Canadian Solar has closed a $30m (€27m) funding round from the China-Portuguese Speaking Countries Cooperation and Development Fund (CPDFund).

The company will use the capital to develop and build photovoltaic projects in Brazil, where it has a 1.7GW pipeline that includes projects developed and awarded with power purchase agreements in the federal and regional energy auctions. 480MW is already operational.

China Development Bank and the Macau Industrial and Commercial Development Fund set up CPDFund to promote investment and cooperation between Chinese and Portuguese-speaking countries, including Brazil.

Canadian Solar chairman and chief executive Shawn Qu said: “We are pleased to collaborate with the CPDFund again to support the development and construction of more solar projects in Brazil.

“The last financing transaction in 2017 helped us bring our first Brazilian project, the 191MW Pirapora 1 power plant, to commercial operation.

“Since then, Canadian Solar has become a leader in the Brazilian solar energy market and is continuing to grow its project pipeline in the country. We look forward to more opportunities to cooperate with companies and financial institutions, in China and globally, to accelerate the growth of solar energy.”