Markets

According to the Solar Energy Roadmap, released by Turkish PV association, Günder, the country may even achieve 38 GW of installed solar power by 2030. Several factors, however, could hinder this projected growth.

Although the Italian solar market registered an 11% drop in new PV installations in the first eight months of 2018, by the end of the year, it will likely surpass 20 GW of cumulative installed solar power. No large-scale PV facilities have been grid connected so far this year, but monthly average growth remains in line with that of the previous two years.

Funds totaling €36.7 million have been awarded by Germany’s development bank KfW and the European Union. The project is set to be located in Boundiali, in the northern part of the Sub-Saharan country.

New deals or projects related to the sale of solar power to big energy consumers were announced in Brazil, Panama, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile over the past weeks.

The All-Energy Australia 2018 exhibition & conference kicked off in Melbourne today. Safety of products and quality assurance was prominent in discussions at the country’s largest PV conference and trade show in its early hours. Big funding announcements at the opening plenary made headlines.

In another ambitious announcement, SoftBank Group CEO, Masayoshi Son has said he will give free power from solar power projects after 25 years of PPA to all ISA member countries. He was speaking at the Indian Government organized RE Invest 2018.

A new report published by business consultants Frost & Sullivan expects around 90 GW of new solar installations by the end of 2018, in line with the predictions of other leading analysts. It further notes that PV remains the world leader in renewable energy capacity, and that markets are moving away from feed-in tariffs to make increasing use of auction models and private PPAs.

India’s Prime Minister kick started the first Assembly of the ISA, the second IORA Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting, and the 2nd Global RE-Invest yesterday in Greater Noida. The agenda of the day? Universal access to solar energy at affordable rates; securing 40% of India’s electricity generation from non-fossil fuels by 2030, and allocating up to US$80 billion to boost domestic PV manufacturing.

The realization of Egypt’s 1.8 GW Benban solar complex has posed a long series of challenges to its numerous developers. The creation of the Benban Solar Developers Association (BSDA) has helped move the project forward amid initial grid constraints and several logistical issues, among others. Although only one of the 33 projects has now reached completion, all are set to be grid-connected by June 2019 – the final deadline set by the Egyptian government, according to Assem Korayem, a member of the BSDA and the operating general manager at Access-Power Egypt. In a conversation with pv magazine, he provides an extensive update on the current status of the huge PV complex.

The global top three companies have not changed compared to the 2017 ranking. Still in the U.S., SMA has lost its pole position to Solaredge. Ingeteam, meanwhile, is capitalizing massively on stable growth in the utility-scale market, and jumps from rank 18 to fourth.