Vale do Aço I Solar Park Energises Minas Gerais Region

• Multiluz Solar and partners finish the 3.72 MWp Vale do Aço I plant in Minas Gerais, set to supply 5 GWh yearly via Brazil’s shared-generation model.

Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais has switched on another piece of its clean-energy mosaic, confirming the completion of the 3.72-MWp Vale do Aço I solar park in Engenheiro Caldas, within the Vale do Rio Doce basin. The project is a joint effort between regional developer Multiluz Solar and partners Quare Organizações and Solar Vale, working in tandem with the state government to expand distributed generation across a fast-industrialising corridor. 

Built on 8 hectares of scrubland, the micro-utility hosts roughly 6,800 mono-PERC modules on single-axis trackers. Annual output is pegged at about 5 GWh—enough to meet the electricity needs of 2,500 Brazilian households and displace an estimated 13,000 tonnes of CO₂ over the first 20 years of operation. Project capex totalled BRL 17 million (USD 3.2 million); Banco de Desenvolvimento de Minas Gerais financed BRL 12 million, with the remaining equity split among the three local sponsors. 

Construction began in October 2024, employing 50 people at peak. With mechanical works wrapped up this month, the plant is slated to feed its first certified megawatt-hour into the CEMIG distribution grid on 5 July following a brief commissioning window. “This project shows Minas Gerais can pair speed with rigour—we have now passed the 12-GW mark for supervised renewable capacity,” Governor Romeu Zema said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, calling the scheme a “template” for dozens of similar installations planned through 2027.

Vale do Aço I operates under Brazil’s fast-growing shared-generation model: energy is allocated to a consumer consortium, whose members receive proportionate bill credits from the local utility. Multiluz will oversee asset management, technical compliance and customer billing. “Our goal is to replicate this structure across the entire Vale do Aço cluster, delivering affordable solar power without land-use conflicts or heavy transmission upgrades,” CEO Fábio Araújo Soares Ferreira told attendees. 

Beyond immediate climate benefits—the plant’s low-impact design avoids deforestation and water extraction—the project underscores Minas Gerais’ leadership in small-scale photovoltaics. The state already accounts for more than one-fifth of Brazil’s distributed-generation capacity and is courting fresh investment via soft-loan packages, streamlined environmental licensing and tax credits on locally sourced equipment. With Vale do Aço I now energised, Multiluz and its partners say two sister arrays could break ground before year-end, keeping the region on track to hit a self-imposed 2-GW distributed-solar target by 2030.