Chinese Solar Giant Yingli Supplies Peru with 40MW of PV Panels

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (YGE), China’s third-largest solar-panel maker, shipped 40 megawatts of equipment to a pair of power projects in southern Peru as the company seeks to gain share in Latin America.

The two 20-megawatt projects, in the Tacna and Moqueua regions, are expected to begin producing electricity this year, Baoding, China-based Yingli said today in a statement. Spain’s Corp. Gestamp Solar SL and Solarpack Corp. Tecnologica are jointly developing the solar farms.

Yingli has opened units in Mexico, Chile and Brazil in an effort to beat Chinese rivals in Latin America, where governments are making efforts to promote solar power, Fernando Calisalvo, managing director for Yingli’s Spain unit, said today in a telephone interview.

“We are seeing competition directly from other Chinese manufacturers in Latin America,” he said. “I have seen manufacturers able to supply in those countries but have not seen competitors as well-positioned as Yingli.”

Yingli generated 98.6 percent of its revenue in Europe, the U.S. and China last year, according to data (YGE) compiled by Bloomberg.Suntech Power Holdings Co. was China’s largest panel maker by capacity last year according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, followed by Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL)