Day 3
Osorio - Rio Grande do Sul



We had our second visit to Ventos do Sul in Osorio. The plant is owned by a company called Enerfin. There are 148 turbines, that produces 2.3 MW of power. At low winds, below 2.5 meters per second, they are producing no energy and are consuming energy from the grid. This was the case during our visit, a particularly still day. On the other hand, the turbines stop when winds reach 60 meters per second, say during a storm. The control room that we saw was showing data for six wind farms, a total of 172 turbines, and 375 MW of power. About 450,000 Brazilian families or 1.5 million people were provided with power last year from these wind turbines. The grid system in Brazil allows for competitive prices for energy unlike the closed market in the U.S., where companies hold a monopolies on energy. There were a couple of contemporary buildings that offered a birds-eye view of the farm. We were able to see across the acres of farmland, which is used to produce rice crops, grazing land for cattle and horses, and fish farms. We noticed a lot of water on the land; our guide explained that they had received 350 liters of rain per square meter in the last few weeks, which is an abnormally large amount of rain. The optimal time for wind power, or “wind harvests”, is the end of spring and in the fall. I really enjoyed the tiny cups of coffee.

Also had my first Brazilian barbeque experience on our way back to Florianopolis. So. much. MEAT!