Namibia and Botswana mull 20-year, 4.5 GW solar push
The governments of the two African nations are considering deploying huge volumes of generation capacity over two decades. The project, still in its initial phase, is being supported by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy.
New Zealand’s largest solar farm to be built on water
Auckland’s electricity and water utilities will build New Zealand’s largest solar array on a wastewater treatment pond.
North Macedonia’s 35 MW solar tender attracts 82 bids
The government intends to build a 25 MW solar park in Sveti Nikole and a 10 MW facility in Makedonski Brod. The feed-in premium granted to the winning bids has been capped at €15/MWh.
Rajasthan eyes 50 GW of solar within six years
The Indian state plans to achieve half the amount by 2021-22 under its new draft solar policy. The package also suggests establishing a research hub, privately financed solar parks and encouraging commercial self-consumption of clean energy.
Japan’s fourth solar auction concludes with lowest bid of $0.098/kWh
The tender produced lower bids than previous rounds but again allocated less generation capacity than planned. The Japanese government initially accepted bids for a combined 589.9 MW but ended up assigning only 195.8 MW of capacity. The final average price for procured solar power was $0.1222/kWh.
Food crops do better in the shade of solar panels
Another study has highlighted the advantages of combining solar with agriculture. According to the paper, growing chiltepin pepper, jalapeno and cherry tomato in dryland areas of the U.S. under the shade of PV modules is not only possible, but can lead to a better harvest.
Building a successful renewables auction in Colombia
pv magazine publisher Eckhart Gouras spoke to Carolina Obando, regulatory coordinator at renewable energy association SER Colombia, to discuss the country’s first renewable energy auction. The delayed tender promises to boost a solar industry with a 4.3 GW pipeline.
Kenyan government blamed for sluggish progress of solar
Two solar farms with 80 MW of generation capacity tendered in 2017 are being built and will be commissioned this year but another two, allocated at the same time, are no nearer construction. Kenya, however, has been touted as the site of Africa’s first wind-solar-storage hybrid project.
Germany added 292 MW of solar in July
Demand for systems with a generation capacity of up to 750 kW is driving the market. The 52 GW capacity cap for solar under the national FIT scheme is approaching. In September, feed-in tariffs and market premiums will fall a further 1.4%.
PV cheaper than spot market electricity across Europe
The levelized cost of energy produced by large scale PV projects ranges from €24/MWh in southern Spain to €42/MWh in Finland. New research states that is already cheaper than the average spot market electricity price and that the figure for big facilities in southern Spain may fall to €14 in 2030 and €9 in 2050.
