Furnas announced this Monday, July 1st, the construction of its first solar power plants for electricity supply.
There will be three photovoltaic plants with a nominal potential of 1MW each, which will be built in areas close to the UHE Anta, on the Paraíba do Sul river, on the border between Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, for Furnas' own consumption. The company informs that the objective of the project is to reduce by approximately 40% the annual expenses with electric energy in the company's central office, in the neighborhood of Botafogo, South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, in which the highest consumption of energy is concentrated among all the company's operations.
The solar power plants will cost the company an investment of BRL 11,160 million, and commercial generation is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2020.
According to Rodrigo Calixto, superintendent of generation projects at Furnas, the company's plan is very daring, the objective is to expand the solar energy generation project to serve other areas of Furnas. “We already have a project for a second plant in the interior of Rio de Janeiro, in an area where Enel operates. Afterwards, the idea is to expand photovoltaic generation to Minas Gerais, São Paulo and other areas where we operate. We want to reset the electricity bill at the Furnas units”, explains the executive.
Despite Furnas' coverage area being large, the executive guarantees that there is cash in hand to get the projects off the ground. This is because, according to him, the investment in each photovoltaic unit is not so high.
The executive explains why Furnas has now decided to approach photovoltaic generation. According to him, this was a way of gaining experience in a modality where the company does not yet operate. “Historically, we have worked with hydroelectric plants and we already had experience in wind farms. Now, the future signals that a good part of the expansion of the electric sector will be through solar energy. The ten-year plans indicate this trend and the auctions have registered a large number of registered photovoltaic energy projects”, he informs.
However, the executive considers that photovoltaic energy is not the basis of the business, but is positioned as a complementary source.
responsible consortium
Work on this first project will be carried out by the Kyo-Green consortium, which includes Kyoservice and Solergy. The bid was won with a discount of approximately 20% in relation to the budgeted amount. This project was Furnas' first tender according to the integrated contracting model, provided for in Law 13.303/2016.
According to the text, the winning consortium will be responsible for the complete execution, from the basic design phase to the completion of the work and the start of commercial operation.
Furnas is a federal mixed capital company, it is privately held and its control is in the hands of Eletrobras. Its activities are divided between generation, transmission and commercialization of electric energy. Today, the company operates in 16 states and the Federal District. Its system is made up of 21 hydroelectric plants and two thermoelectric plants — its own and in partnership with other companies. In all, its operation has around 29 kilometers of transmission lines and 75 substations.
