Brazil's hydropower dam will house 30MW floating photovoltaic power plant

     Belgian engineering company Tractebel, a subsidiary of French energy giant Engie, plans to build three floating photovoltaic power plant arrays with a capacity of 30 MW in a 52.2 MW Batalha hydropower project owned by Brazilian state power company Elerobras Furnas.


    The Batalha Hydropower Station is located on the San Marcos River in the state of Goias in central Brazil. Brazil has another 1 MW floating solar power plant at the Sobradinho dam, located on the San Francisco River in Sobradinho, Bahia, and is a 175 MW hydroelectric power station. The company started this project in 2016 and expects to expand the power generation scale to 5 MW. Chesf also installed an experimental floating photovoltaic array on the Balbina Dam, a hydroelectric power station located on the Uatuma River in the Amazon rainforest.

    Floating photovoltaic power generation has particular advantages in Brazil, as modules and floating installation structures can help alleviate the very difficult reservoir evaporation problem, while also increasing power supply during drought periods.