Germany installed 380 MW of solar in April
The rooftop segment maintained strong growth but utility scale PV saw a slowdown on previous months. In the first four months of 2020, newly deployed PV systems added up to 1,479.5 MW of generation capacity, compared with around 1.6 GW in the same period of last year. The nation’s cumulative PV capacity hit 50.46 GW at the end of April.
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Jinko’s new capacity and a 200 MW solar park
JinkoSolar has begun construction of a new 16 GW module production base in Yiwu city, Zhejiang province and Eging PV has resumed a 200 MW solar project in Qitai county in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, after securing approval from local authorities. The China National Energy Administration has confirmed the nation can add no more than 48.45 GW of solar to the grid this year.
Armenia kicks off 200 MW solar park tender
The AYG-1 project, planned in the Aragatsotn province of western Armenia, will be 85% owned by the successful developer and 15% by the Armenia Renewable Resources and Energy Efficiency Fund (Anif).
Omani oil provider switches on 100 MW solar park
The PV plant is located at Amin, in the southern desert region of the sultanate. The project, tendered by Petroleum Development Oman in early 2018, was built by a consortium led by the Japanese Marubeni conglomerate.
Italy’s second renewables auction secures lowest price of €0.056/kWh
The utility scale renewable energy tender saw wind prevail again, with 18 projects with a total generation capacity of 406 MW. Solar secured four projects with a combined capacity of 19.3 MW but did offer the lowest bid.
Canadian Solar sees turnover and profits surge
The Chinese-Canadian solar manufacturer reported a 41% year-over-year increase in total module shipments to 2.2 GW in the first quarter. Revenue grew by 70% to $826 million, while net profit improved significantly from $17.2 million to $110.6 million.
Dutch grid operators won’t have to compensate for deactivated solar rooftops
Minister of economic affairs and climate change, Eric Wiebes, has written to parliament to confirm grid companies do not have to pay PV system owners when their installations are disconnected from the network due to capacity issues or poor-quality voltage.
Israeli national lottery supports rooftop PV program with $0.12/kWh feed-in tariff
The incentive scheme awards a 23-year, $0.12/kWh feed-in tariff to rooftop arrays with a generation capacity of up to 200 kW. Already, 141 municipalities have applied to install 116 MW of rooftop solar capacity and the government has increased the program’s budget from $28.5 million to $143 million.
Albania’s 140 MW PV tender concludes with final price of €0.02489/kWh
The project was awarded to French developer Voltalia. The plant will be located in the Karavasta area, in the centre of the country.
Another Romanian oil company unveils solar plans
Romanian petroleum transport services provider Conpet announced plans to install PV plants across five of its facilities. Initial investment will be limited to 3 million ROL ($680,000), but the group aims to create a renewable energy business unit under its 2020-2025 strategy.
