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Taiwanese government to plead case against trade duties to EC
Oct 2, 2015 | PV Tech
By John Parnell
The Taiwanese government is preparing to plead its case to the European Commission as it looks to avoid the imposition of trade duties on its solar products. -
IEA: Renewable to add more than 700 GW of capacity by 2020
Oct 2, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Jonathan Gifford
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015 today, in which is predicts strong growth for renewable energy globally, driven by technology cost reductions. The IEA anticipates renewables accounting for two-thirds of net additions to generating capacity globally -
COP21: IEA urges strong deal in Paris to accelerate renewables growth
Oct 2, 2015 | PV Tech
By Ben Willis
The International Energy Agency has called for a strong agreement at the COP21 climate talks in Paris later this year as the best means of accelerating renewable energy deployment beyond current projections. -
India commits to 40% clean power by 2030
Oct 2, 2015 | See News Renewables
By Ivan Shumkov
India has committed to source 40% of its electricity from non-fossil fuel based sources by 2030, raising this share from just 13% presently, according to its proposed climate action plan. -
UK: 27,000 solar jobs could go if FIT cut proposals are enacted
Oct 2, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Ian Clover
An estimated 27,000 of the 35,000 jobs in the U.K. solar industry and its related supply chain could be lost should the government enact its proposals to slash the feed-in tariff (FIT) by 87%, the Solar Trade Association (STA) has warned.
Industry News
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Taiwanese government to plead case against trade duties to EC
Oct 2, 2015 | PV Tech
By John Parnell
The Taiwanese government is preparing to plead its case to the European Commission as it looks to avoid the imposition of trade duties on its solar products.
An official told a sitting of the territory’s legislature that while one Taiwanese firm was found to have been labelling solar products from mainland China with ‘Made in Taiwan’, the majority of firms were abiding by international trade rules. It will soon be putting this case to the European Commission.
The European Commission opened an investigation into solar products imported from Malaysia and Taiwan after SolarWorld, the German company behind the European complaint over alleged dumping by Chinese firms, provided sufficient evidence of changing trade patterns and that existing measures – namely the price undertaking – were being “undermined”.
According to a report by Focus Taiwan, legislator Yang Chiung-ying said Taiwan had never been involved in any illegal trade activity while acknowledging one isolated incident.
The Taiwanese authorities now plan to present Brussels with evidence that it claims will demonstrate this.
SolarWorld had alleged that Chinese manufacturers were circumventing trade duties and the restrictive price undertaking agreement in place with Europe, via Malaysia and Taiwan. Possible methods for circumvention include transhipping completed products through a third territory or completing negligible parts of the manufacturing process in a third country.
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/taiwanese_government_to_plead_case_against_trade_duties_to_ec
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IEA: Renewable to add more than 700 GW of capacity by 2020
Oct 2, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Jonathan Gifford
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015 today, in which is predicts strong growth for renewable energy globally, driven by technology cost reductions. The IEA anticipates renewables accounting for two-thirds of net additions to generating capacity globally.
Adding in excess of 700 GW, renewable sources will increase share in global electricity generation from 22% in 2013 up to 26% by 2020, in what the IEA describes as a “remarkable shift in a very limited period of time.”
Solar looks set to play a key role in renewable deployment in this period, being the second-largest source of new capacity, behind onshore wind.
While the forecast may paint a positive picture for renewable deployment, crucially the IEA expects the renewable deployment trend to slow towards 2020, due to a range of factors. The IEA cites “persistent policy and market integration uncertainties in some areas, notably Europe and Japan,” along with financing challenges and integration issues in developing countries as the major constraining factors.
Because of these factors, IEA believes the level of renewable deployment in its main case forecast will fall short of what is required to effectively meet climate change goals.
Geographically, the IEA anticipates that in OECD countries almost all generation capacity additions will be in the form of renewables. China will be the leading nation in terms of reneawable deployment, itself accounting for 40% of global renewable capacity growth, followed by the EU and the U.S.
Beyond the OECD, renewable deployment in India and Brazil are anticipated to accelerate, with Egypt, Thailand and the Middle East also showing positive signs. Despite this, the IEA notes that “market access barriers, grid constraints, policy and market design, or the cost of availability of financing,” will limit deployment in these markets.
Solar PV is predicted to make a major impact in Sub-Saharan African nations, where renewables are forecast to meet two-thirds of the growth in demand for power. The IEA notes: “affordable small scale solar PV can help access in rural areas and improve electricity provision in urban zones, where grid connected power is not always reliable.”
Affordable renewables are set to dominate the emerging power systems of the world,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “With excellent hydro, solar and wind resources, improving cost-effectiveness and policy momentum, renewables can play a critical role in supporting economic growth and energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa, meeting almost two-thirds of the region’s new demand needs over the next five years.”
In the accelerated case the IEA plots, renewable deployment could be 25% higher than in the main case. The IEA notes that a “supportive outcome” from the forthcoming COP21 climate negotiations in Paris “could create a virtuous cycle for renewable deployment.”
The IEA Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015 was released at G20 Energy Ministers Meeting.
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/iea--renewable-to-add-more-than-700-gw-of-capacity-by-2020_100021342/#ixzz3nPxYZ3am
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COP21: IEA urges strong deal in Paris to accelerate renewables growth
Oct 2, 2015 | PV Tech
By Ben Willis
The International Energy Agency has called for a strong agreement at the COP21 climate talks in Paris later this year as the best means of accelerating renewable energy deployment beyond current projections.
The IEA’s ‘Medium-Term Renewable Energy Report 2015’ forecasts renewable energy to be the single biggest source of electricity growth between now and 2020, driven by falling costs and “aggressive” deployment in emerging markets.
