Voltalia SA: construction of a new high-voltage and high-capacity (2 GW) transmission line in Brazil

Voltalia (Euronext Paris, ISIN code: FR0011995588), an international player in renewable energies, has started the construction of a second transmission line, 50 km long and with a voltage of 500 kV, in order to connect new projects for a total capacity of 2 GW in the Serra Branca cluster.

"This new infrastructure confirms the scaling up potential of our Serra Branca cluster. Power transmission facilities are instrumental to our strategy in Brazil. They enable us to build plants where the wind resource is best and allow anticipated commissioning of plants. Thus, they raise the value of projects developed by Voltalia, should they ultimately be owned by the Group or sold to partners. With this new project, the total length of high-voltage transmission lines owned by Voltalia in Brazil crosses the 100 km mark. When added to our 800 km of medium-voltage lines, it is enough to connect Paris to Berlin" comments Sébastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia.

Voltalia has started to build the transmission facilities, including a substation and a 500 kV very high-voltage transmission line, which will run through vast uninhabited areas to connect the cluster to the national grid, 50 km to the South.

The transmission facilities are strategically positioned within the expansion area of the Serra Branca cluster.

They are tailored to the needs of existing and future projects; some projects are owned by Voltalia, such as the VSM 1 (163 MW) and VSM 2 (128 MW) power plants currently under construction, and some others are sold to partners, including the 252 MW already sold to international renewables investor Actis in 2018.

Development of the transmission facilities was initiated in-house by Voltalia teams, which also rely on local partners to build the facility. Construction costs will be shared with Voltalia's partners in the cluster, which will also benefit from the infrastructure.  

Voltalia required from construction firms that they relied on local workforce and the Group sponsored a training program for workers from local communities, granting them the required qualifications to be hired on the project. Around 250 people from these local communities are involved in the construction of the transmission facilities and the VSM power plants, these projects mobilizing up to 800 people at peak.

Commissioning of the transmission facilities is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. After supervising construction, Voltalia will also be in charge of O&M activities, leveraging local teams already mobilized on its wind farms.

Next on the agenda: FY 2018 results on March 18, 2019

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, biomass and storage facilities, with a total capacity of 911 MW either in operation or construction as of today.
• Voltalia is also a service provider, assisting its investor clients active in renewables at each project stages, from conception to operation and maintenance.
• With 550 employees in 18 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 index and the CAC Mid&Small index. The Group is also included in the Gaïa-Index, an index for socially responsible midcaps.