net metering

Lebanon’s International Beirut Energy Forum (IBEF) 2018, which took place last week in the country’s capital, saw the announcement of various solar tenders that depict the domestic PV sector’s take off.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development of the Sub-Saharan country is currently seeking advice for its Decentralized Renewables Development Program, which includes an off-grid master plan for the electrification of islands on Lake Victoria and the creation of a pilot program for solar net metering.

The rebate mechanism may cover up to 90% of the costs for buying and installing a rooftop PV system, but grants may not exceed 20,000 RON (around US$4,800). The scheme is intended to support the development of net metered residential solar projects.

The Peruvian Government has submitted to public consultation the draft of Supreme Decree for the regulation of distributed generation (DG), which is the secondary legislation necessary to implement the DG law first promulgated in 2015. Talking to pv magazine, the president of the Society of Peruvian Renewable Energy explains how the new rules will not only introduce a net-billing scheme for installations up to 200 kW, but also a scheme for projects up to 10 MW, which is very similar to the so-called Pequeños Distributed Generation Media (PMGD) program in Chile.

German EPC company Cronimet has installed a 150 kW solar array to work alongside a 332 kWh battery storage system at a luxury lodge complex in a remote part of the African nation.

Cumulative PV capacity installed under the scheme reached 90 MW at the end of June. Of this capacity, around 27 MW were deployed in the second quarter alone.

According to a new report published by consultancy Greener, the price of DG systems keeps falling in Brazil and total installed capacity has surpassed 308 MW. In the first half of the year, newly installed capacity was around 126 MW – more than the country installed in all of last year.

The blockchain technology, which was developed by Austrian company, Riddle&Code, is intended to help the Portuguese power provider measure the electricity consumption of each user who owns and operates a solar array installed under net metering.

The $80 million scheme is expected to be financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, with the support of the Norwegian government. The funds concerned were originally to be devoted to a hydropower project.

The new rules may help the Eastern European country resume its solar development after two years of very limited growth. Only PV and renewable energy systems not exceeding 100 kW in size will be allowed to enter the scheme.