EQ Magazine August 2019 Edition

Volume- 11 | Issue- 8 | Dt. of Print- 20 August 2019 | Dt. of Posting- 25 August 2019 | Rs. 5/- | Page- 1

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CONT EN T

VOLUME 11 Issue #08

The data and information presented in this magazine is provided for informational purpose only.neither EQ INTERNATINAL ,Its affiliates,Information providers nor content providers shall have any liability for investment decisions based up on or the results obtained from the information provided. Nothing contained in this magazine should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sale any securities. The facts and opinions stated in this magazine do not constitute an offer on the part of EQ International for the sale or purchase of any securities, nor any such offer intended or implied

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INDIA INDIA TO ADD 131.31 GW POWER GENERATION CAPACITY TILL 2022

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21 TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS & FINANCE

MOSER BAER SOLAR FAILS TO GET NEW INVESTORS, TO GO UNDER LIQUIDATION

GROWATT AWARDED THE ‘SHENZHEN QUALITY CITY SPINE ENTERPRISE’ FOR ITS LEADING POSITION IN QUALITY CONTROL AND PRODUCT RELIABILITY

60 ELECTRIC VEHICLE IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL ELECTRIC MOBILITY MISSION PLAN

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Restriction on use The material in this magazine is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. You may not modify,copy,reproduce,republish,post,transmit,or distribute any part of the magazine in any way.you may only use material for your personall,NonCommercial use, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. want to use material for any non-personel,non commercial purpose,you need written permission from EQ International.

INDIA

Safeguard duty reimbursement may restore returns for 5.4 GW solar projects

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

INDIA

GOODWE & EQ PUTS 35KW ROOFTOP SOLAR PLANT AT ISKCON TEMPLE UJJAIN

LIGHTWAY SOLAR AND ACME SIGN 1GW AGREEMENT

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INTERVIEW

MR. JM SHAH

TECHNOLOGY

S L

44 54 77

JA SOLAR RECOGNIZED AS “TOP PERFORMER” IN DNV GL/PVEL 2019 PV MODULE RELIABILITY SCORECARD FOR THE FOURTH TIME

INTERNATIONAL U.S. SOLAR POWER INSTALLATION OUTLOOK BRIGHTENS ON FALLING COSTS -REPORT

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INTERNATIONAL

COMMONWEALTH AND ISA JOIN FORCES TO ADVANCE SOLAR ENERGY

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PRODUCTS

Waaree Energies’ Bifacial solar modules to increase output by 30%

EQ NEWS Pg. 08-60 INTERVIEW Pg. 61 LUBI To Solarize The World’s Biggest Cricket Stadium

PRODUCTS Pg. 77

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SOLAR PROJECTS

AUGUST 2019

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of Print- 20 Issue- 8 | Dt. Volume- 11 |

August 2019

Page- 1 9 | Rs. 5/- |

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| Dt. of Posting

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The Company, wholly owned by the LONGi Group (SH601012), has focused on p-mono for 19 years and is today the largest supplier of mono-crystalline products in the world. LONGi Solar&#39;s module shipment in 2018 ranked top 4 in the world, and mono module shipment has remained No.1 in the world from 2016 to 2018. The Company has its headquarters in Xi&#39; an, China and branches in Japan, Germany, America, India, Malaysia, AustraliaWith strong focus on R&amp;D, production and sales &amp; marketing of mono-crystalline silicon products, LONGi Solar is committed to providing better LCOE solutions and promoting worldwide adoption of mono-crystalline technology.

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Volume- 11 | Issue- 8 | Dt. of Print- 20 August 2019 | Dt. of Posting- 25 August 2019 | Rs. 5/- | Page- 1

Volume- 11 | Issue- 8 | Dt. of Print- 20 August 2019 | Dt. of Posting- 25 August 2019 | Rs. 5/- | Page- 1

Volume- 11 | Issue- 8 | Dt. of Print- 20 August 2019 | Dt. of Posting- 25 August 2019 | Rs. 5/- | Page- 1

Volume- 11 | Issue- 8 | Dt. of Print- 20 August 2019 | Dt. of Posting- 25 August 2019 | Rs. 5/- | Page- 1

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INDIA

NTPC BAGS 40 MW SOLAR PROJECTS IN UPNEDA’S AUCTION State-run power major NTPC said it has won 40 MW solar energy projects in an auction conducted by Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA).

“NTPC participated in UPNEDA’s tender for 500 MW Solar capacity with two bids of 20 MW each at Auraiya and Rihand,” the company said in a statement.

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everse auction was carried out on June 25 and NTPC won entire 40 MW of solar capacity at a levellised tariff of Rs 3.02/kWh applicable for 25 years, it said. The projects shall be set up under EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) mode and shall add to the installed capacity of NTPC, the statement said. With these projects, NTPC has won aggregate solar capacity of 545 MW under tariff based competitive bidding tenders of states/SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India).

Source: PTI

EU, INDIA STEP UP COOPERATION IN SOLAR ENERGY The European Union delegation in India and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy have jointly launched standard operation procedures and monitoring tool for Indian solar parks.

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olar parks are key for India to achieve its target of 100 GW from solar energy by 2022, contributing to this target with 40 GW. The EU has been collaborating closely with India in deployment of climate friendly energy sources including solar energy.

Developed as part of the EU-India cooperation in Clean Energy and Climate Partnership Project, the Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) and monitoring tool were launched by Praveen Kumar, the Additional Secretary of MNRE, and Friederike Tschampa, Charge d’Affaires, Delegation of the European Union to India.

Developed under the European Union programme ‘Technical assistance for the implementation and management of identified solar parks’, SOP have been prepared for development, implementation, construction, operation and maintenance of solar parks, including an operation and maintenance manual and a health and safety manual for solar parks and recommendations for solar plants based on international best practices, an EU statement said.

Source: PTI

INDIA TO ADD 131.31 GW POWER GENERATION CAPACITY TILL 2022 India will add 131.31 GW of power generation capacity during 2019 to 2022, Parliament was informed.

Based on the present preparedness of projects, the likely power generation capacity addition during 2019 to 2022 is likely to be 1,31,316 MW,” Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

India’s total installed power generation capacity was 3,56,817.6 MW as on May 31, 2019. He said that in 2018-19, all India electrical energy requirement was 1274.59 Billion Units (BU) and energy supplied was 1267.52 BU. The all India peak demand was 177.022 GW and peak demand met was 175.528 GW for 2018-19 (shortage of 0.6 per cent). As per ‘National Electricity Plan – Generation’ issued in January 2018, the projected peak demand is 226 GW and energy requirement is estimated at 1,566 BU at the end of 2021-22.

The Plan projected peak demand at 299 GW and energy requirement at 2,047 BU at the end of 2026-27.

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The minister told the House that as per studies conducted during 2003-2014, a total of 200 potential sites for coal and lignite-based power capacity aggregating to around 4,04,905 MW and gas-based capacity of 24,000 MW have been identified in the country. The total hydroelectric potential of the country in terms of capacity is assessed at 1,48,701 MW. Renewable energy potential in India is estimated at 8,96,602 MW comprising 7,48,991 MW of solar power, 1,02,772 MW of wind power, 19,749 MW of small hydro power and 25,090 MW of bio-energy.

Source: PTI

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AUGUST 2019

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INDIA

UTTAR PRADESH SOLAR ASSOCIATION FIGHTS FOR REINSTATING NET METERING Various Solar EPC companies, traders, distributors and consultants have come together in Uttar Pradesh and formed UPSEDA, an umbrella body currently representing all the stakeholders.

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rimary objective of the association is to address various concerns in the industry and represent the industry in front of the government bodies and courts. Right now, the association is engaged in a very tough fight to reinstate net metering for Industrial, commercial and institutional customers in Uttar Pradesh.

The association, now planning to go to the Honourable High Court of Uttar Pradesh is inviting everyone in the solar industry in the whole country to join it.

The purpose of a combined show of strength and unity in the association is to ensure that no other state is able to remove net metering like it has been done in Uttar Pradesh.

The case can be a precedent for all the other Courts to dissuade Power Regulatory Authorities to adopt such measures.Some members of UPSEDA have also started a Twitter campaign and are tweeting to Hon PM, Hon Energy Minister, Hon CM of UP and other stakeholders to bring this issue into public light and notice of higher authorities. Readers are requested to search for #SaveSolarInUP to follow the tweets and also tweet more towards solidarity of fellow Solar players in UP. Source: chemitech.co.in

RBI TO EASE LENDING LIMITS FOR GREEN ENERGY SECTOR Ghodwat opined that the decision would lead to speedy implementation of projects and reduce construction cost.

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n an attempt to boost renewable energy sector, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) would request the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to categorise renewable energy as a separate segment and remove priority sector lending limit.

The decision came in the backdrop of a meeting held by R.K. Singh, Minister of State for Power and Renewable Energy with the industry experts.The industry has welcomed the move as it will help them achieving the targets. One of the major complaints the industry had was the availability of credit, and it impacted the momentum of the renewable energy.

The Ministry’s recommendation to the RBI will ensure higher credit financing availability and provide the much needed boost to the sector. This is absolutely in line with CleanMax Solar’s recommendation earlier this year to remove the cap of Rs 15 crore per year under priority sector lending for rooftop projects or at least increase the credit limits significantly and remove it in a phased manner,said Nikunj Ghodawat, Chief Financial Officer, CleanMax Solar.

Ghodwat opined that the decision would lead to speedy implementation of projects and reduce construction cost.As of April 2019, Karnataka is the first state in the country with an installed capacity of 6,128.85 MW.Sunil Rathi, Director, Waaree Energies Ltd, said that while the proposed ease of financing would boost adoption of solar energy by users, the introduction of subsidy in the manufacturing sector would help domestic players amplify their capacities, thus reducing the market’s dependence on international players.

“Moreover, while the flexibility of renewable energy segmentation may slow down solar project execution, it will certainly provide developers with the impetus to opt for Indian manufacturers. A reduced dependency on imports will strengthen the rupee denomination, thus contributing to India’s GDP and employment generation scenario. While we look forward to the formal directives and policies that will add concrete value to the discussions, this seems to be a progressive move by the re-elected Government,” he added.

Source: deccanchronicle

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MAHARASHTRA TO GET SOLAR POWER GENERATION PLANTS IN FOUR DAMS A committee headed by the executive director of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) is currently scrutinising the detailed project report and drafting the tenders, the minister said.

Maharashtra is all set to get floating solar power generation plants in four dams, state Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan told the Legislative Council. In a written reply to a question raised by NCP MLC Hemant Takle, Mahajan stated the backwater of Wardha, Bebala, Khadakpurna and Pentakli dams has been selected for setting up the floating solar panels as per the Swiss Challenge method. He said the estimated investment per megawatt is Rs 4.45 crore, with a total installed capacity of 500 MW. A committee headed by the executive director of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) is currently scrutinising the detailed project report and drafting the tenders, the minister said. The work to set up the plants is under progress as permitted under the Maharashtra Infrastructure Development Enabling Authority Act, he added.

Source: PTI

FALLING PLFS A POTENTIAL THREAT TO NTPC’S RETURNS: SBICAP SECURITIES Analysts have attributed the fall in NTPC’s utilisation levels to renewable/hydro plants and cheap spot power displacing high-cost NTPC stations.

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ven as state-owned power generator NTPC gained from improved coal supply to its power plants in the pre-election season, its dwindling utilisation levels can pose a threat to its returns going forward, analysts said. NTPC’s coal plant load factor (PLF) went down 720 basis points year-on-year (y-o-y) in May even as electricity produced by conventional power plants across the country recorded a y-o-y rise of 5.1%, thanks to a surge in demand stemming from poll-related activities in the scorching summer.

“Although improving coal supply and the resultant increase in plant availability factor (PAF), is indeed good news for NTPC, dwindling PLF despite the rise in power demand is a concern,” analysts at SBICAP securities said.

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Lower PLFs can potentially hurt efficiency parameters like station heat rate and auxiliary energy consumption, which play a role in determining the level of returns for the regulated entity. While lower cost pithead plants continue to record high PLFs, some large non-pithead stations such as Kudgi, Solapur, Dadri, and Mauda continue to report utilisation levels below 60%. NTPC coal PLFs have steadily come down over the years, from 85% in FY12 to 77% in FY19. Analysts have attributed the fall in NTPC’s utilisation levels to renewable/hydro plants and cheap spot power displacing high-cost NTPC stations.

Discoms seemingly chose to cater to the higher power demand from the recently auctioned renewable energy units where tariffs are in the range between Rs 2.43-3.00/unit, lower than the fuel charge of many NTPC stations. Furthermore, with improved coal supply situation, spot prices in the day-ahead market have remained attractive at below Rs 4/unit. NTPC’s fixed cost under-recoveries came down 43% annually in FY19 to Rs 800 crore as its average PAF improved 146 basis points y-o-y to 87.3% on higher coal receipt. Fixed cost represents pre-determined expenditure components, including debt service obligation and risk-free returns. Under-recoveries due to coal shortage in FY19 was Rs 250 crore, down 69%, as it received more fuel from Coal India and increased production from its own captive mines.

Source: financialexpress

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UTTAR PRADESH PLANS TO COMMISSION 1500 MW SOLAR PROJECTS BY NEXT YEAR Uttar Pradesh plans to commission 1500 MW solar capacity power plants by next year, state minister for department of additional sources of energy Brajesh Pathak said. The Centre has set a target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power.

Uttar Pradesh government has set a target of producing 10,700 MW renewable energy by 2022, Pathak said. “We are confident…of meeting our target in time. We aim to generate 4300 MW through rooftop solar installations.

At present, solar power plants (totalling) 150 MW are running successfully.

Tenders for 1500 MW solar plants have been done and by next year they will be commissioned as well,” the minister told PTI.

B

esides, a 32 MW solar project is coming up at Jalaun in the state, he informed. The minister further said there is immense investment potential in the state while inviting investors to invest in Uttar Pradesh in the area of renewable energy. To boost the use and generation of green energy, the state government has launched Uttar Pradesh Solar Energy Policy 2017, he said. The policy aims to encourage participation of private sector and provide investment opportunities to set up solar power projects in the state.

It also aims to support in providing environment friendly and affordable power for all, he added.

“Another objective of the policy is to promote research and development, innovations and skill development in the state and achieve the target of 8 per cent solar renewable purchase obligation (Solar RPO) by 2022,” he added.To attract investments in the state, an investor summit was organised in February 2018. During a session in the summit, Pathak had informed that about 46 MoUs worth over Rs 65,000 crore were signed for renewable energy.

Source: PTI

BSES PARTNERS TERI, PANASONIC, CEEW FOR DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT Delhi power distribution company BSES on said that as part of its Demand Side Management (DSM) programme, its sister discom BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) has partnered with TERI, Panasonic India and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) to launch three initiatives with the potential to save around 380 million units (MU) of electricity and 2.6 lakh tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

A BSES statement said the three initiatives are “behavioural energy saving app, Green Division concept and solar micro grids with battery storage.” Developed in partnership with energy resources institute TERI, the behavioural energy saving app, ‘Susthome’, has been designed to try, influence and mould a consumer’s behaviour towards energy usage, the statement said.

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he app will track a consumer’s energy consumption patterns, analyse them, compare them to that of similar homes in the vicinity and show the energy saving potential. “If their consumption is higher than that of similar more energy efficient homes, it will also provide customised and tailored solutions. Essentially, it will hand-hold the enlisted consumers in reducing their energy consumption, carbon footprint and electricity bills by influencing their behavioural patterns,” it said. In the first phase, a pilot is being rolled-out in select cooperative group housing societies in the Mayur Vihar area. In the second phase, the initiative will be scaled-up to cover around 2 lakh residential consumers and is expected to help them save up to 10 per cent in energy bills, BSES said. This initiative has the potential to save around 72 MUs and over Rs 29 crore annually. It will also result in even more efficient management of power demand and potential to reduce consumption by around 8-10 MW in east and central Delhi areas under BYPL’s jurisdiction, the statement added.Based on the smart city concept, the Green Division will be a carbon neutral model zone comprising “net positive energy buildings”, solar power generation, electric vehicles (EVs), energy efficiency programmes, efficient waste management, DSM and minimal paper consumption via digitisation, BSES said.

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The Green Division will work at levels of both the utility (BYPL) and the consumer. “A pilot project and a concept demonstrator is being implemented at BYPL office locations in the Anand Lok sub-division part of Mayur Vihar division.

The pilot project has potential energy savings of around 2.52 MU annually. Once rolled-out across BYPL, it has the potential to save around 300 MU and a reduction of 2 lakh tonnes of Co2,” the release said. In partnership with Panasonic India, BYPL has also launched a pilot to establish solar micro grids, “becoming one of the first discoms in the country to do so in an urban setting.”

As a technology demonstrator, four such micro grids, combining rooftop solar with lithium-ion battery energy storage systems, have been set up at BYPL offices in east Delhi. “The initial results of the pilot project at four BYPL locations in east Delhi show that over this period only 8 per cent of grid power (net of exports) was used. The balance 92 per cent was generated and met through the solar plant coupled with energy battery storage,” the statement said.According to the discom, these DSM initiatives have the potential for a load reduction of over 100 MW in east and central Delhi areas.

Source: IANS

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NO PROPOSAL TO GIVE FREE SOLAR GUJARAT NEW BUDGET – PUMPS TO FARMERS NEXT PROVISION FOR 1000 CRORE RS SUBSIDY FOR ROOFTOP SOLAR AND AIMS 30 GW SOLAR INSTALLATIONS BY 2022 The Gujarat Budget was announced by Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel for the remaining eight months of 2019 – 2020.

There is no proposal to give free solar pumps to farmers, but a scheme to provide solar panels and pumps to farmers with the Centre and state government each sharing 30 per cent of its cost has been approved and will be rolled out soon, the Government said.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy and Power R K Singh said, There is no proposal to give free solar pumps to farmers.

•

"We have a scheme which has recently been approved and we propose to launch it quickly whereby we will give 30 per cent of the cost and we expect the state government to give 30 per cent of the cost for giving solar panels and pumps to farmers,” he informed the House.

In reply to another supplementary, the minister said the government has electrified every village and hamlet in the state of Rajasthan.

Asked whether there was a proposal to produce solar power for sale in other states, the minister said, “We already have such a scheme whereby solar energy is produced and about 29,000 MW of large solar plants have been established and about 13,000 MW are under installation.”

He said in these solar plants, power is generated in one state and is transmitted to other states, whichever state requires it and thus this scheme is already in operation.

“We have already connected every hamlet and every village even in the north eastern states. A large number of these hamlets and villages have been connected through off- grid solutions which includes solar panels and we have connected every house also, apart from connecting every village and hamlet,” he said with regard to Nagaland.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said, “The Remote Village Electrification Programme was discontinued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy from 2012-13.

Since then all villages in the country have been electrified under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) administered by the Ministry of Power.

