Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
3 min of reading 
0 comments 
Landfill Located in the City of Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Will Give Way to Solar Power Plant.
An old landfill located in the Santa Cruz neighborhood, in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro, will be repurposed in an innovative way: the land will host a solar power plant with a capacity of 7 MWp.
The announcement was recently made by the companies MTR Solar and AE Solar, who formed a partnership for the implementation of the project.
The forecast is that the project will be completed in the second half of 2025, and it promises to be a milestone in clean energy generation and the repurposing of degraded urban areas.
-
China occupies the desert with a 2 GW solar power plant in Inner Mongolia, installs elevated panels that create shade and humidity over the sand, and transforms a 2.96 billion kWh per year farm into an unexpected weapon against desertification.
-
Saudi Arabia is building in Oxagon a US$ 8.4 billion mega green hydrogen plant with 4 GW of solar and wind energy, 5.6 million solar panels, and capacity to produce 600 tons per day, transforming the desert into one of the planet’s largest clean fuel factories.
-
Germany and Denmark will transform Bornholm into a Baltic power island, connecting 3 GW of offshore wind power to the grids of the two countries via submarine cables and turning a real island into an international energy hub.
-
Brazil discovers natural hydrogen in four states and enters the silent race that could redraw the energy transition: Petrobras has already invested R$ 20 million in studies.
Clean Technology in Degraded Area
The initiative follows a model already successfully tested in Curitiba (PR), where the solar power plant installed on the old Caximba landfill has been operating since March 2023 with 8,600 solar panels.
In Rio de Janeiro, the structure will have 9,310 photovoltaic modules, equipped with HJT (Heterojunction Technology), considered highly efficient in the international market.
The differential lies in the project engineering, which utilizes a support structure without the need for embedding in the ground.
This approach was designed to preserve the environmental conditions of the land, minimizing the impact on previously compromised soil from the landfill.
Sustainability and Innovation with New Solar Power Plant in Rio de Janeiro
According to Jorge Moura, regional director of AE Solar, the entire project was planned with a focus on sustainability and environmental respect: The structure of the project was designed to ensure the environmental preservation of the site, being constructed using a special support method.
Mauricio Barros, CEO of MTR Solar, emphasizes that this type of solution represents a new frontier for solar energy in Brazil:
“In addition to reducing the carbon footprint, we promote the revitalization of areas previously considered problematic. We believe this model can be replicated in other states, contributing to a greener energy matrix in Brazil.”
Although still a rare practice in Brazil, the implementation of solar plants on landfills emerges as a promising alternative to combine renewable energy generation and the recovery of areas with environmental liabilities.
The technical complexity is a challenge, but initiatives like this in Rio de Janeiro demonstrate that the combination of innovation and sustainability is possible.
About MTR Solar
The MTR Solar Group, a multinational specialized in the distribution of equipment for solar microgeneration plants, will be responsible for providing all technical specifications and will work with major global suppliers in the sector.
The goal is to ensure energy efficiency and low environmental impact, contributing to the expansion of the renewable energy matrix in the country.
Be the first to react!