PPA

Energy of Cameroon wants to build two solar parks to improve power supply in the country’s northern regions. The projects will be developed by a consortium led by Norwegian solar company Scatec.

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.

The German company has already secured project rights for PV projects with 200 MW of generation capacity. Another 100 MW should follow this month.

The tech giant has signed a power contract for the output of First Solar’s 150 MWac Sun Streams 2 solar plant, bringing its procurement of solar to almost 500 MW – but none of its PV projects have been completed yet.

Analysts have scrutinized the result of the recent A-4 auction which delivered, in theory, the world’s lowest price for solar electricity from an energy procurement exercise. The two plants in question, however, will sell 70% and 50% of their output outside the power deal signed in the auction.

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 Moroccan agency for sustainable energy is pre-qualifying developers for the Noor Midelt II project, a solar complex incorporating CSP and PV elements.

Renewable energy company Eneo Solutions AB has signed a letter of intent for a 20-year power supply deal linked to a 10 MW solar park it will start building in November. The energy buyer is Swedish financial services provider Swedbank. The plant, scheduled for completion by mid-2020, will meet 30% of Swedbank’s electricity demand.

Thailand’s solar market had ground to a bit of a halt after FITs were cut. Osaka Gas has launched a joint venture with Energy Pro Corporation to market commercial and industrial PV arrays under corporate power purchase agreements.

The €5.4 billion program is expected to spur new growth in large scale PV while also providing incentives for rooftop systems. Originally scheduled for January, the country’s first technology neutral clean energy auctions – which will provide additional incentives EV charging-linked projects – may be held in the months ahead.