Weekly Market Update

01 EMEA

EU member states to spend €18bn of Covid cash on renewables

• The European Commission has revealed some €17.8 billion of the?funding requested by EU member states ?to finance their recovery from Covid-19 will be devoted to renewable energy facilities, including solar.
• The?EU executive ?on Tuesday published a report into the first year's activity of the huge, up-to-€724 billion?Recovery and Resilience Fund ?(RRF), made up of grants and loans for member states to rebuild economies after the pandemic.
• With the Covid recovery plans of 22 member states having thus far been approved, the progress report stated 12% of the €224 billion so far requested for “green transition” spending – €26.7 billion – would be devoted to?renewable energy ?and?supporting networks . Drilling down further, the commission said around two-thirds of that figure would be spent on clean energy plants, with the balance funding facilities such as?energy storage ?and smart grids. As an example, the recovery and resilience plan (RRP) approved for?Lithuania ?features help for farmers and other commercial interests, as well as?citizen energy communities , to install solar and energy storage systems. A list of multi-country RRP projects also included plans for a €100 million?electricity interconnector for Cyprus .
• Around 32% of the €224 billion green transition support – €71.7 billion – will back sustainable transport, the commission document stated, with the German package proposing incentive support for consumers to buy 560,000 “decarbonized” vehicles and cash to fund 50,000 public?electric vehicle ?(EV) charging points and 400,000 home EV chargers.
• Hungary ,?Poland , and?Sweden ?have yet to receive the all-clear for plans they submitted in May and?Bulgaria ?offered up its shopping list in October. With the Covid-recovery cash set to be doled out in three stages to the end of next year, the EU has yet to receive a spending plan from?the Netherlands .

IEA outlines plan to rapidly reduce dominant role of Russia in Europe’s energy markets

• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is sure to have long lasting implications for the world’s energy supply. And for Europe in particular, which imported 155 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian natural gas in 2021 – 45% of the European Union’s gas imports and around 40% of its total gas consumption.
• Looking ahead to next winter and further, the International Energy Agency today published a 10-point plan by which it says Europe could reduce its imports of Russian gas by one third within a year, without compromising goals set out in the European Green Deal or risking major energy price increases. “Nobody is under any illusions anymore. Russia’s use of its natural gas resources as an economic and political weapon show Europe needs to act quickly to be ready to face considerable uncertainty over Russian gas supplies next winter,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “Europe needs to rapidly reduce the dominant role of Russia in its energy markets and ramp up the alternatives as quickly as possible.” During the press conference Birol noted Azerbaijan and Algeria as potential key sources of replacement supply.
• Speeding up the development of wind and solar projects is fourth on the IEA’s to-do list for Europe, its analysis finds that tackling permitting delays alone could put an additional 20TWh of electricity onto Europe’s grids over the next year, while investing €3 billion in incentives covering part of the installation cost for residential PV could add another 15 TWh. The IEA estimates these two measures combined could reduce gas use by 6bcm.

Germany installed 420MW of PV in January

• Germany’s federal network agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, has reported that 420MW of new PV was installed in the country in January. For comparison, the?newly installed PV capacity for January 2021 was 536MW , and in?December 2021 it was 421MW .
• The cumulative capacity of all PV systems in Germany reached 56.7GW at the end of January.
• The main market driver remains the segment for PV systems not exceeding 300kW in size under the country's feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme, for which around 216.4MW was installed. PV installations with a capacity of between 300 and 750kW, for which developers can opt between a lower FIT or the auction scheme, totaled only 12.7MW in January.
• As a result of the strong growth registered in the past months, all the FITs for PV installations will be reduced by another 1.4% and will range from €0.0653 to €0.0496/kWh, depending on the system size. For other systems up to 100 kW in size, there is a fixed FIT of €0.046/kWh.

https://www.pv-magazine.de/2022/02/28/photovoltaik-zubau-im-januar-bei-knapp-420-megawatt/

