Brazil’s Claro now has 70 renewable energy plants in operation

Brazilian telecom operator Claro has opened a new solar park, reaching the milestone of 70 renewable energy plants in operation supplying its operations.

The newest of them, in the interior of São Paulo state, was built and will be operated by RZK Energia under a power purchase agreement (PPA). This is the eighth unit delivered by RZK for Claro’s clean energy program.

Called Usina de Tanabi, the plant has total generation capacity of 6.3MW, which makes it the largest in the partnership between Claro and the supplier in terms of capacity, the companies said in a statement.

In addition to Tanabi, RZK has built other four photovoltaic solar power plants for Claro (two in the federal district of Brasília and two in São Paulo state), two biogas facilities (in the metropolitan regions of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) and one hydro plant (in Mato Grosso state).

Together, these eight units have total generation capacity of 36MW.

The Tanabi plant is expected to avoid the emission of more than 1,000t/y of CO2, according to the parties, and will be operated in the distributed generation (DG) format.

Last year, RZK Energia raised 56mn reais (US$9.9mn) through the issuance of green-labeled real estate receivables certificates (CRI), specifically to invest in the expansion and construction of photovoltaic projects.

That issuance was structured and coordinated by Inter DTVM, the investment arm of digital bank Inter. The bank has a credit portfolio of 16bn reais, equity of 8.6bn reais and 33.6bn reais of total assets.

Claro's clean energy program was created in 2017 and, according to the telco, is the largest such program in Brazil among private companies.

Last year, Claro started using its first DG biogas plant, capable of generating 4.65MW for the telecom group. Provided by RZK, the plant generates power from landfill waste and is reportedly the largest of its kind in the DG segment in Brazil.

All 70 of the clean energy plants that supply the operator currently occupy an area equivalent to 670 football stadiums, according to Claro. The company claims to have six more plants in development.

The telco expects the program to supply the equivalent of 80% of the energy consumed in all operations and facilities in Brazil.

Currently, the 70 plants supply more than 20,000 Claro consumer units and power more than 60% of the operator's antennas with renewable energy, Claro said.

In its 2021 sustainability report, Claro’s parent América Móvil said that 21% of its global energy consumption came from renewable energy.

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The group also said that, during 2021, 46% of its subsidiaries had reached power purchase agreements (PPAs) with suppliers.

According to data from power regulator Aneel, installed capacity in the DG format in Brazil will surpass 10.9GW by the end of this year, while the total number of DG units should reach 1mn by year-end.

RZK Energia is a subsidiary of the Rezek group, a Brazilian holding company with operations in the agribusiness, real estate and urban development sectors.

RZK reports that it has 60 clients from different verticals, but mainly retailers such as Carrefour, as well as consumer goods firm Unilever, cabling and electric components manufacturer Brascabos, in addition to Claro.