Author: solarenergy
UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has granted development consent for a 320 MW solar power plant.The Peartree Hill Solar Farm is a Nationally Important Infrastructure Project (NSIP) because its capacity is over 100 MW. It is being developed by RWE and will be built in the East Riding of Yorkshire.In addition to the 320MW solar PV installation, the site will have a co-located battery energy storage system (BESS). RWE has not yet announced the size of the BESS, but has secured a 448 MW export connection.RWE submitted the project to the Planning Inspectorate in February 2025 and the application was…
The Massachusetts Senate passed it an account yesterday which the authors refer to as “an act to save people money, restore the climate and grow the economy.” One way lawmakers plan to do this is by reforming and streamlining residential solar permitting processes statewide. The state’s energy omnibus bill passed the House of Representatives in March (H5151) and has undergone amendments in the Senate (S3143). The “Commonwealth smart solar permitting platform” would handle permitting for solar projects digitally with the aim of reducing time-consuming manual reassessments and costs associated with the process. Document submissions, permit checklists, related fees and project…
New Jersey lawmakers unanimously passed legislation to expand access to “plug-in solar” systems for everyone, including renters and apartment dwellers. The Garden State Plug-In Solar Act (S2368/A4836) removes outdated restrictions that have blocked plug-in solar in the past, giving households a practical way to save on energy bills and participate in the clean energy transition. Plug-in solar in Illinois. Credit: Vote Solar Plug-in solar panels, which fit on a balcony, patio or veranda, offer households a cheap, accessible option to reduce electricity costs and reduce dependence on expensive electricity. The technology is widely popular. A April FDU poll found that…
Irish clean energy developer Lumcloon Energy is partnering with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) to develop a supercapacitor energy storage system (SCESS) in County Offaly, Ireland.The partnership, called Project Daejeon, will install a demonstration-scale SCESS at the Rhode Green Energy Park, the site of a former ESB peat-fired power station that closed in 2003. It is the first such project in Ireland and one of the first in Europe, mainly using supercapacitor technology operational in China. Startup headquartered in Estonia Skeleton Technologies has two European production plants where it produces several products based on its supercapacitor and battery storage technologies,…
Industrial electrification is being held back by electricity costs in Britain, speakers at the Clean Power 2030 Summit in London said. Ben Westerman, director of policy and advocacy at Electrify Britain, said British electricity prices are “cripplingly high” compared to the rest of the G7 and most of Europe, creating a barrier to companies’ plans to decarbonize the economy. The conversation around electrification tends to focus on a selection of energy-intensive manufacturing industries such as steel, chemicals and concrete, but the “vast, vast majority of decarbonization comes from companies that are not considered energy intensive,” Westerman added. He said this…
British Solar Renewables (BSR) has raised up to £130 million in mezzanine funding from Eiffel Investment Group, a French asset manager, to support the next phase of growth of its integrated solar and storage platform.The facility, which is structured on a single lender basis, is secured by approximately 700 MW of highly contracted solar PV and co-located solar plus storage assets in the UK and Australia. It provides flexible capital to meet BSR’s investment needs throughout the project lifecycle as the company expands its pipeline beyond its existing portfolio. BSR was advised by Akereos Capital as exclusive financial advisor and…
The end of the UK’s Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) means solar developers will have to “actively” think about their future project revenues, including repowering their assets, speakers at the Clean Power 2030 Summit in London said today. “It’s never too early to start engaging,” says Hugh Brennan, CEO of Hive Energy, developer of Cleve Hill, Britain’s first solar NSIP. As more larger solar projects come onto the UK grid under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) programme, the competitive landscape for renewables will change, he explained. The ROC closed to new generation capacity in 2017 and was replaced by the CfD.As…
The Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) have published a preliminary report on German gross electricity consumption for the first half of 2026. The report shows that renewable energy sources accounted for 57.7% of gross electricity consumption in the first six months of the year, marking a new record. This figure is up from 55.2% in the first half of 2025 and slightly above the previous record of 57.4% in the first half of 2024. Gross electricity consumption was 262.4 TWh, compared to 260.9 TWh in the…
Britain has significant potential for behind-the-meter solar PV projects to meet the power demand of its data centres, but actually implementing projects could be “very challenging” for developers.This is the view of Sophie Browning, a senior associate at Xela Energy, a developer behind the meter solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS), who spoke at a panel discussion during this afternoon’s Clean Power 2030 Summits, hosted by Solar energy portal publisher Solar Media. Browning noted that the high interest in building renewable energy projects to supply data centers is exciting for developers, but questions are often asked about how to…
Global investment firm KKR has agreed to acquire the extensive North American operations and assets of EDF Power Solutions from French state-backed utility giant EDF Group. The transaction values the equity stake of the U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries at approximately $4.2 billion, with an additional $390 million structured as potential performance-based revenue. The acquisition represents KKR’s largest single commitment of capital to the renewable energy sector to date, funded through its global infrastructure strategy. EDF Power Solutions North America is currently one of the top ten largest owners of renewable energy capacity in the United States, backed by a nearly…