CleanTech Report 2019.06.13

Access to electricity in Africa is a challenge: According to the International Energy Agency, 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity.

The wind industry has been slow to take off in Africa. Developers commissioned projects in only four African markets in 2018. However, the policy inconsistency that has held the market back in previous years is beginning to change.

The government of Kenya has launched a USD 47 million (KSh 4.7 billion) facility under the Kenya-Off-Grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP) aimed at spurring the private sector to provide viable solar and clean cooking solutions to about 1.1 million people in marginalized regions.

Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) recently issued the third tender under its program of long-term solar power procurement through competitive bidding. The company had earlier issued two tenders of 1-gigawatt capacity each.

Japan’s Cabinet last week adopted an energy White Paper which highlighted the “urgent” need to reduce carbon emissions in its electricity sector and which reiterated the country’s goal of increasing renewable energy to account for 22-24% of its power supply.

A sparsely populated Chinese province that’s home to the headwaters of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers is attempting to set a new record for clean energy use, serving as a test bed for the entire country.

Proponents of the southern hemisphere’s largest wind farm say it is a “game changer” for energy securit­y and prices, but are facing community headwinds as fierce as the Roaring Forties it seeks to harness­.

A new study by solar experts at three leading Australian institutions has concluded that Australia could host as much as 179 gigawatts of rooftop solar, more than 80 times its current capacity of just over 2 gigawatts.

Infratec, in a joint venture with Fiji based, Clay Energy, will design and build four solar/diesel hybrid power plants in remote parts of Malaita, Makira, Choiseul and Western Province.

In the piece, ENGIE president and CEO of its Asia-Pacific operations, Paul Maguire, said that the move to renewables by businesses and consumers is “almost unstoppable.” Maguire based this on the number of businesses approaching ENGIE to help them achieve sustainable energy goals.

Europe’s first large-scale solar power-purchase agreement for a crowdfunded project comes as renewables contracts reach new heights of innovation.

Scottish Power is to undertake the most ambitious battery power project in Europe in an attempt to unlock the potential of the UK’s wind and solar farms.

Rodrigo Sauaia, CEO of Brazilian solar energy association ABSOLAR, analyzes the chances of PV in this year’s two energy auctions in which it can compete. But it is not all about auctions, Sauaia tells pv magazine, there are 2 GW of solar projects under development for which bilateral PPAs may be signed, and hundreds of MW worth of such schemes that have already secured contracts.

Latin American company Atlas Renewable Energy has opened its first PV project called Guajiro Solar Plant in Mexico.

During the whole month of May 2019, Costa Rica generated a total of 984.19-gigawatt hours of electricity, the highest in the country’s history. What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that 99.99% of this energy came from renewable sources – hydropower, wind, biomass, solar, and geothermal.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for appointing consultants to study, develop and construct floating solar photovoltaic plants in the Arabian Gulf.

An EDF-led group has won the Noor Midelt I project in Morocco with an integrated parabolic trough CSP-PV design which uses multiple energy storage types in a new efficiency breakthrough, TSK, the project’s EPC and technology supplier, told New Energy Update.

On the road from Wadi Rum to Petra in Jordan, where signs point to the Sheikh Zayed solar complex, wind turbines turn languidly in a steady breeze. At Petra, even Bedouin encampments have solar panels and many homes in Amman use solar tubes to heat water. The UAE made headlines with its world-record solar installations, but in all the Middle East, the impact of the renewable revolution is most visible in the Jordanian landscape.

Sunnova Energy Corp, which finances and manages residential solar and storage systems across the United States, is planning a stock market flotation that could value the company at more than $1 billion, including debt.

Facebook is building a massive solar farm in West Texas that’s believed to be one of the largest solar projects in the nation and the social media giant’s first direct investment in renewable energy.

Consumers Energy has received approval from state regulators for its Clean Energy Plan, which is set to spur the renewable-energy sector within the state of Michigan.