Markets

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.

The European Parliament has approved the final four pieces of legislation in a proposal from the European Commission. With that, the Clean Energy for All Package is now complete and is only waiting for support from the Council of Ministers.

In the third in a series of interviews on renewable energy and geopolitics, Indra Overland — head of the Center for Energy Research (NUPI) and a research panel member for the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of the Energy Transition at IRENA — discusses how Saudi Arabia is dealing with the energy transition. He also outlines the challenges the Middle Eastern country will face in the coming decades, as it shifts to a less oil-dependent economy. Although the country recently set new solar and renewable energy targets, Overland believes that the geopolitical balance in the Middle East could shift to countries such as Iran in the coming decades, even if the Saudi commitment to renewable energy proves genuine.

In response to feedback from the domestic renewable energy sector, the Indian government has revealed plans to launch $5 billion of tenders for new transmission lines, starting in phases from this summer.

Global electricity demand rose by 4% in 2018, nearly twice as fast as overall energy demand, as consumption edged up by 2.3%, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Renewables accounted for 45% of the growth in generating capacity.