Under the consortium agreement each company will have a 50% ownership stake in the projects, which are expected to be completed by late 2014.

The projects are estimated to be worth about $315 million.

Vale will be the sole offtaker of the energy produced by the projects for their first 20 years. The electricity will be used to power the miner’s operations.

Vale executive director of human resources, health and safety, sustainability and energy Vania Somavilla said this was the miner’s first move into wind energy.

“Vale’s global demand for electricity is expected to increase 150 per cent by 2020 and we’ve been seeking options to meet this demand in a sustainable way, using renewable sources such as hydro, wind and biomass,” Somavilla said.

“The option to develop wind projects also helps diversify our energy matrix, reduce our emissions and ensure cost competitiveness in the long-term.”

Pacific Hydro already supplies renewable energy to Rio Tinto in Australia and Codelco in Chile.

It has developed and operates 300 megawatts of wind farms and hydros in Australia.

The company also operates 500MW of run-of-river hydros in Chile and 58MW of wind farms in Brazil.

Pacific Hydro is set to start its retail operations in Australia in the next quarter.