Policy

The planned disposal of more than a third of the Chinese solar company’s project portfolio would take a significant chunk out of its debt mountain but trading in company stock was halted this morning, pending an announcement in relation to the project sale. Shunfeng sold off German PV project monitoring business meteocontrol to another operation owned by its main shareholder at the end of last year.

The Mozambican Energy Fund and the Belgian Development Agency have kicked off a tender to facilitate the construction of five solar minigrids to improve rural electricity access in the southern African nation. Prospective developers have until the end of the month to express interest.

A viral outbreak in the city of Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, has become a nationwide health crisis with global implications. And with PV manufacturing concentrated in China, there are serious implications for all corners of the solar world, reports Vincent Shaw in Shanghai.

The Carbon Tracker Initiative crunched some numbers and discovered that more than half a trillion dollars worth of coal investments are at serious risk due to the declining cost of renewables.

The Chinese manufacturer had not updated its English-speaking investors since October and now appears set to have its chief Chinese operations taken over by creditors.

The African Development Bank has agreed to invest $200 million to improve electricity access in Nigeria by building minigrids throughout the country.

Benin has obtained a $21.1 million loan from the investment and development bank of the Economic Community of West African States and Burundi will benefit from a $160 million World Bank donation, $100 million of which will be dedicated to solar energy.

Rebates are being offered to homeowners and businesses willing to couple small solar systems with energy storage.

A report by Norwegian energy consultant DNV GL has considered the opportunity for long-term energy storage to play a role in balancing annual supply and demand fluctuations in a renewables-led grid. Using 58 years of Dutch weather and energy consumption data, the study found long-term solutions such as green hydrogen could make a valuable contribution – but perhaps not as much as some analysts believe.

The move has been welcomed as a step in the right direction by lobby group SolarPower Europe nevertheless, particularly as it envisages bringing together EU low-carbon businesses. The outline ambition will now be considered by the European Parliament.