Emerging solar market briefs: Chile, Brazil and Saudi Arabia

CHILE: SunEdison agrees to offload 202 MW of solar in Chile

SunEdison has entered into an agreement to sell solar projects in Chile totalling 202 MW to local power producer Colbun SA.

SunEdison will sell the 145-MW Olmue solar project in the Valparaiso region along with the 57-MW Santa Sofia solar scheme in the Metropolitan region for an undisclosed price. Colbun also considers acquiring a project that will expand the Santa Sofia plant’s capacity by 30 MW to 40 MW.

The company will also transfer third party contracts for the supply of 350 GWh of electricity annually to Colbun over a 15-year period. SunEdison has also signed an off-take contract under which it would supply 200 GWh of solar power per year to Colbun for the same period.

The deal marks another divestment being made by SunEdison after it filed for bankruptcy protection last week. On Thursday, British green energy supplier Ecotricity Group Ltd said it had acquired SunEdison’s home rooftop solar business in the UK. According to media reports, the US company is also looking for equity partners in India.

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia eyes 9.5 GW of renewables by 2030 under new strategy

Saudi Arabia has set an initial target as part of its Vision 2030 reform plan to reach 9.5 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

In order to encourage the deployment of renewables, the Kingdom will reconsider the legal and regulatory framework that enables the private sector to invest in the sector. Also, it will promote public-private partnerships so that the industry is localised, according to a document shared by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA)..

Saudi Arabia’s efforts to localise a big part of the renewables value chain will involve research and development (R&D), manufacturing and other stages of the project development.

In addition, the Kingdom will undertake a gradual liberalisation of the fuels market, shows the Vision 2030 plan, approved on Monday.

Saudi Arabia previously set a solar power target of 41 GW through 2040.

BRAZIL: Brazil okays 210 MW of Enel solar parks to enter incentives regime

Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy on Monday approved 210 MW of solar plants by Enel Green Power SpA (BIT:EGPW) to join the national Incentive Regime for Infrastructure Development (REIDI).

Sited in the city of Ribeira do Piaui, Piaui state, each of the seven 30-MW plants will include 60 systems of 500 kW each. The company secured all the schemes in last year's first reserve energy auction.

According to government documents, construction of the plants began on April 1 of this year and is expected to be completed by August 1, 2017 for a total cost of roughly BRL 1.45 billion (USD 409.8m/EUR 361.9m).

REIDI, launched in 2007, grants tax incentives to companies investing in infrastructure projects within the transport, energy, sanitation and irrigation sectors.