Yingli Green Energy Spain has supplied solar panels for Bolivia’s first and only hybrid diesel solar power plant.

The solar panel giant has supplied more than 17 000 solar panels to the remote city of Cobija in the state of Pando. They were heavily reliant on expensive diesel as they were not connect to Bolivia’s national grid.

EGSA (Empresa Electrica de Guaracachi S.A), a subsidiary of ENDE (Empresa Nacional de Electricidad),  carried out preliminary studies and basic engineering for the project while Project developer, Isotron (a company belonging to the ISASTUR Group) installed the system.

The 5MW system is expected to deliver clean energy to 49 000 people by producing around 7 500MW’s each year. It will provide for about 50% of the regional demand. The system itself will cover around 15 hectares and offset approximately 1.9 million litres of diesel.

“We are pleased to complete this project in partnership with Isotron of Bolivia, one of our long-term strategic partners. We believe this is a landmark reference project in Bolivia and globally due to its large scale, the combination of traditional power generation and energy storage with PV, and the number of connected consumers,” commented Mr. Fernando Calisalvo, Managing Director of Yingli Spain.

“Yingli proved to be a committed partner at every stage of this innovative project, which promises to be one of Latin America’s most influential and forward-looking energy facilities. We look forward to working with the Yingli team in the future, especially as PV becomes an increasingly important element of the energy mix in Bolivia and beyond,” noted Mr. Jose Antonio Alvarez, an ISASTUR Group Board Member.

“As Bolivia’s first large-scale solar power system, we expect that this project will have a transformative impact in the region. Thanks to the combination of solar PV, energy storage, and diesel fuel generation in a single large-scale power plant, thousands of individuals in Bolivia now have access to reliable, clean electricity, which opens up dramatic possibilities for business development, education, and community empowerment,” commented Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yingli Green Energy.