RZK Energia raises 150 million reais from BNB to finance new renewable generation projects in the Northeast

By RZK Energia

June 20, 2024

This is a machine translation of the press release originally published in Portuguese.

In yet another significant advance in its strategy to increase capacity and operational scale, RZK Energia raised R$150 million this month from Banco do Nordeste do Brasil ( BNB ) to finance new renewable distributed generation projects in the region. Using the resources obtained, the company plans to invest in the construction of a total of seven photovoltaic plants, two in Ceará and another five in Piauí, which should add 45 megawatts of installed power (MWp) to its asset portfolio by the end of 2025.

Among the projects, RZK Energia is already working on the development of what should become the largest solar distributed generation project in Teresina, capital of Piauí, to date. In the state, which will receive the largest portion of the capital assured with BNB, the company is already working on the installation of the Junco I and II plants, which will be located in Chapadinha Sul. Together, the plants will occupy an area of 15 hectares and will have a nominal power total of 6.33 MWp, in addition to using solar tracker technology, which will increase generation efficiency. With this, a production of 12,232 MWh per year is estimated to supply the local electricity grid.

According to Luiz Serrano, CEO and Managing Partner of RZK Energia, the company's expansion movement to the Northeast is aligned with the current proposal for investment diversification and consolidation of partnerships throughout the national territory. “We already have a significant presence in distributed generation, energy trading on the free market and management tools in the South, Southeast and Central-West regions. But it is a very important step for us to advance in the third largest DG market in the country, taking our unified service platform with structuring support for local investments, such as the one recently achieved with BNB and partnerships built since the beginning of the year with Netlux Solar, in Teresina, and FIT Energia, from Banco Santander , in Ceará”, says the executive.

With a consequent gain in capillarity in the Northeast from the seven planned projects, RZK Energia plans to generate enough renewable energy to supply up to 35 thousand homes or small businesses, whose sustainable consumption could avoid the emission corresponding to 132 thousand tons of CO2, which equivalent to the absorption of 810 thousand trees from the Atlantic Forest.

Reach into new currencies

In 2024, the Northeast surpassed the mark of 5.4 gigawatts (GWp) of installed solar energy capacity in distributed generation, according to the study Meu Financiamento Solar, published in March based on data from the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel ) and the Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar Energy Association (Absolar). In total, 769 thousand homes, companies and rural properties consume renewable energy generated in this modality in the region, which, since 2012, has generated more than R$25 billion and generated more than 155 thousand direct and indirect jobs in the northeastern states.

For the CEO of RZK Energia, the energy transition and the thriving northeastern economy are not only priorities in the growth strategy of the company and its partners, but also of its corporate clients, who adopt renewable distributed generation as a fundamental element for sustainability and cost reduction in your operations. “We believe that our arrival in the region will be different, as our generation delivery, focused on the customer, is associated with other areas of activity, such as specialized consultancy in energy efficiency, training of autonomous agents - also called Energy Advisors in our management of the energy ecosystem. sales - and provision of digital tools for purchasing, monitoring and managing energy consumption. In companies based on technology and service provision at RZK Energia, for example, more than 250 thousand invoices are already managed per month”, explains Luiz Serrano.

With 28 owned and managed projects based on renewable sources, including photovoltaics (23) and biogas (5), RZK Energia's energy assets mainly comprise serving large companies in their most diverse operations, such as TIM, Claro, Hi, Raia Drogasil, Santander, FIT and Smartfit, among other clients. Taking into account the plants in operation and those under construction, RZK Energia's renewable energy generation capacity is 220 megawatts, currently serving around 15 thousand consumer units in distributed generation through its own assets and another 200 in the environment free of charge.