Utility Scale PV

An international research team has measured the reduction of air pollution due to the Covid-19 shutdown and its impact on solar radiation levels. They found that solar radiation in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, was around 8.3% higher in late March, when the Indian government implemented lockdown measures.

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation has announced financial close on the 800 MW Siraj-1 solar project with Mizuho Bank and the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The project, secured in a tender by France’s Total and Japan’s Marubeni, will sell power for $0.01449/kWh.

Some 5.9 GW of utility scale PV generation capacity was added in 2019-20, plus 1.7 GW of rooftop solar, with domestic module manufacturers enjoying around 40% of the market.

Parliament has adopted Draft Law 3658 which can now be signed into law by the president. Payment reductions for solar have been further eased and curtailment will now be compensated but talk of extending the duration of the newly-reset FIT levels appears to have fallen by the wayside.

Ukrainian renewable energy lawyer Svitlana Teush takes a look at the law which will define the cuts to be applied in Ukraine after extensive negotiation between government and the clean energy industry.

4 GW of offshore wind and land-based renewables are set to come to the Empire State, as governor Andrew Cuomo looks to achieve the state’s renewable energy mandates while also kickstarting a post-Covid economy.

The extraordinary measure of not publishing the results of successful project bids – brought in during the Covid-19 crisis – is set to be lifted from September, when the projects allocated in procurement rounds over the last five months will be made public.

The planned power plant marks the first phase of a 60 MW scheme 30km north of the capital, N’Djamena. The overall project is being developed by UK-based Private Infrastructure Development Group and French company Smart Energies International.

The president of the Caribbean island has announced several ground-mounted PV plants will be tendered, along with 60 MW of thermal power generation capacity. The projects are part of a plan to provide the nation with universal access to electricity during Jovenel Moïse’s five-year term in office.

State utility SA Water is partnering with an environmental organization to ‘re-vegetate’ almost a ton of native seedlings under a large scale solar arrays. Beneath the ground-mounted PV projects, native vegetation should return to the formerly agricultural land, and the resulting scrub is expected to protect panels from soiling.