Highlights

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a new report on different ways global warming can be kept within the 1.5°C limit. The panel seeks to inform policymakers before the upcoming COP24 in Poland this December. Resulting from their analysis, the 91 authors state that drastic action and significant investments are needed. Such climate action across all sectors would have significant positive effects on sustainable development progress, they say.

A report by the Brattle Group for Nevada regulators suggests that by 2030 – depending on pricing – 700 to 1,000 MW / 2.8 to 4 GWh worth of energy storage could be cost-effectively deployed statewide.

TOPCon technologies could further increase solar cell efficiencies, said Guangyao Jin, chief scientist, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions, at this year’s Energy Taiwan, held in September. He added that metallization paste is crucial.

With the commissioning of 620 MW by three companies, the total capacity of Rajasthan’s Bhadla Solar Park has reached 1,365 MW, Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Ltd (RRECL) announced.

The Oman Power and Water Procurement company (OPWP) is now seeking bids to secure technical consultancy services for the development of the project, the capacity of which could reach 1 GW.

Among the pre-selected bidders are big European players, such as Enel, Total and Engie, and big solar manufacturers including JinkoSolar, Hanwha Q Cells and GCL. Further bids have come from big Japanese conglomerates, and companies from Spain, Germany, South Korea and Turkey. The first 350 MW phase of the large-scale solar park is expected to come online by the end of 2020.

According to a study conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, companies that use data-driven decision-making are 5% more productive and profitable than their competitors. Jean-Yves Bellet, cofounder and VP-CTO of QOS Energy asks,“Can we apply the results of this study to solar PV operations and maintenance?” Today, solar plant owners expect to generate value from their data using real-time decision-making tools, analytics, and machine learning models.

After the impressive results seen a month ago in Jordan’s Round 3 PV and wind auction, the successful developers have still not been announced, despite the government initially saying it would take two weeks to award the bids.

With the announcement of a historic low tariff of Rs 1.38 ($0.019) per unit for a rooftop PV project and a new 1.5 GW solar project, the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has upped its solar game plan.

Responding to recent news reports that Saudi Arabia had abandoned its very ambitious plans to install 200 GW of solar PV by 2030, the country’s Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources (MEIM) issued an official statement saying that the plans are still on track. It also outlined three components of a new power sector transformation plan.