Renewable Energy

Scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology have identified the most suitable areas for solar parks in the Chinese capital using a geographical information system and a new multi-criteria decision-making technique: the ‘best-worst’ method. They claim the approach can help establish technically and economically viable projects.

Alencon’s silicon carbide-based String Power Optimizers and Transmitters enable the repowering of solar plants which need to replace 600 V inverters with newer 1,000 V or 1,500 V gear, or for project owners who wish to maximize electricity generation at aging and imperfect facilities with creative engineering techniques.

The Brazilian president said the potential introduction of a grid fee for net metered solar systems will be eliminated thanks to an urgent ad-hoc decree expected to be approved soon by parliament. The proposed ‘solar tax’ would have affected all new PV installations with a generation capacity of no larger than 5 MW under Brazil’s net metering regime.

Sustainable Energy Development Authority figures show the country saw around 94 MW of new rooftop generation capacity added in the first 11 months of last year. That compares to less than 14 MW in the previous three years.

The Italian manufacturer said the product is based on a technical solution previously used for power downgrading. The device is said to be ideal for projects at altitudes greater than 1,000m.

Following its decision to switch from fixed feed-in tariffs to reverse auction bidding for the setting of solar incentives, the Vietnamese government has decided to devote the first two pilot auctions to floating PV. A first procurement exercise, for a project which could reach 100 MW of generation capacity, will be held this year.

The Tunisian Ministry of Mines and Energy has confirmed that Norway’s Scatec Solar has secured 300 MW at three sites. It also revealed that France’s Engie and China’s TBEA each picked up 100 MW projects. The lowest bid came in at $0.025/kWh, while $0.034/kWh was the highest offer.

2.5 MW of solar is being deployed at three project sites in Papua New Guinea, with commercial operations likely to begin within nine months. The installations will provide power in the island province of New Ireland at lower prices, while also improving access to electricity.

In a newly published policy document, Hanoi has urged regional governments and the country’s state-run utility, EVN, to suspend authorizations for new solar parks until further notice. Around 8.93 GW of utility-scale solar capacity is already approved for development in Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Wind took the largest share of the awarded capacity, according to the preliminary results, but newly introduced limitations for such projects helped solar to take a significant portion of the allocated power for the first time in a Polish energy auction, with the highest bid coming in at $0.0608/kWh.