The French renewable energy company Voltalia announced at the beginning of September the construction of the Solar Serra do Mel 1 (SSM 1) and Solar Serra do Mel 2 (SSM 2) plants, totaling 320 MW, in Rio Grande do Norte (RN).
The plants are part of the wind and solar complex Serra Branca, located between the municipalities of Areia Branca and Serra do Mel, with a total capacity of 2,4 GW. Being the largest photovoltaic plant in the world in the company's cluster.
Voltalia has been in Brazil for 15 years, investing and developing projects in Amapá, Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia, Minas Gerais, among other states.
In an exclusive interview to Canal Solar, Robert Klein, CEO of Voltalia in Brazil, commented on the company's investment plans and expectations for Brazil.
Why did the company choose to build the wind and solar complex in Brazil?
Brazil has a huge territory rich in natural resources. It brings together a range of advantages for an effective and sustainable energy transition. Rio Grande do Norte, for example, has the advantage of having good conditions for wind and solar energy. Therefore, we opted for the hybrid cluster in the state. Our idea is to take advantage of the synergy of the two sources and share the same structure for energy flow, making projects more competitive, through economies of scale.
How much solar power is expected to be generated? And what equipment is used to generate solar energy?
320 MWp of solar energy power is expected. The equipment used is Canadian Solar 290 Wp, the inverters are from Sungrow and the trackers are from Nextracker.
Who will this complex generate energy for?
BRF and COPEL. In addition, we will operate in the regulated market and other companies that have a confidentiality agreement.
How has the company been operating in Brazil?
Voltalia has been in Brazil for 15 years, investing and developing projects in Amapá, Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia, Minas Gerais, among other states. We emphasize that all our investments in Brazil have been positive. The country has a great wealth of natural resources, which contributes to the development of good renewable energy projects.
In Rio Grande do Norte alone, we invested, together with our partners, more than R$3 billion in our projects, not counting the construction of our Operations Center in Mossoró, opened last year. The forecast is to invest another R$2,5 billion in the state by 2023, in addition to what has already been invested to date.
What are the company's plans for Brazil?
We currently have around 1 GW in operation and construction in Brazil. Our forecast is to reach 1,3 GW in operation by the end of next year. For years, we have been developing the Serra Branca cluster, located in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, which has the potential to reach 2,4 GW of installed capacity. We recently put some wind farms into commercial operation and started construction of two solar plants in the cluster.
We are still expanding our business to other regions of Brazil, such as Minas Gerais and Bahia. In the State of Bahia, we are developing our second cluster in the country: the Canudos cluster, with the potential to exceed 1 GW of installed capacity and whose work on its first wind farm, with 99 MW of installed capacity, has already started.
We continue to grow not only in the regulated market with participation in auctions, but also in Mercado Livre, with important short, medium and long-term PPAs (Multi-Year Plan), signed in recent years. In addition, we remain in the market, strongly involved in the development of projects and the provision of construction (EPC) and O&M (Operation and Maintenance) services that we provide to our customers.
