The First Floating Solar Plant Inaugurated in the Northeast

President Participates in the City of Sobradinho, Bahia, in the Inauguration Ceremony and Activates the First Floating Solar Plant of Its Kind

Confirming the International Energy Agency (IEA) report, which revealed that Brazil has the least polluting energy matrix in the world, it was now time for another pioneering project in Brazil.
The first stage of the floating solar plant installed at the Sobradinho Reservoir (BA), by the São Francisco Hydroelectric Company (Chesf), was inaugurated last Monday (08/05) in the presence of President Jair Bolsonaro.

The president emphasized the importance of using clean energy sources and stated: “Today’s inauguration of the Floating Solar Plant in Sobradinho will serve as a model for many other regions of Brazil so that this clean energy can flourish even more in our Brazil.”

The project, which in the president’s opinion, is an example for the world, shows that Brazil preserves the environment and utilizes the Amazon Rainforest sustainably.

The Project

The floating solar plant was activated for the first time by the president and has a capacity of generating 1 megawatt peak (MWp). According to Chesf (São Francisco Hydroelectric Company), the plant is the largest research and development project of this floating technology installed in a hydropower reservoir in the country.

The project also plans a second floating solar plant to be deployed in a second phase at the Sobradinho Reservoir.
It is estimated that the investments in both projects will amount to around R$ 56 million.

Bento Albuquerque, Minister of Mines and Energy, who was also present at the inauguration event of the solar plants, emphasized that the pioneering nature of the project will serve as a reference for the model to be used in other reservoirs of operational plants.

The minister made sure to mention that the energy source does not pose environmental risks and generates jobs in the installation, operation, and maintenance of the system.
The president also signed a decree classifying the project as a priority for the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program to
boost the energy potential of the PISF (Integration Project of the São Francisco River with Northern Northeast Hydrographic Basins) and to ensure resources for the pumping of river water, which currently costs R$300 million per year.

The Sobradinho solar plant is the first project that allows the installation of a floating solar plant in hydropower lakes and makes use of the same substations and transmission lines that carry the energy produced by the hydropower plant.

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