Europe PV Snippets: Statkraft, ISIF, VEH, ArcelorMittal

Statkraft sells 234 MW PV in Spain: Statkraft has completed the sale of 4 solar parks with a combined capacity of 234 MW in Spain, but will construct the facilities starting from September 2021. The projects were developed by UK based Solarcentury which is now part of the Statkraft group. The co-located parks are located in Cadiz region and have been purchased by London based investor TRIG, managed by InfraRed Capital Partners and RES. Statkraft aims to develop 2.5 GW to 3 GW of wind and solar power capacity annually towards 2025, and is confident of reaching the overarching goal of 8 GW of wind and solar power by 2025.

€1 billion for climate action projects in Ireland: The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) has committed to invest €1 billion in climate action projects in Ireland over the next 5 years. Managed by the country’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), ISIF will invest in renewables including greater use of large and small scale wind and solar power generation, both onshore and offshore. It will also concentrate on the energy storage segment to ensure greater penetration of renewable energy by developing and harnessing emerging technologies, and promoting energy efficiency, among others. ISIF will make this investment both directly and through fund-based investments aligned with the strategy. It will be open to partnering with major global investors where appropriate. “Our planned investment programme reflects the urgency of the climate challenge and the significant opportunities that exist to back Irish businesses and projects that are developing new and more sustainable ways of doing things. Our plan is ambitious but essential,” said ISIF Director Nick Ashmore.

Dutch solar panel home owners’ problems: The Home Owners Association in the Netherlands or Vereniging Eigen Huis (VEH) has reported home owners with solar panel installations are facing problems related to solar power generated from their systems. They are unable to generate as much revenue because of pressure on the low-voltage grid to which the homes are connected. The problem compounds due to homes increasingly opting for solar panel installations and when the pressure is too high, especially during peak times as between April and September, the solar system shuts down temporarily. Owing to this temporary shut down, homeowners with panels are forced to purchase power from the grid and cannot use their own generated solar power. This, the association terms as the tip of the iceberg. It demands more transparency about possible problems in installing solar panels by homeowners considering solar panel installations, for instance the grid operator can advise about the temporary shutdown.

German funding for ArcelorMittal’s green hydrogen plans: The Federal Government of Germany has committed €55 million funding support for what steel producer ArcelorMittal says will be the country’s 1^st industrial scale hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI) plant. The demonstrator plant will use green hydrogen exclusively as chemical agent to reduce iron ore into DRI. Currently, it deploys natural gas to produce DRI to reduce iron ore. It will ensure electric arc furnaces are fed with green hydrogen reduced DRI and scrap material. The project is expected to cost a total investment worth €110 million. The federal government’s €55 million support requires a nod from the European Commission post which the installation will begin for the project that’s expected to start production in 2025. By 2030, ArcelorMittal said it plans to produce over 1 million tons of zero carbon emissions steel annually from the Hamburg plant alone which is expected to save it around 800,000 tons of CO2 annually, under the German entity’s Steel4Future strategy.