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• • • •

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he Gujarat Budget was announced by Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel for the remaining eight months of 2019 – 2020. Here are the highlights of the budget presented in the assembly

By 2022, each house in the urban and rural area of Gujarat will get tap water supply. In next 3 years Rs. 20,000 crore will be allocated for ‘Nal Se Jal yojana’. including Rs. 4,500 crore allocation this year. Water supply budget is up by 36% compared to previous year.

Gujarat Government announced Rs 1,000 crore for new Solar Rooftop Scheme which aims to cover 2 lakh families in a year. Beneficiaries will be given 40% subsidy up to 3 KW and subsidy of 20% for system of 3-10 KW Gujarat government allocated Rs 260 crore for the ancillary development of the SOU State Finance Minister, Nitinbhai Patel allocated Rs 6,595 crore allocated for Sardar Sarovar Project Gujarat government allocated Rs 7,111 crore for Agriculture and farmers welfare department.

Gujarat has increased renewable energy capacity from 4,126 MW in 2013 to 8,885 MW presently.

The state plans to increase the capacity to 30,000 MW by 2022. Of this, 20,000 MW will be for Gujarat while 10,000 MW will be made available for other states.

Gujarat government allocated Rs 123 crore for new Shetrunjay Division and Rs 112 crore for conservation and breeding of wildlife and to protect endangered species The Government resolved that by next Ashadibeej, all farmers who have applied for agriculture power connections till date shall be provided agriculture connection. Thus, new power connections will be given to all the 1.25 lakh pending applicants.

Source: PTI

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Source: indiatoday.in

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GOVERNMENT EXPRESSES CONFIDENCE IN ACHIEVING RENEWABLE POWER TARGET OF 175 GW BY 2022 The government has set a target of installing 175 GW of grid-connected renewable power capacity from various renewable energy sources by 2022.

New and Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh expressed confidence that the government will not only achieve the target of installing 175 GW of renewable power by 2022 but also cross that milestone. He said in Lok Sabha that so far total renewable power capacity of 33.47 GW has been installed in the country during the last three years and current year till May 31.

The government has set a target of installing 175 GW of grid-connected renewable power capacity from various renewable energy sources by 2022. This includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydropower.

“By 2022, we will not only achieve the target but also cross that,” Singh said while replying to a question during Question Hour. He said the installed capacity is 3.58 lakh MW. Singh added that India is moving very fast in adding renewable energy capacities.

He also said that in the next 15-20 days, a scheme will be launched for farmers where they can set up 2 MW solar panel to produce power which will be bought by the government.

Through this, he said, farmers can earn upto Rs one lakh per year.

“In the next 15-20 days, we will be coming out with this scheme. It will be very beneficial for farmers,” he said.

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On the supplementary question, he said there will be a system that farmers who don’t have capital can give their land to developers to install the 2 MW solar plant on their land.Talking about Bihar, the minister said he has written several letters to the state government seeking proposals for setting up of solar parks but has not received any response.

“Lot of land is there in Bihar to set up these parks…

There is a power deficit in Bihar and they need power,” he said.

On the question about Suryamitra Skill Development Programme, launched in 2015, he informed the House that the target is to train 50,000 Suryamitras by 2020 in the country including in the state of Bihar.

“So far 31,500 have been trained and we will increase that number in Bihar,” Singh said The programme has been designed with an objective to develop a skilled and employable workforce (Suryamitras) to perform various jobs related to installation, commissioning and operation and maintenance of solar PV systems.The complete financial assistance for Suryamitra Skill Development programme is provided by the Ministry which includes course fee, boarding and lodging charge and the assessment charge.A total of 31,092 Suryamitras have been trained up to March 31 including 1139 Suryamitras in Bihar.Further, he added that the government will provide all support to the textiles industry in Bhiwandi.

Source: PTI

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INDIA NEEDS TO INCREASE ENERGY CONSUMPTION TO RAISE PER CAPITA INCOME: ECO SURVEY The survey said India has the potential for USD 30 billion annual investment in renewables in next decade

India’s economic growth will depend upon the ability to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to citizens and the country is required to raise per capita energy consumption by at least 2.5 times to increase per capita income

by USD 5000, the economic survey tabled in Parliament said.

The survey said India has the potential for USD 30 billion annual investment in renewables in next decade and even beyond that in view of its ambitious target of having 175 GW of clean energy by 2022.

“India with a per-capita energy consumption of about onethird of the global average, will have to increase its per capita energy consumption at least 2.5 times to increase its real per capita GDP by USD 5000 per capita, in 2010 prices, to enter the upper-middle income group,” the survey stated.

As per the survey, India has to quadruple its per capita energy consumption if the country aims to rise in HDI (human development index). It also pointed that the share of renewables in total electricity generation has increased from 6 per cent in 2014-15 to 10 per cent in 2018-19 but thermal power still plays a dominant role at 60 per cent. Saying that, in India market share of electric vehicles was at 0.06 per cent compared to 2 per cent in China and 39 per cent in Norway, the economic survey suggested access to fast charging facilities as key to increase market share of electric vehicles. The share of renewable (excluding hydro above 25 MW) in total generation was around 10 per cent in the year 2018-19 compared to around 6 per cent in 2014-15.

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“Now, globally, India stands fourth in wind power, fifth in solar power and fifth in overall renewable power installed capacity. The cumulative renewable power installed capacity (excluding hydro above 25 MW) has more than doubled from 35 GW on March 31, 2014 to 78 GW on March 31, 2019. The target is to achieve an installed capacity of renewable based power of 175 GW by the year 2022”, the survey added.

While renewable energy capacity has been expanded manifold, fossil fuel based energy is likely to remain an important source of power, the survey added. Referring to a BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency) study, the survey said that, “energy efficiency program has resulted in total cost savings worth Rs 53,000 crore (approx) in 2017-18 and contributed in reducing 108.28 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.”

The survey further noted that India’s energy intensity of GDP started declining at a much lower level of per capita GDP as compared to the developed world.

India’s primary energy intensity of GDP has fallen from 0.0004 toe in 1990 to 0.0002 toe in 2017.

Source: PTI

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BUDGET 2019: ‘ONE NATION ONE GRID’ – SITHARAMAN SAYS PACKAGE FOR POWER SECTOR, STRUCTURAL REFORMS IN THE OFFING “Besides these structural reforms, considerable reforms are needed in tariff policy. A package of power sector tariff and structural reforms would soon be announced,” Sitharaman said. She further said that to take connectivity infrastructure to the next level, the government will build on the successful model of ‘One Nation, One Grid’. She proposed to make available a blueprint this year for developing gas grids, water grids, informationways, and regional airports.

Talking about the recommendations of the high level empowered committee on retirement of old and inefficient plants, and addressing low utilisation of gas plant capacity due to paucity of natural gas, she said suggestions would also be taken up for implementation now.

n November last, the panel had recommended the government that the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas may jointly devise a scheme in line with the earlier e-bid RLNG Scheme to revive gas-based power plants.

Budget 2019 India: The government will soon unveil a package for power sector and go ahead with structural reforms to achieve the objective of ‘One Nation One Grid’, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said . The minister in her maiden budget speech also assured that all willing rural households will have cooking gas and electricity connection by 2022, the 75th year of India’s independence. She however kept mum on details of the package for power sector.

“Our government launched Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) in 2015 aimed at financial and operational turnaround of DISCOMs. The government is examining the performance of the scheme and it will be further improved,” the minister said. UDAY was launched in November 2015 with an objective of turnaround of debt-laden power distribution utilities in the country. “We will work with state governments to remove barriers like cross subsidy surcharges, undesirable duties on open access sales or captive generation for industrial and other bulk power consumers.

In November last, the panel had recommended the government that the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas may jointly devise a scheme in line with the earlier e-bid RLNG Scheme (supported by Power System Development Fund) to revive gas-based power plants. The government has taken necessary action on all recommendations of the panel except regarding revival of gas based power plants.Under the earlier scheme, the government had provided subsidy to stranded gas-based plants and those running at sub-optimal level, to buy expensive imported gas.

Lauding the government’s two mega initiatives of Ujjwala Yojana and Saubhagya Yojana she said,”by 2022, the 75th year of India’s independence, I would like to assure the nation that every single rural family, except those who are unwilling to take the connection, will have an electricity and a clean cooking facility.”

Under the Ujjwala Yojana, the government has already provided over seven crore cooking gas connections to households across the country. Besides, under Saubhagya scheme, 2.63 crore families have ben provided electricity connection. As many as 18,734 families are still to get electricity connection in Chhattisgarh while 100 per cent electrification of households is achieved in other states.

Talking about clean energy, she said the government will use the LED bulb mission to promote the use of solar stoves and battery chargers in the country. “For good quality of life and ease of living, maintaining a cleaner environment and ensuring sustainable energy use is vital…35 crore LED bulbs have been distributed under UJALA Yojana leading to cost saving of Rs 18,341 crore annually,” she said.

Source: financialexpress

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INDIA

GOODWE & EQ PUTS 35KW ROOFTOP SOLAR PLANT AT ISKCON TEMPLE UJJAIN The EPC & Project Management Division of EQ Int'l commissions 35KW Grid Connected Net Metered RoofTop Solar PV Power Plant at ISKCON Ujjain. The Temple will get 55000+ kWh units of Solar Electricity every year and annual savings will be Approx Rs.4 Lakhs. The environmental impact of this huge and estimates CO2 reductions is equivalent to 10000 Fully Grown Trees

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oodWe took a great initiative by donating the 35KW Inverter free of cost to the Temple. The GoodWe latest SMT Series Inverter was installed. The EPC had its own challenges as the installation was done on top of a residential tower which is a seven storey building. So it was quiet tricky to take all the materials like panels, structures etc...up till the seventh floor. Also as the wind speeds are higher at higher altitude, careful engineering and installation work was done after wind tunnel analysis. Total number of 106 High efficiency 330WP , 5BB Polycrystalline Made in India Solar Panels were Installed.

As the EPC of this project, why EQ choose GoodWe? As a promising and competent manufacturer of photovoltaic inverters, GoodWe has supplied and collaborated with Indian EPC and developer giants like TATA Power, Bosch, and Sterling & Wilson on many C&I projects across a capacity range of 5 to 20MW. Working with the top Solar EPC firms in India has given GoodWe the opportunity to continuously improve their services, enhance the quality and tailor-make the features of the products to meet the requirements of this dynamic market, better.

GoodWe string inverters can be successfully deployed on rooftops and can help further reduce installation costs while its power boost function provides higher yield and a faster ROI.

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

NTPC INKS TWO AGREEMENTS WITH PNB FOR RS. 650 CRORE

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NTPC’s joint venture firm NSPCL has inked two agreements with Punjab National Bank (PNB) for Rs. 650 crore for financing two projects. he agreements are for part financing of two of its under-construction projects at Durgapur (2X20 MW) for Rs. 100 crore and Rourkela (1X250) for Rs. 550 crore.NSPCL is a joint venture of NTPC and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) that has power plants at Durgapur, Rourkela and Bhilai. NTPC is the largest power utility company in India and has presence in Coal, Gas, Solar PV, Hydro and Wind Power Generation and Coal Mining.The stock of NTPC opened at Rs. 135 per share and made an intraday high and low of Rs. 135.40 and Rs. 133.70, respectively on the BSE. At 11:21 hours, the stock was trading at nearly Rs. 134.90 on the BSE. The stock had hit 52-week high of Rs. 146.19 on September 12, 2018 and a 52-week low of Rs. 106.71 Source: dsij.in

SREI EQUIPMENT GETS USD 30 MILLION FROM NETHERLAND BANK Srei Equipment Finance Ltd on said it has received credit approval worth USD 30 million from FMO, a Netherlands-based development finance bank.

“The loan will be fully dedicated to re-financing of green activities of Srei Equipment, primarily through the financing or leasing of equipment used for solar and wind projects,” the company said in a release.

Srei Equipment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd, has an environmental and social management system in place for over a decade, and this debt investment by FMO will further help the company amplify its on going efforts towards responsible financing, it said.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set an ambitious target to install renewable energy capacities to the tune of 225 GW by 2022.

Source: PTI

ADANI GREEN ENERGY ARM BAGS 600 MW SOLAR WIND HYBRID PROJECTS The company has received Letters of Award (LOAs) from SECI for the 600 MW projects. The fixed power purchase agreement (PPA) tariff is Rs 2.69/kWh for a period of 25 years, it added.

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dani Green Energy June 19 said its arm Adani Renewable Energy Park (Gujarat) has bagged 600 MW windsolar hybrid projects in an auction conducted by state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The company has received Letters of Award (LOAs) from SECI for the 600 MW projects.

The fixed power purchase agreement (PPA) tariff is Rs 2.69/kWh for a period of 25 years, it added.

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“Adani Renewable Energy Park (Gujarat) Ltd (AREPGL), a Wholly-owned Subsidiary of Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) had won bids for setting up 600 MWac ISTSconnected Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Projects in a Tender issued by SECI,” the company said in a BSE filing.

The projects are expected to be commissioned by Q4 of FY2021. With this, AGEL’s portfolio of renewable generation capacity in India stands at 5.16 GW with 2.02 GW operational projects and balance 3.14 GW in development stage.

Source: PTI

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

MOSER BAER SOLAR FAILS TO GET NEW INVESTORS, TO GO UNDER LIQUIDATION Moser Baer Solar is a subsidiary of optical storage media maker Moser Baer India Ltd (MBIL), which is also facing liquidation

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he National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has directed Moser Baer Solar Ltd to go under liquidation, as the debt-ridden company failed to get any resolution plan from any firm within the mandated 270 days.

The principal bench of NCLT, headed by President Justice M M Kumar, has directed the company to go under the liquidation on May 30 and appointed a liquidator for the process. Moser Baer Solar is a subsidiary of optical storage media maker Moser Baer India Ltd (MBIL), which is also facing liquidation.

“In the factual background and in the absence of any resolution plan and for want of time beyond statutory CIRP (corporate insolvency resolution process) period, there is no other alternative but to order for liquidation of the corporate debtor,” said the NCLT.

The tribunal has appointed Arvind Garg as the liquidator for the company and directed him to ensure that the business of Moser Baer Solar is continued during the liquidation process. NCLT has also directed the liquidator to “submit a preliminary report to the adjudicating authority (NCLT) within 75 days from the liquidation commencement date.”Insolvency was triggered against Moser Baer Solar after the NCLT had on November 14, 2017, admitted the plea filed by Central Bank of India.During the CIRP, Moser Baer Solar’s liquidation value was assessed at Rs 72.42 crore.On the request of the company’s resolution professional, Moser Baer Solar’s insolvency period was extended to another 90 days on April 23, 2018, to 270 permissible days under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.However, despite several advertisement inviting expression of interest, the company’s RP failed to receive any resolution plan and mandatory period of 270 days lapsed.a

Source: PTI

BHEL WINS RS.800 CRORE EPC ORDERS FOR 200 MW SOLAR POWER PLANTS; SOLAR PORTFOLIO CROSSES 1 GW Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited’s (BHEL) Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) portfolio has surpassed 1 GW with the company winning two EPC orders for setting up SPV plants with a cumulative capacity of 200 MW.

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alued at over Rs. 800 crore, the orders have been secured from NTPC Ltd. and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd (GSECL), reinforcing the company’s position as a leading EPC player in the solar industry.

Significantly, the NTPC order envisages setting up India’s largest floating SPV plant of 100 MW capacity at NTPC Ramagundam in Telangana, while the GSECL order involves setting up a 100 MW ground-mounted SPV plant at Raghanesda Ultra Mega Solar Park, Dist. Banaskantha in Gujarat. BHEL is offering EPC solutions for both off-grid and grid-interactive SPV plants at various locations in India including the Lakshadeep islands and has now established its prowess in contributing significantly towards green energy for the country.

This is evident from its current portfolio of more than 1 GW of SPV plants, of which nearly 500 MW have already been commissioned. BHEL has been contributing significantly to the nation’s green initiatives for developing and promoting renewable energy over the past three decades. The enhancement of its state-of-the-art manufacturing lines of solar cells and solar modules has further strengthened its presence in the SPV segment. In addition, space-grade solar panels using high efficiency cells and space-grade battery are being manufactured at its Electronics Systems Division, Bengaluru. BHEL’s sustained success and dominant presence in the segment is backed up by a dedicated R&D team, product development groups and a spectrum of high quality in-house developed PV products ranging from Solar Inverters and Solar Passive Trackers in addition to Solar PV cells and modules.

Source: bhel

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

AUSTRALIAN FIRM PART- EXCLUSIVE | TATA POWER EYEING INNERS WITH INDIAN POWER VIT ROUTE FOR MONETISING RENEWCOMPANY TO DEVELOP ABLE ENERGY ASSETS may look at raising a minimum of Rs 4,000 crores via this route, said one INDIA’S FIRST LITHIUM RE- Theof thecompany sources.

FINERY The firm is looking at investing in Opex projects, and is working with various financiers for the same

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ustralian mining company Neometals has entered into a deal with Indian power conglomerate Manikaran Power to jointly fund a feasibility study to set up India’s first lithium refinery.The refinery, if established, would process ore from the Mount Marion mine in Western Australia to produce battery-grade material for electric cars.The two companies have agreed to contribute their respective skills, resources and know-how towards achieving a positive outcome from the evaluation activities and to share costs equally, a Neometals company statement said.

Neometals Managing Director Chris Reed said, Neometals and Manikaran hold a common belief in the future demand for lithium driven by the electrification of transport and storage of renewable energy. “Given India’s growth projections for electric vehicle and lithium battery manufacturing capacity, this opportunity to partner in India’s first domestic lithium development and potentially realise value from downstream processing our offtake option from Mt Marion is compelling.

The feasibility evaluation could take nearly 24 months and the two firms are expected to make an investment decision in the first half of 2021. Manikaran Power Limited is India’s third-largest power trading and diversified renewable energy company.

Source : PTI

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“The company is exploring the InvIT route for select renewable energy assets and has initiated preliminary discussions for the same with advisors and Tata Sons, though a final call has not been taken. If the green signal is given, the company may look at raising a minimum of Rs 4,000 crores via this route,” said one of the sources.

“In the InvIT, Tata Power may look at putting in all operational renewable energy assets with a one year plus track record. The solar assets which they acquired from Welspun will be beneficial for this move. A lot of the InvIT’s that are happening now are aimed at deleveraging the balance-sheet,” added a second source. The consolidated debt burden of Tata Power stood at Rs 48,506 crores as of on March 31.

At the company’s 100th annual general meeting held recently in Mumbai , Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrsekaran alluded to the debt reduction strategy and said, On the debt level side, we did close a couple of transactions to sell some of the cross holdings that Tata Power had in some of the Tata Group companies. We continue to find ways in which we can bring debt level further down primarily by selling non-core assets.

“Manikaran has significant on-the-ground presence and commercial standing in India to assist with site location, regulations, access to finance, utilities and reagents, and is part of a group of companies with broad competencies that enhance their value proposition as partners,” Reed said.

