These large areas of solar energy production supply homes, businesses and, now, partner restaurants
Solar panels are one of the best-known sources of renewable energy. They are generally seen on the roofs of houses and businesses, but there is another way to produce energy on a larger scale: in solar farms.
Solar farms are large areas, generally located in rural areas, where there is a large area of photovoltaic panels — which capture the sun's rays and convert them into electrical energy through the so-called photovoltaic effect. From there, the clean electricity goes into the grid to be distributed to customers.
Some of them can also be installed in cities, as long as there are large spaces to make the most of the energy produced from the sun by hundreds or thousands of panels. The idea is to have a large area to produce clean, safe and renewable energy.
iFood is already starting to bring this wave to partner restaurants. In the program Better Energy (an initiative of the Vantagens do Chef program in partnership with the company GoSinapse), establishments now receive energy produced in solar farms and, in this way, can reduce their annual electricity costs by up to 20%.
The advantage is that, in this model, restaurants do not need to have signs or carry out infrastructure work — they just receive the energy that is distributed after being produced by generating companies such as Raízen, Energisa, Enerwatt and Plin Energia.
And how does the sun become energy?
Light plates are composed of photovoltaic cells made from semiconductor materials (such as silicon, also used in computers). When particles of sunlight, called photons, hit photovoltaic cells, some electrons break off and migrate to the silicon. It is this movement that creates electrical energy.
As there will always be sunlight shining on us (even on cloudy days), solar farms are considered renewable sources of energy. In 2022, photovoltaic solar energy represents 7.6% of electricity production in Brazil (it is the fifth largest source, after hydro and wind energy, natural gas and biogas), according to figures from ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency) and Absolar (Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar Energy Association).
But this source has been growing every year since 2012 and already offers Brazilians 15.3 GW of energy. The states with the highest distributed generation are, respectively, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso and Paraná, according to Absolar.
