Covid-19

The Chinese solar manufacturer has completed the first 10 MWp shipment of 24,700 of its 405 W bifacial solar panels for the 500 MW Ibri 2 PV array in Oman.

Every crisis is a crossroads, and Australia is certainly at a crossroads. This week, a host of climate, development and investment leaders are backing Beyond Zero Emissions’ green Million Jobs Plan for Covid-19 economic recovery.

A study into the clean energy tech innovation rate required to keep global heating under control may suggest concepts such as lithium-air could yet keep us to the mid-century ambition, but it is also starting to contemplate the temperature rise to be expected if we only achieve net-zero by 2070.

In times of crisis, a population usually divides itself into two opinion groups. On the one hand, there are those who believe the storm will pass and things will return to business as usual. And on the other, there are those who took the time to embrace the new reality, accepted it, and now swear that the old world has disappeared and won’t ever come back. In general, writes Becquerel Institute’s Gaëtan Masson, reality splits between the two and makes everyone wrong. And this is what might be about to happen in the solar PV sector.

Plus, there is hope of a bright new dawn with proposed legislative changes in Europe and the U.S. even as the solar equipment industry hits new lows and cyber attacks reportedly increase in frequency.

The heads of state of the 27 EU member states agreed to resist calls from a reported eight countries to expand the nature of projects eligible for energy transition support beyond renewables.

Corporate power purchase agreements and the combination of PV plants with hydrogen production open up new medium-term financing opportunities for solar projects, as was demonstrated at the fourth session of the pv magazine Roundtable Europe event. The evolution of corporate deals may have been slowed by current price developments but hydrogen may come sooner than many had predicted.

The organizers of the Solar Solutions International event which was postponed in March have persuaded the Dutch government industry events should not be subject to the same Covid-19 restrictions as concerts.

The nation added a year-high of almost 450 MW of new capacity during the month to take the five-month total for 2020 to 1,926 MW. The solar subsidy will fall another 1.4% from tomorrow.

Some European countries and emerging markets are now showing signs of slow recovery, as the Covid-19 pandemic brought overseas markets to a shuddering halt in late March. However, demand is expected to remain weak through the beginning of the third quarter, writes PV InfoLink’s Amy Fang, as it will take time for overseas markets to snap back. Meanwhile, the Chinese market is again busy with the June 30 installation rush, as the government has left tariff timelines unchanged up to the middle of May.