Highlights

The joint venture will set up a factory in India to manufacture Al-Air batteries for electric vehicles and stationary applications and facilitate development of eco-system for Al-Air technology.

The project will be awarded to the bidder who quotes the lowest viability gap funding requirement. The upper limit for VGF to be quoted by a bidder is kept at Rs 130 million for 1 MW solar PV project with battery storage of 3 MWh.

The Chennai Metro Rail Limited seeks to procure 90 million units/annum of solar or solar-wind hybrid power, or 72 million units/annum of wind power through tariff based competitive bidding. Tariff ceiling is fixed at Rs 3.50/KWh for 25 years. Bidding closes on February 13.

The proposed model is said to perform better at energy prediction than software tools such as PVWatts, PVSyst or RetScreen. The approach was validated on two 5 MW PV plants in the same district of the Indian state of Rajasthan.

Batteries, and the raw materials that make them, are a frequent target of public criticism. The high water consumption required for lithium extraction is speeding up the desertification process around the salt lakes of Latin America’s so-called “lithium triangle”, for example. The mining debate highlights general problems with the extraction of raw materials, including copper, crude oil, and lithium, but international companies can still influence extraction methods – and there are plenty of different approaches.

Pumped hydro and battery projects, coupled with renewables, offer the world’s lowest peak clean electricity tariff. The tender, which received bids for for 1.62 GW of capacity against the 1.2 GW sought, saw Greenko secure 900 MW of pumped storage capacity and Renew Power 300 MW of battery storage.

February 1 is the last date to submit applications for setting up the electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in 70 plus cities across the country. The selected company shall also provide operation and maintenance support.

A 50% fall in the price of Lithium-ion battery packs—to $76/KWh from $156/KWh today—will make the capital cost of electric vehicles lower than combustion vehicles. However, to realise the full benefits of EVs, it is important to charge them with clean power and not fossil power.

Chinese researchers have developed a pure EVA film, which they claim can enhance the conversion efficiency of conventional crystalline solar cells by around 0.50%. The film is able to convert UV light into strong visible light.

The government of Suriname will use the amount for rural electrification through installation of solar-DG hybrid PV systems in 50 remote villages of the nation.