Markets

Smart Power India (SPI), a subsidiary of US-based impact investor Rockefeller Foundation, has supported the setting up of more than 300 renewable energy mini-grids cumulating to 9.2 MW of capacity across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand, the largest such cluster in India. Jaideep Mukherjee, chief executive officer at SPI, spoke to pv magazine about the role of mini-grids in rural upliftment and the barriers to overcome.

A pandemic-related sales slump has dealt another blow to domestic panel makers already faced with rising input costs and an expected surge in imports due to the scheduled wind down of safeguarding duties on foreign products from late July.

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.

A new report stresses on rebooting the renewable energy certificate (REC) trading for a balanced energy transition in India. It proposes measures to make RECs more appealing to stakeholders and prepare the market for the possible supply crunch in the future.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) under the commerce ministry stated the Indian manufacturers provided sufficient evidence to warrant the initiation of an investigation into the alleged dumping of solar cells. The investigation will aim to determine the existence, degree and effect of the dumping and recommend an amount of anti-dumping duty to offset the material injury to domestic manufacturers.

A new report states decentralized solar installations in climate-vulnerable regions of Assam, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan lacked design to deal with future climate risks. The report authors, based on their study, outline considerations for policymakers, implementing agencies, vendors, and funding agencies to build resilient structures.

Bolivia has launched a second international call, after a first attempt failed in 2019, to seek potential investors for its huge lithium resources.

The federal government will provide INR968 crore of soft loans for a INR1307 crore, 100 MW solar park near the Jamuna river in Bangladesh’s Jamalpur district, where a second park of a similar size is being planned by Dhaka and a Chinese partner.

Italian start-up Genius Watter has developed a solar desalination solution that is claimed to be particularly suitable for remote areas with no connection to grid electricity. The system is able to produce up to 1,000 cubic meters of potable water per day at an opex of €0.20 per cubic meter.

The company believes introducing its ATUM solar roof (PV panels integrated on cement boards) would be a gamechanger for South Africa. The product, which can directly be used as a roof, will enable distributed microgrids in the region to address the energy requirements of the unelectrified.