ENERGIAS RENOVÁVEIS: O PARQUE EÓLICO DE SÃO CRISTÓVÃO, MUNICÍPIO DE AREIA BRANCA (RN) – BRASIL

ABSTRACT Brazil has increased its potential to take advantage of renewable energy sources, mainly wind farms that have been expanding in the national market. The gain of space in the national matrix enabled the wind race, which in turn caused socio-environmental problems as a result of the installation of wind farms. In this direction, this research aimed to identify the changes that occurred in the fishing community of São Cristóvão, located in the municipality of Areia Branca, Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil, from the introduction of the wind farm. A mixed approach was adopted and for data collection, on-site visits associated with photographic record analysis, semi-structured questionnaire applications with open and closed questions were used, cataloged and analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social program Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. 80 (eighty people) participated in the study. As a result, it was possible to identify that the wind farm installation process took place without significant community participation and the absence of an in-depth dialogue between the company and the population located in the vicinity of the wind farm. It was found that the impact on the local economy, after the installation of the enterprise is insignificant, according to the interviewees. It was found that socioenvironmental conflicts related to land tenure and faced with these issues, the community expresses distrust in relation to wind farms in the region.