The distributed renewable energy (DRE) sector, necessary in a world with millions of people without power, is being held back by a chronic shortage of skilled workers. Indeed, Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) has just 16,000 people working in renewable energy in a region with 600 million un-electrified people, according to the founders of a new campaign aiming to fill this skills gap.
Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) has awarded 150MW (3x50MW) of solar projects to Giriraj Renewables at a tariff of INR2.92/kWh (US$0.04), and awarded 100MW (5x20MW) to Asian Fab Tec with a tariff of INR2.89/kWh (US$0.039).
Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) member JinkoSolar will supply 255MW of its HC Cheetah series solar modules to Decmil Australia for the Sunraysia Solar Farm project in New South Wales developed by Australian-Chinese firm Maoneng Group.
South Korea’s government is planning for nearly 3GW of solar PV alongside smaller capacities of wind and batteries on reclaimed land in Saemangeum, an area of land created by a huge Seawall project completed in 2010.
An extra AU$100 million (US$70.76 million) of funding could be put into a rebate scheme for households buying energy storage systems in South Australia, after a peer-to-peer lending group stepped in.
Major Malaysian utility Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has started supplying power to the national grid from a part-completed 50MW solar power project in Selangor, Peninsula Malaysia, which will be the largest project in the country once completed.
US-headquartered high-efficiency PV module producer SunPower Corp has secured the module supply deal for innogy’s 349MW PV power plant near Balranald, New South Wales, Australia, the largest plant under construction in the country.
PV project developer and EPC firm, juwi Renewable Energy has started construction of its third PV power plant project in Vitenam, bringing its active pipeline to around 130MW.
‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member LONGi Solar, a subsidiary of leading monocrystalline wafer producer LONGi Green Energy Technology Co is to offer its first AC module to the US market in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Indian solar developer Azure Power has had a hugely successful period of raising financing, but consultancy firm Bridge to India has said that the overall domestic PV sector is facing hard times in raising debt finance.
