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The Rome-headquartered Enel Group’s Brazilian renewable energy subsidiary, Enel Green Power Brasil Participações Ltda, has started commercial operations of the 716 MW Lagoa dos Ventos I and II wind farm in Brazil. It’s South America’s largest wind farm currently in operation and Enel Green Power’s largest wind farm worldwide. 

South America’s largest wind farm

The $750 million wind farm is in the municipalities of Lagoa do Barro do Piauí, Queimada Nova, and Dom Inocêncio, in Brazil’s northeastern state of Piauí.

It consists of 230 wind turbines and will be able to generate over 3.3 TWh per year. It will avoid annual carbon dioxide emissions of more than 1.6 million tons.

206 MW of the wind farm’s installed capacity will be delivered to the free market for sale to retail customers. 510 MW were awarded to Enel Green Power in Brazil’s A-6 public tender in December 2017. (It’s called “A-6” because projects have six years to come online.) Enel Green Power’s share is supported by 20-year power supply contracts with a pool of distribution companies operating in Brazil’s regulated market.

In December 2020, Enel broke ground on the 396 MW Lagoa dos Ventos III wind farm. The new $435 million wind farm will bring the total capacity of Lagoa dos Ventos to around 1.1 GW. I, II, and III will have a total of 302 wind turbines and will be capable of generating around 5 TWh annually. It will boost the elimination of carbon dioxide emissions to over 2.8 million tons annually.

Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power and head of Enel’s Global Power Generation business line, said:

As our largest wind facility in the world, Lagoa dos Ventos represents a significant step forward for our sustainable growth, while also supporting the green recovery in Brazil, further contributing to the diversification of the country’s energy mix.

Electrek’s Take

Brazil gets a lot of deserved bad press about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. The country also has a pretty good track record of using renewable energy.

According to the International Energy Agency, “Access to electricity across the country is almost universal and renewables meet almost 45% of primary energy demand, making Brazil’s energy sector one of the least carbon-intensive in the world.”

Large hydropower plants provide around 80% of Brazil’s domestic electricity. Wind and bioenergy are growing.

But unfortunately, so is the use of natural gas. Brazil has found enthusiasm for fossil fuels with the offshore discovery of both oil and natural gas. “According to IEA forecasts, net oil exports will pass the 1 million barrels/day mark by 2022.”

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is rightfully being pressured by the rest of the world to reduce emissions and stop deforestation of the Amazon because the problem is serious and urgent.

Deforestation soared 67% in May from the same month in 2020, according to Brazil’s national space research institute Inpe. Bolsonaro has failed to protect the Amazon from illegal logging, and he slashed environmental funding in April, just a day after he said he’d double it.

According to Reuters, US climate envoy John Kerry told a congressional hearing last month:

Unfortunately the Bolsonaro regime has rolled back some of the environmental enforcement. We’ve had this conversation. They say they are committed now to raise the budget. If we don’t talk to them, you’re guaranteed that that forest is going to disappear.


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Jamie Lynn Spears leaves I’m A Celebrity on medical grounds

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Jamie Lynn Spears leaves I'm A Celebrity on medical grounds

Jamie Lynn Spears has become the second contestant to leave I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! on medical grounds.

A spokesperson for the ITV show confirmed to Sky News that Britney Spears‘ sister had left the jungle on Wednesday afternoon.

She follows Grace Dent, whose departure was confirmed on Saturday. She told her fellow campmates that her “heart is broken” after leaving the programme early.

'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!' TV show, Series 23, Campmates, Australia - Nov 2023
Grace Dent

Nov 2023
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Grace Dent was the first contestant to leave the show this year. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock

“Jamie Lynn Spears has left I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! on medical grounds,” the spokesperson said.

“She’s been a fantastic campmate who has triumphed at trials and bonded well with her fellow celebrities.”

Sky News understands the 32-year-old has now left the camp and her fellow campmates are aware that she won’t be returning.

Her last appearance on the show will be on Wednesday night’s episode.

Spears had threatened to quit last week after just a few days when she became emotional because she was missing her children.

During the episode on 21 November, she told her campmates she was finding it difficult to be so far away from her family.

Jamie Lynn Spears on I'm A Celebrity Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
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Spears had spoken about missing her children while on the show. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock

Her emotions bubbled up further when four celebrities were tasked with a challenge to win the contestants’ luxury items, with hers being a photo of her two daughters.

Spears also appeared to use the camp phone – which normally only rings during challenges – in last night’s episode to try to call her family in the US.

During her time on the show, Spears also discussed her relationship with her sister Britney, who she said she had talked to before entering the jungle.

Spears revealed the pair had a “very complicated upbringing” which lead to them having issues with each other.

U.S. singer Britney Spears (R) and her sister Jamie Lynn Spears watch the NBA game between the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles December 17, 2006. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES)
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Jamie Lynn Spears and Britney Spears in 2006

However, she added that she felt Britney would be “worried” about her in the jungle and believed she would be “checking in” regularly.

“She’s (Britney) a good big sister, she is,” Spears said. Yeah, I love her… Me and her throw down. The world’s seen that.

“I’ve learned to stop talking about it publicly, but you know what, families fight. Listen, we just do it better than most.”

Spears also discussed the challenges she faced after falling pregnant as a teenager while starring on TV series Zoey 101, and how she became Catholic after her daughter survived a freak accident where she nearly drowned in a family pond.

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Other celebrities on this year’s show include former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, First Dates star Fred Sirieix and JLS singer Marvin Humes.

The show has so far attracted a lower audience than last year’s series, which featured former health secretary Matt Hancock.

