Off-Grid

The Clean Energy Council (CEC), a body representing the renewables industry in Australia, has written to federal and state government ministers citing various barriers to the progress of clean energy in the country.

Homeowners with solar installations in Western Australia have labelled proposals from the state-owned utility Synergy to charge solar rooftop owners an extra fixed fee as an unfair “sun tax”.

India as a nation is set to contribute more than any other country to the rise in global energy demand over the next 25 years to meet rising incomes and population, however, its energy demand per capita will still be 40% lower than the global average, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Brazil’s energy regulator the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) has approved an “historic” revision of the country’s net metering scheme for small-scale renewable energy systems, making it amongst the most forward-thinking countries in this sector, according to Rodrigo Sauaia, the director of Brazil’s solar industry association, Absolar.

Renewables with energy storage can help build low carbon energy networks in the developing world – but the twin technologies still face competition from natural gas while they gradually mature, according to an electric power systems maker and integrator.

Distributed renewable energy company UGE International is to acquire Toronto-based solar energy firm Endura Energy Project Corp.

Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) has signed a 15-year investment contract with local power provider Ergon Peru SAC for the installation of 150,000 solar panels to provide electricity to remote areas of the country.

Pay-as-you go solar systems are to be installed in 100,000 off-grid households in rural Ghana under a programme unveiled today.

Off-grid renewables specialist Sunlabob Renewable Energy has secured a US$2.1 million investment from UK-based Truestone Global Impact Fund to fund its international expansion.