Italy

The Italian energy company has committed to paying higher returns on today’s fundraising bond if it fails to ramp up its installed renewable energy generation capacity to 55% of its overall total by the end of 2021.

The levelized cost of energy produced by large scale PV projects ranges from €24/MWh in southern Spain to €42/MWh in Finland. New research states that is already cheaper than the average spot market electricity price and that the figure for big facilities in southern Spain may fall to €14 in 2030 and €9 in 2050.

Researchers have developed a high-resolution geospatial method of assessing the solar potential of all buildings in the EU and concluded rooftop PV could provide a quarter of the bloc’s electricity needs. The scientists say grid parity for rooftop solar has been reached outside eastern member states with cheap fossil fuel electricity.

A new report from analysts at Wood Mackenzie forecasts 6.6 GWh of residential energy storage to be installed across Europe by 2024. The economics of the technology are at a tipping point, increasingly reaching grid parity in European markets. With rising electricity demand and falling battery system costs, the trend will further spread across the continent and fuel an uptick in demand.

With 46.9 MW of newly installed capacity, Italy registered its best month in two years despite having no large plants come online. Renewable energy association ANIE Rinnovabili says this year the country may record stronger growth due to renewed business investment incentives and new provisions regulating solar.

The German company has already secured project rights for PV projects with 200 MW of generation capacity. Another 100 MW should follow this month.

Foresight Solar and Infrastructure has celebrated encouraging returns from nine months of activity but that is down to acquiring existing solar assets with the nation’s ground mount sector in the doldrums since public subsidies were halted in April 2017.

With a 300 MW pipeline in the country that could potentially double in the near future, the Milanese business says Chile’s carbon-neutral ambition will maintain a strong market for solar.

Canadian fuel cell manufacturer Ballard announces order for a dozen units as part of the European Commission’s JIVE initiative for hydrogen-powered public transport across the EU.

The London-based developer revealed blockbusting annual figures which show it is debt free, has almost £20 million in the bank, raked in more than half that figure in net profits in 2018-19 and expects twice as much in a year’s time.