2017 Brazilian Excellence Awards

4 LATIN AMERICA NEWS / Brazilian Excellence Awards 2017 , Canadian Solar Inc. Canadian Solar is one of the world’s largest and foremost solar power companies. Joao Ribeiro, Sales Manager in South America for the firm, tells us more about the company and what he attributes to its success. Founded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and a provider of solar energy solutions. The team serves the residential, commercials, and utility-scale markets. In the past 16 years, the company has successfully delivered over 22 GW of premium quality modules to over 100 countries around the world. Moreover, the company has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects in various stages of development. Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar industry, and has been publicly listed on NASDAQ since 2006. Joao tells us about the company’s approach when starting work on a new project or with a new client, and what steps the firm plans to take to ensure that the overall outcome meets clients’ needs. “Here at Canadian Solar, we work closely with our clients to identify the customer segmentation, being DG or Utility Scale. By understanding their long and short-term goals, we are able to ensure our clients’ needs are met.” Talking us through the sector currently, Joao lists the key developments which are affecting firms, including Canadian Solar. He also mentions how the company has adapted accordingly, highlighting the team’s initiative and ability to stay ahead of advances within the industry. Its ambitious and competitive solutions help to mark the company out as one of the best PV Modules Manufacturers within Brazil. “Essentially, the solar industry continues to evolve with higher wattage solar modules, and we have responded with our new line of dual-cell Ku Modules which feature less heat generated and more power output. We offer KuPower for the DG market (60- cell equivalent) and KuMax for the large commercial and utility- scale market (72-cell equivalent). We have also responded to customers’ requests for a one- stop shop by offering complete system solutions, including connectors, inverters, and O&M services. We manufacture our own line of high-quality PV connectors. We now offer single- phase and three-phase string inverters ranging in size from 1.5 to 60 kW. “Additionally, we also offer Medium Voltage (MV) Station solutions, which are factory- integrated turnkey power conversion platforms for utility- scale solar installations. Our Operations and Maintenance services, which until recently have only been available for our own projects, are now available for customer projects as well. We have over 1 GW of solar facilities under contract and operations with a 24/7/365 operations control center to ensure that our customers get the highest output possible from their solar investment.” Discussing the Brazilian corporate landscape currently, Joao talks about the energy market, particularly in Sao Paulo, the business capital of Brazil, alluding to the great strides the country has made in terms of its economic growth. “Brazil is a market with 80% of the marked based on DG and 20% on Utility Scale; with a pipeline of 2GW within three years. With growing opportunities and high energy cost, in spite of the fact that it is in an emerging growing market, it is the 6th economy in the World. We serve the business capital of Brazil, with our Sales Office headquartered in Sao Paulo and Brazil’s largest solar manufacturing facility in Sorocaba.” Key factors in Canadian Solar’s success include innovation and ambition. Ensuring it remains at the forefront of emerging developments, Joao states that the company covers all bases in terms of the services it offers. The firm designs, develops and manufactures, as well as possessing notable qualifications, all of which contribute to setting only the highest standard of service. BRA17002