Covid-19 daily bulletin: Renewables squeezing out fossil fuels as energy demand plunges
Although the energy price recovered this week, ultra low levels driven by bumper solar power generation on a sunny weekend in Germany reportedly put further pressure on the business case for conventional energy.
Debt financing the main obstacle to PV during Covid-19 crisis
Industry body SolarPower Europe hosted a webinar to consider how the global public health crisis will affect solar. While workers and materials are still available, industry experts are concerned about the state of the financial sector. Banks could become more conservative and raise the cost of capital for renewables projects.
Software for virtual power plants powered by residential solar-plus-storage
With its sonnenVPP, German battery company Sonnen wants to improve the efficiency of virtual power plants which it says can offer primary balancing energy from houses with solar and storage and can operate up to 90% more cost-effectively.
Bringing green hydrogen to market
German companies Uniper and Siemens will cooperate on joint projects to advance the use of green hydrogen and sector coupling. Conventional, gas-fired hydrogen production plants will be gradually transformed as part of the initiative.
A big grid solution to harness small solar arrays
Scientists at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory are developing a communication system to coordinate and control the volumes of solar power injected into grids by small scale solar arrays.
Giant transformers for grid debottlenecking
Dutch power company Liander has installed two large transformers at a distribution station in Ulft, in the province of Gelderland. The devices should provide more room for renewables on the network from next year.
Covid-19 daily bulletin
pv magazine rounds up the latest Covid-19-related stories likely to affect the world of solar and energy storage.
Jordan switches off unsubsidized solar projects
The Middle Eastern kingdom has ordered the shutdown of solar wheeling facilities which use the grid to connect to energy offtakers. The move has come in response to tumbling electricity demand after the nation halted all non-essential industries as it tries to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Limited impact of Covid-19 on Germany’s rooftop PV market
The Covid-19 crisis has far-reaching effects – including on the PV industry and solar installation market. The results of a survey conducted in a recent pv magazine webinar painted a picture of businesses unsettled by the pandemic but still taking orders at present.
Capturing the full value of energy storage
The International Renewable Energy Agency has devised a valuation framework to lay the foundations for successful storage deployment. As the technology matures and moves toward a projected fall in price, revenue stacking will be crucial to assess viability and properly value its benefits.
