France looks to hydrogen to become 100% renewables
The French Environment & Energy Management Agency (ADEME) will allocate €100 million next year to support the nation’s hydrogen industry. The French government believes hydrogen – for storage of renewable power – can become a pillar of its energy transition.
Scatec wants to double size of project pipeline
Chief executive of Norwegian developer tells markets his company will deliver on 1.5 GW promise by the end of the year – by including any projects it has broken ground on.
Study: Swiss energy transition creates jobs and energy independence
A team of scientists at Lausanne have calculated the costs and job impact of the 2050 Energy Strategy, in force since January. The results show the additional investment called for by the strategy is offset by savings on imported fuel and electricity.
South Africa to launch new 1.8 GW REIPPP round this year
After signing the 27 outstanding renewable PPAs assigned in previous rounds in April, the South African government believes the new procurement round may raise investment of more than $3.1 billion.
MW-sized solar parks proliferate in Sweden
Swedish power distributor Göteborg Energi is planning to deploy two PV plants totaling 6 MW while initiatives for solar parks above 1 MW are being implemented in several regions.
Industry urges EU to boost self-consumption
After EU Parliament, Council and Commission each reached their respective position on the future of renewable energies in the EU until 2030, at the end of last year, representatives of the three bodies have commenced negotiations to find a EU wide position to be implemented as soon as possible. The renewable energy directive is expected to be ready for inking during this summer.
Official statistics illustrate UK solar market’s sluggish growth
Despite a remarkable cumulative PV capacity of over 12.8 GW, newly registered PV systems in the first four months of this year amounted to a disappointing 72 MW. The U.K. Solar Trade Association does not expect the current poor growth trend to improve unless the government provides more regulatory certainty.
Solar grew by 225 MW in Germany in April
Demand for rooftop solar continues to be high as only around 26.5 MW of additional capacity in April came from ground-mounted PV. FITs for installations up to 750 kW in size will remain flat in June.
IHS Markit at SNEC: Grid parity within reach in China
At their 2018 PV Market Workshop, across the street from the massive SNEC solar exhibition in Shanghai, IHS Markit offered interesting insights into the further development of China’s PV and energy storage markets, as well as the global PV market as a whole.
Record-breaking SNEC in Shanghai
The annual SNEC photovoltaic power expo 2018, in Shanghai, closed yesterday after the 12th edition of the world’s biggest PV exhibition. Reflecting the rapid development of China’s PV industry, the scale of SNEC increased from 15,000 sqm at the first exhibition to 180,000 sqm last year and 200,000 this year – a 10% year-on-year increase. Preliminary figures show more than 220,000 visits to this year’s edition, with more than 5,000 industry professionals attending the expo and series of high-level conferences.
