The Japanese gas provider has acquired a 50% interest in four Mexican PV projects with a combined capacity of 746 MW. The new joint venture will further develop solar and renewables across the country.

Tuscia, in the Lazio region, is the focus of plans for several big solar parks including a 150 MW project approved by the regional government, two schemes exceeding 100 MW and six more projects ranging in size from 17 to 70 MW. Some 700 MW of solar is under development in the municipalities of Montalto di Castro and Tuscania alone.

A budget of €60 million has been allocated for this year, in 2020 and 2021 it will rise to €70 million. Applications for the incentives can be submitted from today.

A 65 kW installation relying on 250 monocrystalline panels of 250 W each is providing energy at the Zucchelli Station, Italy’s permanent Antarctic base on Terra Nova Bay.

The result was certified by the solar cells laboratory at the calibration and test center of Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research. Imec’s measurements showed cell bifaciality surpassed 80%.

Dutch developer Groenleven is planning a 48 MW floating installation at a depleted sand extraction site near Emmen, in Drenthe province.

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund will invest in non-listed infrastructure, with the government stressing such commitments will not be a climate policy measure but an investment strategy. The fund had already announced an intent to gradually divest holdings in oil and gas companies and related projects.

In an exclusive interview held during the meeting “Experience of Uruguay: Business Hub of Latin America”, organized by the Uruguayan Embassy in Berlin, the country’s Minister of Energy, Guillermo Moncecchi, spoke about the future of solar in the country’s energy mix, while also recognizing its great potential by virtue of the fall in panel prices. Although its share is currently very limited and there are no prospects for large growth in the short term, solar power currently has good opportunities for development in distributed generation, as electricity prices are constantly rising. As for large-scale projects, new auctions could be held again in the coming years, but not immediately. The country, however, is still listed among the countries with the highest share of renewables in the world, with a precentage close to 98%.

According to the general manager of French PV production equipment provider Apollon Solar, Jed Kraiem, multicrystalline cells are expected to have a share of only 40% in 2019 global demand, with mono PERC cell structures now clearly being in advantage thanks to higher efficiencies and increasingly lowering costs. He claims, however, that technological advances in the solar industry historically are implemented first in the mono segment and then transferred to the multicrystalline business.

In the paper “EU support for energy storage”, the audit agency said that measures taken so far for storage and electromobility development across the EU will not be sufficient for the achievement of the Union climate targets. The authors of the report also stressed that EU is far behind its competitors for battery cell manufacturing, and that more innovation is needed. They also claim development of grid energy storage is being slowed down by double grid fees in some EU countries, including Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Finland.