Indonesia

Singapore-based commercial and industrial solar developer Cleantech Solar has secured a US$75 million in green finance from ING Bank, the Asia Pacific’s largest ever C&I solar green loan. As the world’s fastest growing electricity market, South East Asia is crying out for this kind of investment.

A new report from financial think-tank Carbon Tracker has found that coal developers risk wasting more than $600 billion due to stubborn resistance to the already cheaper electricity resources provided by renewable energies worldwide. The report finds, in short, that a new coal plant is about as prudent an investment today as a Clydesdale and cart. 

Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy group Masdar is sailing into the southeast Asian market with its, and Indonesia’s, first floating solar power plant. The project is to be the largest of its kind in South East Asia.

No man is an island, but solar PV can at least allow us to live on one without having to rely on the expensive logistical nightmare of diesel fuel supply. More islands around the Asia Pacific are turning to solar PV systems combined with storage to meet their needs.

Renewable energy investment in the APAC region, excluding China, will overtake spending on oil and gas exploration and production spending by 2020, finds Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy. And Australia is set to emerge as one of the leading investment destinations.

According to solar body the PPLSA, around 300 PV system owners have already gone off-grid as the tariff granted for surplus power under net metering was not attractive enough. Several barriers are preventing net metering taking hold, including an obligation to either use locally made equipment or pay more to re-certify imported modules and inverters.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are on track to make solar and other renewables account for 23% of the region’s total primary energy supply (TPES) by 2025, but governments will need to create better policy and investment frameworks to make it happen, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

France’s Akuo Energy has achieved a milestone in the development of a 50 MW solar PV plant in Bali. The project indicates that Indonesia’s new renewable program may lead to an increase in PPAs for renewable projects in certain regions.

Not-for-profit Kopernic provides disaster relief in Bali with the distribution of solar-powered televisions and kits.

The proposed 6 GW wind+solar project would generate renewable energy from Australia’s wind and solar resources and supply it via subsea cables to Indonesia. Vestas has been confirmed for the wind energy side, while the search for a solar partner, which would deliver the required equipment for the project’s 2 GW solar PV capacity through establishing a manufacturing facility in Indonesia, will be conducted over the next two years.