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Global adoption of Chinese inverters limiting revenue growth, IHS says
Dec 1, 2015 | PV - Magazine
By Ian Clover
Year-on-year inverter shipments grow by 35% over the first nine months of the year, but revenue growth over that time increases just 4%; growing acceptance of cheaper Chinese inverters putting price pressure on the market. -
France to Fund $2.2 Billion of African Renewable Projects
Dec 1, 2015 | Bloomberg
By Gregory Viscusi
France will fund 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of renewable energy projects in Africa through 2020, a 50 percent increase on the previous five years, French officials said. -
France Pledges Billions for Renewable Energy in Africa
Dec 2, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rick Mitchell
France will increase by half its bilateral commitments for financing renewable energy projects in Africa to more than 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) from 2016 to 2020, French President Francois Hollande said at the Paris climate summit. -
COP21 Day 2: UN chief flags RE opportunity for Africa
Dec 1, 2015 | Recharge
By Andrew Lee
After setting out the high stakes at play at COP21 on Monday, many of the world leaders were packing their bags today as officials began the detailed negotiations that will determine whether or not the summit will be deemed a success. -
Climate deal needed if Bill's billions are to help poor nations
Dec 2, 2015 | Reuters
By Valerie Volcovici
Heads of state and big-name billionaires opened the Paris climate summit with a bang on Monday, promising billions of dollars to develop new green technology to solve a key sticking point of the negotiations: financing a low-carbon future for developing nations like India. -
As World Leaders Leave, Paris Climate Talks Turn to Work
Dec 2, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Eric J. Lyman
The first two days of the United Nations climate summit were marked by strong calls for action from some 150 world leaders in Paris. But as President Barack Obama and others headed home, leaving the hard work for lower level delegates, some saw a wide gulf between the lofty words of political figures and the real-world options available to negotiators. -
COP21: India to install 12 GW of solar in 2016
Dec 1, 2015 | PV - Magazine
By Becky Beetz
At the unveiling of the International Solar Alliance on the first eve of COP21, Indian Prime Minister Modi said India will see 12 GW of new solar capacity installed in 2016. -
Pakistan Attracts $3 Billion Foreign Investment In Renewable Energy
Dec 1, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Smiti Mittal
The Pakistani Government’s push towards expansion of renewable energy infrastructure and direct negotiations with foreign governments has yielded results in terms of increased investment.
Industry News
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Global adoption of Chinese inverters limiting revenue growth, IHS says
Dec 1, 2015 | PV - Magazine
By Ian Clover
Year-on-year inverter shipments grow by 35% over the first nine months of the year, but revenue growth over that time increases just 4%; growing acceptance of cheaper Chinese inverters putting price pressure on the market.
New data from analyst firm IHS has revealed the scale of the price pressure being exerted on the global inverter market as Chinese-built components gain greater acceptance worldwide.
Despite year-on-year inverter shipments increasing by 35% for the first nine months of the year, a 26% reduction in prices to $0.12 per watt has suppressed revenue growth.
Global market revenue for the industry reached $6.9 billion in the first three quarters – a figure that is just 4% up on last year. The stagnation of traditionally high-cost inverter markets such as Germany and Japan, allied to growth in low-cost China and the medium-cost U.S. market, has exacerbated falling prices, said IHS, while further market shifts are also contributing factors in the downward price pressure.
"The shift to utility-scale installations is changing the product mix and causing prices to fall," said IHS solar supply chain senior analyst Cormac Gilligan. "For example, in the U.S. lower-priced large central inverters will account for an increasing share of inverter shipments over the next 15 months."
A growing acceptance of Chinese inverters – evinced by a recent IHS PV Inverter Customer Insight Survey that found 58% of PV inverter buyers now believe Chinese inverters offer “acceptable levels of quality” (up from 30% in 2013) – is also contributing to this price pressure.
"Leading Western suppliers offer inverters that meet the latest grid codes and offer a high quality after-sales service," added Gilligan. "Although Chinese inverters are gaining acceptance, in terms of quality, Chinese companies must still offer competitive pricing to be considered by customers in new markets."
The analyst added that there remains a concern among inverter buyers that Chinese firms offer inadequate technical support and after-sales service. But as acceptance for Chinese components grows, Gilligan believes that it is "only a matter of time" before Chinese inverter companies are selected by leading lease suppliers and EPCs in the U.S., which will help to alleviate after-sales and O&M concerns.
Yet despite China’s growing influence on the global inverter market, Germany’s SMA has cemented and strengthened its position as the leading global brand for the fourth consecutive year thanks to a strong performance in the U.S. utility scale market and successful market strategy in Australia and Southeast Asia.
