Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda. (HAB), Honda's Brazil-based automobile production and sales subsidiary, plans to build a 27 MW wind farm in the city of Xangri-la in Rio Grande do Sul, approximately 1,000 km south of HAB's production plant in Sumare, Sao Paulo.
Equipped with nine wind turbines, the wind farm is expected to cost about 100 million Brazilian reais and generate approximately 85,000 MWh of electricity per year, equivalent to HAB's annual electricity needs for automobile production. The wind farm is slated to be operational in September 2014.
HAB has established Honda Energy do Brasil Ltda., a new subsidiary that will be responsible for the management and operation of all areas related to Honda's wind power generation business in Brazil.
‘Ever since Honda began local production in Brazil in 1976, Honda has been cooperating with the local community and striving to minimize the environmental footprint of our production activities," says Carlos Eigi, president of Honda Energy do Brasil Ltda. "Wind power generation has proven to be very effective in reducing CO2 emissions. Through the utilization of renewable energy, Honda will continue to be proactive in pursuing environmental conservation activities in Brazil.’
