Weekly Review
PV market news this week：
1. Spain Authorises Construction of 25GW of?Solar PV Capacity
The Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITECO) has authorised the construction of nearly 25GW of solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
The combined capacity for solar PV totals 24,870MW and is split across 239 projects. MITECO provided Administrative Construction Authorisations (AAC in Spanish) to a total of 283 renewable power projects, of which solar accounted for 90% of the contracted capacity. The ministry overviews projects with a capacity higher than 50MW or are located in several autonomous regions.
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2. US Bureau of Land Management Advances 6.2GW of Solar Projects
The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is pursuing the development of nine solar PV projects with a combined capacity of over 6.2GW.
The flagship development is the Esmerelda 7 solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) project, which comprises seven utility-scale solar facilities with a combined 5.35GW of generation capacity. The sites would be deployed on 118,000 acres of public lands in Nevada, near the historic mining town of Tonopah. All of the seven sites would be paired with BESS, though the BLM did not disclose the storage capacity or duration.
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3. Solar and Wind Generation Exceeds Fossil Fuels in the First Half of 2024
Solar and wind power accounted for 30% of the EU's electricity generation in the first half of 2024, exceeding the contribution of fossil fuels in the first six months of the year.
This is according to the latest report from Ember Climate, which notes that fossil fuels accounted for 27% of the EU's electricity generation in the first half of the year, a 17% decline over the first half of 2023. This fall was led by coal, which fell by 24%, equal to 39TWh, and gas, which fell by 14%, equal to 29TWh.
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4. Spain Publishes Guidance on €750 Million?Renewables and Storage Manufacturing Scheme
The Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITECO) has published the regulatory basis for the €750 million (US$812 million) incentive scheme for renewables and energy storage manufacturing.
The funds will be provided through Spain's recovery and resilience plan (PRTR) and aim to incentivise the production of equipment and components for solar panels, batteries and electrolysers, among other technologies. The Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE in Spanish) will be in charge of the programme, with the auction starting soon, although a concrete date has not been disclosed yet.
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5. Australia: NEM Connection Applications Rise by 43% YoY, Solar Ranks Second
The Australian Electricity Market Operator (AEMO) has found that projects seeking to connect to the National Electricity Market (NEM) in Australia rose to 43GW in June 2024, a 43% increase year-on-year (YoY).
According to the organisation's June connections scorecard, the number of projects looking to connect to the NEM, which spans south and east Australia, has sharply risen in the past year. This is primarily due to prospective large-scale renewable energy generation projects looking to contribute to the country's decarbonisation journey.
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6. UK Installs 647 MW of?Solar in H1
More solar capacity was added to the UK generation mix in the first three months of 2024 than all other renewables combined, according to the latest quarterly report from the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
DESNZ's quarterly energy report reveals that solar accounted for 60% of newly installed renewables capacity in the first quarter of 2024. To the end of June 2024, provisional data from DESNZ record solar capacity of 16.9 GW across 1,595,916 installations.
Solar capacity at the end of June 2024 was 1.3 GW higher than at the end of June 2023. At the halfway point of 2024, 647 MW of newly installed capacity was recorded, compared to 577 MW for the same period in 2023.
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7. US Senate Committee Moves forward on Energy Permitting Reform Act
The US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has received strong bipartisan support for the Energy Permitting Reform Act (EPRA) of 2024.?On 31 July, the Committee voted 15-4 in favour of the legislation, which brings it a step closer to becoming law.
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