India

The electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, with over 150 charging points, is synced with the Magenta ChargeGrid Smart app that allows EV owners to check the real-time availability of charging stations and book slots.

The ministry of New and Renewable Energy has empowered the Dispute Resolution Committee to look into commissioning extension requests for solar projects that are due for delivery before April 1 next year.

To achieve the government’s ambitious renewable energy targets, and integrate the two growing sectors of infrastructure and construction and renewable energy, the existing policies and codes for green buildings need to be further enhanced. Most of these rules need to include specific details about energy generation. Right now, these are more to do with energy efficiency. 

A new study proposes an ‘extended producer responsibility’ based regulatory framework for end-of-life (EOL) solar PV management in India. Under the framework, the Government of India (GoI) works as the nodal agency, defining the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders and regulating the overall supply chain. The onus of EOL solar PV take-back, transportation, storage, recovery, and destruction lies on the manufacturers, with the entire system cost borne by an executive committee formed by the manufacturers.  

December 8 is the bidding deadline to set up solar power plants on uncultivable farmland for selling the generated power to the State Discoms. The ceiling tariff is fixed at INR 3.66/kWh. The plants, in sizes of 500 kW to 2 MW, shall come upon land within a 5 km radius of substations in the State.

The handheld, cordless cleaning tool is a cost-effective and efficient alternative to automated cleaning robots that are usually limited in operation by panel inclination. 

Scientists in India developed a mathematical model to predict the output of solar cells and modules in the field. The model was developed and tested using both sun simulator and actual installed modules. The scientists state that their model can be applied to a PV installation anywhere in the world, and that by taking into account module degradation over time their forecasts can be as much as 26% more accurate than existing energy yield models.

The grid-connected solar projects may be set up either as net-metered systems or systems for consumption within premises with no export of power. Bidding ends on November 29.

Developers have until November 25 to bid for setting up grid-connected, ground-mounted projects in 2 MW to 10 MW sizes under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojna. The projects shall be awarded through tariff-based competitive bidding followed by a reverse auction with ceiling tariff fixed at INR 3.10/kWh.

The state-owned hydropower producer has landed a 100 MW solar project from the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd at INR 2.69/kWh tariff.