Thailand’s bigger RE ambitions may lead to economic renaissance – IRENA
Increasing the role of solar PV in its energy mix from 6 GW to almost 17 GW is one of IRENA’s key recommendations for Thailand. Noting that RE national targets could be comfortably surpassed by a quarter to reach more than 37% by 2036, its report finds more ambitious deployment could save over US$9 billion annually, proving to be a major turning point for the entire economy.
Canadian Solar awarded 17 MW in Japan’s first large-scale solar auction
Canadian Solar Inc. has won a contract for 17.87 MWp in Japan’s first auction for large-scale solar projects. A total of 141.3 MW was awarded last month.
Armenia sees another finished solar PV plant
Armenia’s fledgling solar industry has received a boost with the installation of another 1 MW PV plant, by Arpi Solar. The company is due to start work on another 55 MW “very soon”.
Another 30 MW awarded in Malaysian solar auction
A Cypark Resources Berhad (CRB) subsidiary has been awarded a 30 MW PV project in Malaysia’s latest solar auction. The country is expected to install 197 MW this year.
Bali volcano threat prompts distribution of solar-powered TVs, kits
Non-profit organization, Kopernic is providing disaster relief in Bali with the distribution of solar-powered televisions and kits.
Italy set to reach 400 MW of new PV capacity in 2017
New additions for the first 10 months of this year totaled 352 MW, representing 12% growth compared to the same period a year earlier, and enough solar to meet 8.7% of total power demand.
US Senate approves tax bill with provision to hobble solar, wind tax credits
The bill will now be reconciled with the House version, which does not contain the BEAT provision. SEIA says that it has four Senators who support “fixes”, but was not able to get a modification to the Senate bill.
South Africa’s energy mix will be much cheaper with renewables, study says
According to a new study conducted by the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies at the Goethe-University Frankfurt, a mix of solar and wind may be over 10% cheaper than power generation from new coal and nuclear plants in South Africa, even if the cost of renewables and batteries will see no further reduction from today until 2050.
Brazil to hold another auction including solar in April
The new A-4 auction will be open to thermoelectric, wind, solar and hydro large-scale power projects, which must be operational from 2022.
Italy: Solar prices on power exchange lower than reference price in 2016
According to a report from Italy’s GSE, solar power prices on the Italian wholesale electricity market last year were between 5% and 12% lower than the national reference price.
