According to Ethiopia’s Fanner Broadcasting Company, Khalid, the general manager of the Desert Technology Company from Saudi Arabia, met with representatives from the Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, the Ethiopian Investment Commission and the Ethiopian Consulate General in Saudi Arabia. Discuss the next step of Desert Technology's investment path in the renewable energy sector in Ethiopia. The two parties agreed that the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy of Ethiopia will determine three solar project sites, and Desert Technology will find sources of financing, and then sign a memorandum of understanding for cooperation. It is reported that, as a private enterprise, Desert Technology Corporation produces and sells a variety of equipment for the development of renewable energy, and has established production bases in many countries. In 2020, the Desert Technology Company sent personnel to Egypt for on-site inspections.

According to data shared by the Indian Ministry of New Energy and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Standing Committee on Energy of the Parliament, in order to achieve the goal of 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity, India needs 2.6 trillion yuan from now to the end of December 2022 Rupee investment. This means that the country must increase its annual expenditure on renewable energy projects to approximately 1.3 trillion rupees in the two calendar years of 2021 and 2022. However, this is a far cry from the average annual investment of Rs 823 billion that has been completed in the past five years. At present, India’s installed renewable energy capacity is 87 GW, and the capacity being implemented is about 30 GW. In other words, India needs 58 GW to complete the above goal. According to the report, “the capital requirement for 58 GW capacity is approximately 2.6 trillion rupees, which is calculated at a cost of 45 million rupees per megawatt. In the next two to three years, debt financing will require 1.827 trillion rupees, and equity financing will be Rs 7,830 crore.” However, it added that the cost of wind and solar technology is expected to be further reduced in the future. According to statistics, from the 2010-11 fiscal year to the 2019-20 fiscal year, India's renewable energy sector received foreign direct investment FDI totaling 8.407 billion U.S. dollars. Among them, in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, renewable energy FDI reached 1.446 billion U.S. dollars, the highest in this decade, followed by the 2019-20 fiscal year, which received FDI 1.393 billion U.S. dollars. In addition, renewable energy sources that received more than US$1 billion in FDI in the fiscal year also included US$1.1 billion in investment in the 2012-13 fiscal year and US$1.2 billion in investment in the 2017-18 fiscal year. According to the report, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is the only public sector financial institution that provides financing for renewable energy projects and must be prepared to take on additional responsibilities and provide funding for the installation of renewable energy projects. It said: “Therefore, the committee recommends that the ministry mobilize more long-term financing and concessional loans through multilateral and bilateral agencies as much as possible.” According to the report, as of June 2020, out of 87 GW of installed renewable energy projects, IREDA has provided 229 projects with loans of Rs 25,92.26 crore, totaling 11,830.69 MW.

According to media reports, after the Iraqi Ministry of Petroleum announced the signing of a preliminary agreement with the French Ministry of Electricity, the French-based global oil and gas company Total SE will build 1GW of solar photovoltaic power generation capacity in Iraq. The capacity of solar power plants is one of four energy projects that Iraq hopes Total will help build, and the remaining three are related to the construction of oil and gas infrastructure. Since October 2020, discussions on these projects (estimated valued at US$7 billion) have been ongoing. According to local media reports, the agreement was signed during a visit by Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne. The Iraqi Council of Ministers will make a final decision on these projects without revealing more details. Iraq is seeking to use solar photovoltaic technology as the core of its plan to expand its renewable energy production capacity. Bloomberg reported in its February 2021 report that Iraq’s Oil Minister Ihssan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail’s statement stated that the country’s solar photovoltaic goal is to reach 10 gigawatts by 2030. However, the International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that the country has the potential to have 21 GW of solar photovoltaic power generation capacity by 2030. For Total, this solar investment in Iraq (which may involve more regions) is part of the group's strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. It also plans to change its name from Total SE to TotalEnergies to reflect its ambitions for sustainable development. In other parts of the Middle East, Total is building an 800-megawatt Al Kharsaah solar photovoltaic IPP project in Doha, Qatar with Marubeni Corporation of Japan.

According to Reuters, to ease the pressure on the power grid Vietnam planned to reduce the feed-in tariff subsidies available for rooftop photovoltaic projects from April, and the reduction ratio will be as high as 30.8%-37.9%. Vietnam's "Grand Unity" quoted Hoang Tien Dung, director of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as saying that the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to lower the feed-in tariff for rooftop photovoltaics to 5.2-5.8 cents/kWh. The "Grand Unity" pointed out that the reduction of the rooftop photovoltaic feed-in tariff subsidy by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam is "unexpected." As early as January this year, the National Power Dispatching Center of Vietnam proposed that due to the excessive growth of rooftop photovoltaic installations in Vietnam last year, this year, Vietnam will cut 500 million kWh of photovoltaic power generation. Nguyen Dening, director of the center, said that the Vietnamese government has recommended that some small hydropower projects adjust their power generation time and suspend power generation during the peak period of sunshine from 11 to 13 o'clock every day to make more room for photovoltaic projects. In addition, the photovoltaic power generation market will be planned as a whole according to clear standards to limit disorderly development. It is understood that in 2020, there has been a “running wave” of rooftop photovoltaic installations in Vietnam. In December alone, the installed capacity exceeded 6.7 GW, and the annual new installed capacity exceeded 9 GW. As of January this year, the cumulative installed capacity of rooftop photovoltaics in Vietnam has increased from 378 MW in 2019 to 9.583 GW, an increase of 2435 percent. Industry organization PV-tech pointed out that last year's roof photovoltaic installations in Vietnam suddenly became popular, mainly due to the stimulation of national subsidy policies. In April last year, the Vietnamese government announced the latest feed-in tariff for utility-scale photovoltaic power plants, rooftop photovoltaic power plants, and floating photovoltaic power plants. Among them, the purchase price of new rooftop photovoltaic power plants was 8.38 cents/kWh. In fact, in recent years, Vietnam has become one of the fastest growing markets for renewable energy scale electricity in Asia. However, due to the lagging development of the Vietnamese power system, the surge in installed renewable energy power capacity has also caused the industry to worry about the stability of the Vietnamese power grid. Vietnam Power Group once stated in a report that in Vietnam, photovoltaic power generation has accounted for a quarter of the total power generation of the power system. This explosive growth has affected the stability of Vietnam's power distribution system. According to Reuters, according to the Vietnamese government’s draft power development plan this year, Vietnam needs to invest as much as US$128.3...

Australian new policy to solar energy system --Australia intends to impose a "solar tax" on household and comercial rooftop solar energy system According to Australian media reports, the controversial new rules proposed by the Australian Energy Market Commission (referred to as AEMC), the main rule maker of the Australian energy market, may soon cause millions of Australian households to sell solar energy to the grid. An additional "solar tax" is levied. According to the published draft rules, AEMC proposes to impose a tax of 2 cents per kilowatt hour on solar power connected to the Internet at noon. AEMC said that the tax will send a “price signal” to help reduce grid congestion and encourage more households to install battery storage devices to reduce the amount of electricity used to connect to the Internet during peak periods. In 2020, about 33,000 Australian households have installed battery storage, but the installation cost of Tesla Powerwall 2 exceeds 14,000 US dollars, which cannot generate a return on investment for the household. Some solar energy advocacy groups strongly oppose the levy of any solar tax. They believe that through the existing grid electricity prices, the grid can get rich returns. They should make the necessary investments to adapt to the demand for distributed energy. Before making a final ruling in June, AEMC will solicit feedback on its proposal by May 13.