News

EcoSolifer AG, a Swiss solar company, is planning a panel plant in Brazil as the country seeks to develop a domestic supply chain for photovoltaic components.

The company is evaluating locations now for a facility that will assemble imported cells into about 80 MW worth of panels a year, said Bruno Zacharias, head of the company’s operations in Brazil.

Brazil has less than 35 MW of solar power capacity today, an insignificant part of its power supply. It’s seeking to promote wider use of the renewable energy and has introduced policies encouraging manufacturers to open factories. Zacharias said his plant will start producing cells within five years, something none of his competitors is doing.

“What I’m worried about is the end of the ITC,” said Tony Clifford, CEO of Standard Solar a solar developer based in Maryland during an interview at Intersolar North America. In preparation for a presentation that he was giving at the show, Clifford sought out studies other than those conducted by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) about what will happen to solar in the U.S. should the ITC go away. He wanted to look beyond SEIA, the lobbying arm of the industry, because Clifford said he would expect SEIA to say the end of the ITC will be catastrophic for the solar industry, it is a lobbying organization after all. While he does believe the industry will be harmed he wanted to see what other independent studies were showing.