Weekly Review

1. Virginia passes law to allow third-party solar financing

The Virginia General Assembly has passed a bill to allow rooftop solar leasing with a third party in the state, and prohibit customers from being required to provide proof of liability insurance as a prerequisite for interconnection.?The law, which will come into effect on 1 July 2024, also states that customers that generate their own electricity and use battery energy storage systems (BESS) alongside their generator won't have to pay standby charges.

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2. US DOE to award US$20 million in funding for solar cells and cadmium telluride research

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a funding opportunity worth up to US$20 million through the 2024 Photovoltaics Research and Development initiative.?The funding is open to applications from groups, which have been encouraged to join the DOE's ‘teaming partner list’ to collaborate with other applicants and launch joint proposals for funding. Carried out by the US DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), the DOE expects to allocate funding to between eight and 15 projects, with each to receive $1-4 million. The deadline to submit a letter of intent has been set to 12 June 2024.

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3. South Africa first projects from REIPPPP round 6 reach commercial close

The first two solar PV projects from the sixth round of South Africa's state renewable energy tender – representing 360MW capacity – have been approved and reached commercial close.?In a public statement, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said that the Virginia and Doornhoek solar projects had signed project agreements and reached commercial close as of 30 April.

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4. Germany awards 2.2GW of ground-mount solar capacity in latest auction

The German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has announced the winners of the government's most recent tender for new solar projects, with 2.2GW of ground-mounted projects receiving approval.

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The auction round ended on 1 March, and saw the government award significantly more capacity than in earlier auctions, with the Bundesnetzagentur offering 326 bids with 2.2GW of capacity, up from 1.6GW in the previous round in December 2023. Even this expanded offering was oversubscribed, with developers making 569 bids and 4.1GW of total power capacity submitted, meaning that almost half of the applications, by capacity, did not translate to successful bids.

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5. Philippines to add 2GW of installed solar capacity in 2024

The Philippines will add approximately 1.99GW of solar capacity this year, according to the Philippines’ Department of Energy (DOE).?The DOE announced that at least 4.16GW of power projects will come online this year from a mix of renewable and conventional sources. Of this total capacity, 1.99GW will be from solar projects. The DOE said about 966.3MW will be operational by June, while about 494.9MW are under testing and commissioning and can already inject energy into the grid.