A Commerce Energy announced its entry into the floating solar plants na Billings Dam, the largest reservoir in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, in a j to Olos technology KWP Energy.
Eduardo dos Santos Soares, vice president of renewable energy generation at Comerc, highlighted that this is an opportunity to offer GD (distributed generation) to your customer base. “In São Paulo, renting a large area would be complex. So, Billings presents itself as a very cool alternative”, he pointed out.
“You have many consumers who are close to the load and within an area that has become a usable area. It would be difficult for us to find a piece of land in Greater São Paulo on which we could make an economic viability. 80 MW plant“, he added.
The operation was formalized in August 1, with participation of 50% to Comerc e 50% to KWP. Currently, the enterprise has 5 MW, but to reach the objective of 80 MW in the next 24 to 36 months, companies will invest together R$ 400 million.
According to a Bruno Falcao, director of new business at Comerc, “day-to-day commercial management is being carried out by Comerc, while implementation, operation and maintenance are being handled by KWP”.
The initial phase of the project has already 100% of contracted energyWith the Santander Bank as one of the main consumers. The bank uses 4 MWh to attend 160 agencies in São Paulo and RMSP. The contract lasts 18 years and credit management is carried out by Tools Digital Services, Santander's own company.
In addition to São Paulo, Comerc Energia also operates with DG in Bahia, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Minas Gerais and Pernambuco.
Also according to Soares, the area that has already been used for the project does not occupy even 1% of the dam and the floating plants represent a great advantage. “With floating, we don’t have the costs involved in earthmoving and piling,” he commented.
“On the other hand, we have the whole challenge of managing the floats, anchoring the floats. But when you change the complexities there is a balance, which I think is very positive”, added Soares.
“reduces evaporation and preserves water that is used by society for consumption, planting, among other activities. The existence of the panels also ends up protecting against algae growth, this also helps,” he concluded.
Floating solar panel
According to 2024 data from ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) and the ABSOLAR (Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar Energy Association), solar energy generation represents 17% of the entire Brazilian electrical matrix, in a market that has been expanding more and more.
A floating solar energy has the capacity to double the existing installed capacity of solar energy, as there are more than 400.000 km² of artificial water reservoirs (swamps, dams, reservoirs and similar) according to the World Bank.
According to wood mackenzie, the global floating solar market is expected to reach the milestone 6 GW by 2031, as photovoltaic developers seek alternatives to meet growing solar demand.
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