Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 29

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

ADB, GCF to support green recovery

ASIA THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) and climate change mitigation and adaptation by
the UN-backed Green Climate Fund (GCF) 2030.
have agreed to partner towards a green recov- Climate finance from ADB’s own resources
ery for members confronting the harsh eco- will reach $80bn cumulatively from 2019 to
nomic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) 2030.
pandemic. In 2019, ADB committed more than $6.5bn
ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa met on in climate financing. Concessional financing
July 22 GCF executive director Yannick Gle- from partners will also be crucial to help ADB’s
marec to explore opportunities for a pathway of members meet their climate goals.
low-carbon and climate-resilient development GCF has approved total funding of $473mn
for ADB members in Asia and the Pacific hit for 10 ADB projects – making ADB the
hard by the health crisis. fourth-largest accredited entity of GCF – and
They agreed to strengthen collaboration on Asakawa and Glemarec discussed potential areas
non-sovereign operations while ensuring GCF’s for leveraging GCF co-financing in the near term
processes are as flexible as possible to foster for the benefit of ADB’s developing members.
at-scale financing. ADB’s support for developing members
“ADB is committed to helping our members to cope with, and recover from, the impact of
build a ‘green recovery’, and we stand ready to COVID-19 includes an enhanced support pack-
broaden our collaboration with development age of $20bn, announced on 13 April.
partners like GCF,” said Asakawa. “The decisions ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous,
we make now will create systems, institutions inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia and the
and assets, and define development directions Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate
that will last well into the future.” extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned
Under Strategy 2030, ADB will ensure that by 68 members – 49 from the region.™
75% of its committed projects will support

Chinese solar output remains

buoyant despite COVID-10

CHINA CHINESE solar panel manufacturing output compared with last year.
reached 59GW in the first five months of 2020, “The costs of solar products are falling more
15.7% higher than in the same period a year ago. rapidly than expected,” he said, noting that con-
Wang Bohua, vice-chairman of the China struction costs were now as low as CNY3.96 per
Photovoltaic Industry Association, said that the Watt, a milestone reached three years earlier
coronavirus (COVID-19) had barely affected the than forecast.
sector, Reuters reported. However, the coronavirus outbreak also had
Bohua added that new solar capacity addi- an impact on the costs of raw materials in the
tions had increased slightly by 0.9% between first half, he said.
January and June to 11.5GW. He predicted total Meanwhile, solar panel exports have also held
additions for 2020 to reach 35-45GW. up strongly this year, he said, with shipments of
The increase comes as the Chinese gov- completed solar modules hitting 27.7GW from
ernment has been reducing subsidies to solar January to May, down 1.8% on the year. Demand
projects after a record 53GW of additions in from major customers such as India has dimin-
2017. This has left the government still owing ished, while earnings have also declined as a
CNY200bn ($28.70bn) in backdated subsidies. result of the price fall.
However, Wang said that many solar plants One notable success was module exports to
were now operating without subsidies, and that the US, which reached $310mn between January
the price of solar had fallen to that of coal-gen- and May, Wang said, twenty times higher than
erated electricity. in 2019, when trade was hit by punitive tariffs
He said that 36GW of the projects approved caused by the China-US trade war.
so far in 2020 will sell power to the grid at In total, China’s solar exports were worth
the same price as coal-fired plants, up 145% $6.5bn over the first five months of the year.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 29 22•July•2020