International Renewable Energy Agency

Although only four PV plants with a combined capacity of 150 MW were grid connected by mid-April, the Vietnamese government expects another 88 FIT-entitled solar facilities to come online by the end of next month. By Sunday, 34 projects with a combined capacity of 2.2 GW had already arrived on top of the mid-April connections.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is seeking consultants for a feasibility study for the project. The plant would be constructed on land owned by the Banque du Liban.

The International Renewable Energy Agency has examined how common ground between sectors; digitalization; and technological innovation can transform the energy system and lower the cost of renewables. Storage technologies such as behind-the-meter applications, utility-scale storage and power-to-x are working in the right direction and much can be learned about digitalization from other sectors.

Backing for renewable energy assets is set to rise 10% with grid-scale PV the most attractive opportunity among investors surveyed for a new report. But improved investment vehicles and outsourced asset management are still needed if climate change is to be mitigated.

Indra Overland, head of the Center for Energy Research at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, explains how the world’s future energy landscape may include pan-regional super-grids. However, prosumer states seeking energy independence could also be in the mix. According to Overland, the two developments will go hand in hand and the balance between them will be determined by the competitiveness of storage technologies.

In the face of increasingly strident global calls to turbocharge the switch from fossil fuels to clean energy, remarks from the Saudi and Emirati energy ministers in Abu Dhabi this week will do little to encourage hopes the world can contain global temperature rises below 1.5C.

With the International Renewable Energy Agency’s number-crunchers predicting almost 5.4 GW of new solar across the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations today, Suhail Mohammed Faraj Al Mazroui said his nation alone would install 6-7 GW of new renewables capacity by 2024, as pv magazine editor-in-chief Jonathan Gifford reports.

Togo, Mauritius and Guyana will all receive backing for solar projects in the latest round of funding from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development-IRENA Project Facility.

IRENA says technologies for 3D rooftop footprint generation and solar irradiation modelling are becoming increasingly cheap, making them suitable for deployment anywhere in the world. Developing cities across Africa and Asia could access such technical resources to plan rooftop PV development.

Italian COP negotiator and environmental public servant Francesco La Camera has been selected as the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) new director-general. He takes over from Adnan Z Amin, who stepped down from the role after eight years with an heartfelt parting address.