Usinas Brasil Solar prepares new round of investments

Usinas Brasil Solar (BRS) is building distributed generation (DG) solar plants with more than 30MW of power and plans to install another 150MW in 2025 and 2026, the company's commercial director, Rafael D'Angelo, told BNamericas.

The total investment in the projects is approximately 200mn reais (US$36mn)

"Given that only 4.16% of consumers in the captive [regulated] market are using distributed generation solutions, there is huge potential for expansion," he said.  

The projects underway are being developed in partnership with Mira Energia and Grupo 4M Participações in the states of Rio de Janeiro (UFV Japeri 5MW and UFV Piraí 5MW), Goiás (UFV Catalão 1MW and UFV Hidrolândia 2MW), São Paulo (UFV Dois Córregos 2MW, UFV Bebedouro 3MW and UFV Araraquara 1MW), Ceará (UFV Guaraci 5MW and UFV Dois Irmãos 1MW) and Bahia (UFV Alvorada 2MW and UFV São José 3MW). 

BRS also has projects with its own investments in Ceará, Minas Gerais and São Paulo.

"The additional pipeline for a second wave of BRS investments indicates that the company is not only responding to current demand, but also preparing for future market needs," D'Angelo said.

BRS currently has 50MW in operation. The last projects connected to the grid were Avelar 1 and 2 (3MW) located in the municipality of Avelar in Rio de Janeiro, Consolação 1 and 2 (2MW), in Guidoval, Minas Gerais, and Taiúva (1MW) in Taiúva, São Paulo. 

The Avelar plant in Rio de Janeiro state

D'Angelo said that, as well as allowing consumers to generate their own energy, resulting in electricity bill savings, DG contributes to mitigating climate change. 

"Furthermore, as solar energy technology advances and installation costs fall, it’s likely that more customers will seek to adopt these solutions," said the BRS director. 

With 30.7GW of installed capacity in the country, solar DG represents around two thirds of the national solar energy capacity currently in operation.