Renault deploys smart EV charging on island grid
The car manufacturer is deploying its second island project this year. Smart EV charging – and second-life EV batteries for stationary storage – are expected to help increase self-consumption, reduce carbon footprints and improve energy independence. The news comes amid a rising uptake of EVs in Europe.
Spain preps plan for solar, X-Elio bags 14-year PPA
New measures under preparation by the Spanish government include the setting of a calendar for new auctions, elimination of the solar tax and support for community solar and PV irrigation projects. Spanish developer X-Elio has secured a PPA for two 50 MW solar projects in the southern region of Murcia.
pv magazine Quality Roundtable, REI: Innovation, investment and improving PV installs
pv magazine’s Quality Roundtable at the 2018 Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo, took place in front of a packed audience. It discussed current problem areas in the India solar industry; how solar developers and solution providers can improve the quality of PV installations; and innovative financial instruments to reduce the cost of debt and scale up infrastructure investment.
Chinese company to bankroll Moldova’s first big solar park
Vague on detail, the first proposal to build a ground-mounted solar plant in the eastern European country has come from China’s CCCII.
Jordan completes 250 MW second round of licensing
The kingdom has given the green light to a 50 MW proposal in Ma’an, the fifth project in the second round of its national commissioning process.
Portugal: A further 1.7 GW of PV projects under review
Portugal’s Directorate General for Energy and Geology is reviewing another big bunch of “unsubsidized” solar schemes.
sPower refinances $499 million of wind and solar
The independent power producer has closed on a US$499 million, investment grade, private placement financing representing approximately 650 MW of utility-scale wind and solar power projects.
US: Con Edison buys 943 MW of solar from Sempra
The US$1.54 billion transaction will make Con Edison the 2nd-largest owner of operational solar assets in the United States, and is expected to close by the end of the year.
The weekend Read: Soft services, hard impacts
The application of IoT, tapping, and analytics of big data, and much hyped applications like blockchain are making an impact on the solar PV sector and related devices, and also their interactions with the grid. But software has played an important role in the evolution of our industry dating back some 30 years.
300 MW Talasol project in Spain receives funding from EFSI
The subsidy free mega project is entering the next stage of its development. Funding is expected to be finalized in 4Q 2018 and commissioning in 2020. The project, funded by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) will retail its electricity on the spot market, but will be secured through a financial hedge.
