Sao Paulo inaugurates 7 MW floating solar plant

From pv magazine Brazil

The government of Sao Paulo has announced the completion of the first phase of the UFF Araucária floating PV project on the Billings Reservoir, which is the largest reservoir in Sao Paulo.

The plant has a capacity of 7 MW and features 10,500 solar panels mounted on high-density polyethylene floats. It will operate under the country's net metering scheme.

“The plant will be the largest in the country to operate commercially in distributed generation, with generators located close to consumption centers,” the government said in a statement. “It can produce up to 10 GWh per year.”

The State of Sao Paulo Environmental Company (Cetesb) owns and operates the facility.

The plant is one of the main sustainable energy development projects in Sao Paulo and was implemented under the coordination of the Secretariat of Environment, Infrastructure and Logistics. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2025, with the delivery of another 75 MW of renewable energy caapcity.

“This plant is the realization of what we are pursuing in the state of São Paulo with clean energy, energy transition and decarbonization,” said Secretary of Environment Natalia Resende. “This means using clean energy to provide quality services combined with the environment and what means sustainability.”

In just two months, the implementation of the plant generated around 200 jobs. The plant occupies less than 0.1% of the Billings Reservoir's surface area, minimizing the total environmental impact.

“In this first phase alone, 80 direct jobs and approximately 120 indirect jobs were created,” said Emae CEO Marcio Rea. “The forecast for the next two years is a lot of work with the installation of more plants. We are 100% committed to this objective.”