Finance

SolarPower Europe has called on EU nations to apply a blanket €0.18 ($0.18)/kWh cap on the revenue generated by low-margin power plants, even though Brussels has given member states the freedom to apply different rates to different types of power plants.

RWE has agreed to buy Con Edison’s renewables business for $6.8 billion. The combined portfolio almost doubles RWE’s operating assets in the United States to 7.2 GW, making it the fourth-largest renewables company and the second-largest US solar operator.

CrossBoundary EnergyAccess Nigeria has committed to invest $60 million in minigrid projects developed by Engie, in the largest such transaction in Africa. The projects will connect more than 150,000 people to electricity for the first time.

European Union energy ministers will meet in a special session in Brussels on Friday to discuss deep cuts to the gas and electricity markets. A non-public paper obtained by pv magazine shows the Commission’s proposal, which includes a triad of reduced prices, consumption reduction, and solidarity-based distribution of energy within the EU.

Brookfield Renewable is set to invest up to $2 billion in Standard Solar and Scout Clean Energy, bringing its development portfolio to 60 GW.

The European Commission’s merger and acquisitions body is running the rule over a plan by New York-based Blackstone Capital to take joint ownership of expansionary Esdec Solar, alongside private equity group Rivean.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by US President Joe Biden, represents the single largest investment in clean energy, GHG emissions reduction, and climate resilience in the country’s history by providing around US$370 billion for green energy tax credits and other incentives to spur large-scale development of solar energy technologies to electrify the US’s digitization.

The African Development Bank has announced that European and US donors will provide $20 million of concessional loans to support pay-as-you-go solar companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

Historic analogues suggest that emergency-like policy measures could foster high growth rates, expediting a breakthrough and increasing the likelihood of future hydrogen availability. However, EU targets require unprecedented growth rates, according to a group of German and US researchers.

The investment will support Hero Future Energies in expanding its renewable energy capacity. The Indian independent power producer has a diversified portfolio of 1.6 GW of operating solar and wind projects.