Newave Energizes Minas Gerais With 436-MWp Solar Park Opening Ceremony

• Newave Energia inaugurates a 435.8-MWp solar park in Minas Gerais, supplying power to 450,000 homes and underscoring Brazil’s rapid expansion of utility-scale renewables.

Newave Energia has switched on one of Brazil’s largest single-site photovoltaic complexes, a 435.8-megawatt-peak solar park spread across the sun-baked interior of Minas Gerais. The ribbon-cutting on Wednesday marks the culmination of an 18-month build that saw more than 800,000 bifacial panels installed over gently rolling pastureland once used for cattle ranching.

Project managers say the array will generate roughly 770 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity each year—enough to meet the annual demand of about 450,000 Brazilian homes—while preventing an estimated 500,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. Power will be delivered into the national grid under a blend of long-term power-purchase agreements with industrial off-takers and spot-market sales via Newave’s trading desk.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Newave Energia chief executive Mariana Lopes called the project “a decisive step in our strategy to double the company’s renewable portfolio before 2028.” She highlighted Minas Gerais’ favourable permitting regime and robust grid infrastructure as key reasons for choosing the state, which now leads Brazil’s utility-scale solar league table.

Construction began in early 2024, employing close to 1,500 workers at peak activity and injecting an estimated BRL 900 million into the regional economy through local procurement contracts. Financing was anchored by a syndicated loan led by Banco do Brasil, complemented by a green-bond issuance that attracted interest from international investors seeking exposure to Latin America’s fast-growing clean-energy market.

The park is equipped with single-axis trackers that tilt panels to follow the sun, boosting yield by up to 20 percent compared with fixed-tilt systems. A cloud-based monitoring platform allows engineers in São Paulo to diagnose faults in real time and dispatch maintenance crews before minor issues escalate.

Brazil crossed the 40-gigawatt mark for installed solar capacity earlier this year, according to energy regulator Aneel, and analysts believe projects of this scale will be critical if the country is to meet its 2030 pledge of sourcing 45 percent of total energy from renewables. With the Minas Gerais facility now in commercial operation, Newave says it has 1.2 gigawatts of additional solar and wind capacity in late-stage development across the Northeast and Centre-West regions.