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State-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has launched a new tender for the development of 2,000 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to be procured by Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs). The tender is part of the the CPSU Scheme Phase II, which mandates cells and modules to be sourced locally, and selected projects to be set up on a build, own and operate (BOO) basis. The minimum capacity for bidding has been set at 10 MW and the deadline for submissions is 3 May 2019.

The second phase of the CPSU scheme was issued in March 2019 and foresees the development of 12 GW of grid-connected PV projects by government producers with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support. The projects will be developed over a 4-year period, from fiscal year 2019-2020 (April 2019-March 2020) to fiscal year 2022-2023. The produced electricity will be dedicated for the self-consumption of government entities either directly or through distribution companies (Discoms). SECI had already announced plans for a 1 GW CPSU solar tender in February 2019.

EDPR, the renewable energy arm of the Portuguese power utility EDP was awarded two 20-year contracts for two wind projects totalling 492 MW in Colombia’s latest reliability charge auction (Subasta de Asignación de Obligaciones de Energía Firme) that aimed at ensuring a steady power supply over the 2022-2023 period.

The French government has unveiled the results of the fifth major auction for ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, which has ended with 118 winners. 855 MW were processed at the auction of late February 2019, open for ground-mounted projects with capacities ranging between 500 kW and 30 MW. The average bidding price reached €62.7/MWh (+3% on 2018). More specifically,…

Brazilian state-held oil and gas company Petrobras has started hydrocarbon production from P-77, the fourth platform to be put into production in the Buzios field in the pre-salt of Santos Basin offshore Brazil (approximately 210 km off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro) in 2019.

British energy group SSE will close one of four units at its wholly-owned Fiddler’s Ferry coal-fired power plant in Warrington, Cheshire (United Kingdom) due to challenging market conditions. The ageing 1,995 MW GW coal-fired power plant (commissioned in 1971) has been incurring substantial losses in recent years, prompting SSE to close the first unit, rated 485 MW.

According to the British industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK), exploration and production companies will have to invest a total £200bn (approximately €230m) to fully exploit the domestic oil and gas sector, to realise industry’s Vision 2035 and to add a generation of productive life to the basin. According to OGUK, production has increased by 20% over the past five years,…

Russian and US oil and gas companies Rosneft and ExxonMobil plan to take a decision on the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the Far East LNG project on the Sakhalin Island (Russia) later in 2019. Slated for commissioning in 2023, the terminal will have a total operational capacity of 6 Mt/year (8.1 bcm/year).

The United Kingdom energy regulator Ofgem is set to approve plans for the 600 MW subsea transmission Shetland Link high voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission project, which will connect Kergord on the Shetland Isles to Caithness on the Scottish mainland (UK). Ofgem expects to make the final decision by mid-2019.

The Omanese Ministry of Oil and Gas and the Singapore-based company Silver Park International (part of the Indian group Accord) have pledged to invest US$3.85bn in a new 200,000 bbl/d refinery project near near the Hambantota port south of Colombo (Sri Lanka). The construction is set to start later in March 2019 and the project is expected to be up and running in 2023.