Highlights

The government’s KUSUM scheme helps farmers install standalone solar pumps with a capacity of up to 7.5 hp. There is also support to make grid connected pumps of the same size solar powered. A PV capacity of up to twice the pump capacity in kW is allowed under the scheme.

The university researchers will provide expertise in the operation and management of lithium-ion batteries, environmental test facilities for battery modules and advanced battery analysis techniques.

Touted to be one of India’s largest rooftop installations, the captive plant uses 25,770 photovoltaic panels covering 63,000 sq.m of available roof space and producing 12.2 million KWh of electricity annually.

The investment raises CDPQ’s equity interest in Azure Power to 49.4% from 41.4%. The proceeds will be used by the developer to fund its current projects.

The revolving credit facility will help the Hyderabad headquartered distributed solar developer finance new projects as it looks to add about 250 MW of capacity this year.

Developers have until December 30 to bid for the grid-connected plants that shall come up on the land within or around the premises of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited’s substations. The plants are to be developed on turnkey basis.

According to a new study by Finland’s LUT University, solar PV consumes between 2% and 15% of the water that coal and nuclear power plants use to produce just 1 MWh of output; for wind, this percentage ranges from 0.1% to 14%. Under the researchers’ best policy scenario, water consumption could be reduced by 75.1% by 2030, compared to 2015 levels.

Under KUSUM scheme, the state government will help farmers in setting up an aggregate 75 MW capacity of grid-connected solar plants—in capacities of up to 2 MW—on their barren or cultivable land.

The string of fires that shook up South Korea’s booming energy storage market throughout 2018 brought development to a screeching halt this year. Throughout the lackluster first half of 2019, manufacturers, installers and analysts remained cautiously hopeful that a government investigation into the fires might plant the seed for late-year market growth. However, another outbreak of fires in the months since the conclusion of the probe has shaken industry morale once again, snuffing out any lingering hopes for a quick recovery.

California-based SimpliPhi Power, which designs and manufactures lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) energy storage systems, has brought off-grid power to everything from the giant moon on Conan O’Brien’s talk show set to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, to rooftops for Whole Foods and Airbnb. As the company prepares to enter into India, CEO and President Catherine Von Burg tells pv magazine why their LFP technology is best suited for India and their plans for the country.