Manufacturer LONGi has completed the delivery of 477 MW of Hi-MO 4 s for the Sol do Sertão photovoltaic complex. The Essentia Energia plant, part of the Pátria Investimentos group, was connected to the national electricity grid and began operations on July 19, 2021. The project covers an area of over 700 hectares and is located in Oliveira dos Brejinhos (BA), a municipality approximately 600 km from the state capital.
In total, there are 1.075.200 high-efficiency Hi-MO 4 modules deployed in the plant. Furthermore, the plant has more than one hundred Sungrow inverters and has trackers from STI Norland. During the construction of the plant, approximately 1,5 direct employment opportunities were created for the city's inhabitants.
“LONGi is very pleased to partner with Essentia Energia to develop solar projects in Brazil,” commented Dennis She, senior vice president of LONGi Solar. “The commissioning of the solar plant contributes not only to the recovery of the economy and local employment, but also to the development of renewable energy in Brazil and Latin America,” he added.
According to the manufacturer, compared to a conventional polycrystalline solar plant, the LONGi Hi-MO4 monocrystalline solar s will save about 0,2 yuan per watt (R$0,16 per watt) in BOS costs which, when combined with the dual advantages of power generation gain and average annual attenuation of less than 0,55%, reduces LCOE and increases ROI for the project owner.
Particularity of the project
The region where the plant is located s temperatures above 40 °C. According to Ricardo Alonso, Engineering Director at Sungrow, the inverters supplied by the company for this project meet the project's need, which is to produce the same energy at high temperatures, due to its refrigeration technology.
“Our inverters can work in severe conditions without loss of productivity, producing the same energy at high temperatures such as 45 °C”, explains the engineer. Alonso also highlights that this specificity of the equipment guarantees a return on investment without loss of project profitability.
“The equipment, when sized, is designed for the desert or completely isolated regions. Having a product that resists the most diverse environments in the long term results in gains for investors due to low maintenance costs”, he concludes.