Germany aims for 100% renewables by 2035

• The German government wants to cover Germany’s entire electricity supply with green electricity by 2035. This goal would greatly support the uptake of electric mobility.
• According to the coalition agreement revealed in November last year,?a share of 80 per cent renewable energy was planned by 2030 . Now, a corresponding amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) with initial targets and measures for accelerated expansion has entered the departmental consultation process.
• The EEG amendment was not only drafted against the background of climate protection but is also supposed to make Germany less dependent on energy imports – especially from Russia, given the current taut geopolitical situation with the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.?“This not only benefits climate protection but also makes us independent of Putin’s gas, oil and coal,” tweeted Oliver Krischer, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. Russia provides around half Germany’s gas and coal, although this can apparently fluctuate from month to month. Even more relevant to Germany’s transport industry is that Germany gets around 35% of its oil from Russia too.
• The German government wants solar power plants with a capacity of 200 GW to be built by 2030, which would correspond to four times the amount produced today. In order to achieve these goals, numerous measures are planned, from higher subsidy rates for solar systems on private house roofs to the promotion of solar systems on fields and the abolition of caps on subsidy levels.
• In addition, the German green electricity levy for electricity consumers is to be abolished as of 1 July. According to the bill, energy suppliers are to be required to pass on the savings of 3.7 cents per kilowatt-hour in full to consumers. This could lower the price of electricity – and thus the charging of electric cars – at least in the short term.
• Initial criticism of the proposed law has already been voiced – most pertinently that the paper did not cover the need for energy storage facilities.?

Official statistics say France deployed 2.8GW of PV in 2021

• France's?Ministry of Ecological Transition ?has published new statistics for solar and wind energy deployment for 2021.
• The figures show that the country, at the end of December, reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of 13.99GW, of which 13.33GW are located in mainland France.
• The ministry also reported that new PV systems with a combined capacity of 2,792MW were connected to the French grid last year, which compares to 1,192MW a year earlier. Last year's newly installed capacity was also over 100MW higher than?that predicted by French renewable energy association SER in mid-February .
• This very strong increase can be explained by an increase in the number of installations in general and of utility scale projects in particular. In fact, around?66%?of the newly installed power comes from installations of more than 250kW, which only represent less than 1% of the number of new connections.?Smaller installations, of less than 9kW, account for 83% of the number of newly connected units and 7% of new power.
• As of December 31, the aggregate capacity of queued solar projects with a grid-connection request reached 11.52GW, of which 9.38GW is for projects exceeding 250kW in size.
• The ministry also revealed that all the PV systems were able to generate 14.8TWh of electricity in France last year. This was enough to cover around 3.1% of total power demand.

Italy speeds up permits for solar up to 200kW, allocates €267 million for rebates

• The Italian government has published a new package of measures, the?DL Energia decree , in order to reduce energy bills for Italian households and businesses.
• The new provisions include an extreme simplification of permits to install commercial rooftop PV systems with a capacity of between 50kW and 200kW, which in Italy are allowed to operate under the country's net metering scheme, known as the “Scambio sul posto .”
• From May, enterprises will only be allowed to begin the deployment of a rooftop solar array by using just one application form. The so-called “Modello Unico Semplificato” form is commonly used for ordinary building maintenance. This procedure was previously only granted to owners of PV systems with installed capacities of up to 50kW.
• The Italian government has also decided to allocate €267 million ($294 million) to help small- and medium-sized enterprises to deploy PV systems for self-consumption. The funds will be used for rebates that will help businesses cover some of the costs to buy and install the solar arrays.
• Fiscal sweeteners will also be granted to enterprises operating in the southern Italian regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardegna and Sicilia. The incentives will be provided to companies that decide to reduce their energy bills by investing in solar or energy efficiency.

Spain: Solar photovoltaic increased its production by 69.1% compared to February 2021

• The national electricity demand for the month of February is estimated at 20,190 GWh, a figure very similar to that registered in the same month of 2021 (20,182 GWh)?and which does not represent a variation with respect to February of last year.
• In the month of February, and according to data estimated to date,?generation from renewable energy sources represented 39% of production?.?
• Solar?photovoltaics?, the fourth technology in the mix with a share of 7.8%,?has increased its production by 69.1% compared to February 2021, to 1,647 GWh?.
• In the peninsular electricity system, the demand for February is estimated at 19,100 GWh, 0.6% lower than that registered in 2021.?
• In the Balearic Islands, the demand for electrical energy in this month is estimated at 398,464 MWh, 10.2% higher than the registered in February 2021.

