Month: November 2023

The strike price for the sixth Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round will rise by 30% for solar next year, from £47 per megawatt hour (MWh) to £61/MWh. This should deliver attractive rates of return for both the Treasury and developers, according to Solar Energy UK (SEUK) noting that an auction process may lower the final strike price. “The Contracts for Difference system has been a major factor in the growth of the UK’s solar power sector by providing investors with a secure and reliable income,” said SEUK chief executive Chris Hewett.

               “Solar remains the cheapest source of power in the UK, according to the government’s own figures, although lately installation costs have been affected by factors outside the control of the industry, notably the war in Ukraine. “So it is gratifying that that the maximum bid price has been raised by a significant amount, which should bolster growth further towards reaching the capacity target of 70GW by 2035,” he added. The cap for offshore wind went up 66% from £44 to £73/MWh, with less established floating offshore wind rising 52%, from £116 to £176/MWh. While the rises are significant, renewable energy still offers far better value than investing in convention fossil-fuelled generation, not to mention offering substantial climate benefits, stated SEUK. The costs of renewable energy have fallen sharply over the past decade and are “vastly lower” than that of building and operating combined cycle gas turbine generation. Applications are scheduled to open on 27 March 2024, the winners to be made public in the late summer or autumn. Alternatively, solar developers may seek a route to market through corporate power purchase agreements or through operating as merchant plants – risker, though potentially more financially rewarding.

Credits: renews.biz 

               Global renewable power producer BrightNight has broken ground on the 300MW Box Canyon Solar Project, which it is developing through a JV with Cordelio Power. The project, located in Pinal County, Arizona, near the Town of Florence, represents the largest renewable energy procurement in Southwest Public Power Agency’s (SPPA) history, and a major step in Arizona’s clean energy transformation.

               The project is the first in the 2GW Arizona portfolio owned by BrightNight and Cordelio Power to commence construction. The groundbreaking marks a major milestone since SPPA selected the Box Canyon project in a competitive process beginning in December of 2020. The project features a design optimised to maximixe performance and deliver the highest-value project at the lowest cost with the help of BrightNight’s proprietary artificial intelligence-based platform, the developer said.

Credits: renews.biz [Image: Science in HD/Unsplash]

               EnfraGen has completed the acquisition of six renewable power assets in Panama and Costa Rica, with a combined capacity of 188MW.  The assets comprise three hydro, two solar and one wind project. The are also EnfraGen’s first wind and Costa Rican assets. EnfraGen now has a grid stability and renewable energy power portfolio totaling over 2.1GW and nearly 60 plants across Chile, Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica.

Credits: renews.biz [Image: Peter Franken/Unsplash]

               Masdar has inaugurated a 2GW single-site solar in Abu Dhabi ahead of the UAE hosting COP28. The project has been developed in partnership with Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), EDF Renewables and JinkoPower, together with procurer Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC). Located 35 kilometres from Abu Dhabi city, the solar plant was built in a single phase and generates enough electricity to power almost 200,000 homes, displacing 2.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year. Al Dhafra Solar PV spans more than 20 square kilometres of desert and created 4,500 jobs during the peak of the construction phase.

               It uses almost 4 million solar panels which deploy innovative bi-facial technology, ensuring sunlight is captured on both sides of the panels to maximize yield. Chairman of Masdar Sultan Al Jaber said: “Al Dhafra is part of a long and proud history of energy innovation, made possible thanks to the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. “This world-leading solar project demonstrates remarkable progress in solar power efficiency, innovation and cost competitiveness – setting a new record-low tariff. “To create Al Dhafra, Masdar brought together three partners from around the world: TAQA, EDF of France and JinkoPower of China. “With just days to go before the start of COP28, I will be asking the world to unite and deliver the energy transition by tripling renewables capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030. “Al Dhafra is an example of the scale of the ambition needed around the world.” TAQA owns 40% of the project, Masdar owns 20% while the remaining partners, EDF Renewables and Jinko Power, own a 20% stake each. The plant will supply power to EWEC under a PPA and will raise Abu Dhabi’s solar power production capacity to 3.2GW.

Credits: renews.biz [Image: Masdar]

               After investing over $130bn into the solar industry in 2023, China will hold more than 80% of the world’s polysilicon, wafer, cell, and module manufacturing capacity from 2023 to 2026, according to Wood Mackenzie. The analysts firm’s report, “How will China’s expansion affect global solar module supply chains?”, found that manufacturing expansion has been driven by high margins for polysilicon, technology upgrades and policy support. Huaiyan Sun, senior consultant at Wood Mackenzie, and author of the report said: “China’s solar And despite strong government initiatives for developing local manufacturing in overseas markets, China will still dominate the global solar supply chain and continue to widen the technology and cost gap with competitors.”

               More than one terawatt (TW) of wafer, cell and module capacity is forecasted to come online by 2024, meaning China’s capacity is sufficient to meet annual global demand now through to 2032, based on Wood Mackenzie forecasts of annual demand growth. Strong government policies in overseas markets have started to increase local solar manufacturing, but they are still not cost-competitive compared to Chinese supply. A module made in China is 50% cheaper than that produced in Europe and 65% cheaper than the US, according to the report. The US and India have announced more than 200GW of planned module capacity since 2022, driven by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US and the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) in India. “Despite considerable module expansion plans, overseas markets still cannot eliminate their dependence on China for wafers and cells in the next three years,” Sun said.

Credits: renews.biz [Image: Trina Solar]