Canadian Solar has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with BTG Pactual and has been awarded two private auction projects by Furnas Centrais Elétricas (Furnas) for a total of 862 MWp in solar power projects in Brazil.
Canadian Solar will supply solar energy from a 170 MWp cluster of projects located in the State of Minas Gerais for the 12-year PPA with BTG. The projects will begin construction in 2021 and are projected to be commercially operational by the end of 2022. BTG is one of the largest investment banks in Latin America and one of the largest energy trading firms in Brazil.
Furnas will buy renewable energy from two Canadian solar projects through a 15-year PPA program. Canadian Solar will develop and build a total of 692 MWp on both Furnas ventures.
One of these will be located in the State of Ceará and will have a capacity of 260 MWp. The second project will be located in the State of Piuaí and will have a capacity of 432 MWp. Both projects will begin construction in 2022 and are scheduled to be commercially operational by the end of 2023.
Furnas is a majority managed subsidiary of Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras–Eletrobras (Eletrobras). Furnas’ business is primarily in the field of energy generation, transmission and sales. It operates in 16 Brazilian states and owns 21 hydro plants, 2 thermal plants, 1 wind farm and 30,000 kilometers of transmission lines.
“We are pleased to partner with BTG and Furnas to deliver clean solar energy to Brazilian consumers. I am also proud of our team’s great work in expanding our leadership position in the solar project development market in Brazil. After the 274 MWp in corporate PPAs that we signed earlier in June, the volume of projects secured in this PPA and auction is the largest in Canadian Solar’shistory, and it increases our backlog of solar projects in Brazil with PPAs (or equivalent) to almost 2.2 GWp.
“We are also making good progress on our project monetization strategy in Brazil, where we are in the process of forming a Brazilian Participation Fund for Infrastructure projects, or FIP-IE, which is on track to launch in 2021. This will help accelerate our growth in the Brazilian market as we optimize our capital allocation. More updates to come.”
Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar.
