Brazil’s National Development Bank to fund new solar power plants

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Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) has approved BRL 63 million (USD 12.2 million) in funding for the construction of 11 solar power plants across seven different states in the country. Municipalities in the Federal District, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul will be served by these new solar plants.

The BNDES funds, which account for 55 percent of the total cost of the project, will be paid via direct financing to GreenYellow S.A., a French-born renewable energy company with a global presence and already over 1,000 projects in Brazil.

According to the BNDES, these plants will have a total installed capacity of 19.2 Megawatts and a peak capacity of 27.6 Megawatts-peak. Their output will serve the energy needs of the equivalent of 27,000 households. The solar plants are due to start operating “within the next months,” with construction concluded by 2023.

The BNDES has noted that the funding of this project is aligned with Brazil’s aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the country’s National Plan on Climate Change, as these solar plants will contribute to a reduction in emissions of 88,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent over 25 years.

The project comes at a time of growth for Brazil’s solar energy sector: the Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Energy calculates that solar now accounts for 9.1 percent of Brazil’s electricity matrix, behind hydro (53.2 percent) and wind (10.8 percent).