100 MW of new solar energy projects are now on the path to development thanks to the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the noted Spanish solar module manufacturer Solaria Energia and the Brazillian utility company Iguaçú Geração de Energia. It’s currently undecided how exactly the new capacity will be split — whether it’ll be represented by one 100 MW utility-scale solar farm or by several smaller projects.
As it stands right now, Solaria Energia only possesses 3 MW worth of solar energy projects in Brazil — at a facility in Minas Gerais — so the new project(s) represent(s) quite the increase!
PV Tech provides more: “Iguaçú Geração de Energia provides energy for a region of more than 80,000 inhabitants in the municipalities of Xanxerê, Xaxim, Maremma, Entre Rios, Bom Jesus, and part of Great Lageado Ipuaçu, Mountain Range High and Colonel Freitas. The MoU signing follows increasingly encouraging news from Brazil’s emerging solar market. It recently included solar in its energy tender auctions for the first time and then announced new renewables incentives.”
In related news, Brazil’s next upcoming renewable energy auction, set to take place on November 18th, will see subsidies for 2.7 GW of new solar photovoltaic (PV) up for grabs. This will mark the first time in Brazil’s history that solar PV has been included in one of its auctions — previous auctions have been dominated by wind energy.
As we reported when we last covered the upcoming auction: “The inclusion of solar PV is something of a surprise, given relatively recent comments from the government in Brazil stating that it didn’t expect solar PV to become a viable option in the country until 2017 or so. But it appears that there must have been some unexpected developments since then, as solar PV will now been included in the auctions.”
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