Conference article

Global electricity consumption rose exponentially over the last decades powered by fossil fueled thermal power plants. In comparison; Brazil relies on large hydroelectric plants to generate most of its electricity. Nevertheless; the share of thermal electricity generation in Brazil has increased because thermal power can balance the seasonality of the hydroelectric based system and is cost competitive. Regardless its great wind potential; the use of this technology in Brazil is still timid. The country had only 835 MW of installed windpower capacity until November 2010; or 0.75% of its total. An aggressive wind power deployment has been constrained by its cost until recently. However; windpower has potential to act as a complementary energy source to hydropower during dry seasons; and its development could displace thermal power plants. This paper aims to quantify potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions and jobs creation in three different scenarios of wind energy development up to 2019. In the baseline scenario; windpower will create over 93;000 jobs and reduce up to 96 million tones of CO2 by 2019. In comparison; a massive windpower deployment scenario; ; foresees the reduction of up to 176 million tones of CO2 and the generation of more than 225;000 jobs; most of them in the manufacturing sector. Therefore; wind power is an important alternative for promoting sustainable development in Brazil because it reduces GHG emissions and creates green jobs.

Wind power; Wind industry; Jobs; Sustainable development; Brazil