Vale starts generating renewable energy from Sol do Cerrado

By Vale

This is a machine translation of the press release originally published in Portuguese. 

Vale SA (“Vale” or “Company”) informs that it has started operating the Sol do Cerrado project.

The project is one of the largest solar energy parks in Latin America, with an installed capacity of 766 Megawatts-peak, equivalent to the consumption of a city of 800,000 inhabitants.

When operating at full capacity, in July 2023, it will represent 16% of all energy consumed by Vale in Brazil.

The Sol do Cerrado project received approximately R$ 3 billion (US$ 590 million) in investments and works generated 3 thousand jobs at the peak of activities, around 50% of local labor and 16% of women.

“Sol do Cerrado is an unprecedented project for Vale, which brings local development, renewable energy and is linked to our goal of being leaders in sustainable mining”, commented Eduardo Bartolomeo , president of Vale.

The project is an important step towards achieving Vale's climate goals of reducing its net carbon emissions (scopes 1 and 2) by 33% by 2030 and zeroing them by 2050. Vale expects to reach 100% renewable electricity consumption in Brazil by 2025, and globally by 2030.