Policy

A study by the International Energy Agency into the chilling effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy demand states renewables will be ‘the only energy source likely to experience demand growth for the rest of 2020’. The slower the economic recovery, the more the fossil fuel industry will suffer.

The unfolding effects of the Covid-19 crisis, and fears of a possible second wave, have split analysts trying to guess how the unsubsidized renewables market will emerge as slumping demand continued to distort power markets. pv magazine rounds up the week’s coronavirus developments.

The Polish solar industry is reportedly planning an offensive to claim a bigger slice of the domestic PV market. The idea was apparently floated by the head of a private renewable energy body.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can play a key role in combating climate change, including by application in the renewables industry. Dustin Zubke is watching this week’s International Conference on Learning Representations workshop to find out how, after the Addis Ababa conference was moved online because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Solar project developers and other component importers are among those eligible to apply for low-interest loans for up to 10 years. The government had already offered a $200 million credit line last year.

Clean energy developers have three days left to pre-qualify for the first procurement exercise staged by the Irish Renewable Electricity Support Scheme. Solar will compete with wind – on and offshore – and biomass projects.

According to the latest figures from the Turkish grid operator, 109 MW of new solar was added in the first quarter, most of it net-metered rooftop systems. The troubled 1 GW national tender originally planned in January 2019, however, has been postponed for a second time, with the government stating the Covid-19 crisis will cause the exercise to be staged next year.

Today’s edition of the Official Journal of the French Republic featured two long-awaited decrees: One concerning the multi-year energy program and another on national carbon budgets and the state’s low-carbon strategy.

Bailed-out solar project company Panda Green revealed it did not set any terms for repayment of RMB1 billion paid to third parties in 2017 as deposits to secure potential project rights.

Up to 150 GW of PV and wind projects could be postponed or canceled throughout the Asia-Pacific region by 2024 if the coronavirus-triggered recession continues beyond the current year, according to new research by Wood Mackenzie.