Comerc Energia inaugurates São João do Paracatu photovoltaic complex, and Valgroup expands its consumption of renewable power, reinforcing the commitment to sustainability

Comerc Energia inaugurated this Friday (14) São João do Paracatu photovoltaic complex, in the municipality of Paracatu, located northwest of the state of Minas Gerais. With investments of approximately BR 950 million, the solar plant has 267 MWp generation capacity. Under commercial operation since December 2023, the project has among its customers Granha Ligas – one of the largest mining companies in the country, the industrial unit of primary magnesium of RIMA Group, and Valgroup – reference in plastic production, transformation and recycling.

The plant has around 500 thousand photovoltaic modules, distributed on an area of 509 hectares, equivalent to approximately 471 soccer fields. In its five first months of operation, the complex already generated over 275 GWh, amount corresponding to the power consumed by cities with over 480 thousand inhabitants, such as Niterói (RJ). In one year, the expectation is that São João do Paracatu will avoid the emission of approximately 162 thousand tons of CO₂ to the atmosphere, and for the project to be capable of generating approximately 145 thousand carbon credits a year.

“It is a great satisfaction to inaugurate another project in Minas Gerais, a state that is in the forefront in solar power generation and playing a very important role in the energy transition of Brazil. Comerc Energia became one of the largest generator of renewable power in the country, broadly due to so many important assets in this state”, says Andre Dorf, CEO of Comerc Energia. “Thanks to the portfolio of more than 2 GW of installed capacity, we can support the de-carbonization journey of some of the greatest companies in Brazil and signals that we playing well our role of being one of the main de-carbonization agents in the country”, concluded.

One of the partners in the plant, Valgroup will reach 65% of its production supplied by wind and solar power. The company already purchases 39% of its power needs through wind power, from another generator, and now contributing for the increase of de-carbonization of scope 2 – emissions of CO2 related to the power expenditure – adds another 26% of solar power.

“This partnership with Comerc for renewable power generation meets the values that represent Valgroup and the purpose of raising the society’s quality of life. Furthermore, it is totally integrated to our initiatives and robust sustainable position that we have, such as reduce our scopes 1, 2 and 3, minimizing carbon emission and recycling the equivalent to the amount of packaging we produce, effectively contributing to a circular economy. A movement that Valgroup that started in 2023, in a partnership with Casa dos Ventos for power supply from a wind power plant, and that is now taking shape with the power generation by solar power plant”, emphasizes Eduardo Berkovitz, Director of Institutional Relations and Compliance of Valgroup.

Expertise and excellence achieved from renewable plants

In the next few weeks, with the entry into commercial operation of UFV Várzea, with 118 MWp installed capacity in Várzea da Palma (MG), the last Centralized Generation solar power plant of its 2021 business plan, Comerc Energia will reach 2.1 GW installed capacity, when adding its assets from Centralized and Distributed Solar and Wind Power Generation.

Along with promptness in implementation, Comerc Energia stands out for the efficiency of its projects, featuring on the list of 20 most efficient solar power plants in Brazil in 9 of the 12 months of 2023, being the only one that reached twice the 1^st place, as the most efficient plant in ePowerBay ranking.

About Comerc Energia

Comerc Energia is the most complete platform of renewable solutions in power and de-carbonization in Brazil. With over 20 years of operation and a portfolio under management comprising around 4.7 thousand consumer units, the group is market share leader in management in the free power market with 17% consumers, and in 2023, registered a net operational revenue of BRL 4.5 billion. Comerc Energia’s structure is grounded on four business verticals that are brought together in its centralized renewable generation portfolio, distributed generation, power trading, energy efficiency, sectorized measurement and consumers management in free market, which make the path to de-carbonization of Brazilian companies more concrete, assertive and possible to achieve.

About Valgroup

For over 45 years in the market, Valgroup has become a benchmark in plastic production, transformation, and recycling. It operates in Brazil, Colombia, Spain, the United States, Italy, Mexico and Uruguay and has approximately 7,000 employees in 41 production plants and 7 logistics plants. A consolidated company, with the purpose of raising the quality of life of the society through innovative and sustainable packaging solutions.