Wind power expansion meets grassroots resistance in Brazil’s Northeast

Associated Press

QUEIMADA NOVA, Brazil (AP) — Wind energy is booming in Brazil’s dry and windy Northeast, but some projects are drawing criticism as it becomes clear that certain communities have benefited while others have not. An opposition movement of small farmers has formed to demand consultation and community improvements. The Associated Press examined two neighboring communities, one that negotiated a distance from wind turbines and received benefits including piped water and a community center, and one that derived no community-wide benefits and wound up with turbines close to homes, which residents say make a lot of noise. Both are quilombos, or communities of descendants of runaway slaves. The only apparent difference is that one is officially-recognized and the other is not.