Utility Scale PV

Researchers in the US ascertained that the partial shading provided by solar parks creates a microclimate that favors the abundant growth of more varied flowers and pollinators. They also found that partial shading increases bloom abundance by delaying bloom timing, increasing forage for pollinators during the hot and dry late season.

Province Resources has signed a memorandum of understanding with French renewable energy developer Total Eren, which could see the two companies have equal shares in Province’s HyEnergy Zero Carbon Hydrogen project proposed in northwest Western Australia.

The court has agreed with advocate-general Henrik Saugmandsgaard Øe that Italy’s move, in 2014, to reduce solar incentive payments contained in signed agreements held by developers does not breach EU law.

The model agreement was outlined by Dutch consultancy Ventolines B.V. and follows the introduction of new provisions for the sharing of the same connection point issued by the country’s government last year.

The PV plant—to be set up in the state of Gujarat for a private utility—will supply power for INR2.22/kWh for 25 years.

New research from Singapore has found that gas pipelines for the onshore transport of green hydrogen and the cables for the transport of electricity to produce it at a distant location have similar costs at a 4000 km transmission distance. For longer distances, gas pipelines were found to be cheaper than cables, although the electric lines are said to benefit from scaling up and higher utilization. For both options, however, a currently too high hydrogen LCOE remains the biggest barrier to overcome.

Australian utility AGL is transforming its operations in a number of ways, from restructuring the company itself, to building energy storage facilities for flexible distribution of renewable energy into the future. The company is also planning to build a pumped-hydro facility at a disused open-cut coal mining site in eastern Australia.

Projects selected in the procurement exercise will sell power to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) under a 25-year PPA.

Several heavyweights in Germany have announced projects to move forward with green hydrogen. RWE, Uniper and Bosch have all announced large-scale projects and the German government has allocated €52 million for hydrogen research. The European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) initiative is proposing a hydrogen network of 39,700 km by 2040, with further growth expected after 2040.

Lechwerke is testing two pilot systems close to existing solar parks. It also aims to build its first large-scale project.