Offshore wind developer Corio Generation and Brazilian shipyard Estaleiros do Brasil (EBR) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to see how the shipbuilder’s facilities could support offshore wind projects off Brazil’s south coast.
Corio and EBR will look at how the existing infrastructure, located close to Rio Grande port in Brazil’s southern province of Rio Grande do Sul, could support the deployment of the Cassino Offshore Wind and Rio Grande Offshore Wind projects, both with the capacity of over 1.2GW each.
The MoU can lead to the two entering commercial negotiations to reserve part of an area to be used to facilitate the projects.
Corio is aiming to develop five offshore wind farms in Brazil, totalling up to 6GW. Four of these projects, totalling approximately 4.8GW, are located off the southern and south-eastern coastlines of the country.
The EBR shipyard covers an area of approximately 1.7m sq m, with extensive facilities for building floating platforms for the oil and gas industry. The offshore wind developer believes that this expertise could be adapted and utilised for the construction of offshore wind farms.
“We very much look forward to working with EBR and exploring how their shipyard and their engineering expertise could help establish a hub for future wind farm development in southern Brazil and drive the growth of the offshore wind sector more widely,” said Ricardo de Luca, country director of Brazil at Corio Generation.
“Our shipyard has a long-standing presence in the south of the country, training and employing thousands of workers over many decades, and that is why we welcome the opportunity to evaluate the potential for EBR and the region of São José do Norte to become the centre of offshore wind in the south of Brazil,” added Wataru Nosaka, CEO of EBR.
