Solar installations see an unprecedented boom in Estonia
The Baltic nation installed 90 MW of PV last year, four times more than it had done since it began adopting solar. The growth was down to a new regulation issued by the government in June and the big push came mainly from small installations.
EU heeds call for priority dispatch for small-scale generators
Homeowners and businesses with small-scale solar arrays have fought off a threat to priority treatment for excess energy they want fed back into national grids. The EU has refused to heed a call to treat such generators on the same terms as giant utilities.
Romania’s solar rooftop rebate scheme ready to kick off
From Friday, Romanian homeowners and businesses may file applications for rebates that could cover up to 90% of the cost of rooftop arrays, provided the grant does not exceed $4,830. Applications will be accepted until March 1.
China installed 43.6 GW of solar last year – despite 5/31 New Policy
Central subsidies may have been cut back but the domestic market rebounded quickly and overseas shipments soared on the back of rising production volumes and ever cheaper module prices.
Solar investment slid on the back of cheaper modules and China setback
The world again saw more than $300 billion of clean energy investment in 2018, according to BloombergNEF, and although wind narrowed the gap on solar, plunging module prices skewed the figures as PV capacity additions rose 10 GW.
Mexico’s installed PV capacity tops 3 GW
The figure is represented by 39 utility-scale solar plants across 11 states and approximately 85,000 contracts for distributed-generation PV systems.
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.
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.
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.
