Solar rooftops expect to see 66% rise by year-end
Rooftop solar energy is projected to see an approximate 66% jump in capacity to 1,250 megawatts (MW) by the end of the year, according to the head of the Turkish section of Solar Energy Society, GÜNDER, Kutay Kaleli on Wednesday. Speaking at the Solar Istanbul Solar Energy, Storage, E-Mobility and Digitalization Exhibition & Conference in the Istanbul Congress Center, Kaleli said Turkey’s solar sector has seen tremendous growth over the past few years with almost a 100-fold growth between 2015 and 2020. Revised legislation introduced by the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority’s (EMRA) in May 2019 saw the more seamless installation of solar panels with greater installed capacities – of up to a maximum of 10 kilowatts for the residential sector and up to 5 megawatts (MW) for the industrial sector.
Turkey to start local solar cell production on June 15
Turkey’s first integrated solar ingot-wafer-module-cell production factory in Ankara will begin its operations on June 15, according to the head of Kalyon Solar Energy Technologies Production Co. on Friday. In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency during the Solar Istanbul – Solar Energy, Storage, E-Mobility and Digitalization Exhibition & Conference, Ahmet Taskin said the facility will produce components for Turkey’s biggest solar power plant, which will be established as part of the first solar Renewable Energy Resource Zone (YEKA) tender with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts. Kalyon Holding, together with a South Korean Hanwha Q-Cells consortium, won the tender for Turkey’s biggest solar power plant project – the Karapinar Renewable Energy Resources Zone Project in March 2017 at a cost of $0.0699 per kilowatt-hour. However, Hanwha will not continue with this project and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) have stepped in to construct the facility and to provide additional two years of technical assistance after the turnkey contract expires.
Solar demand could fall for first time in 30 years due to Coronavirus
BNEF has downgraded its forecasts for global solar capacity demand from 121-152GW to 108-143GW in response to the global disruption caused by Covid-19. If the downgrade were to reach the lower end of the estimate, 2020 could be the first year for more than 30 years that annual demand for solar falls below the levels recorded the year prior. The analysts claimed that factories in China are all at differing stages of restarting production and manufacturing which may well ease supply pressures on key renewables components. However, approaches to containing Covid-19 has led to more localised manufacturing across the globe, which could reduce trade and downgrade capacity demand for cleantech.
Belectric completes 480-kW floating solar system in Israel
German company Belectric Solar & Battery GmbH on Thursday said it has built and brought online a 480-kWp floating solar array in Israel for Nofar Energy. The project is located on a reservoir near the Kibbutz Emek Izrael in the northern part of the country. The system consists of about 1,300 photovoltaic (PV) panels on a floating platform, supported by an anchoring and mooring system. Floating marine grade power lines connect the installation to the mainland.
25,000 nomadic households to access solar electricity by Mar 2021
Tehran – Head of Nomads Affairs Organization of Iran says 25,000 nomadic households are going to be supplied with photovoltaic power stations (known as PV systems) by the end of the next Iranian calendar year (March 2021). According to the official, the program was supposed to be implemented four years ago, however, due to some standards-related issues, it was postponed until the current year. Back in October 2019, the energy ministry announced the implementation of a program for supplying the country’s nomadic households with mobile small-scale power stations. According to the program’s Executive Director Ali Chehel-Amirani, the plan is set to be completed by the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (starts in March 2021), the portal of the Energy Ministry (known as Paven) reported.