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ndia’s largest private sector-integrated power company Tata Power, which is tackling a high debt burden, is in the fundraise mode and is exploring options to monetize its renewable energy assets through the infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) route, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told Moneycontrol. InvITS are instruments which work like mutual funds and enable direct investment of money from individual and institutional investors in infrastructure projects to earn a small portion of the income as return. Under Sebi norms, both public & private InvIT’s can be listed.

“Foreign investors, especially pension funds, insurance companies and infrastructure funds are keen on Indian InvIT’s because it provides them a long term source of stable yield play. Also, Indian infrastructure developers need to keep churning their assets to raise capital. Private InvIT’s are becoming increasingly popular now due to tax benefits,” said a senior investment banker who closely tracks the infrastructure sector.

In response to an email query from Moneycontrol, a Tata Power spokesperson said, “As a company, we do not wish to comment as the story is speculative.”

In June 2016, Tata Power signed an agreement with the Welspun Group to acquire the latter’s 1.1 GW green energy portfolio for an estimated $1.4bn. According to the company’s 2019 annual report, Tata Power had an operational generation capacity of 10,957 MW from various fuel sources – thermal (coal, gas and oil), hydroelectric, renewable energy (wind and solar PV) and waste heat recovery. The renewable energy segment accounted for 2,549 MW of the total capacity and has a pan-india presence across 14 states across India (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand,Punjab, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh).

Source: moneycontrol

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

MDB CLIMATE FINANCE HIT RECORD HIGH OF $43.1 BILLION IN 2018

Climate financing by the world’s largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) in developing countries and emerging economies rose to an all-time high of $43.1 billion in 2018, boosting projects that help developing countries cut emissions and address climate risks.

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his represents an increase of more than 22 per cent from the previous year, where climate finance totalled $35.2 billion.The latest MDB climate finance figures are detailed in the 2018 Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance, which combines data from the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDBG) and the World Bank Group (WBG). These banks account for the vast majority of multilateral development finance globally. The 2018 report also summarises information on climate finance from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), which joined the MDB climate finance tracking groups in October 2017. The report shows that $ 30.2 billion, or 70 per cent, of the total financing for 2018 was devoted to climate change mitigation investments that aim to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and slow down global warming.The remaining $ 12.9 billion, or 30 per cent, was invested in adaptation efforts to help address mounting impacts of climate change, including worsening droughts and more extreme weather events from extreme flooding to rising sea levels.

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Since 2011, when the six MDBs initiated joint reporting, they have committed nearly $237 billion in climate finance for developing and emerging economies. Climate funds channelled to these countries through MDBs, such as the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund, the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF), the European Union’s funds for Climate Action, and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), play an important role in boosting MDB climate financing. In addition, as well as the $ 43.1 billion of MDB finance in 2018, MDBs report another $ 68.1 billion in net climate co-finance – investments from the public and private sector – adding up to total climate finance for the year of $ 111.2 billion.

In 2018, the African Development Bank achieved parity between adaptation and mitigation finance for the first time.

While adaptation finance from MDBs increased in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2018 compared to 2017, a lot more needs to be done globally to close the huge adaptation financing gap in Africa, estimated between $ 7-14 billion per year by 2020, noted Anthony Nyong, Director for Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank.

The regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South and East Asia were the top three to invest MDB climate finance. The report also breaks down climate finance by MDB, economy size, sector, type of recipient and type of financial instrument.MDBs’ provision of climate finance helps to ensure global financial flows are consistent with development with low greenhouse gas emissions and are resilient to climate change, in line with the Paris Agreement’s aim to limit the increase in global temperatures to well below 2°C, pursuing efforts for 1.5°C.

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

LIGHTWAY SOLAR AND ACME SIGN 1GW AGREEMENT Baoding Lightway Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd(“Lightway Solar”) announced it has signed an long term solar panel supply agreement with ACME Solar Holdings Ltd.(“ACME”). Lightway will supply 1GW(1000MW) solar panels to ACME solar projects which developed in India or other countries.The first batch of components will be delivered in June.

We are glad to reach this 1GW solar panel supply agreement with ACME, it is significant and strategic for both parties; we appreciate for ACME giving its recognition of our supply capacity and trust in our products. We attaches great importance to the strategic partnership with ACME, 1GW solar panel supply within coming 2years will help ACME get a timely COD for its solar projects, such solar projects will bring more clean and stable energy to the local residents, meanwhile it will create more job opportunities accordingly.

The signing of this agreement has played an important role in deepening and consolidating the strategic partnership between ACME and Lightway said Mr. Liu Tao, General Manager of International Sales of Lightway Solar.

Mr.Gursharan Jassal, Head Procurement at ACME, added, “We first started our partnership with Lightway Solar in 2018. We are delighted to further deepen our relationship with Lightway Solar in coming projects. ACME has delivered more than 2.7GW projects in the past. Looking into the future, we are also very optimistic about India’s solar prospect and are expediting projects portfolio expansion.

We have strong faith in Lightway Solar’s dedicated team, comprehensive products and superior product quality and look forward to more partnership with Lightway Solar in coming years.”

Source: lightwaysolar

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

POWER FINANCE CORP RAISES $ 1 BILLION THROUGH REG-S BONDS Power Finance Corporation has raised $ 1 billion through Reg-S bonds in one go. This was the PFC’s first issuance in the international market after successful acquisition of Government of India holding in REC, according to a company statement.

“The issuance attracted a strong and diversified order book indicating investor’s confidence towards PFC’s differentiated credit despite volatile market conditions and concerns over Indian NBFI sector,” a PFC statement said.

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he $ 1 billion Reg- S transaction was executed through two tranches. There was a 5-year tranche for $ 400 million at the rate of 3.87 per cent at a reoffer spread of 195 basis points (bps) over 5-year US Treasury rates and a 10-year tranche for $ 600 million at the rate of 4.577 per cent at a reoffer spread of 242.5 bps over the 10-year US Treasury rates.

Mr.Gursharan Jassal, Head Procurement at ACME, added, “We first started our partnership with Lightway Solar in 2018. We are delighted to further deepen our relationship with Lightway Solar in coming projects. ACME has delivered more than 2.7GW projects in the past. Looking into the future, we are also very optimistic about India’s solar prospect and are expediting projects portfolio expansion. We have strong faith in Lightway Solar’s dedicated team, comprehensive products and superior product quality and look forward to more partnership with Lightway Solar in coming years.”

This is also PFC’s first USD issuance in the 5-year tenor. The successful completion of the deal underscores investor’s continued confidence in PFC post acquisition of REC, the statement said.

Source: thehindubusinessline

POWER FINANCE CORPORATION RAISES $300 MILLION LOAN FROM OVERSEAS The loan has been jointly approved by State Bank of India, Hong Kong and MUFG Bank Ltd, Singapore. State-owned Power Finance Corporation said it has raised USD 300 million (Rs 2,070 crore) loan from overseas.

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he loan has been jointly approved by State Bank of India, Hong Kong and MUFG Bank Ltd, Singapore. This is PFC’s second foreign currency borrowing in the current fiscal, a PFC statement said. Earlier, PFC raised USD 1 billion through issuance of Reg-S bonds. This was the biggest bond issuance overseas by a government-owned non banking finance company. By concluding the USD 300 million deal PFC has already mobilised USD 1.3 billion, indicating investor’s confidence in the company post acquisition of government shareholding of 52.63 per cent in REC. Source: PTI

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TECHNOLOGY

LONGI RANKED THE MOST FINANCIALLY STABLE PV MANUFACTURER BY BLOOMBERG NEF LONGi has topped the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Altman-Z score chart for solar module manufacturers for the first time – and with a highly increased score.

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he Altman-Z ratio measures a company’s financial security against five basic criteria which test the possibility of it going bankrupt in the next two years. LONGi Solar was ranked as the most secure PV manufacturer worldwide in BNEF’s 2Q-2019 PV Market Outlook, with an Altman-Z score ratio of 3.01. In previous editions of BNEF report, LONGi had been the highest ranked Asia-based manufacturer and placed second globally. LONGi is also consistently listed in BNEF Tier 1 Module Makers. LONGi Solar is a wholly-owned subsidiary of world leading high-efficiency monocrystalline wafer producer LONGi Green Energy (SH 601012). The Group set a new annual revenue record of RMB 21,987 million (US$3.27 billion) in 2018, up 34.38% from the previous year, with annual net profit of RMB 2,557 million (US$ 379.8 million). LONGi achieved solar cell & module shipments of 7.072 GW, amongst the top 4 in the world in 2018.

Mr. Wenxue Li, President of LONGi Solar, commented, “The recent BNEF AltmanZ score underlines the tremendous growth and leadership position LONGi has secured in the high-quality, high-performance and high-volume global solar market in recent years. These factors are propelling the company forward as the preferred choice for customers, due to our financial strength and independently verified bankability.”

Source : Longi Solar

GCL SYSTEM INTEGRATION AMONG FIRST COMPANIES AWARDED LETID TEST CERTIFICATE FROM TÜV RHEINLAND

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ÜV Rheinland officially released the LeTID standard at the Shanghai SNEC exhibition, making GCL System Integration (GCL SI) the first among five companies awarded with the LeTID certificate based on 2 PfG 2689/04.19, an internal standard set by TÜV Rheinland.

Being one of the few solar cell and module producers with the technology of reducing and controlling LeTID in mass production, the certificate is a testimony that the cast mono modules produced by GCL SI possess excellent anti-LeTID performance, said Guo Qizhi, General Manager of Module R&D Department of GCL SI at the awarding ceremony.

Before 2 PfG 2689/04.19 was published, there was no internationally accepted LeTED test criteria. TÜV Rheinland spent two years studying and testing modules with various technical roadmap, established the failure mechanism for LeTID and developed its widely representative internal test standard. The cast mono modules from GCL SI were among the first-batch in the world to receive certification due to the low cell oxygen and excellent LID & LeTID performance.

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According to its latest annual report, has heavily invested in technology R&D, leading to many breakthroughs in 2018 including the technologies for high-efficiency cast mono and bifacial cells, N-type TOPCon industrialization, MBB half-cult cell modules, high-efficiency bifacial double glass modules, high-efficiency shingled modules and the smart, automated manufacturing system.The company has industrialized its mono PERC high-efficiency cell technology and achieved the industrial application of the P-type high-efficiency black silicon PERC cells with low degradation. Orders for the mass-produced mono highefficiency series are expected to hit 1GW in total in 2019.

GCL SI’s modules and solutions have reached 40 countries and regions across the world. Driven by science and technology innovation, the company will continue to serve global customers with more efficient and reliable modules and best services.

Source: GCL System

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TECHNOLOGY

JA SOLAR RECOGNIZED AS “TOP PERFORMER” IN DNV GL/PVEL 2019 PV MODULE RELIABILITY SCORECARD FOR THE FOURTH TIME JA Solar Co., Ltd, a world-leading manufacturer of high-performance photovoltaic products, announced that it has been recognized as “Top Performer” in the 2019 PV Module Reliability Scorecard jointly issued by DNV GL and PVEL. This is the fourth time JA Solar has received the honor.

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ointly issued by DNV GL, the world’s largest independent energy advisory and certification body, and PVEL, a leading reliability and performance testing lab for solar modules, the scorecard presents the most comprehensive publicly available reliability test results about solar modules, and guides solar project developers, financiers, and asset owners and operators around the world to choose cost-effective and high-performance modules. The 2019 scorecard summarizes the results of PVEL’s tests within an 18 month duration on module performance, including thermal cycling, damp heat, dynamic mechanical load sequence, and potential-induced degradation (PID). The modules that have degraded less than 2% for the entirety of the test sequence are recognized as “Top Performer” products. With its high-quality solar modules, JA Solar performed well in all tests and is recognized as “Top Performer” in all four test categories. JA Solar recently commenced mass production of its 9BB half-cell PERC solar module. The new module, featuring numbers of leading-edge technologies, could achieve an output power up to 405W for a 72-cell module. Compared with conventional modules, JA Solar’s 9BB half-cell PERC module has superior performance in reliability, stability, mechanical properties and environmental adaptability, which enables it to provide promising guarantee of investors’ return and drives down system costs and LCOE, thus resulting in an effective solution to achieving grid parity.

Mr. Jin Baofang, Chairman and CEO of JA Solar, said, “JA Solar is committed to the R&D and mass production of high-efficiency solar modules to further reduce LCOE and promote grid parity. In the future, we’ll continue to provide highquality products for customers around the world, and promote the development of renewable energy globally.”

Source: JA Solar Co., Ltd.

LONGI NAMED “TOP PERFORMER” ON DNV-GL PV RELIABILITY SCORECARD FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR

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or the 3rd consecutive year, LONGi Solar, the world leading mono-crystalline PV manufacturer, was named “Top Performer” on the annual DNV-GL PV Module Reliability Scorecard. The 2019 edition, published by PVEL together with scorecard partner DNV-GL, informs developers, investors and EPCs on product performance and reliability to support strategic PV module procurement around the world.

TESTING FOR RELIABILITY AND PERFORMANCE According to PVEL, while IEC and UL certifications are important indicators of module safety, long-term reliability and performance are also important to PV buyers. By extending IEC 61215 sequences and incorporating additional tests, the Scorecard approximates the impact that decades of exposure in the field has on PV modules.The Scorecard employs four demanding test sequences that stimulate PV modules longterm performance in real world conditions. It is today the most complete publicly available comparison of PV module reliability test results.

LONGI WAS NAMED “TOP PERFORMER” IN ALL FOUR TEST CATEGORIES: Thermal cycling Damp heat Dynamic mechanical load sequence Potential induced degradation (PID)

LONGI HALLMARKS: TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS AND PRODUCT QUALITY

DNV-GL PV Module Reliability Scorecard “Top Performer” status is validation of the reliability of LONGi high efficiency PV modules and demonstrates the company’s R&D technology leadership and quality-first approach to manufacturing.LONGi will continue to invest in technology and bring to market innovative high efficiency products. Most recently, LONGi debuted the next generation Hi-MO4 series PV module in Intersolar Europe. LONGi is committed to providing high reliability and high power products that maximizes investment returns and promote the sustainable development of the photovoltaic industry.

Source: LONGi Solar

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UL LAUNCHES FIRST MOBILE PV TEST LABORATORY IN INDIA Mobile facility helps solar plant owners maximize energy while minimizing downtime and shipping risks

Commenting on the launch, Dr. Chakradhar Byreddy, director for renewables in Asia Pacific for UL, said, Underperforming PV modules can bring down the energy output of an entire solar power plant which is a huge risk in terms of internal rate of return, possible damage to the modules and loss in power generation.

It was a natural progression for UL to launch the Mobile PV Testing Laboratory in the Indian market, especially at a time when the Government of India is working towards developing robust quality standards for components and systems.

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L, a global safety science company, announced the launch of its first Mobile PV Testing Laboratory in New Delhi, India. The mobile testing laboratory capabilities offer solar PV system owners and operators the ability to identify, evaluate and replace underperforming modules directly at the solar plant site, allowing them to minimize downtime while maximizing their energy production.

UL is the first independent third-party certified and accredited company to launch a mobile PV testing laboratory in India.

Chief Guest for the occasion, Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, said, Renewables is the future and we are emphasizing on solar in a very big way. India is committed to achieve its target of 175 GW in renewable energy. I am proud to note that we are witnessing increase in private sector investments and testing capabilities will further enable such investments in India. This facility, which is mobile and truly worldclass, provides the best in technical standards and more importantly, confidence to power producers or asset owners to invest. I am hopeful the mobile testing laboratory will be a wonderful success story and hundreds of such facilities will be available across India in the future.

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The mobile facility combines an A + A + A solar simulator with a high-resolution electroluminescence test system according to IEC 60904-9. It enables standard-compliant and precise on-site testing at maximum throughput. In one shift, a detailed check can be performed for up to 300 modules. The unit can conduct tests on insulation, performance with low irradiance, performance at Normal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT) and temperature coefficient.The mobile facility helps detect under performance as well as hidden defects such as micro cracks, inactive areas or hotspots in the module quickly and reliably. UL, with its decades of experience in solar testing, has developed an innovative process through which the test results of the mobile facility are close to laboratory testing output. This will allow developers and manufacturers to address quality gaps and ensure the right product reaches the market.

Reinforcing UL’s commitment to India, Mr. Suresh Sugavanam, vice president and managing director in South Asia and SubSaharan Africa for UL, said, At UL, we strongly endorse ‘In India, for India’ strategy, and have invested in building capacity to support the needs of domestic manufacturers to supply quality products in India as well as global markets. In our extensive experience, we have seen how a robust quality and conformity assessment framework plays a crucial role in the sustained development of industry.

He further added, “As an independent, third-party testing and certification organization, we are fully committed to lend our 125 years of global expertise, and presence in more than 140 countries, to chart a similar success story for India. In the last 22 years of our journey in India, UL has supported industries across various business verticals with testing, inspection, certification, training, and market access.”

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TECHNOLOGY

GROWATT AWARDED THE ‘SHENZHEN QUALITY CITY SPINE ENTERPRISE’ FOR ITS LEADING POSITION IN QUALITY CONTROL AND PRODUCT RELIABILITY

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n May, Growatt, a global leading inverter brand, was awarded the “Shenzhen Quality City Spine Enterprise”

by SQCA (Shenzhen Quality City Association) for its leading position in quality control and product reliability in the industry. Earlier in the year, the company’s latest C&I inverter product also received the AQM Award from TÜV Rheinland for its outstanding performance.

SHENZHEN QUALITY CITY SPINE ENTERPRISE AWARD

Shenzhen, one of China’s leading innovation and technology hubs, is where high-tech companies gather. Through a series of strict selections and reviews, Growatt was awarded the “Shenzhen Quality City Spine Enterprise” by SQCA (Shenzhen Quality City Association) in May. The award is to highly recognize Growatt’s leading position in quality control and product reliability in the industry.

We are honored to receive the award from the association.

Quality is the priority of Growatt and we are committed to product reliability and safety. We’ve built a comprehensive quality control system and we’ll continue to improve our quality system and provide smart and reliable PV solutions for customers,said David Ding, Growatt Co-founder and CEO.

TÜV RHEINLAND ALL QUALITY MATTERS AWARD Growatt’s latest C&I inverter, MAX 50-80KTL3 LV/MV, was given the AQM Award by TÜV Rheinland at Solar Congress 2019. It’s the only commercial and industrial solar inverter to receive the award. Through evaluation by TÜV Rheinland, the MAX scored higher than other C&I models in this contest on overall performance of output capability, input capability, efficiency, power quality and stability.Additionally, the MAX includes many smart functions, such as smart I-V curve scanning and one-click diagnosis, which can facilitate maintenance, reduce failure losses and maximize ROI. Using a quad-core architecture, the MAX achieves better performance at a higher speed. It enables faster response and operation speed to handle smart functionalities and protect the system.Innovation and quality have been the focus of Growatt ever since its foundation. Growatt has introduced the FIVE ENGINEERING process to strictly control product quality, which includes design engineering, testing engineering, manufacturing engineering, component engineering and reliability engineering. Innovation has been the driver of Growatt’s growth and the company keeps increasing its investments in R&D. Currently, Growatt has over 200 professional experienced R&D engineers and has received over 70 patents and copyrights.

