Casa dos Ventos and ArcelorMittal have secured about $657 million from Brazil's national development bank, BNDES, for the Babilonia Centro wind complex in Bahia. It is the largest amount BNDES has ever lent to a renewable generation project. The size is striking. The share of the project it covers is more striking still.
Key takeaways
- Casa dos Ventos and ArcelorMittal obtained a loan of $656.74 million from BNDES, announced on 15 January 2024, to develop and build the 553.5 MW Babilonia Centro wind complex in Bahia, Brazil.
- The BNDES loan for Babilonia Centro covers 80% of the total investment in the project and is the largest volume BNDES has ever financed for a renewable generation project.
- The Babilonia Centro wind complex will have 123 turbines in the municipalities of Morro do Chapeu and Varzea Nova in Bahia, connected to Brazil's National Interconnected System by a transmission line of about 17 km.
- ArcelorMittal, the equity partner in Babilonia Centro, expects to sign a 20-year power purchase agreement for the project's clean energy, planned to meet 38% of ArcelorMittal Brazil's total electricity requirements in 2030.
- Construction of the Babilonia Centro wind complex began in January 2024, with operation expected in October 2025.
Why can BNDES lend 80 percent of the project cost?
Because the project has a buyer for its power built into its ownership. ArcelorMittal is both an equity partner and the expected offtaker. It plans to sign a 20-year power purchase agreement, or PPA, a long-term contract to buy the project's electricity at agreed terms.
A lender's main question is whether a project will earn enough to repay the debt. A 20-year contract with a large industrial user answers much of that question in advance. The buyer is also an owner, so it has reasons to keep the contract in place beyond the price it pays for power.
Leverage is the share of a project's cost funded by debt rather than equity. Higher leverage means the owners put in less of their own money. At 80%, the sponsors fund only a fifth of Babilonia Centro themselves. On Leap's figures, the loan implies a total investment of about $821 million, or about $1.48 million per MW.
The timing also helped. The loan was announced in the same month construction began, with operation expected in October 2025, a build period of under two years. The 123 turbines connect to the national grid through a transmission line of about 17 km, so the project does not depend on a long new grid link before it can earn revenue.
Leap does not record the loan's interest rate, tenor or the terms of the expected PPA. Those details would show how much of the lending decision rests on the contract and how much on BNDES's own policy role.
What does ArcelorMittal get from the wind complex?
A large, long-term share of its Brazilian power needs. The project is planned to sell energy meeting 38% of ArcelorMittal Brazil's total electricity requirements in 2030. Leap's record also describes it as supplying about 40% of ArcelorMittal's electrical consumption in Brazil.
Leap's record frames the project as helping decarbonise operations in Brazil. Owning part of the generating asset, as well as buying its output, gives ArcelorMittal more control over both the price and the source of that power than a contract alone would.
For Casa dos Ventos, the partnership brings an anchor customer and a co-investor. Casa dos Ventos develops the complex alongside ArcelorMittal, and the pairing of developer and industrial user is what the financing rests on.
How does Babilonia Centro compare with other Brazilian wind financings?
It is the largest Brazilian wind financing Leap records in 2023 and 2024, and the most heavily debt-funded where the share is stated. Leap holds 12 Brazilian wind financings announced across those two years. The next largest is the $290 million raised for the 456 MW Feijao wind farm.
The comparisons show how unusual the leverage is:
- Feijao, 456 MW: $290 million from seven commercial banks for a $700 million project, about 41% of cost and about $0.64 million of debt per MW.
- Umari, 202.5 MW: $181.4 million from BNDES, which Leap records as covering about 69% of the investment, about $0.90 million of debt per MW.
- Serra do Assurua, 846 MW: $277.9 million from BNDES, about $0.33 million of debt per MW.
- Novo Horizonte, 423 MW: $166.8 million from BNDES for eight of the complex's ten wind farms.
Babilonia Centro's loan works out at about $1.19 million per MW, higher than any of them. Umari is also a Casa dos Ventos project, owned through a joint venture with TotalEnergies, so the developer has borrowed from BNDES at high leverage before. Babilonia Centro takes that further.
Enerdatics' data shows the gap clearly. Across the four other Brazilian wind financings above where debt and capacity are both recorded, debt per MW ranges from about $0.33 million to about $0.90 million. Babilonia Centro, at about $1.19 million per MW and 80% of total investment, sits above that entire range, and its $656.74 million loan is more than twice the size of the next largest Brazilian wind financing Leap records for the period.
What does the BNDES loan signal for Brazilian wind?
It signals that Brazilian wind projects tied to a creditworthy industrial buyer can raise far more debt than projects without one. The development bank is prepared to fund most of the cost when the revenue risk is largely settled by a long-term contract with an owner.
That matters for a market where buyers and investors have been sorting assets by the quality of their contracts. Patria's purchase of four operating wind complexes in Brazil, which sell power under 20-year auction contracts, showed how contract age and price shape valuation, as covered in Patria's 597 MW Brazil wind acquisition. Babilonia Centro shows the same logic on the financing side.
Bahia remains central to the story. Equinor's purchase of Rio Energy brought it the Serra da Babilonia 1 wind farm in the same state, as described in Equinor's Rio Energy deal. The region continues to draw both developers and industrial users.
The open point is the PPA itself. ArcelorMittal expects to sign the 20-year contract, and much of the project's case rests on it. Once signed, its terms will show how much of Babilonia Centro's revenue is truly fixed.
Frequently asked questions
How much did BNDES lend for the Babilonia Centro wind complex? $656.74 million, covering 80% of the total investment and the largest amount BNDES has financed for a renewable generation project.
Who owns the Babilonia Centro wind complex? It is developed by Casa dos Ventos and ArcelorMittal, with ArcelorMittal as equity partner.
When will Babilonia Centro start operating? Construction began in January 2024, and operation is expected in October 2025.
Ready to get deal-ready answers in seconds? Try Enerdatics Leap AI and access verified intelligence across M&A, financings, PPAs, projects, and energy market developments through natural language.
.jpeg)
