Markets

The announcement was given by Manuel Bartlett, the general director of state-owned utility CFE. He also said the current prices of renewables are a lie, while also stressing that their development is a factor determining higher electricity prices.

The clouds gathering over Turkey’s 1 GW solar park in Konya, the first YEKA tender, are dominating discussion among the country’s PV players. Developments surrounding the Konya tender illustrate the Turkish solar market’s challenges, as the country’s unsteady economy and its policy preference for local manufacturing appear to be acting as a brake on installations.

The country’s energy regulator has decided to reduce the levy that finances the FIT program for renewable energy from P 0.2563/kWh to P 0.2226 ($0.004)/kWh. The lower levy is expected to go into effect next month.

Australia’s Coalition government has announced funding to support up to 50 off-grid and fringe-of-grid feasibility studies that will investigate whether building a microgrid is cost-effective and whether existing off-grid capabilities can be upgraded with more up-to-date technology.

pv magazine recently caught up with Aaron Wu, executive vice president of Phono Solar Technology, the Nanjing-based PV manufacturer. Phono Solar is a bankable supplier, having achieved top tier status in 2014 and being part of SUMEC Group Corp., a diversified industrial group with over RMB 80 billion ($11.87 billion) in turnover in 2018.

Researchers at the EU Joint Research Centre have suggested a series of actions that could be implemented to turn solar power exports between European countries into a real plan.

With around 2,056 MW of operational installed capacity from large-scale PV and more than 500 MW of installed distributed-generation capacity, Brazil has now surpassed Chile to become Latin America’s second-largest solar market after Mexico. According to new statistics released by Brazilian industry association ABSOLAR, utility-scale solar currently accounts for around 1.2% of the country’s total generating capacity.

Idaho Power has agreed to pay $21.75/MWh for 120 MW of solar power in a 20-year power purchase agreement with Jackpot Holdings. The solar facility will offset a soon-to-close coal plant in Nevada starting in 2022.

It is official: METI has cut the feed-in tariff for Japan’s C&I solar segment by 22% to roughly $0.13/kWh.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has issued an open call to hire a consulting firm to help the government of Azerbaijan to design and launch auctions for renewable energy.