PV plant

Developer Anumar has secured the signature of Norwegian renewables company Statkraft on a 50 MW power purchase agreement for the project and another 30 MW of generation capacity has been awarded a feed-in premium tariff in a tender. Umweltbank provided a €55 million loan.

Emirates Water and Electricity Co. awarded the 2 GW project to a consortium that includes Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., Masdar, French energy group EDF, and China’s JinkoPower.

More than 10 GW of PV capacity was deployed in the world’s largest solar market in the first half, according to several sources. One state-run think tank has even predicted that China could install 40 GW this year.

The Australian renewables sector was not immune to a host of challenges that marked the first half of the year, but the pipeline of renewable energy projects in the country reached new heights. While new construction dipped to a four-year low and financial close remained out of reach for a great number of projects, the second half of the year is looking more positive, according to Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy.

An international research team has measured the reduction of air pollution due to the Covid-19 shutdown and its impact on solar radiation levels. They found that solar radiation in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, was around 8.3% higher in late March, when the Indian government implemented lockdown measures.

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation has announced financial close on the 800 MW Siraj-1 solar project with Mizuho Bank and the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The project, secured in a tender by France’s Total and Japan’s Marubeni, will sell power for $0.01449/kWh.

Researchers in France have tried to predict the competitiveness of tandem PV modules against commercial crystalline products in 2030. Crystalline products will be 22-24% efficient in a decade, according to the researchers, possibly 25% if interdigitated back-contact heterojunction versions become mainstream. To compete, tandem devices will need to offer similar life spans and degradation rates, plus efficiencies of 30%.

4 GW of offshore wind and land-based renewables are set to come to the Empire State, as governor Andrew Cuomo looks to achieve the state’s renewable energy mandates while also kickstarting a post-Covid economy.

The extraordinary measure of not publishing the results of successful project bids – brought in during the Covid-19 crisis – is set to be lifted from September, when the projects allocated in procurement rounds over the last five months will be made public.

The planned power plant marks the first phase of a 60 MW scheme 30km north of the capital, N’Djamena. The overall project is being developed by UK-based Private Infrastructure Development Group and French company Smart Energies International.