The partnership will lead to enhanced power system modeling backed with rich data-sets to identify interventions for addressing power sector problems like grid instability.

The solar panel-cleaning robot startup, which saw its sales jump 125 times last year, has thus far raised three levels of funding amounting to INR 2 crore from government bodies in India, Dubai, and Canada. 

Advanced technology is of little use if it cannot reach those who need it most. Two Indonesian companies – Kopernik, an NGO based in Bali, and Sumba Sustainable Solutions, from the island of Sumba – are trying to bridge the gap between those in need and those with technological solutions. They both focus on the PV electrification of rural areas and brightening Indonesia’s “last mile.”

A new report says the United States and India have an opportunity to partner to catalyze foreign institutional investment in India’s green transition. It lays out what such a partnership should look like and how it would benefit both countries and the world.

India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) and Greenstat Hydrogen India will collaborate on establishing a Norwegian Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen in India and supporting the development of green hydrogen technologies.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India has allowed a two-week bidding extension for the installation of a 20 MW (AC) solar plant (50 MWp DC) with 20 MW/50 MWh battery energy storage in the union territory of Ladakh.

Solar module manufacturers, grid-tied inverter manufacturers and PV system integrators with requisite EPC experience can bid for the grid-interactive PV capacity. The plants—to be set up in sizes ranging from 2 MW to 10 MW—shall come up in various districts of the state. Bidding closes on March 17.

AdaniConneX, the joint venture with US-based data center solution provider EdgeConneX, will develop renewable energy-powered data centers with up to 1 GW of power demand in India over the next decade.

Bidders have until April 23 to lodge their interest to set up 990 small-size grid-connected rooftop solar plants in turnkey mode. The plants—in sizes of 10 kWp each—shall come up across the State.  

The nation is going to make great strides in new utility-scale solar installation this year after adding just about 2.6 GW in 2020.

In various forms, quantum dot technology has attracted plenty of attention among PV researchers recently. And as efficiencies have crept past the 15% mark, the community is beginning to look at other factors limiting the viability of quantum dot solar cells in a commercial setting. Scientists in Germany examined the degradation mechanisms affecting different quantum dot materials; and suggest a standardization of stability testing to enable comparability of results.

For developers to close the emerging gap as the market becomes more competitive – and, crucially, build projects that perform to investors’ expectations in the long term – they need to not only develop better understanding of the factors influencing project performance but also take steps to adopt advances made in other established solar markets worldwide in the use of solar data.

Scientists in India modeled the performance of tin-based perovskite (methylammonium tin triiodide) finding that with careful optimizations the material could achieve efficiencies beyond 28%.

The Spanish startup will use ION’s advanced battery management and intelligence technologies for its electric scooter, the RAY 7.7.

A group of scientists in Bangladesh has developed a model to determine the optimal cleaning schedule for a PV installation at any location in the globe, requiring only the average insolation and soiling rate for a given site to make the calculation. The study also draws new conclusions regarding the influence of sandstorms and rain on soiling, and aims to be among the first studies to paint a global picture of soiling trends by region.

The Telangana-headquartered lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery manufacturer has teamed up with Las Vegas-headquartered Barrel Energy to develop and manufacture lithium batteries for electric vehicles. The joint venture will establish factories in India and North America.

The Indian automotive battery major has announced the setting up of a 50 MW solar power plant in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh. The plant—to be built at INR 220-crore investment—will help reduce the manufacturer’s carbon footprint while lowering its electricity bill. The firm, which has already set up a pilot plant facility for Lithium-ion cell development, is also mulling investments into energy storage for the renewables sector.

Indian solar manufacturer Premier Energies is setting up a factory in Telangana with an annual cell and module production capacity of 750 MW. The fab will be equipped to produce large-format panels with wafer sizes up to 210mm.

Under a production-linked incentive scheme, the government will reward manufacturers for building vertically integrated PV production lines. The scheme aims to attract 10 GW of production capacity by April 2023.

The energy storage system arm of Waaree Group has designed and developed Lithium batteries to power ACE Ltd’s electric forklifts running at Chennai airport.

India is set to see the largest increase in energy demand of any country over next 20 years, a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report says, highlighting potential for policies and investment to accelerate clean energy transition.

The system generates electricity and heat for residential houses and small businesses. An integrated energy management system should guarantee maximum self-consumption of the solar power produced.

Dutch transmission system operator Tennet, which also serves Germany, is planning to create flexible electricity demand and reduce grid congestion by promoting the use of smarter heating systems and heat pumps that can also be powered by solar and wind energy. According to its experts, intelligent control of heat pumps may result in the creation of between 0.5 and 1 GW of temporary grid flexibility by 2030.

The renewables-powered mini-grid with 50kW peak system capacity was recently installed at the residential colony of the institute’s Center for Excellence in Farm Machinery (CoEFM) in Punjab. It uses solar trees of different capacities and biodiesel-run generators to provide uninterrupted power. 

Imported solar inverters and lanterns will get costlier, as the union budget for the next fiscal year has proposed customs duty increases from 5%, for both items, to 20% and 15%, respectively. The budget, which also incentivizes Indian manufacturing of solar project components whilst giving a helping hand to raw materials, makes no mention of solar cells or panels.

The government should consider offering a 50% capital subsidy for setting up R&D and quality testing infrastructure within the manufacturing units and a 200% super-deduction for the R&D expenditure on new and clean solar technology development. Simultaneously, it should look at implementing tariff barriers on imports for at least four-five years.

Challenges like frequent policy and regulatory changes, high capital costs, low awareness, non-uniformity in approval processes across states, restriction on net metering, and additional charges by DISCOMs need to be addressed for rooftop solar to take off in India.

Feeder segregation, i.e., the installation of dedicated electricity supply lines for agriculture, is often celebrated as the solution to the electricity utilities’ pain point of free or highly subsidized electricity supply for agriculture. But does it address the root cause of the issue?

The nation is already firmly positioned to lead the world in the clean energy revolution. Consolidating this position would unlock significant economic growth and competitiveness by attracting domestic and foreign investment, creating jobs, and improving public health.

The minimum solar tariffs discovered fell by 131.5% over the last five years, with an 18% drop achieved in the last five months alone.