Innovation and sustainability in energy production: the case of wind power generating system in Brazil/Inovacao e sustentabilidade na producao de energia: o caso do sistema setorial de energia eolica no Brasil

• Published in: Cadernos EBAPE.BR 2012-09, Vol.10 (3), p.630
• Main Authors: Nascimento, Thiago Cavalcante, de Mendonca, Andrea Torres Barros Batinga, da Cunha, Sieglinde Kindl
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Subjects: Climate change; Green technology; Sustainable development; Wind power
• ISSN: 1679-3951; 1679-3951

This paper aims to determine how actions by the Brazilian wind power generating system are related to the economic, social, and environmental prospects characterizing sustainable innovations. It argues that energy issues are at the core of human development throughout its history and that, due to the current climate change scenery, the development of alternative energy sources is of paramount importance nowadays. Methodologically, the study may be regarded as exploratory and descriptive with regard to its purposes and as bibliographic with regard to its means. Primary data from national, regional, and global wind power agencies were used to improve the consistency of information gathered as well as the work as a whole. The results show that the wind power generating system is structured around a series of public institutions, autarchies, research associations, and other stakeholders which demonstrate an increasing interest in developing the sector in the country. Data also indicate that the values achieved in the last wind power auctions have shown the competitiveness potential of this energy source when compared to the other ones. In Conclusion, one can see that the pillars of sustainability may be observed in virtually all matters concerning the implementation of new wind power farms, but the economic dimension is still the most prominent one, making the social and environmental dimensions dependent on the ability of this energy source to compete with the others. Keywords: Wind power. Generating system. Innovation. Sustainability. Este artigo tem por objetivo verificar como as acoes do sistema setorial brasileiro de energia eolica se relacionam com as perspectivas economicas, sociais e ambientais que caracterizam inovacoes sustentaveis. Argumenta que as questoes energeticas estao no cerne do desenvolvimento humano ao longo de sua historia e que, em decorrencia do atual cenario de mudancas climaticas, o desenvolvimento de fontes alternativas de energia e de vital importancia na contemporaneidade. Metodologicamente, o estudo pode ser considerado exploratorio e descritivo em relacao aos fins e bibliografico no que diz respeito aos meios. Foram utilizados dados primarios de agencias nacionais, regionais e mundiais de energia eolica para aumentar a consistencia das informacoes coletadas e do trabalho como um todo. Os resultados evidenciam que o sistema setorial de energia eolica esta estruturado em torno de uma serie de instituicoes publicas, autarquias, asso