ADB extends $175 million loan to India’s PGCIL
India’s burgeoning renewable energy capacity is set to receive a boost in the form of a $175 million loan.
Wärtsilä delivers 15 MW hybrid PV plant to Essakane Solar in Burkina Faso
The solar farm will be added and synchronized with an existing oil driven power plant. The hybrid power plant will serve a local gold mine, saving 18,500t CO2 emissions annually.
IHS Markit: Storage and better grid efficiency could save hundreds of billions each year
A new white paper published by analysts at IHS Markit compares the electricity network with other key systems such as transport and data infrastructure. The report concludes that increasing the amount of electricity storage available could create a more flexible, efficient and reliable grid, and save billions of dollars each year.
Renewables helped drive 62% drop in new coal power capacity in 2016, finds report
Coal production in freefall, says new report by Greenpeace, Sierra Club and CoalSwarm, which recorded a 62% reduction in new coal power construction starts and a 48% drop in pre-construction activity last year.
France supports South Africa grid improvement with $477 million
The French Development Agency (AFD) has provided South Africa’s power utility Eskom with a ZAR 6 billion ($477.7 million) credit facility. Eskom, which has delayed the development of several large-scale PV projects over the past years due to grid issues, will use the funds to improve its network and integrate more renewable energy power.
Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE to open testing facility for power electronics & grid integration tech
At the facility, the German scientists will test devices for power electronics and grid technologies in the multi-megawatt range.
Australia: Solar and storage startups pitch to investors, in first Clean Energy Innovators Demo Day
Seven PV and battery storage companies have pitched to investors at the first Clean Energy Innovators Demo Day in Sydney. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) organized the event and can also finance investments in early-stage companies through its Innovation Fund.
ARENA backs deX project to deliver open-source digital marketplace coupling distributed solar-plus-storage and grid services
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing $450,000 (US$346,000) towards the Decentralized Energy Exchange (deX) project, which aims to produce an open-source software platform on which grid services can be provided and monetized by distributed battery storage. A combination of Australian utilities, research bodies, and startups are collaborating on the $930,200 ($715,000) deX project.
Report shows France will triple storage capacity by 2020
A new report from Clean Horizon points to several major developments in the French energy market, which point to the nation becoming Europe’s next big market for storage.
Electric vehicle purchases rise by one-fifth in UK
New car registrations across Britain hit a 12-year high last month, with electric vehicles (EVs) accounting for 4.2% of that figure – a one-fifth increase on the previous month.
