Actions taken today in the pursuit of environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive growth path in India stand to benefit more than 17 percent of the world’s population. A sustainable future for India carries an impact for the subcontinent and the entire world. At GGGI – the Global Green Growth Institute – our attention is captured […]

Budget 2018-19 has been watched with a lot of expectations and addressed three critical issues, agricultural distress being foremost, followed by employment opportunities for youth, and ways to kickstart manufacturing with large-scale private investments. ‘Saubhagya’ is one of the powerful tools that was at the top of the budget’s agenda, which Prime Minister Modi  launched […]

India’s Director General of Safeguards (DGS) has proposed a provisional duty of 70% for a period of 200 days on solar cells and modules. It has issued its recommendations in a preliminary report, completed within just a month of submission of the petition by five Indian manufacturers including Mundra Solar, Indosolar, Jupiter Solar, Websol Energy and Helios […]

Since 2014, around 29 GW of utility scale solar tenders have been issued in India. Most of this capacity (81%, 23.5 GW) has been tendered by NTPC, SECI, DISCOMs and other public sector entities for project development by the private sector. But there is also a sizeable 19% (5.5 GW) tendered in the form of […]

The Indian Railways, being one of the largest railway networks in the world, operates around 12,000 trains per day. It is also one of the largest consumers of diesel in the country, with an annual consumption of 2.7 billion liters, which includes traction requirement as well as the use of coach lights, fans, AC, etc. […]

The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) says the nation will exceed 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity as plans for bidding for 115 GW of renewable power projects to March 2020 were announced. The target for PV parks has been increased from 20 GW to 40 GW with some 41 parks in 21 states – with aggregate capacity of more than 26 GW – already sanctioned.

The government’s Solar Energy Commission of India (SECI) has tendered 5 GW of solar manufacturing capacity to be set up across the country. The capacity will be linked to grid-connected PV projects with the plants developed on a build-own-operate basis.

The EV manufacturer will develop a complete system encompassing electric vehicles (EVs), smart parking, charging infrastructure and software integration platform NEMO for the experimental township of Auroville in Tamil Nadu. Mahindra has also unveiled an energy storage solution for EVs and will help harness renewable power.

Greenko, backed by Singapore’s GIC and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, is set to buy the solar and wind portfolio of Orange Renewable. The move will constitute Greenko’s largest acquisition and will add 1 GW to its operational capacity to raise the company’s portfolio to 4.2 GW, just shy of the capacity held by ReNew Power Ventures, the country’s largest renewable energy company.

Located in Hosapet, Bengaluru, this solar PV power plant will be the largest Enphase microinverter-based solar installation globally. Occupying 72,843 sq.m (18 acres) and powered by 13,235 microinverters, it will provide more than 7500 MWh of clean power annually to businesses in the state of Karnataka through a mix of short- and long-term power purchase agreements

Solarpack, a Spanish solar plant developer, has won the contract to develop five solar photovoltaic plants with a total power of 133 MWp in the Indian state of Karnataka.

The country will achieve solar PV capacity of 50 to 75 GW by 2022 – a little over 60% of the 100 GW target. Total rooftop capacity will be less than 10 GW.

Azure Power has been awarded a 130 MW solar PV project by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL). It is expected to be commissioned in 2019.

Indian energy company Azure Power recently announced that it has connected a 50 MW PV project in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh. The company states that the completion of this project brings its portfolio of operational solar assets past the 1 GW mark.

In a long-awaited move, farming irrigation systems in Haryana will be powered by solar energy.

The goal of the project, RE 8760 is to show how the storage of renewable energies can make them usable all year round. The generated solar power is stored and converted into hydrogen. It can also be conserved over long periods and used to recharge fuel cell vehicles during the dark winter months.

U.S. technology company Microlink Devices has achieved a record efficiency of 37.75% on its triple junction thin film cells. The lightweight cell achieves a power density of more than 3000 W/kg, and is designed for use in satellites and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). The new efficiency record is confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The researchers found that printed solar cells achieved a better performance when they used an active polymer material as glue.

The U.S. headquartered inverter company has mentioned that the new Enphase IQ microinverter enables faster installation and reduce maintenance costs for installers. Moreover, new technology will produce 18% more power and will be 31% lighter and 15% smaller than the current M-Series microinverters.

Scientists at European solar research organization, Solliance have announced the achievement of 14.5% conversion efficiency on a perovskite module. The module uses a glass substrate, and the efficiency was measured on an aperture area of 144 cm².

Sungrow, the world’s second largest inverter supplier, according to GTM research, has announced plans to establish production facilities in India. The Chinese inverter company is aiming to strengthen its global delivery capability by setting up central and string inverter facilities in the state of Karnataka. The fab would be its first outside of China.

In a much-awaited move, India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has mandated that, effective April 16, 2018, all solar PV manufacturers will have to register their equipment with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

According to the latest GTM Research statistics, global inverter shipments increased 23% in 2017, and revenues 11%, thus representing another record year. A market first, three-phase string inverter shipments overtook those of central inverters.

The Asian companies will form a joint venture in India to execute the plan. The project’s total investment is expected to be around US$930 million, which will be used for the production of solar PV ingots, wafers, cells, modules and batteries.

pv magazine teams up with solar market analysts at IHS Markit to run through the top 10 crystalline silicon cell manufacturers of 2017, and the events that shaped their market landscape throughout the year.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance says EVs will make up only 7% of new car sales in nation by 2030, compared to a predicted 44% for European sales, 41% in China, 34% in the US and 17% in Japan

To smoothen this transition, the country needs to build fast solar PV-powered charging stations. In 2017, there were only 220-250 operational charging stations in India, compared to 56,000 petrol stations.

Uncertainty in the renewable energy sector continues to drive a “relentless focus on cost” to soften the impact of protectionism, subsidy cuts and rising interest rates throughout the world, EY says in its latest Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) report. But the evolving outlook for project finance, as well as the gradual maturation of technologies such as blockchain, present new challenges and opportunities.

Analyst data records 53% annual growth in storage in 2017, rising to 1.9 GW as South Korea climbed to top of the tree in terms of cumulative capacity. Global project pipeline has soared to 10.4 GW.

The Indian multinational EPC has this week unveiled a new global division that will focus on the development of power+storage hybrid solutions. The new unit will focus initially on lighting up remote islands and has an installation target of 1 GW.