Sobradinho

The Sobradinho dam was built in the 1970s on one of Brazil’s main rivers: Rio São Francisco. Its flow is used to generate electricity thanks to the hydroelectric dam installed on the reservoir.

In 2016, the Brazilian government decided to launch an R&D program to study the hybridization of a floating photovoltaic power plant with a hydroelectric dam. The research was conducted with local academics to measure the impact of the plant and carry out the necessary studies.

As a result, the project submitted by Ciel & Terre and Laketricity to build a floating solar power plant was born, enabling the hybridization of a floating solar power plant with a hydroelectric dam to be put into practice. This is the first FPV (Floating PhotoVoltaic) project in South America.

The Sobradinho project not only avoids the evaporation of the equivalent of 3 Olympic-sized swimming pools a year, but also prevents the emission of almost 700 tons of CO2.