Policy

The Chinese company is ramping up R&D efforts to try and fast-track commercialization of the more productive – and more expensive – battery tech. The news was announced as part of an uninspiring first-half update thanks to falling lithium salt prices.

Today we have heard of farmers in Australia unhappy at the approval given for three solar projects on agricultural land and also learned the benefits PV can bring for fish and shrimp farmers. In this op-ed for pv magazine USA, Stoel Rives LLP attorneys Sara Bergan and Thomas Braun discuss the balancing act to be made between solar and agriculture in the emerging Midwestern PV market.

The state government of Victoria has approved three projects in the Shepparton region which have a combined generation capacity of 175 MW. However, some residents are upset at the loss of prime agricultural land and now-redundant irrigation equipment which had been upgraded using government grants.

The $376 million Travers Solar project has had the nod from the Alberta Utilities Commission. Construction on the subsidy-free facility, which will operate on a merchant basis, will start next year with an operational date set for 2021.

While the damage is largely done for cells, modules and inverters, increased tariffs on U.S. module components and 15% measures on lithium-ion batteries are not good news for either sector.

A mix of higher operating costs and ageing coal assets – plus historically generous solar tariffs – meant the utility banked more profit from the 1.53 TWh of solar electricity it sold in the first half than it did from 25.9 TWh of coal-fired power.

ARENA will top up Evie Networks’ ultra-fast battery electric vehicle charging plans for Australia’s highways with AUS$15 million of federal funding.

The two nations are due to sign an MoU today to set up the capacity in the north of Bangladesh along with 50 MW of wind power facilities in the south, near the port of Payra. China will supply an estimated $500m with the host nation freeing up land for the projects.

The Emirati utility and the Chinese communications giant and inverter maker have discussed how they can work together to roll out solar and storage in Dubai as well as collaborating on cyber security and the use of AI to analyze cyber threats.

With the anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed in November 2013 set to expire nine months ago, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal has extended them for another five years, ruling their expiry would harm the nation’s only domestic manufacturer.