Highlights

The Solar Energy Corporation of India has extended the deadline yet again for a procurement exercise originally intended to secure 5 GW of PV manufacturing capacity and 10 GW of generation assets 13 months ago. The deadline for bidding for 2 GW of production and 6 GW of generation capacity is now October 11.

With this addition, the total installed renewable energy capacity of the state-owned power generator has exceeded 1 GW.

With developers facing land constraints, a huge pipeline of floating PV projects is currently in the early stages of development in India. While the outlook for solar on water in the fast-moving solar marketplace appears bright, there is much industry learning still to be had and a steep learning curve for component suppliers and developers alike.

The state with power deficit of up to 20% provides the opportunity to scale up the solar capacity to 2 GW by 2022, which would require an investment of Rs11,000 crore.

The invention converts energy produced by PV cells directly into mechanical motion without batteries or power electronics. Its developers claim the solar motor can drive irrigation water pumps and ventilation turbines for more than 20 years without maintenance.

The National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) is continuing to step up its efforts to ensure the quality of large scale solar projects. The body is now looking for stakeholder input into its new best practice guidelines for PV power plant projects, as a part of its ongoing Quality Taskforce initiative.

The GCL System chief executive made comments that fly in the face of an expected solar gold rush in China that analysts predict will start this month. Though rising overseas demand will address overcapacity fears, according to Luo, the soundbite is sure to chill PV boardrooms across the world’s biggest solar market.

The chargers will be set up in six cities (Agra, Bengaluru, Goa, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Shimla) and along Delhi-Jaipur-Agra-Delhi and Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai highways.

The U.S. company claims its 300 MW manufacturing plant in Hyderabad will deliver a fully integrated and customizable system solution of solar panels, lithium battery packs and controllers under a single roof.

The Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and the Ministry of Science and Technology of State of Israel will fund joint research on advanced materials for next-generation solar energy utilization and energy storage. The deadline for the submission of proposals is December 5.