Paraguay’s plan to become a South America export and production hub

Paraguay plans to advance with solar power plant construction tenders to export energy as part of efforts to become a regional export and production hub.

Paraguay's electricity authority ANDE has an open tender for the construction of a 140MW solar plant in Chaco region. "This is Paraguay's first large-scale solar project and ANDE's goal is to hold at least one tender in this segment once a year for the next 15 years," said Javier Viveros, institutional development advisor at investment and export department Rediex, part of Paraguay's industry and trade ministry.

"We’re currently working on laws to stimulate the expansion of the use and the production of renewable energy. Paraguay has 100% of its energy production coming from a clean matrix, but a large part of this is hydroelectric. We want to expand the use of other renewable sources as well."

Paraguay is looking to export renewable energy to other South American countries, including Brazil, Viveros told BNamericas on the sidelines of the Intersolar event.

In addition to renewable energy, the government will seek to attract firms from other sectors to the country by offering low taxes and low energy costs.

"We want to develop forest areas where we see huge potential. In the next 10 years, we want to develop 1.2Mha of forests so that this can be used by the cellulose industry and other uses as well," Viveros said.

In July, Paraguay’s long-term credit rating was upgraded by Moody's to investment grade for the first time in its history. 

"The Moody's upgrade helps a lot in improving our business environment and paves the way for a reduction in interest rates," said Viveros. "This will support our aim of turning the country into an export platform for companies in the region. We do not want to compete with any country but rather be complementary within the value chain."

Sustained economic growth, efforts across various administrations to diversify the economy and strong infrastructure investments were some of the factors that led Moody’s to lift the rating to 'Baa3' from 'Ba1'.