India has invited its first-ever bids for solar energy projects that include storage as a requirement as part of a trial program aimed at making the renewable resource a more reliable source of power.
Tag: Developing World Energy
Enel, Partner Win License to Explore Geothermal Resources in Lampung, Indonesia
The Enel Group last week said that its Enel Green Power division will work with geothermal developer PT Optima Nusantara Energi on exploration of geothermal resources for the development of the 55-MW Way Ratai geothermal project in Indonesia’s Lampung province.
West Africa Regional Workshop — Energy Access to Off-grid Rural Communities
Smart Village Initiative (SVI) organized a three-day workshop on Energy Access to Off-grid Communities for Sustainable Development. Despite the increasing efforts towards improved access to modern energy services at the global, regional and national le…
Iran Plans First Tender to Draw $12 Billion Green Investment
Iran is planning its first tender for utility-scale renewable energy projects by year end as it begins a green power build out that could draw $12 billion of investment by the time it’s complete.
Mauritius Takes Great Step Forward for Wave Power, Microgrid Design
Australian marine energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy has embarked on an ambitious project in the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius to establish new benchmarks in microgrid solutions tailored for high penetration renewable energy.
Kenya Taps Solar to Power Digital Learning
In one of the most ambitious rural electrification projects in Africa that has tapped the use of solar energy, the Kenya government has completed connecting some 4,100 primary schools to power using solar PV systems.
Pay-As-You-Go Solar Companies Spread Light Across Africa
Just nine months after pay-as-you-go (PAYG) off-grid solar company PEG announced that it had raised $3.2 million to expand its presence in Ghana, today the company announced that it has raised an additional $4.3 million to continue that expansion.
Paris-based Energy Access Venture (EAV) invested $2 million in the latest round, joining Blue Haven Initiative. Existing investors Engie Rassembleurs d’Energie and Investisseurs & Partenaires also participated in the round. The funding will be used to expand operations in Ghana, build out the management team, and to enter Ivory Coast.
Palestinians Aim for More Power Independence With Solar Auction
Palestinians will take a step toward greater power independence by announcing terms of a solar-energy auction intended to boost installed capacity by as much as 100 MW.
Solar Business Models for Growth: The Private Sector Needs to Lead on India’s Rural Electrification Deficit
The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is home to the country’s largest population of un-electrified villages. According to data collected by the Council on Clean Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), more than seventy percent of Uttar Pradesh’s two hundred and twenty million residents still depend on kerosene lamps and diesel generators for lighting and electricity.
Papua New Guinea First to Finalize Climate Plan Under Paris Agreement
Papua New Guinea recently became the first country to formally submit the final version of its national climate action plan (called a “Nationally Determined Contribution,” or NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The small Pacific nation’s plan to transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 is no longer just an “intended” nationally determined contribution (INDC) — it is now the country’s official climate plan.
Google to Provide Seed Funding for Renewable Energy in Asia
Google is providing seed funding to the Center for Resource Solutions to set up renewable energy certification programs across Asia, which will help companies to know the power they buy comes from clean sources.
Energy Storage Could be Solution To Solar PV-related Blackouts in The Philippines
In Visayas, one of the three main island groups in The Philippines, too much solar on the grid may lead to blackouts during the election period, which begins today, March 28, and lasts until May 7.
Grid operators are concerned that too much power is being fed into the grid when all of the solar PV plants in the region are churning out electric power along with the geothermal and coal plants in the region — even if the geothermal and coal plants are dialed down to their minimum load requirements. Further the swings in power supply due to intermittent PV generation (from 20 to 50 percent) have already caused grid interruptions.
Visayas does not have any frequency regulation providers to help balance the grid and absorb excess capacity and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and the government are exploring the use of energy storage and potentially hydro assets to help solve the problem.
Meanwhile in the U.S. the Energy Storage Association on March 28 is launching its new #StorageIsHere campaign in an attempt to bring more visibility to the technology that it says is already “booming.”
The articles below offer more detail on both stories.
Image By Howard the Duck at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5.
Solar Micro-grids Take Root in East Africa
Solar micro-grids are playing an important role in ensuring that communities living in remote areas away from main power have access to electricity in East Africa in a region where nearly 80 percent of the population have no access to grid power.
Developing Trends in China’s Solar PV Industry for 2016
China’s solar PV industry has been in recovery mode since 2013. The capacity utilization rate of PV firms has improved, the sector steadily continues to grow and new technologies have been developed, while the PV makers have seen their margins improve. Looking into 2016, the sector is expected to maintain growth, thanks to favorable policies and increasing market demand.
GE to Design Wind, Solar Energy Storage Project in India
GE last week said that its energy consulting business has been chosen by wind energy firm IL&FS Energy Development to examine the feasibility of integrated wind, solar and energy storage projects at IL&FS Energy’s sites in Ramagiri, Andhra Pradesh, and Nana Layja, Gujarat, India.
Whatever Happened to Jatropha, and All Those Other Wonder Feedstocks? Part 1
As we begin to prepare for the annual Advanced Bioeconomy Feedstocks & Supply Chain event in Miami this June, you might find yourself asking whatever happened to some of the feedstock darlings like jatropha.
Sweden Invests 20 Million Euros for Clean Energy in Zambia
Sweden’s development agency will finance a 20 million-euro ($22-million) fund to develop clean energy in Zambia through 2018.
Almost 100 Million Homes May Run Only on Solar by 2020
Almost 100 million households worldwide may be powered by solar panels by 2020, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Power in Numbers: Growing India’s Minigrid Sector
For minigrid developers in India, there is significant uncertainty about projects’ investment, viability, and customers once the central grid arrives.
New Developments in Brazil’s Solar Power Sector
Brazil’s renewable energy landscape has changed significantly over the last decade. Although Brazil is mostly known for biofuels production and conventional hydroelectric power — hydroelectric power by itself accounts for over 70 percent of the country’s electricity generation — investment in the wind and solar sectors has been increasing rapidly since 2009.