This year’s launch was watched by seven million people in its first week – down from a consolidated audience of nearly 12 million last year.

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Endgame: Publisher of book that appeared to name royal as racist ‘called journalist within one hour’ of his writing about it

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Endgame: Publisher of book that appeared to name royal as racist 'called journalist within one hour' of his writing about it

A journalist who spotted that a new book appeared to name a royal at the centre of a racism row says he was called by the publisher within an hour of writing his article.

Rick Evers, who has been a royal correspondent in the Netherlands for 14 years, told Sky News he published an article with key claims made in Endgame at around midday on Tuesday.

By 1pm, he says the publisher had been in touch to ask him to delete the article over “legal problems” in the book, written by Omid Scobie, who some commentators have said is an ally of Harry and Meghan.

The book appeared to name two royals who the Sussexes claim raised concern over the skin colour of Meghan’s then-unborn son, Archie – but only in the version sold in the Netherlands.

Xander, the publishers of the Dutch translation, have put sales of the book on hold “temporarily” over what it calls an “error”.

“I think it took an hour for the publisher to phone me to ask me to delete the whole article and to get it offline, because there are some legal problems with it,” he said.

“And, of course, I was very curious – what was it? They couldn’t say it, because there were names mentioned.

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“The only thing they had to say [was] that all of the books will be destroyed from the Dutch versions. So, there was something wrong.”

Kate 'ignored Meghan's cries for help'
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The book claimed Kate ‘ignored Meghan’s cries for help’

Mr Scobie’s book claims that Meghan wrote a letter to King Charles, who at the time was the Prince of Wales, expressing concern about unconscious bias in the Royal Family.

This came after the Duchess of Sussex claimed in her March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey that a member of the Royal Family raised “concerns” about Archie’s skin colour.

The version being sold in English-speaking countries does not name anyone, with Mr Scobie stating: “Laws in the United Kingdom prevent me from reporting who they were.”

But early readers in the Netherlands spotted the Dutch version names an individual.

Mr Evers – who says he did not realise the Dutch version was any different until after he had published an article – said he does not believe it is down to a “mistranslation”, as Mr Scobie has suggested.

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Publishers Xander say there had been an ‘error in the Dutch translation’ of the book, originally written in English by the author.

“If you compare the Dutch version and the English version it is quite clear that there is just a paragraph missing,” he said.

“One of them is replaced by some kind of sentence that Omid is not allowed to say the names because of legal problems to mention them, so it’s very clear that something has been erased.”

He said he suspects the original manuscript was checked by a legal department, who told the publishers the name should “come out”.

“So, I think they sent it to all the translators all over the world, who were translating the manuscript, except for one country – the Netherlands,” he said, adding he does not believe the name was included on purpose.

Mr Evers said he was one of two journalists in the Netherlands to receive an advanced copy of the book – none in the UK did.

Read more:
Who is Omid Scobie and what are his links to the royals?
Five revelations from Omid Scobie’s controversial new book

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Mr Scobie told chat show RTL Boulevard he wrote the English version and “there was no version from me in which names were mentioned”.

Xander, the publishers, said the books are being withdrawn from sale – though Mr Evers says some copies can still be bought in shops.

“[We are] temporarily withdrawing the book by Omid Scobie from sale,” Xander said in a statement. “An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified.”

Harry and Meghan have always refused to reveal who they claim raised concerns about Archie’s skin colour before he was born, but they did clarify it was not Prince Philip or the late Queen.

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Katy Ashworth: Former TV presenter ‘verbally and physically’ abused by former partner, High Court hears

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Katy Ashworth: Former TV presenter 'verbally and physically' abused by former partner, High Court hears

Former children’s television presenter Katy Ashworth has accused her ex-partner of being verbally and physically abusive to her, including when she was pregnant, a court has heard.

A High Court judge concluded Ben Alcott, a television programme director based in Australia, poses an “obvious and continuing risk” to his partners.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot made her findings after examining evidence at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The pair had become embroiled in a dispute centred on a child, who lives with Ms Ashworth.

The judge said she had overseen a “fact-finding hearing” after she made a “number of allegations of domestic abuse” against Mr Alcott.

Mr Alcott “denies all the allegations” made by Ms Ashworth, who presented shows on the BBC childrens’ TV channel CBeebies.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot said her findings were “likely to have a bearing” on future contact between Mr Alcott and the child.

The judge said the litigation began six years ago when Mr Alcott “applied for contact” with the child.

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Ms Ashworth accused Mr Alcott of being “controlling, abusive, manipulative and coercive” and said the behaviour “escalated over the years”.

“The mother alleges that the father controlled her work, he would be verbally abusive to her and accused her of being paranoid and crazy,” the judge said in her ruling.

“He is said to have monitored the mother’s movements by installing spy software onto her computer and he was verbally and physically abusive to her at times including when she was pregnant.”

‘Compelling’ evidence

The judge added: “The mother says the father started a campaign within the media and ensured that Fathers For Justice worked to have the mother sacked by the BBC and organised protests outside the BBC against her.

“Another threat the mother alleges is that the father implied he was going to use naked photographs he had of her.”

The judge said she found Ms Ashworth to be “credible” and her evidence “compelling”.

There had been “numerous complaints of abuse” made to Australian police by other partners of Mr Alcott, the judge said.

“There was an abundance of evidence in relation to his abusive approach to women,” the judge added.

“This is not a man who is just assertive, stubborn and plain selfish, this is a man who is an obvious and continuing risk to his partners.”

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