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The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has unveiled new solar and wind policies for the development of future subsidy-free projects. A series of subsidy-free wind and solar projects will be launched later in 2019 to take advantage of the falling solar and wind construction costs, which fell by 45% and 20%, respectively, between 2012 and 2017. Once built, they will generate power at the same price as non-subsidized coal-fired power plants and will not have to comply with any quota restrictions. Wind and solar projects will receive governmental support on land and financing. As per the new policy, local authorities will be entitled to subsidize projects but the fundings cannot be used to support local manufacturers. Besides, power grid companies will also be encouraged to guarantee electricity purchases from pilot projects, lower transmission fees and prop up cross-regional deliveries of subsidy-free electricity. Nationwide feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) and subsidies for PV distributed projects were already cut by CNY5c/kWh (US$0.8c/kWh) in May 2018 after a record capacity increase of 53 GW in 2017 left the government with a backlog of CNY120bn (US$18bn) in subsidy payments.

The Tunisian government expects the country to produce approximately 25% of its energy output with renewable energy projects by 2020. New projects – mainly wind and solar – with a combined capacity of 1,000 MW worth TND2.5bn (US$836m) should be commissioned by 2020.

A special committee under Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which was formed to discuss feed-in-tariff (FiT) pricing, has set a new FiT for non-residential small-scale commercial solar power plants with capacities ranging between 10 kW and 500 kW. It will stand at JPN14/kWh (roughly US$13c/kWh), 22% down from the previous JPN18/kWh (US$17c/kWh),…

Dutch and German power transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT has nearly achieved the German federal government’s expansion target of having 6,500 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2020. It has connected 11 offshore grid connection systems with a joint capacity of 6,232 MW to the domestic grid. Besides, TenneT even expects to overtake this objective shortly,…

The €4.5bn Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) gas interconnection project has successfully completed financial close and has secured a €3.9bn support from the European Investment Bank (EIB), EBRD, export credit agencies bpifrance, Euler Hermes and Sace, and a group of 17 commercial banks. This is the largest project finance agreed for a European infrastructure project throughout 2018.

According to the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, only 2,800 MW of the 35,000 MW plan were operational at the end of December 2018, which accounts for approximately 8% of the total planned capacity. In addition, around 18 GW were under construction as of December 2018,…

The consortium including China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and the fuel retailer Phoenix Petroleum Philippines has received governmental approval to build a new US$2bn LNG import and regasification terminal in Batangas (Philippines).

Chinese state-run power transmission network operator State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) plans to invest US$5.7bn for the construction of five pumped-storage hydropower plants with a combined capacity of 6 GW across China. The projects will be built in the provinces of Jilin, Hebei, Shandong, Zhejiang and Xinjiang and should be commissioned by 2026.

Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer Orlen is set to launch surveys to assess the environmental impacts and wind conditions within its offshore wind license in the Baltic Sea. For this purpose, it has signed an agreement with the Maritime Institute of Gdańsk (Poland) and the Polish offshore developmental works and seabed survey company MEWO.