Eolicas Babilonia

Eolicas Babilonia (Babilonia) is a 137MW wind farm in Northern Brazil, a region which boasts some of the best wind resources in the world. Babilonia began commercial operations in November 2018 and the Actis Long Life Infrastructure fund (ALLIF) acquired the asset in early 2020.

Brazil has a transparent regulatory framework and a strong private ownership track record in the power sector and boasts average wind speeds of 8.0 m/s, among the highest in the world.

Since the acquisition, Actis has worked with Babilonia to devise and implement the companies’ first Annual Operations Plan, outlining and executing a detailed list of operational improvements for the coming years; connected the asset to a best in class Portfolio Monitoring and Analytics system and enabled high Wind Turbine Generator (WTGs) availabilities of over 99%. Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, Babilonia’s turbine supplier reported that Babilonia was its best performing site in Brazil in 2020.

Babilonia is driving a number of social programmes to generate income for families in neighbouring communities including honey processing, egg production and vocational courses for students. The egg production program has increased household income >100%.

For Actis, the transaction exemplifies the ALLIF strategy: acquiring high quality operating assets in a market and sector that Actis knows well, on a long term contract and with a focus on value creation and operational improvement looking ahead. It builds on Actis’ strong footprint in the Brazilian renewable energy sector, which includes Echoenergia, a 1,211MW wind platform in the North East of Brazil, Atlas Renewable Energy which operates in Brazil and has over 2,000MW across Latin America and Atlantic Energias Renovaveis, a 652MW renewable energy platform which Actis sold in 2019.