WCA September 2017

From the Americas

The VDA’s warning comes as German chancellor Angela Merkel, a strong advocate of the global pact to curb the emission of climate change gases, said there was no turning back from the 2015 Paris climate agreement. On the other hand… After 2016, a record year for USA solar installations, the first quarter of 2017 saw the installation of over 2GW of new solar capacity, a quarter of it on individual rooftops, according to data released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. It puts solar second to natural gas overall for new US electricity installations in the quarter, with only a two per cent year-on-year decline. This is happening under President Trump, who has proposed to cut solar energy research funding, rescind the Clean Power Plan, and bring the USA from the Paris climate agreement, and whose Energy Department is undertaking a study of the USA grid that critics claim is aimed at undermining energy sources such as wind and solar. Abigail Ross Hopper, president and chief executive of the solar association, explained the apparent anomaly:  There are state-level incentives to add renewables to the grid  The majority of the projects that came online in 2017 were procured under the Obama administration in 2016  Solar power keeps getting cheaper  The 30 per cent solar investment tax credit has been extended through to 2021 “The majority of projects are economic, not policy-driven, at this point, so as the prices have gone down, installations have gone up,” said Ms Hopper. But installations aren’t expected to slow down. The industry projects there will be a total of 12.6GW of solar installed in 2017, which falls a little short of 2016’s record but is still a very impressive figure. Could Trump’s decision to withdraw the USA from the Paris climate agreement have unexpected and surprising consequences? Tom Werner, chief executive of US solar company SunPower, told the Washington Post that Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement just poses “one more challenge” for the industry, adding: “It’s likely that the industry will sort that economic challenge out. “I think the broader picture is still quite positive for solar, I just think there’s a little bit of friction by not supporting the Paris accord … and the general demeanour of the administration.” Werner noted concerns within the industry regarding a loss of support from the Energy Department for renewables or solar projects, but he argued that homeowners could react to Trump’s Paris move with defiance. He believes they may reason: “I’m not in agreement with what Trump’s doing with the Paris accord, so I’m going to put a solar system on my house.” Only time will tell. Gill Watson – Features Editor

MyRepublic, which started fund raising in May, hopes to raise $100 million to realise its telecommunications aspirations in Singapore and three other markets. Mobile service launches are planned for 2018 in Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. The cash will also be used to install optical fibre infrastructure in Indonesia to grow its fibre broadband customer base. In Singapore, MyRepublic has 70,000 fibre broadband subscribers. The company aims to have a five per cent mobile market share within five years, and to be profitable by mid-2018. More MVNO news Mexico has a new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Oui Movil, a unit of domestic retail group Elektra, will offer both 3G and 4G connectivity from day one. TeleGeography revealed in March 2015 that Grupo Elektra was to lease capacity on Telcel’s network. Elektra, which sells electronic goods and household appliances, and also runs Banco Azteca through its financial division, is owned by Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who exited the Mexican wireless sector in 2015 when he sold his interest in Iusacell to AT&T Inc. Elsewhere, Snail Mobile, China’s largest MVNO has revealed that its subscriber base has reached ten million. The unit, which is a division of the Suzhou Snail Digital Technology Company, commonly known as Snail Games, describes itself as the industry’s premier ‘gaming MNVO’ and offers monthly gaming privileges to subscribers. China’s second largest MVNO, YuanTel, has confirmed that it now has eight million active users. Clarifying its Internet of Things (IoT) ambitions at Mobile World Congress Shanghai in June, the virtual operator noted that its “installed capacity of front-end in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) exceeded 300,000 units, and the subscription base for its IoT accounts is now more than 100,000.” Fallout from Paris pact falling out President Donald Trump’s recent decision to withdraw the USA from the 2015 global agreement to fight climate change provoked anger from world leaders, environment groups and heads of industry alike. “The regrettable announcement by the USA makes it inevitable that Europe must facilitate a cost efficient and economically feasible climate policy to remain internationally competitive,” said Matthias Wissmann, president of the German auto industry lobby group VDA, in a statement. (The VDA represents carmakers including BMW, Volkswagen and the Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler.) “The preservation of our competitive position is the precondition for successful climate protection. This correlation is often underestimated,” Mr Wissmann added. The VDA said electricity and energy prices are already higher in Germany than in the USA, putting Germany at a disadvantage.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2017