Commercial operation of Enel’s Brazilian solar farm expansion begins

“Bringing online the first expansion of our record-breaking São Gonçalo solar park is a major step forward for Enel in Brazil, strengthening our position as leaders in the country’s solar generation market,” said Salvatore Bernabei, Chief Executive Officer of Enel Green Power and Head of Enel's Global Power Generation business line. “Despite the challenges imposed by the current scenario, we recently started construction of 1.3 GW of renewable capacity in Brazil, which includes a new 256 MW section of the São Gonçalo solar park. We remain committed to further contributing to the country’s growing electricity sector and leading the green recovery in Brazil as we have been doing worldwide.”

In August 2019, Enel announced the start of construction of the 133 MW extension of the solar park, which is now up and running. Prior to that, the construction of São Gonçalo’s first 475 MW section started in October 2018 and was connected to the grid in January 2020.

The new 256 MW expansion, which started construction in 2020, is expected to start operations in 2021 and brings the overall capacity of São Gonçalo to 864 MW, making it Enel’s largest power generation facility under construction worldwide. The Enel Group is investing around R$735 million, equivalent to approximately US$142 million, in the construction of the third section of the plant.

The entire 864 MW São Gonçalo solar park will be comprised of more than 2.2 million solar panels and, once fully up and running, will be capable of generating more than 2.2 TWh/y, avoiding the emission of over 1.2 million tpy of CO₂

Out of São Gonçalo’s overall installed capacity:

• 599 MW, including the 256 MW from the third section, the 133 MW from the second section and a 210 MW portion from the first section, are supported by power supply contracts negotiated with corporate customers in the Brazilian free energy market.
• The other 265 MW from the first section are supported by 20-year power supply contracts with a pool of distribution companies operating in the country’s regulated market.

According to Enel, during the construction of the facility, rigorous safety protocols were implemented, in light of the ongoing pandemic and in line with the indications provided by health authorities, with the aim to ensure the necessary protection to the workers involved in the construction as well as to the communities where the park is installed. The company established strict guidelines for travel, which include preventive quarantine when workers move to cities outside the construction site region, increased sanitisation of facilities, vehicles and environments on construction sites, as well as measures to ensure safe work practices. On the construction site, the teams and operations were structured to maintain social distancing. Enel also carried out testing campaigns involving all employees working on the construction sites.

In Brazil, the Enel Group, through its subsidiaries EGPB and Enel Brasil, has a total renewable installed capacity of over 3.4 GW, of which 1210 MW are wind, 979 MW solar and 1269 MW hydroelectric.

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