Bangladesh moves to register 100,000 rural electric vehicles
With electric three-wheelers operating in the nation’s rural areas, it is hoped registering them will help encourage wider adoption.
California rooftop legislation lifts order book for Swedish equipment supplier
CIGS thin-film production equipment company Midsummer posted record orders in 2018. With a U.S. partner, the company noted uptake was partly due to Californian requirements to integrate PV into all new (low-rise) buildings from next year.
China ready to set 3 GW quota for residential solar in 2019
Sources have told pv magazine the authorities are ready to restart the nation’s residential rooftop segment and have also agreed upon subsidy payments for other distributed generation and utility-scale projects.
100 MW Saran solar park commissioned in Kazakhstan
The SES Saran solar project is in the Karaganda region. The project was financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and built by German developer Goldbeck.
Australia to lead world in residential battery uptake in 2019
More than 70,000 Australian households will install battery storage this year, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance. With the nation’s storage demand set to triple, Australia is expected to make up 30% of global demand.
Cayman Islands project shows solar potential of hurricane-hit island nations
Richard Branson says the efforts made by one of his companies to roll out PV in the Caymans are part of a wider drive to bring renewable energy to the Caribbean.
Another disappointing solar auction for Japan as prices stay high
In last month’s exercise, final prices were slightly lower than those seen in previous procurements and the total allocated capacity was 196.6 MW. Through the three tenders held by the Japanese government, around 500 MW of solar was assigned, against a target of 1-1.5 GW. Land availability, grid constraints and high labor costs make projects expensive and force developers to use mountainous regions.
Chile tender to assign up to 9,000 hectares of public land for renewables
Some 8,891 hectares could be allocated through the tender, in the form of 179 plots of land in the northern and southernmost regions of the country.
PV Market Alliance expects 120 GW of new solar capacity in 2019
The global market stagnated last year, with around 98 GW deployed. For 2019, the experts expect stronger solar growth, provided there are no setbacks in China.
Solar tender for French nuclear site is published
Only four days after receiving approval from the European Commission, the French government has issued the tender for 200 MW of ground-mounted solar and a further 100 MW of rooftops at Fessenheim. The government is considering raising a 30 MW size limit for PV projects on degraded land.
