Spanish PV developer Gestamp Solar has confirmed that the Tacna Solar and Panamericana Solar PV plants in Peru have become operational.
The PV plants were developed jointly by Gestamp Solar and Solarpack and each has a capacity of 20MW. The Tacna Solar plant is located in Tacna while the Panamericana Solar facility has been constructed in Moquegua.
According to Gestamp Solar, the solar plants are currently the largest operational PV plants in Latin America. Together, they generate enough electricity to power over 70,000 homes.
The plants were awarded to the two companies following a tendering procedure by the Peruvian government in February 2010. Under a contract with the Peruvian government, the facilities will supply 98GWh of annual solar electricity through a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The Tacna project is equipped with more than 75,000 crystalline silicon modules on 120 hectares of land. The facility is able to generate 50GWh of electricity every year and became operational in November 2012.
Both plants are connected to the grid and are feeding electricity to the local area through the National Interconnected Electrical System (SEIN).
In November 2012 US private equity investment firm Conduit Capital Partners and Latin American development bank CAF have acquired an 81% stake in the two plants. The total value of the transaction has not been disclosed. However, Conduit revealed that the two projects had required an investment of approximately US$210 million.
