Energy Storage

The renewables-powered mini-grid with 50kW peak system capacity was recently installed at the residential colony of the institute’s Center for Excellence in Farm Machinery (CoEFM) in Punjab. It uses solar trees of different capacities and biodiesel-run generators to provide uninterrupted power. 

Imported solar inverters and lanterns will get costlier, as the union budget for the next fiscal year has proposed customs duty increases from 5%, for both items, to 20% and 15%, respectively. The budget, which also incentivizes Indian manufacturing of solar project components whilst giving a helping hand to raw materials, makes no mention of solar cells or panels.

pv magazine has taken part in a webinar examining the thorny issue of financing clean energy generation in developing markets.

Solar-linked projects will be developed by domestic firm Augwind and will feature underground storage tanks. One of the systems will be built by French energy giant EDF and will feature a 20 MWh compressed air storage system and 5 MW solar array.

Smart Power India, a subsidiary of US-based impact investor The Rockefeller Foundation, was established in India in 2015 with the aim of extending power to those without sufficient access to reliable and quality electricity. Jaideep Mukherji, CEO, Smart Power India, speaks to pv magazine about their work in India and way forward.

In an earnings call this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk boldly claimed that the company will soon be “the market leader in solar.”

IHS Markit is predicting the world will add 30% more solar capacity this year.

A new report establishes the feasibility of wind-solar-storage hybrid projects over new coal plants in the Indian States with high renewable energy potential. Tamil Nadu was chosen for the techno-commercial assessment.

A new Wood Mackenzie report suggests that costs for front-of-the-meter battery storage systems in the Asia-Pacific region could fall by 30% by 2025. The declining costs are already having a palpable impact, as 2021 has opened with a slew of large-scale battery project announcements.

Falling module prices will help PV post another record year after an estimated 132 GW was installed worldwide in 2020, according to an energy transition investment trends report published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.