For the fourth quarter of the year, IHS expects inverter shipments to reach 20 GW. -
France to Fund $2.2 Billion of African Renewable Projects
Dec 1, 2015 | Bloomberg
By Gregory Viscusi
France will fund 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of renewable energy projects in Africa through 2020, a 50 percent increase on the previous five years, French officials said.
France’s financing should cover about a fifth of the cost of a goal agreed on this year to install 10GW of power capacity in Africa by 2020, the officials said.
The financing was announced as President Francois Hollande hosted talks with African leaders at the COP21 climate talks near Paris. The meeting was focused on electrification, preventing desertification and rehabilitating Lake Chad.
“If there is no financing, there is no action in these areas,” Hollande said in opening comments at the meeting.
The extra funding means that France will be financing a total of 6 billion euros of power projects across Africa in the coming five years, Hollande added.
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France Pledges Billions for Renewable Energy in Africa
Dec 2, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rick Mitchell
France will increase by half its bilateral commitments for financing renewable energy projects in Africa to more than 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) from 2016 to 2020, French President Francois Hollande said at the Paris climate summit.
France also plans to “gradually” triple its bilateral commitments for financing to some 1 billion euros a year by 2020 to fight desertification in Africa, Hollande said.
The French president made the pledges during a Dec. 1 meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and 12 African heads of state to address solutions to climate challenges Africa faces, according to a press statement from Hollande.
Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, chairman of the African Union Commission, in addition to representatives from other governments, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank also attended the meeting.
The 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a global summit including representatives from nearly 200 nations, kicked off Nov. 30 with a stated goal of reaching a deal to fight climate change, mainly through commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Financing Key Issue in Talks
A key issue in negotiations is how wealthy countries intend to make good on the $100-billion-a-year they have pledged in climate aid for developing countries. South African President Jacob Zuma said Nov. 30 that climate finance should be scaled up significantly beyond the $100 billion mark for the post-2020 period.
In his statement, Hollande called for climate financing for Africa to be made available as soon as possible, before 2020.
The French president said during the meeting that Africa is not responsible for climate change but nonetheless is suffering its worst effects. He said COP-21 should generate financing that will allow real projects in Africa and make it possible for the continent to adopt a low-carbon development model and implement climate change adaptation projects.
France's commitment to boost financing to 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) spread between 2016–2020 is a 50 percent increase over its commitment for the previous five years, the statement said. The projects financed with that money, managed under the African Union's renewable energy initiative, will be conceived by African countries, local governments and civil society groups, in the areas of solar energy, wind turbines, hydroelectricity, or geothermal energy, based on each country's potential, it said.
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COP21 Day 2: UN chief flags RE opportunity for Africa
Dec 1, 2015 | Recharge
By Andrew Lee
After setting out the high stakes at play at COP21 on Monday, many of the world leaders were packing their bags today as officials began the detailed negotiations that will determine whether or not the summit will be deemed a success.The spotlight on Day Two turned to some of the nations on the front line of climate change, and those with most to gain – or lose – from the outcome of the Paris talks.
African leaders gathered for a meeting to hear UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon set out the challenges and opportunities ahead.
“Africa is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change,” said Ban.
“Much of its economy depends on a climate-sensitive natural resource base, including rain-fed subsistence agriculture. Disruptions in food or water supplies pose serious risks not only for your economies but also for political stability, particularly in fragile states.”
But as so often at COP21, renewables were flagged as a positive, both for climate mitigation and for their economic potential.
Ban said: “With the plummeting price of solar and other renewables, many African countries are moving quickly to embrace a greener pathway that still enables them to meet growing energy demand.”
After its solar pact with China yesterday, COP21 host nation France seems to be warming to its role as clean-energy partner.
President Francois Hollande said France will double investments in African renewable projects to €2bn between 2016 and 2020.
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Climate deal needed if Bill's billions are to help poor nations
Dec 2, 2015 | Reuters
By Valerie Volcovici
Heads of state and big-name billionaires opened the Paris climate summit with a bang on Monday, promising billions of dollars to develop new green technology to solve a key sticking point of the negotiations: financing a low-carbon future for developing nations like India.
Yet campaigners and experts warned that it will be hard to deploy any new technologies quickly in places where they are needed most unless negotiators at the two-week U.N. talks can work out a deal on how rich countries will help finance this.
“I think the elephant in the room is still finance,” said Yvo de Boer, former head of the U.N. climate change secretariat.
He and others were encouraged by Monday's announcements, which opened the taps for funding a wave of research in hopes of breakthroughs such as the artificial photosynthesis Bill Gates envisions to produce liquid hydrocarbons that challenge fossil fuels. France and India launched a plan for a trillion-dollar alliance to deliver solar energy to poor nations.
