MPX Energia to Start Up First Commercial-Scale Solar Park in Brazil

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Researched by Industrial Info Latin America (Cordoba, Argentina)--MPX Energia (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the power generation branch of multi-industry group EBX (Rio de Janeiro), will soon start up Brazil's first commercially operational solar park this month.

The solar park is located in Taua, a city 200 miles southwest of Fortaleza in the state of Ceara. Although the permits allow for a maximum power output of 5 megawatts (MW), the Taua Solar Park will initially supply only 1 MW to the grid, which is enough energy to meet the power demand of about 1,500 Brazilian households.

The generation facility has 4,680 photovoltaic solar panels, divided into 18 groups, that were manufactured by Kyocera (Kyoto, Japan). The installation of all solar panels concluded last week, and MPX immediately began testing as part of the commissioning of the project. Commercial operation is expected to commence shortly.

Other than testing, during the commissioning phase, MPX will proceed to set up control systems and to link the solar park with an adjoining weatherwatch station. According to MPX, Kyocera solar panels have a size of 1.5 meters by 1 meter and weight nearly 18 kilograms each.

Approximately $6.2 million has been invested on the project so far, an amount that includes $700,000 financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (Washington, D.C.).

MPX Energia has more than 9,000 MW in planned, engineered and under-construction projects in Brazil. These include the 360-MW coal-fired Porto do Itaqui power plant under construction near Sao Luis, Maranhao; the 2,100-MW Porto do Acu I, which will probably begin construction this year in Sao Joao da Barra, Rio de Janeiro; and the 720-MW Porto do Pecem I plant, which is under construction in the area of Sao Goncalo do Amarante, Ceara. The Porto do Pecem I project is being carried out through a 50:50 partnership between MPX Energia and Energias do Brasil, a subsidiary of Portugal utility company Energias de Portugal (PINK:EDPFY) (Lisbon, Portugal).

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