Sustainability

Rising volumes of solar capacity are to be welcomed but, as panelists at a session of today’s SolarPower Europe event discussed, the technology must be kept ethical and responsible. That means industry working together; new, harmonized, mandatory and voluntary policy instruments; and a focus on quantifiable, life cycle-based investor criteria.

Dozens of solar companies are claiming renewable energy certificates issued for “wood-burning” biomass technology are unconstitutional as most such facilities are fueled by wood pellets co-fired with coal in older power plants. A constitutional court decision is expected within two years.

Built in Gangba County, in Xigaze, Tibet, the 40 MW/193 MWh facility was deployed at more than 4,700m above sea level and is functioning as a demonstration project for the ancillary services the technology could offer the Tibetan grid.

The Palestine Investment Fund wants to install solar systems with an average generation capacity of 70 kW on 400 public schools.

The European battery manufacturer has raised the funds with a private shares placement which included the co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify.

Alsace start-up Ecosun is developing innovative microgrid solutions to provide electricity in isolated areas.

The Caucasian nation could use its hydropower resources to generate the sustainable fuel for transport in its gas pipeline network. An agreement to cost the development of such an industry formed part of a deal which will see the EBRD lend the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation €217 million to help it through a Covid-19-related cash crisis.

A study into the potential pitfalls of the shift to clean power in the nation’s coal-dependent energy mix, pointed out almost all of South Africa’s solar farms are far to the south and west of the coal regions likely to bear the brunt of job losses in a country which already has 29% unemployment.

‘Lithium Valley’, south of Perth, is set for two new faces after U.K. battery manufacturer Amte Power and Perth-based infrastructure firm Infranomics signed an agreement to explore the possibility of establishing lithium-ion cell manufacturing facilities in the state of Western Australia.

The Portuguese and Dutch governments want to connect the hydrogen project of Sines to the Port of Rotterdam and to develop a strategic export-import value chain to ensure the production and transport of green hydrogen to the Netherlands and its hinterland.