Markets

A 10 MW system in Derbyshire provided power to the grid as part of a virtual power plant in a national first. It should prove a popular development, according to the results of a new survey.

The Indian rupee is posting new lows. As concerns about Turkey’s economic woes persisted last week, the currency hit a record low of 70.32 to the dollar, having breached the 70-mark for the first time in history.

With PIF having distanced themselves from rumors they will help Elon Musk take Tesla back into private ownership – although that claim is disputed – the Saudi wealth fund may be about to write a big cheque to California-based Lucid Motors.

With capital projects CIGSfab and CIGSlab – according to the PV equipment provider – on schedule, Manz expects big follow-up orders from its Chinese customers as solar provided the highlight of the parent company’s first-half figures.

A combination of national, state and public body commitments could see the amount of PV added nationally treble on the last four-year period. But even with a new 7-8 GW added, rooftop solar will still be bringing up the rear.

Low emissions hydrogen offers significant exporting potential for Australia, and could contribute AU$1.7 billion to domestic economy annually, shows a new report released by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). A separate briefing paper released by the Australian government’s Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, describes hydrogen as Australia’s next multibillion dollar export opportunity.

PV InfoLink has released its latest solar PV module shipment ranking for H1 2018. Chinese manufacturers continue to dominate the market, while monocrystalline module shipments increased sharply. Overall, it forecasts total PV demand of 83 GW in 2018.

The budget for the first auctions of this kind, for the period 2018-2019, is around €112 million. They are part of Denmark’s new energy strategy, dubbed “Energy for a green Denmark.”

“Significant” price movements in solar PV cells has been observed this week, in reaction to India’s safeguard duties, and the impending MIP decision, says EnergyTrend. Module, wafer and polysilicon prices, however, remain stable. In contrast, prices for li-ion batteries are set to increase by as much as 15% in Q3.

At the end of June 2018, according to official statistics, large-scale solar capacity reached 1,307 MW, while the share of distributed PV generation (up to 5 MW), was 296 MW. Of the total capacity, 1.36 GW was connected to the grid in the last 12 months.