Santo Agostinho: the wind farm complex that impacted RN

With a total installed capacity of 434 MW, which will be achieved with the deployment of 70 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines of 6.2 MW each, the first phase of the Santo Agostinho wind farm is located in the municipalities of Lajes and Pedro Avelino, approximately 120 km from the city of Natal, in Rio Grande do Norte. This phase will require investments of around R$2.3 billion (base Dec/2020) and at the peak of construction generated more than 1,200 direct jobs.

In 2022, the progress of the works reached 98.5%, with the conclusion of the activities of vegetation suppression, construction of accesses, excavation and concreting of the bases of the wind turbines and the implementation of the medium voltage networks, the collector substation, the 500kV transmission line and the connection bay. The wind power enterprise will direct all the energy generated to the free contracting environment, a segment that already represents 38% of all the electric energy consumed in the country, according to the last survey of the Brazilian Association of Energy Commercializers (Abraceel).

However, in addition to energy generation, St. Augustine has surveyed the local social demands in RN. Starting in 2021, the implementation of the enterprise included, by means of a public hearing, environmental impact studies to the community and its needs.from there, more than R$ 4 million have already been invested in projects, mainly in the areas of health, social development, and education. With the implementation of the wind farm complex, the company is also implementing more than 20 social projects, including the renovation of community headquarters, such as the one in the Firmamento district, located in the rural zone of Lajes, and the creation of a computer lab for the community.

The building, which had been closed for six years, now has a restructured space for training, leisure, study and community meetings. More than R$200,000 were invested in restructuring the place, with the installation of 10 computers and printers, benefiting more than 130 people directly.

At the beginning of this year, Engie also announced an investment of R$1.4 million in the construction of a Municipal Multipurpose Center, to increase access to education for hundreds of children, young people and adults who have some kind of disability or are out of school. Besides the Santo Agostinho Wind Power Complex, in Rio Grande do Norte, Engie has three projects underway that will generate more than 10,000 jobs. They are two energy transmission lines (Gralha Azul, in Paraná, and Novo Estado, in Pará and Tocantins), and a wind farm (Campo Largo 2, in Bahia), which should start operating commercially this month.