Yellow sun with three sun rays coming off the bottom right corner with the letters REC in black, bold to the rightREC solar panels have faced more testing under harsh conditions and have come out tops again. The Norwegian solar company has also just finished its 7MW solar power plant in Argentina. It’s the first REC panel system in the country and now one of South America’s largest power plants.

REC panels have now faced more gruelling testing under the harshest conditions. The latest test faced is that Blowing Sand Test which trials their performance under the toughest wind conditions in the desert. According to Energy Matters, the panels are performing better than most of the monocrystalline competitors and “achieve higher yields than panels produced by REC’s industry competitors.” With the company recently announcing the opening of a new office in Dubai, the test has a special significance for them.

REC’s Senior Vice President, Luc Graré said, “We are delighted that our REC Peak Energy Series solar panels perform consistently and optimally in all conditions and environments around the world.”

REC has also made the debut in Argentina with works finishing on a 7MW power plant located in San Juan, Western Argentina. REC added 2MW’s of capacity to the Chimbera solar farm for a total of 7MW’s. They added 8 400 REC Peak Energy Series solar panels which now makes it one of the largest solar power facilities in South America. It will provide clean, renewable power for an estimated 1 300 homes and save 2 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. The ground mounted installation covers three hectares (total of six hectares altogether) with REC solar panels and sells electricity through a government supported Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The project is owned and operated by 360 Energy.

“We are pleased to be on board this exciting project with 360 Energy in Argentina, and are looking forward to expanding our involvement as the country moves forward with its solar electricity initiatives,” said Mr Graré.

360 Energy Chief Executive Santiago Lagos said, “Given the planned size of the finished installation, this project is hugely important to the future of solar energy in Argentina. We would choose REC again as the project moves to the next stage.”

Plans are in place to have the facility generating 20MW’s of solar electricity by 2014.