Yaskawa – Solectria Solar, a U.S. commercial PV inverter manufacturer, announced that it has established a solar manufacturing plant and a sales/service office in São Paulo, Brazil to further its support in the Latin American (LATAM) PV market. The office will be co-located with Yaskawa Elétrico do Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary of Yaskawa America, Inc. that was established in 1974. This subsidiary brings experience and knowledge of the Brazilian manufacturing and sales processes. Yaskawa – Solectria Solar Brazil offers its commercial and utility-scale products and solutions to meet the demands of these solar markets in Latin America.

“Yaskawa – Solectria Solar has seen large growth in the PV industry and its customers in Latin America and expects this growth to continue. Since Yaskawa Elétrico do Brasil has been established in Brazil for over 40 years, this gives us a great advantage of manufacturing most competitively priced products in the LATAM PV market today,” said Phil Vyhanek, President of Yaskawa – Solectria Solar.

Brazil is the most attractive location in Latin America due to its PV policies (including federal energy auctions, net metering and tax exemptions) and the need for an energy alternative to help stabilize high energy prices. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, Brazil will reach 8.3GW of capacity by 2024 which will make it one of the top 20 PV producing countries in the world. The LATAM market as a whole is expected to grow more than 75% over the next 5 years.

The International Business Manager at Yaskawa – Solectria Solar, Mercedes Pereyra Boue, who speaks Portuguese, Spanish and English fluently, stated, “We are excited to be able to have local support and manufacturing in São Paulo, Brazil as our customers grow exponentially in the LATAM market. Our customers are pleased to be able to work with Yaskawa locally. We already have an established presence and the equipment is built in Brazil, saving them BOS and shipping costs.”