The BRL 950 million ($175 million) São João do Paracatu solar park in Minas Gerais employs 500,000 solar modules distributed over an area of 509 hectares and counts clients in the areas of mining, magnesium industrialization and plastic production and recycling.
June 24, 2024 Alessandra Neris
From pv magazine Latam
Comerc Energia has inaugurated the São João do Paracatu photovoltaic complex in the municipality of Paracatu, located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. With investments of approximately BRL 950 million ($175 million), the solar park has an installed capacity of 267 MW.
In commercial operation since December 2023, the project has among its clients Granha Ligas, one of the largest mining companies in the country; the primary magnesium industrial unit of the RIMA Group, the only producer in the America and the Southern Hemisphere; and Valgroup, a leading player in the production, transformation and recycling of plastic.
The plant has about 500,000 PV modules spread over an area of 509 hectares, equivalent to about 471 football fields. In its first five months of operation, the complex has already generated more than 275 GWh, an amount corresponding to the energy consumed by cities with more than 480,000 inhabitants, such as Niterói, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In one year, São João do Paracatu is expected to avoid the emission into the atmosphere of about 162,000 tons of CO2, and the project is capable of generating about 145,000 carbon credits per year.
During the inauguration event, which took place inside the São João do Paracatu plant, Leandro Albuquerque, a special advisor at the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy’s National Secretariat of Transition and Energy Planning, highlighted the importance of the projects that support the Brazil’s energy transition. “I would like to highlight the growth of solar energy in Brazil, which five years ago represented only 0.9% of the energy generated in the country and now represents 7%. Of this total, 33% is generated in Minas Gerais, which demonstrates the relevance of the state in this regard. “We are committed to the energy transition and that is why we plan to invest close to BRL 12.5 billion in Minas Gerais alone to promote the growth of renewable energy in Brazil.”
“It is a pleasure to inaugurate another project in Minas Gerais, a state that is at the forefront of solar energy and that has played a very important role in Brazil’s energy transition,” commented Comerc Energia CEO Andre Dorf. “Comerc Energia has become one of the largest generators of renewable energy in the country, thanks to its numerous and important assets in this state. “Thanks to our portfolio of more than 2 GW of installed capacity, we can support the decarbonization process of some of the largest companies in Brazil, which indicates that we are playing our role well as one of the main decarbonization agents in the country.”
Paracatu City Mayor Igor Santos spoke about the benefits of having another large-scale solar plant in the city and said that the municipality is available for new solar energy projects in the region. “We are very happy with the inauguration of this great project in our city, which will boost the economy and create opportunities for the development force we have. We want solar generation companies to know that they can count on our support, because we are aligned with [Minas Gerais] Governor [Romeu] Zema and the Ministry of Mines and Energy to provide the conditions to build a success story with renewable energy in our city,” he said.
Experience and excellence acquired in renewables
In the coming weeks, with the start of commercial operation of UFV Várzea, with 118 MWp of installed capacity in the Minas Gerais municipality of Várzea da Palma, the last Centralized Generation solar plant in its 2021 business plan, Comerc Energia will reach the 2.1 GW mark of installed capacity, adding its Centralized and Distributed Solar and Wind Generation assets.
In addition to its rapid implementation, Comerc Energia has stood out for the efficiency of its projects. In 2023, the company had its solar plants on the list of the 20 most efficient in Brazil in nine of the 12 months of 2023, according to ePowerBay. In April of this year, it occupied the top eight positions in the same ranking, out of a total of 471 solar parks evaluated.
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