Brazil and Paraguay's Itaipu Assesses Floating PV Expansion and Battery Storage System Construction

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 9, Itaipú Binacional, jointly operated by Brazil and Paraguay, announced the latest progress on its reservoir floating PV project. The company is evaluating expanding the existing pilot plant's total installed capacity to 10 MW and building a supporting battery energy storage system. The existing pilot facility has already reached approximately 1.1 MW of PV installed capacity, and the expansion plan is still in the technical assessment stage. The binational company has established a bilateral working group to study the reservoir's PV power generation potential and energy storage configuration requirements. The study is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027, providing a basis for subsequent expansion decisions.

The existing floating PV facility is located on the Paraguayan side of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant reservoir. The original planned total scale was 10 MW, but the first phase was approved for 1 MW. The project uses a grouped floating structure with 1,584 PV modules, each rated at 705 W, supported by 4,199 floats and organized into 10 PV arrays. Based on the modules' rated power, the total peak module power is approximately 1.117 MW, essentially consistent with the currently disclosed installed capacity of about 1.1 MW. The project's electricity is connected to the substation facilities on the Paraguayan side of the hydroelectric plant, and the generated power is mainly used for the plant's internal consumption.

The first phase was implemented by a consortium of Brazil's Sunlution and Paraguay's Luxacril. The scope of work includes supply of the floating PV system, engineering design, equipment testing, installation, configuration and commissioning, as well as delivery of technical documentation and knowledge transfer. The consortium won the bid in the tender organized by Itaipu with a bid of USD 854,500. The equipment has a design life of approximately 30 years and takes into account climate adaptability in the reservoir environment. The project adopts a layout in which modules are mounted on floating platforms on the water surface, requiring no additional agricultural land and occupying no forest land; the existing reservoir water surface serves as the installation area for the PV facility.

Energy storage is another focus of this expansion study. PV generation is concentrated during the daytime, and battery storage can store electricity during generation periods and release it during peak internal consumption at the hydroelectric plant, providing supplementary power for plant loads. Itaipu has previously conducted battery storage pilot scheme studies with Itaipu Parquetec, covering applications such as energy time-shifting, operational flexibility, and coordinated operation of PV and hydropower. The bilateral working group will further assess the matching relationship between the reservoir PV generation scale and energy storage requirements.