Japan’s electric utility companies that had stopped considering applications for utility-scale solar look set to resume doing so, although projects will be subjected to stricter new rules.
Japan will produce definitive targets for renewable energy this year, according to a government official. The country’s government has taken criticism from pro-renewable energy groups for not doing so previously.
Vertically integrated solar power provider SunEdison and its ‘yield co’ subsidiary will build 85.2MW of UK PV across five plants, having secured financing from Santander and Bayerische Landesbank.
One international developer of utility-scale PV projects says that proposed changes to Japan’s feed-in tariff (FiT) will not adversely affect business over the next two years, but certain aspects of those changes will be “challenging” to cope with.
Germany-headquartered developer juwi has recruited a 46-year old “finance and energy expert” from the ranks of its new majority owner, MVV Energie, to act as chief financial officer (CFO).
Renewable Energy Trust Capital (RET Capital) has, in the process of signing a collaboration framework agreement with developer Origis Energy, acquired three PV plants in the US state of Georgia totalling 24.5MW of generation capacity.
Chinese government initiatives for distributed generation will have “a far greater impact on installations in China this year", according to the chairman and chief executive officer of Hanwha SolarOne.
The latest contender to challenge for the title of world’s largest merchant PV plant will be an 80MW project in the Antifagasto region of Chile to be built by Greenwood Energy.
