Solarcentury

Solarcentury will develop the 100 MWac Chimuara Solar Project, starting with a 30 MW ac first stage.

It is hoped 100% solar home system installation–with householders able to buy, or lease on a PAYG basis–will offer a template for installation in remote communities across Africa.

Australia’s Syrah Resources has signed a deal with Solarcentury to install 11.2 MW of solar and an 8.5 MW battery storage system at a mine in Mozambique.

The Norwegian hydropower business wants to pay €131 million for the London-based clean energy developer which claims to have brought to life 1.2 GWp of project capacity in seven countries since 2013.

Rising volumes of solar capacity are to be welcomed but, as panelists at a session of today’s SolarPower Europe event discussed, the technology must be kept ethical and responsible. That means industry working together; new, harmonized, mandatory and voluntary policy instruments; and a focus on quantifiable, life cycle-based investor criteria.

A research project in the Netherlands is seeking to assess the impact of large scale PV projects on soil quality and biodiversity. Principal scientist Wim Sinke, of Dutch research center TNO, says well-designed and operated and maintained solar parks could prove to have better outcomes than monoculture farming.

Industry body SolarPower Europe hosted a webinar to consider how the global public health crisis will affect solar. While workers and materials are still available, industry experts are concerned about the state of the financial sector. Banks could become more conservative and raise the cost of capital for renewables projects.

Grenergy was this week due to ship 400,000 face masks to Latin America as European developers today voiced a fear project finance will become increasingly difficult to find as the coronavirus lockdown continues.

As part of the deal, buyer Svea Solar will expand its installation of panels bought at furniture giant Ikea from its homeland to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Offloading the residential business will enable London-based Solarcentury to focus on its global project ambitions.

An estimated output of 104 GWh of clean energy per year from the second half of 2020 is not the only benefit the Vlagtwedde Solar Farm will bring. There will also be an awful lot of blueberries.