http://www.rechargenews.com/solar/1384711/IN-DEPTH-Spains-Solatio-thinks-big-in-Brazilian-solar After securing 40% of total power sold, Solatio was the biggest winner in Brazil's solar auction on 31 October. It won contracts to sell power from 12 projects with a combined capacity of 360MW. Total investment is estimated at R$1.8bn to R$1.9bn ($755m), or just over $2m per installed MW, Pedro Vaquer Brunet, a partner at Solatio's Brazilian subsidiary, told Recharge. He said Solatio has a solar projects pipeline of 1.5GW in the country, of which 1.4GW has already received preliminary approval to participate in other auctions. This excludes what has already been contracted. Although Solatio will bid in auctions as a developer, it does not plan to operate solar plants and will sell its participation in them once completed, he said. The government has yet to set a date for solar auctions in 2015. The Brazilian solar sector is expected to reach 3.5GW by 2023. Although Brunet is optimistic about prospects in Brazil, he said competition drove prices too low. Solatio sold power at around R$217/MWh (in São Paulo) and R$216/MWh (in Minas Gerais), slightly above the average price of R$215.12/MWh for the whole auction, which sold power from a total of 31 projects with installed capacity of 890MW. “The government cannot think that prices will remain at this level in future auctions,” he said. “We sold power because it was a window of opportunity.” The company partnered up with Spanish engineering company Cobra for seven projects with 270MW in the state of São Paulo. In the state of Minas Gerais, it partnered with Canada's solar photovoltaic panel maker Canadian Solar for three projects with total capacity of 90MW. Canadian Solar will own an undisclosed amount of equity in the projects and will supply the equipment, but declined to comment on investments in Brazil. Brunet said it is in talks with four or five solar PV panel suppliers for the other projects, including Canadian Solar, and should decide in the first quarter of 2015. He also said Solatio will aim that suppliers, including Canadian Solar, comply with local-content rules in order to tap cheap financing from Brazil's development bank (BNDES). “There is no rush," Brunet said, pointing out that it should take about one year to build a plant in Brazil after obtaining all environmental licensing and permissions. Even so, Solatio expects to conclude the projects four to five months ahead of the October 2017 deadline, which would allow it to sell power in the non-regulated market. Brunet didn't disclose the technology that will be used but said he expects a capacity factor of some 20%. That is above the world's average, although below that of solar plants in Chile, where productivity can reach 23% and below projects that use solar tracking systems. By comparison, Renova Energia's four solar plants which also won PPAs at the auction, are expected to have 27% capacity factors. It will use modules supplied by the US's SunEdison which includes tracking technology.
