Canadian Solar sells 80% of 482 MW portfolio in Brazil to Qatar’s Nebras

Chinese-Canadian module maker Canadian Solar has sold an 80% stake in four of its PV projects in Brazil to Nebras Power Investment Management BV, the Dutch subsidiary of Qatari company Nebras QPSC. The purchaser is a joint venture between the Qatar Electricity and Water Company, which has a 60% share, and Qatar Holding.

The financial terms of the operation were not disclosed. The solar portfolio has a total capacity of 482.6 MW and the Chinese-Canadian vendor will use its own BiHiKu bifacial modules on the projects, which exceed 400+ Watt nominal front side power and will be produced in the 380 MW capacity module factory Canadian Solar operates near Sao Paulo. Solar projects that use locally made PV components can access financing from Brazilian development bank BNDES.

Energy auction wins

The four projects are: Salgueiro Solar Holding SA, which has a generation capacity of 114.3 MW; Francisco Sa Solar Holding SA, of the same scale; Jaiba Solar Holding SA, with its 101.6 MW capacity; and Lavras Solar Holding SA, with 152.4 MW.

For the Salgueiro project, Canadian Solar obtained in January financing of BRL295 million ($80 million) from development lender Banco do Nordeste SA.

The project is part of a 478 MWp solar portfolio awarded to Canadian Solar during the last two A-4 energy auctions, held between December 2017 and April 2018, and has a 20-year PPA with the Brazilian Chamber of Commercialization of Electric Power.

In the first three tenders, held between 2014 and 2015, Canadian Solar was awarded 346 MW of capacity. In total, the Chinese-Canadian producer was awarded around 822 MW in the five national auctions of Brazil that took place between 2014 and last year.