Market intelligence company Navigant Research has developed a country forecast of the global market. Incentives and pricing will be the main driver of installations, though the market will continue to be concentrated in certain key regions, including India, for now.

The ‘intelligent’ racking solutions provider has joined hands with Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro Extrusion’s India arm to manufacture PV racking for rooftops. The manufacturing unit—located in Bengaluru—is eyeing at least 20 MW of business from India in the next six months.

The partnership will leverage the market intelligence of Sunvest and the tech-driven platform of U GRO in lending to MSMEs for rooftop solar.

The requirement of design and installation of additional DC panels may emanate from the contractual need to supply the committed energy and does not cast any obligation on the procurer to buy generation in excess of the contracted energy range—stated the ministry in its advisory issued recently.

TES issued a press release announcing the new facilities that is light on detail but claimed the plants would position it as ‘a leader’ in battery recycling. The company also announced an intent to move into the reuse of spent electric vehicle batteries in commercial and residential applications.

The Smart Energy Hub can operate in electrolysis mode to store renewable energy as hydrogen, or in fuel cell mode to produce electricity and heat from previously produced hydrogen or methane. Its developers are the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission and start-up Sylfen.

The power produced by NTPC (40 MW) and Sukhbir Agro Energy (32 MW) will be purchased by Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited at tariffs of Rs 3.02/KWh and Rs 3.05/KWh, respectively, for a period of 25 years.

The state this week raised its clean energy ambition to 30 GW of generation capacity within three years as figures showed ground-mounted solar is expanding at a faster rate than rooftop installations.

Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited has retendered ground-mounted solar capacity of 57 MW with relaxation in eligibility criteria. The projects—to be set up on build, operate and transfer basis—shall come up at three sites in the state and will be awarded through international competitive bidding. Bidding closes on November 25.

The state will contract for a total 1.73 MWp of rooftop generation capacity with all the panels supplied manufactured in India.

The recycling market will experience a tenfold expansion between last year and 2030, driven by EV battery usage and portable electronics. Retrieving valuable metals and minerals is becoming a high priority and several dozen companies are already in position for the first big wave of end-of-life batteries.

The company aims to emerge as a global leader in battery pack manufacturing with plans to set up a manufacturing unit in India in 2020-21 and the USA.

November 4 is the last date to bid for the NTPC Mandsaur plant, which uses 40 numbers of 1250 KW grid-interactive power conditioning units (inverters).

Amtronics’ Tech City facility—constructed to a 75,000 sq.ft footprint—will use US firm Quantum Materials Corp’s technology to manufacture quantum dots and thin-film quantum dot solar cells.

The manufacturing linked ISTS tender may face a ‘no bid’ situation even with amendments and bidding extensions, industry insider Gopal Lal Somani tells pv magazine as he explains the major reasons for developers’ cold response to some of the recent tenders.

The Chinese manufacturer officially unveiled its high-efficiency product in Melbourne after celebrating a 13.6 MW panel order from the nascent Hungarian PV market.

Indigenisation of electric powertrain components and battery pack assembly could produce a 5.7% higher output value addition (US$ 2.7 billion) for the Indian auto industry in case of an electric vehicle (EV) transition.

The decision is likely to push upstream solar manufacturing in India, which currently has negligible wafer and cell production capacity to meet domestic content requirements for government projects.

Visitors to this year’s Solar Bangladesh Expo have called for the implementation of quality standards on solar imports – action which the government is currently pursuing – with one industry insider rubbishing Indian-made products.

Range anxiety continues to be an obstacle to electric vehicle take-up but the nation’s willingness to embrace car-sharing and other workarounds offers plenty of promise to the sector, according a World Economic Forum report.

Up to 70% of prospective customers have shied away from owning a rooftop solar system due to lack of readily available information on how to assess various solar options, says Saurabh Marda, co-founder and managing director of Freyr Energy – a Hyderabad-based rooftop solar firm that has completed over 1200 installations in just 5 years since inception in 2014.

The ISTS connected projects—to be developed on ‘build-own-operate’ basis—can be set up anywhere in India for round-the-clock power supply to New Delhi Municipal Council and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. December 3 is the last date for bidding.

The disparity between central and state government renewables policies must be resolved and renegotiating signed PPAs is an absolute no-no, according to the solar business’ bosses.

The company has already partnered with Fortum for fast charging and Delta Electronics India for slow charging segments. The latest partnership follows Ministry of Power’s revised guidelines for EV charging infrastructure that permit private charging at homes and offices.

The hybrid solar plants (with battery bank) shall come up at 34 railway station sites in the 4 states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam and Bihar. Bidding closes on October 30.

Streamlining the Discoms, better financing options, customer-centric approach, data sharing and push for residential through standardization are a few steps that can help India achieve its ambitious rooftop solar target.

India’s total installed solar capacity touched 34.1 GW on June 30, 2019. The total was split between 27.9 GW of utility-scale PV, 4.6 GW of rooftop solar and 1.26 GW of off-grid solar. The nation’s total project pipeline – projects allocated to developers and those in various stages of development – stood at 19.69 GW as of June 30. Bridge to India’s Sai Nandamuri looks at the outlook for Indian solar in 2019 and 2020.

The goal of the ‘SuryaKranti Solar Challenge’ is to develop a deeper collaboration between Indian industry and its engineering colleges. The event, on the lines of World Solar Challenge-Australia, aims to drive the culture of innovation in India by trying to solve a great challenge of climate change: building a sun powered car and driving it for a significant distance.

Most residential customers buy PV systems by obtaining quotes directly from PV installers. However, this can prove time consuming, costly and ineffective. Homeowners need an online quote platform, which offers a seamless buying experience. This can increase solar power awareness among Indian homeowners and help grow the adoption of rooftop solar power in the Indian residential market.

India needs special institutional structures within leading public financial institutions to cater to market segments that do not attract commercial capital at competitive terms.