Brazil

After emerging as the recipient of most of the Brazilian government’s public allocation of generation capacity, the Canadian-Chinese manufacturer has secured a large share of projects in auctions held by power companies Copel and, probably, Cemig.

Although the Wiki-solar website ranking only gives a snapshot of PV project engineering, procurement and construction contracts outside China, it is nevertheless a useful indicator of the changing shape of the global solar market.

The Paraná-based energy provider will buy renewable energy under a 15-year power purchase agreement. The auction’s winners and final prices were not revealed.

Trade tariffs are spreading across the global PV industry. The United States has been especially active with its sandwich of old antidumping and countervailing duties coupled with new Section 201, 232 and 301 duties. Some of these are part of the Sino-U.S. trade dispute; others impact not only Chinese producers, but manufacturers around the world. So, what will be the impact of this new era of PV protectionism on the solar sector?

Solar and wind projects selected in the company’s latest clean energy procurement exercise have been awarded a 19-year power purchase deal, starting from 2023. Cemig has now contracted green power from 780 MW of renewable project capacity in three tender rounds held since June last year.

Some 29.7 GW worth of PV project capacity will compete in the procurement on October 18. Selected solar projects will have to begin delivering power in 2025 and will be awarded a 20-year power purchase agreement.

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.

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.

A spokeswoman from the Chinese manufacturer of the Swan series of double-sided solar panels says monofacial modules will soon be consigned to residential use as the price gap between them and higher-yielding bifacial products rapidly closes.

A binational integrated solar industry project, announced just over a year ago, aims to build a vertically integrated solar manufacturing industry along the border between Brazil and Paraguay. But the project is now on hold pending an update and reassessment by its new managers.