Statoil joins a solar energy project in Brazil

Equinor headquartersEquinor headquarters.Photo. Norway Today Media

Statoil has bought 40% of a building-ready solar project in Brazil that will supply power to 160,000 homes. This is the first time the company has focused on solar power.

 

The agreement on the Apodi project, with a capacity of 162 megawatts, in Quixeré, in the state of Ceará, has been concluded with Scatec Solar. The two companies own 40% of the project each, while a Brazilian consortium owns the rest, reported Statoil.

‘Statoil actively builds on our oil and gas portfolio with a compliment of profitable renewable energy sources,’ said Executive Vice President of New Energy Solutions, Irene Rummelhoff, at Statoil.

Additionally, Statoil has bought 50% of the ‘project company’ so that they can participate in the construction and operation of solar energy projects in the future.

The total purchase price for the solar energy project, and the project company, is 25 million US dollars, almost NOK 200 million at today’s rate of conversion.

Construction will begin in October. Statoil will contribute personnel and services from Brazil and Norway. The plant is likely to start supplying electricity from the end of 2018.

The total investment cost for the project is estimated at $215 million, with Statoil’s share being approximately $30 million dollars, or NOK 240 million.

The effor t is being applauded by the Zero Environmental Impact Foundation (Zero).

‘This looks like a sensible and careful first step into solar energy for Statoil, and an opportunity to test whether Statoil belongs in solar energy’, said Marius Holm, general manager of Zero, to the ‘enerWE’ journal.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today