Unipar, a producer of chlorine, soda and PVC in South America, and Atlas Renewable Energy, an international renewable energy company, announced a 19-year PPA (power purchase agreement) for the construction and operation of a photovoltaic generation park. According to the companies, the program includes a complex with an installed capacity of 239 MW, located in the municipality of Pirapora, in the northern region of Minas Gerais.
The start of the works – which will generate around 1,2 jobs – is scheduled for the end of the second half of this year, with the start of operations estimated for June 2022. Furthermore, the initiative will foster the inclusion and development of local communities, including, for example, training programs for women in the implementation of the solar plant.
Called “Home of the Sun Casablanca II”, the project will also avoid the emission of approximately 40.500 metric tons of CO₂ per year – the equivalent of removing 16,2 cars from the streets of São Paulo, according to a methodology developed by the World Resources Institute.
“This is yet another movement in search of sustainable solutions that improve our efforts in the search for energy matrices from renewable sources, which guarantee access to the essential input for the operation and generate greater competitiveness through self-production”, said Maurício Russomanno, CEO of Unipar.
The total electricity generated for Unipar will be enough to produce chlorine for water treatment for more than 60 million people, the executive said. According to Luis Pita, general manager of Atlas Renewable Energy for Brazil, the adoption of renewables is becoming an important corporate responsibility that can offer unique opportunities to large-scale consumers, who can start using clean matrices and, at the same time, enable the development of social and environmental programs.
Jobs and CO₂ reduction
Data from ABSOLAR (Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy) point out that the solar source has already generated more than 283 thousand jobs in Brazil. In addition, the latest survey indicated that photovoltaic energy has already prevented more than 10,3 million CO₂ from entering the atmosphere.
