Events

Given Covid-19 spread, India’s ministry has decided to conduct the third Global Renewable Energy Investors Meet and exposition (3rd RE-Invest)—scheduled from October 15 to 17—on a digital platform. The ministry has sought proposals for an interactive IT platform to facilitate the same.

As the contagion continues to spread, its impact is beginning to be felt on the solar industry outside China with the cancellation or postponement of major trade shows and conferences that were set to take place over the next few weeks.

Panellists including a government representative and a member of the chief policy thinktank used by Narendra Modi agreed coal will continue as the staple source of Indian power into the mid century and technology should be employed to ‘clean’ it.

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.

Visitors to this year’s Solar Bangladesh Expo have called for the implementation of quality standards on solar imports – action which the government is currently pursuing – with one industry insider rubbishing Indian-made products.

Take-up has been slow considering the nation’s mammoth agricultural industry but, as a packed session on the topic at the recent REI show illustrated, attitudes may be changing in a nation which is already installing solar greenhouses.

The $1 million Gandhi Solar Park was an attempt to signal to the world India is committed to renewable energy. The 50 kW array features one panel for each UN member state.

While some of the industry insiders gathered at REI 2019 have made predictable calls to be free of the restrictions imposed by regulators, others maintained policy support is crucial and audience members voiced concern about India’s lack of recycling rules.

The Chinese manufacturer claims to be the first company in the nation to supply that volume of solar modules. The news is unlikely to be welcomed by a government desperate to foster its own solar manufacturing sector.

A memorandum of understanding signed by the institutions was not solar specific but the use of PV modules for shading, especially in agriculture, can reduce water consumption and help halt the expansion of deserts.