Asia

The startup—which has developed an Internet of Things (IoT) based service for power grid monitoring and automation—will use the amount to strengthen the software platform and expand the scale to different geographies.

This marks the first such acquisition for the Bengaluru-based developer as it looks to acquire high-quality operating renewable assets to ensure a balanced risk portfolio.

The project—based on Resco model—is developed for the Bhilwara industrial site of a textile company. It is spread across five rooftops covering 21,00,000 square feet and uses 20,000 solar modules of different types.

Mercom India Research has said the quarterly value of solar cell and module imports was down 83% in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period of 2019, to sit 54% lower than the value recorded in the January-to-March window.

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi have taken a close look at the potential impact of growing volumes of PV waste and conducted surveys which suggest a lot more work is needed from manufacturers and policymakers to develop management systems for end-of-life PV products.

Bids are invited from Indian manufacturers to supply 72-cell, 325Wp polycrystalline solar modules made using domestically manufactured cells. August 20 is the last date to lodge the interest.

Having bagged large orders in the U.S. and Australia, Indian multinational engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services provider Sterling and Wilson Solar is bidding for tenders in regions which have eased up business lines, Europe among them. Kannan Krishnan, S&W’s chief operations officer for solar in India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation area, speaks to pv magazine about the impact of Covid-19 on the solar EPC business and the company’s expansion plans.

A new report by ICRA says large-scale solar in the country will likely achieve the 60 GW target set by the Indian government. Rooftop solar and wind, however, will see a shortfall.  

The import duty will be levied on Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai solar cells – whether assembled into modules or not – at 14.9% from today and falling to 14.5% in six months’ time. Malaysian products are exempted as their imports have fallen dramatically since the duty was imposed, in July 2018.

State-owned Power Finance Corporation will provide Rs 2.38-crore financial assistance to the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur to develop infrastructure for R & D in smart grid technology.