Portugal’s EDP announces its largest solar plant in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian subsidiary of the Portuguese electricity company EDP announced Monday (25) that it had signed a 15-year energy sales contract, which guarantees the viability of a solar plant with the capacity to generate 209 megawatts that it will build in the northeastern region of Brazil.

EDP explained in a statement that the Monte Verde Solar plant, to be built in three municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, will be not only its largest solar power plant in Brazil but also the first of its kind planned to operate on a large scale.

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According to the statement, the project, which EDP Brasil will split in half with EDP Renovables (both subsidiaries of the Portuguese company), “will triple the current installed capacity of the company’s solar energy park” in Brazil.

The park will have seven different plants in Pedro Avelino, Lajes, and Jandaíra, all in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte and is expected to start operating in 2024.

Although the company did not disclose the value of the park, its first projections indicated that the necessary investment would be about R$567 million (about US$100 million).

According to the Portuguese company, the respective concession has already been granted by the Brazilian government. Its connection to the Brazilian interconnected system is already guaranteed, which will allow EDP Brazil to strengthen its position as a transmitter and distributor in the country.

“With the investment in this project, we are moving towards our goal, announced in the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, to increase the size of our solar park in Brazil by more than 25 times in relation to 2020,” said EDP Brazil’s president, Joao Marques da Cruz, quoted in the statement.

The new park will increase EDP’s solar power generation capacity in Brazil to 310 megawatts, almost a third of the company’s target for 2025, when it intends to have an installed capacity of one gigawatt in the country.

Globally, the new project raises EDP’s installed solar capacity to 2.7 gigawatts, a third of the target it set for 2025 when it aims to have the ability to generate 7.4 gigawatts of solar power worldwide.

EDP is one of the largest private companies in the electricity sector in Brazil, and its distribution company has 3.5 million customers in the states of São Paulo, Espírito Santo, and Santa Catarina. The company’s five-year plan foresees investments in Brazil of R$10 billion (about US$1.8 billion) until 2025, a third of which is solar energy.

The rapid expansion of solar energy in Brazil has already had an installed capacity to generate 10.8 gigawatts and avoided the emission of 12.4 million tons of carbon dioxide in the last ten years.