The Dominican solar market is entering a more mature stage and, for Oscar Rubio , this opens up new opportunities both in utility scale projects and in schemes linked to the productive use of land.
“ We are going to continue moving forward, not at the speed we have been doing until now, but with a firm step ,” said the SL Rack executive, defining the new moment that the sector is going through.
This vision not only envisions more orderly growth, but also an expansion into new models. Rubio identified potential there for photovoltaic developments on strategic crops such as cocoa, coffee, and sugarcane.
This potential stems from a convergence between the need for new land for development and the availability of agricultural land suitable for complementary uses. The executive points out that this model is already gaining traction in Europe, driven by new regulations, and believes it could be replicated in the Dominican Republic not only as a way to diversify project revenues but also as a tool to sustain long-term productive operations.
The proposal comes in a context of market reorganization following auctions and new signs of tenders that could mobilize more than 800 MWh between storage and renewables , reinforcing expectations for new projects .
For Rubio, this reorganization does not disregard the country's previous progress, but is a consequence of a market that managed to consolidate attractive bases for investment.
“We believe things have been done well in the country. We have had an expansion of renewable energies, mainly photovoltaics, stable regulation, financing, and stability in the medium and long term,” he highlighted during his participation in FES Caribe.
In his view, this same development created a pull factor for new players, which ultimately forced adjustments. “With the auctions, new rules have been established; we are who we are. All those who had come hoping to leave have had to,” he stated.
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Design and engineering for a new phase of the market
In that scenario, the executive suggests that competitiveness will begin to be defined less by commercial aggressiveness and more by the capacity for technical optimization.
“We are in environments not only prone to hurricanes, but also on an island, the corrosive environment is high,” he warned, noting that variables such as wind, corrosion and geotechnics become central to the bankability of new projects.
From that perspective, Rubio emphasized that structural engineering emerges as a tool to reduce CAPEX without compromising performance.
“This often means we need fewer piles than are usually used in projects here, and this minimizes ground risks and makes assembly much easier,” he said.
He added that the specification of materials is another critical variable: “If we are closer to the coast, we will use a higher quality Magnelis,” he explained, focusing on solutions designed for corrosive environments and long-term lifespan.
Rubio adds to this strategy recent developments for flat roofs, where SL Rack works with steel and Magnelis solutions aimed at reducing material consumption and accelerating assembly. He explained that CLIPS-type systems simplify installation and add a new layer of optimization to structural costs.
The executive also links this competitiveness to industrial flexibility in responding to price targets. While highlighting in-house manufacturing in Germany, he points out that the possibility of production in China is emerging as a tool to meet increasing cost demands in projects.
“It is important to partner with a good manufacturer who can guarantee not only the quality of the product, but also on-time delivery,” he added.
With that diagnosis, Rubio projects that the next phase of growth in the Dominican Republic will be less associated with accelerated expansion and more with technically more sophisticated projects, where resilience, optimization and new land use models will gain weight in investment decisions.