Brazil will build Latin America's first experimental wave-power generator that will provide enough electricity for 200 homes, Brazilian press said Feb. 14. The $1.6 million, 500-kilowatt device will be installed offshore in the northern Ceara department, hopefully by the end of 2005, Rio De Janeiro University said Feb. 13 when it announced the project.
Financed by the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development, the generator will be built by the state-run Electrobras power company. The wave-power generator will be the first of twenty expected to be installed in Ceara, media reports said.
According to a study by the university, eventually, wave-power could provide up to 15% of Brazil's electricity requirements, 95% of which is currently supplied by hydroelectric power.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006
