Voltalia has announced the start of the construction of a 99.4-megawatt wind project at its new Canudos cluster, which has a 1 gigawatt potential.

“After developing Serra Branca, the world’s largest wind-and-solar cluster in the state of Rio Grande Do Norte, I am pleased to announce the opening of our Canudos cluster in the state of Bahia. We are replicating the key success factors of Serra Branca : excellent wind regime, grid connexion ownership and scalability" says Sébastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia.

The Canudos 1 project is a wind farm of 99.4 megawatts, increasing from the 90 megawatts announced in December 2019. The long-term power sale agreement, for a duration of 20 years, was signed with Brazilian utilities Cemig. Voltalia chose the G132 - 3,55MW model for the 28 turbines which will equip the plant. Construction of the substation has already started, and the wind farm itself is expected to be fully commissioned in the first half of 2022.

The new cluster shows the ability of Voltalia to replicate a successfull business model which made the 2.4-gigawatt cluster of Serra Branca the largest wind-and-solar cluster worldwide. This strategy consists in developing a large and competitive group of projects on the same site, with the aim of retaining some projects and selling others, with all projects benefiting from economies of scale. The total estimated potential for Canudos is 1 gigawatt.

As for its other sites in operation in Brazil (Serra Branca, SMG and Oiapoque), Voltalia intends to positively impact local communities with this project. The Company will build the relevant connection facilities, produce renewable energy at a competitive price and, to do so, employ local human resources.

KeyFacts Renewable Energy Directory: Voltalia