(Des)conexões entre energia eólica, pobreza e sustentabilidade em munícipios da Região do Mato Grande no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

Advances and innovations resulting from technological progress reach territories with favorable attributes for investments. In the electricity sector, there is a prevailing judicious selection, based on science and technology, justifying the location of the companies. Eager for renewable energy sources and capital accumulation cycle preservation, hegemonic actors materialize their projects in territories with an abundance of these resources. However, the territorial social dimension is neglected, since the economic model meets the premise of an uneven geographical development. This thesis considers energy a fundamental asset for well-being, and the territory used a theoreticalmethodological contribution to investigate the connection between wind energy, poverty and sustainability in the Northeastern Semiarid. The research empirical part comprises the Mato Grande region in Rio Grande do Norte, emphasizing the rural settlements territories and the wind farms, which share the same space due to spatial proximity. It analyzes the (dis)connections between the expansion of wind farms, sustainable promoters, and the permanence of poverty levels in the spatial profile, related to socioeconomic and environmental contradictions, derived from the actions of capital, regarding the appropriation and wind resources use. The research infers that wind activity remains supported by the market and the State. Poverty, on the other hand, remains perverse and with no prospect of policies for its dismantling.