Brazil's Chesf to Invest $23 Million in 3-Megawatt Solar Platform Project in Petrolina

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Brazil's Companhia Hidro Elétrica do São Francisco (Chesf) (Recife, Brazil), a public utility company that is part of the Eletrobras conglomerate, has been authorized by federal energy regulator Agencia Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ANEEL) to build, test and operate a 3-megawatt (MW) solar platform project in the city of Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco. The investment for the project is estimated to be about 44 million reais, or nearly $23 million.

The project was originated after ANEEL made a public call some months ago for investors that were interested in developing the country's emerging market for solar energy. The call was initially intended for I+D solar projects that could eventually reach commercial scale, and its main goal is to make possible for solar energy, mainly photovoltaic, to set foot and build its own space within Brazil's power generation sector.

For that purpose, Chesf will team up with Eletrobras's Center of Investigation of Electric Energy (Cepel) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the Foundation for Technological Innovations (FITec) (Recife, Brazil), the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), and the University of Pernambuco (UPE). Chesf will lead the venture, while the other partners, all of them non-profit organizations, will serve as research members.

The Petrolina Solar Platform will include a 500-kilowatt (kW) solar laboratory for the study of different equipment configurations and generation arrangements, performance appraisal and energy efficiency tests, among other uses. All the power produced at the lab will be utilized for the project's internal demands and, if excess occurs, it will be sent to the National Grid and sold according to the standard rules of the electrical market.

Partners will now proceed with the detailed design of the project. The first hiring and contracting activities for the implementation of the solar platform are not expected to happen before the last quarter of 2012.

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