Markets

U.K. solar developer Lightsource BP plans to host a community information event in the town of Mannum, South Australia, to outline a proposal to fund, build and operate a 100 MW solar project.

ReNu Energy signed an agreement last week for the sale of its Australian solar assets to CleanPeak Energy, a commercial rooftop solar startup.

The global power and renewable energy market is expected to remain largely unaffected by the Trump administration’s new wave of tariffs on Chinese goods. Although shipments of Chinese modules into the U.S. market are falling, Chinese manufacturers sent more panels to overseas markets in the first half of this year than they did in the same period of 2018. Analysts from Fitch, meanwhile, claim the U.S. solar market will continue to expand, despite higher project costs.

The winning developer will be able to use solar modules and cells of any origin for the plant, which will be built in Auraiya district, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Bidding closes on Sept. 5.

The pitfalls of riding the ‘solar coaster,’ with boom-and-bust cycles dictated by government policies, are well known. Given this, it should come as little surprise that subsidy-free PV in Europe is a theme for which there is a particular appetite. The Future PV Roundtable and The smarter E Europe 2019 event tackled this theme. The first part of the event focused on the utility scale, and the following are some of the key takeaways.

With Singyes having already announced a plan to receive a cash injection and restructure its debt, fellow Hong Kong listed solar developer Panda Green today announced plans for a Beijing coal power company to ride to its rescue.

With 46.9 MW of newly installed capacity, Italy registered its best month in two years despite having no large plants come online. Renewable energy association ANIE Rinnovabili says this year the country may record stronger growth due to renewed business investment incentives and new provisions regulating solar.

Antonio Delgado Rigal, chief executive of energy forecasting service Aleasoft, says the lowest final price of €0.0147/kWh announced by the Portuguese government from its recent solar auction does not reflect the real costs of PV and is no indicator of the future price of power in the electric market. More details of the auction are emerging and Iberdrola and Akuo appear big winners.

The scandal-hit Hong Kong-based solar manufacturer has had trading in its shares suspended for six years but white knight investor Cheung Shun Lee is hoping to get it back into operation.

After joining the Scaling Solar initiative in mid-July, the sub-Saharan country has revealed where its first 30 MW PV plant will be built.