The nation still managed to attract around $11.1 billion for renewable energy in 2018, to be the world’s fifth most attractive destination for funds, according to new figures compiled by BloombergNEF.

Tecchren Batteries will establish a 200 MWh LiFePO4 battery manufacturing unit at Sri City in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Set up after an investment of Rs446 crore, the unit will produce approximately 700,000 li ion batteries per year.

Taiwanese market research company EnergyTrend says the 5/31 policy change in China last year had a less dramatic effect on global demand than expected and, with the Modi government introducing solar-friendly policies, India – and Japan – will close the gap on the world leaders for installed PV capacity.

With the International Renewable Energy Agency’s number-crunchers predicting almost 5.4 GW of new solar across the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations today, Suhail Mohammed Faraj Al Mazroui said his nation alone would install 6-7 GW of new renewables capacity by 2024, as pv magazine editor-in-chief Jonathan Gifford reports.

Global Infra Partners, KKR, Brookfield, I Squared Capital and Macquarie are reported to be among those eyeing the renewable energy assets of debt riddled Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services.

SECI has issued a 1.2 GW solar tender for ISTS-connected projects with an upper tariff ceiling of Rs 2.65 ($0.038)/kWh.

Suzlon has sold its majority stake in Rudra Solarfarms for Rs 142.10 million. It had set up the subsidiary, in partnership with AMP Solar, in order to execute a 15 MW solar project in Telangana.

Government-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited has won an EPC order for setting up the solar PV power plants across four locations.

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.

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.

Researchers say the use of clustering-based computation could remove the need for on-site inspections of panels by instead enabling real-time monitoring of degradation using only meteorological data.

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

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.

The National Solar Energy Federation of India submitted the proposal to the Commerce Ministry in December and expects approval for a Renewable Energy Export Promotion Council in the next few months.

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.

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

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.

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 […]