- Voltalia has won a French Government tender to develop 5 MW Parc Sable Blanc Solar Power Plant with 9.3 MWh battery storage system
- Atlas Renewable Energy has raised $150 million to construct its 359 MW solar project in Brazil, contracted to sell power to Anglo American
- Engie Energia Chile has started supplying solar power to Chilean bakery Ideal under a PPA
- EDP delivers a new solar project to Brazilian telecommunications firm Claro Brasil
Voltalia wins French Guiana solar tender: French renewable energy company Voltalia claims to have emerged as the sole winner of the 5th period of France’s CRE 4 tender round, for non-interconnected areas for ground based solar power plants in French Guiana. It will now go ahead with 5 MW Parc Sable Blanc Solar Power Plant with a 9.3 MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility. The project will be fully developed by Voltalia and sell power to the national grid for a fixed tariff for 20 years once it is commissioned in 2023. Voltalia said the project will expand its Toco complex whose capacity will now increase to 19.3 MW with a capacity of 25.6 MWh. The company currently generates power from a combined solar, hydraulic, biomass and storage capacity of 31 MW in French Guiana, covering close to 10% of the main electricity grid consumption. In October 2019, Voltalia and Caisse des Depots commissioned a 3.8 MW solar with 2.6 MW storage project in French Guiana (see 3.8 MW Solar+Storage Project Online In French Guiana).
$150 million raised for 359 MW project in Brazil: Atlas Renewable Energy has raised $150 million loan from IDB Invest and Norway’s DNB Bank ASA to finance the construction of its 359 MW Lar do Sol-Casablanca Solar Project in Brazil. The project will provide clean energy to global mining giant Anglo American’s operations in Minas Gerais under the ‘largest’ power purchase agreement (PPA) for a solar project with a private offtaker in Brazil (see British Mining Group Secures Solar Power Contract In Brazil). It is expected to generate 805 GWh clean energy annually on completion.
Chilean bakery sourcing renewable energy: Engie Energia Chile SA has secured Ideal SA bakery company under a power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply renewable energy to the latter’s plants in Quilicura and Nutrabien in Talagante through rooftop solar. Clean energy power supply has already started for these plants of Ideal making these run on 100% renewable electricity, and for the Nuble plant in Chillan Viejo commune will start from H1/2022. This renewable energy sourcing is part of Ideal’s commitment to operate with 100% renewable electricity by 2025, aligned with its parent Grupo Bimbo’s pledge to go 100% renewable in its electricity supply as part of RE100 initiative. In April 2021, Engie said it will exit from coal in the country by 2025 and develop a 2 GW renewable energy portfolio here, while continuing to work on its green hydrogen facilities (see France’s Engie To Exit From Coal In Chile By 2025).
Claro Brasil expands solar portfolio: In June 2020, EDP delivered 4 solar distributed generation projects with combined capacity of 4 MW to Claro Brasil to supply power to 516 consumer units of the telecommunications firm. Now, according to local media, Claro Brasil says it has got EDP to deliver another solar project in Brasilia with 11,880 solar modules with a capacity to generate 6,540 MWh annually. It will use solar power from this project to supply to 110 of the company’s towers, stores and offices.
