Central & South America

Guatemala’s latest energy auction has attracted 48 bidders for 235 MW of capacity. The auction has been oversubscribed, with more than 1 GW of project proposals submitted. The national regulator will announce the final results on Aug. 2.

NTPC, on behalf of Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE), is accepting bids to develop a 60 MW grid-connected solar project in Cuba. The prospective developer will execute the capacity on a ‘build-own-operate-transfer’ basis. Bidding closes on July 20.

EKI Energy will invest up to INR 200 crore ($25 million) as an anchor investor in the fund with a deep focus on community development projects across remote locations in India and select countries in Africa, Asia and LATAM.

NTPC, as a project management consultant to Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE), has launched bids to develop 1.15 GW of grid-connected solar and 150 MW/150 MWh battery storage projects in Cuba. The prospective developer will execute the project on a ‘build-own-operate-transfer’ basis and transfer to UNE after 25 years.

The state-owned power company, a partner of the International Solar Alliance, will help the Cuban government with developer selection and the signing of project agreements and will oversee solar plant implementation up to commissioning.

The company believes introducing its ATUM solar roof (PV panels integrated on cement boards) would be a gamechanger for South Africa. The product, which can directly be used as a roof, will enable distributed microgrids in the region to address the energy requirements of the unelectrified.

The new billion-dollar investment is aimed at scaling distributed renewable energy across developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The solar plant is the Indian multinational’s fifth win in Latin America. The EPC has a a 93.3 MW project in Argentina and is constructing three other Chilean PV plants with a total generation capacity of 588 MW.

With bifacial modules making their way into the mainstream, tracker manufacturers and energy companies are operating test facilities around the world. To drive the LCOE as low as possible, tracker manufacturers now also care about what is happening underneath the modules, and not just above. As the power comes from light reflected from the ground, increasing that reflectivity has been mooted by many stakeholders. This is not without complication, however, and the quest for optimization goes into the next round.

The Climate Investment Platform launched by three multilateral bodies in September is now open for business and renewables companies in developing nations across 14 regions including south Asia could qualify for help with clean energy facilities, renewables-related grid improvements and energy efficiency schemes.