Familiar uncertainties as India charts new solar territory
A 120MWp project completed by Total Eren in India. Image: Total Eren.
With high levels of irradiance, a deep desire to decarbonise and a lofty deployment target championed by a newly elected Prime Minister, India emerged in the mid-2010s as one of the hottest solar markets in the world. But fast forward five years and there’s almost a sense of missed opportunity.
Of the 100GW of solar PV Narendra Modi pledged to see built in India by 2022, the general consensus is the country will actually see around two-thirds of that figure built. Despite the target almost certain to be missed, it has not dampened enthusiasm for renewables from within Modi’s government. That 100GW ambition has been superseded by a new target, for 450GW of renewables – 300GW of it solar – to be operational by the end of this decade. Such deployment would see India become a global renewables powerhouse. Recent analysis of that target by the Institu
LONGi takes aim at green hydrogen market with new business unit Email
LONGi founder and president Li Zhenguo has been listed as the new entity’s chairman. Image: LONGi Green Energy.
LONGi Green Energy has confirmed the creation of a new business unit centred around the world’s nascent green hydrogen market.
Li Zhenguo, founder and president at LONGi, is listed as chairman at the business unit, dubbed Xi’an LONGi Hydrogen Technology Co, however there has yet to be any confirmation as to what end of the green hydrogen market the business unit will serve.
In a statement issued by the company via WeChat, Yunfei Bai, director of industrial research at LONGi, said that continued cost reductions of generating solar power had presented the opportunity to reduce electrolysis costs in turn. Combining the two technologies can “continuously expand” the scale of green hydrogen production and “accelerate the realisation of carbon reduction and decarbonisation go
DUBAI: Two new Saudi initiatives are generating buzz and enthusiasm for environmental protection and climate-change mitigation far beyond the Kingdom’s borders. Unveiled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on March 27, the Saudi Green and Middle East Green initiatives call for regional cooperation to tackle the environmental challenges facing the Kingdom and the region as a whole.
From conflict and hunger to energy and diplomacy, Saudi Arabia has traditionally been a leading force in shaping the GCC region’s policies and coordinating responses to crises. The “green” initiatives, which are part of the Vision 2030 reform strategy, will place Saudi Arabia at the center of regional efforts to meet international targets on climate change mitigation, as well as help it achieve its own goals.
Yamakura Dam s mega solar plant, a floating solar farm, in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, in 2019 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Japan appears on track to soon hit its target for how much it relies on renewable sources of energy.
Renewables accounted for 21.7 percent of Japan’s total power generation in 2020, according to a preliminary report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on March 15.
The government had set a goal of increasing the renewable energy ratio to between 22 to 24 percent of the overall supply mix by fiscal 2030.
Yasushi Ninomiya, a senior researcher at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, is optimistic about the current trend, even though the increase in reliance on greener sources of power was partly driven by a drop in economic activities caused by the pandemic.
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