Solar Large-Scale Plants News

Australia needs to drastically overhaul its power market in order to harness and benefit from the country’s skyrocketing rooftop solar and battery market, according to the Clean Energy Council (CEC).

Powertis is to develop four projects in total across Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The most significant project, which is anticipated to have a capacity of 495MW, will be joined by three separate 90MW projects.

The governments of the two African nations are considering deploying huge volumes of generation capacity over two decades. The project, still in its initial phase, is being supported by the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy.

The government intends to build a 25 MW solar park in Sveti Nikole and a 10 MW facility in Makedonski Brod. The feed-in premium granted to the winning bids has been capped at €15/MWh.

The early development of PV projects in Latin America was spearheaded by one country: Chile. And while there remain prospects for large-scale project development, its distributed generation segment has the potential for enormous growth, says Marcela Puntí Martín, the general manager of the Chilean Solar Energy Association (ACESOL).

Vehicle-to-grid functions could soon become increasingly important. While policymakers discuss the necessary regulations in other nations, the Netherlands government is motoring ahead with the technology.

Renewables firm BayWa r.e. looks set to bolster its digital technology services offering with the acquisition of Toronto-based PowerHub.

Danish renewables developer European Energy has broken ground on a 103MW project in Italy, bringing a utility-scale newcomer to the Southern European state.

To hear Dr Benedikt Ortmann tell it, the deployment of a subsidy-free solar successor to BayWa r.e.’s landmark 175MWp Don Rodrigo was nothing short of a foregone conclusion.

New Zealand looks set to join the countries tapping into floating solar worldwide via a new, city-based scheme, sponsored by a utility duo.

Developer 8minute’s groundbreaking solar project is caught up in a disagreement over the city’s clean energy transition.

The Hong Kong manufacturer is holding out hope a boom that is expected to start imminently will help it turnaround losses that forced it to issue a profit warning last week. Getting its new production line in Qujing up to speed will help, provided the demand materializes.

Already active through subsidiary Fenix International and start-up Engie PowerCorner, the French energy giant is expanding further by acquiring Mobisol, an off-grid systems specialist with operations in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

The state plans to achieve half the amount by 2021-22 under its new draft solar policy. The package also suggests establishing a research hub, privately financed solar parks and encouraging commercial self-consumption of clean energy.

The tender produced lower bids than previous rounds but again allocated less generation capacity than planned. The Japanese government initially accepted bids for a combined 589.9 MW but ended up assigning only 195.8 MW of capacity. The final average price for procured solar power was $0.1222/kWh.