Installations

Feeding solar electricity directly from its own panels into overhead lines on a fully-electrified rail network would be more cost-effective for the state-owned company than buying that green power from the grid, according to a new study.

Solar energy pioneer and founder of Wiki-Solar, Philip Wolfe updates his series of blogs on the world’s largest solar power stations, first published in pv magazine in 2019. At that time, there were no single solar power plants over 1 GWAC. The record now is 2.2 GWAC.

Developers have until September 30 to lodge their interest to install grid-connected floating solar plants on the water reservoir surface at Salaulim, Amthanem, Anjunem, and Chapoli Dams in the Indian State of Goa. Their scope of work also includes assessing the floating solar potential at each of these locations.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers have studied which tech offers the lowest levelized cost of energy to provide the US Western Interconnection grid with electricity when wind and solar are not available. They assumed 85% renewables penetration and determined that geologic hydrogen storage and natural gas combined-cycle plants with carbon capture storage are the cheapest options for 120-hour discharge applications. 


The recent auctions for solar parks in Agar (550 MW), Neemuch (500 MW), and Shajapur (450 MW) districts of Madhya Pradesh saw winning tariffs in the range of INR 2.14 (0.029 US$) to INR 2.459 (0.034 US$).

Pyramid Electronics has unveiled three-phase string solar inverters based on silicon carbide power devices. The inverters are available in power ratings ranging from 5 kW to 15 kW, including models with three maximum power point trackers.

Installers have until September 10 to apply for getting enlisted with Central Electronics Limited (CEL) to carry out the work for grid-connected, ground-mount solar plants. The plants are to be set up in sizes of 2 MW to 10 MW.

The UK-headquartered steel major is mulling to set up a 4.5 GW solar park in Rajasthan with an investment of INR 19,000 crore. It also plans to invest in Gujarat’s solar energy, wind energy, and hydrogen gas production sectors.

Scientists in Bangladesh have evaluated how a 50 MW floating PV plant could be integrated with the 230 MW Karnafuli Hydroelectric Power Station, located at the Kaptai Dam on the Karnaphuli River. They found that the two energy sources can be perfectly optimized and that PV can compensate for the reservoir’s shortage of water storage during the winter season while hydropower can compensate for the poor yields of the floating array during the monsoon season.

Energy Vault secured $100 million in Series C funding for its EVx tower, which stores gravitational potential energy for grid dispatch.