biodiversity and to the development  of neighbouring communities.

The Group invested approximately 400 million US dollars in the construction of Delfina, which comes as part of the investments outlined in the company’s current strategic plan and will be financed through the Group’s own sources as well as a loan provided by the Brazilian Development Bank (“BNDES”).

Delfina is capable of generating more than 800 GWh per year, enough to meet the annual energy consumption needs of 390,000 Brazilian households while avoiding the emission of more than 490,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. EGPB built about 90 kilometers of transmission line to connect the wind farm to the nearest local energy distribution substation in the city of Juazeiro.

In line with the Creating Shared Value (CSV) model adopted by the Enel Group, which aims to combine business development and local community needs, EGPB has established a set of initiatives in the areas neighboring Delfina plant, such as pioneering programmes for the preservation of two local endangered species, the blue Lear’s macaw and the Caatinga biome cougar. In collaboration with local associations, Enel also offered qualification courses to local communities, such as entrepreneurship courses as well as carpentry and electrician training, to enable income generation.

In the state of Bahia, Enel Group’s subsidiary EGPB currently operates a total of 891 MW of wind and solar capacity and is building an additional 420 MW of projects in these two renewable technologies.

In Brazil, the Enel Group, through its subsidiaries EGPB and Enel Brasil, has a total installed renewable capacity of 1,839 MW, of which 670 MW from wind power, 279 MW from solar PV and 890 MW from hydropower, as well as close to 720 MW of capacity currently in construction, of which 172 MW from wind and 541 MW from solar power.

Enel Green Power, the Renewable Energies division of Enel Group, is dedicated to the development and operation of renewables across the world, with a presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Enel Green Power is a global leader in the green energy sector with a managed capacity of 38 GW across a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydropower, and is at the forefront of integrating innovative technologies like storage systems into renewable power plants.