Spain

Emilio J Garcia Rodriguez, from tracker manufacturer PV Hardware, spoke to pv magazine about the company’s activity in the Middle East and North Africa market. Dust, heat and heavy storms complicate the installation and operation of trackers.

The ‘green’ version of the ION Green Solar lift – designed, developed and manufactured in Spain by Fain Ascensores – can cut carbon emissions 86%. That figure rises to 100% with the PV-powered ‘solar’ model.

When built, the 5 MW solar park will add to two other megawatt scale plants powering Azraq’s refugee camp. The project is expected to be developed with the support of the Spanish government.

The levelized cost of energy produced by large scale PV projects ranges from €24/MWh in southern Spain to €42/MWh in Finland. New research states that is already cheaper than the average spot market electricity price and that the figure for big facilities in southern Spain may fall to €14 in 2030 and €9 in 2050.

Following their first strike with the 175 MW Don Rodrigo plant near Seville, the two companies have done it again by signing a long-term power supply deal for subsidy-free PV. This time it is for a 50 MW site under construction.

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.

A new report from analysts at Wood Mackenzie forecasts 6.6 GWh of residential energy storage to be installed across Europe by 2024. The economics of the technology are at a tipping point, increasingly reaching grid parity in European markets. With rising electricity demand and falling battery system costs, the trend will further spread across the continent and fuel an uptick in demand.

The €29.7 million financing package was awarded by Banco Sabadell. Renovalia’s 79.2 MW solar park will be Spain’s first PV facility to sell all of its output on the spot market.

Antonio Delgado Rigal, chief executive of energy forecasting service Aleasoft, says the lowest final price of €0.0147/kWh announced by the Portuguese government from its recent solar auction does not reflect the real costs of PV and is no indicator of the future price of power in the electric market. More details of the auction are emerging and Iberdrola and Akuo appear big winners.

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.