Highlights

India’s largest state-owned natural gas company is looking to buy a 10 MW electrolyzer to produce 4.5 tons of green hydrogen daily.

South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution has launched a new inverter in the Australian market, adding a 5 kW hybrid inverter to its Residential Energy Storage Unit (RESU) Home battery energy storage range.

A new study from researchers at the universities of Lancaster and Reading in the UK has managed to quantify the economic boost provided by the symbiotic relationship between solar farms and honeybee hives.

Backsheet chalking, especially of polyamide backsheet films, doesn’t take long to lead to cracks and then safety shutdowns. Sometimes, though, the period may be much longer or shorter than expected. Assessing the risk and whether on-site repairs offer a long-term solution is currently a topic of strong debate within the PV industry, as Cornelia Lichner from the pv magazine Germany team reports.

The captive solar plant in Mumbai is being developed by Cleantech through a special purpose vehicle called Sunsole Renewables. The solar electricity generated will power manufacturing operations at Siemens’ Kalwa factory in Maharashtra.

India needs to install an average of 25 GW solar capacity every year to reach its renewable energy target of ‘450 GW by 2030’ with over 60% (280 GW) from solar. The nation must build enough manufacturing capacity back home to be ready on the supply side to support the new installations. 

Swiss-based Studer Innotec is launching a battery inverter which brings the advantages of the off-grid space to grid-tied installations in Europe. In this interview, Pierre-Olivier Moix, chief technology officer and board member at Studer Innotec, explains the differences to a standard energy home system, and some possible applications.

The levelized cost of solar electricity generation from a given rooftop area is the lowest in India (US$66/MWh) and China ($68/MWh), with the USA ($238/MWh) and UK ($251/MWh) representing some of the costliest countries, according to an international study based on data available as of 2018. The study also finds China (4.3 PWh/year), USA (4.2 PWh/year), and India (1.7 PWh/year) have the highest yearly potential of rooftop solar energy generation.

Parity in the total cost of ownership already exists for electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers (with subsidy) vis-à-vis their internal combustion engine counterparts. Policy impetus, coupled with the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for batteries and auto components (exclusively covering EVs), is likely to further reduce costs and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). The transition will also open up the market for new-age companies and innovators across the value chain.

India has seen substantial activity in the domestic battery storage and green hydrogen markets, from the entry of Reliance and Acme Solar in green hydrogen to gigawatt-scale battery storage tenders by NTPC and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). There are more private ventures in the offing, indicating the government’s policy push is in the right direction.