Here are some noteworthy cleantech announcements of the day from around the world:

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) recently accepted the petition by Chowdeshwari Solar Energy for the delay in commissioning a 1 MW solar power project in Chikkaballapura District up to June 22, 2017. The commission also ruled that the petitioner was entitled to the tariff of ₹8.40 (~$0.11)/kWh as per the power purchase agreement. KERC also directed BESCOM to pay the difference in tariff paid per unit from the date of the plant’s commissioning along with the late payment surcharge in terms of the power purchase agreement within two months. BESCOM was also directed not to levy any liquidated charges during this period, and if already charged, they must be refunded.

Sony Group Corporation and Honda Motor signed a joint venture agreement to establish a new company to engage in the sale of high-value-added electric vehicles (EVs) and provide services for mobility. The new company will aim to bring together Honda’s environmental and safety technologies, mobility development capabilities, vehicle body manufacturing technology, and after-sales service management experience with Sony’s expertise in the development and application of imaging, sensing, telecommunication, network, and entertainment technologies, to realize a new generation of mobility and services for mobility. Sony and Honda plan to establish the new company within 2022, sell EVs, and provide mobility services in 2025.

Photon Energy, a European solar energy developer, announced that it has broken ground on the construction of its very first Romanian solar photovoltaic power plant with a generation capacity of 5.7 MW. The project has high-efficiency bifacial solar modules mounted on single-axis trackers and is expected to deliver around 8.7 GWh of renewable energy annually to the grid of Enel E-Distributie Banat, which will be sold on the energy market on a merchant basis. This will be done without support or a power purchase agreement with an energy off-taker. The new power plant is scheduled to commence operations in the fourth quarter of 2023. The solar power plant is located near Șiria in Romania’s Arad County and will extend over 9.3 hectares of greenfield land and be equipped with approximately 10,600 solar panels. The power plant will be owned and operated by Siria Solar S.R.L., a special purpose company wholly owned by Photon Energy Group.

RWE and Commerzbank signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to create a ‘Green Mittelstand Fund’ to provide medium-sized industrial companies in Germany access to green electricity generated by offshore wind plants. The new fund will offer these companies, for the first time, the opportunity to secure green electricity through long-term power purchase agreements. The wind farm is to have an installed capacity of around 1 GW. The companies would have to apply for a seabed for the wind farm within the framework of future tenders under the German Wind Energy at Sea Act’s planned amendment. These auctions are expected to take place in 2023. RWE plans to hold 51% of the shares in the wind farm, and the remaining 49% are to be offered to the interested medium-sized companies by Commerzbank via the ‘Green Mittelstand Fund.’ RWE will develop, build, and operate the wind farm. The company will commit to making the power generated there available to medium-sized companies. Commerzbank, on its part, plans to make green electricity directly available to its customers from medium-sized companies.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) signed a memorandum of understanding to ramp up efforts to advance renewable energy investment and enable access to sustainable finance in emerging and developing economies. They have agreed to mobilize finance, unlock investment, and support project development on the ground. At a practical level, both sides will collaborate to provide technical assistance and capacity building to project developers, creating a pipeline of bankable projects ready to be financed. They will also work to attract potential investors. The parties will also explore cooperation under the IRENA-managed Energy Transition Accelerator Financing Platform, the Climate Investment Platform, and OPEC Fund initiatives such as the planned Energy Access and Transition Trust Fund. They will also closely collaborate at U.N. Climate Conferences COP27 in Egypt in November 2022 and COP28 in the United Arab Emirates in November 2023.