The four plants will come into operation before July 2012 and will be located in southern Peru, in the regions of Tacna, Arequipa and Moquegua, which have high average annual irradiation.
The tender was the first to be held by the mining and energy authorities in Peru (Organismo Superior de la Inversión en Energía y Minas), and was approved by a vice-ministerial ruling (078-2009) on 13 October 2009. The aim was to achieve an output of 1,314 GWh a year by 2012 using renewable sources. Of this total, solar technology will account for 181 GWh/year, while biomass will produce 813 GWh/year, wind-power 320 GWh/year and mini-hydro up to 500 MW installed capacity.
According to the resolution of this first tender for power supply using renewable energy resources, the electricity generated by the four plants will be bought by the national grid system in Peru at a guaranteed price over 20 years.
The award of the PV power tendered in this auction is an important operation for T-Solar in the Americas. According to T-Solar's CEO, Juan Laso, the company wanted to participate in this process because "the project looks good, as there is high solar irradiation in these areas and the conditions in Peru are attractive, an investment-grade country with political and economic stability."
Consolidation in Latin America
This contract enables Solarpack to consolidate its operations in South America, where the company is already one of the biggest developers specialising in PV solar energy. From its subsidiary in Chile, Solarpack is spearheading the implementation of projects such as the "Calama Solar 1" plant, which is the first multi-megawatt solar plant with an environmental licence in the entire South-American continent. Pablo Buros, Solarpack's general manager, states that "our upfront, innovative wager on this market is bearing fruit even earlier than we expected."
Peru currently has a population of 30 million inhabitants. It has doubled its energy output in the last 14 years, from 16,880 GWh in 1995 to 32,697 GWh in 2009. SNMPE (its national mining, oil and energy company) forecasts a further rise of 6% in electricity demand during 2010 International Monetary Fund data (IMF) show that over the last ten years, Peru's growth has outperformed that of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
With this operation in the Americas, T‐Solar has consolidated its international pipeline with a capacity of over 650 MW. It is focussed on growing its five strategic markets: Spain, Italy, France, USA and India. Meanwhile, Solarpack has become a benchmark developer in Latam, with projects in Peru and Chile for a total of 90 MW.
This latest news comes off the back of T-Solar sealing an agreement with the French company, Global Ecopower, in January to jointly develop 120 MWp of photovoltaic arrays in France over the next three years.
For additional information:
___________________________________***Follow us on Twitter***
