Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan’s economy and energy Ministers have signed an MoU regarding connecting the three countries’ grids via subsea transmission lines run across the Caspian Sea. As per the National Energy Administration, China’s Q1 solar installation figures came to 6.92 GW residential, 16.89 GW commercial and industrial, and 21.93 GW utility-scale, so 45.74 GW of new additions bringing the total Chinese solar fleet to 659.5 GW. Last year China’s coal consumption only grew 2.9%, even though its electricity consumption grew 6.7%. The declining utilization rate of China’s coal plants (which still resulted in that 2.9% growth since new capacity is being brought online, adding to the existing 1,300 GW coal fleet) prompted the government to introduce capacity payments for…