The island of Malta is heavily dependent on oil imports, and could benefit greatly from its own energy transition. Despite some barriers to renewables, solar is booming – and if it continues to do so, Malta should be able to meet its 2020 energy goals. Geoffrey Saliba explains.
The South African government’s renewable energy grid expansion has been outsourced to the private sector. A key part of this public-private partnership is that the companies assigned to do the ‘new build’ must also engage in much-needed community development work, writes Leonie Joubert.
Although Latin America has advanced in renewable energy generation in recent years, the storage issue has not moved forward to the same extent. The conventional view remains one of building electric towers and transformation stations to transmit the electricity miles away from the generation sites, a highly expensive and inefficient option. Emilio Godoy explains.
The world’s biggest polluter is now the global renewables leader, and these women are helping to lead the charge. Anna McGurk of Greenpeace introduces two women leading China’s transition.
In Bangladesh, government programs and startups are using solar to improve standards of living and agriculture. The small systems can have a huge impact on people’s lives, and act as an economic motor. Andrew Burger of MicroGrid Media has the details.
Andrew Burger of Microgrid Media looks at international developments in solar power. In particular, mini and micro-grids are key for emerging economies. In Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, and more, people are taking advantage of cheap renewables.
The price of solar and wind energy has dropped so dramatically in South Africa (SA), it is now almost half the cost of coal electricity. So why is government’s new energy plan biased towards expensive nuclear plants, and leaving renewable sources as an afterthought? asks Leonie Joubert. If RE industrialisation doesn’t take off in SA, it will be slow across the rest of the subcontinent.
Luxembourg has been aiming to reach its 2020 energy objectives, but there are some difficulties in reducing emissions which come from being a small, transit country. Nonetheless, the government is implementing various strategies to improve efficiency and transportation. Nora Weis has the details.
… but didn’t know where to ask. Today, Craig Morris presents Fraunhofer ISE’s update of its annual “Recent facts about photovoltaics in Germany.” In addition to German specifics, the review covers a lot of general info about solar power. For instance, how can we spread solar power production across more hours without storage?
On Tuesday, the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) published stats on new turbines in 2016. Both onshore and off, wind growth continues to be healthy. And PV was also added roughly in line to keep feed-in tariffs from rising. Craig Morris takes a look.
