Brazil’s SENAI Institute of Innovation in Renewable Energy (ISI-ER) and SENAI’s Rio Grande do Norte branch, SENAI-RN, expect to receive an installation permit for their pilot project, the country’s first offshore wind project to be granted a preliminary licence, within 12 to 18 months and to have it operational within 36 months.

SENAI-RN will now begin the fundraising phase and the setup of the JIP for the first stage of the project, which includes the development of the basic and executive engineering design, along with a detailed timeline and budget.

“This phase should take up to 18 months, during which we also expect to secure the installation license, as we will submit the plan with the conditions required under the preliminary license. So, these steps will progress in parallel”, said Rodrigo Mello, Director of SENAI-RN and SENAI ISI-ER.

The construction, assembly, and commissioning of the pilot offshore wind farm will be carried out in the second phase of the project, which will take another 18 months.

While it usually takes less time in a commercial setting, the pilot project will involve developing and analysing solutions throughout each stage of the process to provide data to the industry as part of its research and development (R&D) activities, according to SENAI ISI-ER.

“From the moment we contract the first phase — which is expected to happen in the second half of 2025 — we aim to have the pilot plant commissioned within up to 36 months. But that can, and ideally should, happen in less time”, Rodrigo Mello told offshoreWIND.biz.

The value of the project will be disclosed once the JIP invitation notice is issued in August. SENAI ISI-ER plans to bring in multiple partners, so instead of a single partner making a large investment, each one contributes a smaller investment and assumes less risk in the project.

“In the Brazilian market, there are specific regulations for the energy sector and for the oil and gas sector. And I mention oil and gas because these companies are involved in the energy transition and are investing in it”, Mello said.

“The public call aims to attract funding from both the oil and gas and electric energy sectors, especially through the legal framework in Brazil designed to support R&D investments.”

Rodrigo Mello said that the offshore wind pilot was a project of national scope and interest to the country, and with the public call to the wider energy sector, SENAI is opening it up to the market for multiple players to join in the investment.

The upcoming JIP public call will also be an invitation to companies to help build the solutions for the 24.5 MW pilot offshore wind project.

“The call will invite companies to take part in a research, development and innovation project for the offshore wind sector under Brazil’s maritime conditions — specifically in the Equatorial Margin. The project focuses on a development program for solutions that should also result in the development of the supplier chain. The main goal is to develop a foundation and tower solution for the shallow-water conditions of Brazil’s equatorial coast”, Rodrigo Mello said.

SENAI ISI-ER and its future JIP partners will develop a few different engineering paths for the foundation and the tower. After that, the turbines and the entire system, including the foundation, with a tower on top and a wind turbine installed and operating, will be analysed so that the pilot can inform future commercial offshore wind projects.

“It’s a development project, but as a result, we will have a foundation and tower built and operating under real-world conditions”, SENAI ISI-ER’s Rodrigo Mello said.

When asked if the project would use Mingyang Smart Energy’s wind turbines, given that SENAI ISI-ER and Mingyang signed a cooperation agreement in October last year and that one of the project’s two turbines is planned to have a 16 MW capacity, Mello said that the final decision about the wind turbines to be used in the pilot project is yet to be made and that it will be made known publicly through the upcoming public call.

“For this project, we are finalizing the details of the public call, and we have signed Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) with some partners, including Mingyang. The specifics—whether it will be a Mingyang machine, the model, etc.—will be announced in the public call once it is finalized. What we can say at this moment is that Mingyang is a partner of SENAI in Rio Grande do Norte and is discussing the project conditions with us”, Mello said.

Roberto Serquiz, President of the Federation of Industries of Rio Grande do Norte (FIERN) and the Regional Council of SENAI-RN, pointed out that the project will play a key role in adapting offshore technologies to Brazil’s conditions.

“Now we need to accelerate, because we will have one and a half years to design the entire concept, meet the conditions, complete the projects, and then move forward with the implementation of this pilot plant, which will mark the beginning of real offshore wind energy generation for Brazil. This is a very important vanguard”, Roberto Serquiz pointed out.

On top of the engineering and technological contribution to the country’s emerging offshore wind sector and environmental sustainability, the pilot offshore wind farm will also have concrete impacts on the economy, foster local industry, attract investments, develop a new supply chain, and expand the qualification of the workforce in Rio Grande do Norte, according to Serquiz.

Roberto Serquiz also emphasised that this was the first license granted for an offshore wind energy project in both Brazil and Latin America, and that this has been a goal pursued by the sector.

“This is a historic milestone for the country and especially for Rio Grande do Norte. This achievement, led by the FIERN System through SENAI-RN and the SENAI Institute of Innovation in Renewable Energy, positions our state at the forefront of the energy transition, with national and international prominence”, Serquiz said.