Brazil’s offshore wind sector is on the brink of a major expansion as government mulls the granting of licences of more than 170GW, that will see the support industry require new vessel designs to meet regional challenges.

Off Brazil’s north-east coast lie vast tracts of shallow water, around 50m deep, putting 700GW of wind energy potential well within monopile and jacket territory, according to Brazilian Energy Research Centre (EPE).

This suggests that Brazil’s service and operation vessels (SOVs) could look quite different from the platform supply vessels (PSVs) and anchor handlers (AHTS) currently in use there.

These operate in deep water, far offshore, and are generally bigger and more endurance-focused than those in the North Sea – something that can make them a liability during oil price down-cycles.

Instead, SOVs will be able to operate close to the shore. Converting older offshore support vessels (OSVs) into PSVs and OSVs for the Brazilian market is already a trend in Europe.

In a similar vein, conversions of ships into windfarm service vessels for the Brazilian market could pose a new avenue of demand. But it remains to be seen whether local-content laws, already levied in the offshore oil & gas sector, will be applied in offshore wind.

Currently, the language is vague: Brazil’s laws ‘prefer’ bids that recruit and invest locally, but this is yet to be subject to a mandate.

European wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs), however, will be unlikely to find a home in the Brazilian market.

European vessels tend to be wider in beam and are built to stringent Class and ISO requirements for operation in the windy and stormy North Sea.

Requirements for Brazil’s WTIVs are likely to be more forgiving. The near-equatorial waters off Brazil’s north coast are more analogous to the environs of the East China Sea, where wave heights rarely exceed 3m, except during seasonal typhoons, which Brazil avoids, as well.

A better fit for the Brazilian market, China’s WTIVs favour shallow water, short time-to-market, and are smaller overall. Illustrating this, Denmark’s Cadeler recently acquired a just-built WTIV from China, which it renamed from Boqiang 3060 to Wind Keeper.

The vessel is smaller than other European WTIVs, and Cadeler found it necessary to drydock at Fayard in Denmark for several months to bring it up to European standards, with new stern fastenings and mechanical upgrades, before putting it into service.

Already close with China economically, then, and with minimal tariff interference, WTIV assets currently operating in the busy and maturing Chinese offshore wind market could enjoy a second life in the Brazilian offshore wind sector as the industry develops.

While its economy may not be at full strength for the time being, then, Brazil is in the enviable position of having a blank slate, able to learn from and sidestep the pitfalls in other countries in sourcing, constructing and servicing its offshore wind farms.

The Government recognises that Brazil must diversify its energy. During the 2023-24 El Niño phenomenon, climate-change-exacerbated drought caused the Rio Negro River to drop to its lowest level in a century, revealing new riverbed archaeological finds.

A ‘super’ El Niño is expected this year, threatening even worse outcomes for hydro and waterway traffic.

It is necessary to think long-term, with Brazil’s economy electrifying, China’s BYD setting up local manufacturing plants for electric vehicles, and demand for air conditioning only expected to grow.

Brazil’s turbines are some of the most productive in the world, reaching a capacity factor of 60%.

Wind power is easier to produce close to urban centres where it is most needed, and according to research from the World Bank, this wind power is counter-cyclical: highest at times when water levels and hydropower yields are lowest.

Brazil’s grid already features between 85% and 88% renewable energy thanks to Amazon river basin hydropower, depending on river water levels.

Brazil has sought to diversify, however, with shore-based installations in Bahia, Ceará, and Rio Grande Do Norte, onshore wind now makes up 15% of grid energy.