Siemens Invests in Brazilian Solar Power Developer Brasol

SAO PAULO, October 13, 2020 (Newswire.com) - ​Siemens Financial Services, Inc., the private equity arm of energy and manufacturing powerhouse Siemens AG, announced today that it has acquired a minority stake in Brazil-based solar developer Brasol Participações e Empreendimentos S.A. (“Brasol”). Brasol provides turn-key solar-as-a-service solutions to businesses across Brazil through a financial lease model. 

Siemens’ investment marks one of the largest foreign capital injections into the Brazilian solar power sector to date. Despite the impact of COVID-19, distributed solar has continued to surge in Brazil through 2020 and is expected to exceed 3 gigawatts (estimated to be ~3$bn) of projects this year. Brasol’s approach for providing solar-as-a-service heralds a growing emphasis on the use of on-site renewable energy sources by commercial and manufacturing enterprise.

Siemens investment in Brasol underscores the manufacturing giant’s pivot to energy service and distributed infrastructure. Together, Siemens and Brasol plan to offer a broad suite of energy-as-a-service solutions for commercial and industrial energy consumers, leveraging data intelligence to reduce energy costs and risks. 

According to David Taff, CEO of Siemens Participações, “The future of the distributed energy sector is going to revolve around data. The electron itself ends up being a commodity. I see enormous potential in the proliferation of data that arise during generation and at the time of consumption, both in mitigating risks and in identifying efficiencies, generating new savings for customers and new revenues for investors.”

Brasol’s energy-as-a-service model promises immediate cost-savings for its clients without their having to invest in equipment, installation or operations. “This is an unprecedented opportunity for businesses to take control of their own energy,” says Brasol Founding Partner & CEO Ty Eldridge. “With this financial and engineering support of Siemens, we are rebuilding the traditional power utilities model to achieve lower cost, greater resilience, and broader sustainability.”

In partnership with Brasol, Siemens Smart Infrastructure will contribute with digital tools and services based on MindSphere, an open IOT cloud platform. The partnership will explore digitization to offer customers greater savings, and a wider range of energy solutions.

Brasol has dedicated itself to raising the standard of distributed energy generation in Brazil, building off the experience of its executive team. Its adoption of IFC Standards, the global benchmark for infrastructure development, is just one piece of its strategy to deliver a best-in-class service. “We’re committing ourselves to leading the decentralization of Brazil’s energy network,” affirms Founder & CFO Jorge Tamariz. “We see solar as the catalyst for a new type of utility that better serves all stakeholders.”

“Retailers, manufacturers, warehouses, and other large energy consumers can all benefit from our solar-as-a-service solution,” concluded David Betancur, Brasol’s Founder & COO. “Now with the Siemens brand supporting us, our clients can have more confidence than ever of a sunny future.”

Source: Brasol