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A significant surge in PV installations, especially in December 2011, has resulted in a new record in Germany. According to preliminary figures from the German network regulatory agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, installations topped 7.5GW in 2011, slightly higher than record installations of 7.4GW in 2010.
The new head of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, criticized the renewables incentive scheme implemented by his predecessor, Socialist Miguel Sebastian, in a radio interview this week.
Alterations to Germany’s green policy are causing outrage. The country’s environment minister, Norbert Röttgen, has rejected the economy minister’s calls to cut renewable energy subsidies further. Economy minister Philipp Roesler has proposed that Germany should have an annual ceiling of 1,000MW although some ministers have argued that this would “starve” the industry, following a record installation of 7,400MW of solar panels last year. Röettgen believes that Germany needs to speed up investments to expand the power grid and do more to reduce overall energy consumption.
Following the Canadian government’s announcement to reduce FiT prices for new projects, The Green Energy Act Alliance and Shine Ontario Association have joined forces by releasing the Ontario Feed-in Tariff 2011 Review: More Jobs, Affordable, Clean Energy, and a Brighter Future for Ontario report. The groups represent Canada’s leading environmental and energy groups, as well as the key players in Canada’s solar industry.
After Solar Power Portal last week reported that photovoltaic installations in the UK had begun to tail off, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has quietly updated its weekly data revealing shocking figures not even the most optimistic of us would have expected.
The Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia (SEDA Malaysia) has started accepting applications from PV project developers to participate in its new feed-in tariff programme. Tariffs range from RM1.2300 per kWh (US$0.39) for the smallest installations to RM0.8500 per kWh (US$0.27) for systems between 10MW and 30MW.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has revealed that the government is doubling the surcharge for solar and other renewables from CNY0.004 to CNY0.008 per kWh. The tariff was raised to cover the premium that utilities pay for renewable electricity and is effective as of December 1.
Environmental lawyer Arnaud Gossement represents applicants petitioning against the establishment of a moratorium suspending the mandatory purchase of solar power by facilities producing over 3kWp.
Australian Capital Territory is launching a new incentive scheme to promote large-scale solar in the state. It is Australia’s first scheme targeting larger systems and aims to help install projects totalling up to 210MW.
The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has proposed the new feed-in tariff (FiT) rates for PV projects commissioned from January 29, 2012 until March 31, 2015. These new rates range from INR10.27 (US$0.21) to INR13.14 per kWh (US$0.268) and are applicable for ground-mounted, rooftop and concentrating solar power (CSP) systems.
