The TMW Energy solar plant, belonging to the Brazilian group Royal FIC, has just started operating exclusively for Vivo. With an installed capacity of 4,77 MWp, this is one of the five largest distributed generation photovoltaic plants in Brazil.
On a plot of land measuring approximately 80 m², located in Campinas, 14.450 BYD solar panels were installed. The plant's energy generation will be equivalent to more than 4,3 tons of neutralized carbon dioxide and more than 20 trees planted. “This is the largest plant with domestic modules in the country,” highlighted Eduardo Lima, project manager at TMW Energy.
The construction of the plant, which involved an investment of R$22 million, was carried out by Alsol Energias Renováveis, a company belonging to the Energisa Group.
This is the first solar power plant at the service of Vivo, which announced, in July, the expansion of its energy supply via the DG (distributed generation) model throughout the country. TMW's production must serve the operator's largest consumer units, such as antennas and transmission equipment, installed in the CPFL Paulista region.
“GD boosts Vivo’s sustainable business model in environmental, social and governance aspects and reaffirms our commitment to maintaining 100% renewable energy consumption, with efficiency gains and cost reduction”, revealed Caio Guimarães, Director of Equity from Vivo.
According to Francine Cassaro, general director of the Royal FIC Group, the project meets the company's long-standing need to invest in a business model that prioritizes sustainability.
“We know that today the concern for the environment and sustainability increases every day and that the demand for electrical energy in our country will grow by 200% in the next 30 years, according to the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy). To support all this demand, we see a way to guarantee a part of this future through distributed generation, which has been establishing itself in the world as one of the most intelligent ways of producing energy”, said Francine.
Partnership with BYD encourages R&D
In the same place where the Vivo plant was installed, BYD also opened its first plant focused on R&D (Research and Development) in Brazil. The construction was made possible through a partnership with the Royal FIC Group, which provided part of the land and will be responsible for maintaining and securing the site.
In return, BYD passes on the energy generated by the plant to Royal FIC. In total, R$7 million was invested in the solar farm, which has a complete meteorological station and will be dedicated to the study of the most diverse types of photovoltaic modules on tropical soil.
“BYD always invests in innovation and development of new technologies locally. In Brazil, this laboratory plant will be the largest innovation and research ecosystem in solar energy in the country. There, we will be able to test new materials and applications, as well as the main photovoltaic technologies in production in Brazil, from poly and mono-PERC, half cell, bifacial, glass-glass modules and their applications in different types and sizes of storage systems with lithium-iron batteries. Our goal is to simulate the effects and impacts of different Brazilian climates on the durability of technologies in Brazil”, said Adalberto Maluf, director of marketing and sustainability at BYD do Brasil.
“BYD’s project is fantastic, especially for the Campinas region, considered a technology hub. Around, for example, the city already has Sirus, the largest and most complex scientific infrastructure ever built in the country. The partnership with BYD is the first of many. This is a showroom unit, has commercial operations and also research and development”, commented Eduardo Lima, project manager at TMW Energy.
TMW's plans
According to Lima, TMW's idea is to carry out new R&D projects this year. “We want to bring technology not only to the Campinas region, but also to the whole of Brazil. The objective is to show that the application of solar energy is extremely important for the development of the Brazilian energy matrix. It is a source that is becoming increasingly viable,” he concluded.
