Installations

The Mumbai-based commercial solar player—which aims to more than double its customer base from 120 corporates to 300 by 2022—will use the amount to support its expansion of renewable energy portfolio from 500 MW to 2 GW in the next three years.

In September 1988, the United Nations spelt doom for the Maldives when the organization predicted that a gradual rise in average sea levels would leave the Indian Ocean nation of 1,196 small islands completely covered by water within 30 years.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has invited bids for setting up of 100 MW (AC) grid-interactive solar PV power plants at the premises of state-owned coal mining company Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in the state of Telangana. The project would be awarded through reverse auction. The deadline for bid submission is June 7.

Narendra Modi’s BJP party is seeking re-election with the aim of ensuring the electrification of all railways by 2022 and turning renewable energy into a popular movement with steps including an emphasis on solar farming. Even if the elections spring a surprise, however, the renewable momentum is unlikely to slow as no government can afford to roll back the clean power tide.

Like many areas in renewable energy, the operations and maintenance of large-scale solar power plants is becoming an increasingly sophisticated affair. Granular data gathered using hardware such as drones and thermal imaging equipment, in combination with complex analytics software, mean that service providers now have oversight of a plant right down to the performance of individual cells and components. A look at fault detection offers several examples of these trends in action.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) received 27 MW from the solar project based in Madhya Pradesh, which will gradually increase it to 99 MW. The power received was used to run operations on the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to Central Secretariat metro station link.

Lead-acid battery manufacturer Exide Industries has entered into 26-30% equity shareholding agreement with Singapore-based Cleantech Solar Energy for three captive solar power plants to be set up for its manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Maharashtra.

The world had more than half a terawatt of PV generation capacity at the end of last year as emerging solar markets picked up the slack caused by Beijing’s subsidy about-turn to the tune of a 20% rise in installations outside China.

Pune-based Electronica Finance Limited (EFL) has raised $10 million from a climate fund managed by Swiss impact investor responsAbility to diversify its SME lending offering and to expand into financing solar PV for the commercial and industrial markets.

Mobility company Shuttl will also set up more than 50 EV charging points in prime locations and state-run power distributor BSES Rajdhani Power Limited will invest in testing facilities to support stabilizing the grid for EV charging, as well as pilot schemes on effectively integrating renewable electricity into its network.