Even though monkeys were allegedly wreaking havoc on India’s solar rooftop systems last year, 2016 was remarkable for the Indian PV sector. With solar taking 1% the nation’s electricity share and India set to become the world’s third largest market in 2017 , Bloomberg New Energy Finance has proclaimed that ‘solar is king of Indian renewables’. Add the completion of the world’s largest solar plant to these accolades and you have a good indicator of the South Asian giant’s ambitions. Even India’s biggest oil, steel and mining companies are getting on board the solar rush.
A database of projects involving integration of renewable energy into the grid has been launched by Energy Networks Australia (ENA) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to help collaboration between the renewables industry and grid operators in Australia.
Tariffs for utility-scale solar power in India are expected to go below the four rupee (US$0.059) mark next year, which would be a “radical moment” for India’s entire power sector, according to consultancy firm Bridge to India.
Driven by steep cost declines in PV equipment, solar is now almost on a par with wind energy and will soon become the cheapest form of energy in developing nations, according to the Climatescope 2016 report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
The levelised cost of rooftop and large-scale solar PV continued to rapidly decline in 2016, financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard has said.
To help reach its ambitious 100% by 2045 renewables target, the Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO) has issued a request for information (RFI) about land that could be available for future clean energy projects.
Brazil has cancelled its only reserve energy auction for wind and solar in 2016, due to an expected power oversupply in the country, according to a Reuters report.
An Arizona scheme to study the use of energy storage and smart inverters in integrating solar to the grid has contracted the deployment of 4MW of AES Energy Storage’s lithium battery systems.
Solar development in India is being held back by delays in preparing the 20GW of solar park capacity planned by the central government, according to consultancy firm Mercom Capital Group.
After years of drawn-out discourse, the Arizona Corporation Commission will decide next week what the ‘value of solar’ really is, and just how much utilities will pay for electricity generated by rooftop systems.