Source: Growatt

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TECHNOLOGY

GROWATT LAUNCHED NEW SINGLE-PHASE INVERTER IN INDIA Growatt and 3S Solutions held a conference in Telangana of India on July 5 with a large crowd of installers, EPCs and system integrators from across the region. Mr. Neelam Janaiah, managing director from TSREDCO (Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation Ltd.) attended the event.

Mr. Neelam Janaiah showed high recognition of Growatt’s products and outstanding achievements in India.

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rowatt entered Indian solar market back in 2011 and its focus on product quality and technological innovation had driven its strong sales growth in Indian rooftop sector over the past eight years.

Introducing to the audience, Growatt regional director Rucas Wang said, “Growatt is a global leading brand in solar inverter industry and we’ve shipped over 1.33 million inverters worldwide.

According to IHS Markit Growatt has become the TOP 3 world single-phase PV inverter supplier by 2018.”

In a step to further strengthen its market position, at the event Growatt launched its most up-to-date residential inverter MIN 2500-6000 TL-X in India. “Our new inverter MIN has got very impressive features. For instance, at first glance a lot of customers like its compact design and elegant looking. It comes with OLED display and touch button, which has a longer lifespan and can last over three million clicks! MIN uses ‘aerospace grade’ flame-retardant lightweight materials, making it easy to carry and install.

Overall, customers will have a better user experience. ” Wang presented at the product launching ceremony.

Speaking at the event, 3S Solutions managing director Mr. Suresh Bhavani said, “3S Solutions is committed to providing high quality solar products and services. Growatt inverters can perfectly work at high altitudes, dusty locations and hot & cold areas. We are pleased to collaborate with Growatt and help bring its reliable PV solutions to the Indian solar industry.”

To expand business across India, Growatt has built a strong local service team with over 15 experienced service engineers. “Customer service is at the center of our collaboration with our clients. We’ve established our service center and warehouse in Hyderabad, where we have sufficient inventory of inverter service parts and replacements. A toll-free service hotline has also been set up to provide fast response for our customers. Usually our service team can provide solutions for clients within 48 hours when an issue of the inverter occurs. And for systems in some remote areas, we can solve the issues within 72 hours. ” “By partnering with 3S Solutions, we are actively exploring the business opportunities across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. And with Growatt’s high quality products and professional customer services, we look forward to seeing good results at the end of this fiscal year!” said Wang.

Source: Growatt

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TECHNOLOGY

IHS: GOODWE JUMPS TO THE 4TH POSITION IN THE GLOBAL RANKING OF THREE-PHASESTRING INVERTERS 2018 was a brilliant year for GoodWe in the global market and this is now starting to be reflected on international rankings, where the position of the company has continued to move up, confirming the positive trends built over the years and heralding a bright future. The good news to share is that according to the PV Inverter Market Tracker recently released by IHS, GoodWe has become the world’s 4th largest supplier of three-phase inverters for use on Commercial and Industrial (C & I) applications.

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nly five years ago GoodWe was not even on the Top 10 list but the growth has been consistent and thanks to our technological improvements and the contribution of our international teams, our sales of this kind of inverters have accelerated. Last year the company shipped more than 2GW of three-phase string inverters, allowing for a significant rise in the world ranking.

The expansion of GoodWe in this segment has been particularly visible acrosslarge strategic markets, such as India, where in just some few years the company has almost tripled its shipments.

Other outstanding markets where the growth has been remarkable are Australia and the Netherlands, which are mature and sophisticated solar markets and the great giant of South America, Brazil, where we are witnessing an explosion in the market of DG, in which many C & I users are starting to look at GoodWe as a very competitive choice. Other markets of significant growth are Turkey, Mexico and Argentina. In the Chinese domestic market, the GoodWe three-phase commercial inverters are also present in all kinds of projects: from installations to supply solar energy to urban tram systems, to solar parking lots all the way to farms, technological companies and poverty alleviation projects in which our inverters help to support communities, achieve savings and contribute to clean the environment.

At present the portfolio of GoodWe three-phase C & I inverters consists of our models SDT, SMT and MT. Since last year the company has launched the Second Generation of these inverters and it’s certain that the better technology and the new functionality that GoodWe offershave been an important part of the explanation of the success achieved domestically and overseas.Another important GoodWe improvement not to forget and that has also contributed to this success is the establishment of service teams that have helped the company to give assurance to our C & I customers and provide timely technical support. The new and expanding strengths of the MT inverter include different power capacitiesthat range from 50 to 80KW, great efficiency, capability to

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fully operate at 50°Cand oversizing capabilitiesof up to 50%. The second generation has added compatibility with bifacial modules, string level monitoring and PLC communications, AFCI and a very long list of strengths. This inverter has become a sort of presentation card for GoodWe, having been successfully installed across large projects worldwide by international EPCs. Being up on this international ranking attests to the trust that solar developers are putting on the GoodWe C & I solutions, but there’s something that investors love in our products: the extremely low startup voltage, manifested in the fact that they are capable of generating power at a very early stage and for longer hours. GoodWe is thus increasingly seen as good value for commercial projects and investors are realizing that purchasing GoodWe is a reliable and safe investment. For many years GoodWe has only been seen as an important player in the residential sector.

We have worked hard to expand our good reputation to the C & I market and this rise to the 4th position in theinternational ranking of the three-phase is a recognition that motivates us to keep improving. We believe that we are just getting started in this long race and we anticipate more good things to come, especially in the form of better products and more partnerships across the world.

Source : Goodwe

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TECHNOLOGY

TBEA BRINGS SMART PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLUTIONS TO 2019 SNEC PV EXHIBITION

More than 2,000 exhibitors participated, and more than 5,000 industry experts shared, refreshing the exhibition record once again, witnessing the opening of such an annual photovoltaic feast!

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une 4th, the annual global PV industry’s top event SNEC2019 International Solar Industry and Photovoltaic Exhibition kicked off at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. The event coincides with the launch of the 2019 new PV policy, bringing PV industry back to the focus. As one of industry’s dazzling stars, TBEA Xinjiang New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as TBEA) has been forging ahead and never stopped the pace of new energy dream. TBEA had continued to carry out in-depth research and development in the industry and presented SNEC exhibition once again with “LCOE-optimal system solution “, which has once again established its leading position in the industry. The Shanghai SNEC exhibition has also become an important breakout point of its research and development achievements, attracting wide attention of customers around the world, and shining in the public’s eyes with its extreme products and solutions.

Increase the comprehensive revenue of photovoltaic power plants by 7%+ Supports 3.75+MW or larger square unit design China’s efficiency is 98.45% 24 input, 12 MPPT, effectively reduce the impact of string mismatch I-V curve intelligent monitoring, intelligent software control technology, and scanning accuracy up to 1%

In the field of centralized inverters, TBEA 1500V 5MW outdoor centralized photovoltaic solutions adopt advanced parallel design technology and flexible collocation, which increases the comprehensive income of traditional photovoltaic power stations by more than 3%.

As 2020, the target time of grid parity approaches, how to reduce photovoltaic LCOE and achieve the grid parity has become an urgent problem to be solved in the photovoltaic industry. This SNEC exhibition, from June 4th to June 6th, TBEA still shows its strong strength in research and development and launches brand new products with a bang.

1500V SMART PV SOLUTIONS Value, derives from technological innovations!

TBEA intelligent photovoltaic solutions are characterized by “large square array + high capacity ratio +1500V+ intelligent operation and maintenance”. In the field of string inverters, TBEA launched a whole new generation of high-power 235kW inverter as the core of high-capacity ratio and costoptimal system solution, suitable for grid parity photovoltaic, large base and other projects.

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NEW ENERGY POWER PLANTS VOLTAGE AND REACTIVE POWER STABILITY SOLUTIONS Value, comes from reliable operation!

TBEA provides grid-connected voltage security and stability solutions for new energy power stations, and its cumulative application performance of SVG products exceeds 5GVar. The product uses silica gel to seal PCBA to meet the complex environment of dust, condensation, salt fog and so on. The solution applies IGBT temperature real-time monitoring, hydropower separation and other technologies, and has passed the high/low voltage crossing test, provides a reliable guarantee for the safety.

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TECHNOLOGY

LEAN OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE INTELLIGENT ENERGY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS Value, comes from the lean operation and maintenance!

Supported by big data, cloud computing, AI and other technologies, TBEA provides customers with integrated Solar Partner data photovoltaic solutions. b-ecloud, an intelligent monitoring and analysis system for photovoltaic power stations, realizes the visual management of power station equipment through data analysis, mobile operation and other technical means. Discrete rate and the I-V curve of online diagnosis can provide all-round protection for power station equipment operation. Through real-time comparison and analysis of inverter output power dispersion rate and inverter load rate, accurately locate low-efficiency inverter (equipment with insufficient output). Click on the analysis results to give suggestions for operation and maintenance, and help the operation and maintenance personnel of the power station to carry out preventive maintenance work efficiently, greatly reducing the loss of power generation in the phalanx area. According to the on-site calculation of the power station operation and maintenance team, this function can improve the efficiency by 5%-10% and reduce the power generation loss by 3%.

“1 + 2 + X” INTELLIGENT MICRO-GRID SOLUTIONS Value, derives from intelligence and efficiency!

TBEA takes power router as the high-end technology leader, and takes key products such as energy management system, central controller and energy storage system as the core support, aiming at industrial and commercial parks, data centers, islands, areas without power and other micro networks, to create customized intelligent micro network solutions of “one core, two drives and X scenes”.

DEDICATE GREEN ENERGY TO CREATE A BETTER LIFE New era, new development, TBEA will adhere to the concept of innovation and change, and regard the “dedicate green energy, create a better life” as the mission. With advanced technology, high quality products and reliable services, TBEA strives to create value for customers, promote the wide application of clean energy around the world and better promote the development of the world’s green energy industry.

Source: tbea

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TECHNOLOGY

DUPONT ISSUES 2019 GLOBAL PV RELIABILITY STUDY New Report Surveys 6.5M modules, 355 Installations and 1.8GW of Total Power and Finds Total Module Defects up 34 percent Year over Year.

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uPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials (DuPont) issued its annual Global Field Reliability Study, with results from their field inspection and analysis program that tracks material degradation and its effects on global solar module performance.

For nearly a decade, DuPont has collaborated with field partners, customers, downstream developers, universities, and national labs to perform these field inspections,said Kaushik Roy Choudhury, Ph.D., Global Reliability Manager for DuPont. Our mission is simple yet critical: to inspect, assess and understand the state of degradation of fielded photovoltaic (PV) modules so we can offer a current and reliable source to help buyers understand the breadth of component degradation issues and module failures that affect their return on investment, Roy Choudhury added.

This 2019 report was assembled from inspection and analysis

by DuPont teams using a variety of criteria including: component, material, mounting, time in service and climate.

“While our field analysis looks at all component materials, we focus special attention on backsheet durability, which plays a critical role in ensuring modules will last long enough to reach the financial objectives of their owners,” said Roy Choudhury.

DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials Reliability Graph

The report lays out failures with PET, polyamide and PVDF backsheets and issues with glass on glass modules the team is witnessing. “This is the second year we’ve reported on Glass-Glass module failures, as our data continues to grow with modules that have been in the field over four years,” noted Roy Choudhury. “We highlight a specific field case in the report that looks at one field with multiple Bills of Materials (BOMs) and the issues the panels had with delamination and cracking of backsheets, and the associated replacement costs the owner faced.”

The report also highlights trends in module failures and defects, chronicles backsheet defects by panel age, and provides comprehensive data on backsheet defects by temperature and climate.

Solar Technician Examining PV Panel

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Source: dupont

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TECHNOLOGY

INGETEAM SUPPLIES 2 GW OF PV INVERTERS IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2019 • •

This figure is equivalent to the energy consumption of more than 400,000 homes. The group has now reached a cumulative power of 14.5 GW in the solar sector.

The company is the global leader in products and O&M services for the solar PV sector and for energy storage systems

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ngeteam has supplied 2 GW of power for solar PV plants throughout the world during the first half of .

This means that the company’s technology will be capable of supplying renewable energy to more than 400,000 homes once commissioned. In total, the Spanish company has reached a cumulative power of 14.5 GW throughout the world, which could satisfy the energy demand of about 3 million homes. The key markets in which the company has grown its solar business are the Middle East region, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Chile and France.Ingeteam closed 2018 with a new record of 3.85 GW supplied, for solar PV installations worldwide. So far this year, Ingeteam has already exceeded half this figure and the company is expected to pass the barrier of 4 GW in 2019.The Ingeteam Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of technological solutions for PV plants, control, monitoring and automation systems as well as energy storage systems. In this regard, this year Ingeteam has been entrusted with the supply, commissioning and provision of services for the largest solar PV project in Europe, now being built in the region of Murcia, Spain. The company was awarded the contract for the Mula project, which will achieve an installed power capacity of 500 MWp, to become the largest plant in Spain and Europe.It is estimated that, by the end of 2019, the plant could be operating through the connection point at the El Palmar substation, a strategic hub for the power transmission grid in the region of Murcia.

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ENERGY STORAGE Energy storage is a key sector for Ingeteam, where the company is positioning itself for the considerable development expected in the short and medium term for systems of this type, both at a residential level and also on a large scale. In fact, Ingeteam is marketing its battery converters for both segments and, in 2018, the company supplied this equipment primarily for hybrid systems that combine PV generation with energy storage. Sales in this sector were principally made to countries such as the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Poland and the French overseas departments.

GLOBAL LEADER IN THE PROVISION OF OPERATION & MAINTENANCE SERVICES Furthermore, the company has achieved a new annual record for maintained power, exceeding 15 GW of renewable power across the globe, of which 6.1 GW correspond to solar power in more than 550 PV plants. This means that, at present, Ingeteam’s operation and maintenance division is strengthening its position as a global leader in the provision of O&M services at energy generation plants.

Source: ingeteam

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TOWARDS GRID PARITY, JA SOLAR 9BB HALF-CELL MODULE

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rom June 4-6, the 13th SNEC was held in Shanghai. On the exhibition, modules with power output higher than 400W attracted much attention. They actually get so popular that almost each exhibitor has their own 400W+ product. The product rises at the right moment as following the trend towards grid parity, investors hold expectations for higher module power, lower BOS and LCOE cost.The power output of exhibited modules at SNEC has reached 450W+ or even 500W. The numbers are truly inspiring, but we must have it in mind that there are some distance between lab experiments and mass production. Among the massive excited lab record makers, industry leaders have started to take action to mass produce high-efficiency modules. They try to utilize numbers of sophisticated technologies to improve module performance at the lowest cost. JA Solar 405W 9BB half-cell module is one of the high-efficiency products that has been put into mass production and soon will be used in global PV projects. Officially, the company says that the technology highlight of the module is that it incorporates mono PERC, larger cell design, 9BB design and halfcell design. PERC is the most mature high-efficiency cell technology at current stage. The application of PERC cells brings the module extraordinary temperature coefficient, excellent function under weak light and exceptional photoelectric conversion efficiency.Cell is the most important part of a solar module, and directly influences the performance and efficiency of solar modules. The new module pushes cell size from 156.75×156.75mm to 158.75× 158.75mm, enabling larger light receiving area and lower LCOE. It can also be combined with PERC technology, half-cell, MBB, shingling, bifacial double glass, etc. to achieve higher power output.

MBB design reduces microcrack and broken finger influence, and enables larger light receiving area and less silver paste usage. However, it doesn’t mean the more busbars the better. Experimental data shows that, compared with conventional 5BB cells, 9BB half-cell could increase power output by 4.26%, higher than 12BB half-cell. With the application of 9BB technology, module power output can be raised by 5-10W, and finally lead to the reduction of LCOE.Half-cell design enables the module to be more adaptable to different environments. JA Solar half-cell module adopts the combination of series circuit and parallel circuit, reducing internal power loss, and making the module have higher conversion efficiency and better temperature coefficient. Compared with conventional modules, half-cell design enables more energy yield when the module is shaded.

IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORMANCE BUT LITTLE CHANGE IN COST To promote grid parity, manufacturers try to reduce LCOE, which can be achieved through more energy yield and lower cost.From the perspective of manufacturing cost, compared with other technologies, it needs lower cost to upgrade current production line to manufacture 9BB half-cell module. The theoretical cost of JA Solar 9BB half-cell module is lower than conventional mono PERC modules.

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PROCESS

THE COST OF 158.75 COMPARED WITH 156.75 (%)

Wafer cost (Yuan/Watt)

0.40%

Cell cost (Yuan/Watt)

-1.20%

Module cost (Yuan/ Watt)

-1.50%

Overall cost (Yuan/ Watt)

-1%

As shown in the above table, while its power output is higher than conventional modules, 9BB half-cell module has its per watt manufacturing cost lower than conventional modules. As the industry hankers for lower cost in the module section, the 9BB half-cell module is sure to have bright prospects. While the cost in the manufacturing part remains unchanged or even becomes lower, there’s also great improvement in solar plant part. According to data from PVsyst software, based on a project in San Francisco, US, where the yearly operating hour is 1300, it needs 125,500 9BB half-cell modules to build a 50MW solar plant while 133,300 regular modules are needed to build a solar plant of the same scale. And the occupied area, BOS, and installation cost can be reduced by 3.13%, 4.81% and 6.20% respectively.

The outdoor experimental results conducted by JA Solar show that the operating temperature of the half-cell module is about 1-2 C lower than that of conventional modules in the whole cycle test, and the operating temperature of the former is always lower throughout the day. As irradiance and temperature keep increase, the difference of temperature between the experimented two kinds of modules gets larger, and the advantages of half-cell modules become more obvious. At noon, the temperature of half-cell module is 2.4 C lower than conventional modules. Lower working temperature enables half-cell modules lower failure rates and longer service life. Featuring all the advantages, the new product from JA Solar has been put into mass production in the company’s manufacturing bases in Xingtai, Hebei Province and Fengxian, Shanghai. The industry leader again takes the lead in 9BB half-cell module R&D and production to meet global customers’ demand for modules with higher efficiency and promote grid parity.

Source: jasolar

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CLEANMAX TO INVEST RS 600 CR TO SET UP SOLAR FARM IN HARYANA The solar farm will be developed in Sirsa district, on a stretch of 600 acres of land which is well situated for grid stability and to achieve high solar power generation.

Energy solar solutions provider Cleanmax Solar is setting up 150 MW of solar farm under the group captive model in Haryana with an investment of Rs 600 crore, a senior company official said. The solar farm will be developed in Sirsa district, on a stretch of 600 acres of land which is well situated for grid stability and to achieve high solar power generation.

In line with our target to set up nearly 400 MW of solar capacity this fiscal, nearly 80 per cent would be met by private solar farms. We are developing this 150 MW project on group captive model as a part of this plan, which will entail an investment of around Rs 600 crore, Cleanmax Solar Co- Founder Andrew Hines told PTI here.

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group captive scheme is where someone develops a power plant for collective usage of many commercial consumers. The captive user should have at least 26 per cent of the equity and has to consume at least 51 per cent of the power produced.

