solar energy

The German inverter maker struggled after China’s announcement at the end of May drove down prices and markets around the world and left a clear mark on its figures. Both the commercial PV segment and the storage business fell short of expectations due to delivery bottlenecks.

In last month’s exercise, final prices were slightly lower than those seen in previous procurements and the total allocated capacity was 196.6 MW. Through the three tenders held by the Japanese government, around 500 MW of solar was assigned, against a target of 1-1.5 GW. Land availability, grid constraints and high labor costs make projects expensive and force developers to use mountainous regions.

Some 8,891 hectares could be allocated through the tender, in the form of 179 plots of land in the northern and southernmost regions of the country.

The global market stagnated last year, with around 98 GW deployed. For 2019, the experts expect stronger solar growth, provided there are no setbacks in China.

The 540 MW project, in Brasileira, will feature 18 units with a capacity of 30 MW each. The developer is Brazil-based Gruppo Interalli and work on the giant plant is expected to start in the second quarter of the year.

Only four days after receiving approval from the European Commission, the French government has issued the tender for 200 MW of ground-mounted solar and a further 100 MW of rooftops at Fessenheim. The government is considering raising a 30 MW size limit for PV projects on degraded land.

According to the Taiwanese analysts, JA Solar was number two, followed by Hanwha Q-Cells and Trina Solar in joint third. The ten largest module makers met around 70% of demand, with 66 GW of shipments.

The funds will come from the Connecting Europe Facility. Around €504 million will be used for electricity infrastructure and smart grids and another €286 million will be devoted to gas. The remaining €9 million will be allocated to studies on the development of carbon dioxide transport infrastructure.

The Smart Grid Station wind-PV facility also incorporates a 500 kWh lithium-ion battery storage system, around 2,000 internet of things-derived sensors and smart meters. The plant was installed by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and Korean utility KEPCO.

Although power companies have urged the new administration of Jair Bolsonaro to reduce incentives for net metered solar distributed generation, ANEEL has proposed maintaining them until PV reaches a certain proportion of the electricity sector.