RE100

A flat year for solar installation numbers in Japan could be seen as positive in a nation switching to new PV business models, writes Izumi Kaizuka, director of research for Japanese solar consultancy RTS Corp.

With production capacity expanded for solar wafers, cells and modules last year, and set to rise again in 2021, the giant is targeting shipments of 40 GW of panels this time around.

U.S.-based tender platform has invited proposals for projects ranging in scale from 50-500 MW on behalf of an unnamed client which is a member of the RE100 clean energy campaign. European developers have until July 20 to lodge their bids.

JinkoSolar has begun construction of a new 16 GW module production base in Yiwu city, Zhejiang province and Eging PV has resumed a 200 MW solar project in Qitai county in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, after securing approval from local authorities. The China National Energy Administration has confirmed the nation can add no more than 48.45 GW of solar to the grid this year.

A growing number of companies in Indonesia, particularly multinationals that implement green policies or are listed as RE100 participants, are poised to adopt rooftop PV. Regulatory changes and signals from the country’s previous government, which supported coal, are paving the way for significant growth.

For the first time ever, President Moon Jae-in’s ruling Democratic Party has vowed to achieve a zero-carbon economy, just weeks ahead of the April 15 legislative election.

Storage has long been expected to be the handmaiden of a renewable energy world and its long awaited advances started to finally emerge in the third quarter as researchers posited R&D achievements ranging from potentially potent tungsten disulfide nanotubes to the business case for 10-year solar panels.

Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power has extended a demonstration project with Australian P2P energy pioneer Power Ledger to track renewable energy certificates and trade PV-generated electricity.

The Australian investment bank has become the latest company to sign The Climate Group’s RE100 initiative, bringing it into a growing pool of businesses that are focused on the global energy transition.

With hundreds of billions of dollars in assets and funds under management, Macquarie Group is seeking to amplify its considerable influence, bringing investment and reporting to bear on accelerating climate mitigation and adaptation.