BlackRock aims $2.5bn at solar, wind and battery storage
The good news is that the world’s largest fund manager, BlackRock, just closed $1 billion of a record $2.5 billion fund dedicated to solar, wind and energy storage projects. The bad news is that the $2.5 billion fund is a tiny fraction of BlackRock’s $6.96 trillion balance sheet and small change compared to BlackRock’s $17.5 billion investment in coal.
Cyprus installs largest rooftop PV under net billing program
The 2.5 MW array will operate under a payment system which guarantees grid operators will not be left out of pocket.
France’s Ombrea develops solar blinds with sliding PV panels
The company said its technology, which is managed by an AI-based system, can be used in agrivoltaic projects.
Private solar PPAs signed in France and Germany
French renewables company Voltalia has secured a 25-year power purchase agreement from Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale for a 10 MW solar plant and Germany’s Enerparc has signed a long term deal with Norwegian energy company Statkraft for a solar park planned in Bavaria.
Amazon to build 149 MW solar plant in Spain
The solar project, southeast of Seville, will power Amazon Web Services data centers and logistics locations, and is expected to start generating next year. The company has launched its Climate Pledge with the aim of complying with the Paris Agreement 10 years early by neutralizing carbon emissions by 2040, and of operating with 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030.
A new sizing approach for PV self-consumption without storage
Spanish researchers are proposing a customer-driven method described as an intuitive tool for investors and engineers to assess how self-consumption from solar generation can be profitable. The method is said to take into account economic parameters such as taxes, depreciation and the cost of financing.
France deployed 707 MW of solar in first nine months of 2019
Solar electricity production increased by almost 9.2% in the January-September period, but installations barely changed from the first nine months of the preceding year.
Is it worth increasing cell efficiency? A new metric tells you when
A group of scientists is proposing a new metric – the value of efficiency – to calculate the maximum allowable cost to increase a cell’s efficiency and improve the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The researchers expect that more regional diversification may be seen at the global level in the years to come, with the proposed metric offering higher values in North America, Central and Northern Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
Greece aims to install 5 GW of PV by 2030
Greece has published a document that lays a path for national energy and climate policy over the next decade, while outlining plans to facilitate significant PV development through 2030.
Ofgem’s plan for network charges triggers renewables sector backlash
Ofgem passed its long-awaited, controversial plan for network charges last week, despite earlier warnings against the move. The UK electricity market regulator’s Targeted Charging Review has provoked a backlash in the renewables sector, as many believe that the plan will damage the economics of distributed energy resources and unsubsidized onshore wind and solar development.
