Honda Energy do Brasil Ltda. (Honda Energy), a subsidiary of Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda. (HAB) dedicated to the management of the its wind farm, announces the expansion of latest installed capacity in its enterprise, located the city of Xangri-lá in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil. In November, another wind turbine went into operation, according to the expansion announcement made in April 2019.

Inaugurated in 2014, the initiative embodies Honda's commitment to the environment. To meet the global goal of reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide from its products and production processes by 50% by 2050, based on the volume emitted in 2000, the Brazilian operation identified in the field of wind generation, the opportunity to guarantee an energy matrix even more sustainable. This source has one of the lowest carbon dioxide emission rates and is favored by the good availability of winds in the country.

In a concrete action to promote a carbon-free society, Honda decided to build its own wind farm to supply clean electricity to all demand required by its local car production. The expansion of the operation, with the opening of an additional w, reinforces an active strategy that favors the progressive use of renewable resources.

The energy from Honda Energy meets the electrical demand of the Sumaré unit, São Paulo, where the car factory, the Research & Development Center and the brand's headquarters are located. In 2016, Honda Energy's wind energy also supplied the administrative office in São Paulo, in the Morumbi neighborhood and, since 2019, the second automobile production unit, in Itirapina (SP).

“The Honda Energy wind farm is a unique initiative in the automotive segment in Brazil and represents our efforts towards an increasingly sustainable society. We are expanding the generation capacity of the wind farm, delivering more clean energy to the system, with less impact on the environment, says Otávio Mizikami, President of Honda Energy and Industrial Vice President of HAB.

New wind turbine

With the completion of the construction of the new wind turbine, the farm now has ten turbines with an installed capacity of 31.7 megawatts (MW), an increase in generation capacity of around 11%.

Regarding the new turbine, its generation power is 3.8 megawatts, 23% higher than the model of the other wind turbines, it is 112 meters high and is among the largest installed in Brazil today. The blades measure 66 meters and, when assembled, reach a diameter of 136 meters. This set is larger in relation to the others and, at its highest point, reaches 180 meters in height.

A reference in the national wind energy scenario, the Honda Energy wind farm is the only operation owned by a company in the automotive sector. With it, Honda achieves self-sufficiency in clean and renewable electricity.

More sustainability, less emissions

In the accumulated result since January 2015, Honda Energy's electric power generation exceeds 434 thousand megawatt-hours (MWh), making it possible to incorporate clean and renewable energy into the production process of more than 734 thousand automobiles.

In the environmental field, the result corresponds to the volume of more than 30 thousand tons of CO2 that is no longer emitted to the environment, minimizing the brand's environmental impact.