“The project will be funded through a combination of debt and equity. The equity component of Rs 200 crore will have to be contributed by the captive users to the extend of 26 per cent, while the rest Rs 400 crore will be funded through debt,” he said. “This investment will also help the state to accelerate its renewable energy adoption, decarbonize its power sector, and also generate significant skilled employment in the area,” Hines added.

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He said Cleanmax has received the sanction for the solar farms from the state’s Renewable Energy Department (HAREDA) and in-principle feasibility from the state transmission company HVPNL earlier this year, based on its technical and financial eligibility. Cleanmax Solar has been the pioneer in this segment, having set up the largest group captive solar project for a single corporate consumer in 2017 in Tamil Nadu, he said. Companies like Adobe India, MindtreeNSE -2.15 %, Volvo Group India, Tata Group, SKFNSE -0.67 %, ACC, United Breweries (UBL), and Bangalore Airport (BIAL) are procuring solar power from our network of private solar farms in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to meet their renewable energy targets. “Similarly, now in Haryana, corporates can adopt off- site solar power in a hassle-free manner with minimum investment. We will be soon signing long term PPAs with the customers,” he added.

In April this year, The company raised Rs 275 crore from Macquarie managed UK Climate Investments (UKCI) to add 400-500 MW of solar capacity in its portfolio in the next 12 months. This was the third investment the company has received after it secured equity financing up to Rs 700 crore from affiliate of Warburg Pincus and the International Finance Corporation in 2017. Cleanmax has set a target to scale up its portfolio from the current over 500 MW to 2000 MW by 2022.

Source: PTI

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ZUNROOF RECEIVES USICEF’S GRANT Solar rooftop firm ZunRoof Tech said that it has received a grant from US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) in the fourth round of funding programme.

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he USICEF is a partnership between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the India Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and a consortium of foundations. The awardees have requested grant for various project-preparatory activities, including legal, technical and financial advisory.

We are glad to join the company of Indian clean energy firms chosen by USICEF and to receive this grant. It is not only a strong endorsement of ZunRoof’s vision, but it also motivates us towards our mission of making clean energy accessible to homeowners across the country, Pranesh Chaudhary, founder and chief executive officer, ZunRoof, said in a statement.

The USICEF grant to ZunRoof will cover the cost of up to 2 per cent of 10 megawatt (MW) of solar rooftop projects across the country. In April, ZunRoof received a pre-series A funding of USD 1.2 million from Pirojsha Godrej. The company has designed solar rooftops for over 10,000 residential houses and is already a market leader for residential solar rooftops in more than 40 Indian cities.

ZunRoof is also gearing up to launch new smart energy products and services targeted at residential customers.

Source: PTI

HARTEK SOLAR INSTALLS 10-KWP ROOFTOP SOLAR PLANT AT ORPHANAGE FOR GIRLS IN KHARAR Catering to the day-to-day requirements of more than 100 orphaned and homeless girls, Hartek Solar Pvt Ltd, the rooftop solar division of the Mohalibased Hartek Group, has installed a 10-kWp rooftop solar plant at the Jyoti Sarup Kanya Asra Society-run shelter home in Kharar.

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he project will enable the orphanage, which operates out of a 2,500 sq yard building, to reduce its electricity expenses by 30 per cent and provide succour from power cuts. With the completion of this solar plant, the Jyoti Sarup Kanya Asra shelter home can now produce its own clean energy to run its lights, fans and computer lab.The scope of work of the project, under which Hartek Solar has installed solar panels on the roof of the three-storeyed building, included installation of solar panels, supply, design and engineering. Hartek Solar has also equipped the 10-kWp solar plant with a unique remote sensing technology, which can be linked to Wi-Fi or GPRS SIM card to get alerts on cleaning and maintenance as well as real-time data on energy generation and savings.

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Congratulating Jyoti Sarup Kanya Asra Society General Secretary Jagmohan Singh Kahlon for contributing to the environmental cause by opting for clean energy, Hartek Solar Director Simarpreet Singh said, It is heartening that such initiatives by eminent social workers like you are encouraging more and more institutions to opt for solar power. Committed to taking up the fight against climate change by contributing to the larger cause of building sustainable energy infrastructure on every roof, we, believe in giving back to the society is the backbone on which HARTEK stands and operates Having commissioned 25-MW rooftop solar projects, Hartek Solar is among the leading rooftop solar installers in India.

Within just a year of launching its customised small-scale solar solutions, Hartek Solar has executed rooftop projects in more than 100 households in Chandigarh alone. It has also installed rooftop projects in the institutional, commercial and industrial categories.

Source: babushahi

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distributed SOLAR

NOIDA METRO TO POWER ALL 21 STATIONS USING SOLAR POWER; WILL SAVE OVER 50 PER CENT IN ELECTRICITY COSTS The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) is presently engaged in the process of installing rooftop solar panels at all of its 21 stations, looking to substitute the purchase of much costlier power from the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL), reports Rail Analysis.

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resently, the power purchased from UPPCL costs the NMRC Rs 6.81 per unit while it will be generating solar power at a cost of just Rs 3.25 per unit. This yields a big margin for direct saving of Rs 3.56 per unit.By deriving cheaper power from rooftop solar panels the NMRC aims to save as much as Rs 4.37 crore annually. Further, it should be noted that the power generated will be used to meet all the basic requirements of the NMRC stations and depots. It is also expected that all of the generated power would not be needed for usage, and thus will be fed back into the grid.The NMRC has already installed solar panels on the roofs of 9 stations. Also, all the 21 stations of Aqua Line which is run under NMRC have been awarded the Green MRTS Platinum Rating under the elevated stations category by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

Source: swarajyamag

CLEANMAX TO BUILD 150-MW SOLAR FARM IN INDIA’S HARYANA – REPORT The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) is presently engaged in the process of installing rooftop solar panels at all of its 21 stations, looking to substitute the purchase of much costlier power from the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL), reports Rail Analysis.Presently, the power purchased from UPPCL costs the NMRC Rs 6.81 per unit while it will be generating solar power at a cost of just Rs 3.25 per unit.

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his yields a big margin for direct saving of Rs 3.56 per unit.By deriving cheaper power from rooftop solar panels the NMRC aims to save as much as Rs 4.37 crore annually. Further, it should be noted that the power generated will be used to meet all the basic requirements of the NMRC stations and depots.

It is also expected that all of the generated power would not be needed for usage, and thus will be fed back into the grid.The NMRC has already installed solar panels on the roofs of 9 stations. Also, all the 21 stations of Aqua Line which is run under NMRC have been awarded the Green MRTS Platinum Rating under the elevated stations category by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

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The company expects to invest about INR 6 billion (USD 86.6m/EUR 76m) in the project, which will be executed on 600 acres (242.8 ha) of land in Sirsa district, Andrew Hines has said. The captive users will contribute INR 2 billion of equity in total and the rest will be debt.

The state’s Renewable Energy Department (HAREDA) has already provided the sanction for the project. The company has also secured in-principle feasibility from state transmission company HVPNL. CleanMax Solar has a target to build almost 400 MW of solar plants this fiscal year and private solar farms will account for nearly 80% of that, Hines has said.

Source: PTI

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DELHI POLICE GOES GREEN, SIGNS PACT TO IMPLEMENT ROOFTOP SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS The Delhi police will set up rooftop solar energy systems in over 200 of its buildings across the city, officials said.

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pact in this regard was signed between Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the Delhi police.Under this, SECI – a PSU under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the government’s nodal agency for implementation of the National Solar Mission, will support the implementation of grid-connected rooftop solar photovoltaic systems on the establishments of Delhi police.

Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik said the Delhi Police has always been at the forefront in adopting new technology and innovative practices in all spheres of its working.

He hoped that this project would be completed soon in a phased manner with active cooperation between the two agencies.

“This MOU will go a long way in making Delhi green and will be optimally used in the buildings and complexes available with Delhi Police all across the city,” Patnaik added.

According to the Delhi Police, it has more than 200 establishments spread across the city and their electricity requirements are quite significant.

The project intends to utilize vacant roofs of their buildings to harness solar energy and to cater part of their electricity demand through the generated green energy. In addition to this, it would result in significant reduction on electricity bill payments of the Delhi Police, the officials added. With this project, it is estimated that Rooftop Solar Systems of total capacity of about 3-4 MW will be implemented across various Delhi Police buildings.

Lauding the green initiative, MNRE secretary Anand Kumarsaid solar energy is economical as well as environmental friendly.He emphasized that this is a land mark beginning in the capital city of the country where the premier police force of the country has come forward to adopt this solar power technology all across its establishments which will not only reduce their electricity bill but also further the cause of ‘Clean Energy’.

Source: PTI

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SOLAR PROJECTS

RENIGUNTA INTL AIRPORT IN TIRUPATI GOES SOLAR: HUBLI, KADAPA AIRPORTS TO ALSO GET SOLAR SHORTLY Hyderabad, (UNI) The temple town of Tirupati has added another jewel to its crown by joining the league of solar-powered airports in South India, along with Cochin, Trivandrum and Vijayawada.The Airports Authority of India (AAI) inaugurated a 1MWp solar plant at Renigunta International airport, which was commissioned by India’s leading distributed solar developer, Fourth Partner Energy.

AAI Regional ED, S Sreekumar, said our aim is to ensure that Tirupati, along with all airports across South India operate completely on solar power within three years. We will also be commissioning 8 MWp plants at Hubli and Kadapa airports shortly, he added.

Tirupati’s ground-mounted solar plant has been installed across 4 acres of land, parallel to the airport runway and its isolation bay. The usability of solar power increases at daytime when the plant can meet over 75 per cent of required electricity; at night, this airport is currently non-operational.

Fourth Partner Energy ensured a thorough and efficient execution of this project. Switching to Solar power under this company’s expertise was a great experience, said S Suresh, Airport Director at Renigunta, Tirupati.AAI has also provisioned for expansion of Renigunta airport, aiming to soon make it operational 24x7; following which Fourth Partner Energy will scale up the power generated from the solar plant. Excess power generated at Tirupati airport will then be routed back to the national grid via net metering, in line with Andhra Pradesh’s renewable energy policy, Hyderabadheadquartered Fourth Partner Energy said in a release .

Fourth Partner co-founder and CEO , Vivek Subramanian said, the Tirupati airport solar installation was quite challenging, as part of the site is parallel to the runway -- for this we had to obtain special construction permits and also incorporate design changes to eliminate the ‘glare effect’. Andhra Pradesh aims to add 5 GWp of solar capacity over the next five years and Fourth Partner is looking forward to helping the State achieve this target.

The company has already commissioned nearly 20 projects in Andhra Pradesh for clients like Bharti Polymers, Visakhapatnam Smart City, Walmart, Andhra Bank and D-Mart, he said.

The firm has an operational portfolio of over 170 MWp of distributed solar assets across 23 states and an additional capacity target of 350 MWp for FY20.Fourth Partner Energy will be foraying into Open Access, as well as expanding its footprint to international markets across South Asia, South East Asia and the Middle East, in coming months.

The company is also working on energy storage solutions and developing EV infrastructure across the country. Fourth Partner Energy is backed by TPG’s The Rise Fund which has invested $70mn in the firm, he added.

Source: ABB

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JINKOSOLAR COMMISSIONED THE WORLD’S LARGEST SOLAR PROJECT IN ABU DHABI

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inkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (“JinkoSolar” or the “Company”) (NYSE: JKS), one of the largest and most innovative solar module manufacturers in the world, announced that the world’s largest[1] solar plant of 1,177MWp, which was jointly developed by the Company, Japan’s Marubeni Corp. and Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), has recently started commercial operations as scheduled at Sweihan in Abu Dhabi. The AED3.2 billion project, which uses all JinkoSolar’s high efficient mono panels, features another record at the time of bid submission, attracting the world’s most competitive tariff of 2.42 cents per kilowatt hour.

Mohammad Hassan Al Suwaidi, Chairman of EWEC said: The completion of the project marks a significant milestone in the UAE’s Energy Strategy 2050, launched in 2017, to increase the contribution of clean energy in the total energy mix from 25% to 50% by 2050 while reducing the carbon footprint of power generation by 70%. This is in line with the sectors transformation strategy by providing alternative sources of energy that can help us improve the sustainability of the water and electricity sector.

Othman Jumaa Al Ali, EWEC’s CEO, added: Noor Abu Dhabi will generate renewable energy and will enable us to improve the use of our natural resources. The fact that a project of such scale has been successfully completed on time and on budget highlights our commitment to ensuring sustainable energy for the future and it is a true testament of the Emirate’s delivery capabilities to execute world-class energy projects.

Mr. Kangping Chen, CEO of Jinko Solar said, It is our privilege to participate and contribute to the winning and successful execution of this prestige project that will help power the sustainable economic growth of Abu Dhabi. We are thankful to the government team that created a tender program of world class, for the high-level professionalism, as well as the strong support throughout the process. The project won’t be where it is without seamless collaboration among our partners and other stakeholders. We are grateful to such wonderful team work.

In line with the Year of Tolerance in the UAE, the project – a venture between international companies, managed and constructed by a multinational team – signifies the multi-cultural essence of the Company and its ability to integrate resource and top partners from around the world.

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

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WORLD BANK TO HELP CHINA DEVELOP RENEWABLE ENERGY WITH BATTERY STORAGE

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he World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors have approved a US$300 million loan for the China Renewable Energy and Battery Storage Promotion Project to increase the integration and utilization of renewable energy by deploying battery storage systems at scale. Despite having the largest installed electricity generation capacity of wind and solar power, China is unable to operate and utilize these resources fully due to technical constraints in the transmission networks and gaps in the regulatory framework for electricity trade between provinces.

This project will help address these constraints and support China’s overarching energy transition goals. These include a shift away from coal and increasing the share of non-fossil fuels in the primary energy consumption from the current 14.3% to 20% by 2030, and to over 50% by 2050.

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This project will help accelerate the on-going clean energy transition in China and contribute to the country’s emission reduction targets, said Martin Raiser, World Bank Country Director for China. By providing financing for battery storage and distributed renewable energy applications, the project will reduce curtailment of renewable energy capacity and thus encourage further investments into changing China’s energy mix.

Parallel technical assistance will help improve the policy and regulatory framework for green energy technologies, thereby reducing risks and encouraging private investment.

The Renewable Energy and Battery Storage Promotion Project will be implemented by Hua Xia Bank, a publicly listed commercial bank in China. Hua Xia Bank will provide co-financing of at least $450 million to achieve the development goals of the project. Technical assistance for policy and regulatory reforms, shaping appropriate technology and safety standards, and developing institutional capabilities will be financed by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).

“Hua Xia Bank has been a strong partner of the World Bank in expanding commercial financing for, and wider adoption of, clean energy technologies in China. We look forward to working with them to support small and medium-enterprises to implement financially and technically well-structured battery storage projects with due regard to environmental and safety considerations,”said Peng Ximing, World Bank Senior Energy Specialist and project team leader.

This project is part of the World Bank Group’s September 2018 commitment to significantly scale up support to battery storage solutions globally through a $1 billion battery storage investment program. The World Bank Group has just established a new international partnership – the Energy Storage Partnership (ESP) – that fosters international cooperation on battery storage solutions. The ESP will be a platform to share lessons and experiences from China’s deployment of batteries in power systems with other developed and developing country stakeholders.

Source: worldbank.org

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COMMONWEALTH AND ISA JOIN FORCES TO ADVANCE SOLAR ENERGY

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he Commonwealth and the International Solar Alliance (ISA) have agreed to work in partnership to promote the development and scaling-up of solar power within member countries common to both organisations.A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on 3 June in the margins of the inaugural Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Sustainable Energy will focus actions on key areas of common interest.

Commonwealth Deputy SecretaryGeneral Arjoon Suddhoo said: The Commonwealth is excited to team up with ISA and explore solar opportunities for our countries. No country or group can achieve the global clean energy transition alone, hence it is vital to build partnerships across countries, sectors, and stakeholders.

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ISA Director-General Upendra Tripathy added: This MOU synergises the strengths of both our organisations, as institutions and in terms of ideas and actors. Together, ISA and Commonwealth will be able to look at country-wide strategies to promote the Paris Agreement on climate change, and Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13 on clean, affordable energy and climate action.

Under the MOU, parties will explore the potential for a joint ISACommonwealth Solar Fund to finance and develop solar off-grid projects in common member countries. They agreed to exchange know-how and knowledge and jointly promote the deployment of solar energy. Government policies that target reliable and affordable solar energy solutions to meet the electricity needs of local communities will also be supported. These would ensure equal opportunity and access to energy, particularly for women, youth and indigenous people. To date, 28 Commonwealth countries are signatories to the ISA framework while 21 have ratified. The India-based intergovernmental organisation was established in 2015 to respond to common challenges found in scaling up solar energy, and to take coordinated action to aggregate demand for finance, technologies, innovation, research and development, and capacity building.

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EDF RENEWABLES, MASDAR & GREEN OF AFRICA NAMED SUCCESSFUL BIDDER FOR MOROCCO’S LANDMARK NOOR MIDELT

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he Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) has announced that the consortium of EDF Renewables, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (“Masdar”) and Green of Africa has been awarded the tender for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the Noor Midelt Phase 1 multi-technologies solar power plant. The project, which will have a total installed capacity of 800 MW, is the world’s first advanced hybridisation of concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) technologies.

On completion, it will provide dispatchable solar energy during the day and until five hours after sunset for a record-low tariff at peak hours of 0.68 Moroccan dirhams per kilowatt-hour.

Masdar is honoured to leverage its global expertise and experience in CSP and PV technologies as part of the consortium chosen to develop the Noor Midelt Phase 1 multitechnologies solar power plant, said Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar.

We applaud Morocco’s bold renewable energy vision and its commitment to the large-scale development of a groundbreaking technology combining solar power with storage, which will achieve new levels of cost and operational efficiency. This project marks a key step in the transition of renewable energy from its traditional peak-shaving role in meeting power demand to becoming a baseload electricity provider in the future.

“Through a shvared commitment to commercialising advanced clean technology with our partners, Masdar is helping to bring another world-first in renewable energy to the MENA region,” Al Ramahi added.

EDF Renewables is proud to be part of a consortium which will significantly contribute to the Kingdom of Morocco’s visionary objectives to produce 52 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, said , Chief Executive Officer of EDF Renewables.

“We would like to thank the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy for having designated our consortium as the successful bidder for this innovative project. With our partners, we will develop at Midelt a world first hybrid solar and storage facility.

“Our solid laong-term relationship with Masdar is strengthened by this third large-scale renewable project. This award has been possible thanks to the combined expertise and achievements of the 3 consortium members: Green Of Africa, Masdar and EDF Renewables.” added Bensasson.

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Noor Midelt Phase 1 is the third project that EDF Renewables and Masdar will be working on together.

