Renewables

The French corporate and investment bank acquired the project from Hyperion Renewables via its unit for responsible investment solutions, Mirova. The project has already secured a 10-year PPA from local power distributor, Axpo Ibéria.

The research team found that sodium, contrary to common belief, does not decrease per se indium and gallium interdiffusion, but instead hinders intergrain diffusion by segregating at grain boundaries.

Austria’s largest power provider announced a plan to invest around €100 million in solar and €15 million in recharge stations for electric vehicles over the next five years. The company aims at investing mainly in residential and C&I projects.

The Dutch solar fair has now taken the shape of an international event, due to the increasing number of big players attracted to the Netherland’s PV market, and the high level of professionalization that has been reached by the local ecosystem of installers and distributors. Although a few uncertainties on the possible changes of the current regulatory framework are suggesting caution, solar across all of its segments is clearly set to become a mainstream source of energy nationwide.

As global energy demand went up by 2.1% in 2017, more than twice that of 2016, renewables saw the highest growth rate of any energy source, meeting a quarter of global energy demand. According to preliminary estimates from the IEA, solar PV accounted for 27% of the growth in renewables-based power output last year.

The Swiss PV equipment manufacturer recorded a loss of around €68 million last year. Although Meyer Burger was able to slightly increase sales, the EBITDA margin was below 3%. This year, the company is aiming for an EBITDA margin of 10%, in order to return to profitability.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in Somalia has issued a Request for Proposals for the financing of a skills development program in the solar energy sector in Mogadishu, Kismayo and Baidoa.

Although the Balkan country has recently approved the construction of a new coal power plant, Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj has said he intends to open the energy market to solar and wind power, an action that was recommended by the EU a year earlier.

To mark its 20th anniversary this year, Trina Solar launched its TrinaPro integrated PV solution at a ceremony attended by Chinese and foreign participants. Trina Solar’s founder and CEO, Jifan Gao noted this important move from not only supplying top-notch PV components, such as high-efficiency cells and modules, but also supplying integrated solutions capable of further reducing PV’s already low levelized cost of energy (LCOE).

According to Fraunhofer ISE experts, PV’s Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) currently ranges between €0.0371 and €0.1154 per kWh in Germany. The potential for further cost reductions is vast, the researchers add.