Iberdrola has chosen Brazil as the location for its first floating photovoltaic plant.
The €2m project will be delivered via Iberdrola’s Brazilian subsidiary Neoenergia and will be located on water at the Xaréu dam on Fernando de Noronha island.
Recognised by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site, the island is being used by Iberdrola as a testbed for several sustainable energy solutions, including electric mobility and clean energy generation.
With 630 kW installed capacity, the floating plant comprising 940 panels will generate around 1240 MWh of energy per year, which Iberdrola says will be enough to cover more than half of the energy needs of the island’s water and sewage distribution network.
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This plant joins other sustainable projects developed by the company to provide renewable solutions and promote the preservation of the island’s biodiversity,
Fernando de Noronha is the only inhabited island of a volcanic archipelago located in the northeast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean.
Iberdrola’s other energy initiatives on the island include the recently inaugurated Vacaria solar plant, the first of two solar farms, each with a capacity of 50 kW, designed to exclusively supply electric vehicles.
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The island already has ten electric vehicles for tourists and district administration uses and 12 new charging points are planned to be installed at strategic locations.
The company also intends to promote the use of electric bicycles by tourists and residents at Fernando de Noronha, which has an area of approximately 17 square kilometres, and it has begun installing 24 charging points at four separate stations.
The energy consumed by the equipment – which will be donated to the Pernambuco State Government – will be generated by solar panels installed on the roofs of the structures, which will allow them to be used free of charge.
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