Australia

Evergen, a solar and battery optimization provider, and Solar Service Group, a solar battery supplier, have partnered up to form a network consisting of thousands of residential batteries across Australia. The two companies are hopeful that this move could cut the power bills for Australians and facilitate the adoption of clean energy.

China

Shanghai

Huaneng Power International has unveiled the results of its tender for photovoltaic modules and inverters, which are required for Luojing solar power station. Hefei JA Solar Technology won the bid with a unit price of US$0.30/W (RMB2.10/W). Digital China (Shenzhen) has won the bid for inverters at a unit price of US$0.03/W (RMB0.185/W).

Inner Mongolia

China General Nuclear Power Group has decided to award the Project 1 (100 MWp) from the Dalad Banner Forerunner PV base projects to China Construction Power and Environment Engineering, which will be the EPC contractor (Phase 2).

Shanxi

China General Nuclear Power Group has unveiled the results of its tender for a 50-MWp PV project construction in Ningwu (Shanxi). The top 1 and 2 successful candidates for EPC contractors are Shanghai Electric and Powerchina Guizhou Engineering, respectively.

Germany

Germany’s Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) has approved the amended climate package. The changes in the current version include

• The governments of the 16 federal states will receive compensation for the decrease in their tax revenue
• The CO2 price is increased from US$11 (€10) per metric ton (2,205 pounds) to US$27.9 (€25) per metric ton.
• The train tickets will be 10% cheaper on account of sales tax reductions.

India

The Modi administration is reportedly studying the possibility of abolishing carbon tax on coal, according to a report from Reuters. The current rates of the carbon tax on coal production and imports are US$5.61 (400 rupees) per ton. This move could make coal a stronger competitor to renewable energy.

Singapore

Singapore’s Housing & Development Board (HDB) is committed to reaching the solar target of 2GWp by 2030, which was announced by the Government in 2019.

HDB has increased its goal from 220 MWp to 540 MWp and issued a 60 MWp tender, which is the 5th round of tender under the SolarNova Programme.

The project is expected to generate 648 GWh of solar energy, which can power approximately 135,000 apartments with 4 bedrooms and, by estimation, decrease the carbon emissions by 324,000 tonnes (714,297,722 pounds) per year.

Taiwan

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has announced its revised FiT rates in last December.

• Green Energy Roof projects get a 3% tariff increase
• Solar-powered playgrounds get a 6% tariff increase
• The PV projects, in which the PV modules certified as high efficiency are deployed, get a 6% tariff increase.
• Rooftop PV projects in the remote areas or lands inhabited by indigenous people get a 1% tariff increase

The United States

The president of the Florida Municipal Power Association Jacob Williams would like the municipal utilities in Florida to increase the fixed rates, no matter how much or little power they are consuming.

He argues that this is because the consumers are installing solar modules at home. And he is not interested in doing business with net-metering solar customers.

If Williams is successful in his proposal, customers would need to pay as much as US$50 per month, as reported by PV magazine.