Still, many countries are simply not ready to be on the receiving end of major technology transfers, experts said. For a poor country to adopt new technologies, it must have the right institutions, regulations and workforce in place.
During the Paris talks, experts said, negotiators must map out ways for rich countries to provide funds poor countries need to prepare to receive new technology. They noted that rich countries have promised to spend more than $100 billion a year beginning in 2020 to adapt low-carbon technologies and build defenses against rising sea levels, droughts and other climate-related problems.
So far, the UN's Green Climate Fund, the main vehicle to dole out this money, has a a long way to go, with just $12 billion in pledges. Scaling up that amount is a major task at the Paris talks. Rich nations want some emerging economies like China to contribute, while developing countries want target dates and accountability.
The billions promised on Monday for technology development “should not be seen as a substitute for the public finance that must be on the table to unlock a stronger agreement by the end of next week,” said Tim Gore, head of policy and advocacy for Oxfam International.
Gore said the world needs "a deal to regularly set new targets for financial and technological support for poor countries that need it.”
The U.S. Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which has conducted early research on technologies like fusion and advanced batteries, found that some workers in poor countries "weren't able to maintain new projects, so things fail,” said Cheryl Martin, the program's former acting director.
Even if larger nations like India and China can get over these hurdles, less-developed poor nations risk falling further behind.
“We need to ensure that competitiveness of even less developed countries is enhanced by these opportunities rather than being left behind,” said Jonathan Coony, coordinator for the World Bank’s Climate Technology Program.
Poor countries must build manufacturing capacity, research capabilities and a local workforce to develop their own green economy “rather than remaining technology takers,” Coony said.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Intellectual property rights could also pose a barrier to technology transfer. Patents fuel innovation and attract investors to companies that develop technology. But India and other poor countries have said for years that much patented technology is too expensive. They want green technologies treated as a public good.
India had pushed a plan to use part of the U.N. fund to buy out intellectual property rights for desired technologies, but the United States opposes any attempt to change the protections.
Developed countries pressing India to abandon coal and fossil fuels more quickly will "have to pick up the incremental cost” of IP rights, says Ajai Malhotra, a former climate negotiator who advises the Indian delegation.
“Developed and developing countries can move ahead by sharing about technology, and it doesn’t mean this will deprive industry in the developed world of their share of profits,” he said.
Gates said in an interview on the sidelines of the talks on Monday that green technology companies could learn from the information technology sector on how to deal with intellectual property rights.
“It’s like the IT space,” Gates said. “Some governments put the research into the public domain. Some license it. Then the start-up companies have to deal with intense competition.”
Gates said companies will watch their pricing on green technology if they want to access huge markets in India.
“If you want India to buy something you better price it cheaper than coal,” Gates said. “That’s a very tough challenge for these companies. They have to come up with something that’s cheaper than coal or else the amount they are going to sell to India is going to be pretty modest.”
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As World Leaders Leave, Paris Climate Talks Turn to Work
Dec 2, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Eric J. Lyman
The first two days of the United Nations climate summit were marked by strong calls for action from some 150 world leaders in Paris. But as President Barack Obama and others headed home, leaving the hard work for lower level delegates, some saw a wide gulf between the lofty words of political figures and the real-world options available to negotiators.
Obama called for an agreement that “builds ambition” with a “strong system of transparency.” China's Xi Jinping said, “Tackling climate change is a shared mission for mankind.” And French President Francois Hollande declared: “The future of the planet is in our hands.”
But at the talks Dec. 1, negotiations focused on details—some of them seemingly mundane—as they have in five previous UN climate meetings this year leading up to the Paris summit.
At one point during the day, delegates spent nearly an hour negotiating whether the agreement should say the global community “welcomes” or “takes note of” a published UN report on the aggregate value of individual national pledges for climate actions.
In the end, they decided they didn't quite welcome those Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and opted instead to take note of the commitments, which form an important part of the effort in Paris to reach a global agreement to fight and respond to climate change, a pact that would enter into force in 2020.
‘Still in Negotiation Mode.'
When the last set of pre-Paris negotiations concluded in October, the draft text contained around 1,500 contentious sections, indicated by brackets. Each is an issue delegates must resolve before the Paris pact can be finalized. As of late evening on Dec. 1, one delegate told Bloomberg BNA that only “around two-dozen” brackets had been removed.
“The statements from the leaders were good, strong,” said Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change & Development. “But delegates don't seem to be taking direction from their heads of state. They are still in negotiation mode.”
One Latin American delegate, speaking to Bloomberg BNA on the condition of anonymity, said there was a “disconnect between bold calls for action” from leaders and what was happening in text negotiations. “We are finally starting to see bridging proposals,” the delegate said, referring to the term used for compromise language that replaces two or more contentious sections. “But there is still little evidence of the spirit of compromise we will need.”
