IBERDROLA, the world leader in wind energy, and Brazilian consortium NEOENERGÍA will sign 10 loans for a total amount of €300 million, with Banco Nacional do Desenvolvimento Economico y Social (BNDES) and with Banco do Brasil.

The funds will go towards financing 10 wind farms in Brazil which the two companies will jointly develop with a total capacity of 288 megawatts (MW).

The facilities are Calango 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Caetité 1, 2 and 3; Arizona 1; and Mel 2. All these windf arms are located in the states of Río Grande do Norte and Bahía, to the east of the country, and are strategic for their good wind resource.

Both companies were awarded construction of the wind farms in August 2010 at the second tender for renewable energy organised by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), as part of the Brazilian government's Growth Acceleration Programme.

IBERDROLA and NEOENERGIA have already begun construction on four of the 10 facilities (Caetité 1, 2 and 3, and Mel 2) and expect to start work on the other six windfarms over the coming months.

The wind turbines to be installed at all these facilities will be provided by Gamesa, IBERDROLA's main supplier for its renewables projects across the globe, and will be built at Gamesa's factory in Camaçarí, in the state of Bahía.

Clean energy for 450,000 Brazilians

The projects will generate around 200 jobs in the construction phase and an additional 20 positions will be hired for the subsequent operating and maintenance work. Furthermore, the power from these facilities will allow sufficient renewable energy to be generated to supply electricity to nearly 450,000 Brazilians, preventing the emission of around 510,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.

IBERDROLA currently has one windfarm in Brazil, the Río do Fogo facility in the state of Río Grande do Norte. The site has installed capacity of 49 MW.

Brazil - where IBERDROLA concluded last year the purchase of distribution company Elektro, for $2.4 billion - has become one of the group's key markets for international growth over the coming years. After the acquisition of Elektro, the company has become the top Brazilian distributor by number of customers, with a total customer base of 11.65 million.

With renewable operations in 23 countries, IBERDROLA is the world leader in its sector by both installed capacity (over 14,000 MW at the end of March 2012) and output (over 20,700 million kilowatt hours generated in 2011).

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