Highlights

The amended Energy Conservation Bill sets a minimum usage clause for non-fossil fuel by high carbon-emitting sectors such as power, transport, industry, and buildings. It also includes provisions to incentivize decarbonization efforts by allowing carbon trading.

UK researchers have revealed that gaseous hydrogen could cause problems in natural gas pipelines, while electrolyzer manufacturer Nel has announced plans to build a second production line in Norway.

Hygenco will build, own and operate a multi-megawatt green hydrogen facility for the long-term supply to Jindal Stainless Ltd, one of the largest stainless-steel conglomerates globally.

NTPC has switched on its third solar project this month, following the completion of the 296 MW Fatehgarh and 250 MW Kolyat PV parks in Rajasthan.

Deepak Thakur, the former chief of Sterling and Wilson’s hybrid and energy storage business, has joined Mahindra Group’s cleantech arm Mahindra Susten.

A new report form analysts at IHS Markit notes that the market for module-level power electronics (MLPE) grew by 33% between 2019 and 2021, with around one-third of new residential solar installations now taking advantage of MLPE’s promise of improved safety, energy yield and fault detection. And with smaller, distributed generation systems expected to represent 43% of global PV installations between now and 2025, the opportunity for MLPE will only get larger.

In a study that began in 2016, US scientists purchased 834 PV modules, representing seven manufacturers and 13 module types, and installed them in various climate conditions to observe their performance over time. The results show that, while plenty of opportunities still exist to extend module lifetimes and reduce performance loss in the field, reductions in the manufacturing cost of PV have not come with an increase in their degradation rate.

Laser contact opening (LCO), a standard process in PERC cell production, has seen little market development in the past few years. Stiff competition from equipment suppliers in Asia, combined with the fact that most new n-type manufacturing doesn’t make use of LCO, has kept the level of interest here quite low. However, as the PV research community increases its focus on reducing silver consumption, new approaches to cell contacting and metallization provide impetus for a second look at laser processing.

Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. has started accepting bids to develop 1,000 MWh (500 MW x two hours) of grid-connected battery energy storage systems in Gujarat.

Renewables major Greenko will develop 375 MW to 400 MW of solar and wind capacity to power Hindalco’s aluminum smeltering operations in Odisha. It will back the renewables generation with hydro pump storage capacity in Andhra Pradesh to ensure 100 MW of round-the-clock supply to Hindalco.