Ireland

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.

Clean energy developers have three days left to pre-qualify for the first procurement exercise staged by the Irish Renewable Electricity Support Scheme. Solar will compete with wind – on and offshore – and biomass projects.

The airline industry has been among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic; carriers are in ‘freefall’ as Glen Peters, research director at the Center for International Climate and Environment Research in Oslo recently wrote, with governments mulling stimulus packages for airline bailouts. How we react to the coronavirus outbreak is crucial for society as a whole and the solar and energy storage industries can lead the charge in rewriting the status quo.

pv magazine has spoken to José Antonio Unanue, director of the battery energy storage system business at Ingeteam, the equipment integrator and manufacturer of the first grid-connected battery storage system in Spain, which electric utility Iberdrola launched in Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, at the end of November.

Several large utility-scale storage projects have already been developed under Ireland’s DS3 program. Innogy says that it now plans to look for more storage project possibilities in the country.

Danish developer Obton and Ireland’s Shannon Energy have promised to develop the projects within five years. Total investment is expected to be around €300 million and the companies have already acquired projects with a combined generation capacity of 150 MW.