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By Marta Nogueira
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Vale started operating the Sol do Cerrado solar energy park in Jaíba, north of Minas Gerais, on Thursday, an important step for the mining company to reach its goal of reducing its emissions net carbon (scopes 1 and 2) by 33% by 2030 and zero by 2050.
With investments of 3 billion reais, the solar generation park –one of the largest in Latin America– will have an installed capacity of 766 peak megawatts and will reach full capacity in July 2023, representing then 16% of all energy consumed by Vale in the Brazil.
To get an idea of the size of the undertaking, Sol do Cerrado will be equivalent to 41% of all current solar energy generation in Minas Gerais and 10% in Brazil, according to calculations by the mining company.
In an interview, the executive manager in the Energy area at Vale, Ludmila Nascimento, pointed out that the delivery of the project is one of the results of the mining company’s decarbonization commitments assumed in 2019. The company also plans to reach 100% of renewable electricity consumption in the Brazil by 2025, and globally by 2030.
“It is a very relevant project for Vale’s energy matrix… it is already a result of one of the initiatives included in our decarbonization strategy,” Nascimento told Reuters.
The energy generated by Sol do Cerrado will reduce Vale’s emissions by 134,000 tons of CO2 equivalent per year, which represents the emissions of approximately 100,000 compact cars, he explained.
One of the largest consumers of electricity in Brazil, Vale consumed around 800 MWavg in 2021, 99% of which from renewable sources, according to company data.
Last year, around 70% of Vale’s electricity in Brazil came from its own assets, such as hydroelectric plants and wind farms. Sol do Cerrado will add about 16 percentage points to that amount, Nascimento said. Due to its relevance, the project was taken by Vale to the COP 27 climate conference this year, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The solar plant comprises 17 sub-parks, four of which have already been energized. When at full capacity, Sol do Cerrado will have 1.4 million solar panels with an automatic tracking system for the movement of the sun during the day, to make better use of the sun’s rays.
For the project, 10.2 million meters of cables will be used through which the energy will be conducted.
The project also includes a transmission line 15 kilometers long, with a voltage of 230 thousand volts, connecting the Collectora Sol do Cerrado and Jaíba substations, from where the energy is drained to the National Interconnected System (SIN).
Vale stated that works on Sol do Cerrado began in January 2021 and generated around 3,000 jobs at the peak of activities, almost 50% of local labor and 16% of women. When it reaches its maximum operating capacity, Sol do Cerrado will have 90 permanent workers with different qualifications.
PROJECT PORTFOLIO
The executive manager in Vale’s Energy area highlighted that Brazil’s energy matrix is already quite renewable and that Vale has been investing over the years to expand its generation at competitive costs.
Vale has other projects in its portfolio.
Through a joint venture in partnership with Cemig called Aliança, the company has two wind projects in Ceará and is building a third in Rio Grande do Norte. The mining company is also studying the implementation of a hybrid project (solar and wind) in Bahia and the possible expansion of Sol do Cerrado to meet the increased demand in production.
Abroad, the executive manager highlighted that the mining company is working to develop generation projects in Canada and Oman, where it has important activities.
(By Marta Nogueira; editing by Letícia Fucuchima)
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