Markets

The winners in the Baltic nation’s first clean energy auction will be announced by June 20. With the exercise rated according to the expected output of the facilities allocated, the government has committed to procure 5 GW worth of facilities, from a total 16.3 GW offered by bidders.

Franc Raffalli, president of the Photovoltaic Professions Group of the French Building Federation spoke to pv magazine about the impact of the coronavirus on the French PV industry.

Saudi energy company Acwa Power announces $275 million has been borrowed for a project which is due to start supplying electricity to the national utility this year under a 15-year power supply deal.

The CEO of Norwegian floating solar company Ocean Sun has spoken to pv magazine about his company’s innovative design for floating PV projects in near-shore locations and semi-sheltered waters. A pilot project built in the Philippines last year, said Børge Bjørneklett, is providing better-than-expected power output.

Chinese business Sinohydro has secured the contract for a 20 MW solar plant in Gardete, near the city of Bissau. The tender for the project was launched a year ago.

Tesla’s Nevada operation is still open for business, though. The EV and battery maker has assured the market its cash position is strong enough to weather an “extended period of uncertainty”.

The Renewable Energy Project Development Office has prequalified 49 developers for the tender. Four large-scale solar projects will be built via the procurement exercise.

Manufacturing operations in China are beginning to return to normal, with Taiwan-based research firm PV InfoLink reporting 80% capacity utilization across the supply chain in March. But the broader impact that Covid-19 will have on global demand for PV remains to be seen, and will depend on the extent to which the outbreak can be contained, says PV InfoLink chief analyst Corrine Lin.

The country’s energy regulator published two papers this week to solicit public feedback on plans that Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe recently submitted for review. The first document relates to the tech-neutral procurement of 2 GW of short-term risk-mitigation capacity, which could see solar emerge as a winner due to its quick deployment times. The second paper is linked to the nation’s Integrated Resource Plan 2019, which aims for up to 6 GW of new large-scale solar by 2030, as well as an additional 6 GW of distributed-generation capacity.

The bailed-out Hong Kong-listed PV developer has warned its remaining independent shareholders of a thumping net loss for 2019 as it prepares to reveal its final results at the end of the month.