Cid Gomes, Governor of the State of Ceará, will speak during the final session of day 1 of BWEC 2012 in Sao Paulo, on 2 April 2012.

Cid Ferreira Gomes was born in Sobral, in the north of the state of Ceará, in 1963 into a political family. In the 1970s his father was mayor of the city of Sobral and in the 1980s his brother, Ciro Ferreira Gomes, entered politics.

Cid's first entry into politics was at university, where he was President of the body representing Engineering at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), where he studied Civil Engineering. He won his first election as State Deputy in 1990 and held the position of First Sectretary. For years later, having been re-elected, Cid ran for the office of President of the State Parliament - which he won in a unanimous victory - making him, at the age of 32, the youngest ever President in the history of the Ceará Parliament. As President, Cid set in place a programme of social, economic and infrastructure projects in his home city of Sobral, contributing to the rapid development of the region.

Following his period in office, Cid moved to Washington DC, in 2005, where he became a consultant to the Interamerican Development Bank (BID). He subsequently returned to Brazil to stand for election as the state governor - which he won with large majority, having headed the campaign for the "Ceará Vota para Crescer" (Ceará Votes For Growth) coalition of parties. In 2006 Cid Gomes co-ordinated the campaign for the re-election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as President of the Republic of Brazil. Cid Gomes was re-elected as Governor of the State of Ceará with a majority of 62.3% - representing 2.4 million voters.

Cid has adapted an entrepreneurial spirit to his role as Governor. He was instrumental in an agreement between the Federal Government and Petrobras to build an oil refinary in the State of Ceará - in addition to a hosst of infrastructure and other projects.

Suzlon has sold five wind projects in the State of Ceará, North East Brazil, to the investment fund FIB BBVotorantim and Enerplan, for R$540m, according to Valor Econômico. Enerplan, part of the Oleoplan group, is understood to be planning to expand further in renewable energy in Brazil.

Suzlon will continue to supply equipment to the project. Arthur Lavieri, President of Suzlon Brazil, quoted in Valor Econômico, commented that the company ended 2011 with 38% of all of the installed capacity for wind in the country. Suzlon has installed 185 turbines in 11 projects in Brazil - and ranks as one of the major manufacturers. It has had a presence in Brazil since 2006.