EDF Renewables is a partner in Shua’a Energy 2, the joint venture led by Dubai Electricity Water Authority (DEWA) developing the 800-megawatt (MW) third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai, the first 200MW stage of which was inaugurated in April 2018. The two companies are also partners in the recently announced Dumat Al Jandal wind farm, which at 400MW will be Saudi Arabia’s first and the MENA region’s largest wind energy project. Elsewhere in Morocco, Masdar announced last year that it had helped to equip nearly 20,000 homes with solar panels and household appliances. The Morocco Solar Home Systems (SHS) project led by the Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) successfully extended renewable energy access to more than 1,000 villages.

Masdar remains committed to Morocco’s longterm energy goals, and we expect this project to further raise the profile of renewables as a provider of reliable and cost-effect clean power in the Middle East and North Africa region, said Al Ramahi.

“It is now cheaper to build renewable energy power plants than those based on fossil fuels, and this is increasingly evident in the Middle East and North Africa.” Construction of the Noor Midelt Phase 1 plant, located 20km north of the town of Midelt in central Morocco, is expected to start towards the end of 2019, while delivery of the first electricity to the grid is planned from 2022.

Source: cbnme

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BLOOMBERG COMMITS $500M TO CLOSE ALL US COAL PLANTS BY 2030, HALT NEW NATURAL GAS PLANTS The billionaire philanthropist’s “Beyond Carbon” campaign lays out the radical goal of taking fossil fuels out of the energy mix, as part of a broader decarbonization effort.

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ichael Bloomberg unveiled a $500 million “Beyond Carbon” campaign, aimed at closing every U.S. coal-fired power plant by 2030 and halting the construction of any new natural gas plants.

The new campaign will direct its funding toward environmental groups’ lobbying efforts in state legislatures, city councils and public utility commissions, as well as to elect local politicians with pro-clean energy policies, a Bloomberg spokesperson told The New York Times. The campaign expects to spend the $500 million in the next three years, although that time frame could be extended, the spokesperson said.

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The campaign’s goals exceed even the most aggressive clean energy and zero-carbon mandates set by states such as Hawaii, California, New York and a growing roster of others. But it’s unclear how the push will ultimately affect either the coal industry’s accelerating decline, or the current plans in much of the country to rely on natural gas-fired electricity for decades to come.The unprecedented level of funding is needed to address the global climate crisis that President Donald Trump has denied exists and a gridlocked Congress has failed to address, Bloomberg said at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology commencement where he outlined the campaign.

The billionaire businessman, philanthropist and former mayor of New York City also decried clean-energy and carbon-reduction plans that rely on meeting their goals decades in the future, as do most state programs announced to date. Politicians keep making promises about climate change mitigation by the year 2050 — hypocritically, after they’re long gone, and no one can hold them accountable, Bloomberg said.

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Of those coal plants, 51 have announced their retirement plans since the 2016 election, “despite all the bluster from the White House,” Bloomberg noted.

Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sierra Club have been working on closing coal plants across the country since the 2011 founding of the Beyond Coal campaign. Since then, the group has tallied 289 coal power plants that have shut down or announced plans to close ahead of schedule, more than half the country’s total. The shift away from coal comes in the face of cheap natural-gas-fired power, rising operational and environmental compliance costs, and in some states, competition from low-cost renewable energy. The Trump administration has publicly backed the coal industry, and has attempted to use the Department of Energy’s authority to push federal regulators to provide out-of-market payments to struggling coal and nuclear plants, including those owned by bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions.In April, Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain utility PacifiCorp for the first time outlined plans that could call for coal plants in Wyoming to be retired ahead of schedule, to be replaced by various combinations of new natural-gas plants, renewables and energy storage. Xcel Energy, which operates the largest utilities in Colorado and Minnesota, has outlined a plan to reach zero-carbon electricity by 2050, ahead of moves toward similar mandates in both states.

The proposal to halt any new natural-gas-fired power plants is likely to be met with some incredulity in regions where they’re expected to be the primary replacement for retiring coal and nuclear generation. Still, Bloomberg defended the idea at the MIT commencement, saying it’s necessary not only to cut carbon emissions, but to avoid investing in technology that will be supplanted by clean energy: “By the time they are built, they’ll be out of date because renewable will be cheaper.” Whether or not that statement is true depends on many factors, of course. Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables has been tracking the rise of renewable energy accompanied by energy storage — largely lithium-ion batteries at multi-megawatt scale — as an alternative to natural-gas-fired power plants.

Data shows these newer technologies are becoming increasingly competitive. Ever-falling prices for solar and wind-plus-storage contracts, continued cost declines for solar PV and lithium-ion batteries, and the accompanying ability for battery-based projects to achieve longer hourly durations, could put an increasing portion of the U.S. market for peaker capacity within reach for these renewablebattery combinations, according to Ravi Manghani, WoodMac’s head of energy research. States rich in low-cost renewables such as California, Arizona and Texas are likely to be the first to see the economics pencil out, the research notes.

California has already rejected a few natural-gas plant contracts in favor of clean options like energy storage and renewables. But the same pressures are also starting to make themselves felt in parts of the country that have traditionally been friendly to fossil fuels. In Indiana, utility Vectren saw its plan to replace a baseload coal plant with a new natural-gas plant blocked by state regulators in April, on the grounds that the plan “foreclosed consideration of combinations of smaller resources that might have offered greater resource diversity, flexibility and cost efficiencies.”

Source: greentechmedia

CHINA POSTS RISING PV POWER CAPACITY IN Q1

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hina’s installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity rose 28 percent year on year by the end of March, official data showed. The total PV installations amounted to nearly 180 gigawatts, with 5.2 gigawatts of capacity added in the first quarter, according to the National Energy Administration. PV power generation came in at 44 billion kilowatt hours in Q1, up 26 percent from a year earlier. Most newly installed PV capacity was located in north and east China, accounting for 28 percent and 28.4 percent of the total new PV power capacity in Q1, respectively. China is taking the lead in PV development globally, with an internationally competitive and complete industrial chain. By the end of 2020, renewable energy will supply 1.9 trillion kilowatthours of electricity, 27 percent of total power generation, according to the government’s 2016-2020 plan for renewable energy.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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DEMOCRATIC FRONT-RUNNER JOE BIDEN UNVEILS $1.7 TRILLION CLIMATE PLAN TO END US CARBON EMISSIONS BY 2050

The former vice president unveiled the plan after weeks of pressure from rivals and green activists who said he was not taking global warming seriously enough and would rely too heavily on Obama-era ideas.

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oe Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination, released a climate change plan on that would pour $1.7 trillion of investment into achieving 100% clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050, in part using revenues from reversing Trump administration corporate tax cuts.The former vice president unveiled the plan after weeks of pressure from rivals and green activists who said he was not taking global warming seriously enough and would rely too heavily on Obama-era ideas. A campaign adviser told Reuters last month that Biden was seeking a “middle-ground” approach he hoped would please environmentalists without turning off the blue-collar voters who swept Republican President Donald Trump to power in 2016..

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I’m calling for a Clean Energy Revolution to confront this crisis and do what America does best – solve big problems with big ideas, Biden said in a social media video, saying his proposals would go “well beyond” the policies set when he served with former President Barack Obama.

The proposal would invest $1.7 trillion over 10 years in clean energy research and modernizing infrastructure to eliminate the emissions of the greenhouse gases that scientists blame for accelerating climate change and its effects – including rising sea levels, droughts, floods and more frequent powerful storms.

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international “The Biden plan will be paid for by reversing the excesses of the Trump tax cuts for corporations, reducing incentives for tax havens, evasion, and outsourcing, ensuring corporations pay their fair share,” according to a statement by his campaign.

Former first lady Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency foundered in 2016 after she upset blue-collar voters by saying her aggressive climate proposals would put “a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business,” underscoring the pitfalls of environmental politics.Trump successfully billed Obama-era environmental protections as job killers to his supporters, and has directed his administration to roll back many of them since taking office.Biden promoted the plan at several campaign stops in New Hampshire on. He finished the day by speaking to a local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Concord, trying to sell them on the merits of his plan.Union members, a backbone of Biden’s support, have been sceptical of sweeping climate-change programs such as the Green New Deal, a non-binding congressional resolution that calls for an end to fossil fuel use within a decade.

Biden spoke of building a new “green infrastructure,” which he said meant millions of union jobs. “I’m not joking,” he said. “These are real jobs.”

The Sunrise Movement, one of the main activist groups that had pressured Biden to take a tough stand on climate change in recent weeks, called the plan a “good start” and took some credit for its ambition.

This plan makes it clear: climate change is going to be a defining issue in the 2020 election, and we’ve raised the bar for what it means to be a leader on climate, said Sunrise President Varshini Prakash.

Some of Biden’s Democratic rivals, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have taken tougher stances on climate change by fully endorsing the Green New Deal.

Biden said two aspects of the Green New Deal were now at the core of his plan – the urgency for greater ambition to address climate change and the notion that “our environment and our economy are completely and totally connected.”

For the first time, Biden said he would not accept donations from fossil fuel companies or executives and joined nearly a dozen other rivals in the Democratic race in calling for a ban on new oil and gas leasing on federal land and waters – instead focusing on deploying renewables.

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Environmentalist Bill McKibben said on Twitter that Biden’s support of that position makes clear that a Democratic consensus has emerged. Oil, coal, and gas (development) on America’s public lands must stop.

Biden’s plan consists of several executive actions he would take on his first day in office, including creating an enforcement mechanism to put the United States on track to achieve 100% clean energy and a net-zero emissions goal by 2050, and recommitting the United States to the Paris Climate Deal, an international accord to fight global warming that Trump pull the United States out of in June 2017. It lists several other measures that would build on Obama-era policies like regulating methane emissions from oil and gas facilities, developing new fuel economy standards for cars, adopting new energy efficiency standards for appliances, promoting advanced biofuels and accelerating the use of carbon capture, which limits emissions from coal plants and other industrial facilities.For working-class voters, the plan promises to secure coal miners’ benefits and increase coal company payments into a federal program to help miners battling black lung disease. It would create a task force to help communities facing closures of coal mines and power plants gain access to federal funds and private investment “to help create high-paying union jobs.”The plan also addresses environmental justice issues, and promises to protect vulnerable minority and Native American communities with stronger protections for clean water.

Source: news18

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VATTENFALL ISSUES EUR 500 MILLION GREEN BOND

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n line with the company’s investments in fossil-free energy and climate-smart solutions, Vattenfall has for the first time issued a green bond. The size of the bond issue is EUR 500 million, with a tenor of seven years. The bond is the first international issuance under an EMTN programme under Swedish governing law, listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.Vattenfall has issued a senior unsecured green bond, giving investors the opportunity to support the transformation of the energy system and the company’s vision of a fossil-free future. The proceeds from the bond issue are earmarked for projects defined in Vattenfall’s green bond framework, with four categories: renewable energy and related infrastructure, energy efficiency, electrification of transport and heat, and industrial projects. The framework has been reviewed by Cicero and given their highest rating, “Dark Green”. Citi, Deutsche Bank, Nordea and SEB acted as joint bookrunners on the bond issue.

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Vattenfall’s CFO Anna Borg comments on the excellent demand for the bond: “We have seen very strong interest in our first green bond, among European investors.

I am happy that so many investors have chosen to participate in our bond offer, and chosen to contribute to our vision of a fossil-free life within one generation.

SIZE:

EUR 500 MILLION

Interest spread:

ms+55bps

Yield:

0.553%

Coupon:

0.500%

Price:

99.637%

Listing:

Nasdaq Stockholm

Documentation:

EMTN

Governing law:

Swedish law

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AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK, ADAPTATION FUND, GREEN CLIMATE FUND CONVENE FIRST DIRECT ACCESS TO CLIMATE FINANCE MEETING The former vice president unveiled the plan after weeks of pressure from rivals and green activists who said he was not taking global warming seriously enough and would rely too heavily on Obama-era ideas.

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o accelerate and enhance Direct Access to climate finance for developing countries that are vulnerable to climate change, the Adaptation Fund (AF), Green Climate Fund (GCF), African Development Bank and South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) are joining forces to facilitate a meeting of more than 30 accredited implementing entities in Durban, South Africa. The meeting which will run from 5-7 June, is aimed at furthering a common Community of Practice for Direct Access Entities (CPDAE) through the adoption of a governance framework and development of a roadmap of activities to build additional capacity of the community’s members to efficiently access, receive and utilize Direct Access project funding from AF and GCF.

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As an accredited entity of both the Adaptation Fund and Green Climate Fund, the South African National Biodiversity Institute feels privileged to host this ground-breaking Community of Practice meeting in Durban, South Africa, said Dr. Mandy Barnett, SANBI’s Director. This initiative promises to unlock opportunities for Direct Access entities to work closely together and establish robust mechanisms to share project design and implementation learnings.

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international AF pioneered Direct Access in practice and has accredited 29 national implementing entities (NIEs) to date, while GCF has accredited 48 direct access entities (35 national and 13 regional). The Adaptation Fund has 14 NIEs that are also accredited to the GCF and all six of its regional implementing entities (RIEs) have GCF accreditation, as well. Organizations are nominated to become Direct Access entities directly by designated country government authorities, and then go through an accreditation process separately within each fund to ensure capacity to effectively develop climate projects and foster environmental and social protections. The accreditation and project development processes for Direct Access entities can be complex and often require a level of capacity building in country to take place prior to accessing funds. As such, both AF and GCF have climate finance readiness programmes that provide technical assistance, both institutional and project specific, and direct support to guide entities through the processes and further strengthen their organizational capacities.

This is an amazing opportunity for countries that are most vulnerable to climate change to come together and develop a strategy and action plan that will further enhance Direct Access to climate finance, and urgently needed adaptation solutions on the ground, said Adaptation Fund Board Chair Ms. Sylviane Bilgischer.

This also directly ties into the Adaptation Fund’s medium-term strategy, which fosters learning and sharing in adaptation and complementarity between climate funds.

Earlier meetings of the CPDAE established its Committee, whose membership, term of office and other operational attributes will be discussed in the Durban meeting. Actions to further facilitate Direct Access will also be identified, such as the development of an online platform for experience sharing, a train-the-trainers programme on relevant themes, structured workshops and bilateral cooperation between entities. These ideas will be officially discussed and agreed on in Durban, and some of them are already underway and will be further refined at the meeting.The CPDAE also complements other activities that are occurring between funds. Both AF and GCF also have processes in place to ‘fast-track’ each other’s implementing entities to help make the accreditation processes as smooth as possible.

Though unable attend the event in person, the Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund, Yannick Glemarec, shared his support stating, “Country ownership is key to the success of the Paris Agreement and to GCF, so the launch of this community of practice to facilitate Direct Access Entity collaboration is excellent… This initiative further ensures they will remain in the driving seat of climate finance.

KENYA LAUNCHES US$47 MILLION OFF-GRID SOLAR ACCESS PROJECT The project targets 277,000 households (approximately 1.3 million people from the 14 marginalized counties).

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he government of Kenya has launched a USD 47 million (KSh 4.7 billion) facility under the Kenya-OffGrid Solar Access Project (KOSAP) aimed at spurring the private sector to provide viable solar and clean cooking solutions to about 1.1 million people in marginalized regions.

The Results-Based Financing (RBF) and Debt Facilities under the KOSAP are financed by the World Bank and implemented by the Ministry of Energy alongside the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC).They are intended to ensure that counties that are not served by the grid and have been classified as marginalized by Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) are not left behind and receive access to energy through off-grid solutions.

The country has made great strides in achieving connectivity with access to electricity standing at 75% through both grid and off-grid options.

However, access to electricity is low in the 14 marginalized counties, which represent 72% of the country’s total land area and 20% of the population.

The dispersed settlements in the marginalized counties make off-grid solutions the only viable alternative for access to electricity,said Dr Eng. Joseph Njoroge, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Energy.

Through financing from the World Bank of USD 150 million (KSh 15 billion), KOSAP seeks to overcome these challenges and establish viable off-grid solutions for areas that are too far for the national grid to be economical.The project targets 277,000 households (approximately 1.3 million people from the 14 marginalized counties). This will be realized through the construction of about 151 mini-grids in the target counties as well as the installation of stand-alone solar systems under the financing launched.

Source: afdb.org

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The project also targets replacing 380 diesel pumps with solar for drinking water, and expects to facilitate the provision of 150,000 clean cooking stoves in West Pokot, Turkana, Marsabit, Samburu and Isiolo.

BRITAIN TO BECOME FIRST G7 COUNTRY WITH NET ZERO EMISSIONS TARGET The country currently aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050

B

The World Bank is committed to supporting the Government of Kenya in achieving the universal access goal laid out in the Kenya National Electrification Strategy and is partnering with the Government to ensure that nobody in the target counties is left behind in accessing modern energy services,said Patrick Thaddayos Balla, World Bank K-OSAP Task Team Leader.

ritain will toughen its climate targets and commit to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the government said, becoming the first G7 nation to set such a goal.The country currently aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.

However, campaigners say this does not go far enough to meet pledges made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to try to limit a rise in global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The RBF and Debt Facilities specifically aim to establish sustainable supply chains for marketing and sales of solar home systems in KOSAP counties. The Facilities are in three parts: USD 12 million (KSh 1.2 billion) Solar Service Providers Results-Based Financing (SSP RBF Facility), USD 30 million (KSh 3 billion) Solar Service Providers Debt Facility (SSP Debt Facility), and USD 5 million (KSh 500 million) Clean Cooking Solutions Challenge Fund.Under the KOSAP Solar Service Providers RBF, a total of USD 12 million (KSh 1.2 Billion) in financing will be provided to compensate solar home systems service providers (SSPs) for the initial, incremental, and opportunity costs associated with an expansion of operations in the KOSAP Service Territories (KSTs). The aim will be to encourage the growth of emerging solar companies where possible and to set a foundation for established solar operators to access debt investments and further scale-up operations in these counties.

The USD 30 million SSP Debt Facility will enable private sector SSPs to borrow money for acquiring inventory to sell in KOSAP counties as well as to extend consumer financing to households to purchase the products, for instance through Pay-As-You-Go technology.The Clean Cooking Solutions Challenge Fund will encourage the uptake of clean cooking stoves to mitigate the environmental degradation and economic and health concerns that arise from the use of low-efficiency stoves. This will be initially targeted to beneficiaries in the counties of West Pokot, Turkana, Isiolo, Samburu, and Marsabit. For this, the Challenge Fund will provide selected distributors with financial support via a package of incentives worth USD 5 Million (KSh 500 Million) to enable them to market their stoves locally, increase their inventories of improved stoves, as well as distribute them to target communities.The Government has appointed the consortium of SNV-SunFunder to manage the facilities on its behalf. The detailed eligibility criteria and the requirements for the private sector for accessing the facility are available at the KOSAP Facility website.

Funding decisions will be made by the Ministry of Energy after careful due diligence by the Facilities Manager.

Source: pumps-africa

Now is the time to go further and faster to safeguard the environment for our children,Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement.Reaching net zero by 2050 is an ambitious target, but it is crucial that we achieve it to ensure we protect our planet for future generations.

