Wednesday August 13^th – Day 3

            Today we had breakfast at the hotel, similar to yesterdays with fruits and meat sandwiches.  I also tried avocado and milk juice which was amazing.  We went to the site visit for the day which was a wind farm, and so exciting to visit and learn about!  Elecnor Renovaveis is a large international company that has a sector called Enerfin, which focuses on wind energy.  Enerfin has wind farms in Brazil, Canada, and Spain with future plans in Australia.  The wind farm we visited in Brazil was Ventos do Sul and one of the largest of the company with over 300 MW of power a year.  The plant is net zero 60% of the year with 99% efficiency.  Learning about the 2 MW and 2.3 MW turbines used at this site was very interesting.  The system is digital and the turbines are programmed to stop after specified lengths of time if the wind is over 13 km/s, 20 km/s, and 30 km/s.  The turbines also rotate to be in the best, most efficient direction depending on the wind and can rotate up to 3 full rotations in one direction then unwind.  The motors in these turbines are direct drive, which are much more reliable, efficient, safer, and quieter when compared to gearbox motors.  The wind farm land is also used for cattle, which was surprising to see and the immense size of each turbine was stunning to see.  It was also great to witness in person how unobtrusive and quiet the turbines actually are.  After the enjoyable visit we went to lunch, this was my favorite buffet so far, everything was very good.  The bus ride back to Florianopolis was full of beautiful scenery and the weather was nicer but still cold.