Latin America PV News Snippets

• EPSE has announced a new 50 MW solar power plant for the Neuquen municipality in Argentina
• Colombia has released guidelines to ensure grid connectivity for eligible solar and wind power plants
• Equatorial Energia in Brazil has acquired wind and solar company Echoenergia from a company managed by Actis

EPSE to develop 50 MW solar in Argentina: Argentinian utility Energia Provincial Sociedad del Estado (EPSE) has said it will realize a 50 MW solar park in the country on land owned by the Municipality of Neuquen. The Neuquen Solar Project is expected to be developed in 4 stages of preliminary studies, evaluating economic and technical potential, tender procedure of its construction and commissioning, and evaluation of offers. EPSE expects to complete this work in next 5 months. The company is already preparing the consultancy of another 3 MW park in Neuquen city of Cutral CO.

Guidelines for solar and wind in Colombia: Colombian energy and gas regulation commission CREG has come out with new guidelines for solar and wind energy developers interested in setting up solar power plants in the country. These are aimed at guiding eligible projects to secure grid connectivity. According to the document released in Spanish language at the end of September 2021, the new regulations are applicable for projects of 5 MW or more capacity.

Equatorial Energia acquires Echoenergia: Equatorial Energia has acquired a company called Echonergia from Ipiranga Fundo de Investimento em Participações Multistrategia, an Actis company in Brazil. Echoenergia has close to 1.2 GW of wind energy capacity, and 1.1 GW pipeline of ready-to-build projects comprising 90% solar and 10% wind assets. Through this acquisition, Equatorial said it will enable be able to expand its operations in renewable energy generation, in addition to distribution and transmission. This energy generated can be sold to end consumers through its trading company.