Rural India offers a $50bn opportunity for clean energy innovations
The farming sector alone offers a potential $40bn marketplace, thanks to rice transplanting, pesticide spraying and grain harvesting – says the Council on Energy, Environment and Water thinktank.
India added world’s second largest PV capacity in first half of 2018
The nation installed 4.9 GW of solar, surpassing the USA – which installed 4.7 GW – to become the second largest solar market in the first half of the year, second only to China’s 24.3 GW.
Decentralized solar-plus-storage would fire sub-Saharan Africa
According to a UC Berkeley study, the falling costs of storage technologies will make it possible for Sub-Saharan countries to rely on decentralized systems based mainly on solar-plus-storage, bringing access to electricity to more than 600 million people.
Renewables make up more than 20% of generation in 10 US states, with more on the way
Recent analysis from the Department of Energy shows the Midwest and Plains States lead, but the coasts are on track to catch up thanks to mandates.
Micro and mini-grids to bring power to Indonesia’s off-grid communities
The government wants to help the provinces of eastern Indonesia – in particular Papua, which has the lowest electrification rate in the country. Policymakers are in talks with the Asian Development Bank and seeking advice for implementation.
Residential solar could save energy system €1.77 bn in Andalusia alone – study
Looking at a scenario, in which the Spanish residential solar market is booming again, energy consultancy, ecoSynergies finds that the energy system could save billions, both in terms of CO2, and fuel and grid costs. Additionally, introducing the EU’s suggestion to fairly compensate prosumers for their surplus energy, would allow households to slash payback times for their solar systems by more than a half. In some cases, the amortization period could go down from 25 to seven years.
EDP keeps investing in off-grid solar
Just a day after announcing its entry in the off-grid solar business in Bangladesh, the Portuguese utility agreed to acquire a minority stake in Mozambique’s SolarWorks, a start-up providing pay-as-you-go off-grid PV solutions.
EDP invests in off-grid solar, storage
The Portuguese utility expands its renewable energy business – traditionally dominated by wind – with a new storage station in Romania and the acquisition of a start-up, which offers off-grid home solar solutions in Bangladesh.
World Bank to devote $1 billion to storage in developing countries
The Accelerating Battery Storage for Development program is intended to leverage US$4 billion in new investments, and to support projects for utility-scale solar parks with battery storage, off-grid systems, including mini-grids, and stand-alone batteries.
UK opposition party pledges emission-free energy system
Labour this morning unveiled plans for an energy system free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but it is unclear what proportion of the party’s “clean energy” mix would be met by nuclear.
