Eastern Europe

A response issued by the Ministry of Justice to questions from an MP has revealed anxiety about any official comments on a case which involves a Lithuanian solar developer claiming restitution from the state after it retroactively reduced feed-in tariff payments for clean power in August.

The Polish perovskite solar cell specialist claims to be the first company in the world to have commissioned commercial production of the technology.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have seen uneven development in PV installations to date, and the three Baltic states are still highly dependent on imports from Russia. Estonia needs to replace aging energy infrastructure, and so far it has led the region in PV deployments. Latvia, meanwhile, has a high level of hydro in its energy mix, and less incentive to build PV. IHS Markit analyst Susanne von Aichberger examines the latest policy developments in the Baltic states.

The London-based development finance provider has made more than €50 million available for sustainable investment across three separate credit lines recently.

The first batch of five-year investments, offered through German-owned Polish lender Mbank, will raise money to expand a solar portfolio R.Power claims already stretches to more than 4 GWp in its domestic market.

Energy efficiency, electrification of heating and transport, and the provision of clean cooking facilities are all going in the wrong direction as the Covid crisis deprived millions in sub-Saharan Africa of electricity use, according to a report by the IEA, IRENA, WHO, World Bank and UN Statistics Division.

The Polish government is supporting a hybrid renewable energy project based on a deep-borehole heat exchanger (DBHE) whose heat pumps are powered by photovoltaics. The heat generated by the facility will be used for district heating.

World Bank arm the International Finance Corp has now extended almost €76 million of credit into two sustainable lending facilities launched via Raiffeisen Bank.

The 500 kW floating array was built with floating membranes supplied by Norwegian specialist Ocean Sun. The project is expected to continue its second implementation phase during the second half of 2021, when three more 500 kW floating units will be installed.

The RES+ program will be open to installations of up to 1 MW and also solar power projects exceeding 1 MW in size. Selected developers may secure a rebate covering up to 50% of a project’s cost.