Asia

Industry figures indicate the expansion of the Bangladeshi grid is hitting demand for the solar home systems which have traditionally generated power for homes formerly out of reach of the electricity network.

Following its decision to switch from fixed feed-in tariffs to reverse auction bidding for the setting of solar incentives, the Vietnamese government has decided to devote the first two pilot auctions to floating PV. A first procurement exercise, for a project which could reach 100 MW of generation capacity, will be held this year.

The analyst expects the final figure for new PV generation capacity in 2019 to top out at 20-24 GW thanks to the delayed introduction of a new solar policy, land scarcity, financing problems and grid connection issues. There are clouds on the horizon too, with China set to remain wedded to coal for the foreseeable future.

The Chinese manufacturer debuted on the Shenzhen exchange in mid December, after de-listing from New York’s NASDAQ in 2018. The company plans to roll out 10 GW of new module capacity and 5 GW of cell lines over four years.

Sun Da has moved to become the lithium energy storage and electric vehicle battery company’s second largest investor, raising HK$10.3 million for the business in the process.

The indebted developer has been forced to extend the period during which the holders of $350 million of senior notes can decide whether to delay settlement by two years.

A pre-bid meeting has been arranged on January 20 for the project, which is being financed with a $74 million World Bank loan.

As Germany shuttered another of its nuclear power plants on New Year’s Day, the office of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was said to be considering a proposal which would make coal more competitive with renewables in one of the world’s worst polluting nations.

By this time next year we may be able to wave goodbye to that old chestnut about renewables endangering security of supply. Elsewhere, the price of lithium – and the products it goes into – could go either way after tanking this year.