Installations

Solar deployment continued to pick up in the Middle East and North Africa in 2019, the Middle East Solar Industry Association has said in its annual report.

Tariffs ranged from €0.0470 to €0.0620 as the solar power price rose from the last national procurement round, which settled at €0.0459-0.0520 in October for an average €0.0490/kWh. Some 501 MW of generation capacity was allocated in the latest exercise.

The minister of environment and energy transition has told parliament two auctions for large scale solar will be held this year, with a new procurement round now planned. The minister revealed energy storage may play a part in the capacity tenders.

The embattled developer today published what appears to be a sales pitch as it seeks urgent investors ahead of an eight-day debt deadline.

The energy ministry has published a plan to radically simplify the renewable energy permitting process. The new system is expected to come into force as early as next month and will be applied retroactively to address a 22-month backlog in generation license applications.

The share of renewables in the global energy mix must more than double by 2030 for the world to advance the energy transition and achieve sustainable development goals, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Renewable electricity should supply 57% of global power by the end of the decade, up from 26% today.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development will support half a dozen megawatt scale projects featuring solar in the Caribbean and Africa. In addition to around 42.5 MW of new solar capacity, the fund will also back the development of energy storage, waste-to-energy and biogas facilities.

Fire safety engineering researchers have demonstrated increasing the gap between the modules of commercial PV arrays and flat roof surfaces is a decisive factor in reducing fire risks. Experiments have identified a critical gap height below which flame spread rate increases significantly.

Lobby group CEO Walburga Hemetsberger says the plans announced by commission president Ursula von der Leyen this week should place the European solar industry front and center.

Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy group Masdar is sailing into the Southeast Asian solar market with Indonesia’s first floating solar project. The petro-state owned developer says the facility will be the largest in the region.