The unit, SMA Brazil, will be a regional subsidiary of SMA South America, which is located in Chile. "SMA expects a strong growth in solar installations in Brazil in the coming years," says SMA chief executive Pierre-Pascal Urbon.

"With our new subsidiary in Itopeva/Sao Paulo we will support our domestic and international customers to benefit from the market development."

SMA says it considers Brazil an attractive PV market because of its federal energy contract auctions, net metering, and tax exemptions on the consumed credits generated by net metering in most states.