Policy

Shifting requirements for supply chain traceability and carbon footprint disclosure, along with solar oversupply and unsustainably low module prices, have made 2024 a challenging year for PV manufacturers. Despite these obstacles, the industry remains committed to its crucial role in the global energy transition. pv magazine recently spoke with Haimeng Zhang, chief strategy and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) officer at Longi Green Energy, about how the sector is preparing to meet these challenges.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Ying Zhang, founder of Sweden-based Fenec. She says women should accept their physical disadvantage while exploiting their strength to select roles and responsibilities. “For example, every solar project requires investment analysis and project coordination, where our analytical skills and communication competence can contribute significantly to project success,” she stated.

Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water has opened a tender for an 8 MW solar plant that will be publicly funded and connected to the medium-voltage grid to supply power to Electricité du Liban.

Italy’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) says it has received 643 bids totaling 1.7 GW in its first agrivoltaic tender. About 56% of the proposals have come from the country’s sunny southern regions.

Belgium’s transmission and distribution system operator says it plans to allow household solar panels and batteries with a plug and socket to connect to the grid from May 2025.

The US Department of Interior has given the green light to Nevada’s largest solar+storage development, the Libra Solar Project. It has also opened a comment period for the Bonanza Solar Project, which features a 195 MW/780 MWh battery storage system.

The Canadian government has launched a 30-day consultation to determine whether to impose a surtax on solar products, semiconductors, batteries, and battery parts from China. It recently slapped a 100% surtax on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

The Romanian authorities plan to allocate 1 GW of wind capacity and 500 MW of solar through the country’s first procurement exercise. The Romanian Ministry of Energy has set a maximum strike price of €91 ($100.7)/MWh for solar projects and €93/MWh for wind projects.

This year’s auction saw the Irish government provisionally allocate 959.85 MW of solar across 23 projects. The final average price for PV was €0.10476 ($0.12)/kWh.

Italian economist Mario Draghi says European countries are legitimately using local-content requirements to maintain technological sovereignty. In a new report on the EU cleantech industry, he warns about the risk of following the United States in closing off markets to Chinese technology.