The factory will be located in the reservoir of the Itaipu hydroelectric power station. The tender runs until September 5 and the stated period for the installation of the floating solar power plant is approximately four months.
The Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant, also called Itaipu Binacional, is a binational hydroelectric power plant located between the cities of Hernandarias in Paraguay and Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil, on the Paraná River, which forms the natural border between the two countries, 14 km north of the Friendship Bridge. Last week, the dam’s operator issued a tender for binational tenders for the supply, installation and commissioning of a 1 MW floating solar energy system in the plant’s reservoir.
The call for Paraguayan and Brazilian companies is open until September 5.
With an estimated budget of US$968,000, the initiative aims to promote electric energy generation from solar energy and is being implemented on a bi-national basis, with the support of the Itaipu Technological Park (PTI) on both banks.
The Paraguayan General Manager of Itaipu, Justo Zacarías Irún, explained that initially a 10 MW power plant was considered, but ultimately the board of directors authorized the implementation of a first phase with a capacity of 1 MW.
The designated period for the installation of the floating solar power plant is approximately four months once the contract is awarded. “If there are no major problems, it is estimated that the floating installation could be installed this year in an experimental phase and then the coupling and verification phase of the SCADA and monitoring systems would begin,” the Entity’s Renewable Energy Advisory Board said . , adding that it could launch in the first quarter of next year.
The energy consulting and analytics company PSR recently suggested in a report that “floating solar in Brazil is an opportunity for hydropower.” Specifically, the Itaipu hydroelectric power station, which started operating in 1984, could almost double its generating capacity by installing a floating solar power plant on 10% of the area of its reservoir, which has an area of 1,350 km2, PSR estimates. A floating system in this ratio would have a capacity of 13,500 MW; the hydroelectric power station has an installed capacity of 14,000 MW.
The estimate assumes 1.4 MWp direct current from floating solar panels per hectare of occupied surface, or 1 MW alternating current per hectare, after transformation by means of inverters.
This content is copyrighted and may not be reused. If you would like to collaborate with us and reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
