Fire damages cables at floating solar plant on Sobradinho reservoir
Mar 2023Published 31 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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What happened
On Monday 13 March 2023, a fire affected cables of the Sobradinho floating solar plant on the Sobradinho reservoir in northern Bahia, according to Bahia Econômica. The plant is rated at 2.5 MWp. The source describes it as the largest floating solar research and development project of its kind in Brazil. According to Chesf, the Companhia Elétrica do São Francisco, the plant was founded in August 2019 and more than R$ 56 million was invested in its construction.
The platform is held in place by cables anchored to the reservoir bed and carries a special material to support the panels and allow staff to carry out maintenance. Chesf sent a team to investigate and reported that no one was hurt. At the time of reporting, Chesf had not established the cause of the fire and did not yet know the scale of the financial loss or whether the flames had affected the services the plant provides.
Contributing factors
Not reported. The cause of the fire had not been found at the time of the report.
Lessons learned
- Operators of floating solar plants should confirm how a fire on DC cabling and cable routes would be detected and isolated, since the cause of this fire was not known at the time of reporting.
- Cable routes, connectors and anchoring components should be inspected regularly for damage or heating that could start a fire.
- Operators should record damage and service impact promptly after an incident to support investigation and reporting.
More lessons on detection and monitoring, electrical protection and isolation, investigation and fleet-wide checks, from every incident on the register.
Source
Published 2026-10-31. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
