“We helped large-scale solar be commercially viable,” says departing Australian Renewable Energy Agency boss
The booming large scale and rooftop PV market in 2018 is providing reasons to be optimistic about the future of solar under the Australian sun. Reflecting on his six-year tenure as CEO at ARENA ahead of his departure in August, Ivor Frischknecht points to the role the agency played in bringing down the costs of large scale solar as ARENA’s greatest achievement.
SMA launching new multi string battery inverter
SMA says its new product will offer digital services such as monitoring and automatic notifications to perform maintenance as well as offering an emergency supply system. According to analysts, the varied applications of new inverters signal an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Sonnen secures €60 million investment from Shell Ventures
Germany-based PV-storage provider sonnen has closed a new funding round from a group of investors led by Shell Ventures. Sonnen has already began to draw on the funds as it continues to expand market shares in the U.S. and in Australia. Shell Ventures is now a major sonnen investor and future cooperation agreement has been agreed to.
Lightsource BP acquires Ireland-based software company Ubiworx
British developer Lightsource has announced the acquisition of Irish software company Ubiworx. The company is a specialist in the internet of things and has already worked closely with Lightsource over the past two years
India may miss solar PV target, says CEO survey
The country will achieve solar PV capacity of 50 to 75 GW by 2022 – a little over 60% of the 100 GW target. Total rooftop capacity will be less than 10 GW.
Turkey introduces tax exemption for solar up to 10 kW
Although the promised new provisions for net metering are not in force yet, the Turkish government has prepared the ground for future development by granting residential projects under the upcoming scheme an exemption from the 5% income tax on excess power delivered to the grid.
Brazil now has 250 MW of solar under net metering
According to data from Brazilian association ABSOLAR, Brazil currently has 27,803 solar PV systems connected to the grid, which benefit 32,924 consumer units and total more than BRL 1.9 billion (around $515 million) in accumulated investments since 2012.
Water-stressed countries should resort to solar, World Resources Institute says
Unlike traditional power generation, wind and solar require zero, or a mimimum amount of, water for the operations of their respective technologies. This may help most Middle Eastern and North African countries solve their chronich water supply issues, as well as several more African, Asian, American and European countries.
Oman seeks to further implement rooftop PV plan
The country’s energy regulator is now seeking proposals for the supply of a risk management system to perform operational management and risk mitigation for the Sahim 2 rooftop PV initiative.
Wales to introduce energy efficiency loan benefit, applicable to residential PV installations
Welsh home buyers intending to install a roof-top PV array are set to benefit from a rejigging of loan conditions for energy efficiency dwellings.
