IRENA says technologies for 3D rooftop footprint generation and solar irradiation modelling are becoming increasingly cheap, making them suitable for deployment anywhere in the world. Developing cities could access such technical resources to plan rooftop PV development.

Known as the “roof of the world,” the scenic Ladakh region in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir will soon host the world’s largest single-location PV plant.

Beijing has outlined a series of policies mandating local and provincial authorities, state-owned banks and grid operators to pull out the stops to drive the rapid escalation of subsidy-free PV projects. The announcement has seen Chinese solar stocks on the rise.

The new ‘cerenergy’ system that has been developed in Germany can operate without air conditioning by using vacuum insulation even in extreme temperatures. With no rare earths required for manufacture, the product’s basic material is salt.

The Gujarati multinational will invest Rs700 billion to set up world’s first 100% renewable powered data center parks in the state.

India’s leading infrastructure finance company IL&FS expects up to Rs 80 billion from wind and solar asset sales.

The state, which plans to add 3 GW of renewable capacity annually, will host the ninth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, which opens in 11 days’ time.

Of the colossal sum, 350 GW would be for solar. India currently has installed renewable energy capacity of 75 GW with a further 46 GW under implementation.

India contributed to one-third of the global sales of distributed solar products during January-June 2018. Indian manufacturers can further leverage the International Solar Alliance (ISA) platform to engage with the global market, says Viraj Gada, GOGLA’s India regional representative and spokesperson for The India Distributed Energy Forum and Expo (IDEF), in an interview with pv magazine ahead of the event on January 30 and 31 in New Delhi.

Dutch lender Oikocredit has extended India’s first residential solar rooftop line of credit through its Indian subsidiary Maanaveeya Development & Finance

In his keynote address at a Make in India session at the Energy Storage India 2019 event in New Delhi, the minister for commerce and industry urged the storage sector to make products that are useful in an Indian context.

More flexible prices during peak periods would incentivize the use of energy during times of lower demand and reduce the burden on the grid, according to a report by IEEFA. Day-ahead market pricing would better incentivize variable generation to ‘kick in’ at times of peak demand.

With the announcement of a National Energy Storage Mission expected this month, 2019 is set to be a year of manufacturing and research and development opportunities in India’s storage sector

The tension between the cost cutting and performance boosting opportunities presented by new technologies and the tendency for risk aversion is never more evident than in PV module materials. This applies nowhere more than in backsheets, where new innovations are big on promise, but must convince manufacturers and the market of their long-term performance.

India’s Solar Energy Corporation of India has invited solar power developers to construct 7.5 GW grid connected projects in Leh and Kargil Districts in the state of Jammu & Kashmir under a competitive bidding process. Bid submission deadline is April 30. Tenders will be opened on the same day. The date of reverse auction will be advised at a later date.

Products and companies which fail to make the list will be excluded from a wide range of government-backed projects. The list is set to apply from the end of March 2020 but new tenders will incorporate listing requirements from now on.

Co-extruded backsheets are opening up novel circular possibilities for the solar industry, as well as driving durability and lowering costs, writes Netherlands-based materials specialist DSM.

Sustainable development expert Auroville Consulting has launched the Solar Village Search Engine to help fund its Solar Village Initiative, which aims to power 100 villages in Tamil Nadu with solar by the year 2030.

Swiss battery maker that intends to bring production lines to Gujarat has been helped along in a planned reduction of its debt pile by its domestic authorities. The way is now clear for a shareholder vote next Tuesday.

Historic Swiss brand Leclanché is on an expansionist trail, notably in India and low-carbon shipping, but restructuring its debts will involve ceding even more control of the venerable company to institutional investors.

Having reflected on the year gone by, it is time to turn attention to the coming year. Many predictions may not fully, or even partially, bear the fruit they promise – and the unexpected is always lurking in the background – however they can be a useful indicator of certain pathways and growth areas. With this in mind, the pv magazine team has compiled a list of the top 14 solar PV and energy storage trends expected to characterize 2019. What do you think? Have we missed anything?

For India to achieve its 2030 dreams of fully electrifying its passenger vehicle market, and growing a leading manufacturing industry, its electric vehicle program must be accelerated. Meanwhile, if Intersolar India 2018 had to nominate the most-repeated word at the event, “storage” would win hands down.

The Indian Government plans to tender 60 GW of solar and 20 GW of wind capacity by March 2020. This would complete the planned auctions for its targets of 100 GW solar and 60 GW wind installations by 2022, leaving two years for project execution, according to an year-end review by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Battery storage is racing even faster than the PV market did a few years ago. Costs are plummeting and new production lines are popping up all around the world. Smart people with smart ideas are leveraging venture capital and research funds. M&A activity is also accelerating with a new range of investors taking interest. But the technology battle is far from over, says Ragna Schmidt-Haupt, Partner at Energy Consultancy Everoze.

A renewable energy system in 2050 is technically possible and economically viable for India, with the levelized cost of electricity falling from the current €58/MWh (Rs4,626) to €52 under one scenario in a recent report, and to €46 in another that included demand for power, water desalination and non-energy industrial gas sectors.

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.

As the deployment of renewable energy continues to expand around the world, driven by various inputs, such as capital allocation and investment, falling capital costs, competitive LCOE and various policy mechanisms, we are now moving towards a new era for renewable energy. ‘Renewables 2.0’ will have significant, wide-ranging consequences for all market players, as regulators reduce their support and power producers seek new revenue models. In this article, Duncan Ritchie, partner at Apricum – The Cleantech Advisory, will look at the key market developments for renewables, explode the myth of grid parity, highlight the need for flexibility and explain the importance of new financing solutions that are capable of meeting the new complexities brought about by ‘Renewables 2.0’.

India is currently the second largest market in the world for PV module demand. With China’s domestic demand frozen since the 31/5 notification, the country’s total module demand in 2018 will likely only achieve 32-34 GW. This will allow India, which may surpass 10 GW in annual demand, to reach 13% of global PV demand this year. As a result, the future of India’s trade war has become an influential factor in the global PV industry.

Finance in developing countries: Economics teaches that capital flows from where it is in surplus to where it is in demand. But that is not the case with renewable energy. The biggest pots of institutional capital in advanced economies are not shifting to developing ones. It is time to take a hard look and develop solutions that resolve this anomaly.

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 […]