IEA-PVPS report on France: According to the National Survey Report of PV Power Applications in France 2023 of the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IA PVPS), the country added 4 GW DC of new PV capacity to the grid in 2023. Its cumulative installed capacity rose to 24.5 GW DC. A major growth factor was the publication of the Law for the Acceleration of Renewable Energies that introduced key regulations in 2023. This made it mandatory for solar installations on buildings over 500 m², solar canopies for large car parks, enshrined a legal definition for agrivoltaics, and introduced new rules allowing PV systems on unused land near infrastructure like roads and train lines. Residential PV systems accounted for 24% of the market in 2023. Almost 40% of the new capacity installed last year was intended for self-consumption. As per the report, close to 7 GW DC of new projects entered the grid connection queue in 2023, with a growing pipeline of more than 26 GW DC awaiting connection. The report is available for free download on the IEA PVPS website.
Better Energy signs new PPAs: Denmark’s Better Energy has announced 2 new power purchase agreements (PPA). In Sweden, it has signed a 10-year contract for power supply to polymer products manufacturer Nolato to help it cover a substantial part of its electricity consumption in Sweden. This PPA will help Better Energy establish a new solar park near Studsvik, southwest of Stockholm that will produce 25 GWh of electricity annually. In Finland, circular food packaging supplier with integrated recycling capabilities Faerch has signed its 2nd 10-year PPA with Better Energy. The project is being established near Hanko on a former parking lot. It will cover around 70% of Faerch’s annual electricity consumption. It is expected to be commissioned in 2026.
10 GWh for RCT Power: Germany-headquartered integrated solutions provider for inverters and energy storage, RCT Power has reported a milestone of exceeding 10 GWh in total delivered storage capacity, in August 2024. “This means that there are now enough RCT Power battery storage systems in operation worldwide to power more than 1 million homes for one day,” according to RCT. The company has also signed its 2nd largest order ever for a total of 2.1 GWh of GESS class grid-connected battery storage systems for several large projects in Australia. Additionally, global technology group Wärtsilä has announced an expanded supply agreement with RCT while celebrating the delivery of RCT Power's 6,000th Quantum energy storage system. RCT produces 60,000 home storage systems at the Augsburg production site and the Constance partner city Suzhou China, and also operates 25 GWh of annual production capacity for battery storage systems. The latter is to be expanded to 40 GWh by the end of 2025. The company is also developing new business areas and markets as it targets to become one of the top 5 largest storage system manufacturers in the world by 2026.
€90 million for Bulgaria park: Actis-backed Rezolv Energy has secured €90 million debt financing for its 225 MW St. George Solar Park in Bulgaria from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Raiffeisen Bank International. The project will be built on a brownfield site, the former Silistra airport that is now decommissioned. With close to 400,000 PV panels, it will generate more than 310 GWh annually, out of which 110 GWh/year is contracted to be supplied to the Ardagh Glass Packaging-Europe (AGP-Europe) for 12 years under a virtual power purchase agreement (PPA). On completion, Rezolv says it will be among the largest solar projects in Bulgaria.
Ardagh PPA with BNZ: Ardagh Metal Packaging Europe (AMP-Europe) has signed a VPPA with BNZ in Portugal for 12 years. It will secure 146 GWh/annum of renewable electricity certificates to help it offset close to 50% of the company’s continent energy consumption.
RE for German steel: German steel producer GMH Gruppe has entered a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Engie for the supply of renewable energy Guarantees of Origin (GoOs). The green electricity will be sourced from a wind farm that’s no longer receiving subsidies under the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), and a newly constructed solar farm. GMH wants to be able to operate the inductive single-bar tempering plant (EVA) at Georgsmarienhütte site with 100% renewable energy throughout. By using the EVA, and the switch from natural gas to electricity in the heat treatment of steel, GMH believes it can save more than 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next 10 years. It aims to eventually go down to zero for its carbon emissions by 2039.
French certification for Chinese companies: The n-type TOPCon 182 mm/199 mm/ 210 mm solar cell products of Jietai Solar’s (JTPV) Huai’an production base have secured the French carbon footprint certification. It was accorded by the French certification agency Kapstan, paving the way for the manufacturer to access the French PV market for these products. JTPC says these results show that the carbon footprint quantification process of the company’s products strictly complies with the verification standards and has excellent carbon emissions performance in the industry. JTPV’s R&D Manager Dr. Xinrui An will disucss the reliability of its high-performance n-type PV modules at TaiyangNews Virtual Conference on Reliable PV Module Design 2024 on October 21 and 22, 2024. Registrations for the event can be done for free, here.
Yingfa lands CRE certificate: Another Chinese company Yingfa Deyao also obtained the French carbon footprint PPE2 certificate from the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). It is the ‘golden key’ for PV products to enter the French and European markets, it said. This certification launched in 2023 has a higher threshold and stricter requirements as it raises the green threshold for PV products. Yingfa said its solar cell products have low energy consumption and low emissions during the production process because of which it was able to cross the French PPE2 threshold with excellent performance.
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