News

Solar and storage developer 7X Energy has spent more than US$100 million to stockpile 2GWac of Power Electronics inverters in order to take advantage of the full investment tax credit (ITC) before it starts to taper next year.

Colombia’s still-dormant solar scene is poised for a major boost under a new partnership, bringing together a European and a Latin American player.

Dutch system operator TenneT has announced that it will invest €215 million (US$237 million) to accommodate 2GW of solar and wind capacity towards the country's north.

The European Union’s executive arm has approved a major ownership shake-up of Spanish developer X-Elio Energy, giving Brookfield Asset Management the green light to purchase a 20% stake from Acek Renewables alongside a 30% tranche from US infrastructure fund KKR.

Expert warnings that India will be falling short of its renewable deployment targets have sparked a strong-worded rebuke from the government, which has slammed them as “ill-founded”

PV project developer and EPC firm, ReneSola is continuing with plans to offload operating plants to recoup cash and invest in new projects.

Reden Investments Chile and Natixis have successfully closed senior facilities totaling US$96.4 million for an up-to-100MW portfolio of PV projects in Chile.

Batteries that power our smartphones need lithium – an increasingly precious resource. Could Bolivia supply the world?

American John B. Goodenough, Brit Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, from Japan, have received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing the lithium-ion battery. A statement from the Royal Academy of Sciences of Sweden said the invention “laid the foundations of a society without wires and fossil fuels, and [they] are of great benefit to humanity”.

A report by Indian ratings agency CRISIL points to a rising rate of tender failures, an inconsistent policy approach from central and state governments and restrictive solar energy tariff caps and says India could have just 104 GW of renewables capacity by 2022.

The new. more ambitious target is part of a climate protection program Berlin is now defining. The solar sector believes, however, 98 GW will not be enough to ensure the country’s energy transition.

The sizeable rooftop array will feature latest-generation inverters. The project planners claim using 1500 V technology on a commercial rooftop allowed them to drive down costs 10-15%.

The Consortium for Battery Innovation has outlined research goals for advanced lead-based battery concepts, claiming the potential of the technology is “nowhere near fully exploited”. The group, comprised of lead-battery industry stakeholders, says such devices can play an important role alongside lithium-ion and other storage technologies in electric vehicles, renewable energy storage and other applications.

After turning to clean energy last year, the Spanish oil company plans to deploy 4.5 GW of renewables generation capacity by 2024.

Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer REC Silicon announced last Thursday it is considering selling its silane gas facility in Butte, in the US state of Montana.