With consolidated success in the transmission area, the company bets on the O&M of renewable generation assets

Pedro Aurélio Teixeira, from CanalEnergia, Operation and Maintenance Agency

13/09/2016

Operating for twenty years in the provision of operation and maintenance services in power transmission, Cotesa Engenharia is implementing a Remote Operation Center in the city of São José, in Santa Catarina. With investments of R$ 1 million, it will also operate wind generation assets and SHPs. The first stage of construction should be completed in January 2017. According to João Junklaus, President of Cotesa, the decision to invest in the operation of generation assets comes from the increase in the number of players in the sector. “There are many customers entering the generation area and they need an operator. We are setting up an operation center for these customers,” he warns.

The focus of the expansion in Cotesa's operation center will be on the wind source, which has been making projects viable in the country's energy auctions. The company must sign a contract with Atlantic to operate the Santa Vitória do Palmar (RS 207MW) and Renascença (RN 30 MW) wind farms, in addition to the Rondinha SHP (SC 9.6 MW). The center will be able to monitor more than 100 generation assets spread across Brazil. The prediction is that it can monitor 5 GW of power. The operation center will create 15 direct jobs and it is expected that in three years it will indirectly employ 120 professionals.

“Leaving the machine, the collecting network, the LT and the substation itself is all our responsibility. The ONS does not dispatch the wind turbine, it sends the responsibility to change the generation to the substation. Cotesa modulates the power, it increases or decreases generation based on the dispatch from the ONS”, warns Nacib Elias, the company's development manager. back bone em São Paulo, de modo que ele tenha uma disponibilidade elevada.

“Saindo da máquina, a rede coletora, a LT e a subestação em si é tudo responsabilidade nossa. O ONS não despacha o aerogerador, ele manda para a subestação a responsabilidade de alterar a geração. A Cotesa modula a potência, ela aumenta ou diminui a geração com base no despacho do ONS”, avisa Nacib Elias, gerente de desenvolvimento da empresa.

In the long term, Cotesa's intention is to advance in another promising market niche in the country: the maintenance of wind turbines. According to Elias, currently the manufacturers themselves provide this service in a monopolistic way, which has been causing customer dissatisfaction. “Cotesa is investing in the development of professionals to enter the wind turbine market in the future,” he warns.

Even noting that universities are not training professionals for the operation area, the executive believes that he will not have difficulties in the composition of the center's staff. According to Elias, with the economic crisis, many good professionals in the area of mechanics and automation are available on the market, especially in the southern region.