Installations

Polish power company ZE PAK SA has an 8.5% share of the country’s electricity market. Total investment in the solar project is estimated at approximately PLN200 million ($52.5 million).

In a new report, BloombergNEF notes a significant uptake in renewable energy in developing countries, which are clearly outperforming OECD countries. The trend is due to reductions in equipment costs and new business models that enable access to capital. Still, many emerging markets are also the biggest installers of new coal capacity. India and China alone, are said to account for 81% of newly added coal-fired power stations.

The €240 million Parque Fotovoltaico Sol de Vallenar project is being developed by Spain’s Cox Energy in Chile’s northern region of Atacama.

The Philippines’ Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has said the removal of the 100 kW cap for solar installations under net metering would be difficult for the nation’s grid to accomodate. Meanwhile, a proposal to raise the threshhold is being discussed in the country’s Senate.

In pv magazine’s recent webinar, JinkoSolar laid out the case for using bifacial modules in large-scale solar plants, and the opportunities and challenges this can bring for project developers. Listeners raised plenty of interesting questions during the webinar, and now Andrea Viaro, Head of Technical Services for Europe has taken the time to answer some of those we couldn’t fit in. Further questions from the webinar will be answered later this week.

The news came with Canada’s Fall Economic Statement. Through the new policy, the business case and access to finance will be improved to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy resources. This February, Canada proposed phasing out coal generation by 2030.

The Hamburg-based green electricity provider wants to shut down RWE’s coal power plants and replace them with 8.2 GW of wind and solar systems. Approximately €7 billion would be invested in the new facilities, which would be built without any public support. Key to the initiative will be citizen participation.

The Pirapora solar complex, located in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, began supplying electricity to the Brazilian grid in mid-2018.

Australian mining company Resolute Mining has inked a JDA and PPA with Ignite Energy, to construct what it says is the world’s largest off-grid solar hybrid plant, at one of its gold mines in Mali.

Through the tender, the province’s state-owned power provider Empresa Provincial de la Energía (EPE) intends to select PV power projects not exceeding 5 MW in size, and wind farms up to 10 MW. Selected projects will be awarded a 20-year PPA.