Sky-high electricity prices and an increasing urgency to curb fossil fuel led to a surge in European solar additions last year. Jules Scully charts how the continent’s ongoing energy crisis is affecting EU renewables policy and PPA appetite.
The largest climate package in US history promises to turbocharge the country’s solar sector, but considerable uncertainty remains around the impact the Inflation Reduction Act will have and how it will be enforced by authorities, writes Sean Rai-Roche.
The US installed 4.6GW of solar capacity during Q3 2022, a 17% decrease from the same period last year, as trade barriers continue to hamper deployment, according to research from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie.
Corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) have hit record levels in the Asia Pacific region as fuel prices rise and the cost of renewables falls, according to Wood Mackenzie principal analyst, Kyeongho Lee.
Plans for a temporary revenue cap on solar PV assets across the European Union (EU) could dent investor confidence in renewables, experts have warned, amid concerns that individual member states may be able to set lower caps specific to different technologies.
The proliferation of solar requires PV projects to adapt to their grid surroundings, which increasingly entails connecting alongside adjacent technologies, be it energy storage, other renewables or green hydrogen. Amid the growing threat of curtailment, Jules Scully looks at the rise of the ‘solar-plus’ market and the financial models underpinning it.
US solar players have hailed the country’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Joe Biden this week, as a once-in-a-generation legislation that lays the groundwork for accelerated PV deployment and a significant ramp-up in domestic manufacturing.
