Sunlit Ambitions: LONGi Panels Chosen for New Dominican Solar Boom

• Elecnor selects LONGi’s Hi-MO 9 panels for the 60-MW Esperanza 2 solar farm in the Dominican Republic, boosting clean-energy capacity and slashing annual CO₂ emissions.

On the edge of Esperanza, Valverde Province, rows of cassava fields are about to share the horizon with something shinier than morning dew—60 MW of solar glass. Spanish engineering heavyweight Elecnor has signed on China’s LONGi Green Energy to supply its latest Hi-MO 9 modules, slotting the Dominican Republic into a club of early adopters of the company’s N-type, high-efficiency tech.

For local farmer María Reyes, whose plot sits a stone’s throw from the works, that means one less worry when the diesel generator sputters during harvest. “If the lights stay on and the air is cleaner for my kids, I’m all in,” she laughs, wiping soil from her palms.

The new plant—dubbed Esperanza 2—will plug into a growing hybrid hub already sporting a 90-MW solar array and a planned 50-MW wind farm owned by utility EGE Haina. When switched on in late 2026, Esperanza 2 should pump out roughly 115 GWh a year, enough to power 70,000 homes and shave an estimated 70,000 tonnes of CO₂ from the grid. Think of it as trading every fossil-fired lightbulb in La Vega for sunlight.

Elecnor’s crews are expected to break ground before Christmas, but the logistical dance has already begun. Containers of LONGi panels will cross the Pacific, squeeze through the Panama Canal, then head up the Caribbean to Puerto Plata before making the final truck ride inland. Project manager Luis Cabrera calls the route “a supply-chain marathon we’ve trained all year for.”

Beyond the box scores of megawatts and modules, Esperanza 2 hints at a broader shift. Renewable sources supplied about 17 % of Dominican electricity last year; officials want 30 % by 2030. Fewer bureaucratic hoops and rock-bottom solar costs have lured developers from Madrid to Miami—and now Xi’an, where LONGi is headquartered.

For LONGi, the deal cements its Latin American push past the 8-GW mark. For the Dominican Republic, it’s another sunny step toward energy independence and healthier skies. And for María Reyes, it might simply mean brighter nights for homework at the kitchen table.