Russia

The new cell is based on a p-type transparent conductor made of carbon nanotube fibers. The device is said to offer 16% more efficiency than rival amorphous cells.

Five PV power plants, each with a generation capacity of 15 MW, were grid-connected in the Russian Republic of Buryatia and the Zabaikalsky Territory. The projects were built under a program which offers generators capacity payments and the ability to trade on the wholesale energy market.

Three projects with generation capacities of 5.6-6 MW were pre qualified for a 5.6 MW capacity procurement and Finnish utility Fortum secured the only PV project selected. The capex figure offered by solar developers was lower than that for 71 MW of wind power allocated and lower than for previous PV projects.

The 75 MW project was built by Russian developer Solar Systems LLC in Novokuybyshevsk, in the Samara oblast. The facility was mostly financed by Russian state-owned lender PJSC Sberbank.

In the latest of our interviews about renewable energy and geopolitics, Indra Øverland – head of the Center for Energy Research – discusses the difficult relationship between Russia and renewable energy. Despite a belief the gas and oil superpower will have little interest in clean energy, Overland believes the world’s most extensive nation will use renewables to improve its domestic power supply, especially in remote regions. Russia has a highly continental climate, with lots of sunshine – more than most of Western Europe, Overland says. Whether it can take advantage of that potential, however, is unclear.

The agreement includes the possibility of establishing an industrial cluster for solar module manufacturing, as well as industrial and financial cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union.

Under the new rules, expected to come into force by the end of the year, Russian residential PV system owners will be able to sell excess power to the grid. The provisions were discussed for almost two years before yesterday’s vote.

Russian module manufacturer Hevel will deploy 1.2 MW of solar at an hydropower facility operated by local energy provider Rushydro in the Amur region. The solar installation is intended to help the company better manage the power plant, while also reducing its operational costs.

With completion scheduled by November 2019, the Khorinskaya PV facility will be the second solar park to be built by the Russian solar module manufacturer in the Republic of Buryatia.

Only a third of the projects, however, will reach the auction’s final phase, as the Russian government announced last year it would allocate 829.94 MW of wind and only 150.2 MW of solar in this round of bids.