Itaipu begins binational bidding for the installation of its first floating solar plant

Machine translation was used to publish the following Itaipu Binational release

This Thursday, July 25, the call for binational bids began for the provision, installation and commissioning of a 1,000 kilowatt (kW) floating solar system in the reservoir of the ITAIPU Hydroelectric Power Plant (CHI). As reported by the Entity's Renewable Energy Advisory Department, the call is aimed at consortia of Paraguayan and Brazilian companies, respectively.

The initiative, which seeks to advance the generation of electrical energy from solar sources, is undertaken binationally, with the support of the ITAIPU Technology Parks (PTI) on both banks.

This is a valid option for the generation of clean and renewable electrical energy through floating solar panels that will be located in the CHI reservoir. This action can also be applicable to other bodies of water with similar characteristics.

The Paraguayan general director of ITAIPU, Justo Zacarías Irún, highlighted the completion of this binational initiative that will contribute to diversifying the generation of new renewable energy sources and will be very beneficial for the Entity. He explained that initially a 10 MW power plant was planned, but finally the Executive Board authorized a first phase to be undertaken with a capacity of 1,000 kW.

“The floating solar plant that will be installed in part of the reservoir will be one of the most important in the region and the largest in Paraguay. This will allow us to identify and understand, not only the generation component, but also the support system, monitoring and the most approximate costs, which only the studies that will be carried out will give us to make a practical application of the location. They will also help identify the different environmental and energy parameters,” stressed the general director.

Likewise, he added that knowing the real costs is key to determining the optimization of the assembly area or increasing the size of the plant, in addition to capacity and power. Regarding annual generation, he pointed out that the idea is that the solar plant produces approximately between 1,800 to 2,000 MWh of energy per year and that it will be for internal use of the ITAIPU priority area.

Binational call

Likewise, the head of the Right Bank pointed out that the call is open to consortia of companies from both Paraguay and Brazil. “This is a binational process, the technical specifications necessary for the call for bids were built in conjunction with the Left Bank,” he remarked.

The term for the installation of the floating solar plant is about 4 months, once it is awarded. If there are no major inconveniences, it is estimated that even within this year the floating plant could be assembled with an experimental phase and then the coupling and verification stage of its SCADA and monitoring systems would enter.

As reported by the Entity's Renewable Energy Advisory, within the first quarter of next year it would be put into operation for connection to the systems. Regarding the advantage of the floating solar plant, they pointed out that it is not necessary to alter the natural environment of the protected areas for its installation, a factor that they want to take advantage of and exploit. Likewise, they indicated that the area to be occupied is less than 1 hectare.