South america

A major US renewable group and a local utility have teamed up to deploy a significant green energy pipeline in Colombia, providing another boost to the country’s nascent solar scene.

Ecuador has identified the handful of top global clean energy developers who will compete to deploy the country’s first ever large-scale solar project.

A few Chilean major banks have united to support a bifacial PV system in Northern Chile's Atacama Desert, currently being constructed in the area listed among the planet’s driest inhabited places.

The latest study published by the International Renewable Energy Agency says the average solar electricity cost of $0.085/kWh produced by projects commissioned last year is set to fall to $0.048 next year, and $0.02-0.08 by 2030.

EPC points out operational launch of PV assets located in Chile and in India as Q1-Q3 2019 revenues almost double compared to last year, however net profit decreased by more than a half.

The latest figures released by BloombergNEF show new solar and onshore wind power plants have reached parity with average wholesale prices in California, China and parts of Europe. The technologies are winning the race to be the cheapest sources of new generation for two-thirds of the world’s population.

The World Climate Summit in Santiago de Chile, set to be held in just a few weeks, has just been cancelled. Against a background of social protests in the country, concerns have recently grown as to whether logistics and security could be guaranteed for the event. Nevertheless, social problems and environmental protection must not be played off against each other: Both are closely linked to the economic paradigms of recent decades.

Analysts at Fitch Solutions have published a report singling out Spain and Brazil as ‘outperformers’ in the global solar market and labelled Vietnam the “market to watch”. The analysts expect surging growth from the Southeast Asian nation to continue in the coming decade.

The final results of the exercise, which attracted 22 participants, will be known on April 15. A 200 MW solar project will be assigned in the auction, with the winning bidder for that facility securing a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Acciona has signed a supply deal with Chilean water utility Empresa Concesionaria de Servicios Sanitarios SA (ECONSSA Chile) that will fulfil the energy needs of a water desalination plant set to come online in the Atacama desert next year.

The Colombian government has revealed more details of the renewable energy procurement exercise finalized on Monday. Chinese manufacturer Trina was the bidder behind all three successful solar projects in the auction.

A study has divided the world into 12 climate zones on the basis of the Köppen–Geiger classification map. The paper confirmed Chile’s Atacama region has the world’s highest solar radiation but also showed the region with the highest performance ratio for PV systems was near Moscow.

A bullish Brazilian PV market has marked its latest milestone this year, becoming the cheapest electricity source of an auction it was allowed to enter for the first time this month.

Brazilian renewables developer Sunlution and French floating solar firm Ciel & Terre have completed construction of a 1.01MW PV project that floats on a hydroelectric reservoir in the north-eastern state of Bahia in Brazil.

Renewables developer Mainstream Renewable Power has more than doubled a financing facility after striking an agreement with Dutch bank ABN AMRO.