Debt financing the main obstacle to PV during Covid-19 crisis
Industry body SolarPower Europe hosted a webinar to consider how the global public health crisis will affect solar. While workers and materials are still available, industry experts are concerned about the state of the financial sector. Banks could become more conservative and raise the cost of capital for renewables projects.
Covid-19 daily bulletin: Solar developer donates more Chinese PPE
Grenergy was this week due to ship 400,000 face masks to Latin America as European developers today voiced a fear project finance will become increasingly difficult to find as the coronavirus lockdown continues.
Software for virtual power plants powered by residential solar-plus-storage
With its sonnenVPP, German battery company Sonnen wants to improve the efficiency of virtual power plants which it says can offer primary balancing energy from houses with solar and storage and can operate up to 90% more cost-effectively.
A big grid solution to harness small solar arrays
Scientists at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory are developing a communication system to coordinate and control the volumes of solar power injected into grids by small scale solar arrays.
Covid-19 daily bulletin: Mixed bag for global PV sector
pv magazine rounds up the latest Covid-19-related stories likely to affect the world of solar and energy storage.
Spain is Europe’s cheapest market for corporate solar PPAs
The country’s solar sector offers the lowest average prices for corporate power purchase agreements on the continent, according to BloombergNEF.
Europe’s largest solar park now online
Iberdrola’s 500 MW Núñez de Balboa solar park has started commercial operations, following the completion of construction in December.
Covid-19 halting European PPA market – Part V
In a recent conversation with pv magazine, Luca Pedretti – the COO of Swiss software developer Pexapark – said that a new mindset is now required for solar and wind PPAs. The market has not completely stalled, he argued, noting that prices have already started to stabilize.
Vietnam finally unveils new FITs for large-scale, rooftop, floating PV
Hanoi has set new feed-in tariff rates for utility-scale, rooftop and floating PV projects, ending a long period of policy uncertainty. The government has announced the new rates, which are broadly in line with industry expectations, roughly 10 months after the expiration of its old tariffs.
Maldives tenders 21 MW of PV
Via a new tender, the archipelago’s finance ministry is seeking proposals for an 11 MW floating PV system and a 10 MW ground-mounted solar plant.
