Latin America Solar PV News Snippets

400 MW Hanersun panels for Brazil projects; EnfraGen's RE acquisitions in Panama & Costa Rica; Ceará & Grupo Jepri planning green H2 plant; 24.5 MW PV capacity with Astronergy panels online in Chile; Recurrent Energy raises BRL 490m in Brazil; Colbún's RE supply contract in Chile.  

Chinese modules for Solfácil: Chinese solar module producer Hanersun will supply 400 MW worth of panels to the '1st' solar fintech company Solfácil that provides financing as well as solar products. For the Chinese manufacturer, it will be the company's maiden large-scale shipment of its HITOUCH 5N 585 W high-performance modules to Brazil. These modules use 182 mm wafer sized TOPCon cells with multi busbar (MBB) and half-cut cell design. High-density encapsulation and near-zero LID/LeTID effect helps improve module efficiency to 22.56%, according to Hanersun. Solfácil will supply these panels to the distributed segment in Brazil. 

EnfraGen acquires 188 MW RE projects: US-based and Latin America focused renewables company EnfraGen, LLC has completed the acquisition of 6 assets in Panama and Costa Rica with a combined 188 MW capacity. A subsidiary of Colombia's Celsia, Grupo Argos has divested its stake in these hydro, wind and solar projects. The 188 MW capacity comprises 2 solar PV plants with 19.7 MW aggregate capacity in Panama. With this acquisition, EnfraGen's operational and under-construction asset capacity now exceeds 2.1 GW across Chile, Panama, Colombia and Costa Rica, stated the company which is a joint venture between Partners Group and Glenfarne Energy Transition. 

Green hydrogen plant in Ceará: The Brazilian State of Ceará has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Grupo Jepri for a green hydrogen plant with close to 1,200,000 tons/year of production capacity using wind and solar resources in the region. The €3.3 billion project is expected to enter construction in 2025, and starting green hydrogen production in Q4/2026 and Q1/2027, as per initial schedule. Grupo Jepri plans to site the facility in the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex (CIPP), located in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza. Grupo Jepri claims to have more than 20 GW of green hydrogen projects under development in Spain, Mauritania and Uruguay. 

Astronergy modules for Chile project: Chinese solar module producer Astronergy has supplied its ASTRO N5 78-cell n-type TOPCon solar panels for 12.25 MW EL Rayador Solar Park and 12.25 MW Las Taguas Solar Park in Chile. Developed by PFV, these projects were grid-connected in September and October this year, respectively. Together, these are expected to generate 44.66 GWh solar power/year.  

Recurrent Energy raises capital: The wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar that functions as its global development and power services business arm, Recurrent Energy has raised BRL 490 million ($100 million) of non-recourse financing for its Brazilian projects. The proceeds are for its 300 MW Ciranda Solar Power Cluster completed in August 2023. While investment funds managed by Vinci Partners pooled in BRL 285 million for the Ciranda Phase I bond in a private placement, Ciranda Phase II secured a BRL 205 million facility with Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES). Both financings are inflation-indexed to the National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), aligning cost of debt with the inflation-indexed operating cash flows of the projects, said Recurrent.  

RE supply contract in Chile: Sustainable water solutions company Aguas Pacifico will source 100% renewable electricity for its multipurpose desalination plant in Chile, under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with local utility Colbún. The contract defines that the energy to be used by the desalination plant located in the Puchuncaví Commune and the water delivery system of the 105-kilometer aqueduct will come exclusively from renewable generation sources and that this will be supported by Colbún with International Renewable Energy Certificates (IREC Certificates). 

According to the official statement, Aconcagua project will transform seawater into multipurpose and multiclient freshwater to be supplied as drinking water to different consumers in the Valparaíso and Metropolitan regions. In September 2023, Colbún signed a 100% renewable energy contract with copper miner Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi (see Latin America Solar PV News Snippets).