Policy

The Dutch government is planning to raise between €3.5 billion and €5 billion through green bonds annually. The proceeds will be used for sustainable investments, including renewable energy deployment.

The International Renewable Energy Agency says Asia is offering the largest amount of people mini grid access, with the development of such systems mostly led by governments. Global installed capacity reached 308 MW at the end of 2017.

Although industry representatives are predicting no falling-off in the market next year, there is nothing in the latest set of figures to support such a positive outlook.

The new decree, which regulates the law for DG promulgated at the end of 2017, is intended to support distributed generation of renewable energy sources under net metering. The fund for DG, though, has shrunk by half in value thanks to currency depreciation.

The Chair of the solar commission of French renewable energy association SER – Xavier Daval – explains why a further commitment to nuclear by the Macron government may seriously undermine efforts of late to revive renewable energy. According to him, if more nuclear reactors will be built, France may miss the chance of positioning itself as a leading country in the growing global renewable energy market.

Parent company hopes to receive a $392m windfall – half of it upfront – by offering shares in its solar farm operations unit and then using the net profits to sell the newly-spun out business its six-project PV portfolio in China.

With the ruling coalition having agreed to extend additional tenders for PV and wind power, a related, draft bill by the Federal Ministry of Economics has been disclosed. The policy document includes a proposal for a 20% FIT reduction for solar installations ranging in size from 40 kW to 750 kW.

President Moon Jae-in yesterday announced plans for a 3 GW project. South Korea plans to add 30 GW of PV by 2030, to improve the country’s hitherto poor renewable energy performance.

The government may not fancy solar much, but that won’t stop the sector bouncing back big-time … albeit in two years’ time. Maybe London’s Underground network can help kick-start a desperately needed solar renaissance.

The new capacity figure fell on the previous month, mainly because fewer ground-mounted systems went online. The monthly retreat of FIT payments will stay at 1% for the next three months. According to SolarPower Europe, Germany will be by far the largest market in Europe, with 3 GW of new capacity this year.