Solar ... In the news

Coastalwatch

Good news for the Renewable sector in spite of Covid 19 in North Devon with the local council receiving some healthy business rates for local educational, social and environmental projects. What's not to like!

Subsidy-free Aura Power solar farm takes step forward

A subsidy-free solar farm with a rated capacity of up to 49.9MWp is moving forwards in north Devon.

The farm, which is being developed by Aura Power, has had its planning application submitted in a move reflective of a wider movement in the sector following the delays and temporary shutdowns across the UK solar sector as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subsidy-free solar has long been heralded in the UK, and projects are now beginning to come to fruition with the likes of NextEnergy leading the charge with several sites through to completion including the largest subsidy-free solar farm in the UK.

Aura’s project, the Litchardon Cross farm, is set to contribute nearly £100,000 in business rates to North Devon Council every year to be spent on a range of local educational, social and environmental projects.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/subsidy_free_aura_power_solar_farm_takes_step_forward

ed110220

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia’s plan to fast track the approval process for a A$22 billion ($16 billion) project to export solar power to Singapore could help it secure financing earlier than planned, the project’s boss said on Thursday.

The ambitious Australia-ASEAN Power Link project, run by Singapore-based Sun Cable, plans to supply solar power to Singapore and eventually Indonesia via the world’s longest subsea high voltage cable.

It would consist of a 4,500-km (2,800-mile) cable linked to a 10 gigawatt solar farm as well as an energy storage facility of up to 30 GWh in the Northern Territory. Both the solar farm and the battery facility would be the biggest of their kind.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-australia-renewables/australia-fast-tracks-approval-process-for-16-billion-solar-power-export-project-idUKKCN24V0S7

Seems a little unlikely to me as it's considerably longer than the longest current HVDC transmission (about 3300 km in China) and much, much longer than any existing or under construction submarine power cable (longest being the ~760 km long Viking Link under construction). But an amazing project if it does become reality!

gefnew

Wales solar fund for university
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53602307?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story

Coastalwatch

Good to see an other wise nascent Solar industry secure 34% of of the Auction total and perhaps an indicator of further Auctions that lie ahead.

Solar smashes expectations as it takes home whopping 796MW in RESS auction

Solar has superseded expectations as it scooped up 796MW in Ireland’s first Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) auction.

The technology had been guaranteed up to 10% of the available capacity ahead of the auction, however it took home 34% of the overall auction energy volume. The majority of this was awarded in the technology neutral category, with the Irish government stating solar proved to be “very competitive”.

The technology has smashed predictions, as it was expected to be contracted for just 100-300MW compared to the 796MW it ended up winning at an average strike price of €72.92/MWh (£65.78/MWh).

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Eamon Ryan TD, said that whilst developer-led onshore wind has been the most cost effective technology available to Ireland to date, "solar and community owned energy projects will play a critical role in diversifying our renewable generation portfolio for the period out to 2030".

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/solar_smashes_expectations_as_it_takes_home_whopping_796mw_in_ress_auction

Coastalwatch

News from Solar Power Portal this week with three varying topics seeing Solar linked to differing  energy needs. Two associated with transport and a third with powering delivery of water to households.

The sale of Clayhill to Gridserve will allow Anesco to fuel growth in further developments going forward.

Anesco hands off subsidy-free Clayhill to GRIDSERVE in ‘multi-million’ pound deal

Anesco has sold on its subsidy-free Clayhill solar farm to GRIDSERVE in a “major step” towards becoming a service provider over asset owner.

Clayhill, which consists of 10MW of solar PV co-located with a 6MW energy storage facility, was built in Bedfordshire in 2017, allowing Anesco to lay claim to the development of the UK’s first subsidy-free solar farm.

Jeremy Cross, chief commercial officer at GRIDSERVE, said that the addition of Clayhill to the portfolio will help the company to “guarantee that the amount of energy used at our Electric Forecourt in Braintree has been generated from zero carbon solar power”.

Clayhill is GRIDSERVE’s first acquisition of an operational solar farm, although it has developed sites such as the hybrid solar-plus-storage site in York completed last year that uses both trackers and bifacial solar panels.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/anesco_hands_off_subsidy_free_clayhill_to_gridserve_in_multi_million_deal

Riding Sunbeams wins £2.5m from government’s Getting Building Fund

The Riding Sunbeams project has won a further £2.5 million of funding to develop solar power for railways.

As part of the government’s recently unveiled £900 million Getting Building Fund, the South East Local Enterprise Partnerships (SELEP) won £85 million. This is being split between 34 projects that will create 9,167 new jobs and safeguard a further 3,341.

This includes greentech start-up Riding Sunbeams’s collaborative project together with Network Rail that is looking to develop and supply clean energy from solar farms to rail networks.  It will be the first to create a direct connection between renewable energy generation and electrified rail networks.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/riding_sunbeams_wins_2.5m_from_governments_getting_building_fund

Scottish Water completes Fife reservoir solar site as it targets net zero by 2040

Scottish Water has continued its push to decarbonise its operations, with the completion of a new solar PV system.

The Finmont Service Reservoir, near Lochgelly in Fife has been fitted with nearly 1,000 solar panels to help offset a quarter of the electricity needed for the site.