Belgium hits 7GW milestone

• Belgium installed around 850MW of new PV systems last year, according to new figures released by the Belgian association Energie Commune, which was formerly known as Association belge pour la Promotion des Energies Renouvelables (APERe). For comparison, the newly installed PV capacities for?2020 ,?2019 , and 2018, were 1,146MW, 817MW, and 445MW, respectively.
• With last year's new additions, Belgium reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of over 7GW. According to Belgian grid operator Elia, solar was able to produce more than 7TWh of power last year, thus covering?about 8% of total electricity consumption in Belgium, which in 2021 reached 85 TWh.
• In solar, as in other sectors, we observe that the potential candidates for the construction of solar installations on their roofs are often individual owners who have made savings, having deprived themselves of travel.?Many of them therefore think of investing the 4 to 8,000 € necessary for the construction of a photovoltaic solar installation on their roof.?Thus, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, households have made savings on their large purchases and trips and there is a doubling of residential installations in Wallonia in 2021 compared to 2020.
• In addition, soaring electricity prices have rekindled interest in solar power, enabling its user to secure, for at least 25 years, access to local, clean energy at a constant low cost.?Indeed, the cost linked to the consumption of its own production is today 2 to 3 times lower than the price of energy that comes from the network, enough to secure 30 to 50% of its electricity bill for 25 years.?And despite a slight increase in the price of solar panels, in the global inflationary context, the economic interest of solar is even greater than a year ago.

Source: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/02/28/belgium-hits-7gw-milestone/

Hungary launches fifth renewables auction

• The?Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (HEPURA) has launched the nation’s?fifth auction for procuring renewable energy generation capacity .
• The regulator expects to contract around 864 GWh of renewable energy in the procurement exercise, of which?144?GWh?should be contracted from renewable energy plants ranging in size from 5 to 20 MW and around 720 GWh from facilities with a capacity between 20 and 50 MW. For comparison, in the third auction held in December 2021, HEPURA contracted a total of 299 GWh.
• Under the fourth procurement exercise, HEPURA will award feed-in premium payments – on top of wholesale electricity returns – during 15-year contracts. Bids will have to be submitted between March 25 and March 28. The auction is part of the METAR-KáT renewables incentive program introduced by the Hungarian government in 2017.
• “The first three rounds of METAR auctions allowed connecting an additional 524 MW solar capacity to the Hungarian grid, where the fourth round supported 135 MW of existing hydropower and biomass capacities,” Hungarian renewable energy specialist Ferenc Kis told?pv magazine. “The latter competition allowed only 20 days to prepare the bids, and the winners of the four projects got a weighted price of €100/MWh. The present call announced today limits the bidding price to €71/MWh and €65/MWh in the two categories. This time, there is a requirement to provide battery storage capacity at 10% of the planned power production unit.”
• In the?third exercise , HEPURA contracted 299 GW and allocated 183 MW of PV capacity.?

Unsubsidized utility scale solar changing shape of Danish PV market

• Denmark deployed around 667.6MW of new PV capacity in 2021, according to new figures provided by the Danish PV association Solcelleforening.
• “Around 94% of this capacity comes from utility scale solar plants built without subsidies,” Flemming Vejby Kristensen, from the Danish trade body, said. “And the remaining share is mainly represented by commercial and industrial PV systems.”
• According to provisional numbers provided by Solcelleforening, large scale solar accounted for 631.2MW of the solar power installed last year while industrial and commercial installations reached 22.6MW and residential arrays reached a total 13.8MW. For comparison, in 2020 Denmark deployed a total of 244MW, of which 202.6MW were for utility scale projects. “In 2022 and 2023, we may see even a bigger growth,” Vejby Kristensen added. “And grid-parity PV plants will still have the lion's share, despite rising modules prices.”
• According to him, in fact, the LCOE of PV plants is not rising as much as panel and inverter prices and the fundamentals of building more solar parks without subsidies remain strong.
• Referring to the rooftop segment, Vejby Kristensen explained that current net metering rules are ensuring some good development levels, especially for commercial and industrial projects. “The current electricity prices have significantly reduced payback time for rooftop PV arrays and more growth should materialize this and next year,” he also stated, noting that?current incentives for heat pumps ?may also become a driver for more volumes in the residential segment. “The Danish government is pushing for more heating powered by renewables.”

