THE FRIDAY NOTE: SPI strikes 2 GW of China solar deals and more of the week’s top picks

Oct 24, 2014 - This week US firm SPI Solar and a Chinese peer joined hands to develop 1.5 GW of solar projects in China, Thai-based Green Earth Power sealed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Myanmar government to build a 220-MW solar park and Australia proposed to scale back the Renewable Energy Target (RET) to a "real" 20% of demand, or around 27,000 GWh.

On Thursday, US firm SPI Solar (OTCMKTS:SOPW) said it will jointly develop 1.5 GW of solar projects in China with GD Solar Co Ltd and, at the same time, buy a total of 160 MW of operational solar parks from it. SPI will be responsible for the development and financing of the new projects, whereas GD Solar will be acting as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services provider.

On the next day, SPI unveiled another deal to buy an additional 360 MW of photovoltaic (PV) projects in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Sichuan from another sector player.

More details at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/spi-gd-solar-to-jointly-develop-1-5-gw-of-pv-schemes-in-china-444626

and at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/spi-eyes-360-mw-more-of-solar-buys-in-china-project-company-too-444832

GREEN EARTH POWER SEALS DEAL FOR 220-MW SOLAR PARK

Moving to a bit to the west brings us to Myanmar where Thai firm Green Earth Power sealed a MOA with the government for the construction of a 220-MW solar park in the western part of the country. The firm is currently finalising talks with the EPC agent and project lenders and expects construction to start in the first quarter of 2015, local daily The Nation said Monday.

More details at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/thai-gep-finalises-govt-deal-for-220-mw-solar-park-in-myanmar-444006

US SOLAR PRICES TO KEEP FALLING THROUGH 2016

More news from the solar sector came from the US, where the US Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) expect distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) system prices to decline by between 3% and 12% in 2014, after losing 12%-19% in 2013. Overall, prices are to keep falling through 2016. The US SunShot Initiative's goal of bringing the cost of solar power down to USD 0.06 (EUR 0.05) per kWh is “more and more likely” to be achieved, LBNL and NREL say.

More details at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/us-solar-prices-to-keep-falling-through-2016-study-443965

US PLUGS IN 419 MW OF WIND FARMS IN Q3, WORLD TO ADD 2 GW OF WIND BY 2030

Moving to the wind front, the American Wind Energy Association said Monday the US has put on stream 419 MW of wind farms in the third quarter of 2014 bringing the cumulative to 62,300 MW as of end-September.

Meanwhile, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and Greenpeace International said on Tuesday that global wind power capacity could expand to 2,000 GW by 2030 or enough to meet 17% to 19% of electricity demand, if there is a robust climate regime and political will to fight climate challenges. This is the best-case scenario in their Global Wind Energy Outlook report, which suggests that by 2050 wind's share in global power could reach 25%-30%.

More details at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/us-plugs-in-419-mw-of-wind-farms-in-q3-443951

and at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/global-wind-capacity-could-reach-2-000-gw-by-2030-if-policy-helped-444046

WIND O&M MARKET IN CHINA TO HIT USD 16BN IN 2015-2022

Speaking of wind capacity we return to China with a forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) for the local operation and maintenance (O&M) market. The analyst says wind farm owners will have to spend USD 16 billion on O&M in the period 2015-2022. Providing such services for China's 100 GW of wind farms now translates into costs of USD 500 million annually, while the yearly sum is projected to reach USD 3 billion in 2022.

More details at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/wind-o-m-market-in-china-seen-at-usd-16bn-in-2015-2022-443876

AUSSIE GOVT OFFERS LARGE-SCALE RET CUT TO REAL 20%

This week, Australia became the centre of heated debates around the future of its RET scheme. The ruling party launched a proposal to scale back the scheme for large-scale projects to a "real" 20% of demand, or around 27,000 GWh. The deal also calls for exempting all energy-intensive industries from the renewables goal but keeping support for rooftop solar plants unchanged, the Australian said on Wednesday.

The offer, however, was immediately rejected by the opposition Labour party.

More details at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/aussie-govt-proposes-large-scale-ret-cut-to-real-20-report-444225

and at: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/labour-party-in-australia-says-no-to-ret-cut-offer-report-444252

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.790)

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