GCL-SI signs Mexican distribution deal with DMSolar

GCL-SI, a unit of Chinese energy group GCL, hailed the deal as a “significant step” into the Mexican market, where the conclusion of a 1.8 GW auction last month yielded the world’s lowest median price for solar to date, at roughly US$31.70/MWh.

“Regulation in Mexico has improved dramatically in (the) past few months, both for utility-scale projects with the approval of the energy reform and for distributed generation with the update on the rules,” said Jose Jove, vice president of sales for GCL-SI Latin America. “Net metering and net billing are now together in the mix.”

As a wholesale distributor, DMSolar primarily works on residential and commercial installations with a range of local installers.

“For utility scale we are targeting to place a large volume of modules in the auction projects, as well as projects with potential private power purchase agreements,” Jove said, adding that GCL-SI may discuss opportunities in distributed generation with DMSolar.

GCL-SI has aggressively expanded its global PV business over the past year.

In January, it revealed plans to invest 222 million yuan (US$32 million) in 600 MW of solar cell capacity in Vietnam. Vina Solar, an OEM manufacturer with offices near Hanoi, will run the lines, which will include 330 MW of production capacity for passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) cells.