Grids & Integration

The development will comprise multiple smaller projects, a first 60 MW batch of which closed its first tender window this month with the results not yet publicized. Cambodia boasts comparatively high electricity prices and has been urged by the UN Development Program to use PV to drive down energy bills.

With clean energy being generated at lower and lower prices around the world, solar power is playing a leading role in bringing the curtain down on coal, and will help the decarbonization of transport and space heating too.

At the Smarter E Europe trade show in Munich, pv magazine caught up with Lior Handelsman, VP for marketing and product strategy and founder of Solaredge. The Israeli company made headlines as it went on an acquisition spree in the last year to leverage its position in the storage and EV charging business.

A site origination exercise and load analysis by Cornell University suggests 9 GW of solar will reduce peak demand in New York by nearly 10%. However it also found solar needs better capacity valuations to make for a stronger market, and will drive a winter time duck curve during a season of lower electric demand.

Although only four PV plants with a combined capacity of 150 MW were grid connected by mid-April, the Vietnamese government expects another 88 FIT-entitled solar facilities to come online by the end of next month. By Sunday, 34 projects with a combined capacity of 2.2 GW had already arrived on top of the mid-April connections.

Renewable energy investment in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding China, will overtake spending on oil and gas exploration and production by 2020, finds Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy. And Australia is set to emerge as one of the leading investment destinations.

With Narendra Modi’s government stunning pollsters with another huge win, the solar industry expects renewable power momentum to be maintained with steps including anti-dumping duty on solar module imports, a national policy for rooftop solar and an emphasis on easing private-sector participation in the power sector.

The International Energy Agency says more than 2 million electric vehicles hit the road last year, to take the total to more than 5 million. The agency has stressed the importance of public policy, charging infrastructure and a fall in costs for continued EV uptake, and says up to 43 million EVs could be sold in 2030.

According to a paper published by the European Network of Transmission System Operators, a significant number of grid infrastructure projects in the Ten-Year Network Development Plan 2018 have been delayed, with public opposition identified as the main hindrance.

While preparing for the country’s first, 1.35 GW solar tender in June, state secretary for energy João Galamba has revealed another procurement exercise will be held in January and rejected criticism next month’s auction has been badly designed.