Hybrid power plant powers off grid city in amazon rainforest

Surrounded by mangroves and rain forest, Oiapoque is situated in the northernmost part of Brazil and is a remote community, counting 24,000 inhabitants. The frontier city is not connected to the national grid and highly dependent on having a power producer that can supply power non-stop, 365 days a year, 24/7.

“In 2014, Voltalia won a tender to supply electricity for Oiapoque, standing out as the only company that could offer a hydro/thermal mixed project, producing a cleaner and cheaper electricity than the one generated by the diesel generators. In 2017, it was decided to extend the power plant with a 4 MWp (3.3 MW AC) solar unit.”

Controller is the backbone of the hybrid plant

Integrating solar power to the solution has already had a positive impact on fuel consumption as Voltalia annually has saved 10% diesel – a result of many sun hours, professional staff and an efficient power management system.

To ensure seamless and intelligent control of the hybrid plant, Voltalia is using a power management system from DEIF, counting 6 ASC controllers mounted and 10 AGC-4 controllers that compose the backbone of the power management system.

Voltalia has been using the DEIF controllers since the thermal plant was commissioned back in 2015, and according to Power Plant Manager Leonardo Salgardo, the controllers are unique.

“DEIF’s controllers were the only solution we could find on the market that could integrate both the thermal and solar plant. The controllers from both plants communicate together and provide us with good options for monitoring and supervision. I think it is a unique solution in the market,“ says Leonardo.

Securing uptime with intelligent spinning reserve features, this automated solution guarantees minimum fuel consumption by maximising PV penetration without compromising minimum genset load requirements.

“We can monitor and control the whole plant from the office, and we don’t need to go to the plant to open and close breaks and see alarms. We can access everything from the operation room also history logs from DEIF’s controllers, and by analysing the data, we can optimise the operation and increase the power production,“ says Leonardo.