Wind power in Brazil

Renewable energy accounted for more than 85.4% of the domestically produced electricity used in Brazil.

Brazil relies on hydroelectricity for more than 75% of its electricity. However, the authorities are pushing biomass and wind as the primary alternatives. Wind energy has the greatest potential in Brazil during the dry season, so it is considered a hedge against low rainfall and the geographical spread of existing hydro resources. In January 2015, a drought in Brazil that cut water to the country's hydroelectric dams prompted severe energy shortages. This crisis, which ravaged the country's economy and led to electricity rationing, underscored Brazil's pressing need to diversify away from water power.

Brazil held its first wind-only energy auction in 2009, in a move to diversify its energy portfolio. Foreign companies scrambled to take part. The bidding is expected to lead to the construction of 2 gigawatts (GW) of wind production with an investment of about US$6 billion over the next two years. Brazil's technical potential for wind energy is 143 GW due to the country's blustery 7,400 kilometres (4,600 mi) kilometres coastline where most projects are based. The Brazilian Wind Energy Association and the government have set a goal of achieving 20 GW of wind energy capacity by 2020 from the current 5 GW (2014). The industry hopes the auction will help kick-start the wind-energy sector, which already accounts for 70% of the total in all of Latin America.

Brazil started focusing on developing alternative sources of energy, mainly sugarcane ethanol, after the oil shocks in the 1970s. Brazil's large sugarcane farms helped the development. In 1985, 91% of cars produced that year ran on sugarcane ethanol. The success of flexible-fuel vehicles, introduced in 2003, together with the mandatory E25 blend throughout the country, have allowed ethanol fuel consumption in the country to achieve a 50% market share of the gasoline-powered fleet by February 2008.

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