Installations

At Intersolar North America in California, Canada-based Discover Battery has launched the Helios energy storage system, an LFP battery designed to operate in remote conditions.

The state-owned power company, a partner of the International Solar Alliance, will help the Cuban government with developer selection and the signing of project agreements and will oversee solar plant implementation up to commissioning.

The solar plants are to be set upon the land available at four airport sites in the States of Delhi (2 MW), Madhya Pradesh (0.5 MW+0.5 MW), and Rajasthan (0.5 MW) under net metering.

Director Nidhi Gupta told pv magazine that the company had signed the agreement to invest INR 500 crore (US$67.2 million) in building a 120 MW solar park in the Bikaner district of the State. The solar park will provide plug-and-play infrastructure for captive solar projects.

Tata Power’s renewable energy capacity in operation has swelled to 3,055 MW (2,123 MW of solar and 932 MW wind) with the latest addition of 50 MW PV plants each at Prayagraj and Banda. 

Bidders have until February 1 to apply for the engineering, procurement, and construction of 220 MW of grid-connected solar projects anywhere in Gujarat.

Only the solar products and manufacturers making to the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) will now be eligible for open access and net-metering projects—in addition to government-backed projects—installed in the country. These include projects set up for sale of electricity to the Government under Section 63 of Electricity Act, 2003. The amendment shall apply to renewable energy projects which apply for open access or net-metering facility from April 1, 2022.

Sand and dust are a PV plant operator’s worst nightmare. Performance losses due to soiling, or “the dust effect,” are a cause for innovation among O&M providers, particularly in dry and dusty regions that are otherwise ideal locations for large-scale solar installations. Yazeed Al-Mousa examines the latest robotic cleaning solutions, as well as the software and sensors that help plant operators with the tricky economic decision of when to actually start cleaning.

The Mukesh Ambani-led diversified business conglomerate has agreed to invest INR 5 lakh crore (US$67.6 billion) in building 100 GW of renewable energy capacity and green hydrogen eco-system in the State. It will also invest INR 60,000 crore (US$8.1 billion) in setting up manufacturing facilities for new and renewable energy equipment including solar modules, electrolyzers, energy-storage batteries, and fuel cells.

The nation reached a cumulative 151GW of renewable energy generation capacity – including large hydro – by December 31, although a large volume of off-grid equipment is not included in that figure.