ENGIE and Cop\u00e9rdia (Cooperativa de Produ\u00e7\u00e3o e Consumo Conc\u00f3rdia) have finalized an agreement for the installation of a 2.06 MW capacity photovoltaic plant \u2013 the largest unit of its type to supply the agribusiness sector in Santa Catarina. The work is to be undertaken by ENGIE in the Santo Ant\u00f4nio district of Conc\u00f3rdia (SC) and should be completed by September when Cop\u00e9rdia will begin generating energy from a clean and renewable energy source destined for 90% of its consumer units. Thanks to the photovoltaic plant, it is expected that the cooperative\u2019s annual energy bill will be cut by more than\u00a0R$ 1 million.<\/p>\n

The investment of R$ 8.3 million in the system is to be financed by the Banco Regional de Desenvolvimento do Extremo Sul (BRDE) with a return estimated in seven and a half years. “This is an important investment which will give an additional boost to agribusiness in the south of the country\u201d, says the president of Engie Gera\u00e7\u00e3o Solar Distribu\u00edda, Rodolfo de Sousa Pinto. \u201cIt is yet one more example of the satisfactory partnership between ENGIE, the client, Cop\u00e9rdia, and the financing entity, BRDE, in which all win but principally the environment with the adoption of a clean and renewable energy model\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n

Says Cop\u00e9rdia\u2019s president, Valdemar Bordignon, \u201cthe investment in a solar energy plant is justified by the cooperative\u2019s demand for energy and also because we see solar as a clean energy \u2013 causing no problems to the environment and is available for harnessing. Certainly, it will trigger other projects for the generation of energy in our region\u201d, he concludes.<\/p>\n

The financing agreement with the BRDE is part of its Sustainable Consumption and Production program \u2013 BRDE PCS, prioritizing the concession of credit for environmentally responsible initiatives. For the manager of operations at BRDE\u2019s branch in Santa Catarina, Marcone Souza Melo, Cop\u00e9rdia\u2019s pioneering initiative is certainly going to motivate other cooperatives to adopt similar measures. \u201cWe believe that all industry in the state could benefit from distributed generation and form the currently available energy efficiency programs. Cop\u00e9rdia is an example of how cooperatives are increasingly more aligned with good environmental practices\u201d, he points out.<\/p>\n

Cop\u00e9rdia was founded 51 years ago and has approximately 17 thousand associates in the south of Brazil. It employs more than 1,200 and has sales of over a billion reais annually obtained from operations in different segments such as poultry and hog farming, milk production, buying and selling of cereals, animal feed, seed production and treatment of wood as well as activities in the trading of fuels, agrochemicals and fertilizers, metal fittings, veterinary and supermarket products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investment of R$ 8.3 million in a plant of 2.06 MW is the largest of Brazil\u2019s cooperatives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21623","imprensa","type-imprensa","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tipo-release-solutions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n