2020

Of 169 pre-selected projects, one is a project for landfill gas production; the remaining 348.5 MW of generation capacity comes from solar projects. The auction’s final results are expected in spring.

Some of the world’s most cost-competitive solar arrays have been built among the rolling dunes of the vast Arabian Desert. While some government policies appear to be targeted at breaking records, nobody expects the oil-rich Gulf region to bring about truly sharp changes in pricing for solar PV plants.

Insolvency proceedings have been under way for the separate Solibro GmbH division since late summer and business operations have long been suspended there. With Chinese thin-film manufacturer Hanergy having told pv magazine it pulled out of that business in 2015 – despite apparent evidence to the contrary – this week another Hanergy subsidiary, Solibro Hi-Tech, declared insolvency.

Mercom Capital has released their annual report for 2019, describing the year as robust and showing company funding of $11.7 billion, up 20% over 2018, on top of announced project deals of $16.1 billion, up 14%.

The government of the state of Western Australia has allocated funding from its Renewable Hydrogen Fund toward seven feasibility studies that could pave the way for significant renewable hydrogen projects around the state.

The Electricity Authority of Cyprus has issued a public call to select landowners to lease space for the development of large-scale solar projects.

Dutch utility Liander has published a new list congested areas in the provinces of Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Noord-Holland, and Zuid-Holland. The company said that developers of solar parks who are still waiting for grid connection may have to wait longer for additional grid capacity.

The German renewables group and brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev claim the transaction is the largest pan-European solar power deal with an industrial client to date. The companies have already agreed on a virtual power purchase agreement related to two Spanish PV plants that are scheduled for grid connection by spring 2022.

The transaction has been approved by AGCM, Italy’s antitrust authority. Prior to acquiring Evolvere – which recorded a turnover of more than €30 million in 2018 – Eni has mainly specialized in the construction of large-scale solar plants, rather than residential and commercial PV projects.

An international research group led by CIC EnergiGUNE, a Spanish research center, is designing new redox organic flow batteries. The researchers claim the batteries will offer longer duration, as well as higher power and energy densities, in a more environmentally sustainable format. The European Commission provided €3.8 million in funding for the initiative.