Votorantim Industrial SA, a Brazilian industrial conglomerate that expanded into renewable energy three months ago, is planning to triple its wind capacity by next year, part of a long-term effort to eventually own 1 GW of clean power plants.
The company’s purchase in June of a 206 MW wind farm in the northeastern state of Piaui also came with an option to acquire another 400 MW of wind projects from the developer, Casa dos Ventos Energias Renovaveis SA. Votorantim has decided to move ahead with those purchases, Fabio Zanfelice, chief executive officer of the Sao Paulo-based company’s Votorantim Energia unit, said in an interview in his office on Oct. 8.
He plans to focus on selling energy into Brazil’s spot market, where prices have skyrocketed since a record drought in 2013 curtailed output from some of the country’s hydroelectric dams. That’s prompted industrial companies to sell their surplus energy and invest in new power plants.
