By Nora Buli
OSLO (Reuters) – Cheaper solar power and battery storage are expanding the technologies’ role in stabilising energy systems and thus offering more opportunities for renewables, the CEO of renewables developer Scatec told Reuters.
Norway’s Scatec builds, owns and operates renewable energy plants. It operates 4.2 gigawatt (GW) of capacity, with another 0.8 GW under construction and a further 2 GW of near-term prospects. Its top shareholder is oil company Equinor.
Solar panel prices have dropped by 66% over the last two years, and by 58% for battery systems over the last year, a dramatic shift making renewable projects much cheaper, Scatec CEO Terje Pilskog said in an interview this week.
“What happens is that now renewables can be used in many more situations and can take a larger, I would say, responsibility in a power system,” he added.
Although the picture is different for Europe, solar is now by far the cheapest source of energy in many countries globally, he said.
“Not only on a pay-as-produced or intermittent basis, but also as baseload or capacity power,” he said.
In South Africa, Scatec won out over other technologies in a tender to provide firm system capacity, with its combined solar and battery plant offering stable supply for 16.5 hours a day, he said.
Scatec mainly develops projects in emerging markets and receives some form of subsidy or capacity payment in most places, but says this still works out cheaper than countries needing to rely on fossil fuel-based power instead.
Cameroon has saved $35-40 million by leasing two battery plus solar systems from Scatec, Pilskog said.
Another example was Egypt, where the company is building a 1-gigawatt project to help meet rising domestic demand.
This would allow the country to sell the natural gas it produces in the global market instead of consuming it for power generation at home, he added.
(Reporting by Nora Buli. Editing by Jane Merriman)
