1 GW Solar PV Plant Proposed In Piaui, Brazil

The State Government of Piaui in Brazil has received a proposal from local Brazilian company JKL Energy to build what would be the largest solar power plant here, with 1 GW capacity. It plans to deploy 500,000 solar panels per 500 hectares, meaning a total of 4 million to build the project.

JKL Energy's CEO Maurício Sousa said it chose Piaui to locate this capacity due to the high solar irradiance. The project, he shared, is already completely ready to be implemented once all necessary licenses are in place. It will be located between the municipalities of Guaribas and Caracol.

Piaui administration has guaranteed support for feasibility of the project and its installation expecting it to create 2,000 direct and indirect jobs over next 4 years.

"Today, Piauí is a showcase in the area of ​​renewable energies and we have frequently received groups of national, multinational, international funds that are looking to invest in Piauí massively in this area, as we have two of the most important raw materials for this, which it is the wind and the sun, in addition to the transmission lines and substations, that is, all the objective conditions necessary for the implementation of these investments," said Secretary of State for Mining, Oil and Renewable Energy, Wilson Brandão.

The office of Piaui's Governor announced earlier in January 2021 that the state had contracted 3 public private partnership (PPP) projects in 2020 despite the impacts of the pandemic, through the Superintendence of Partnerships and Concessions (Suparc) with one of these being mini solar power plants. These 8 mini solar PV projects were tendered and are expected to generate 650,000 kWh every month.

In October 2019, Spanish company Enerside sought approval from the Piaui government to build 322 MW Ribeiro Gonçalves Solar Complex with $320 million investment (see 322 MW Solar PV Complex Approved In Brazil).

In March 2020, Piaui announced it had 69 operational power generation assets in the state with 31 under implementation. The total operational solar power capacity of the state back then reached 456.68 MW with another 381.73 MW under implementation.