Cambodia approves four PV projects totaling 140 MW
The country’s government has decided to approve the four new projects, ranging in size from 20 MW to 60 MW, in response to rising energy demand. It further announced that the 60 MW project that it tendered at the beginning of the year is planned to start commercial operations in August.
Togo joins Scaling Solar program for 90 MW
The government of the African country has signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Finance Corporation for the development and construction of several solar parks. The projects are expected to be finalized over the next two years.
Tunisia launches tender for another 70 MW of solar
Through this procurement exercise, the Tunisian government hopes to build six solar plants with a capacity of 10 MW each and ten 1 MW small solar parks.
The weekend read: Transistor transition
In pursuit of a lower levelized cost of energy for the next generation of inverters, some manufacturers have turned to acquiring considerably more expensive semiconductors. While this may sound like a misstep at first, the trick could be pulled off — though not easily, and not always — yet.
Lithium-ion recycling rates far higher than some statistics suggest
While it is often stated only 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled, a review of research into the second life and recycling of lithium-ion batteries suggests that is a gross understatement. A new study found almost 100,000 tons of waste batteries were recycled last year – about half of what reached end-of-life.
Interview: Fimer CEO Filippo Carzaniga discusses acquisition of ABB inverter business
After the bombshell news this week, the Italian inverter manufacturer’s CEO spoke to pv magazine about the future of ABB’s R&D hubs, manufacturing sites, hundreds of employees and of course Fimer’s outlook.
Renewables generation cheaper than coal for many power companies – but not yet for Eskom
An investor tool examining the coal fleets of major global power companies has offered up analysis which flies in the face of arguments solar and wind generation could help turn around the debt-saddled South African utility.
Portuguese 1.4 GW solar tender with €0.045/kWh ceiling receives 10 GW of applications
Despite a demanding ceiling price of €45/MWh the tender has received applications for projects with seven times the generation capacity it will allocate.
Jordan’s plan to have solar on all mosques moves forward
Another 35 places of worship will be geared with rooftop PV. Part of the funding for the projects is being provided by the Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund. So far around 500 mosques have been equipped through the program,
EIB helps Palestine install 35 MW of rooftop solar with $18 million loan
The funds will be used to finance solar arrays on 500 schools across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