Ukrainian energy company restarts grid generation from its solar parks

• Three solar parks of Ukrainian energy company?DTEK ?in the country this morning started to generate power for the national grid again as restrictions on the operation of clean energy facilities began to be lifted.
• Renewables plants ?have not generated power for the Ukrainian grid since state-owned electricity transmission system operator?Ukrenergo ?ordered them to be powered down on Thursday, for a three-day trial of running the grid in isolation from the power systems of Russia and Belarus.
• That grid isolation exercise was part of a plan to eventually link the Ukrainian grid with the pan-European network overseen by EU body the?European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity , a DTEK spokesperson said.
• After the trial concluded, on Sunday, the Ukrainian?Ministry of Energy ?decided to continue to operate the national grid in isolation mode, meaning renewables facilities in the nation had to remain powered down.
• However, DTEK told?pv magazine?today that restriction has begun to be lifted, for the first time since Russia invaded the country a week ago, with the spokesperson stating: “As of the morning of March 1, DTEK RES [Renewables] solar power plants?Trifonovskaya ,?Nikopolskaya , [and]?Pokrovskaya ?[have begun] to gain load and supply electricity to the grid due to the gradual lifting of restrictions by NPC [National Power Company] Ukrenergo.”

Romanian developer seeks EPC contractor for 134MW PV project

• Romanian solar project developer Ruserio Solar has launched a?tender ?to seek EPC contractors for a 134MW solar park in the Bucsani municipality, near Bucharest, in central Romania.
• The plant will be located close to grid infrastructure and is expected to occupy a surface of 150 hectares.
• The developer said it wants to utilize 234,984 bifacial solar modules with each having a power output of 570W; central inverters with a power output of 6.25MW; and fixed steel mounting structures.
• Interested contractors will have until March 31 to submit their proposals.
• “We are currently in talks with potential off-takers to ensure that at least 50% of the power generated by the facility is sold under private purchase agreements,” a spokesperson from the company told?pv magazine.

Egypt Plans To Start $1.5 Billion Solar Desalination Project

• Egypt is planning to start a Solar Desalination project and once the plant is completed, it will be one of the largest such projects in the world. The companies involved in this are Scatec, Orascom Construction, and Metito Holdings Limited.
• The total cost of the project will be around $1.5 billion with a $2.5 billion initiative for building more renewable energy by 2025. The consortium will also build 400 MWs of solar power plants. This plant will produce 1 million to 2 million cubic meters of water every day.
• The country’s main source of fresh water is the Nile River. Egypt needs around 114 billion cubic meters of water for its population but it can only generate half of the required amount. Instead of producing food, it exports food for saving water.
• The country wants to generate 20% of its electricity from renewable energy with the help of this solar plant.
• Metito has incorporated 60 years ago and now it has become one of the leading and most dynamic global providers of water and wastewater treatment solutions.

Details on the 1000 MW solar tender launched in Algeria

• On December 29, 2021 ?, the Algerian Ministry of Energy Transition and Renewable Energies, through the Algerian Renewable Energies Company (SHAEMS), launched?the Solar1000 MW tender ?.?This consists of identifying operators responsible for the construction and operation of several photovoltaic solar power plants with a total capacity of 1000 MW, the construction of evacuation facilities and the connection of these power plants to the national electricity grid, as well as the marketing of the energy produced from these power stations.?Candidates have until April 30, 2022 to send their Technical and Financial Offers.
• SHAEMS has identified and reserved potential land corresponding to each power plant, whose injection points for the energy to be produced have been confirmed.?The installation of the power plants will be done mainly in the direction of the regions of the southern wilayas, namely, Bechar, Megha?r, El Oued, Touggourt and Ouargla, on these sites.
• Each candidate may bid for one or more lots totaling a maximum cumulative capacity of 300 MW.?The electricity produced will be marketed through an Electricity Sale and Purchase Agreement (PPA), concluded for an operating period of 25 years for each of the power plants.
• Furthermore, the tenderers have the obligation to use the maximum of local Algerian goods and services for the construction and operation and maintenance of power plants and external Interconnection devices.?

