Japan
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In recommendations published Feb. 19, Kono's Advisory Panel on Climate Change encouraged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to consider "renewable energy diplomacy" by taking a leading role in the global effort to limit climate change and create decarbonized societies.
"If Japan continues its policy incompatible with the global decarbonizing efforts, it may be left behind not only in [the] energy and environment sector, but also may hinder its industrial competitiveness in the global market, which now pays serious attention to carbon risks," the panel wrote in its report.
Export.gov reported that Japan added nearly 34 GW of new renewable energy from July 2012 through the end of 2016. China accounted for 40% of the world's new renewable energy capacity in 2016, bringing online more than 360 GW of clean energy. According to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's 2017 white paper on its energy sector, the country's energy goals include implementing energy conservation and renewable energy policies that consider environmental concerns at the same time.
India
According to India-based magazine Business Today, India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs signed off on a plan to auction off coal mines. Until now, coal mines were auctioned for captive power generation; now, they will be sold to private miners in India and across the world.
The move is part of a broader initiative to make the coal sector more competitive and fuel the economies of coal-producing regions, the country's coal and railways minister, Piyush Goyal, said. According to India Times' business publication The Economic Times, the reform will also help the industry meet demand, something Coal India had struggled to do.
"Owners of distressed assets will no longer worry about uncertain fuel supplies and can contract with commercial coal suppliers to revive projects," Kameswara Rao, a partner and leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP India's energy, utilities and mining group, told The Economic Times. The efforts to boost the coal sector conflict with the government's push to increase renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by the end of 2022.
Germany
"The ambitious project by Conergy has helped to show the importance of combining storage technologies with large-scale solar," the government agency's CEO, Ivor Frischknecht, said. "Lakeland is a demonstration for how integrated solar and batteries can together deliver dispatchable supply feeding electricity into the grid when it is needed, whether or not the sun is available at that moment."
Australia has seen several hybrid projects pop up in the past year. Tesla Inc. completed a 100-MW/129-MWh battery system at Neoen SAS' Hornsdale Wind Farm in November 2017. Vestas Wind Systems A/S and a group of renewable energy developers are also working on a up to 6-GW wind and solar hybrid plant that would export its electricity to Indonesia.
Elsewhere:
* Spain
* The United States
* Egypt
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