Legislation will be put before parliament on June 12 to amend the existing climate change act to incorporate the new target, the statement said.Britain’s independent climate advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, last month said that the country should move to the new target, which would require more renewable electricity generation and could require the phasing out of new petrol and diesel cars by at least 2035.Households would also need to be weaned off natural gas heating and switch to low-carbon alternatives such as hydrogen or heat pumps.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), welcomed the move.Some sectors will need clear pathways to enable investment in low-carbon technologies, and it is vital that there is cross-government coordination on the policies and regulation needed to deliver a clean future, she said.

Britain hopes its decision will encourage other countries to adopt more ambitious climate targets and said that a further assessment will take place within five years to confirm whether other countries are taking similar action.It also said it would retain its ability to use international carbon credits to help to meet the target.

“Using international credits within an appropriate monitoring, reporting and verification framework is the right thing to do for the planet, allowing the UK to maximise the value of each pound spent on climate change mitigation,” the government statement said.

Source: reuters

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U.S. SOLAR POWER INSTALLATION OUTLOOK BRIGHTENS ON FALLING COSTS -REPORT In 2019, installations are expected to be up 25 percent from 2018 to 13.3 gigawatts

The U.S. solar energy industry lifted its installation outlook for this year and beyond thanks to robust demand for large-scale projects by utilities buying the clean energy source for its low cost, according to a report.

Florida is expected to be the top state for utility-scale solar over the next six years, the report said, marking a major shift away from the industry’s historical center of power, California.

In 2019, installations are expected to be up 25 percent from 2018 to 13.3 gigawatts, the report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie said. The groups’ previous forecast called for 14 percent growth this year.

Wood Mackenzie senior analyst Austin Perea said the shift was notable because Florida lacks the strong policy support for renewable energy that exists in California.

Utilities in Florida, therefore, are buying solar because it is cheap compared with fossil fuel alternatives like natural gas and coal.

The change is primarily due to late project announcements in Texas, the report said.

The rosy outlook marks an about-face from 2018, when installations fell 2 percent after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped 30 percent tariffs on overseas-made solar panels.

Since then, global panel prices have fallen dramatically due to an oversupply of panels in top producer China, which cut incentives for installations there. Between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, monocrystalline module prices fell 30 percent, according to the report, effectively canceling out the U.S. tariffs.

Looking ahead, the industry lifted its five-year outlook by 5.1 GW, or about 9 percent, mostly due to new procurement by utilities in Florida including Nextera Energy Inc’s FPL and Duke Energy Corp.Utilities are seeking to capture generous tax credits for installations that will begin to step down next year. The credit currently stands at 30 percent but will gradually drop to a permanent 10 percent in 2022.

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We are seeing utility-scale solar becoming much, much more cost competitive, Perea said in an interview.

In the first quarter of 2019, the United States installed 2.7 GW of solar, up 10 percent from a year ago. Solar accounted for more than half of all new energy capacity additions during the quarter, the report said.

The residential solar market rose 5 percent during the quarter to 600 megawatts. Utility-scale installations were 1.6 GW, while non-residential systems reached 438 MW. Source: reuters

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WOOD MACKENZIE BOOSTS US SOLAR MARKET FORECAST AS FLORIDA BLOSSOMS

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Recent announcements in Florida and Texas have brightened the outlook for the U.S. solar market over the next five years.

nexpectedly rapid growth in solar markets like Florida and Texas is driving up expectations for U.S. solar installations, with Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables now forecasting more than 13 gigawatts of capacity additions in 2019.That sets the U.S. solar market up for 25 percent growth compared to last year’s 10.6 gigawatts, in what would be its second biggest year of all time, according to the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight Report from Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).Since last quarter, announced solar procurements and shifts in the market have led WoodMac to increase its forecast for 2019 utility-scale installations by 1.2 gigawatts, and by 5.1 gigawatts for the 2019-24 period.Texas accounts for much of the increased forecast for this year, while Florida has driven the five-year boost thanks to ambitious solar growth plans at utilities including NextEra Energy’s Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy Florida. Last month Florida Power & Light announced the start of construction on 10 new solar plants totaling more than 700 megawatts, as the economics of solar in the Sunshine State look increasingly favorable against gas-fired generation.The U.S. solar market pulled back sharply after its peak year in 2016, but it’s climbing rapidly once again as costs fall and developers move to take advantage of the investment tax credit’s (ITC) phasedown.Over a longer time horizon, solar is expected to benefit from its increasing competitiveness against wind energy in a growing number of central U.S. states where wind has long been the dominant source of new renewables capacity. The wind industry’s production tax credit is phasing down more rapidly than solar’s ITC, and unlike the PTC, which is on its way to zero, the ITC is scheduled to stop phasing down indefinitely at 10 percent for commercially owned projects.By the mid-2020s, WoodMac expects utility-scale solar to be cheaper than wind on a levelized cost basis in a number of states within grids operated by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator and the Southwest Power Pool — including Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan and the Dakotas.

Solar’s growth is increasing everywhere, including traditional solar states — but also pretty rapidly in less traditional solar states, Colin Smith, senior solar analyst at WoodMac, said in an interview.

Total installed solar capacity is expected to more than double over the coming five-year boom period, cresting at 16.4 gigawatts in 2021 as the ITC phases down, WoodMac predicts. Solar developers are in the process of finalizing their strategies for maximizing the ITC, as wind developers did several years ago for the PTC.

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OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE REPORT INCLUDE:

The U.S. installed 2.7 gigawatts of new solar capacity during the first three months of the year, making it the market’s largest first quarter to date.

Solar accounted for 51 percent of all new U.S. power generating capacity during the first quarter, an unusually high share. Analysts say that elevated level will not necessarily hold steady throughout the remainder of the year.

During the first quarter, the U.S. installed its 2 millionth solar panel — just three years after crossing the 1-million-panel milestone.

PV system prices are at historic lows across the various market segments, despite the Trump administration’s tariffs on imported equipment. Last week the U.S. granted another round of tariff exemptions that includes bifacial modules, which are expected to play a larger role in the market in the years ahead.

While utility-scale projects remain the market’s primary driver, accounting for 61 percent of U.S. solar installations in the first quarter, the residential market continues its rebound.

The residential market crumpled in 2017 after one-time national leader SolarCity (now Tesla) fell on hard times and reined in its aggressive growth strategy, but the market has since stabilized — installing 603 megawatts during Q1, up 6 percent year on year. Weak growth in former powerhouse residential markets like California and the Northeast is being offset by strength in a number of “emerging” state markets, including Florida and Texas. Nearly one-third of new residential capacity during the first quarter came from markets outside the top 10 in cumulative capacity, the highest share ever.WoodMac forecasts growth in the residential market of 5 to 20 percent during the 2019-21 period, pointing to new drivers like Maryland’s renewable portfolio standard increase, the removal of South Carolina’s net metering cap, and Illinois’ Adjustable Block Program. And California’s home solar mandate will begin fueling the market there beginning in 2020.In contrast to the growing utility and residential markets, non-residential installations continue to struggle, with 438 megawatts put in place during the first quarter, down 18 percent from last year. But WoodMac expects the non-residential market to see a modest rebound over the next few years as community solar programs takes off in states like New York, Maryland and New Jersey.

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WTO PANEL RULES IN INDIA’S FAVOUR IN RENEWABLE ENERGY CASE AGAINST US

A

WTO dispute resolution panel has ruled in favour of India in a case against the US saying that America’s domestic content requirements and subsidies provided by eight of its states in the renewable energy sector are violative of global trade norms.

The panel concluded in its ruling that “the measures” of the US “are inconsistent” with certain provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said in a statement.

It said the US has “nullified or impaired benefits accruing to India under that agreement”.

The GATT aims to promote trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers like customs duties. The ruling stated that ten measures implemented by the US pertaining to renewable energy sector are inconsistent with its obligations under GATT 1994.In September 2016, India had dragged the US to WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism over America’s domestic content requirements and subsidies provided by eight states in the renewable energy sector.

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Washington, California, Montana, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware and Minnesota were the eight states providing subsidies. India had stated that the measures are inconsistent with global trade norms because they provide less favourable treatment to imported products than to like domestic products, and because the subsidies are contingent on the use of domestic over imported goods.The ruling of dispute panel can be challenged in WTO’s appellate body which is part of the dispute settlement mechanism of the Geneva-based multilateral body.

The ruling comes at a time when there are trade tensions between the two countries. The US has rolled back export incentives from India under its GSP programme and New Delhi has imposed higher customs duties on 28 American products.The two countries are also at loggerheads on a number of other disputes at the WTO. The US has challenged certain export promotion schemes of India, while India has challenged US’ unilateral hike on customs duties on certain steel and aluminium products.

Source: PTI

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SILK ROAD FUND BECOMES A 49% SHAREHOLDER IN ACWA POWER RENEWABLE ENERGY HOLDING LTD

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CWA Power, a leading developer, owner, and operator of power generation and water desalination plants signed an agreement with Silk Road Fund, introducing it as a partner and shareholder in ACWA Power Renewable Energy Holding Ltd (ACWA Power RenewCo) – ACWA Power’s renewable energy platform that currently owns a number of its existing renewable energy projects – with a 49% stake in the company. The transaction is subject to customary consents.ACWA Power RenewCo acts as a platform that capitalises on the rapidly growing potential for renewable energy in emerging markets. ACWA Power RenewCo will own ACWA Power’s CSP, PV, and wind assets across the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco, yielding an aggregate capacity of 1668 MW.

ACWA Power and Silk Road Fund’s further collaboration is a mirror image of the robust and strategic ties between Saudi Arabia and China that is strengthened year after year. The agreement signed is a testament of the commendable goals we will achieve with Silk Road Fund that will enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future in renewable energy deployment.

It is our pleasure to welcome Silk Road Fund as a shareholder in RenewCo to jointly bring in the finest expertise and promising investment to our portfolio of projects; and together, help progress the world to a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable home. President & CEO, Paddy Padmanathan

As a leading developer of power and water assets in the region, and being based in a Belt and Road country, welcoming Silk Road Fund on board as a shareholder further cements our position of being able to support both the economic transformation envisioned by the Belt and Road initiative as well as Saudi Arabia’s forward looking Vision 2030. Our continual achievements with Silk Road Fund set an example of building strategic business ties, and making the best use of the competitive advantages of both companies. Chief Investment Officer, Rajit Nanda ACWA Power and Silk Road Fund have previously successfully co-invested in two UAE-based projects, including the 2400MW Hassyan clean coal power plant and the 950MW Hybrid CSP and PV fourth phase of MBR Solar Park to respectively power 1.3 million people and 320,00 residential homes. With Silk Road Fund set to become a shareholder in ACWA Power RenewCo, new doors of collaboration and projects are opening up.The Silk Road Fund is a medium-to-long term development and investment fund established in Beijing under the framework of “Belt and Road Initiative”. Following a philosophy of openness, inclusiveness and mutual benefit, SRF operates its business based on market principles, international standard and professional excellence.

Source : acwapower

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SOLAR TENDERS AND REVERSE AUCTIONS IN INDIA – THE WAY FORWARD: SUNIL JAIN, CEO, HERO FUTURE ENERGIES India is a great destination for renewables and all stakeholders should collaborate and work towards achieving India’s renewable target.

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he push for renewables continues to remain with the continuation of succession in government and solar bidding is back on track post elections. We believe that the Prime Minister’s vision may witness a huge change in target specially for solar. SECI’s last two tenders of 1.2 GW and 750 MW were oversubscribed. Of these a total of 1.9 GW has been awarded. MNRE, in its tender trajectory, has a target of 30GW to be tendered during 19-20 of which close to 11 GW is planned to be tendered in the next 3 months.

The latest tender ended with Hero Future Energies bagging the maximum capacity of 250 MW and NTPC, Mahindra Susten, Azure also emerging as winners. Our approach in this bid, be it for land, strengthening our inhouse EPC competences or leverage breakthrough technologies to optimise generation is likely to yield a higher PLF.

This sector lost some of its momentum last year, which was worrying, given that solar power is crucial to the government’s plan to increase the share of renewable energy in India’s installed electricity generation capacity to 40% by 2030.

To achieve its targets, ministry needs to push for allocation of bulk funding for solar parks in the upcoming budget. Solar parks with proper evacuation facilities address some of the challenges faced by developers and attracts higher investment. It should make changes in policies for decentralization and prioritization of evacuation network. To bolster transmission efficiency, MNRE and CERC have already made progress with right policy steps namely green corridor. Government should also focus on floating solar especially when as a country India is increasingly trying to save water. The industry faces headwinds on a few fronts especially in terms of access to funding, safeguard duties on modules, payment security issues and land acquisition challenges.

Supportive governmental policies to address these issues such as removal of power sector lending limits, setting up payment security funds or tripartite agreement involving the purchaser, RBI and the state government, single window clearance for all approvals related to material movement, connectivity and land are the need of the hour. Also, payment irregularities by discoms continue to plague the industry and also a few state authorities still trying to open existing PPAs, creates needless uncertainties in the investment climate. India is a great destination for renewables and all stakeholders should collaborate and work towards achieving India’s renewable target.

Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

FAME INDIA SCHEME

The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 is a National Mission document providing the vision and the roadmap for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country. As part of the NEMMP 2020, Department of Heavy Industry formulated a Scheme viz.

Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme in the year 2015 to promote manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same.

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he Phase-I of this Scheme was initially launched for a period of 2 years, commencing from 1st April 2015, which was subsequently extended from time to time and the last extension was allowed up to 31st March 2019. The 1st Phase of FAME India Scheme was implemented through four focus areas namely (i) Demand Creation, (ii) Technology Platform, (iii) Pilot Project and (iv) Charging Infrastructure. Market creation through demand incentives was aimed at incentivizing all vehicle segments i.e. 2-Wheelers, 3-Wheelers Auto, Passenger 4-Wheeler vehicles, Light Commercial Vehicles and Buses. The demand incentive was available to buyers of xEV in the form of an upfront reduced purchase price to enable wider adoption. Also, grants were sanctioned for specific projects under Pilot Projects, R&D/Technology Development and Public Charging Infrastructure components under the scheme. In the 1st phase of scheme, about 2.78 lakh xEVs were supported with a total demand incentives of Rs. 343 Crore [Approx]. In addition, 465 buses were sanctioned to various cities/states under this scheme. The details of funds earmarked and utilized under Phase-I of FAME India Scheme is tabulated below: S. NO.

FINANCIAL YEAR

FUND ALLOCATED

FUND UTILIZATION

1

2015-16

Rs. 75 Crore

Rs. 75 Crore

2

2016-17

Rs. 144 Crore

Rs. 144 Crore

3

2017-18

Rs. 165 Crore

Rs. 165 Crore

4

2018-19

Rs. 145 Crore

Rs.145 Crore

Rs. 529 Crore

Rs. 529 Crore

TOTAL

The evaluation of Phase-I of FAME Scheme was done by an independent consultant. The main findings of the validation of outcome report as submitted by consultant are given:

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During the last 2 years, the agenda of clean mobility has been placed front and center in all discussions. The relatively increased awareness, is in itself a notable achievement Overall outcomes of key parameters of Fuel saving and CO2 reduction are significantly below the target for FAME; Industry players have been cautious about developing capabilities – players have chosen to operate adjacent to their core capabilities Subsidy structure needs to be revised based on the powertrain technology (to incentivize cleaner technologies) and to establish parity across technologies Overall phased implementation plan has taken off but at the very slow pace, demonstrated limited progress in the first phase. The next phase of scheme extension should focus on a clear catch-up plan Benefits from unaccounted segments like e-3W and e-rickshaws can potentially add to the results, however growth in segments like e-rickshaws was unplanned. Support to these segments to be evaluated.

Under FAME Scheme Phase-I, the demand incentive amount was determined for each category (vehicle – technology – battery type) taking into account the principles of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), Pay-back Period on account of fuel savings, cost of maintenance etc. Based on the experience gained during Phase 1 of FAME Scheme and suggestions of various stakeholders including industry associations, the Department of Heavy Industry notified Phase-II of the Scheme, vide S.O. 1300 dated 8th March 2019, with the approval of Cabinet with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 Crore for a period of 3 years commencing from 1st April 2019.

Source: pib.nic.in

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL ELECTRIC MOBILITY MISSION PLAN

The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 is a National Mission document providing the vision and the roadmap for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country. This plan has been designed to enhance national fuel security, to provide affordable and environmentally friendly transportation and to enable the Indian automotive industry to achieve global manufacturing leadership.

A

s part of the NEMMP 2020, Department of Heavy Industry formulated a Scheme viz. Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme in the year 2015 to promote manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same. The Phase-I of this Scheme was initially launched for a period of 2 years, commencing from 1st April 2015, which was subsequently extended from time to time and the last extension was allowed up to 31st March 2019. The 1st Phase of FAME India Scheme was implemented through four focus areas namely (i) Demand Creation, (ii) Technology Platform, (iii) Pilot Project and (iv) Charging Infrastructure. Market creation through demand incentives was aimed at incentivizing all vehicle segments i.e. 2-Wheelers, 3-Wheelers Auto, Passenger 4-Wheeler vehicles, Light Commercial Vehicles and Buses. The demand incentive was available to buyers of electric & hybrid vehicle (xEV) in the form of an upfront reduced purchase price to enable wider adoption. Also, grants were sanctioned for specific projects under Pilot Projects, R&D/Technology Development and Public Charging Infrastructure components under the scheme. In the 1st phase of scheme, about 2.78 lakh xEVs were supported with a total demand incentives of Rs. 343 Crore [Approx]. In addition, 465 buses were sanctioned to various cities/ states under this scheme. Under the NEMMP 2020, there is an ambitious target to achieve 6-7 million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles by the year 2020. Based on the experience gained in the Phase-I of FAME India Scheme, it has been observed that sufficient number of charging infrastructure is required to achieve expected outcome of the plan, which is being addressed presently in Phase-II of FAME Scheme.

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Department of Heavy Industry notified Phase-II of the Scheme, vide S.O. 1300(E) dated 8th March 2019, with the approval of Cabinet with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 Crore for a period of 3 years commencing from 1st April 2019. The main objective of the scheme is to encourage faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicle by way of offering upfront incentive on purchase of electric vehicles and also by establishing the necessary charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Details of the scheme is available in Department’s website (www.dhi.nic.in).

Various initiatives have been taken by the Government to promote electric mobility in the country. Some of them are summarized hereunder: Under new GST regime, the rates of GST on Electric Vehicles has been kept in the lower bracket of 12% (with no Cess) as against the 28% GST rate with Cess up to 22% for conventional vehicles.

Ministry of Power has allowed sale of electricity as ‘service’ for charging of electric vehicles. This would provide a huge incentive to attract investments into charging infrastructure.

Ministry of Road Transport Highways issued notification regarding exemption of permit in case of battery operated vehicles.

Issue of Expression of Interest (EoI) for deployment of 5000 electric buses by State Transport Departments/Undertakings etc.

