Jinko bifacial panel order to expand 160 MW Chilean project

Chinese PV manufacturer JinkoSolar will supply 126 MW of bifacial solar panels to expand a 160 MW Chilean project which already features its products.

Jinko will supply 315,900 bifacial modules with transparent backsheets to a solar plant in Antofagasta which has been operational since 2016, generating 400 GWh per year, according to a report on news service Cision PR Newswire yesterday.

The report stated, the site in northern Chile already features 668,160 Jinko panels and is expected to produce 789 GWh per year once expansion of the project is complete.

“Chile is the largest market for utility scale projects in the region and we are continuously working to promote our high-quality modules there in order to support the development of renewable energy,” said Alberto Cuter, Latin America general manager for JinkoSolar, who was quoted in yesterday’s report. “The expansion of the PV plant equipped with our bifacial modules has already generated [a] lower LCOE [levelized cost of energy] and is able to compete with traditional sources of energy. We are expecting to sell more bifacial modules in the coming few months across the region.”

Jinko supplied the modules for the El Conejo solar project in Antofagasta in 2016, and it is not clear whether that plant – which was reported as a 122 MW facility – is the same as the asset referenced by the latest announcement. El Conejo – developed by U.S. company Pattern Energy and sold to Texas-based Arroyo Energy Group and New York City’s Silverfern Group in 2018 – supplied 65% of the power used by the Los Pelambres copper mine operated by Antofagasta Minerals with the miner procuring the energy under a 22-year power purchase agreement.