Having bagged large orders in the U.S. and Australia, Indian multinational engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services provider Sterling and Wilson Solar is bidding for tenders in regions which have eased up business lines, Europe among them. Kannan Krishnan, S&W’s chief operations officer for solar in India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation area, speaks to pv magazine about the impact of Covid-19 on the solar EPC business and the company’s expansion plans.

The import duty will be levied on Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai solar cells – whether assembled into modules or not – at 14.9% from today and falling to 14.5% in six months’ time. Malaysian products are exempted as their imports have fallen dramatically since the duty was imposed, in July 2018.

State-owned Power Finance Corporation will provide Rs 2.38-crore financial assistance to the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur to develop infrastructure for R & D in smart grid technology.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has specified how procurement of back-up grid capacity will work for electricity distribution companies. The rules consider energy storage solely as part of the 51% clean energy requirement, and instead contemplate coal – with a variable price tariff element – as necessary for evening out supply.

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had invited consulting proposals for its ambitious globally interconnected power grid plan called ‘one sun, one world, one grid’ (OSOWOG). The program—taken up with assistance from the World Bank— aims at seamless sharing of renewable energy resources among countries for mutual benefits and global sustainability.

A new report by ICRA says large-scale solar in the country will likely achieve the 60 GW target set by the Indian government. Rooftop solar and wind, however, will see a shortfall.  

The Bhander town in Datia district will now host a 100 MW solar plant in place of a gas-based plant approved earlier. The plant—set up over 105 hectares area—will be established by Essar Power at an investment of around Rs 700 crore.

The projects are to be carried out on a turnkey basis, with solar modules and inverters supplied by Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited (REIL). Bidding closes on August 4.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India has extended the bidding for its solar-plus-storage project in Ladakh by one month. The revised deadline is now September 30.

An aggregate 104 quantities of 16-string monitoring boxes are required for the 20 MW NTPC solar project at Gandhar in the state of Gujarat. Bidding closes on August 4.

The software giant has begun testing hydrogen fuel cells as a back-up power source at one of its U.S. data centers. A 250 kW pilot system successfully powered part of the facility for 48 hours and the company is now eyeing 3 MW systems to replace back-up diesel generators.

Scientists in the U.S. claim to have demonstrated an inexpensive, long-life, safe and eco-friendly redox flow battery. The device is said to offer coulombic efficiency of 97.9%, thanks to functional electrolyte additives, pH and elevated temperature.

To support renewable energy integration, the government aims to make the thermal capacity flexible, almost 55% in the first stage and gradually extend it to the entire capacity.

The system can metallize the front and back sides of silicon solar cells with unprecedented precision and speed, Fraunhofer ISE said. The technology is also suitable for components such as printed circuit boards or chip cards.

Floating PV specialist Ocean Sun and South Korean energy company EN Technologies have signed an agreement to develop the pilot projects of the 2.1 GW floating solar site planned near the Saemangeum tidal flat, on the coast of the Yellow Sea.

The engineering, procurement and construction services contractor – which has a 1.2 GW module production facility near Kolkata – will establish a wafer, cell and module manufacturing site in Tamil Nadu under a five-year timescale.

The investigating arm of India’s commerce ministry has proposed continuing to apply the duty levied on solar cell imports from the east at a rate of 14.9% from July 30 and falling to 14.5% six months later.

The Haryana-based developer will invest Rs 1500-2000 crore in setting up the solar cell and module manufacturing facility, which will initially have a production capacity of 2 GW per annum.

India’s entire solar industry is dependent on Chinese imports to function. Hence, there is a comprehensive need to relook at the current policies and focus on building wafers and ingots capacity that will be used to manufacture the cells and eventually, modules.

Indian solar manufacturers have cried foul over a system which exempts imported panels from yet-to-be-announced tax regimes but offers no such protection to domestic products.

Rooftop solar is the obvious choice to save on electricity costs for businesses as they look to preserve capital and find ways to cut expenses post Covid-19. 

Mobility in rural Kenya is currently flooded with unsustainable CO2-emitting motorcycles that pose a threat to the environment and public health. But the electric tricycle is an environmentally friendly alternative, and Solar E-cycles – a homegrown Kenyan startup – believes a leasing model could unlock a ton of three-wheeled potential.

The containerised solution integrates grid connection and multiple charging systems, allowing public transport and commercial fleet operators to charge more electric vehicles with less infrastructure in depots.

The seawater-based supercapacitor exhibited maximum capacitances at a current density of 1 ampere per gram. Besides, it can last 10,000 charge-discharge cycles with 99% of capacitance retention and 99% of Coulombic efficiency. 

An international team has developed an integrated solar flow battery which has been suggested as ideal for off-grid locations. The device, which combines energy conversion and storage in one unit, can be used for lighting and recharging cell phones.

The global hybrid energy market, including energy storage, is projected to touch $40 billion by 2025. It is an opportunity that India has capitalized upon, earlier than others.

India is running the world’s largest renewable energy expansion program with a mind-boggling target of 450 GW by 2030. Can the country with a growing energy demand do more than this? Can it do what developed countries should have done years ago?

The ‘175 GW by 2022’ renewable energy target seems unachievable, necessitating the benchmark be moved to ‘450 GW by 2030’ instead. But even that will require the sector to move back to the front foot from 2021.

The near-term outlook for electric vehicles (EVs) remains bleak owing to supply and demand headwinds coupled with the expectation of sluggish investment to scale up the support ecosystem.

Market dynamics may again alter the global supply-demand picture for solar modules, leading to an increase in prices or price stabilization.