Risks and Rewards of Latin America's Solar Boom [Special Content From NEXTracker]
Energy Gang
Wood Mackenzie
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2019
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, we’ve got a bonus episode produced in collaboration with NEXTracker.
It’s all about the risks and rewards of doing business in the roaring Latin American solar market.
We are speaking with two of the most in-the-know people on the subject.
We’re joined by Manan Parikh, Wood a solar analyst focused on the Americas for Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.
And we’ll hear from Alejo Lopez, a senior director at NEXTracker, who’s helped grow a 3-gigawatt pipeline of trackers in Latin America — resulting in some of the cheapest and grandest solar projects in the world.
Auctions in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil are unleashing extremely low prices — between 2 and 3 cents a kilowatt-hour. As a result, the region is actually the strongest for trackers compared to the rest of the world.
It’s also a pretty crazy place to do business. Every country is very different. Political and economic volatility can make markets super hot one year, and then nonexistent the next. And ultra-low prices aren’t always healthy.
Still, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables projects exponential growth for Latin America — making it 10% of the global market within the next few years.
So what does exponential growth look like? And what do solar markets based on unsubsidized, extremely low priced projects mean for businesses?
Learn about how NEXTracker helped deliver 754 megawatts of trackers to the largest solar project in the Americas.
Listen to our episode of Watt It Takes with NEXTracker CEO Dan Shugar, a solar pioneer.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Okay, Mexico City, are you rolling? |
| 0:03.0 | Yep, is going. |
| 0:04.0 | Houston, how are we doing over there? |
| 0:06.0 | Yep, I think we are, we've already started. |
| 0:09.0 | Okay, Alejo, you're a tough guy to get on the line. |
| 0:12.0 | I guess our difficulties in scheduling the interview are... Hey, Alejo, you're a tough guy to get on the line. |
| 0:12.6 | I guess our difficulties in scheduling the interview |
| 0:14.8 | are a sign of the boom times for solar in Latin America, huh? |
| 0:18.8 | It is, it is. |
| 0:20.2 | And sorry about that. |
| 0:21.3 | It is very unpredictable and exciting but it's also chaotic and it really |
| 0:26.7 | it's hard for me to plan my day. |
| 0:28.7 | Hey Stephen I feel the same way about Alejha. |
| 0:36.0 | I want to talk to you more often. Well I've got good news for you, in collaboration with Next Tracker. It's all about the |
| 0:54.2 | roaring Latin American solar market and the risks and rewards that come with it. |
| 0:58.0 | We are speaking with two of the most in-the-know people on the subject. |
| 1:01.8 | Manon Parak, our very own solar analyst, focused on the Americas, |
| 1:06.0 | and Alejo Lopez, a senior director at Next Tracker, |
| 1:09.0 | who's helped grow a 3 gigawatt pipeline of trackers in Latin America resulting in some of the cheapest and grandest solar projects in the world. |
| 1:19.0 | Auctions in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil are unleashing extremely low prices between 2 and 3 cents a kilowatt hour in some cases. |
| 1:27.0 | As a result, the region is actually the strongest for trackers compared to the rest of the world. |
| 1:32.0 | It's also a pretty crazy place to do business. |
... |
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