brazil

Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) has launched a programme encouraging consumers to generate their own power from renewable energy sources, with a particular emphasis on solar.

Governor of the Brazilian state of Piaui, Wellington Dias, has met with Switzerland-based PV manufacturing equipment supplier Meyer Burger to discuss the setting up of a solar module factory in the municipality of Paulistana, Piaui, in Northeast Brazil.

Brazil’s Development Bank (BNDES) has raised US$100 million from three Japanese banks in order to invest in clean energy projects.

Renewable energy firm SunEdison has cancelled a US$250 million deal to buy a 16% stake in Brazil’s largest renewable energy company, Renova Energia S.A, which is the second time in two months that the developer has pulled out of deals in the Latin American region.

The Latin America region saw 181MW of utility-scale solar PV come online in Q3 2015, down 50% from the historic 363MW of installations in Q2, but still helping the market's ability to strengthen growth and move towards maturity in 2016, according to GTM Research’s ‘Latin America Q3 Playbook’.

Brazil’s energy regulator the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) has approved an “historic” revision of the country’s net metering scheme for small-scale renewable energy systems, making it amongst the most forward-thinking countries in this sector, according to Rodrigo Sauaia, the director of Brazil’s solar industry association, Absolar.

Solar tracker manufacturer NEXTracker has said it is expanding its manufacturing presence in Brazil to capitalise on the expected PV project boom in the Latin American country.