Atlas and Anglo American Sign Largest Bilateral Solar PPA in Brazil

Atlas Renewable Energy and British mining company Anglo American have announced the signing of the largest solar energy PPA in Brazil

Atlas Renewable Energy, a leading renewable energy company in Latin America along with British mining company Anglo American Plc, a leading global mining company, have announced the signing of the largest solar energy purchase (PPA) and sale contract in Brazil with an investment of 881 million Brazilian Reals (USD 189 million).

The clean energy supply will be through the Atlas Casablanca photovoltaic solar plant, located in the State of Minas Gerais, and is expected to supply about 9 TWh during the life of the contract with Anglo American for 15 years and will commence in 2022.

Carlos Barrera, Atlas Renewable Energy CEO said the firm is leading in the new trend of providing clean energy directly to large energy consumers. The forms of supply are being transformed, making clean sources available to large companies, thus reducing their carbon footprint and production costs.

“Atlas is proud of pioneering, once again, the bilateral solar PPA in a new Latin American country. Our team was the first to implement a solar Private PPA in Chile some 8 years ago, and now we do so in Brazil. We would like to acknowledge and congratulate Anglo-American’s leadership for their commitment to becoming a more sustainable institution.”

The Atlas Casablanca solar plant has an installed capacity of 330 MW with more than 800,000 bifacial modules. The plant will produce enough energy to supply a city of 1.4 million inhabitants, according to the average consumption of a Brazilian family. This contract is part of Anglo American’s strategy to use 100 percent renewable energy for its operations in Brazil as of 2022 and is part of Anglo American Sustainable Mining Plan which has among its goals to reduce by 30 percent its CO2 emissions by 2030.

Wilfred Bruijn, CEO of Anglo American in Brazil, commented: “With this agreement and the contract for the construction of a wind power plant in Bahia signed in December, we will now be sourcing 90 percent of our energy from renewable sources, leading to a 40 percent reduction in CO2 emissions associated with our activities.”