Solar stars at new-look Zayed Sustainability Awards
A Californian company which provides PV power to maternity clinics in the developing world was an award winner alongside British pay-as-you-go electricity provider BBOXX. And a school in Tajikistan which aims to go fully solar powered secured a cool $100,000 towards that ambition.
EU issues £1.9 million grant to Britain for PV and energy efficiency
The UK cities of Bristol and Plymouth and the county of Devon will get £1.9 million to develop energy efficiency, sustainability, and clean energy projects. Bristol in 2014 received a £50 million grant to accelerate its plans to be carbon neutral by 2050. Devon has ambitious plans of becoming 80% carbon neutral by the same date.
Morocco issues 200 MW PV tender
Through the procurement, now at the pre-qualification stage, Moroccan state-owned utility ONE aims to build seven large-scale PV plants in the south and east of the country. German development bank KfW is a partner in the project.
Another big solar PPA signed in Italy
Danish developer European Energy has secured a 12-year agreement from Axpo Italia, the local unit of Swiss energy provider Axpo. Around half the 300 MW of solar projects the company is developing in Italy are now ready to build.
Abu Dhabi lends $23m for solar, Mauritius to get 10 MW of PV rooftops
Togo, Mauritius and Guyana will all receive backing for solar projects in the latest round of funding from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development-IRENA Project Facility.
Planned 5 GW Indian solar plant will be ‘the world’s largest’
Known as the “roof of the world,” the scenic Ladakh region of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir could soon host the world’s largest single-location PV plant.
BBOXX secures $31m investment – as well as a top eco prize
Topping off a great week for the British next generation utility platform, BBOXX won the Zayed Energy Prize after receiving funding from the Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers fund to speed up roll out of its platform in Rwanda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Bahrain launches 100 MW PV tender
The large-scale IPP project will be developed at a landfill site. The plant is part of the kingdom’s plan to deploy 255 MW of solar by 2025.
Greece adds just 41 MW of solar in 2018
The amount of new PV added by Greece in 2018 is tiny but signals the sector has been restarted, mainly thanks to renewable energy tenders. However, significant challenges remain when it comes to meeting a 2020 solar energy target.
PV rooftop simulators may unlock solar growth in developing cities
IRENA says technologies for 3D rooftop footprint generation and solar irradiation modelling are becoming increasingly cheap, making them suitable for deployment anywhere in the world. Developing cities across Africa and Asia could access such technical resources to plan rooftop PV development.