Scottish Water Horizons, a commercial subsidiary of the water supplier, invested £325,000 to fund the installation of the 297kW system, which is set to generate 0.25GWh annually.

The company is aiming to be net zero by 2040, with 75 of its water and waste water treatment works now being either self-sufficient or partly sufficient in their power requirements. It is targeting hosting or self-generating three times its annual power consumption by 2030.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/scottish_water_completes_fife_reservoir_solar_site_as_it_targets_net_zero_b

Martyn1981

Remember Oxford PV? Well they are continuing to impress with perovskite, and hopefully getting close to delivering a product.

UK firm's solar power breakthrough could make world's most efficient panels by 2021

British rooftops could be hosting a breakthrough in new solar power technology by next summer, using a crystal first discovered more than 200 years ago to help harness more of the sun’s power.

An Oxford-based solar technology firm hopes by the end of the year to begin manufacturing the world’s most efficient solar panels, and become the first to sell them to the public within the next year.

Oxford PV claims that the next-generation solar panels will be able to generate almost a third more electricity than traditional silicon-based solar panels by coating the panels with a thin layer of a crystal material called perovskite.

The breakthrough would offer the first major step-change in solar power generation since the technology emerged in the 1950s, and could play a major role in helping to tackle the climate crisis by increasing clean energy.

Martyn1981

Nice to see compulsory rules for PV installs on any new buildings:

German State Requires Solar Panels On New, Non-Residential Buildings

If, say, a monster was threatening the future of humanity and the only way to defeat it was to stop feeding it pollution, there’s a good chance governments would take strong steps to cut pollution urgently. Unfortunately, despite everything above being the same except that the word “monster” should be replaced with “climate catastrophe,” most governments have been excruciatingly slow to implement strong anti-GHG pollution policies.

The truly amazing thing is that it’s not even hard to make the shift away from pollution. Solar power and wind power are cheaper than new fossil fueled power plants in most places, and could replace existing fossil fueled power plants at negligible cost. Meanwhile, building these renewable energy power plants creates numerous jobs, which boosts the economy. So, in net, it is simply sensible to develop renewable energy power plants at a rapid pace.

Rooftop solar power is different from large, utility-scale solar. The latter is much cheaper, but the former competes with retail electricity, not wholesale electricity*. Indeed, rooftop solar PV over the lifetime of a system is also typically competitive — or more than competitive — with retail electricity prices. However, various forms of institutional inertia when it comes to constructing buildings, as well as initial developers not being on the hook for operational costs, mean that many buildings get constructed with no thought for rooftop solar. The German state of Baden-Württemberg is changing that in its jurisdiction. It is requiring that all new non-residential buildings have solar panels on them starting in 2022 — a little more than one year from now.

* @Z - Yes I did chuckle at that line.

zeupater

Martyn1981 said:

Nice to see compulsory rules for PV installs on any new buildings:

German State Requires Solar Panels On New, Non-Residential Buildings

If, say, a monster was threatening the future of humanity and the only way to defeat it was to stop feeding it pollution, there’s a good chance governments would take strong steps to cut pollution urgently. Unfortunately, despite everything above being the same except that the word “monster” should be replaced with “climate catastrophe,” most governments have been excruciatingly slow to implement strong anti-GHG pollution policies.

The truly amazing thing is that it’s not even hard to make the shift away from pollution. Solar power and wind power are cheaper than new fossil fueled power plants in most places, and could replace existing fossil fueled power plants at negligible cost. Meanwhile, building these renewable energy power plants creates numerous jobs, which boosts the economy. So, in net, it is simply sensible to develop renewable energy power plants at a rapid pace.

Rooftop solar power is different from large, utility-scale solar. The latter is much cheaper, but the former competes with retail electricity, not wholesale electricity*. Indeed, rooftop solar PV over the lifetime of a system is also typically competitive — or more than competitive — with retail electricity prices. However, various forms of institutional inertia when it comes to constructing buildings, as well as initial developers not being on the hook for operational costs, mean that many buildings get constructed with no thought for rooftop solar. The German state of Baden-Württemberg is changing that in its jurisdiction. It is requiring that all new non-residential buildings have solar panels on them starting in 2022 — a little more than one year from now.

* @Z - Yes I did chuckle at that line.

Hi

Now let me think ...   ... would that possibly be referring to "Rooftop solar power is different from large, utility-scale solar. The latter is much cheaper, but the former competes with retail electricity, not wholesale electricity*." ??? ....   ...seem to remember this very point being raised on numerous occasions to counter reams of negativity by some very naughty club wielding trolls & others with extremely blunt axes looking for somewhere to grind both their worn edges & woes ....  [shades on, knowing grin enabled] .. ..

.. nice to be well ahead (a decade or so) of the curve though! - Z

silverwhistle

But... network inadequate, too _much_ power, unfair on old buildings, what about investment returns, think of the poor, winter, night, because, because...

zeupater

silverwhistle said:

But... network inadequate, too _much_ power, unfair on old buildings, what about investment returns, think of the poor, winter, night, because, because...

Hi

.. and don't forget the cult of personality built-up around the ideology of certain media contributors, defended & repeated to an extent it almost became a religion! ... there's one line that immediately comes to mind  to counter & contextualise most of what was said concerning that fiasco over the years .... "He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!!!" ... 

HTH - Z