Latin America PV News Snippets

• Chilean President has shared a plan with world leaders for Chile to export between 200 GW and 600 GW solar power to Asia Pacific through submarine cables
• Voltalia has started construction on its 5 MW solar and 10.6 MWh energy storage facility in French Guiana
• Banco Santander Chile has announced plans to build its own solar energy plants in Chile through Gasco Luz and Fourtrees Capital
• Ecopetrol has hired AES Colombia to build a 26 MW solar power plant in Colombia for its Huila production fields

Chile's 600 GW solar energy plan for Asia: Chilean President Sebastian Pinera presented to the world an ambitious project called Antipodas through which the country can export between 200 GW and 600 GW solar power to some Asian nations, through a submarine cable. Speaking at the Leaders' Summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) 2021, Pinera said, "This project will allow us to share with the countries of Asia Pacific the clean, reliable and renewable solar energy that we can produce in Chile during the daytime, to meet the night-time electricity demand in some Asian countries, substituting polluting energy for clean and renewable energy." Through the project that can enable some parts of the world to produce and consume solar energy 24 hours a day can bring down total global CO2 emissions by up to 4.5%or more than 1.6 billion tons annually of CO2, he added.

Voltalia constructing French Guiana solar & storage facility: France's Voltalia has broken ground for a 5 MW solar PV and 10.6 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage facility (BESS) in French Guiana. The Sable Blanc project is expected to produce 7,430 MWh annually when it is online in the end of 2022, sand help replace expensive and harmful diesel generated power with renewable energy in Saint Laurent du Maroni. The facility is coming up near the country's border with Suriname in Organabo, close to Mana Energie Services storage plant commissioned by Voltalia in 2020. The company had won rights to develop this facility in France's CRE 4 tender round (see Latin America PV News Snippets: Voltalia, Atlas, Engie, EDP).

Banco Santander Chile to build solar plants: Banco Santander Chile will build solar plants for captive consumption it said, the 1^st local bank to produce its own renewable energy. It has signed an agreement with Gasco Luz and Fourtrees Capital to build 6×300 kW solar plants in Coquimbo, Valparaiso and Metropolitan regions. Facilities are designed to come online in 2022. The contract consists of a 10-year lease of these solar plants that are already under construction for an annual payment of $240,000. Energy generated will be fed into the grid. The bank aims to source 100% of its energy to come from renewables, increasing it from 28%.

26 MW solar power plant in Colombia: Colombian oil producer Ecopetrol has signed up AES Colombia to build a 26 MW solar power plant for the company in Aipe, Huila department. Ecopetrol will source clean energy from the facility under a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with AES Colombia to be used for the former's production fields in Huila. The Solar Brisas Ecopark is expected to start commercial operations in Q4/2022. It will be located in close to 20-hectare land with more than 48,000 bifacial solar panels and trackers. While this facility takes the company's total installed renewable energy capacity to 138 MW, Ecopetrol said the facility forms part of its plan to have a renewable energy portfolio of 400 MW by 2023, of which 85% will come from solar energy through projects in Meta, Huila, Arauca, Santander, Bolívar, Sucre, Cundinamarca, Magdalena and Antioquia.