Installations

The sunny, dry summer has seen solar break several records and PV kept the lights on when a lack of coolant – caused by rising river water temperatures – led to the temporary shuttering of conventional power plants in France and Germany.

The first-half results appear to indicate a renaissance for a thin-film manufacturer still suspended from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but a strategy of having affiliate companies invest in Chinese industrial parks to secure returns from the resulting orders for manufacturing equipment, may make would-be investors uneasy.

Solar has the potential to foster peace and aid conflict resolution by being deployed in several of the world’s crisis areas. Electricity is one of the highest costs for humanitarian missions in fragile regions, such as South Sudan, the Congo, Somalia, Myanmar and Yemen, among others. In an interview with pv magazine, the CEO and founder of Energy Peace Partners describes how solar installed in camps and protected areas, could improve the outcomes of such missions.

Clearway Energy Group has been formed from NRG’s renewable energy businesses and SunPower’s project pipeline.

The interested developers are a consortium formed by Fortum and local utility EPCG; Malta-based IREDL; and a domestic group named Montesolar.

The €10 million project is planned to be tendered in early 2019, and likely to be part financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The new policy would come into force in late 2019. PV players are warning the rule exacerbates costs and slows deployment but similar policies are in place for other types of renewables, and in most markets worldwide.

According to South African research institute CSIR, the southeast African nation may raise its target for rooftop solar to 50,000 installations by 2030. The institute is seeking consultants to define the future solar roadmap for the country.

RECC survey respondents say they will face major job cuts if solar tariffs are phased out in April, as proposed by the UK government. Reportedly more than 75% of jobs in the UK’s solar sector could be lost. A previous cut in tariffs prompted the loss of 9,000 jobs. Last week the industry sent an open letter to the energy minister opposing the policy.

The company’s Dutch unit, Nuon, has agreed to acquire three solar projects totaling 27.5 MW of capacity from Powerfield. The projects will be developed under the Netherlands’ SDE+ program, for large scale renewables.