BYD intends to increase production of solar panels in Brazil

• Shenzhen-based BYD intends to significantly increase the production of solar panels in Brazil in 2020, in response to demand from the local market, said the director of marketing and sustainability of BYD in Brazil, Adalberto Maluf.

“From February 1, we will double the production we recorded in 2019,” said Maluf, speaking to the Reuters news agency, adding that this duplication will be achieved by adding another production shift.

Founded in 1995, the Shenzhen firm is a manufacturer of automobiles, battery-powered bicycles, buses, forklifts, solar panels, rechargeable batteries.

Since 2017 it has operated a photovoltaic equipment factory in Campinas, in the state of São Paulo, which competes with production at the Brazilian unit of Canadian Solar and with products imported from Chinese suppliers, such as Trina Solar, Jinko and JA Solar.

Maluf added that higher-quality photovoltaic cells for solar panel production have fallen in price. That is in part due to the introduction of a resolution from the Chamber of Commerce in Brazil, which on December 31 exempted solar cells from import taxes, also helping to reduce costs.

BYD’s optimism about the Brazilian market comes at a time when the country’s power regulator Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica is discussing new rules for calls distributed generation, a technology that has gained momentum in the country with the installation by consumers of photovoltaic panels on rooftops and large plots of land.