The European Commission has selected the winners of European Hydrogen Bank's first auction, with bids coming in below €0.50 ($0.54)/kg, while Chile and Namibia have revealed new hydrogen plans. The European Commission has awarded €720 million to seven renewable hydrogen projects in Europe, selected through the first competitive bidding process under the European Hydrogen Bank. The seven projects were the winners of an oversubscribed auction that attracted 132 bids in total. Together, the winning bidders plan to produce 1.58 million metric tons of renewable hydrogen over 10 ..read more

The Atacama Desert in Argentina and Chile is the sunniest region on earth. Despite the excellent solar radiation resource availability and plenty of room on rooftops and on the ground, solar PV is not as widespread in either country as would have been expected based on the initial deployment of large-scale PV power plants in both countries some ten years ago. With annual irradiation levels over 2,700 kWh/m2/year, the Atacama Desert in Argentina and Chile is the sunniest area on the planet. Around ten years ago, the first utility-scale, multi-MW PV projects started in both countries, and expect ..read more

Engie has deployed a 139 MW/638 MWh battery in northern Chile. The storage project is connected to the 181.2 MW Coya solar plant in the Antofagasta region. Engie Chile, the Chilean unit of French energy giant Engie, said it has finalized the construction of a 139 MW/638 MWh battery. It claimed it is the largest energy storage system to be installed in Latin America. The storage facility is connected to the 181.2 MW Coya PV plant, in Maira Elena, in northern Chile's Antofagasta region, which has one of the world's highest levels of solar radiation. Engie announced the project in December 2022 ..read more

Chile's cumulative installed PV capacity reached 8.5 GW at the end of December 2023, on 1.65 GW of new projects for the year. The cumulative PV total represents 25.6% of the nation's total power generation capacity. From pv magazine Latam Chile deployed 1.652 MW of new PV systems in 2023, according to new statistics from Acesol, the Chilean PV association. The country's cumulative installed solar capacity reached 8.5 GW as of the end of December 2023, which represents around 25.6% of its total power generation capacity. Acesol also said that around 2,941 MW of the total PV capacity comes from ..read more

Colbún, Atlas Renewable Energy, and Innergex were the winners of National Copper Corporation of Chile's (Codelco) latest procurement exercise. They secured 15-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) to supply clean power from 2026. From pv magazine LatAm Codelco has announced the results of its latest public auction for renewable energy procurement. The company said that more than 50 national and international companies participated in the procurement exercise, assigning a total of 1.8 TWh/year. The winners of the auction were Atlas Renewable Energy, Chilean electricity company Colbún and Canada ..read more

Grenergy said its new power purchase agreement (PPA) for 260 MW/1,100 MWh of solar-plus-storage in Chile has a duration of 15 years. The installation is part of the fourth phase of the massive 1 GW/4 GWh Oasis de Atacama solar-plus-storage project. From pv magazine LatAm Spain-based project developer Grenergy said it has secured a long-term PPA for a large-scale solar-plus-storage project under development in Chile by an unspecified power utility with an investment-grade credit rating. Grenergy said the PPA has a duration of 15 years and relates to the fourth phase of its massive 1 GW/4 GWh Oa ..read more

Reports of broken module glass with no obvious cause have begun to crop up at large PV projects. Module design, glass manufacturing, and interactions in the field between modules and trackers are at play and a clear solution has yet to emerge. Early signs suggest an update to certification standards may be needed. From pv magazine 12/23-01/24 A worrying trend is emerging in large-scale PV as project owners report high levels of broken module glass. Few of them are willing to share details from specific projects at this stage but quality experts say reports have been received relating to hundre ..read more

PowerChina has finished building a 480 MW solar plant in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, which is recognized for having the world's highest solar radiation levels. From pv magazine Latam PowerChina Chile, Renewable Energy – a unit of energy and infrastructure developer PowerChina – has finished building a 480 MW solar plant in María Elena, in Chile's Antofagasta region. Claudio Araya Aguilar, the company's head of human resources and labor relations, announced the plans on LinkedIn. He said that the facility he manages is now Chile's largest operational solar farm. The company built the ..read more

Thresholding methods have commonly been used to characterize the soiling accumulated on glass coupons. Researchers led by the Sapienza University of Rome have identified 16 automatic thresholding methods that may be used for analyzing soiling on PV panels. An international group of scientists has conducted research to identify the most robust and reliable thresholding method in image analysis of soiling on PV panels. Thresholding is the process that converts a micrograph into a binary black and white image, corresponding to particle and background. It does so by setting a threshold for pixel b ..read more

A new initiative by the Chilean Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of National Assets is expected to cover storage projects with an aggregate capacity of 13 GWh, distributed mainly in the regions from Arica y Parinacota to Atacama. From pv magazine LatAm The Chilean government has approved a resolution to allocate public land for energy storage projects that will start operations in 2026. The Promotion Plan for the Development of Storage Systems is expected to assign public land for projects with a total aggregate capacity of 13 GWh, distributed mainly in the country's four northernmost regio ..read more