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Brazil’s biggest lender has launched three tenders to select solar facilities to supply it with power through leasing. The central bank expects to buy around 4 GWh of electricity per year for the Federal District and another 2 GWh in the states of Goiás and Pará.

Canadian Solar, Acciona, Enel, EDF, Solarpack and Trina are among the contenders to develop large scale renewables projects. Some 26 power distributors are participating in the procurement as buyers.

The debt saddled renewables project developer has signed off on the sale of two wind farms in Shanxi at a loss of RMB40 million on investment. The sale will contribute up to RMB251.5 million to help pay off the parent company’s debts.

In part two of this feature on wind resilience in the PV industry, the lack of structural codes comes into focus. Weather events, and wind above all, are the most common causes of failure for PV plants. In the United States, the first steps have been taken to catch up with other industries and a dedicated chapter for PV is set to be included in the next update of the American Society of Civil Engineers code. In Europe, no such plans are in place.

The Asian Development Bank-backed procurement round attracted 26 bidders for the 60 MW project, according to the development lender. The ADB says the low price secured will persuade neighboring governments to embrace auctions.

The nation’s thriving distributed generation market is flying, as was evident at last week’s Intersolar South America trade show. The sector seems unconcerned by mooted changes to net metering incentives in the new year and when even an environmental non-believer like President Bolsonaro is on side, it is difficult to be pessimistic.

The heavily indebted developer has cashed in two eight-project portfolios for an immediate $28 million windfall but accepted the sales recognize heavy losses as it continues to try and pay down debt.

Fraunhofer ISE has worked with German technology companies to improve the metallization process in silicon solar cells. The result could drive down module costs quite a bit.

Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator will implement a pilot project for a future electricity market based on PV, storage and smart power consumption. The utility says the project will be a cheaper, more efficient alternative to expanding grid infrastructure.

While the rest of China’s solar manufacturers take on ever more debt to expand their production lines as fast as possible, Comtec said it is ready to sell off fabs for the right money and will instead focus on project sales and lithium battery and EV business opportunities.