Policy

Despite a demanding ceiling price of €45/MWh the tender has received applications for projects with seven times the generation capacity it will allocate.

Another 35 places of worship will be geared with rooftop PV. Part of the funding for the projects is being provided by the Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund. So far around 500 mosques have been equipped through the program,

The funds will be used to finance solar arrays on 500 schools across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

China’s National Energy Administration has given the greenlight to 3,921 ground-mounted and distributed generation projects. The approved energy price bids ranged from $0.0407 to $0.080, depending on system size, for an average price of $0.048.

While Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and Brazil attracted more funds than last year, China’s transition to an auction-based procurement system and slow performance overall in Europe saw worldwide backing decrease. BloombergNEF does expect investments to ramp up in the second half, however.

The Moroccan agency for sustainable energy is pre-qualifying developers for the Noor Midelt II project, a solar complex incorporating CSP and PV elements.

The head of Mercom Capital says solar has a long way to go before it can stand without policy support. Effective grid parity will only be achieved when the cost of PV electricity factors in the expense of grid upgrades and the storage systems its intermittent nature requires, says Raj Prabhu.

Increased storage and strategic transmission development will be needed to ensure the most economic and lowest risk transition of Australia’s energy system, the Australian Energy Market Operator said in its latest study. In 20 years’ time, the need for storage will be at a scale not seen before in the national electricity market, and pumped hydro and distributed storage are set to play major roles in lowering electricity prices and building a reliable and resilient power system.

Copper indium gallium selenide thin film technology is on the fly as conversion efficiency closes in on that of crystalline silicon. The technology can be integrated neatly onto facades of otherwise energy intensive commercial buildings. The potential is huge even if the conversion efficiency retains some limitations.

With a glut of solar capacity having come online this year, cheaper financing would help keep some of that momentum but policymakers cannot be persuaded of the economic benefits of clean energy unless state-owned utility EVN opens up.