The Malaysian oil and gas group has purchased solar developer Amplus Energy Solutions from infrastructure investor I Squared Capital. No financial terms of the deal have been disclosed.

Asia is home to more than 60% of the world’s population, about half of whom live in cities and towns. With climate change being largely driven by urban centers, Vice President Naidu called upon governments across the continent to build climate resilient communities.

With Narendra Modi being tipped to triumph again in the current Indian elections, Indian solar capacity is expected to grow robustly, at 15.3% per year, on the back of continued strong government support.

The nation is trailing behind peers such as the EU when it comes to policy guidelines for materials and recycling and the lack of a viable business case for reusing materials doesn’t help matters.

Storage companies are working with solar developers towards strategic alliances, says Naveen Sharma, Vice President-Sales & Strategic Planning, Exicom Power Solutions—an electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure developer that has set up an R&D centre in Bengaluru to facilitate development of lithium-ion battery packs. In an interview with pv magazine, Sharma also talked about the current scenario for Li-ion battery storage manufacturing in India and strategies to succeed.

The solar manufacturer is installing three rooftop systems in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for polypropylene woven fabric maker Klene Paks. The units will have a cumulative capacity of 7.63 MW.

An emphasis on grid-parity PV has been hammered out in the latest policy document to emerge after several weeks of haggling in Beijing. Chinese analyst AECEA says the success of the subsidy-free effort will hinge on the ability of power companies to transmit and guarantee consumption of the power generated by new projects.

The 300 MW solar plant at the Pavagada Solar Park, located in Tumkur district of Karnataka, is ReNew Power’s largest solar plant commissioned in terms of capacity till date. It is said to be the first utility-scale solar plant in India to use high-efficiency mono PERC solar modules.

Avaada Energy has raised the funds from the Asian Development Bank and European development institutions. The PV developer will use the amount to finance 2.4 GW of the 5 GW of solar capacity it hopes to secure over the next two years.

Suzlon Energy is selling Shreyas Solarfarms and Aalok Solarfarms to Ostro Energy—a wholly owned subsidiary of independent power producer ReNew Power—for Rs 19.87 crore and Rs 9.93 crore, respectively.

The result was certified by the solar cells laboratory at the calibration and test center of Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research. Imec’s measurements showed cell bifaciality surpassed 80%.

A 10,000-liters-per-day plant in Tamil Nadu offers hope for powering clean water without fossil fuels. However, researchers warn the technology is difficult to scale up because PV panels take up so much space.

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has invited online bids for development of 40 MW grid-connected crystalline PV solar power project in District Ganjam of Odisha. The project will be awarded through domestic competitive bidding followed by reverse action.

Market-based scheduling will enable flexibility in grids to facilitate renewable energy generation. However, the framework proposed by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) doesn’t indicate any change in the payments mechanism for renewable projects, says the ratings agency.

This 1.2 MWp project would generate more than 80% of power requirements of the Akal University and 13 Akal Academies. It has been built at a total cost of Rs 5.2 crore, out of which the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has provided a total subsidy of around Rs 1.7 crore.

India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued guidelines for solar PV inverter manufacturers to get their products tested and approved by Bureau of India Standards (BIS) certified labs. These guidelines apply to off-grid, grid-tie and hybrid inverters of capacities up to 150 KW.

In the latest tariff spat to afflict the solar world, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies will investigate a claim steel products coated with aluminum and zinc are being dumped by Far Eastern manufacturers.

Rules on the composition of product containers, production line sample sizes for testing and technical information will come into force for manufacturers and distributors operating across the nation.

While Bureau of India Standards (BIS) certification is an honest attempt by the Indian government to mitigate risks associated with poor quality of modules, there are several reasons why this particular objective is currently not being met. pv magazine India’s Uma Gupta investigates India’s efforts to ensure quality in its booming PV industry.

Sharp has released three new high-efficiency mono-PERC solar panels. Ranging from 300 W to 370 W, the five-busbar modules are designed for use in a range of applications, from residential PV projects to large commercial installations.

Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited (REIL) has invited bids for setting up of 1.7 MW (AC) grid-connected solar PV projects with battery storage in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The projects—to be implemented on turnkey basis in Havelock Island (Swaraj Dweep) and Neil Island (Shaheed Dweep)—would be awarded through competitive bidding followed by reverse auction.

Tata Power will set up rooftop solar projects for Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) establishments. The two companies will also explore the feasibility of large-scale ‘group captive’ solar power projects for IGL’s own consumption, and commercial-scale charging and/or battery swapping stations for electric vehicles.

Bolivia will provide India with access to its lithium carbonate, and also facilitate joint ventures for lithium battery/cell production plants in India. The partnership will provide a major fillip to India’s ambitious e-mobility plans.

The benchmark levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for lithium-ion batteries has fallen to $187 per megawatt-hour since the first half of 2018. The overwhelming cost improvement is making batteries paired with solar or wind projects challenge coal- and gas-fired generation for grid stability, according to BloombergNEF (BNEF).

Finnish clean-energy company Fortum has achieved the Lithium-ion battery recycling rate of over 80%—as against the current 50%—with a low-CO2 hydrometallurgical recycling process.

India needs a manufacturing policy that is scalable, secure, strategical and supportive and promotes both the growth and spread of solar while protecting the interests of domestic manufacturers.

Situated in south-east India, the state of Andhra Pradesh is a leading producer of renewable energy with 7.2 GW of installed capacity as of December 2018. The state’s share of renewable energy as part of total capacity has trebled in the last four years from 11% in 2014 to 30% in 2018.

The last 10 years have seen India emerge as a solar superpower, setting an example from which many emerging countries in Africa and Southeast Asia are eager to learn.

India has set exceptionally ambitious renewable energy targets including 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewables by 2022, 275GW by 2027, and to achieve 40% of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030. India seeks to tender another 80GW of renewables in total over the coming two years.

In recent years, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has laid the foundation for a clean energy expansion through robust policies and initiatives. India’s solar energy capacity has jumped a thousand-fold from a mere 17 MW in 2010, to more than 23 GW in 2018. Similarly, the wind market has more than doubled in recent years, from around 13 GW of installed power in 2010, to 34 GW by June 2018. These developments help move India closer to its ambitious clean energy goal of 175 GW installed capacity by 2022. However, in spite of several public financial institutions, private banks, and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) providing capital, financing remains a key barrier in scaling India’s clean energy markets further.