Installations

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.

JinkoSolar has announced that it will supply 300 MW of its Tiger solar panels for what it describes as an ultra-high voltage demonstration plant in China’s Qinghai’s province. The project will be connected to an ultra-high voltage power line that State Grid Corp. of China is building to connect the far northwestern part of the country to the more heavily populated eastern provinces.

With Decree No. 345, the Cuban government aims to encourage consumers to install rooftop PV projects. The new rules will help to facilitate the sale of surplus power within the national electricity system, among other matters.

A new survey by the Melbourne-based Clean Energy Council shows that confidence in new clean energy investment has continued to weaken over the past six months. While a majority of Australian industry representatives expect to hire more people over the next 12 months, the biggest challenges to developing new projects remain unchanged, with the grid connection process, technical requirements, and policy uncertainty at the top of their list of concerns.

The government of Goa, now reeling under severe electricity shortages, has decided to extend its solar power purchase agreement with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam by three years, following a complete lack of interest in the Indian state’s recent solar tenders.

A unit of Dubai-based Amea Power will build the project in Blitta prefecture, in the center of the West African country, with all electricity to be sold to Togo Electric Power Co. (CEET) under a long-term power purchase agreement.

Baden-based utility Axpo is building a 2 MW facility at the Muttsee reservoir in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland. It expects the plant to maintain high levels of power generation, especially throughout the winter months.

The project is an extension of the Hélio Boulouparis 1 installation, which was commissioned in May 2017 with 11.2 MW of capacity.

Developers of huge solar parks on the island must deal with resistance from the government, other industrial players and the farming sector. Local agricultural producer Taisugar has downsized its plans to build solar plants across 1,000 hectares of land it owns, while semiconductor manufacturer TMSC has denied it is building a massive solar park in Pingtung county, as reported by the Taiwanese media.

A delegation from the Asian Development Bank recently paid a visit to the South Asian country to assess the prospects of floating PV in a nation that suffers from a general lack of land upon which to develop new renewable energy projects.