Solar Markets & Finance News

Acciona has signed a supply deal with Chilean water utility Empresa Concesionaria de Servicios Sanitarios SA (ECONSSA Chile) that will fulfil the energy needs of a water desalination plant set to come online in the Atacama desert next year.

Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) has issued a tender for a 20MW grid-connected solar project at an old ash dyke, Faridabad, in the North Indian state of Haryana.

The World Bank’s private investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has agreed to provide a financing package of US$50 million to Kiev-based firm OTP Leasing for sustainable energy investments in Ukraine.

Despite promises by President Trump to save the coal industry, the crisis in the sector is clear. Solar, wind and batteries have the world to gain.

Consolidation is coming to Spain’s red-hot solar market, but in a post-subsidy world the landing will be relatively soft.

Adani has put on hold ambitious plans to invest A$2bn-A$3bn in solar plants in Australia, blaming regulatory hitches that it said were causing delays for renewable operators seeking to connect to the National Grid.

Ukraine’s favorite solar module manufacturer has posted another encouraging set of returns, after a difficult year in 2018. And Risen – which boasted 6.6 GW of annual production capacity at the end of last year, according to analysts at PV InfoLink – is committed to adding another 2.5 GW before 2022.

The Algerian Electricity and Gas Regulation Commission has concluded a tender launched in June. The one solar project selected will sell power at DZD8.28/kWh. The authority reportedly only published ceiling prices for energy bids on the day the exercise was completed.

The Balkan nation is planning a tender for 50 MW of utility scale solar capacity on a public-private partnership basis with help from the International Finance Corporation. The World Bank’s private finance arm is procuring a technical, environmental and social consulting firm to advise on the project.

Iberdrola’s record investment into renewables and networks is outperforming expectations, freeing the utility to invest even more creating a “virtuous circle of growth”, the company’s chairman has said.

Energias de Portugal (EDP), through its subsidiary EDP Renewables North America LLC, has acquired a 50% stake in a 278MW US solar portfolio that was developed by First Solar.

The French development agency AFD has signed off on a EUR24.2 million (US$26.9 million) loan for a 49MW solar project in Gia Lai Province, Vietnam, with the country's monopoly utility EVN.

The government of the Philippines will spend $500 million on solar-powered water supply and desalination in remote areas of Mindanao, the second-largest island in the archipelago. Elsewhere, a Finnish study has suggested drought-hit Iran could benefit from renewable-powered desalination.

Where seasonal storage is paramount, hydrogen comes into play. Under-the-radar solar market Sweden has presented its hydrogen projects and technological solutions to overcome the country’s natural solar barriers.

Hopes are high up to 5 GW of residential solar capacity will have been added by the time this month’s figures are added, as the household solar feed-in tariff still applies – but only until Thursday. However, the AECEA consultancy has again revised down its overall new capacity expectation for the year.