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According to the Chinese National Renewable Energy Center (NREC), solar PV capacity additions in the first quarter of 2019 declined by 46% to 5,211 MW compared to the first quarter of 2018, when 9,650 MW of solar PV capacity was installed (+22% compared to the first quarter of 2017).

Additions have significantly slowed down since the revisions in the feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme in 2018. In June 2018 the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance issued the «2018 Solar PV Power Generation Notice», a policy regarding investment and subsidies for photovoltaic (PV) installations. This regulation introduced a CNY5c/kWh (US$0.74c/kWh) cut in the nationwide FiT and in the subsidies for PV distributed projects in an attempt to avoid the industry from overheating. The on-grid power tariffs have been ranging between CNY0.5/kWh to CNY0.7/kWh (US$7.4-10.4c/kWh) since 1 June 2018, while the subsidies for county-level poverty alleviation PV projects remained stable. At the time the NDRC and the National Energy Administration established that the construction of new solar utility-scale power projects was to be halted until further notice. The utility-scale target for 2018 was abolished and all Chinese provinces were forced to impose bans on all companies seeking FiTs under any 2018 mechanism.

Wintershall has completed its merger with DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG (DEA) creating Wintershall Dea, the leading independent gas and oil company in Europe. In 2018 the cumulated hydrocarbon production of the two companies summed up to 215 mboe, i.e. around 590,000 boe/d and their proven managed reserves totalled  2.4 Gboe, i.e. a reserve to production ratio of 11 years.

The French Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition (MEIT) has submitted to the Council of Ministers a draft law on energy and climate aimed at setting France on a zero-emissions track by 2050.

The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has announced the new Feed-in-Tarif (FiT) levels for solar deployments starting in July 2019. The new rates were reported by the Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory (AECEA) and are for guidance and subject to competition. …

India’s natural gas consumption rose by only 1.5% in 2018-2019 (i.e. over the April 2018-March 2019 period), due to higher international gas prices. According to India’s Oil Ministry, 53.05 bcm/year of gas were available for sale in 2018-2019, up from 52.25 bcm/year in 2017-2018.

Power utility Energy Absolute (EA) has commissioned the last turbines of the 260 MW Hanuman wind park project in the Chaiyaphum Province of Thailand.

The Summit Group has completed the commissioning of its 3.75 Mt/year (5.1 bcm/year) floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), Summit LNG, that has just started feeding gas to the Bangladesh’s national gas grid. The project is 75% owned by Summit and 25% by Japanese Mitsubishi (stake acquired in August 2018).

The Crown Estate (United Kingdom) has presented plans for the upcoming Round 4 offshore wind leasing scheme, which is set to take place later in 2019. A new tender design requirement will be introduced in order to make sure that applying projects will be awarded across a minimum of three seabed regions to help facilitate greater geographic diversity.