Wind Energy is the Best Cure for an Olympic Hangover in Rio

Earlier this month, Geoforce attended the Brazil Wind Power 2016 conference in Rio de Janeiro. While the event didn’t generate quite the same publicity or attendance as the Summer Olympic Games also held in Rio a few weeks ago, it is the largest and most important event for the wind energy sector in Brazil.

With sponsors like GE, Siemens, BASF, and Vestas and a growing portion of Geoforce’s business being generated from customers involved in alternative energy sources like wind, we attended with tremendous curiosity and left satisfied with numerous new insights.

Notably, we learned:

Wind energy in Brazil

• 400 wind farms with more than 5,200 wind turbines are in operation today.
• 15 parks have been built and are now awaiting connection to the network.
• The current installed capacity of almost 10 GW represents 6% of the Brazilian energy matrix.
• Wind currently supplies 45 million Brazilians with energy.
• In 2015, the industry generated 41,000 jobs.
• The installed capacity of wind power is expected to reach 18.8 GW in 2019, with an annual growth rate of 20%.
• In 2015, the sector’s growth in Brazil was 46%, the highest rate recorded in the period in the world.
• Since 1998, R$60 billion has been invested in wind power in Brazil.

Wind energy in the world

• In 2015, the industry grew 22%, driven mainly by China, the United States and Germany.
• The wind sector accounted for nearly half of all growth in the world’s energy supply in 2015.
• While wind only accounts for 4% of the energy of the planet today, this percentage should grow to be between 6 to 8% in 2020, 18 to 20% in 2030, and about 33% by 2050.

Like all the other attendees, Geoforce left the conference “energized” by what wind could do for our world’s future. And through our GPS-based global track and trace solutions, we look forward to helping those involved in wind energy better manage their operations!