Policy

Only 1% of Africa’s utility scale solar projects are within 20km of city limits, according to a new report, despite the fact the continent is expected to have around a billion more city dwellers by mid century.

Since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s election at the end of 2018, renewable energy in Mexico has faced an uncertain regulatory environment. The current government is focused on restoring the power and influence of Mexico’s state-owned energy companies. But it is now at a crossroads, as the previous administration aimed to open the segment up to foreign investment. Maria Chea of IHS Markit examines the policy decisions the government has taken this year and how these have soured private investor sentiment. These changes will likely weigh on utility-scale PV procurement in the country through 2024.

Often dependent on fuel imports from the mainland and frequently powered by fossil fuels, islands have taken center stage at an online forum which builds on a political process kicked-off by Croatia’s presidency of the European Council.

Applications for solar rebates have almost doubled thus far this year, said Swissolar, which sees year-on-year growth in all rooftop PV segments.

Italy’s most affluent region will continue to support solar+storage installations with rebates, and the authorities plan to roughly triple funding this year.

The centralized nature of policymaking in Beijing would enable component standardization to ease the transition from EV to stationary energy storage use, according to Greenpeace East Asia.

The Norwegian polysilicon maker has been been frozen out of the Chinese solar market by political tensions between Beijing and the U.S. and mothballed its Washington State production line last year. However, two recent business agreements could change all that.

Although the global solar industry might be cheered by the prospect of a healthy slice of an expected $12 trillion, 30-year windfall, governments are falling far short of steering us clear of catastrophic global heating, according to the analyst’s latest New Energy Outlook report.

A report by Finnish company Wärtsilä has estimated the potential impact if every dollar committed to a non-renewables energy sector recovery was instead funneled to clean power.

Re-elected South Korean president Moon Jae-in today declared he will follow-up on a campaign trail promise to eliminate carbon emissions by mid century. The announcement comes just two days after Japan’s new prime minister said he would accelerate his nation’s emissions target.