South Africa’s new energy minister postpones long-expected signing of 37 PPAs for solar and renewables
The signing of the PPAs was expected to enable financial closure of several PV and wind power projects being developed under South Africa’s REIPPPP program.
Enel and DIF invest $157 million in Australian solar project
The Italian power utility and the Dutch investment firm have agreed to acquire the first 137.5 MW of a 275 MW PV project under development in Australia. The second 137.5 MW project’s unit will be bought by the two companies later this year.
Russia plans to introduce net-metering for residential PV
If approved, the new net-metering scheme would come into force by the end of this year. Power surplus woul be sold to the grid at a rate of RUB 1 ($0.0174)/kWh.
Chilean authorities greenlight 93 MW of solar in Arica y Parinacota Region
The approved project is the $200 million Alwa solar plant. The installation will be located in northern Chile.
Algeria adopts decree implementing tender for 4 GW of solar
Algeria’s government has published the long-awaited decree implementing the 4 GW solar auction in the country’s official journal. The decree provides more details on the upcoming bid for large-scale PV projects.
NRG begins moving solar, wind O&M in-house
The U.S. power giant shifted 2.5 GW of solar and wind projects to its internal operations and maintenance team in 2016, and is planning on sending another 900 MW in-house this year.
Zambia issues tender for 500 MW of large-scale PV capacity
Zambia’s Industrial Development Corporation Limited (IDC) has issued a Request for Prequalification for the construction of several large-scale solar plants across the country. Selected projects will be developed under the ‘Scaling Solar’ initiative.
Engie’s solar offensive embraces Algeria
The French energy giant has showed strong interest in Algeria’s 4 GW solar plan. The general director of the company has discussed plans about solar and gas with the local ministry of energy.
Brazil has 70 MW of installed solar power under net metering
In March, PV systems totaling 2.8 MW were installed in the Latin American country under the net-metering scheme.
Italian solar market expected to grow by another 1.5 GW by 2020
The Italian energy agency GSE forecasts that a further 1.5 of PV capacity will be installed by 2020. Good business opportunities are also expected to come from the storage sector.
