Renewable Energy

pv magazine has spoken to Germany’s largest solar project developers about how construction has ground to a halt on many PV projects in Europe since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Politicians need to extend implementation deadlines for PV projects that are being built under tender schemes, but deadlines are not the only challenge that companies currently face.

The country’s energy regulator published two papers this week to solicit public feedback on plans that Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe recently submitted for review. The first document relates to the tech-neutral procurement of 2 GW of short-term risk-mitigation capacity, which could see solar emerge as a winner due to its quick deployment times. The second paper is linked to the nation’s Integrated Resource Plan 2019, which aims for up to 6 GW of new large-scale solar by 2030, as well as an additional 6 GW of distributed-generation capacity.

Netherlands trade body Holland Solar has asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy for an extension of grid-connection deadlines for solar projects being built under the SDE+ incentive program for large scale renewables. The association also urged Dutch municipalities to keep processing permits.

The Barbados Water Authority is seeking proposals for three PV plants for a total 4.5 MW of generation capacity plus a 2 MW micro turbine. The installations will power pumping stations.

According to data released by analyst Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association, the U.S. added more than 2.8 GW of residential solar last year. Cumulative operating PV capacity now tops 76 GW.

U.S.-owned analyst Wood Mackenzie expects solar demand to decline but predicts the market will recover, with the prospects for the energy transition remaining intact.

The Danish Energy Agency says there will be large scale PV projects in the Nissum Fjord area. One of the projects, under development by Better Energy in the municipality of Holstebro, has a planned generation capacity of 206 MW.

Despite the country’s difficult struggle with the COVID-19 outbreak, the Italian solar market is sending some encouraging signs. Italian lender Intesa San Paolo has awarded a €55 million credit facility to Canadian Solar for a portfolio of 12 unsubsidized solar projects.

Spanish utility Iberdrola plans to link a 100 MW/20 MWh solar-plus-storage plant to hydrogen production in Puertollano, in southern Spain. The project will require an investment of up to €150 million euros and will be one of the largest installations of its kind in Europe.

The utility will build the project this year on 164 hectares of land just outside of Berlin. It will be the largest solar park to be constructed outside of Germany’s incentive scheme for solar and renewables.