Sustainability

The ‘Skills for Sustainable Growth’ project will be implemented by Siemens in partnership with India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and German development agency GIZ.

The recycling market will experience a tenfold expansion between last year and 2030, driven by EV battery usage and portable electronics. Retrieving valuable metals and minerals is becoming a high priority and several dozen companies are already in position for the first big wave of end-of-life batteries.

The state bus company had originally sought central government funding for 250 vehicles but was given the green light for the smaller figure. A pre-bid meeting related to the tender is planned on Friday.

Opinion is divided over the urgency of addressing the issue. While some developers feel the 25-year lifetime of modules offers plenty of time to prepare an action plan, other industry voices claim Indian-made products don’t last half that long and one recent report pointed out waste is already piling up thanks to defects and faulty installation.

Research institutes have moved quickly to emulate the successes observed in a test installation at Jodhpur as India races to meet an ambitious target of doubling agricultural income by 2022.

Take-up has been slow considering the nation’s mammoth agricultural industry but, as a packed session on the topic at the recent REI show illustrated, attitudes may be changing in a nation which is already installing solar greenhouses.

The $1 million Gandhi Solar Park was an attempt to signal to the world India is committed to renewable energy. The 50 kW array features one panel for each UN member state.

The Chinese thin-film manufacturer and compatriot carmaker Joylong Automobile applied thin film cells to the roof of a small commercial vehicle which was tested for a month. Hanergy says its K-Car could offer an effective daily range of 50-100km without charging.

While some of the industry insiders gathered at REI 2019 have made predictable calls to be free of the restrictions imposed by regulators, others maintained policy support is crucial and audience members voiced concern about India’s lack of recycling rules.

A British study has found co-location of solar and storage may accelerate the deployment of profitable merchant renewable energy projects in the United Kingdom. The report predicts installed solar capacity in the U.K. could increase from around 13 GW next year to 19 GW in 2030 and 32 GW in 2040.