Marian Willuhn
Scatec Solar finalizes 197 MW portfolio in Malaysia
Scatec Solar moved into the Malaysian Solar market in late-2016. The company sealed financing for 197 MW of capacity with the help of the country’s green bonds, the year after. Malaysia is continuing on its solar trajectory and will hold the third iteration of its tenders for the allocation of an addition 500 MW in generation capacity.
Masdar inks MoU to develop 300 MW of solar in Armenia
The Armenian solar market has been somewhat slow to take off, but it could be experiencing a serious push, following an announcement that Abu Dhabi-based energy company Masdar plans to deploy 500 MW of solar and wind capacity in the country.
The weekend read: Transistor transition
In pursuit of a lower levelized cost of energy for the next generation of inverters, some manufacturers have turned to acquiring considerably more expensive semiconductors. While this may sound like a misstep at first, the trick could be pulled off — though not easily, and not always — yet.
Interview: Fimer CEO Filippo Carzaniga discusses acquisition of ABB inverter business
After the bombshell news this week, the Italian inverter manufacturer’s CEO spoke to pv magazine about the future of ABB’s R&D hubs, manufacturing sites, hundreds of employees and of course Fimer’s outlook.
Portuguese 1.4 GW solar tender with €0.045/kWh ceiling receives 10 GW of applications
Despite a demanding ceiling price of €45/MWh the tender has received applications for projects with seven times the generation capacity it will allocate.
Toyota shows off solar Prius with 860 W output from 34% efficient cells
The car will be road tested at Toyota City in Japan. Solar charging technology for the vehicle will then be further optimized before the vehicle goes on sale.
Global renewables investment fell in the first half of this year
While Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and Brazil attracted more funds than last year, China’s transition to an auction-based procurement system and slow performance overall in Europe saw worldwide backing decrease. BloombergNEF does expect investments to ramp up in the second half, however.
Sungrow counts 1.4 GW installed inverter capacity in Vietnam
At the end of Vietnam’s solar gold rush, the Chinese power electronics maker can look back on a positive result. With the last glut of project announcements issued, Sunseap said it had finished a 168 MW installation featuring Longi’s Hi-Mo 1 modules.
Hanergy wraps 460 kW of CIGS around Chinese skyscraper
Copper indium gallium selenide thin film technology is on the fly as conversion efficiency closes in on that of crystalline silicon. The technology can be integrated neatly onto facades of otherwise energy intensive commercial buildings. The potential is huge even if the conversion efficiency retains some limitations.
E.on switches UK residential offering to 100% renewables
The 3.3 million U.K. households that get their electricity from E.on will receive only renewable energy. The company referred to a public opinion poll as a motivation for the move.
