The seller of the two PV projects, both to be developed in the state of Minas Gerais, is Chinese-Canadian solar module manufacturer, Canadian Solar. The €95 million transaction enables the Spanish power and gas provider to make its entry into the Brazilian solar market, after it secured its first large-scale PV projects in Spain in last summer’s auction.

The Norwegian developer’s first solar project in the eastern European country is expected to help the region of Cherkasy reduce its energy shortage.

The research team believes that the new technology may resolve technical problems and drastically reduce the manufacturing cost of the lift-off process in the production of thin film monocrystalline solar cells.

Last year, the Chinese polysilicon maker saw robust demand for wafers and polysilicon, paticularly between the second and third quarters. Furthermore, the company said it achieved all its technological upgrade goals, and started construction on its new 20,000 MT polysilicon factory in Xinjiang in December.

This year’s auction will be carried out by Mexico’s energy regulatory commission, CRE. Final results will be announced in early November.

The country’s cumulative installed PV capacity reached 45 MW at the end of last December. Newly installed PV systems for 2017 totaled around 18 MW, which was the largest annual growth ever registered in the Norwegian PV market.

In an interview with pv magazine, the president of the Peruvian Society of Renewable Energies, Juan Coronado, discusses the auction for solar and renewables, which the government is obliged to hold this year, and the different options large-solar has to resume its development in the Andean country. According to him, when the obstacles that are currently impeding private PPAs are eliminated, utility-scale PV projects could be conceived outside of the auction mechanism.

The Norwegian oil company announced its intention to enter the solar energy business in October, when it launched a US$197 million fund dedicated to renewable energies.

The solar plans of the German independent investment and asset manager in Spain, Italy and Portugal are part of a broader plan to further invest in renewables, including wind and hydropower.

The Danish Energy Agency has now submitted the scheme for a public consultation. The tender’s budget for 2018 amounts to around 105 million DKK (US$17.4 million).