Reuniwatt’s ground sky imager will collect images that will help Voltalia get the best performance from its solar plant, located in Oiapoque, Brazil.

Partnership for a groundbreaking PV-diesel system in Brazil

Voltalia, an international energy producer from renewable sources, announces a partnership with Reuniwatt, a market leader in forecasting solutions, to perform very short-term solar forecasts through a ground sky imager for its first solar plant in Brazil, located in the municipality of Oiapoque, state of Amapá.

Reuniwatt has been working on a number of algorithms that allow advanced analyses of the images and, consequently, carry out irradiation forecasts based on the movement of clouds that interfere with the performance of a photovoltaic plant. An example of this is the ground sky imager developed by the company, capable of collecting images and forecasting irradiance and power in the next minutes. From this technology, Voltalia will begin to use solar forecasts in a short time that will help achieve greater photovoltaic penetration in its solar plant. In this particular case, Voltalia will use a Sky Cam Vision, Reuniwatt’s visible-range sky imager, which takes pictures of the sky every 30 seconds.

Voltalia’s solar plant in the municipality of Oiapoque has an installed capacity of 4 MW and is part of a Hybrid Project, which also includes a thermal unit of 12 MW and will include in 2021 a hydroelectric plant of 7.5 MW. The Oiapoque solar plant supplies electricity to the urban and rural areas of the municipality, optimizing the existing infrastructure and reducing the operating costs of the project with a reduction in the use of diesel.

A pioneer project in microgrid applications

The Oiapoque project will be the first hybrid system in the world to include three sources of energy (including two renewable) as well as a ground imager for nowcasting (forecasting in the next minutes).  Sky Cam Vision will provide insight into current and upcoming local weather conditions. Therefore, during the day, the thermal generators will run on a partial load, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels needed to power the microgrid. The brutal falls of solar production caused by the movement of the clouds can be detected in time in order to optimize plant operations.

“We are extremely proud to accompany Voltalia on such a pioneer project. It will be a reference for future microgrid applications” said Reuniwatt CEO and Founder Nicolas Schmutz.

“Reuniwatt’s sky imager appears as one of the most performing solutions for intra-hour forecasting: we are happy to use their Sky Cam Vision™ on our Oiapoque installation” said Fábio Machado, Voltalia’s Project Manager on this plant.

About Reuniwatt (www.reuniwatt.com)

  • Reuniwatt specialises in solar forecasting as well as in solar irradiance and power assessment. It provides solutions and technologies to massively and securely inject photovoltaics into the grid.
  • Reuniwatt develops solutions destined to key solar energy players: project developers, plant and grid operators, monitoring and asset management solution vendors, energy traders.
  • The company has won many grants, including H2020’s SME Phase 1 programme, which makes Reuniwatt a European Champion in regards to innovation.
  • Reuniwatt has offices in Reunion Island (HQ), Paris and Toulouse.

About Voltalia (www.voltalia.com)

  • Voltalia is an international player in the renewable energy sector. The Company produces and sells electricity generated from wind, solar, hydro and biomass power plants; it owns a total installed capacity of 508 MW.
  • Voltalia is also a service provider, assisting its investor clients active in renewables at each project stages, from conception to operation & maintenance.
  • With more than 460 employees in 17 countries, over 4 continents, Voltalia is able to act worldwide on behalf of its clients.
  • Voltalia has been listed on the Euronext regulated market in Paris since July 2014 (FR0011995588 – VLTSA) and is a component stock of the Enternext Tech 40 and CAC Mid&Small indexes.