‘The Rhetoric Is Set.'
Liz Gallagher, program leader at the environmental lobby group E3G, said: “Despite all the positive energy and announcements … there weren't enough concrete offers and breakthroughs on key components. The rhetoric is set. The question now is whether the negotiators and ministers will deliver.”
The Paris climate talks, which officially began Nov. 30, are scheduled to conclude Dec. 11.
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COP21: India to install 12 GW of solar in 2016
Dec 1, 2015 | PV - Magazine
By Becky Beetz
At the unveiling of the International Solar Alliance on the first eve of COP21, Indian Prime Minister Modi said India will see 12 GW of new solar capacity installed in 2016. He added that the alliance is a "sunrise of new hope" for clean energy. US$30 million will be invested in establishing its HQ. Overall, the alliance aims to mobilize US$1 trillion in solar investment.
This year, India pledged to add 100 GW of PV capacity by 2022 under its National Solar Mission. On the first day of the climate talks in Paris, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi said that 4 GW has already been installed to date, while next year will see 12 GW of new solar capacity added. This is am ambitious figure and much higher than the 3.64 GW Mercom Capital expects to see.
His comment came at the launch of the International Solar Alliance, comprised of more than 120 countries. Modi explained the alliance is a "long cherished dream" of his. The aim is to make solar cheaper, more reliable and easier to connect to the grid. He said it is so important as so many people – around 1.2 billion – are still without access to electricity. The alliance is a "sunrise of new hope for clean energy and villages and homes still in darkness," he said.
In addition to collaborating on research and innovation, sharing knowledge and exchanging best practices, the alliance will discuss regulatory issues, promote common standards, and attract investment. It will also create joint ventures and develop innovative financing mechanisms.
The alliance will see developed and developing countries, and governments and industries working together in a "common enterprise." Modi said India is pleased to host the initiative at the premises of its National Institute of Solar. In addition to providing land, the government will contribute $30 million to building a new HQ. The eventual goal, reported the Guardian, is to raise $400 million from membership fees, and international agencies.
The unveiling of alliance has attracted praise from across the board, with the World Resources Institute (WRI) saying it signals India’s global leadership. It added that the alliance will play an "“important role" in advancing solar deployment globally.
"The international alliance brings together developing and developed countries to expand energy access, accelerate solar power deployment, and stimulate economic development. Intended to mobilize $1 trillion in investment, the alliance should drive down the costs of solar power, making it affordable for a growing number of communities," it commented.
James Watson, CEO of SolarPower Europe added, "We commend PM Modi and India for spearheading this collaborative initiative which recognize solar as a key solution to fight climate change whilst providing clean and affordable energy to millions of people. We wish the International Solar Alliance a fruitful two weeks in Paris and look forward to future cooperation." EU ProSun also applauded the move.
A number of other initiatives were also unveiled at COP21 yesterday, including the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, which encompasses a total of 28 parties, including Jeff Bezos, Amazon, HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, and Richard Branson, Virgin, who have pledged to invest funds in clean energy projects in order to finance energy that is "reliable, affordable and does not produce carbon."
Meanwhile, under Mission Innovation, a group of 20 governments from countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Germany, the U.K., the UAE and the U.S., have pledged to double investment in clean energy innovation over the next five years.
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Pakistan Attracts $3 Billion Foreign Investment In Renewable Energy
Dec 1, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Smiti Mittal
The Pakistani Government’s push towards expansion of renewable energy infrastructure and direct negotiations with foreign governments has yielded results in terms of increased investment.
Foreign investors have poured $3 billion over the last year into the renewable energy sector in Pakistan, officials from the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) have said. The largely untapped resource potential and a feed-in tariff regime has made renewable energy an attractive investment avenue, Chief Executive Officer of AEDB stated.
The World Bank, through its Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, has supported resource assessment in wind, solar, and biomass energy sectors. The Pakistan Government has also received support, following direct negotiations, from European companies that have expressed interest in setting up renewable energy projects.
Amjad Awan, CEO of AEDB stated that letters of interest have been issued for 25 solar power projects representing 663 MW of cumulative capacity. All these projects are expected to be commissioned by 2018. The provincial government of Punjab has also issued letters of intent for 600 MW solar power capacity.
The largest investor in the Pakistan’s renewable energy sector is probably China. Several Chinese companies are working on a number of wind energy and solar power projects in Pakistan. The largest of them is the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park. The project currently has an installed capacity of 100 MW and is expected to be increased by another 300 MW soon. The project will eventually have an installed capacity of 1 GW by 2017.
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