While a large floating solar power plant is being planned in Ukraine, within a huge renewable energy complex at the water reservoir Kakhovka, the Asian Development Bank has targeted Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and the Kyrgyz Republic as three countries possessing strong potential for this emerging technology.

The realization of Egypt’s 1.8 GW Benban solar complex has posed a long series of challenges to its numerous developers. The creation of the Benban Solar Developers Association (BSDA) has helped move the project forward amid initial grid constraints and several logistical issues, among others. Although only one of the 33 projects has now reached completion, all are set to be grid-connected by June 2019 – the final deadline set by the Egyptian government, according to Assem Korayem, a member of the BSDA and the operating general manager at Access-Power Egypt. In a conversation with pv magazine, he provides an extensive update on the current status of the huge PV complex.

Overall, the United Kingdom reached a cumulative installed PV power capacity of 12.93 GW as of the end of August. Around 45% of this is represented by solar parks exceeding 5 MW in size, while another 20% come from residential installations up to 4 kW. Newly installed PV capacity for the first eight months of this year was just 155 MW.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development of the Sub-Saharan country is currently seeking advice for its Decentralized Renewables Development Program, which includes an off-grid master plan for the electrification of islands on Lake Victoria and the creation of a pilot program for solar net metering.

China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have each listed a €500 million bond. The bond issuance of the Chinese company was made on the newly created Luxembourg Green Exchange, a platform exclusively dedicated to sustainable finance.

Just a day after announcing its entry in the off-grid solar business in Bangladesh, the Portuguese utility agreed to acquire a minority stake in Mozambique’s SolarWorks, a start-up providing pay-as-you-go off-grid PV solutions.

The Spanish power and gas provider has started construction on two 50 MW solar plants near Ciudad Real, in the southern region of Castile–La Mancha. The projects are part of the 250 MW pipeline it secured in the government’s renewable energy auction held in July.

The “Project Centurion” will allow the testing of ITM Power’s Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser at Inovy’s Runcorn Site, where hydrogen is being produced as a co-product of the chlor-alkali process.

Greenpeace France has launched a Green Electricity Guide, which ranks 19 French electricity providers in terms of their renewable energy offers. The environmental association accuses several providers of practicing greenwashing, as they buy power from nuclear power plants and then turn it “green” using guarantee of origin certificates.

The Portuguese utility expands its renewable energy business – traditionally dominated by wind – with a new storage station in Romania and the acquisition of a start-up, which offers off-grid home solar solutions in Bangladesh.