Policy

In the U.K., systems bigger than 50 MW fall under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime and require special permitting. With the aim of optimizing the market for higher storage penetration, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is holding a consultation until March 25 to determine whether to retain the 50 MW threshold.

The Dutch PV equipment provider will supply 15 vacuum coating systems for a planned 500 MW production capacity of cadmium telluride thin film modules. The value of the contract is more than €40 million.

Topping off a great week for the British next generation utility platform, BBOXX won the Zayed Energy Prize after receiving funding from the Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers fund to speed up roll out of its platform in Rwanda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The large-scale IPP project will be developed at a landfill site. The plant is part of the kingdom’s plan to deploy 255 MW of solar by 2025.

The amount of new PV added by Greece in 2018 is tiny but signals the sector has been restarted, mainly thanks to renewable energy tenders. However, significant challenges remain when it comes to meeting a 2020 solar energy target.

The procurement exercise, intended for the deployment of large-scale projects across three locations, was to have been held on January 29. The tender will be re-issued this year – and it may include storage.

Italian COP negotiator and environmental public servant Francesco La Camera has been selected as the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) new director-general. He takes over from Adnan Z Amin, who stepped down from the role after eight years with an heartfelt parting address.

The International Renewable Energy Agency has plotted the potentially dramatic impacts of a global transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels. Today’s A New World report notes the transition requires international cooperation to manage disruption, as it will leave behind countries and industries that fail to adapt.

The German subsidiary of the Chinese Chint Group will be restructured. The German site will in future focus on marketing and sales as well as areas such as customer care, logistics, customs clearance and other business-related services for European and global customers. More than 200 of the 230 employees will lose their jobs when production stops.

The Italian government has published a plan for climate and energy envisaging a central role for solar in the nation’s energy mix, with PV expected to represent more than the half the power generation capacity from renewables by the end of the next decade.