Installations

Climate Policy Initiative and REConnect Energy have developed an innovative mechanism called Garuda to retire old, inefficient thermal plants with equivalent renewable capacity. The scheme proposes a blended tariff that would include the normal tariff for the new renewable energy plant plus the cost of decommissioning the old fossil fuel plant, while making the provision for green bonds to finance RE. 

With the International Energy Agency publishing its latest five-year clean energy forecast today, pv magazine takes a look at the solar content of the 162-page document.

The state-owned power generator plans to reach 32 GW of capacity through renewables or one-fourth of its overall power portfolio by the beginning of the next decade.

Indian solar sector remained buoyant even amid Covid pandemic as 15.3 GW of solar capacity (including solar-wind hybrid) was sanctioned in the current year’s first half itself. However, returns expectations from equity investments rose from around 14% in the first half of 2019 to 16-17%, indicating heightened risk perceptions among investors.

Bids are invited from government-owned entities to set up a ground-mounted, grid-connected solar plant at the university’s campus in Bihar. The plant is to be installed in EPC mode. Bidding closes on November 27. 

Led by Vikas Bansal, the Seville-based office will target Europe’s growing solar market in countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy and Poland.

Initially, solar plants shall be set up at airports in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, which require a PV capacity of around 55 MW and 8 MW, respectively, to become 100% solar-powered.

It has been a rocky year for installers with issues like availability of modules from Chinese suppliers, restricted construction due to local lockdowns, and uncertainty over import duties. Going forward, the market could see a dramatic rebound if net-metering is allowed with a current cap of 1 MW and re-introduced in the states that have shifted to gross-metering.

The latest addition takes Adani Green Energy’s operational renewable energy capacity to 2,850 MW, including 2353 MW under a joint venture with French oil and gas major Total.

Scientists in France conducted an analysis on the competitiveness of water desalination, taking a large scale project planned for Morocco as a case study. The research concludes that PV without storage is the cheapest option to power desalinators, and will likely remain so until at least 2030.