Utility Scale PV

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has announced up to $22 million in funds under its Renewable Energy Siting through Technical Engagement and Planning (R-STEP) program.

High interest rates, inflation, and customer uncertainty could slow down residential PV growth in Sweden this year, despite record solar installations in 2023, but interest in utility-scale PV remains strong.

Modular solar array manufacturer 5B has started building the solar component of an 89.7 MW hybrid microgrid that will help Bellevue Gold’s gold mine in Australia with up to 100% renewables.

Korkia, a Finland-based renewables investor, says that solar projects it is developing with Romania’s Econous Green Energ are set to be licensed and will be ready for construction from next year.

A heat wave drove Brazil’s power demand up to a record high of 102 GW last week. However, it also affected solar power generation and pushed PV module operating temperatures to up to 60 C.

Spain’s cumulative installed PV capacity surpassed 25.54 GW at the end of December 2023, on 5.59 GW of new solar installations for the full year.

The Netherlands deployed 4.82 GW of new solar capacity in 2023. The country’s cumulative installed PV capacity hit 24.4 GW at the end of December.

The Algerian authorities have announced the developers selected for a 1 GW tender launched by the nation’s state-owned utility in late 2021, as well as the winners of a 2 GW tender launched in February 2023. The projects will range in size from 80 MW to 220 MW.

Korea Western Power Co. (KOWEPO) and EDF Renewables have signed a joint development agreement for a 1.5 GW solar farm in Khazna, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The partners are already in advanced discussions with Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Water and Electricity Co. (EWEC) for a project of the same size in the Al-Ajban region.

ACWA Power’s preliminary analysis of a leak in the hot molten salts tank at its 150 MW solar plant in Morocco indicates a forced outage until November this year.