Central & South America

The Colombian authorities said the received offers did not comply with the criteria for competition and market dominance. Enel Green Power, Canadian Solar, Trina Solar and Solarpack were among the developers that were admitted to the auction’s final phase.

While solar is lauded as a cheap energy resource in OECD countries, the cost of financing PV projects in developing nations has impeded progress. Development banks and the Clean Technology Fund they finance have played a key role in providing access to cheap financing for clean energy projects in many markets.

Analysts at PV InfoLink said the number of markets open to new technologies such as half-cut and shingled panels is constantly rising. Australia, Japan, Spain, the UAE and Brazil were cited as the hottest markets for Chinese “special modules”. Total annual production in China for half-cut modules, which are set to increase their market share this year, should reach around 20 GW.

Public body Codesser wants to hire experts to carry out a “Study to determine the participation of national suppliers in the provision of construction, operation and maintenance components and services in solar energy projects in Chile”.

The Spanish company has agreed with the Canadian CarbonFree the sale and construction of four new solar plants in Chile worth $33 million.

The procurement is planned for May 16 and will award 15-year PPAs to projects based on conventional and renewable energy generation. Solar could help remove the state’s reliance on power generated by a company based in crisis-torn Venezuela.

Some 22 projects were admitted to participate – 17 of them solar – in the country’s first RE procurement exercise, which will be held on February 26.

After being “temporarily suspended” in early December, Mexico’s fourth long-term energy auction has been cancelled. The government said the action was taken in compliance with its legal framework and took into account technical, economic and energy planning considerations.

The plant, under development by Canadian Solar, has secured $80 million from Banco do Nordeste. The facility is scheduled to come online in mid-2020.

The editor-in-chief of pv magazine Mexico won first prize in the interview category at this year’s Solar Energy Journalism Awards, organized by the Mexican Solar Energy Association.