Ex-Im Bank lifts turbine blade exports to Brazil

   The U.S. Export-Import Bank has authorized a $32.1 million loan guarantee to Wind Power Energia S.A. of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to buy wind turbine blades manufactured by LM Wind Power Blades in Little Rock, Ark.
   Ex-Im Bank’s financing, which guarantees a Bank of America loan, will support about 250 U.S. jobs at the company’s Little Rock and Grand Forks, N.D., manufacturing plants.
   The wind blades will be used to complete a 180-megawatt wind farm in the Brazilian state of Bahia and another 211-megawatt farm in Ceara.
   “We welcome the vision and assistance of Ex-Im Bank, which has enabled us to develop a new and growing market opportunity for wind-turbine blades in Brazil,” said Richard Pettifor, LM Wind Power’s commercial director for the Americas, in a statement. “As well as developing the Brazilian renewable-energy market and overall production capacity, it will also support the prospect of long-term growth in LM Wind Power’s America business.”
   The company is a subsidiary of LM Wind Power, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind-turbine blades.
   Wind Power Energia, a subsidiary of Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona S.A. of Argentina, designs and manufactures wind turbines for power projects in Brazil and South America. It favors turnkey projects and currently ranks as the market leader in Brazil. The transaction is the company’s first with Ex-Im Bank.
   Since the end of fiscal year 2011, Brazil accounted for $2.7 billion of the bank’s worldwide credit exposure. In fiscal year 2012 to date, the bank has authorized about $415 million for renewable energy exports of all types worldwide.