Installations

Packaging manufacturer Huhtamaki India chose Amplus Solar to install the rooftop solar capacity across its factories in Guwahati, Daman, Silvassa, and Taloja. The use of solar power from these plants will help the company avoid approximately 750 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum.

The Chattisgarh-headquartered integrated steel manufacturer will set up a solar power plant of 250 MW capacity in the Raigarh district. The electricity generated from the plant shall be utilized for the enhanced billet capacity at the company’s existing factory in the Raipur district.

State-owned hydropower producer NHPC Ltd has awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction work for a 40 MW PV project to Tata Power Solar Systems. The project—to be located in the Ganjam District of Odisha—is scheduled to be commissioned within 12 months.

Researchers led by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have projected the waste expected from end-of-life solar panels and related components. They assumed 347.5 GW of total installed solar generation capacity would be reached this decade. The academics said the waste would include critical metals worth around $645 trillion, 70% of which could be recovered.

The sheer volume of new power lines which will be required to accommodate the rising tide of solar installations ensures copper has been included by the International Energy Agency on its list of minerals which must keep flowing if the energy transition is to stay on course. And it’s not production that’s the potential bottleneck.

Developers have until June 21 to bid for grid-connected solar installation under the Scheme that allows farmers to set up PV power plants on their land and benefit from selling the generated power to the State Discoms. The plants, in sizes of 500 kW to 2 MW, shall come upon cultivable or uncultivable land within a 5 km radius of substations.

India’s Aegeus Technologies has developed an autonomous, water-free cleaning bot for rooftop solar installations. The bot weighs 5 kg (with battery) and can be operated remotely through a web-based app. It uses an air wash technology to clean the panels, ensuring no need for water or any harmful chemicals.

The State-owned hydropower producer will sell the electricity generated from the solar project to Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) under a 25-year power purchase agreement. Tariff is fixed at INR 2.68/kWh (US$0.037/kWh).

A prototype of a cement-based battery has been developed in Sweden for potential applications in buildings. Its creators claim it could become a solution to store electricity from rooftop PV and they do not exclude that it could also be used for the storage of large-scale renewables.

The nation maintained the highest score of 62.7 for solar in the latest edition of Ernst & Young’s renewables attractiveness index. It ranked third for overall renewable energy investment.