The Project To Be Connected To The Grid in 2021 Exceeds 2.3GW, And The Photovoltaic Market in South America Is Full Of Potential

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, the performance of the photovoltaic industry has continued to prove its tenacious vitality and huge potential demand. In 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, many photovoltaic projects in Latin America have encountered delays and cancellations. With the acceleration of economic recovery and increased support for new energy by governments this year, the South American market led by Brazil and Chile has rebounded significantly. From January to June 2021, China exported 4.16GW of modules to Brazil, a significant increase from 2020. Chile ranked eighth in the module export market from January to June, returning to the second largest photovoltaic market in Latin America. The annual new photovoltaic installed capacity is expected to exceed 1GW, and there are more than 5GW projects in the construction and evaluation stage.

In recent years, thanks to the superior lighting conditions and the government's promotion of renewable energy, Chile has attracted many foreign companies to invest in photovoltaic power plants. As of the end of 2020, photovoltaics accounted for 50% of Chile's installed renewable energy capacity, ahead of wind, hydropower and biomass energy.

In July 2020, the Chilean government ordered the development rights of 11 utility-scale renewable energy projects through the energy price bidding label, with a total capacity of more than 2.6GW. The total potential investment of these projects is more than 2.5 billion US dollars, attracting global wind and solar power station developers such as EDF, Engie, Enel, SolarPack, Solarcentury, Sonnedix, Caldera Solar and CopiapoEnergiaSolar to participate in the bidding .

In the first half of this year, Mainstream Renewable, a global wind and solar power station developer, announced an investment plan consisting of six wind power and photovoltaic projects with a total installed capacity of more than 1GW. In addition, Engie Chile also announced that it will develop two hybrid projects in Chile, including photovoltaic, wind power and battery energy storage, with a total capacity of 1.5GW. AR Energía, a subsidiary of Spanish investment company AR Activos en Renta, also received 471.29MW EIA approval. Although these projects were all released in the first half of the year, the construction and grid connection cycle will be completed in the next three to five years.

Public data shows that Chile’s newly installed photovoltaic capacity exceeded 1GW in January-March this year (including projects that were delayed last year), and there are about 2.38GW of photovoltaic projects under construction, some of which will be connected to the grid in the second half of this year.