Completed and switched on, the 40 MW Doña Carmen solar project in La Ligua, in the Valparaiso region of central Chile, is yet another sign of U.K. solar firm Solarcentury’s increasing Latin American presence.
Back in November 2016, the company launched construction works, after being selected by electricity generation company Energía Cerro El Morado S.A. to handle EPC duties on the project, as well as O&M at the site for five years.
“We have been very impressed by the Solarcentury team in Chile and its deep knowledge of the electrical market, and extensive knowledge of developing solar projects in Chile,” reads a release by Energía Cerro El Morado S.A., which won the project in the Chilean government’s energy auction in 2013.
A 15-year PPA has been signed for the Doña Carmen project to supply several distribution companies in Chile. More precisely, 60% of energy generated by the solar farm will be sold under this PPA agreement, and 40% will be traded in the spot market.
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“Chile is the leading solar market in South America, so we faced stiff competition for this project, however the Solarcentury team was fully committed to ensuring a successful outcome for all contract negotiations,” said Frans van den Heuvel, CEO at Solarcentury. “Through our three offices in Latin America, and with backing from the parent company in London, Solarcentury has established a solid presence in Latin America. We are well positioned to deliver further sizeable solar projects in the region.”
As reported recently, Solarcentury’s LatAm team was expanded after the firm acquired a 400 MW mixture of partially developed or ready-to-build sites from private equity investor ECOSolar, pushing its Latin American solar pipeline beyond 1 GW.
Some of the earlier notable LatAm activities of Solarcentury include construction of the Divisa Solar farm in Panama and partnership with China’s JinkoSolar to develop 170MW of ground mounted solar projects in Mexico.
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So, in early afternoon (shadows at front feet of array) the subsequent array is already almost in shadow (shadow at rear of array). And panels are oriented such that bypass diodes are not going to work with inter row shadowing resulting in string shutdown. From an experienced company. What am I missing here??