Bids are invited for supply, installation and commissioning of Balance of System (BOS) items for the state-owned engineering major’s 100 MW (AC) solar plant in Gujarat. The last date for bid submission is December 10.

Ather Energy, an Indian electric scooter maker, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Tamil Nadu to open a new production facility for lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles.

There will be plenty of opportunity for electric three-wheeler penetration in the Indian market through the model of battery swapping as well as local charging points available at delivery hubs.

The selected operator will also provide operation and maintenance support for the buses which shall be deployed in the cities of Guwahati, Silchar and Jorhat. Bidding closes on December 7.

The investment will be used to establish an extra-high-voltage transmission link between Virudhunagar and Coimbatore to transfer the additional generation capacity of 9 GW, including 6 GW from renewables, by 2025 to meet the increased power demand in the Chennai–Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor.

The platform connects credible renewable energy projects with investors, and has already delivered 5 MW of energy to a range of companies in Southern India and Rwanda.

The investment—part of a $592 million assistance package—will be used to promote adoption of smart meters, distributed solar photovoltaic systems and e-vehicles in India.

The electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure will come up in South Delhi Municipal Corporation area over a 10-year period, starting with installation in 18 locations within 6 months from the effective date.

The pilot plants—installed at a temple and a school—work on a membrane-based electrodialysis technology to provide clean drinking water.

Clean energy investment across 104 emerging markets fell sharply by $36 billion in year 2018 from the previous year, even as their coal burn surged approximately 500 terawatt hours to a record high of 6.9 thousand terawatt-hours. Though the decline in clean energy investments was driven largely by China, inflows to India and Brazil also slipped by $2.4 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively. India, however, emerged as the market with greatest renewables potential.

Exicom Tele-Systems will recycle electric vehicle batteries at the end of their lifecycle to develop custom battery packs for non-automotive applications such as home inverters, commercial & industrial UPS, and renewable energy storage.

The crystalline solar cells and modules manufacturer—which has 200 MW of cell line and 250 MW of module line capacity—has secured orders equal to full production capacity for both cells and modules till March 2020.

December 5 is the last date to submit proposals for the joint research program on advanced materials for next-generation solar energy utilization and energy storage that will sponsor around 10 projects. The maximum funding available for all research projects approved is Rs40 million for the Indian side and 4,000,000 NIS for the Israeli side, for a period of two years.

While it has often been referred to as “the future of PV” in recent years, discussions surrounding bifacial technology are now very much in the present. Modules are beginning to roll off production lines in significant numbers, and industry players are boasting of gigawatts of bifacial projects that are already installed or in the late stages of development. But it’s still early days for the technology, and there are questions to answer for it to achieve its full potential. pv magazine investigates the modeling and optimization of bifacial PV’s performance.

The recently proposed guidelines allow electricity cost reduction of only Rs 3.64/unit for commercial and industrial consumers, which is not even sufficient to recover the capital costs of setting up the solar infrastructure.

Apart from thrust on energy efficiency and clean energy, the new policy will focus on Make in India for cells used in electric vehicle batteries and measures for demand creation and incentivizing investments.

The British carmaker, which is launching its electric SUV early next month in India, plans to set up a battery assembly plant in two years for its electric car models.

Dhaka has heeded complaints about Indian manufacturers allegedly dumping sub-standard PV products over the border and issued a requirement for modules, inverters, charge controllers and batteries to attain IEC electrical standards.

The smarter E India event for the new energy world will bring together Intersolar India, ees India and Power2Drive India at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), from November 27 to 29.

The Chinese company plans to roll out 2 GW of inverters annually from its manufacturing unit which will have two assembly lines—of 1 GW each—for central and string inverters.

Prospective developers have until November 18 to submit bids for standalone PV systems, with inverter and lead-acid batteries, at various government high schools, health sub-centres and Anganwadi Centres.

Market intelligence company Navigant Research has developed a country forecast of the global market. Incentives and pricing will be the main driver of installations, though the market will continue to be concentrated in certain key regions, including India, for now.

TES issued a press release announcing the new facilities that is light on detail but claimed the plants would position it as ‘a leader’ in battery recycling. The company also announced an intent to move into the reuse of spent electric vehicle batteries in commercial and residential applications.

The Smart Energy Hub can operate in electrolysis mode to store renewable energy as hydrogen, or in fuel cell mode to produce electricity and heat from previously produced hydrogen or methane. Its developers are the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission and start-up Sylfen.

The state will contract for a total 1.73 MWp of rooftop generation capacity with all the panels supplied manufactured in India.

Streamlining the Discoms, better financing options, customer-centric approach, data sharing and push for residential through standardization are a few steps that can help India achieve its ambitious rooftop solar target.

India’s total installed solar capacity touched 34.1 GW on June 30, 2019. The total was split between 27.9 GW of utility-scale PV, 4.6 GW of rooftop solar and 1.26 GW of off-grid solar. The nation’s total project pipeline – projects allocated to developers and those in various stages of development – stood at 19.69 GW as of June 30. Bridge to India’s Sai Nandamuri looks at the outlook for Indian solar in 2019 and 2020.

The goal of the ‘SuryaKranti Solar Challenge’ is to develop a deeper collaboration between Indian industry and its engineering colleges. The event, on the lines of World Solar Challenge-Australia, aims to drive the culture of innovation in India by trying to solve a great challenge of climate change: building a sun powered car and driving it for a significant distance.

Most residential customers buy PV systems by obtaining quotes directly from PV installers. However, this can prove time consuming, costly and ineffective. Homeowners need an online quote platform, which offers a seamless buying experience. This can increase solar power awareness among Indian homeowners and help grow the adoption of rooftop solar power in the Indian residential market.

India needs special institutional structures within leading public financial institutions to cater to market segments that do not attract commercial capital at competitive terms.