Global News. Less plastics, more cars, windy Turkey and sunny Seychelles

1. Supermarkets in UK launch voluntary pledge to cut plastic packaging,Even as India’s richest state of Maharashtra grapples with a plastic ban, elsewhere in the globe, the UK’s largest supermarkets have signed up to support the UK Plastics Pact – an industry-wide initiative which aims to transform packaging and reduce avoidable plastic waste. The supermarkets and food companies have launched a new voluntary pledge to cut plastic packaging as authorities considered forcing them to pay more towards collecting and recycling the waste they produce.The UK environment secretary, Michael Gove, said: “Our ambition to eliminate avoidable plastic waste will only be realised if the government, businesses and the public work together.

   “Industry action can prevent excess plastic reaching our supermarket shelves in the first place. I am delighted to see so many businesses sign up to this pact and I hope others will soon follow suit.”

   2. Seychelles opens tender for the 4-MW floating solar plant,

   The Republic of Seychelles on Thursday launched a competitive selection for a  4-MW salt-water floating solar power project in the Lagoon le Rocher. The floating solar plant will be the first of its kind in Africa and the first floating PV facility in the world installed in a salt-water reservoir, the African Development Bank ( AFDB)said.

   The tender, announced by the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Wallace Cosgrow, is for the right to develop, finance, own and operate the specific photovoltaic (PV) array. It will be backed by the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), an organisation hosted by the AFDB, the latter said in a press release.

   3. Turkey seeks bids for 1.2-GW offshore wind tender,

   Turkey has initiated an auction for 1.2 GW of offshore wind capacity, setting a price cap of USD 0.08 (Rs 5.40 approx) per kWh. Interested parties, including joint ventures and consortia, can submit applications by October 23, according to an announcement by the energy ministry in Turkey’s Official Gazette.

   Energy minister Berat Albayrak announced plans for a large offshore wind project, the country’s first, in February. In March, the General Directorate of Renewable Energy under the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry, said that three potential areas have been identified for the inaugural offshore wind tender, to be held under the Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA) model. These are Saros and Gelibolu in Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, and Kıyıkoy, also in the northwestern part of the country but on the Black Sea.

   4. Italian Government Wants to Put a Million Electric Cars on the Roads by 2022,

   Europe’s most sluggish market for electric cars has conjured up a plan to put 1 million of the vehicles on the nation’s roads. But getting anywhere near that target in the specified time could cost the state over $10 billion in incentives. The 1 million number, far more aggressive than auto analyst forecasts, eventually made it into the national platform of Five Star, an Internet-based, anti-establishment party founded less than 10 years ago that was the biggest vote-getter in the March 4 national elections.

   “If you want 1 million electric cars on Italian roads in the next five years, the only option is huge tax benefits like Norway’s,” said Promotor research institute head Gian Primo Quagliano, who’s tracked the country’s car sales for 25 years. “The government would be looking at incentives of about $10,000 a car, like France,” he said. Even at that level — roughly $10 billion — “it still remains almost impossible to get there so quickly.”

   It remains to be seen if the national party can stand by its claim and somehow manage to increase the number of electric cars on its roads to over a million in the next five years from the present number of around 5000, which also includes plug-in hybrids. Perhaps they could take a leaf out of India’s playbook, where the government is shifting focus on incentives for electric to public transport, rather than personal transport vehicles like cars.

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