Bigger Is Not Always Better: Review of Small Wind in Brazil

Abstract

This century registers a significant expansion in the wind power market. However, the vast majority of these investments are concentrated in large wind turbines. The century begins with an installed capacity of about 20 GW, which reaches 650 GW in 2019. On the other hand, it is important to highlight that small wind turbines have not followed this virtuous path, a fact that is evident in Brazil’s reality. In this context, the article aims at evaluating the current situation of the wind energy market for Small Wind Turbines in Brazil (SWT) and its future perspectives, identifying the main characteristics of the sector, its challenges, and opportunities. It is an exploratory–explanatory research study that investigates the theme, generating knowledge that turns to practical application, as it seeks answers to solve local interests. This methodological approach provides objective evidence that the production of knowledge about the use of SWT in Brazil still remains embryonic, shaded by the impressive progress registered by the major wind farms in the country, despite all the potential and socioeconomic and environmental attractions. This fact credits the revision research with an innovative role in the apprehension of knowledge related to the development of SWT in Brazil.

Method for estimating the wind power micro and minigeneration applied to a city with a subtropical climate in south America

“…In Brazil, the main source of generation is hydroelectric power, which, according to the National Energy Balance (BEN) (MME, 2018), accounted for 65.2% of all power generation in 2017. However, the large share of this source in the electricity matrix puts the security of the system's supply at risk due to the occurrence of droughts, since the scarcity of rain strongly reflects on the ability to generate electricity (Araújo et al, 2021).…”

“…As provided in this normative, the distributed micro and minigeneration in Brazil, unlike the global trend that classifies small powers according to dimensional aspects, has the nominal power as its classification basis (Araújo et al, 2021).…”

“…Large turbines play a significant role and high government incentives in the Brazilian market, have been consolidated into a large-scale exploitation model with a 99.98% share of the wind market. Characteristics that limit the participation of small turbines, considered embryonic investments, are mainly due to the lack of economic, marketing, and mainly scientific support, factors which are responsible for the high prices of such projects (Araújo et al, 2021;Chagas et al, 2020;Vargas et al, 2019).…”

“…The Atlas of the Brazilian Wind Potential (MME, 2007) and the New Atlas of the Brazilian Wind Potential (Neiva et al, 2017) are among the productions that have provided important contributions to the knowledge in the deployment of large structures with heights above 50 meters. However, (Cruz, 2015) and (Araújo et al, 2021) clarified that the heights of interest for micro and minigeneration were below 50 meters. Therefore, it is now necessary to conduct research focused on low height turbines, aiming to map the locations in this segment with wind generation potential.…”

“…However, to achieve decentralization as of micro and minigeneration, measures are needed to consolidate and expand the renewable energy market, especially for small wind farms, since their participation in the country is insignificant, despite their great potential (Araújo et al, 2021).…”