By 2020, the IEA’s conservative estimate is that renewable energy will account for two-thirds of all new power generation, taking its total share of global capacity from 22% today to 26% in 2020. PV will account for one-third of this deployment, only narrowly missing out to offshore wind as the fastest-growing renewable energy source over the next five years, according to the IEA.
But the IEA said its "main case" forecast was “not as fast as it could be” and would fall short of what is needed to put renewables on track to meet longer term climate change objectives.
Its report goes on to outline an “accelerated case” for renewables, in which “enhanced” policies would be put in place to drive an additional 25% growth in renewables.
The IEA said policy areas requiring greater clarity and coherence included the fate of the investment tax credit and the implementation of the Clean Energy Plan in the US, clearer policies on grid integration of renewables in areas such as Japan and Europe and “fair” rate design rules for PV in the US and Europe.
“Policies to spur an accelerated renewable growth profile, as described here, would put the global power system on a firmer path to limit the long-term global average temperature increase to 2°C,” the IEA report said, adding that a supportive outcome from the COP21 talks in Paris could create a “virtuous cycle” for renewable deployment.
With the right policy support, the IEA estimates annual global investment in renewables could reach US$315 billiion by 2020, helping increase deployment by 25% on top of its main case scenario.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said: “Renewables are poised to seize the crucial top spot in global power supply growth, but this is hardly time for complacency. Governments must remove the question marks over renewables if these technologies are to achieve their full potential, and put our energy system on a more secure, sustainable path
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/cop_21_iea_urges_strong_deal_in_paris_to_accelarate_renewables_growth
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India commits to 40% clean power by 2030
Oct 2, 2015 | See News Renewables
By Ivan Shumkov
India has committed to source 40% of its electricity from non-fossil fuel based sources by 2030, raising this share from just 13% presently, according to its proposed climate action plan.
The Asian nation has also pledged to reduce the emissions intensity of its gross domestic production (GDP) by 33%-35% by the same year, as compared to 2005 levels. This new target builds on the previous one for 20%-25% emissions intensity reduction by 2020.
India has officially committed to boost its renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by 2022 from the current 36 GW, including 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind.
The country filed its climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) late on Thursday, ahead of the December conference in Paris where governments will be looking to reach a new universal climate change agreement. The Paris deal will come into effect in 2020, with the ultimate goal of preventing average global temperatures to rise above 2 degrees Celsius.
http://renewables.seenews.com/news/india-commits-to-40-clean-power-by-2030-495484
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UK: 27,000 solar jobs could go if FIT cut proposals are enacted
Oct 2, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Ian Clover
An estimated 27,000 of the 35,000 jobs in the U.K. solar industry and its related supply chain could be lost should the government enact its proposals to slash the feed-in tariff (FIT) by 87%, the Solar Trade Association (STA) has warned.
The STA analyzed employment data produced by the government’s research partner TBR Economic Research, which looked at low-carbon jobs across the country. The proposed cut to the FIT will be enacted on January 1, 2016, and over the course of next year could see jobs shed in most corners of the country.
The STA analysis finds that the southeast of the U.K. will be most heavily impacted, with more than 4,000 jobs at risk. The Northwest area, meanwhile, could see 3,500 of its 4,300 solar jobs lost.
The proposals laid out by the government appear to favor England’s southwest and southern coastal regions at the expense of everywhere else, said STA CEO Paul Barwell.
"Within this new set of proposals, the government has used sunlight levels you might find in Devon [southwest England] rather than those found in Yorkshire as they have done in the past," Barwell said. "Here at the STA, however, we believe more than just one corner of the country should be able to get the benefits of going solar."
Further analysis this week by the STA revealed that the scale of the government cuts amount to a 98% reduction in financial support for solar.
Efforts to convince the government to rethink its proposals have been gathering steam, with the STA and the Renewable Energy Association (REA) joining other clean energy bodies this week to issue a joint statement urging the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to review its decision on removing the preliminary accreditation from the FIT.
Yesterday, October 1, saw this financial safety net removed – a decision the signatories labeled "bad for business and bad for energy security".
The letter continued: "Since the government’s decision to remove pre-accreditation, DECC has launched a root and branch FIT review, which envisages fundamental changes to tariffs and caps on levels of deployment. The government has indicated that pre-accreditation could be reintroduced as part of future proposals. Since it is unclear how the scheme can operate without a pre-accreditation system, we would like to see a clear statement from government about the use of new pre-accreditation controls as part of any revised scheme."
Solar tells gas to frack off
Despite the top-down demonization of solar emanating from the British establishment, the technology’s ability to rally entire villages was heartening to see this week in Balcombe – a Sussex village that not only successfully saw off the frackers but has now been given the green light to install a 5 MW solar farm.The picturesque settlement in the south of England was the scene for the U.K.’s largest anti-fracking protest in 2013 when thousands showed their opposition to Cuadrilla’s plans to drill in the region.
In 2014 Cuadrilla backed off and now the village is set to be almost completely solar-powered – provided it can get its solar farm completed and connected before the end of the Renewable Obligation (RO) scheme on April 1, 2016.
"Balcombe is showing how things can be done differently – to the benefit of local people," said the only Green MP in the U.K., Caroline Lucas. "I hope government ministers have their eyes on Balcombe today, and that the huge success there persuades them of the urgent need to rethink their short-sighted cuts to support for Britain’s renewables industry."
The solar farm is being backed by a crowdfunding campaign, shareholder investment and local residential support.
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/uk--27-000-solar-jobs-could-go-if-fit-cut-proposals-are-enacted_100021340/#ixzz3nPyhMEVB
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