Eastern Europe

The Uzbek government last week opened a rooftop solar program which provides 30% of the initial costs for buying and installing a PV system, up to around $320 per project. Tax incentives are also available.

The Norwegian developer has opened plants in Ukraine and Egypt. Scatec Solar recently announced it managed to triple energy production in the last year.

Poland’s second largest power company, Tauron, wants to build a 5 MW ground-mounted facility in Jaworzno and is seeking EPC contractors through a tender. The project is part of the company’s plan to deploy PV on its unused sites.

Researchers have developed a high-resolution geospatial method of assessing the solar potential of all buildings in the EU and concluded rooftop PV could provide a quarter of the bloc’s electricity needs. The scientists say grid parity for rooftop solar has been reached outside eastern member states with cheap fossil fuel electricity.

The Lone Star State accounted for almost half of the activity witnessed in the world’s biggest corporate clean energy marketplace but analysts are excited about the prospect of Beijing mandating companies to purchase minimum levels of green electricity.

The projects will be tendered under single-round competitive bidding processes, supervised by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Canadian fuel cell manufacturer Ballard announces order for a dozen units as part of the European Commission’s JIVE initiative for hydrogen-powered public transport across the EU.

Quasi-governmental body the CPIA has released first-half figures for the world’s biggest solar marketplace which show production volumes for export markets continuing to expand and the domestic picture set to rebound after public solar subsidy levels were published.

The final segment in pv magazine’s look at unsung solar markets heads to Ukraine, where a generous feed in tariff and developments in the corporate PPA segment looks likely to push installations past the 1 GW mark for 2019.

The Mój Prąd scheme will be open to residential rooftop PV projects ranging in size from 2 kW to 10 kW. Furthermore, the Polish Parliament approved a new act that will allow for the wind and solar auctions planned for this and next year to move forward.