02 APAC

Solar PPA business on the rise in Japan

• Sumitomo, Sunseap and Shikoku Electric are partnering to offer bilateral PPAs to big power consumers in Japan. The consortium will operate through a dedicated joint venture and will offer three different PPA options.
• Through the joint venture Sun Trinity LLC, the three companies will seek to bring solar power to big electricity consumers via four different kinds of bilateral agreements.
• Type 1: through an on-site PPA, power is sold to consumers via installations operated by Sun Trinity and located on rooftops and other locations on the premises of electricity consumers.
• Type 2: through an off-site PPA, the joint venture sells power to the buyer via solar plants that are located outside the consumer's premises and feed their power into the grid.
• Type 3: through a virtual power plant (VPP) business module, distributed solar energy and storage resources are managed virtually to provide power grid services.
• Type 4: through an energy service companies (ESCO) model, the joint venture provides energy services to final users, including the installation of a PV system, the deployment of energy efficiency equipment, and building refurbishment.

Indian state of Rajasthan to host 1.8GW of new solar

• The Indian state of Rajasthan, with 10.6 GW of installed solar power capacity, has announced plans to build an 800MW solar park in Jaisalmer with Rajasthan Power Generation Corp. Rajasthan Solar Park Development Co. has also revealed plans to build a 1,000MW solar park in Bikaner.
• Rajasthan has already developed the?world’s largest solar park ?with a 2.245GW of capacity in Bhadla, Jodhpur district.?Similarly, Renewable Energy Corp.?is developing a?925MW solar park ?in Jaisalmer district.
• Rajasthan official Subodh Agarwal said the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has issued approvals to develop the 800MW solar park in Jaisalmer via Rajasthan Power Generation Corp. and a 1,000MW solar park in Bikaner via Rajasthan Solar Park Development Co.

India adds 10GW of solar PV in 2021, brings total installed capacity to 49GW

• India added more than 10GW of solar PV in 2021 as the country hit a cumulative installed solar capacity of 49GW by the end of the year, according to research firm Mercom India Research’s latest update on India’s solar sector.
• Of the 10GW Mercom said was added in 2021, about 8.5GW was utility-scale solar, with the country’s large-scale project pipeline currently standing at 53GW.
• As of Q4 2021, about 27.7GW of solar projects were tendered and are pending auction, Mercom said.
• Solar PV represented 62% of new power capacity additions, said the report, and accounted for roughly 12.4% of India’s total installed power capacity by the end of last year.
• Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh account for more than two-thirds of all solar deployment in India.
• The deployment in the country was faltering ?as high module prices impact project construction.
• India introduces a Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on solar cells and modules from April 2022.

Vietnam Will Cut Excess PV Generation While Raising Share of Offshore Wind in Its Energy Mix

• On February 26, the Government Office of Vietnam issued a communiqué from Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh stating that the country’s Eighth Power Plan (a.k.a. Power Development Master Plan VIII (PDP8) for 2021-2030) will undergo further adjustments.
• The government now wants to reduce excess PV generation so that there is room for offshore wind generation in the country’s energy mix.
• Earlier this January, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade announced that no new generation capacity based on solar PV and wind power is to be incorporated into the country’s grid system during this year due to the existing infrastructure bottleneck.
• According to a proposal put forth by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in late February, the planned domestic generation capacity between now and 2030 is set at 146,000MW, which is a reduction of 9,000MW from the original plan released last November. Looking ahead to 2045, the Ministry forecasts that the planned domestic generation capacity will total 352,000MW. Furthermore, the Ministry expects solar PV to comprise around 25% of the domestic generation capacity in the 2031-2045 period.

