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The plant
Ituverava Solar Plant
The Ituverava solar plant is situated near Tabocas do Brejo Velho, a town known for its vast bamboo plantations some 800 kilometers from Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia. Operational since September 2017, the plant is one of the largest in South America and covers an area of 579 hectares, equivalent to 700 soccer fields. Its 850,000 solar panels are capable of generating 550 GWh a year, a quantity of energy sufficient to meet the needs of around 268,000 households, thereby avoiding the emission of 318,000 metric tons of CO2 a year.
Tecnology
Solar
Status
In operation
Operational capacity
254 MW
Energy production
550 GWh
CO2 emissions avoided
318,000 metric tons of CO2 each year
Energy needs met
268,000 households
Timeline
Milestones
Impact on the local communities
The Ituverava plant is situated in a sensitive area in terms of biodiversity, with a high concentration of native species and a serious loss of natural habitats due to human activities. With the goal of protecting the local bird populations, perches and artificial nests have been installed to attract bird species that disperse seeds; as a result, their reproduction rate is increasing.
Other species benefit from the presence of the Ituverava solar plant as well. The Biodiversity Dissemination Project for the Community Monitoring has counted 11,026 species of butterflies and moths, 9,464 species of ants, 5,138 species of birds and 244 species of mammals (excluding bats). The project is a perfect example of how a solar plant can be of huge benefit to both biodiversity and the local community.
Ituverava is a sustainable plant. It applies the principles of the circular economy to its water management: systems have been installed to recover and recycle the water produced by the air conditioning cooling units. We have also contributed to the adoption of new agroforestry systems to facilitate ecological restoration. The Compostar project, for example, takes advantage of the organic waste produced at the plant and reduces gas emissions. The Vegetation Recomposition Program, on the other hand, is based on an anti-erosion and re-naturalization technique that includes the planting of native vegetation.
Finally, we’ve donated 18 solar panels that are no longer in use at the plant to power a water pump used by 39 households in the local community, who previously used a diesel-powered pump.