The capacity comes from two solar parks and five wind power plants awarded firm energy obligations for 2022-2023. The Reliability Charge auctions were created by the Colombian government to ensure power supply during water shortages.

A group of Japanese researchers have used anatase and brookite, which are two different variants of titanium dioxide, to improve the efficiency of a perovskite-based solar cell. The use of the two minerals is said to considerably improve the control of the electron transport out of the perovskite layer.

In 2018, newly deployed PV capacity in the eastern European country totaled 645 MW. Demand is mainly driven by large-scale projects under the FIT scheme, but residential solar under net metering is also providing a significant contribution.

The plant is being built by Spanish developer Solarpack in the Atacama desert. The project was selected in an energy auction held by the Chilean government in 2016. At the time, Solarpack’s bid of $29.1/MWh was a record low for solar.

Most of the nation’s solar is in Flanders, which at the end of December had more than 3 GW of grid-connected PV. Wallonia and Brussels account for the remaining 1.1 GW and 83 MW, respectively. Although Belgian solar is still dominated by residential PV, a stronger stimulus for the market may come from the large-scale segment in the years ahead.

The Danish developer has bought the right to build a 123 MW plant in Troia, in the southern Italian region of Apulia. The project was initiated in 2011 and is the largest Italian PV project to have secured all necessary approvals. European Energy plans to start construction this year.

The utility has issued a request for qualification for a further 900 MW of PV at the huge solar park, which is set to reach a total capacity of 5 GW.

An international team of economists says power-to-gas may already generate hydrogen at costs competitive with fossil fuel power plants in Germany and Texas, provided certain production output levels are not exceeded. If medium and small power-to-gas is competitive, large-scale should be viable by 2030.

The Netherlands-based Foundation for Applied Water Research has published a Guide for the licensing of floating solar parks on water and developed a tool to measure the effect of PV modules on water quality and quantity and the ecosystem.

The Saudi energy company and Chinese inverter maker and comms firm will team up to use information and communications technology to improve the performance of the former’s PV plants.