Australia: Victoria slashes rooftop solar feed-in tariff by another 22 per cent

• Victoria’s energy regulator has made another cut to the state’s solar feed-in tariff, confirming this week that the minimum rate retailers would be directed to pay households for their excess rooftop PV would fall from its current level of 6.7c/kWh to 5.2c/kWh, starting in July.
• The 22 per cent cut to the FiT, which was flagged by the Essential Services Commission?in a draft determination in December , continues the downward march in the value being placed on daytime rooftop solar exports in all states on the National Electricity Market.
• According to this ESC chart, Victoria currently offers the highest minimum FiT of any of the NEM states (i.e. not including WA and the NT).
• The final minimum flat feed-in tariff of 5.2 cents per kilowatt hour is 22 per cent lower than the current tariff of 6.7 cents per kilowatt hour.

Regional Queensland Braces For Power Price Hike

• A draft determination from the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) indicates regional Queenslanders will be paying more for electricity in 2022/23 – and big business will be hit particularly hard.
• The QCA released its?draft determination ?on regulated retail electricity prices for regional Queensland to apply in 2022–23 on Friday. While not yet set in stone, the draft determination indicates the following:
• Typical customers on the main residential tariffs (tariffs 11, 31 and 33) are expected to pay around 4.2% to 6.5% more for their electricity in 2022–23.
• Typical customers on the main small business tariff (tariff 20) are expected to pay around 4.5% more.
• Typical large business customers on tariffs (44, 45 or 46) are expected to pay around 9.9% to 13.6% more.

03 AMER

Chile approves and publishes the National Electromobility Strategy

• Chile already has a national electromobility strategy: With Exempt Resolution No. 8/2022, said strategy is approved and published in the Official Gazette, whose objective is to establish strategic axes, as well as specific measures and goals that allow the accelerated and sustainable development of electromobility in Chile. the country.
• Among the goals, it is highlighted that by 2035, 100% of the sales of light and medium vehicles will be zero emissions;?100% of public transport sales (buses, taxis and groups) will be zero emissions;?and 100% of sales of major mobile machinery will be zero emissions.?All this will directly benefit people's quality of life.
• In October 2021, the document underwent a public consultation process, with the aim of receiving comments from citizens, academia and industry.?In January 2022, its final version was published, available on the electromobility platform of the Ministry of Energy.
• This resolution establishes that the Ministry of Energy will be in charge of leading the implementation of the strategy, monitoring it and updating it every five years.
• On the other hand, the Ministry of Energy will create an Advisory Commission to advise it in the processes of updating the Strategy.?The Commission will be convened every 5 years in order to carry out the five-year review of the strategy.
• The Undersecretary of Energy, Francisco López, stressed that "this strategy was built on the basis of a participatory process that had the collaboration of an advisory commission, technical committees, interministerial meetings and public and private workshops," he said.

Source: https://www.pv-magazine-latam.com/2022/03/01/chile-aprueba-y-publica-la-estrategia-nacional-de-electromovilidad/

The initiative that allows the participation of pure storage systems in the Chilean electricity market is underway

• Unanimously, the Chamber of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile approved and sent to the Senate the project that promotes the storage of electrical energy and electromobility, corresponding to bulletin No. 14,731-08.
• The main idea of the proposal is to promote the development of electrical energy storage systems and electromobility, and is specified with the development of measures to promote the participation of pure storage systems in the electricity market.?It also contemplates how to enable the connection of infrastructure that combines generation and consumption, as well as temporarily lowering the circulation permit for electric vehicles and authorizing new business models for electromobility.
• Regarding electromobility, incentives are proposed for the purchase of electric vehicles and a temporary reduction in the circulation permit for electric vehicles, so that their value is similar to that of equivalent vehicles.?The rebate percentage decreases for a period of six years.
• The scope of those who can participate in the electricity market is also extended to electric vehicles, such as storage equipment, and they are allowed to inject energy into the network and be paid.?This increases the profitability of your purchase.

