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Designed and built by Solarcred under the shared generation model, the 48 plants have a generation capacity of 2,540 MWh per month, with a total installation cost of R$70.8 million (US$12.8 million). The systems have a direct impact on the lives of more than 5,000 cooperative members, who now see their energy bills reduced, saving more than R$1.2 million a month in total.
In the interior of the state of Santa Catarina, one of the main challenges for small-scale chicken and pig producers was to increase energy consumption from a single-phase grid that often supplied only 3,000 kW/month to a need of between 6,000 and 10,000 kW/month to maintain and expand production. The difficulty was due to the topography and climate of Santa Catarina, with a lot of shaded land that does not favor the installations.
With the idea of ??bringing solar energy to these small municipalities, the integrating company Solarcred Energia, from the municipality of Quilombo, started the creation of cooperatives that could use the energy generated by photovoltaic plants in the shared generation model. The plants have an installed capacity of 0.5 MW and involve a minimum of 20 individual cooperatives and others with more than 100 members.
The cooperatives launched a tender outlining the technical requirements that the plants had to meet in order to achieve the expected power. An average of 780 to 850 580 W bifacial modules were purchased from JA Solar, distributed by Bold Energy. The next step, according to Solarcred Energia, is to invest in storage, which they hope to complete by 2025.
In 2022, 17 new Solar Cooperatives were created in Santa Catarina, as well as three service and family farming cooperatives in the state, and two in Rio Grande do Sul. These cooperatives already have 48 approved mini- and micro-generation photovoltaic projects, including a mixed gas project. Together, these plants have a generation capacity of 2,540 MWh per month, with a total installation cost of R$ 70.8 million, and represent a direct impact on the lives of 5,080 cooperative members, who now see their energy bills reduced, saving more than R$ 1.2 million a month.
In addition, the viability of these plants generated 70 part-time jobs, divided between 22 administrative staff of the cooperatives and 48 people dedicated to project maintenance. For the family farmers who rented land to install the plants, this initiative represents an additional income of one minimum wage for every 0.5 hectares of land. This represents a significant reduction in CO2 emissions, estimated at 7,819 tons per year, which is equivalent to planting 775,845 trees for 25 years.
According to Solarcred Energia CEO Odair José Demarco, “each plant has approximately 50 to 80 partners and 1% shares cost an average of R$30,000, generating approximately 500 kW per month. They produce an average of 55,000 kW/month and, in some localities, the land for construction was donated by the municipality through swap contracts and in others acquired by the cooperatives themselves.
So far, of the 48 planned plants, 18 are already in operation in municipalities of Santa Catarina with between 3,000 and 10,000 inhabitants, such as Jardinópolis, Nova Erechim, Nova Itaberaba, Coronel Freitas, Cordilheira Alta, Flor do Sertão, Santa Terezinha do Progresso, Saudades, São Bernardino, Tigrinhos, Quilombo, Videira, Aratiba, Marcelino Ramos and Charqueadas-RS. Some cooperatives have carried out two or three projects and all have real-time monitoring systems by PV Operation”, he explains.
For the managing director, the great advantage is that it offers savings so that the producer can invest in his business, so that the money goes back to the municipality, which has a direct impact on the local economy. In addition, the mills are already considered tourist attractions, which also contributes to the development of the municipalities. “That is the strength of the cooperative: the solution to the investment problem of a small producer and a saving of at least 50%, which allows increasing agricultural production with a power that would not be possible without solar energy.”
Demarco also says he has helped some producers obtain loans to invest in the plant from the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (Pronaf) with more attractive credit lines. The CEO also said Solarcred still has another 20 plants under construction or in the pipeline for interested investors. |
