Grids & Integration

Renewables company Ellomay Capital has been forced to reduce the scale of its planned 340 MW Manara Cliff project, in the north of the country, because two rival schemes have already gobbled up a large proportion of the capacity quota currently offered by the government.

Electric vehicle producer Electra has signed up to use a system which monitors usage during a device’s in-vehicle lifetime to assess the potential for further use in stationary applications.

The Swiss utility will sell the ancillary services offered to energy network operator Fingrid by the 30 MW/30 MWh lithium-ion Yllikkälä Power Reserve One battery provided by French renewables company Neoen.

The EU appears poised to roll out battery storage capacity to provide flexibility to systems with more variable renewables. The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy has also noted policies that must be addressed to establish a level playing field for storage.

With electric vehicles starting to gain traction, the International Energy Agency’s updated, ten-year e-mobility forecast has suggested geopolitical and economic concerns will trump environmental niceties when it comes to encouraging recycling. But what price ever-cheaper batteries?

Bill Gates and Breakthrough Energy see enhanced transmission as facilitating electrification and grid reliability. Increasing transmission development at the “seams” between regions could save consumers more than $47 billion and return more than $2.50 on every dollar invested.

PV manufacturers unable to live with proposed new quality guidelines and project developers alike are set to be squeezed out by the state in the world’s biggest solar market, according to Frank Haugwitz, who has compiled a market update as preparations for the next five-year plan gather pace.

After managing to bear down on costs enough to compete with coal-fired generation, it appears solar developers in China now face a new hurdle to overcome – resistance from grid companies.

Energy minister Yuval Steinitz has announced the country’s 2030 renewable energy target will rise to 30%, with solar expected to account for the lion’s share. Approximately $23 billion more clean energy investment is envisaged this decade.

JinkoSolar has begun construction of a new 16 GW module production base in Yiwu city, Zhejiang province and Eging PV has resumed a 200 MW solar project in Qitai county in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, after securing approval from local authorities. The China National Energy Administration has confirmed the nation can add no more than 48.45 GW of solar to the grid this year.