BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) will finance the exchange of diesel generators for photovoltaic plants for energy consumers in the North Region, mainly in the Amazon.
The bank acquired 95% of the R$60 million in “green” debentures issued by Amazônia Solar Companhia Securitizadora de Créditos Financeiro.
The company designated by BNDES for this evaluation will be Solfácil, specialized in financing for the installation of solar microgeneration systems.
Fabio Carrara, CEO of Solfácil, says that the company will also carry out the installation process through approved partners in the region. “The line will initially finance on-grid projects and we are working to deliver off-grid financing as soon as possible. In this way, our idea is to also make it possible to finance the photovoltaic system with batteries”, he explained.
According to BNDES, the operation will allow the financing of around 1,6 projects within a period of up to 150 months for the installation of solar energy systems in homes and companies located in the region.
Solfácil will be responsible for evaluating the capacity of the contractor and the contractor, in addition to verifying the viability of the system for the consumer before approving the credit.
Each investment, at the end, should have an average cost of around R$37 thousand and will be 100% financed. In total, there will be around 12 MWp of installed capacity. This is the first time that BNDES operates in this format. The estimated total volume of carbon avoided is in the order of 30.500tCO2e (tons of CO2 equivalent) in 15 years.
According to the bank, this is a pilot operation, which aims to promote the acceleration of solar DG (distributed generation) in the North Region. Currently, the region has energy supply problems and approximately 250 Isolated Systems use diesel thermal generation to supply electricity.
Solange Vieira, director of Credit Concession for Infrastructure at BNDES, highlights that the operation is innovative in the way BNDES operates, as it allows end consumers access to BNDES resources without traditional bank intermediation. “The operation will contribute to democratizing access to solar generation for energy consumers in the Northern Region, allowing greater access to credit at the end and promoting banking deconcentration.”
Another advantage highlighted by the bank is the savings on energy bills, which can reach up to 90% of the current cost. Furthermore, this movement can contribute to regional development, creating new jobs and income for the Northern Region, especially for local installers of photovoltaic systems.
Manager Rodrigo Bacellar, from the BNDES Energy Area, highlighted that the operation reiterates BNDES's commitment to sustainable development: “BNDES, together with Solfácil, is building an initiative focused on the energy transition of the Amazon, through the best taking advantage of available renewable resources, benefiting thousands of energy consumers in the Region”, he stated.
Fábio Scherma, head of the Electric Energy Department at BNDES, highlights that “this is a pilot project from which the Bank hopes to develop many others, in partnership with the market”.
The debentures are characterized as “green”, based on the Green Bond Principles guidelines, issued by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), according to socio-environmental performance evaluated by a specialized consultancy in an independent opinion.
