EN 
PT_BR 
Voltalia, a company producing renewable energy and providing services, announced this Tuesday (19) the commissioning of its largest solar energy project in Brazil, formed by the Serra do Mel 1 (SSM 1) and Serra do Mel 2 (SSM 2) plants.
Together, the two units add up to 320 MW of capacity installed, enough to supply more than 400 thousand homes. The plants are located in the Serra Branca Complex, in Rio Grande do Norte.
The region is known for concentrating good wind and solar conditions and for being home to the largest Voltalia renewable energy complex in the world, with a total capacity of 2.4 GW and hundreds of projects under development.
In total, around 540,000 photovoltaic panels were installed in the region, occupying an area of 578 hectares. The operation is expected to reach 100% of capacity in the first half of 2022.
“We are generating the initial MWs at Voltalia’s first large solar plant in Brazil and the company’s largest solar project in the world. In March, we also announced the construction of Solar Serra do Mel from 3 to 6, which will increase our operating capacity to 80%”, said Robert Klein, CEO of Voltalia in Brazil.
According to the executive, all the clean energy produced by the company's solar complex will be responsible for reducing the emission of almost 126 thousand tons of CO2 per year into the atmosphere.
Importance of good commissioning
Photovoltaic systems are built to operate for around 25 years and an important tool to ensure this longevity is commissioning.
It is a standardized and impartial process, which aims to ensure the safe and efficient operation of a given system.
This process is contracted with the objective of validating the design, execution and equipment used in accordance with standards, equipment tests, good engineering practices and specific requirements of the owner.
Bringing this definition to the universe of photovoltaic solar energy, we can summarize commissioning as the system verification and validation process, aiming to identify problems that could compromise safety and energy generation at expected levels.
Who can carry out commissioning?
The commissioning of a solar plant must be carried out by a specialized team, which, preferably, does not have technical responsibility for the project or execution, with responsibility only for verification, acting as an arbiter of the process as a whole.
“It is a professional or a company that has to be qualified and that has to sign the ART (Technical Responsibility Note) and be supported by the projects, datasheets, modules, appropriate equipment and standard nº 1674”, explains Lucas Andrade, engineer electrician at CS Consulting and Training, Group company Solar Channel.
