Central & South America

An international research team studied the solar PV impact of emissions from a coal-fired power plant in the Atacama Desert, Chile finding that after five months of exposure, the deposited dust on co-located PV panels reached a maximum of 1.63 mg/cm2 with a 23 % reduction in photocurrent. The accumulation at the co-located plant was 3 times greater than nearby PV sites with similar coastal climate conditions.

Australian listed battery materials and technology company Novonix has inked a joint development agreement with Brazilian niobium products supplier CBMM to produce cathode materials for use in lithium-ion batteries.

Portable solar generators are making their way from the fringes of solar and energy storage to become a mainstream consumer item. The rise has been charged by a range of factors that have created massive brands. Where did the sector emerge from, who was buying before, who is buying now, and what’s next? Tristan Rayner reports.

A study by engineers at UNSW, published in the Renewable Energy journal, shows that aerosols and greenhouse gas emissions reduce the productivity of photovoltaic installations and that this differs according to the global region.  

Chinese module maker BYD is producing a new bifacial monocrystalline panel at its manufacturing facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The module has a power output of up to 355 W and a conversion efficiency of 16.33%.

Brazilian renewables developer Elera Renováveis has commissioned the 1.2 GW Janaúba solar complex in the nation’s southeast. The facility, which went online this week, consists of 20 solar parks spread across 3,000 hectares.

Before Puerto Rico had a chance to recover from Hurricane Maria, in 2017, it was rocked by earthquakes and then, in September 2022, the island was struck again – this time by Hurricane Fiona. These disasters severely impacted Puerto Rico’s infamously fragile power grid, but have emboldened local communities to take power into their own hands through solar and battery storage, and increasingly in the form of microgrids. Compelled by catastrophic circumstances, Puerto Rico must now push toward energy resilience and in the process may see itself become a model not just for other islands, but mainland grids as well.

Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries is reportedly exploring an offtake agreement with what will be the world’s largest PV project as it advances plans to build a $9 billion (USD 6 billion) mega green hydrogen production facility in Brazil.

Sungrow told pv magazine at the recent Intersolar South America event in Sao Paulo that its cumulative delivered capacity in Latin America now stands at 9 GW, with 6 GW of the total delivered to Brazil alone.

In other news, German energy company Uniper said it will test a new salt cavern built for hydrogen storage, while Serbia and Hungary signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on renewable hydrogen.