automation

The market for drones in the power and utility industry will grow 23.6% annually, reaching $515 million by 2030—according to a Frost & Sullivan report.
The report, Drones in the Global Power and Utilities Industry, Forecast to 2030, cites ongoing digital transformation, remote monitoring, and the need to optimize operational costs as the factors driving increasing adoption of drones in the power and utility industry.
“Drones minimize the need to send human employees onsite and can be deployed for monitoring, operations, and maintenance services. As the global power and utility industry continues to tackle the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, drones can be potential game-changers in combating the challenges it poses,” as per the report.
pv magazine spoke to Supreeth Srinivasa Rao, Associate Director, Industrial Practice, Frost & Sullivan, to find out the role of drones in the solar sector, especially for India.

India’s energy system immediately needs a shift from centralized commands to dynamic interactive structures. While the UK is already spearheading digitalization of its energy systems, India has ample areas demanding interventions, such as integration of decentralized energy systems using digital innovation and analytical tools.

The digital platform automates the entire distributed solar project design and net metering approval process, which is crucial in today’s era of social distancing and remote business operations driven by COVID-19 globally.

When talking about processes to ensure quality in renewable energy – whether in the production of materials or the operation of a power plant – it can be a struggle to avoid excessive jargon and keep things simple enough to translate into effective improvements on the ground. Experienced project manager Nabeel Ismeer decrypts some of the geekspeak from the world of quality.

Market intelligence company Navigant Research has developed a country forecast of the global market. Incentives and pricing will be the main driver of installations, though the market will continue to be concentrated in certain key regions, including India, for now.

November 4 is the last date to bid for the NTPC Mandsaur plant, which uses 40 numbers of 1250 KW grid-interactive power conditioning units (inverters).

Integrated power infrastructure offers an emerging investment opportunity in Asia as the region expands and adapts its energy mix to address sustainability and resilience goals. Narsingh Chaudhary and Mitesh Patel, of engineering, procurement and construction business Black & Veatch, tell pv magazine more.

Startups and individuals are invited to submit their innovative ideas to solve some of the key challenges through application of renewable energy. The innovation should at least be in prototype stage and feasible for deployment. The winner will receive a cash prize of Rs10 lakh, while the first runner up will earn Rs7 lakh and the second runner up Rs5 lakh. Applications close on August 31.

Wasteful use of water for solar panel cleaning is posing these areas to a high level of water risk. To justify its environment-friendly tag, the industry needs to replace manual cleaning with technologies providing water-efficient solutions.

Starting its journey as a department within Mahindra Group’s solar EPC company Mahindra Susten, the newly formed comprehensive asset care company for renewable energy customers aims to reach a 20 GWp global portfolio by 2022 from 4 GWp currently.