solar energy

The Oman Power and Water Procurement company (OPWP) is now seeking bids to secure technical consultancy services for the development of the project, the capacity of which could reach 1 GW.

Among the pre-selected bidders are big European players, such as Enel, Total and Engie, and big solar manufacturers including JinkoSolar, Hanwha Q Cells and GCL. Further bids have come from big Japanese conglomerates, and companies from Spain, Germany, South Korea and Turkey. The first 350 MW phase of the large-scale solar park is expected to come online by the end of 2020.

The Spanish Cabinet has approved a royal decree, which introduces a package of urgent measures to boost the country’s energy transition. It includes the already announced elimination of the “sun tax”, and other important measures, such as compliance with renewable energy objectives, electric vehicle adoption, reduced electricity prices, a social bonus for heating, consumer protection measures, and the extension of an electric social bond.

While inverter maker Kaco has made a further investment in the storage sector, Enovos has agreed to acquired Wirsol’s O&M business. Furthermore, Rolls Royce has decided to buy German storage provider, Qinous.

A Canadian investor is planning to build a 150 MW solar plant in the northern part of Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast, which is under the control of the country’s authorities. The project is expected to be located in Rubizhne, a town that was re-conquered by the Ukrainian military forces in July 2014.

Three seperate tenders will be held for the deployment of large-scale solar plants across three locations, chosen by the Turkish Government. Selected developers will not be required to open a module factory, as in the last tender, but will have to buy at least 60% of the necessary modules from Turkish panel makers. The new maximum price has been set slightly lower than the final price of the previous 1 GW solar auction, held in 2017.

pv magazine interviewed Ricardo Arias González, who holds a PhD in Physical Sciences and introduced the Optical Tweezers applied to biology in Spain. It is one of the tools of photonics for which Arthur Ashkin received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou.

Selected projects, which have a combined capacity of 338 MW, are scheduled to begin delivering power in January 2022 under a 20-year PPA.

Unlike its three previous funds, which focused on plants in operation, the Spanish asset manager will raise €300 million for the construction of plants without subsidies.

According to the Solar Energy Roadmap, released by Turkish PV association, Günder, the country may even achieve 38 GW of installed solar power by 2030. Several factors, however, could hinder this projected growth.