Earlier this year, more than 13GW worth of power had registered for the tender, which was delayed by three weeks while the federal government reviewed the overwhelming paperwork created by such unanticipated interest.

Brazil has just over 600 megawatts (MW) of wind power in operation today, largely built as a result of a governmental incentive programme, Proinfa.

The industry is hopeful that this tender will be the first in a series of annual tenders to promote wind power in the South American nation, which currently leads the region in the energy source.

A price of R$189 ($109) per megawatt hour has been set for the tender, which developers have decried as being too low to make wind power in Brazil a worthwhile investment. Contracts of 20 years will be given out and farms must come on line in 2012.

More than 60% of the farms are located in the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and Rio Grande do Sul, which have, respectively, 105 projects of 3.6GW, 108 projects of 2.5GW and 67 projects of 2.2GW.

”The purchase of wind power at this moment reinforces Brazil’s position for the Copenhagen climate conference to maintain a highly renewable energy matrix,” says Mauricio Tolmasquim, president of the energy research centre, EPE, which published the results.