Policy

The transformation of South Australia’s energy system has taken another step forward with early site works at a green hydrogen facility near Adelaide. The plant will integrate what is billed as Australia’s biggest electrolyzer of its kind.

Black Hills Energy is seeking 200 MW of solar power or wind plus energy storage capacity as part of a request for proposal, driven by summer 2019 bids for solar+storage of $0.024/kWh and $0.036/kWh and looming cuts to the 30% investment tax credit.

Ather Energy, an Indian electric scooter maker, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to open a new production facility for lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles.

Greece has published a document that lays a path for national energy and climate policy over the next decade, while outlining plans to facilitate significant PV development through 2030.

The funds will be used to build an extra-high-voltage transmission link to transmit 9 GW of capacity, including 6 GW of renewables, to the Chennai–Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor by 2025.

Ofgem passed its long-awaited, controversial plan for network charges last week, despite earlier warnings against the move. The UK electricity market regulator’s Targeted Charging Review has provoked a backlash in the renewables sector, as many believe that the plan will damage the economics of distributed energy resources and unsubsidized onshore wind and solar development.

A new survey by the Melbourne-based Clean Energy Council shows that confidence in new clean energy investment has continued to weaken over the past six months. While a majority of Australian industry representatives expect to hire more people over the next 12 months, the biggest challenges to developing new projects remain unchanged, with the grid connection process, technical requirements, and policy uncertainty at the top of their list of concerns.

The government of Goa, now reeling under severe electricity shortages, has decided to extend its solar power purchase agreement with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam by three years, following a complete lack of interest in the Indian state’s recent solar tenders.

The French insurance group has revealed plans to phase out its exposure to coal by 2030 in the European Union and the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and by 2040 in other parts of the world.

A delegation from the Asian Development Bank recently paid a visit to the South Asian country to assess the prospects of floating PV in a nation that suffers from a general lack of land upon which to develop new renewable energy projects.