Brazil exceeds 14 photovoltaic GW in operation

• If at the beginning of January we announced that?solar reached 13 GW in Brazil, ?in less than 2 months it has just surpassed the historical mark of 14 GW of operating power of the photovoltaic solar source, adding the large plants and our own generation systems of electrical energy on roofs, facades and small lots.?Thus, the solar source exceeds the installed capacity of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, according to Absolar's mapping.
• Brazil has 4.7 GW of installed capacity in large solar plants, which is equivalent to 2.4% of the country's electrical matrix.?Since 2012, the large solar plants have contributed to Brazil more than 25.1 billion reais in new investments and more than 142,000 accumulated jobs, in addition to providing a collection of 7.9 billion reais to the public coffers.
• Currently, large solar plants are the sixth largest source of generation in Brazil and are present in all regions of the country, with projects in operation in nineteen Brazilian states and a portfolio of 31.6 GW granted for their development.
• According to the entity's analysis, the sector expects an accelerated growth this year of solar systems in operation in Brazil, especially of self-generated solar systems, as a result of the increase in electricity rates and the entry into force of the Law 14,300/2022, which created the legal framework for self-generation of energy.

Record in the Distributed Generation during 2021?In the U.S.

• PV system installers installed 5.4 GW under the small-scale scheme in the United States during 2021, an increase of 1 GW from the previous year.
• More than half of the additional capacity was generated in the "ten sunniest states" in the southwestern and western United States.
• The Energy Information Administration considers a photovoltaic installation of less than 1 MW as small-scale.
• The state of Colorado added the most power relative to its population: 45 watts of capacity per capita.
• The most 'shining'?entities?after Colorado are: Arizona, California, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont and Nevada, all adding around 40 watts per capita.
• Twelve states added less than a fifth of that amount of small-scale PV per capita in 2021, and an additional ten states added less than a tenth of that amount.
• That's despite having good solar potential, as nearly every state has at least 70 percent of the radiation found in desert areas of the American Southwest.
• Hawaii held one of the leaders in small-scale power installed base per capita, reaching 521 watts per capita.

Source: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/03/01/us-added-5-4gw-of-small-scale-pv-last-year/

US solar generation up 25% in 2021, renewables’ share of power mix set to exceed coal in 2022

Solar power generation in the US rose by 25.23% in 2021, making it the country’s fastest-growing source of electricity, while renewables accounted for 21.02% of all electricity and look set to surpass coal in terms of total production in 2022.

The EIA now expects renewables’ share of US electrical generation to exceed 22% this year and surpass that of coal.

In November, a Sun Day Campaign analysis showed that the first nine months of?2021 saw US utility-scale solar additions reach 8,410MW ?–?a 38% increase on the same period in 2020 – but the EIA expects 21.8GW of new utility-scale solar capacity and 4.4GW of small-scale solar capacity to come online in 2022. It also predicts 7.6GW of new wind capacity to come online this year.

Taken together, solar and wind grew by 15.96% in 2021 and accounted for more than one-eighth (13.05%) of US electrical generation – wind stood at 9.12%, while solar was at 3.93%.

Solar and wind combined now provide more than three-fifths (62.08%) of the generation by renewable sources as they?continue to outstrip all other renewable growth in the US .

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has called for?solar to reach 30% of?all?US electricity generation by 2030 , which it said would require the solar sector to deploy more than 700GWdc over the next decade to have nearly 850GWdc?of installed capacity.

Growing from three up to twenty gigawatts of solar power – Massachusetts seeks guidance

A request for proposals for the?Consulting Services for the Massachusetts Technical Potential of Solar Study ?has been released by the state’s Department of Energy & Resources (DOER). The purpose of the document is to help guide the state in policy creation as it moves toward a required additional 2GW of solar power by 2030. It is estimated that fully decarbonizing the state by 2050 will require a total deployment of 10 to 20 gigawatts.

The request for proposal (RFP), released last Tuesday, gives potential respondents until March 16 to formulate and submit questions. Following the DOER’s response to those questions, a quote for services will be due on April 13, 2022 by 4 p.m. EST. Winners will be notified the following month, with the contract to be signed soon thereafter. The work will begin in June of this year.

The project is expected to be completed by June 30, 2023. The DOER has set a maximum price of $150,000 for the services.

Massachusetts currently has greater than 100,000 individual solar power facilities installed. Those facilities will soon be complemented by a massive amount of wind and energy storage.

Recent bids have secured more than 5GW of offshore wind, including 2.4 to 2.6GW to be developed by Avangrid Renewables, and another 2.5GW to be developed by Vineyard Wind.

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