ARMSTRONGTEC WIND, SOLAR AND TIDAL POWER PLANT

Ceara attracting investments in solar


State win factory producing photovoltaic solar plant and the first trade of the country


The privileged climate of Ceara has attracted investments in solar energy for the region. The first production plant for photovoltaic panels in South America, the ESBRA (Brazilian Solar Energy), and the first commercial solar power plant will be installed in the country towns of the state next year.



The design of ESBRA, which stood for four months awaiting a license, has recently gained a prior authorization for its funding to be released and the earthworks in the area could be opened in the city of Horizonte.



Fernando Pessoa, director of the Development Agency of the State of Ceará for Renewable Energy (ADEC), explains that the initiative is private but the government of Ceara state and municipal governments support the construction industry through the donation of land from tax incentives and skills of local manpower.



The project will receive a total investment of approximately $ 73 million from private equity and financing. Initially will apply $ 25 million, of which $ 16 million from a Bank financing of the Northeast. Responsible for design consultancies are small purse and Fields and Pentagon, officials at Skyline, Sebrae-EC, the Economic Development Agency of Ceará (ADEC) and the USP Foundation.



Steps



In the first phase, only ESBRA manufacture photovoltaic panels, whose components are imported from the United States and Germany.



The photovoltaic cells used in the manufacture of the panels, will be in production in the second phase. In a third step, the extraction of silicon for the manufacture of another component used in the production of cells also will be held in the unit.



"The idea is verticalize and nationalize the entire chain of solar energy production in Ceara," explains the director of the Pentagon and Investment Consulting, Aetius Gonçalves, responsible for preparing the project's financial ESBRA.



Solar Power Plant



The high incidence of sunlight and a lower level of cloudiness and precipitation caused the rainy world MPX, energy company of the EBX Group (the entrepreneur Eike Batista), choose the city of Taua, Ceara inside, to install the first plant solar business in the country



According to Person, the equipment will be initially imported, but the expectation is that they are produced within the State a second time. In the first phase, the plant will be able to generate 1 MW of electricity from solar energy, enough to power about a thousand homes. It is expected that the capacity is expanded to 50 MW by 2012.



Although solar power has a significantly higher cost than the traditional source, Adec's director says that energy will not cost more to the final consumer. The state government created in 2009, an Incentive Fund Solar Energy Ceará (Fies) to subsidize prices and encourage the adoption of this type of clean energy.



Both the factory and the plant should be operational next year.