Renewable Energy Industry is Battling Coronavirus COVID19
Vanora Bennett of European Bank for Reconstruction and Developmen wrote that when the coronavirus pandemic broke, raising fears of a massive slump to follow, the big worry for climate action was that the struggle for economic recovery might halt global efforts to develop green renewable energy and move to a carbon-neutral future by mid-century. Sharp drops in fossil fuel prices as the crisis hit made them suddenly competitive again with ever-falling renewables prices. Demand for energy fell, too, as factories and businesses stopped work. All this made it likelier that hard-pressed governments would stop investing in newer, cleaner energy technologies, and just stick with the polluting fuels of the past as they tried to get their economies working again.
Despite disruption, the world’s major institutions are making it clear they are sticking with the green agenda. On the ground, the same determination is making itself felt in individual countries, both from governments and renewables firms. The lockdown period has seen a slew of new renewable energy deals in several of the 38 economies where the EBRD works, with support from the EBRD, a development bank with years of pioneering expertise in climate finance.
In Poland, strong support from the government has allowed landmark deals in both solar and wind power to be struck since Europe went into lockdown this spring.
In April, EUR 9 million EBRD loan to Estonian energy company Enefit Green allowed it to buy a portfolio of up to 19.2 MW of newly completed small solar projects in Poland, expanding a sector that will become a key contributor to decarbonisation in a country still almost 80 per cent dependent on polluting coal. And in May, EBRD loans totalling EUR 63 million along with parallel project finance from BNP Paribas were made to advance Poland’s green energy transition by supporting a portfolio of almost 200 MW of renewable energy ultimately owned by French renewables firm Qair and French infrastructure fund RGreen Invest. The portfolio includes the construction of 93 MW of new capacity the three wind farms Udanin 50 MW, Parzeczew 9 MW and Wrzesnia 9 MW and 25 MW of solar photovoltaic as well as the operation of wind farms Linowo 58 MW and Rzepin 48 MW.
In Uzbekistan, a wind tender announced in April for a 100-MW plant drew interest from 70 companies by mid-May, showing that the pandemic is not preventing well structured tenders from attracting fierce interest in the market. This project will be part of the Uzbek government’s plan to generate approximately 21 per cent of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2031, and to promote private sector investment in the renewable energy sector.
And, in Albania, a successful tender whose result was announced last week sees Voltalia, a French renewable energy firm, coming in to develop and run a 140-megawatt solar plant at Karavasta, selling half the energy it produces back to the state at the highly competitive price of €24.89 euros a MW/hour. This is under half the €55 ceiling set by the government and the cheapest electricity price in the region – a very positive outcome for the Albanian government, and a big reward for its courage in pressing on with the EBRD-backed tender despite the pandemic.
Source : Strategic Research Institute