Global Industry Analysts has predicted the rapid rise of floatovoltaics, a market that is expected to serve areas with land-use concerns.

The state-owned power company, a partner of the International Solar Alliance, will help the Cuban government with developer selection and the signing of project agreements and will oversee solar plant implementation up to commissioning.

Director Nidhi Gupta told pv magazine that the company had signed the agreement to invest INR 500 crore (US$67.2 million) in building a 120 MW solar park in the Bikaner district of the State. The solar park will provide plug-and-play infrastructure for captive solar projects.

While there are still many uncertainties as to the way in which hydrogen trade might evolve and change economic ties and political dynamics between countries, experts agree that green hydrogen can bring winds of change to the global energy arena. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, significant geoeconomic and geopolitical shifts are just around the corner.

The production-linked incentives scheme for advance-chemistry battery cell manufacturing received an encouraging response with bids received for 2.6 times the 50 GWh manufacturing capacity to be awarded.

The solar plants are to be set upon the land available at four airport sites in the States of Delhi (2 MW), Madhya Pradesh (0.5 MW+0.5 MW), and Rajasthan (0.5 MW) under net metering.

Tata Power’s renewable energy capacity in operation has swelled to 3,055 MW (2,123 MW of solar and 932 MW wind) with the latest addition of 50 MW PV plants each at Prayagraj and Banda. 

Bidders have until February 1 to apply for the engineering, procurement, and construction of 220 MW of grid-connected solar projects anywhere in Gujarat.

Only the solar products and manufacturers making to the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) will now be eligible for open access and net-metering projects—in addition to government-backed projects—installed in the country. These include projects set up for sale of electricity to the Government under Section 63 of Electricity Act, 2003. The amendment shall apply to renewable energy projects which apply for open access or net-metering facility from April 1, 2022.

Sand and dust are a PV plant operator’s worst nightmare. Performance losses due to soiling, or “the dust effect,” are a cause for innovation among O&M providers, particularly in dry and dusty regions that are otherwise ideal locations for large-scale solar installations. Yazeed Al-Mousa examines the latest robotic cleaning solutions, as well as the software and sensors that help plant operators with the tricky economic decision of when to actually start cleaning.

A British-Indian research group has developed an active cooling technique that is claimed to improve a PV system’s yield by around 0.5%. The system could be used in residential solar arrays and the water heated by the PV modules may be fed into a solar water heating system.

The Indian manufacturer has unveiled Series 10 monocrystalline PERC solar modules featuring 144 half-cells based on M10 wafer. The modules are available in monofacial and bifacial versions with a maximum efficiency of 21.33% and 21.13%, respectively.

A Japanese group has developed a storage system with potential applications in residential storage, electric vehicles, drones and Internet-of-Things devices.

The new heterojunction module series is compatible with Panasonic’s Evervolt battery and has a power output ranging from 400 to 410 W. It also features a temperature coefficient of -0.26% per degree Celsius.

The campus of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands is currently hosting a retrofitted existing building provided with heating by an H2 heating boiler in the attic. The boiler is linked to an underground hydrogen system.

Wood Mackenzie has predicted solar equipment cost increases will ease back after last year saw the average cost of solar electricity rise for the first time in the Asia-Pacific region.

Bengaluru-based Mecwin Technologies Ltd and Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) have partnered to finance solar pump-sets for farmers. Adani has formed a new energy arm called Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL).

PV cell and module manufacturers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to monitor production lines and the products coming off them in minute detail. As inline monitoring and testing equipment become more sophisticated, cell and module makers must be prepared to manage the enormous amounts of data and pull out the points that will save them time and money. pv magazine examines the software solutions backing state-of-the-art PV production.

Nimish Jain brings to Air Touch India, the India arm of the Israeli robotic cleaning specialist for the solar industry, around 13 years of work experience in renewable energy in new market development, operations, strategy and business development functions. He has worked with companies like Solarig Global, Vikram Solar, and Jinko Solar.

Researchers at Stanford University and the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have explored the potential recovery of lost capacity in lithium batteries by using an extremely fast discharging step to reconnect an island of inactive lithium with the anode. Adding this extra step slowed the degradation of their test battery and increased its lifespan by nearly 30%.

LG Chem’s energy storage and battery division’s $10.7 billion initial public offering received a staggering response from institutional investors, Reuters has reported.

Filipino conglomerate San Miguel Corp aims to complete 1GW of battery storage projects this year to make way for the integration of some 3GW of intermittent renewable energy generation.

An international research group has created a closed-loop, transparent energy platform based on PV power generation and hydrogen production from photo-electrochemical cells. The system is claimed to supply power without interruption and to be transparent enough to be integrated into buildings.

With a new start-up and a consortium in the Netherlands, German automotive supplier Schaeffler wants to significantly reduce the costs of green hydrogen.

Indian renewable energy developer Hero Future Energies has partnered with US-based Ohmium International on the development of green hydrogen plants in India, the UK, and Europe with a cumulative electrolyzer capacity of 1 GW.

The core objective of renewable energy deployment in India is to promote economic growth, enhance energy security, increase energy access, and reduce climate change. Sustainable development is possible by the use of clean energy and by ensuring access to affordable and reliable energy for every citizen.

Amid the troubles of the coal-dominated grid, variable renewable energy has a place in ensuring reliable supply

Microgrids that use on-site renewables such as rooftop solar can help relieve peak demand on the grid during afternoons, and later in the evenings through battery storage. This can help power distribution companies (discoms) avoid buying expensive power to meet peak demand.

Berkeley Lab report finds historic lows in clean energy prices position India to transform electric system

While the adoption of large-format wafers has driven a wave of capacity expansion for PERC, existing manufacturers and new entrants continue to evaluate TOPCon and HJT. An increasing number of HJT pilot lines and gigawatt-scale capacity expansion projects are appearing, as manufacturers see the advantages of fewer process steps, higher efficiency ratings, and better yield rates. The localization of equipment is also a driving factor. PV InfoLink’s Derek Zhao offers an update on the latest developments and process routes for HJT.