The Finnish clean energy company, which works primarily on a build-operate-transfer model in India, has signed the agreement to divest its 250 MW solar plant in Karnataka and 250 MW in Rajasthan to UK investor Actis. The transaction is valued at approximately EUR 280 million and will enable Fortum to invest in building new projects.

Jinchen Machinery has landed module production equipment orders from leading Indian solar manufacturers. It has already installed 2 GW of production lines and plans to supply the balance within three months. The company will open an India office in Surat, Gujarat. 

JSW Steel will bring industry majors and the government together for hydrogen commercialization in the steel and cement sectors. CSIR-National Chemical Lab would work closely with the private sector on hydrogen development projects. Scottish Development International (SDI) brings the expertise from the implementation of large-scale hydrogen projects in Scotland.

With the draft National Electricity Policy (NEP) 2021, India is providing the right policy direction for this decade of the energy transition. Yet, there is room for further improvement. 

Solar module prices have increased by about 15-20% over the last 4-5 months to around 22-23 cents/watt as of date. As PV modules comprise about 50-55% of the overall project cost, such an increase in the module price level, if sustained, may moderate the debt service coverage metrics for developers by about 12-14 basis points. 

The power ministry has announced that the exemption on grid charges is now available to solar and wind projects to be commissioned up to June 30, 2025. The waiver is also allowed for pumped-hydro storage and battery energy storage system projects.

Sunil Thamaran, India head for USA-headquartered Enphase Energy, explains why microinverters are a good investment for rooftop solar. He also talks about the trends in microinverter design and their company’s India plans.

Floating PV is a growing market, especially in Asian countries with land pressures. However, like many promising niches, it is growing faster than the standards surrounding it. With installed floating PV capacity set to double in 2021, a raft of various and sometimes competing standards are being floated, but the question remains – what is truly the best way forward?

The 6.2MWp solar carport at Tata Motors’ plant in Maharashtra spans over 30,000 square meters. It will generate 86.4 lakh kWh of electricity per year, helping to offset about 7,000 tons of carbon emissions annually.

An international research team has designed a residential solar-plus-storage system based on gravity. The system was built with a solar power generator, a bulk booster charge controller, an inverter, a solenoid device, a deep cycle battery, a pulley block, a geared motor, a microcontroller, and wire ropes. Its creators said the system is ideal for regions with high solar radiation. They found that, due to its high electrical requirements, the system needs to rely on high-power solar modules with an output of over 500 W.

Ruchi Gupta is a research fellow at the University of Geneva’s Institute for Environmental Sciences. She focuses on how flexibility options, such as sector coupling with hydrogen production, can support renewable energy integration and decarbonize a wide range of sectors.

International researchers have placed a low-dimensional metal-halide perovskite capping layer on top of a metal-halide perovskite film to provide hermetically sealed encapsulation and enhanced photocarrier properties. The cell has a short-circuit current density of 23.5 mA.cm2, an open-circuit voltage of 1.15 V, and a fill factor of 0.779.

A €4.8 million EU-funded research project is aiming to develop a process that allows recovering all components of a photovoltaic module.

Often sidelined by nickel and cobalt when it comes to batteries, the metal manganese is finding proponents in science and industry – in particular, by those attempting to avoid supply and cost issues. Ian Morse reports on the role of manganese in battery cell production.

Scientists in Germany have developed a new process for deposition of silicon dioxide layers during cell production. Without the need for high pressure, flammable gases, or vacuum conditions, the process could lead to cost reductions for cell manufacturers, provided it can be developed and applied in a large-scale production setting.

Austria-headquartered Borealis has deployed Indian manufacturer Waaree Energies’ modules for the rooftop solar installation at its plant in Italy. The modules use Borealis’ encapsulation film.

The Indian solar panel manufacturer is setting up a 2 GW facility in Surat, increasing its total manufacturing capacity from 500 MW at present to 2.5 GW. The new facility will implement micro-gap module technology (MGMT), and produce high-efficiency mono-facial and bifacial modules with peak power output exceeding 500W and 600W, respectively.  

The Indian lead-acid battery major would form a new strategic business unit for lithium cells and battery packs, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, energy storage systems, and other related products and services as it looks to reposition itself as an energy and mobility player.

Modules represent 45 to 55% of the project capex. In a very competitive market like India, independent power producers have lower margins, and even a modest increase in module prices will put more pressure on them.

The sticker is based on a blockchain technology developed by German start-up Authentic Network. Meyer Burger uses the application for the photovoltaic modules it produces in its new factory that opened in Freiberg at the end of May.

An Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report says the sale of power in the futures market will benefit renewable energy developers and distribution companies alike.

Stanford University’s StorageX Initiative brings together academia and industry to tackle the dominant challenges in energy storage. ReNew’s collaboration with StorageX will initially focus on large-scale battery performance in India. 

Telangana-based Visaka Industries will set up electric vehicle (EV) charging stations powered by its ATUM integrated solar roof. According to the company, the ATUM solar roof, with PV panels integrated on cement boards, can generate 40% more clean power in the same given space than any other solar solution.

Separating generation from storage usually delivers higher value, but it may also deliver higher costs, the report said.

A prototype of a cement-based battery has been developed in Sweden for potential applications in buildings. Its creators claim it could become a solution to store electricity from rooftop PV and they do not exclude that it could also be used for the storage of large-scale renewables.

In the first installment of a new monthly blog by IHS Markit, Edurne Zoco, executive director for clean energy technology, writes that high prices and increased freight costs are putting solar PV procurement teams under extreme pressure, particularly those teams with connection deadlines this year that were anticipating a more favorable pricing and logistic environment in the second half of 2021.

The second wave of Covid-19 reminds us to build a resilient society. Climate Change, not unlike Covid-19, will deliver devastating effects to our planet and disrupt our way of life. So, in this climate decade, India must channel investments into sustainable activities. The first step is to construct a robust “green taxonomy” – a green list of sustainable activities. 

Gujarat tops the list of Indian states with respect to installed solar rooftop capacity, as it has already achieved around 40 percent of its allotted target. The persisting pandemic has slowed down the pace of capacity addition but policy incentives like SURYA- Gujarat are paving way towards Gujarat’s clean energy transition.

In India, the lack of suitable fiscal incentives and relevant experience, combined with high upfront capital costs, has hindered the adoption of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in comparison to other developed countries. However, there is potential for the country to take the lead.

Drones, in combination with artificial intelligence, are helping to drive powerful insights, allowing teams to make better-informed decisions throughout the solar project development lifecycle.