Markets

In its new strategic plan for the period 2019-2021, the Italian power utility announced it will invest an additional €10.6 billion in renewable energy projects. It aims to strenghten its position in the markets where it has an integrated presence such as Italy, Spain, Chile and Brazil.

Renewable energy industry bodies are hailing the U.K. Energy Minister’s comments today that power should not be provided to the country’s electricity grid for free. She was referring to the ongoing debate over whether or not to end solar export tariffs.

In the recently released World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency (IEA) foresees a steady decline in the global expansion of PV to 2035. In response, Dutch researcher Auke Hoekstra has updated his graphic, IEA versus reality in solar PV.

The French government has devised three possible scenarios for the planned phasing out of part of its nuclear power generation assets. Even under the most optimistic scenario, the target to reduce the share of nuclear power from around 75% to 50% by 2025, which had been set by the previous government, will only be reached in 2035. The most pessimistic scenario envisages the construction of four new nuclear reactors by 2040.

Although the report issued by the U.S. scientists recognizes the importance of low-level factors, like improvements in PV components and manufacturing processes, economies of scale and public policies are said to be the high-level mechanisms responsible for most of the cost decreases in solar technology and, thus, its success over the past two decades.

According to a report published by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), key factors such as the low-regulated price of electricity and uncertainty of the creditworthiness of Vietnam’s state-owned utility EVN are making it difficult to develop bankable solar and RE projects. An improved fiscal energy policy is recommended as the only way to provide the local energy sector with long-term capital and competence in conducting green credit appraisal. Furthermore, the report warns that the current 20-year FIT of US$0.0935/kWh for solar projects is too low.

Solar and/or wind are said to be the cheapest source of new energy generation in all major economies, apart from Japan, finds BloombergNEF. It adds that China’s utility-scale PV market has contracted by over a third this year; and that battery costs are set to drop a further 66% by 2030, driven by EV adoption.

In March of this year, two unknown men in Haan, Germany, dropped acid on Innogy board member Bernhard Günter. In September, the prosecutor announced the investigation was closed. Innogy, however, hopes to find new clues through the reward.

The RE100 Progress Insights Annual Report 2018, released at the end of last week, portrays the central role corporate policies can play in carbon mitigation efforts.

Overall, 5,907 renewable energy projects totaling 5 GW are now under review by the Dutch Ministry of Economy in the second round of the SDE+ program for this year. Solar accounts for 72.8% of the total submitted capacity.