Europe

The final average price was slightly higher than that of the previous auction of the same kind. Successful bids were between €0.0386/kWh and €0.0515/kWh per kWh. Unlike the parallel wind energy tender, the tendered capacity was significantly oversubscribed, once again.

The Norwegian developer had 357 MW of PV projects in operation and 1,057 MW under construction at the end of the third quarter of this year.

Four PV projects totaling 170 MW were selected in the first of a series of RE auctions to be held this year. Overall, the Kazakh government is planning to assign 290 MW of solar and a total of 1 GW of renewable energy capacity.

Polish research institute IEO released a new analysis showing increasing power prices in the Eastern European country, due to the current energy policy, which still strongly relies on coal power. Replacing coal with solar power, it argues, would likely result in decreasing power prices.

An analysis of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) assumes that a maximum of 2.5% of Germany’s land is needed for the energy transition. With a higher share of solar in the electricity mix, however, this percentage would be lowered to 2%. The study also says that the expansion of renewables will not endanger nature protection.

The project, under development by Gasunie, Tennet and Thyssengas, will convert wind power into green hydrogen. The plant commissioning should take place gradually starting from 2022.

The Munich-based company will receive up to €2 million for a large-scale storage facility in southern Germany. The system will consist of 52 lithium-ion car batteries –which are also used in the BMW i3 – and will be coupled with a wind farm.

The eastern European nation is being assisted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with the creation of tender documentation for renewable energy auctions.

Electrifying the global energy system with clean energy is the only way to reach the targets set by the Paris agreement on climate change and avoid the catastrophic scenarios outlined by the recent IPCC report. In an interview with pv magazine, Christian Breyer – Professor of Solar Economy at Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology – explains a 100% renewables model is not only technically feasible, but also the cheapest and safest option. With solar and storage at its core, the future energy system envisaged by Breyer and his team will not only stop coal, but also nuclear and fossil gas, while seeing solar reach a share of around 70% of power consumption by 2050. By that time, PV technology could cost a third of its current price.

The nation’s oil and gas provider is building its first small-sized PV projects at facilities operated by Ukrtransgaz, the Ukrainian gas transport system.