Installations

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a plan for projects to be enabled by public bodies in the hope that avoiding competitive procurement will enable it to circumvent WTO rules related to import parity.

Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has allowed Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) to procure 2.7 MW solar power generated by salt pan workers of Self-Employed Women Association (SEWA) during off-season.

The state-owned power generator will follow the bidding route for development of solar projects in African countries that are members of the International Solar Alliance.

Following power company NTPC’s 20 MW tender for Rajasthan and 15 MW procurement for Himachal Pradesh, Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited has invited bids to develop 10 MW of floating PV in Hisar. The deadline for bid submission is on March 1.

The facility is expected to have solar generation capacity of 360 MW and wind capacity of 100 MW, said the company in a financial update.

The president of India has sanctioned setting up of 14 MW grid-connected solar PV projects with aggregate battery storage capacity of 42 MWh for Jammu & Kashmir under Prime Minister Development Package (PMDP)-2015 . The projects would be set up during 2019-20 and 2020-21, and include 7 MW solar projects with battery storage of 21 MWh each in Leh and Kargil at different locations. These would be implemented in developer mode, at a fixed tariff of Rs 2 per unit, with viability gap funding support.

Dutch researchers have come up with a system they claim has a maximum estimation error of less than 10% and which reduces the computational requirements for calculating the output of PV systems in complex environments. The approach is based on the correlation between a skyline’s profile and annual irradiation.

Tamil Nadu government has unveiled a new solar energy policy 2019 that aims at generating 9 GW for the state by 2022. The policy would be applicable to projects, programmes and installations relating to both solar PV and thermal energy, including utility as well as consumer categories.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has invited comments of all the stakeholders on the solar PV water pumping system specifications set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

Reaffirming Indian government’s commitment to promote renewable energy, Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal laid emphasis on the need for increased use of electric vehicles and new-age energy solutions. He also highlighted that the Indian government would meet its target of universal household electrification by the end of March 2019.