Floating Solar

Developers have until February 25 to bid for ISTS connected wind-solar hybrid projects to be set up anywhere in India at the location of their choice. Bidding for 4 MW of grid-connected floating solar project with 2 MW/1 MWh battery energy storage system—to be set up in Andaman & Nicobar Islands—closes on February 13.

Norwegian analyst Rystad Energy has predicted the stop on PV tenders in Karnataka will see Rajasthan become India’s leading solar state this year. The market research firm expects India to add only 10 GW new solar in 2020, however, and the same figure in 2021.

The annual global outlook report for solar published by IHS Markit notes there was no real uptick in the amount of new capacity added last year, compared with the returns seen in 2018. That is likely to kill any hope India has of overtaking the U.S. as the world’s second biggest solar market in 2020.

The full house at the Future PV Roundtable at this year’s Renewable Energy India Expo was evidence of the buoyant expectations for the application of floating PV in the Indian market. But with the technology still at a relatively early stage in the country, many concerns are rising to the surface.

An Indian Institute of Technology research team analyzed around 300 studies about PV panel waste containing carcinogenic metals. The researchers said solar module recycling is not economically profitable and policy support is necessary to avoid panels being dumped in landfill.

The technology brings environmental, economic and social benefits, says the senior VP of Ciel et Terre’s Indian business. However, the nation’s obsession with price dictating business decisions, he adds, ignores the truism that ‘in the long run, cheap products lead to more cost’.

The power produced by NTPC (40 MW) and Sukhbir Agro Energy (32 MW) will be purchased by Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited at tariffs of Rs 3.02/KWh and Rs 3.05/KWh, respectively, for a period of 25 years.

Jal Shakti minister Mahendra Singh wants to achieve a win-win by wiping out his department’s Rs3,000 crore electricity bill and selling clean energy to the Ministry of Power. His solution involves ambitious plans for floating PV in Uttar Pradesh.

November 18 is the last date for interested bidders who are allowed to use cells and modules of any origin in the plant, which can be located anywhere in India. The projects are to be set up on develop-build-demonstrate-transfer basis.

The disparity between central and state government renewables policies must be resolved and renegotiating signed PPAs is an absolute no-no, according to the solar business’ bosses.