Finance

The latest edition of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report gives the energy source little hope in the race against fast, widespread, job-friendly, popular renewables. The report reiterates clean power is taking the lead in the world’s energy system and nuclear is not only too costly a remedy for carbon emissions but too slow to deploy. Nuclear output grew only 2.4% last year while solar and wind power volumes grew 18% and 29%, respectively.

The French development agency and the environment ministry have a €1.6 million budget to finance novel off-grid projects from companies and NGOs operating with local partners in Africa.

The nation’s political parties have found agreement on a green electricity package which is expected to create stable conditions for the next three years. From next year, €36 million will be made available annually for the further support of PV systems and energy storage.

The global expansion of PV, wind power and other clean energies will see double-digit growth this year as solar continues to lead the pack.

Utility SaskPower is set to close the net metering open to systems up to 100 kW in size once a 16 MW cumulative generation capacity limit is reached in the province.

While the solar industry will welcome the move, the feed-in tariff paid to small systems is still reducing thanks to the volume of new capacity installed every quarter. Announcing a wide-ranging policy package on Friday, Angela Merkel admitted Germany will miss the carbon emission target set for next year.

Research has found even short-lived, 10 to 15-year solar panels could provide enough return for bankable projects. The researchers believe panel costs, coupled with an industry mindset now fixed on the final solar energy price rather than costs per kilowatt installed, may open opportunities for PV products currently snubbed because of a short lifecycle.

The project, planned for Khovd in the west of the country, is being developed with the support of the World Bank.

A team of researchers modeled the country’s energy future, finding that the drought plagued municipalities could benefit massively from large scale renewables deployment. The current reliance on coal-fired power stations causes immense water consumption, worsening the problem.

The energy regulator has proposed a 15-year payment of $0.10/kWh for PV projects with a generation capacity of 10 kW-1 MW. The first auctions for large renewables projects are planned for early next year and will grant a fixed rate rather than a variable premium.