Central & South America

The latest North American manufacturing hub report from Sinovoltaics maps current and planned capacity for 95 plants in the region’s PV module supply chain. The report tracks announcements of current and future capacities at plants producing PV modules, cells, wafers, ingots, polysilicon, and metallurgical-grade silicon.

Enel Colombia’s total number of solar parks energized so far this year “represent more than 34% of the solar energy produced in the entire interconnected system of Colombia.”

Scientists in Colombia have proposed to develop inverted perovskite solar cells with a hole transport layer based on indium-doped nickel oxide. The result is a champion device achieving an efficiency of 20.06% and showing remarkable stability.

The BRL 950 million ($175 million) São João do Paracatu solar park in Minas Gerais employs 500,000 solar modules distributed over an area of ​​509 hectares and counts clients in the areas of mining, magnesium industrialization and plastic production and recycling.

The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant could almost double its generation capacity if it were to install a large floating solar plant that would occupy only 10% of its 1,350-square-kilometer reservoir area, according to an estimate released by the energy consulting and analysis firm PSR. The installation of floating PV could be an alternative to the repowering of power plants, although it faces regulatory and operational constraints.

Spanish company Solarpack developed the $100 million photovoltaic plant in the municipality of Montería, located in the department of Córdoba. It’s one of two large-scale solar park projects the company has in Colombia.

FRV is one of a number of companies that has already signed contracts with the Ceará government for the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives in the state. Its H2 Cumbuco project is set to expand to 2 GW of electrolyzer capacity in two phases. The project will use residual urban water treated by the local sanitation company.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric complained that the solar array installed on a military base in Argentine Patagonia were located three meters inside Chilean territory. “They must remove those solar panels as soon as possible or we are going to do it,” he warned. The Argentine government recognized the error.

Colombia, Brazil, and Chile lead the hydrogen market in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to new data presented by Hinicio and New Energy at the recent 4th Hydrogen Congress for Latin America and the Caribbean (H2LAC 2024).

Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) has started operating an 83 MW solar project in Caldas, Colombia.