Installations

Already postponed from June to September 30, the procurement will now be held by the end of October. The exercise will be open to new renewables projects with more than 5 MW of generation capacity. Selected developers will be awarded 15-year energy deals rather than the 12-year arrangements offered in February’s abortive attempt.

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the top five states by annual installation, accounting for 60% of the new capacity.

The Moroccan agency for sustainable energy is pre-qualifying developers for the Noor Midelt II project, a solar complex incorporating CSP and PV elements.

The head of Mercom Capital says solar has a long way to go before it can stand without policy support. Effective grid parity will only be achieved when the cost of PV electricity factors in the expense of grid upgrades and the storage systems its intermittent nature requires, says Raj Prabhu.

At the end of Vietnam’s solar gold rush, the Chinese power electronics maker can look back on a positive result. With the last glut of project announcements issued, Sunseap said it had finished a 168 MW installation featuring Longi’s Hi-Mo 1 modules.

The kingdom has revealed 28 Saudi entities are among the 60 bidders when the first four projects of the second round of its National Renewable Energy Program are offered up in just over a week’s time.

Increased storage and strategic transmission development will be needed to ensure the most economic and lowest risk transition of Australia’s energy system, the Australian Energy Market Operator said in its latest study. In 20 years’ time, the need for storage will be at a scale not seen before in the national electricity market, and pumped hydro and distributed storage are set to play major roles in lowering electricity prices and building a reliable and resilient power system.

Copper indium gallium selenide thin film technology is on the fly as conversion efficiency closes in on that of crystalline silicon. The technology can be integrated neatly onto facades of otherwise energy intensive commercial buildings. The potential is huge even if the conversion efficiency retains some limitations.

Renewable energy company Eneo Solutions AB has signed a letter of intent for a 20-year power supply deal linked to a 10 MW solar park it will start building in November. The energy buyer is Swedish financial services provider Swedbank. The plant, scheduled for completion by mid-2020, will meet 30% of Swedbank’s electricity demand.

With a glut of solar capacity having come online this year, cheaper financing would help keep some of that momentum but policymakers cannot be persuaded of the economic benefits of clean energy unless state-owned utility EVN opens up.