grid-parity

Analysts at Fitch Solutions have published a report singling out Spain and Brazil as ‘outperformers’ in the global solar market and labelled Vietnam the “market to watch”. The analysts expect surging growth from the Southeast Asian nation to continue in the coming decade.

The opening pages of the first-half update published on the Hong Kong exchange made all the right noises with the company set to be acquired by a Chinese state-owned entity. But the balance sheet makes for shocking reading.

Deploying commercial and industrial PV in China without subsidy is already profitable in some areas, according to a new study, but prohibitive soft costs and cheap electricity are the main barriers for such installations in areas where grid parity remains out of reach.

The Chinese PV group recorded a loss attributable to owners of the company of roughly $141.1 million, as its solar materials division posted a loss of approximately $185.5 million.

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 5.8 MW Sparbanken Skåne Solar Park is in the Sjöbo Kommun, in the southern region of Skåne. The facility is selling more than half its output to the spot market and around a third to Swedish bank Sparbanken Skåne under a 10-year PPA. The rest is being traded on the Nord Pool electricity certificate market for renewable energy in Sweden and Norway.

The head of Mercom Capital says solar has a long way to go before it can stand without policy support. Effective grid parity will only be achieved when the cost of PV electricity factors in the expense of grid upgrades and the storage systems its intermittent nature requires, says Raj Prabhu.

The world’s biggest solar market is on track for an unsubsidized future but policymakers continue to grapple with grid planning. A report by the German Energy Agency has offered suggestions on how China’s approach to grid design could be tweaked to ensure priority dispatch for PV while slashing administrative costs and reining in renewable energy losses.

Flying in the face of claims the rise of China’s clean energy sector undermines the security of developed nations and harms the profitability of their businesses, a research paper argues such a view is outdated and ill-advised. It presents four opportunities for Western players to tap ‘Green China Inc’.

At the Smarter E Europe, held in Munich this month, pv magazine hosted another Future PV Roundtable to discuss the possibilities of subsidy free solar projects. In all market segments solutions are at hand and representatives across the industry shared their insights with us.