Central & South America

Guatemala’s Generation Expansion Plan 5 (PEG-5) tender has drawn 51 bids totaling nearly 4.7 GW – more than triple the 1.4 GW sought – with around 2 GW of solar projects, including hybrids with storage, competing for long-term supply contracts starting between 2030 and 2033.

Brazil has opened consultations on its PDE 2035 energy plan, which projects 107 GW of solar by 2035 – including 78 GW of distributed generation – with battery storage reaching 7 GW, or 2% of the power mix.

Brazilian scientists have developed a slope-based framework for agrivoltaics, finding that sites below 15% gradient offer the best balance between agricultural suitability and technical feasibility. Their review of 30 studies shows that steeper terrain can host PV systems with adapted designs, land-use limits, erosion risks, and rising installation costs.

Brazil’s electricity regulator has approved March reserve capacity auctions for thermal and hydro plants with more than 125 GW registered, while guidelines for a separate battery storage auction remain pending even as over 20 GW of projects are under development.

The country’s cumulative installed PV capacity reached 1.59 GW at the end of December, according to new figures released by the Colombian administrator of the wholesale energy market.

Copec, Luxmeter Energy, and Ventisqueros have commissioned a system at the Quintupeu salmon farming center in Hornopirén, a remote area of southern Chile. The installation features a 48 kW photovoltaic plant paired with a 109 kWh battery storage system, enabling the facility to reduce its reliance on diesel generators in this off-grid aquaculture operation.

Chile installed 1.13 GW of solar capacity last year, raising total solar capacity to 11.63 GW, while over 4 GW of renewable projects are under construction, according to the National Energy Commission (CNE).

Brazil curtailed about one-fifth of its solar and wind generation in 2025, wasting an estimated BRL 6.5 billion ($1.23 billion), as grid constraints and demand mismatches pushed the power system close to operational safety limits on 16 days, according to a report from Volt Robotics.

The government of Grenada is looking for firms to supply and install solar systems for residential and agro-processing customers under its flagship Solar for All program. The deadline for expressions of interest is January 30.

The three new utility-scale projects in region ten of Guyana, with a combined capacity of 15 MW, form part of wider plans to deploy 33 MW of large-scale solar with accompanying energy storage across four of the country’s regions.