Markets

The latest figures released by BloombergNEF show new solar and onshore wind power plants have reached parity with average wholesale prices in California, China and parts of Europe. The technologies are winning the race to be the cheapest sources of new generation for two-thirds of the world’s population.

Five PV power plants, each with a generation capacity of 15 MW, were grid-connected in the Russian Republic of Buryatia and the Zabaikalsky Territory. The projects were built under a program which offers generators capacity payments and the ability to trade on the wholesale energy market.

The mono giant has announced the latest aspect of a strategy to massively increase production capacity which is currently set to cost around $3.32 billion. Longi last week issued $710 million of new convertible bonds for investors.

Korean conglomerate LG reports increasing demand for its high-efficiency PV products in key markets while Kyocera said its solar business is improving profitability. Panasonic posted a slight increase in sales for its PV segment, including solar manufacturing.

Economic thinktank Carbon Tracker used financial modeling to determine the profitability of every coal power plant in the EU. On average, 79% of the facilities run at a loss, with Germany, Spain and Czechia among the states particularly exposed to the consequences – for coal investors and the public.

Despite promises by President Trump to save the coal industry, the crisis in the sector is clear. Solar, wind and batteries have the world to gain.

Saudi energy giant ACWA Power won the tender for the project in August thanks to a lowest final electricity price offer of $0.02752/kWh. Construction of the facility, which will use bifacial panels, is expected to be complete by April 2021.

Enormous order intake is ensuring high production capacity utilization at the German PV equipment provider. The company said demand was particularly strong for high-efficiency solar cell production equipment in Asia. Thus far this year, however, that has not been reflected in the balance sheet.

Two PV plants are set to be built under the Project for Promotion of Auctions for Renewable Energies program, being implemented with the support of Mozambican utility Electricidade de Mocambique, which is likely to be the future off-taker of the solar energy generated.

Analysts at Fitch Solutions have published a report singling out Spain and Brazil as ‘outperformers’ in the global solar market and labelled Vietnam the “market to watch”. The analysts expect surging growth from the Southeast Asian nation to continue in the coming decade.