Asia

Ravi Verma, senior executive vice president of Avaada, told pv magazine the group will invest US$5 billion (AU$7.18 billion) in an integrated green hydrogen and ammonia plant with 6 GW of captive renewables capacity. The green ammonia facility will have a production capacity of 1 million tonnes per year.

State-owned NHPC and Bharat Electronics Ltd will leverage their complementary strengths to set up a gigawatt-scale vertically integrated solar manufacturing unit.

China installed 37.73 GW of solar in the first seven months of this year, according to official estimates. JinkoSolar said it is struggling to cope with power rationing in Sichuan province, while Shunfeng said it expects to record a hefty net loss for the first half.

Japanese researchers have developed a new way to improve water splitting, while South Korea has completed its largest hydrogen production complex. Scotland and England have announced new hydrogen investments, and Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power have agreed to collaborate on hydrogen projects.

India has surpassed 10 GW of overall renewables capacity installed for offtake through open access.

Indian researchers have developed a new hybrid system featuring a conventional rooftop PV system, a solar tree, two gravity power modules for building (GPMBs), and a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), with power exclusively provided by the two solar installations.

Solar Philippines, a Manila-based PV module manufacturer and project developer, is looking to secure at least 2,500 hectares of land to expand its 500 MW flagship solar project to 4 GW.

The Australian arm of Philippines-based energy company AC Energy has secured a $100 million loan facility which will be used to accelerate the development of clean energy projects in Australia with the company seeking to grow its renewables capacity to 20 GW by 2030.

Researchers in China have reported a colourisation strategy for solar based on photonic glass. They created solar panels that took on blue, green, and purple hues, while only dropping the efficiency of power generation from 22.6% to 21.5%.

Investments in renewables are hitting new highs in China, as recurrent Covid-19 outbreaks and a crisis-stricken housing market threaten the world’s second-biggest economy, according to BloombergNEF.