Rio de Janeiro, February 2, 2025 - This week the City of Rio de Janeiro opened a new solar plant, which was deployed on a former landfill in the Santa Cruz region. "Solário Carioca" is a solar photovoltaic facility generating approximately 5-megawatts of energy. This significant achievement turns a previous urban nuisance into a clean energy generating facility that marks a crucial step towards the City of Rio de Janeiro's sustainable development and clean energy transition goals.
Green Revival of Derelict Land
The project is located in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood of west Rio de Janeiro and occupies an area of 15 hectares. For a long time, this site was a dumpsite, which became the endpoint of the municipal solid waste in the city of Rio de Janeiro. After it stopped receiving waste, the site remained vacant and abandoned until part of the municipal energy transition plan.
At the present time, there are a total of 9,240 solar solar power panels which have a capacity of generating 700 watts of electricity, adding up to a total capacity of 5 megawatts. The photovoltaic panels take up 8.4 hectares of land, which is land that was previously unoccupied.
When the facility was launched, the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, said "We have taken a useless garbage dump and converted it into an energy generation plant."
A Win-Win for Environment and Economy
The environmental consequences of the "Solário Carioca" project are significant. It is expected that the plant will avoid about 400,000 tons of CO2 from being discharged into the atmosphere annually, which can be compared to taking approximately 25 vehicles off the street for one year. The net reduction in emissions is fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.
From the financial perspective, the plant's generated clean energy will be only used by municipal facilities and schools. The produced energy can be utilized in almost a hundred public schools daily, allowing the municipality to save approximately R$ 2 million on locally obtained electric power. Also, the produced solar power is 20% cheaper than the electricity we get from the utility company and fully ecological.
Innovative Financing and Efficient Construction
This project has a distinguishing element, which is the innovative Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. The project was awarded to the "Rio Solar Consortium" through an international competitive bidding process, with a total investment amount of R$ 45 million, being completely private resources.
The Public-Private Partnership contract is for 25 years, and the consortium will implement, operate, and maintain the plant. In addition to relieving the city government of the financial burden of a solar power plant, the PPP model ensures a long-term professional operation.
What is most impressive is that a project of this scale was completed from start to finish in only five months, which shows the implementation potential for renewable energy projects, and solar power in particular.
A Model of International Cooperation
The "Solário Carioca" resulted from international collaboration, linking together several important actors. These include the global city network C40 Cities, the German cooperation agency GIZ, and the City Finance Facility (CFF) - a mechanism created specifically to finance sustainable climate action projects in major urban centers.
Mark Watt, Executive Director of C40 Cities, highlighted the global importance of the project: "The Rio Solário Carioca project is one of a global framework being operationalized across 30 cities around the world and includes 38 interconnected projects impacting over 12 million people. It shows what is possible when you pair economic leadership in the public sector with a partnership approach to the private economy".
The model originally emerged from a financing mechanism developed a decade ago and launched during COP21 in Paris where the then C40 Chair, Eduardo Paes, promoted this financial tool to support major cities to scale up climate action plans. Today, this financing model is a global benchmark for sustainable infrastructure financing.
Generating Local Employment and Community Development
In addition to the environmental advantages, the project contributed prominently socio-economically. During the construction phase, 234 direct jobs and 60 indirect jobs were created, focusing on hiring local Santa Cruz workers.
The project intentionally leveraged local services and products (security, food, transport supplies, construction materials, etc.) to build a three-phase virtuous cycle of income-generating events within the local community.
Simon Stevens, the UK Government Envoy, stated, "The Solário Carioca is a fantastic example of a just transition strategy, creating impact far beyond emission reduction. It is all about creating opportunity for young people and marginalized groups, and providing evidence that solar, and renewable energy more broadly, can be an engine of inclusion and prosperity."
Future Prospects and Exemplary Significance
The "Solário Carioca" represents the emergence of Rio de Janeiro as a leading climate innovation city in Latin America and is also a signal that the municipal government is serious about its commitment to reach 20 MW of installed solar capacity by 2028. The proposed model presents possibilities for replication in other cities with similar land degradation or disuse to generate renewable energy. In fact, the government of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro has since set out to find other similar sites for the installation of solar plants.
By taking a former landfill and turning it into a national model of sustainable development, the Solário Carioca program is a powerful example of how public innovation and international co-operation can transform a community. It illustrates how cities can turn environmental liabilities to assets, and provide trailblazing solutions to urban challenges in the 21st century.
