Daily News Wrap-Up: Dollar Industries Commissions a 4 MW Solar Project in Tamil Nadu
France is increasing the ceiling of 100 kW for the tariff window for rooftop installations to 500 kW
October 6, 2020
Here are some noteworthy cleantech announcement of the day from around the world:
Dollar Industries Limited has commissioned a 4 MW solar project at its manufacturing facility in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. The solar project is part of Dollar’s Green Mission initiative and has the capacity to generate 7.5 million units of energy annually. The apparel brand installed the solar project to make its spinning unit at Tirupur sustainable and self-reliant. The company invested around ₹ 180 million (~$2.46 million) for the solar project.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) awarded $15.14 million in funding to 16 research projects on behalf of the Australian government to help address solar photovoltaic panel efficiency, overall cost reductions and end-of-life issues. The 16 projects selected will strengthen Australia’s solar photovoltaic research and development sector that ARENA helped establish through its previous funding.
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition of France has announced two new measures to support the solar sector. The ministry said that the ceiling of 100 kW for the tariff window for rooftop installations will now be increased to 500 kW. The ministry also committed to maintaining a sufficient level of support for the sector by limiting the reduction in the purchase price provided by the tariff decree in force. Currently, the rate is automatically revised every quarter. The formula of the tariff decree in force would lead to a reduction of 8.7% on October 1, 2020, according to the ministry. The government will therefore limit this reduction in feed-in tariff to 3.8%.
Enel Green Power Chile, a subsidiary of Enel Chile, has unveiled its plans to participate with Chilean power company AME and prospective partners ENAP, Siemens Energy, and Porsche, to install a pilot plant for green hydrogen production. The hydrogen projection facility will utilize an electrolyzer fueled by wind energy to produce hydrogen in Cabo Negro, north of Punta Arenas, in the Magallanes Region. The facility is expected to be commissioned in 2022, making it the first project of its kind to produce green hydrogen in Chile.
Clenergy has entered into a solar equipment purchase agreement with TBEA Xinjiang SunOasis Company Limited. The estimated value of the deal totals to $2.93 million. The agreement followed the 600 MW tender launched by TBEA Xinjiang SunOasis. Clenergy secured three projects with a cumulative capacity of 293 MW, making it the largest solar tracker project in China this year. According to the agreement, Clenergy will supply horizontal single-axis solar tracker and technical services for solar projects at Bingyang, Jinhao, and Huiwen.
The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has announced to invest $10 billion in new major infrastructure initiatives to create jobs and economic growth. As a part of the initiative, $2.5 billion will be invested to support renewable generation and storage and to transmit clean energy between provinces, territories, and regions. Also, $2 billion will be invested in large-scale building retrofits to enhance energy efficiency and help make communities more sustainable.
An engineering partnership led by Lotus has won the U.K. Government support and funding to develop an all-new next-generation battery electric vehicle architecture. Led by Lotus, the team is targeting the acceleration and innovation behind new lightweight structures for the next generation of battery electric vehicles.
Texas-based Vistra has unveiled its plans to accelerate its transition to clean power generation sources and advance efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. The company launched Vistra Zero, a portfolio of zero-carbon power generation facilities, including seven new developments announced in its primary market of ERCOT that total nearly 1 GW. The company also committed to more ambitious long-term emission reduction targets. The company also announced its intention to retire all of its generation subsidiaries’ coal projects in Illinois and Ohio. The company said it is breaking ground on six new solar projects and one battery energy storage project.
GFG Alliance and IGNIS have signed an agreement to develop renewable energy projects in Spain. The partnership between IGNIS and GFG’s global energy business SIMEC Energy Group will work to develop one of the largest renewable energy portfolios, with around 1.2 GW generated from wind and solar energy to be operational by 2023.
European countries, on average, saw negative day ahead prices almost 1% of the time in the first nine months of 2020, according to a research report of EnAppSys. Markets with high wind generation such as Ireland, Germany, and Denmark have been affected by negative pricing as peak levels of wind output started to outpace the COVID-19 influenced levels on power demand. The amount of overall energy demand covered by wind generation reached 49% in Denmark, 36% in Ireland, and 27% in Germany – the highest three rankings in Europe.
Here is our previous daily news wrap-up.