Neonergia’s Chafariz Complex started delivering to the grid last August and is now fully online Share

Several large wind farms have recently been reported as reaching full commercial operations in Latin America, according to information gathered by Windpower Intelligence, the data and research division of Windpower Monthly.

The newly online wind farms have added nearly 850MW of capacity in Brazil, Chile and Mexico.

Brazil saw the largest amount of capacity being brought online, at three projects: TotalEnergies’ 92.3MW Terra Santa and 67.5MW Maral, both in Rio Grande do Norte, and the final part of Neonergia’s 471MW Chafariz Complex, which started delivering to the grid last August.

Iberdrola subsidiary Neoenergia had begun construction of the Chafariz Complex in October 2019. It has now successfully installed and connected 136 of Siemens Gamesa’s SG 3.4-132 turbines.

The project, which is located in the north-eastern state of Paraíba, will supply some of the electricity it generates to J&F Group, one of Brazil’s largest private business groups, under a ten-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed last November.

In Chile, the 110MW Los Olmos wind farm, developed by a project company owned by AES Corporation (51%) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP, 49%), was commissioned earlier this month.

It is the largest of 12 online projects located in the Biobío region of central Chile, where another 16 wind farms, for a total capacity of 2.5GW, are currently under development.

In Mexico, IEnova and Saavi Energía's 108MW Energía Sierra Juárez II began operations in Tecate, Baja California. It is the first cross-border renewable energy project between Mexico and the US, supplying electricity to the California electricity market.