Ireland

Often dependent on fuel imports from the mainland and frequently powered by fossil fuels, islands have taken center stage at an online forum which builds on a political process kicked-off by Croatia’s presidency of the European Council.

Plus, details have been revealed of a 2 MW/2.5 MWh grid scale storage demo project in Switzerland and for a peer-to-peer renewable energy certificate marketplace in Southeast Asia.

Taiwanese cell manufacturer Inventec Solar reportedly halted production this month and Ireland is preparing to remove rooftop solar panel restrictions, according to the Irish Independent.

Harsh Goenka, from solar forecasting company Solargis analyzes the results of the nation’s first clean energy tender for pv magazine after the procurement exercise secured an average solar electricity price of €72.92/MWh.

The government has announced the provisional results of the nation’s first renewable energy procurement exercise and says the 1 TWh auction will end up allocating more than 2.2 TWh of generation capacity for an average final electric price of €0.07408/kWh.

Recent years have seen an explosion of installed PV capacity across the European Union, fueled by the well-documented rapid reduction in technology costs and favorable subsidy regimes in many jurisdictions. However, one corner of Northern Europe remains relatively untouched by the solar revolution, writes Adam Sharpe of Everoze. The Republic of Ireland currently has the second-lowest amount of installed PV capacity in the European Union, at just 36 MW by the end of 2019.

Plus, one Australian installer says residents who had installed solar and storage at home will be cushioned against thumping, coronavirus-related electricity bill rises this quarter and there are signs of recovery in overall energy consumption levels.

pv magazine spoke to Mark Jones, chief executive of privately-owned clean energy investment company Susgen about where the newly-launched business is looking to spend the cash pile it has allocated for big, early-stage project pipelines.

The EU research group tasked with optimizing renewable energy auction procurement processes said the achievement of climate change goals brought about by plunging energy demand should not endanger longer-term ambitions.

The unfolding effects of the Covid-19 crisis, and fears of a possible second wave, have split analysts trying to guess how the unsubsidized renewables market will emerge as slumping demand continued to distort power markets. pv magazine rounds up the week’s coronavirus developments.