This information was given by the Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Arvind Ganpat Sawant, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Source: pib.nic.in

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exclusive interview

MR. JM SHAH MANAGING DIRECTOR

WEST COAST ENGG WORKS PVT LTD

WE HAVE PIONEERED & SUPPLIED ALUMINIUM WALK WAYS & HAND RAILS TO 500+ SOLAR ROOFTOP PROJECTS Q.-1: Can you tell us more about the products and services provided by WEST-COAST ENGG. WORKS in the Solar industry JM: We would like to introduce ourselves as a leading Engineering and Manufacturing Company established in 1964 specialized in following products: 1. Complete Rooftop Walkway System including supporting structure for safe walking on SOLAR ROOFTOP PLANTS. 2. Aluminium Gratings, Platform Solid Gratings. (ALUGRATE).

3. Aluminium Hand Rails/Alurails for roof top safety purpose.

4. MMS for Solar Rooftop 5. Aluminium Ladders. (ALULAD).

6. Aluminium Access Covers.

We are 55 years rich in experience in the gratings industry.

We have experience in manufacturing all types of Aluminium gratings having its application at various Industrial Rooftop plants, telescopes,sewage treatment plants, boiler trucks, even national & international sports stadiums. With respect to Rooftop solar projects, each roof has a unique solution and we customise to ensure that only the most optimised design is supplied. We take presitage in stating we also export Aluminium walkways to International rooftop projects. We encourage use of Handrail in most rooftops for increased safety and avoiding fatal accidents.

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Our rich experience plays an unique role of a technical expert and design consultant which has helped our clients to achieve superior designed techno-economic solution for different types of roof out there.

Q.-2: West Coast Engineering Works have supplied walkways to over 500 rooftop projects what have been some of the unique projects?

JM: 1. We have supplied 21km of walkays to Radhasaomi Satsang Beas (Punjab) which is the WORLDS LARGEST SINGLE ROOFTOP solar plant. The walkways were installed on asbestos sheet & hence support system was specifically designed to transfer all the load to the purlins.

2. We have successfully designed & supplied support system for installing Aluminium walkway on solar rooftop having tilt up to 33 degrees.

3. We have provided step type walkways for some of our projects.

4. We have designed walkways for parabolic roof types as well.

5. We have successfully supplied handrails for all different types of solar rooftops such as Trapezoidal , Standing seam, Klip-Lock Roof sheds.

Q.-3: What have been your most recent developments ?

JM: 1. We have developed a new cost competitive range of aluminium walkways which are efficient in structural stability.

2. Secondly, we have developed MMS for Solar Rooftop Projects. Solar PV Panel mounting support system is a critical cost bound product. We have optimally designed Aluminium support Clamps used to mount PV panels on solar rooftop.

3. We have designed structure for Car-ports (parking sheds for vehicle), on which Solar PV modules can directly be installed without roofing as pv panels itself act as shed.

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opinion

OPINION: Can AI solve renewable energy’s problems? India may show the way

O

This thinking is behind the often repeated view that renewable energy sources such as wind and solar cannot replace thermal electricity generation such as coal and natural gas ne of humankind’s most enduring weaknesses is to assume that the way things are presently will somehow persist into the future, and that current trends are inexorable. This thinking is behind the often repeated view that renewable energy sources such as wind and solar cannot replace thermal electricity generation such as coal and natural gas. Presently, it is correct that the most significant weakness of these renewables is that they are intermittent, meaning they don’t generate close to their installed capacity and cause instability in electricity grids. While storage through batteries or pumped hydro is often touted as a solution to the drawbacks of wind and solar, there are other emerging technologies that may well make renewables more effective. One of those is harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the efficiency of wind and solar by using machine learning programmes to enhance predictability of generation and grid stability. India is an example of a major country that stands to benefit from adopting AI as it builds out its renewable energy capacity. The Indian government has very ambitious targets for renewable energy, aiming to have 175 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity by 2022 and 500 GW by 2030. The world’s second-most populous country and third-biggest polluter has about 74 GW of renewable energy currently installed, according to a government report and comments made last month by Anand Kumar, the secretary of the renewable energy ministry. India’s renewable energy, excluding hydro, currently forms about 21 per cent of its generating capacity, compared to almost 55 per cent for coal and 7.1 per cent for natural gas, the report said. However, renewable energy’s share of actual generation in India is only about 9 per cent, while thermal power provides about 77 per cent, a sharp illustration that wind and solar aren’t as efficient and reliable as coal and natural gas. To make such a large-scale build out of renewable energy viable in India over the next decade, the country will have to make its electricity grid more responsive and integrated. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, said in a report published on July 9 that India needs to act on using technology to improve the use of renewable energies.

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“

A key facet of the challenge is that India’s power distribution companies and load managers at times curtail renewable energy power as a result of scheduling and cost challenges, transmission inefficiencies, and a lack of interstate balancing and power transfers,” the report said.

India’s government does plan to use AI in integrating and improving the efficiency of renewable energy, but the challenge will be the actual implementation.

REPLACING BASELOAD COAL The country’s energy plan calls for coal-fired power to drop to 32.1 per cent of the total capacity by 2029-30, while wind should increase to 16.8 per cent and solar to 36.1 per cent.

While coal, and to a lesser extent nuclear, will still provide some baseload electricity generation in India, the plan is really for renewables plus storage to take over the lion’s share of powering the economy, and to do so on a scale unmatched elsewhere in the world. AI providers such as Google’s DeepMind claim they can improve the efficiency of renewable energy, with DeepMind citing a 20 per cent improvement by using predictive algorithms at wind farms.Up until now the thermal coal industry has clung to the view that their fuel will be needed far into the future, mainly because it is cheap and reliable and developing countries in Asia have few viable alternatives. India has already challenged the view that coal is cheaper than renewables, with power auctions in recent years showing solar can outcompete even established coal plants, and dominate newly-built coal generators. If renewables can meaningfully solve their reliability and intermittency issues, then coal’s raison d’etre may well evaporate.

Source: PTI

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research & Analysis

Global power M&A market remained strong in 2018 with transaction volumes reaching

US$158bn

The global power mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market remained strong in 2018 with transaction volumes reaching US$158bn, the second highest in the last five years. However, the number of deals registered decreased to 622, compared to 651 deals in 2017, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

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ut of the 622 transactions reported in 2018, 597 were acquisitions while the remaining 25 were mergers. As of 2019 year-to-date (YTD), 244 M&A deals were witnessed. The largest announced M&A deal in the power industry in 2018 was the acquisition of Innogy by E.ON for US$52.9bn. GlobalData’s latest theme report: ‘M&A in Power – Thematic Research’ reveals that the solar energy segment registered the highest number of M&As during the period 2015–2019 YTD with 661 M&A deals. It is followed by T&D, wind, fossil fuels and hydropower segments, with 654, 461, 305 and 214 M&A deals, respectively.

The report highlights that over the past few years, the power industry has seen a transition towards sustainable clean energy. Power utility companies in mature markets are now witnessing a wave of consolidations, looking to create scale due to the shift towards renewable energy sources, which is pushing them to alter their business models. The consolidation through acquisitions is driven mainly by few companies’ incapability to attain that organically and the acknowledgment that companies require collaboration or cooperation for this transition to occur.

Sneha Susan Elias, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Power and utility companies are focusing on crucial climate goals and measures in the form of clean energy growth and enhanced natural gas-fired generation to deal with the intermittency issues, safety and security of energy supply, phase-out of coal-fired power plants and nuclear decommissioning. M&A deals involving renewable energy are expected to rise in future due to power and utility companies’ transition towards sustainable clean energy. “Over the coming two to three years, M&A activity in the power industry is likely to remain strong, backed by a global urge to move away from thermal power towards renewables, although the former will remain relevant.”

Source: globaldata

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The global transition to clean energy, explained in

12 charts

Despite all the progress, we’re still struggling to hit the climate emergency brake. As you might have heard, the planet is warming up, and in response, people are trying to switch to cleaner energy, to heat it up less, or at least more slowly. So how’s that going?

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report released goes into that question in considerable detail. The Renewables Global Status Report (GSR), released annually by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21, a think tank), digs into the growth rates of various energy sources, the flows of clean energy investment, and the world’s progress on its sustainability goals. It is a treasure trove of information. It is also … really long. 250 pages long. So many words! In an effort to save you, the modern information consumer, precious time, I have gone through the report and extracted the 12 charts and graphs that best tell the story of clean energy as of 2018. Before we get started, a few background facts. First, we’re still moving in the wrong direction. Global carbon emissions aren’t falling fast enough.

In fact, they aren’t falling at all; they were up 1.7 percent in 2018. Second, we’re still pushing in the wrong direction. Globally, subsidies to fossil fuels were up 11 percent between 2016 and 2017, reaching $300 billion a year. And third, the effort to clean up is flagging. Total investment in renewable energy (not including hydropower) was $288.9 billion in 2018 — less than fossil fuel subsidies and an 11 percent decrease from 2017.

This is all bad news. The public seems to have the impression that while things are bad, they are finally accelerating toward something better. It’s not true. Collectively, we haven’t even succeeded in reversing direction yet. Despite all the progress described below, we’re still struggling to get ahold of the emergency brake.

That grim context established, let’s jump in.

RENEWABLES ARE PULLING AHEAD IN THE POWER SECTOR.

SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAICS ARE LEADING THE POWER SECTOR CHARGE. As you can see in the chart below, additions of wind and bioenergy capacity have been fairly stable; hydropower is down a bit.

The primary reason renewable capacity additions are growing is the rise in solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. Of the new renewable energy capacity installed in 2018, 55 percent (about 100 GW) was solar PV; wind power had 28 percent, and hydropower 11 percent.

The future of the world basically depends on solar continuing to boom.

CHINA IS LEADING THE SOLAR PV CHARGE. Why is solar PV rising so rapidly? Mostly China. The graph below also shows rapid solar PV growth in the US, Japan (thanks to Fukushima and the subsequent shutdown of nuclear), and, more recently, India.

To start with some good news: The shift in the electricity sector has effectively become unstoppable.

Globally, more renewable energy capacity has been installed than new fossil fuel and nuclear capacity combined, for four years running. Some 181 GW of new renewables capacity was installed in 2018; it now makes up more than one-third of global installed power capacity. These are mainstream power sources, here to stay.

IN FACT, CHINA IS LEADING ALL THE CHARGES. When it comes to energy, China is usually the biggest and the most, no matter the category. It was responsible for 32 percent of all global renewables investment in 2018. It was the lead investor in, and leads the world in installed capacity of, hydropower, solar PV, and wind. (A couple of things to note on the graph below: Japan’s unusually high proportion of solar and the comparatively large role of bio-power in the EU and US.)

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research & Analysis RENEWABLE ENERGY IS STARTING TO MAKE A DENT IN ELECTRICITY. All the growth and investments in renewable electricity are starting to add up. Renewables represent more than a third of the world’s installed capacity and, as the graphic below shows, more than 26 percent of global electricity produced. That said, hydropower, at almost 16 percent, makes up more than half the renewables total. What people tend to think of as renewables, wind and solar, make up only a combined 8 percent. Even in electricity, renewables have a long way to go.

SOLAR IS CREATING THE MOST JOBS. An important aspect of the political economy of renewables: Solar PV creates more jobs. It accounts for the bulk of the world’s renewable energy jobs, despite being a minority of renewable energy capacity. Wind, which leads solar in capacity, creates far fewer jobs. Solar PV is very labor-intensive.

BUT ELECTRICITY IS ONLY PART OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION, AND NOT THE LARGEST PART. Outside of electricity, good news is harder to come by.

Where renewables are 26 percent of global electricity, they represent less than 10 percent (renewable electricity less than 2 percent) of heating and cooling and just 3.3 percent (renewable electricity only 0.3 percent) of transportation energy. Heating and cooling, at 51 percent of global energy use, mostly run on natural gas and oil. Transportation, at 32 percent of global energy use, mostly runs on gasoline and diesel. What’s worse, policy is still overbalanced toward power.

There are 169 countries, at the national or state/provincial level, that have passed renewable energy targets.

Meanwhile, the report says, “only 47 countries had targets for renewable heating and cooling, while the number of countries with regulatory policies in the sector fell from 21 to 20.” Fewer than a third of all countries worldwide have mandatory building codes, “while 60% of the total energy used in buildings in 2018 occurred in jurisdictions that lacked energy efficiency policies.” Only about a quarter of industrial energy use is covered by industrial energy-

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efficiency policies. It’s not much better in transportation, where “fuel economy policies for light-duty vehicles existed in only 40 countries by year’s end and have been largely offset by trends towards larger vehicles.” Carbon pricing isn’t helping much either. “Carbon pricing remains acutely under-utilised,” the report says. “By the end of 2018, only 44 national governments, 21 states/provinces and 7 cities had implemented carbon pricing policies, covering just 13% of global CO2 emissions.” This is the story in the US and in the world at large: Renewables are starting to make a dent in electricity, but they are lagging badly everywhere else.

TRANSPORTATION IS SHOWING SIGNS OF RAPID MOVEMENT TOWARD ELECTRIFICATION. While transportation is still dominated by fossil fuels, a shift is underway. In 2018, “the global number of electric passenger cars increased 63% compared with 2017,” the report says, “and more cities are moving to electric bus fleets.” Here, too, China is outpacing the rest of the world, though shoutout to the tiny country of Norway, whose aggressive EV policies have it showing up in global statistics.

CITIES ARE OUTPACING COUNTRIES ON CLEAN ENERGY. There’s a special report-within-the-report about the booming prospects for clean energy in cities worldwide. On average, cities — which represent 65 percent of global energy demand and house more than half the world’s people — use a higher percentage of renewable electricity than countries. Already, there are at least 100 cities around the world using between 90 and 100 percent renewable electricity.

At least 230 have set a 100 percent renewable energy goal in at least one sector.

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research & analysis PROGRESS IS BEING SLOWED BY FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES. Every year, the countries of the G20 get together, decry fossil fuel subsidies, and promise to roll them back. And every year, fossil fuel subsidies grow — rising 11 percent to $300 billion in 2017. “While at least 40 countries have undertaken some level of fossil fuel subsidy reform since 2015,” the report says, “fossil fuel subsidies remained in place in at least 112 countries in 2017, with at least 73 countries providing subsidies of more than USD 100 million each.” Globally, that is “about double the estimated support for renewable power generation,” the report says. And that’s just direct subsidies. As my colleague Umair Irfan reported, a recent paper from the IMF estimates total fossil fuel subsidies — both direct, in terms of tax and cash transfers, and indirect, in terms of unpriced environmental damages — reached $5.2 trillion in 2017. And they are concentrated in countries where they will be difficult to root out.

ENERGY INTENSITY IS DECLINING, BUT NOT NEARLY FAST ENOUGH. Every climate model that involves humanity hitting its carbon targets involves rapid declines in “energy intensity,” i.e., the amount of energy used to produce a unit of GDP. In theory, if you can reduce energy intensity fast enough, you can offset the natural rise in energy consumption (from population and economic growth) and even cause total energy demand to decline. In theory, anyway. In reality, global energy intensity has declined just 2.2 percent in the past five years. That has not been enough to offset the rise in global energy demand, which crept up 1.2 percent. Energy intensity is declining at around 0.4 percent a year. To hit midcentury global decarbonization targets, global energy intensity would need to decline by between 4 and 10 percent a year. That means the world needs to accelerate efficiency and electrification rates by about 10 times.

RENEWABLES HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO AND A SHORT TIME TO GET THERE. So what does all this add up to? One (admittedly imperfect) way to mark the progress of renewables is to measure them against total final energy consumption (TFEC), which adds up all energy consumed worldwide. As of 2017, fossil fuels were still providing about 80 percent of humanity’s energy, which is roughly what they’ve been providing for decades. Excluding traditional biomass, with all its problems around clearcutting, monocropping, and competing with food for land, you’re left with about 13 percent plausibly climate-friendly energy (different people may want to exclude other sources as well, but the larger point stands). That 13 percent needs to get to 100 percent, or close to it, by 2050 — which is, you will note, just 30 years away. Thirty years ago, I was 17, listening to heavy metal and drinking wine coolers at barn parties. It doesn’t seem like that long ago.

Why is TFEC a flawed measure? Because a huge, huge chunk of that energy consumption is waste. If you look at a “Sankey diagram” of US energy use, which shows the origin and destination of all energy sources, you’ll see that fully two-thirds of the energy that enters the economy ends up “rejected,” i.e., wasted. That’s because fossil fuel combustion is wasteful. Mining or drilling fossil fuels, transporting them, refining them, burning them, converting them to useful energy, using the energy, disposing of the waste and pollution — at every single stage of that process, there is loss.

Burning fossil fuels, for electricity, heat, or transportation, inherently involves enormous levels of waste. Renewable electricity, which will be the world’s primary energy source if it is to tackle climate change, is simpler. It involves no combustion and fewer conversions generally. Electric motors are simpler than combustion engines, with fewer moving parts, substantially lower maintenance costs, and much higher efficiency. Electrified heating and transportation sectors can be integrated into electricity grid operations, creating system efficiencies.

In short, economies running on renewable electricity will consume less energy because they will waste less energy. They might not consume two-thirds less — waste will never reach zero, and there will be some rebound effect that comes with greater efficiency — but they certainly won’t need to replace the full 80 percent fossil fuels is providing now. And renewable electricity will radically reduce overall energy intensity, even if all it does is substitute for current energy uses. So the task ahead isn’t as daunting as it might appear from that last chart … but it’s still pretty daunting. Even if overall energy demand falls, all renewables will need to grow, rapidly, across all economies. The world’s governments urgently need to look past the sparkly good news in the electricity sector and bear down on heating and transportation, where most of the energy is being consumed. Energy systems need to be rapidly electrified and integrated, which will require policy support at every level. They could start by getting rid of those damn fossil fuel subsidies.

Source: vox

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Safeguard duty

reimbursement may restore returns for 5.4 GW solar projects

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (CERC) recent order entitling the developer of Bhadla solar park project to reimbursement of safeguard duty would set a beneficial precedent for as much as ~5.4 GW of solar projects. Potentially, this can add back 190-220 basis points (bps) to project equity returns. After the safeguard duty was imposed on the import of solar cells and modules on July 30, 2018, equity returns had fallen from the typical 12-15%, affecting investor confidence in the sector.

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he duty cranked up the cost of solar projects by ~15% because the modules, which were largely imported from China, accounted for ~60% of the project cost. Because it was levied after ~5.4 GW projects were auctioned in 2017 and early 2018, it was not factored in by developers, which lowered their returns. While classifying the reimbursement of safeguard duty under ‘Change in Law’ provision, the CERC allowed the developer of the Bhadla solar park project to be compensated by counterparties (including the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd and electricity distribution companies of Rajasthan). If the CERC order becomes a precedent – similar to the sequence of events allowing Goods and Services Tax reimbursements for solar projects – it would come as a shot in the arm for the sector.

Says Manish Gupta, Senior Director, CRISIL Ratings, “To be sure, the incremental returns of 190-220 bps won’t be enough to fully recover what was lost because of more than a year’s delay in the reimbursement order, but it will still be substantial. Continuing interest of solar project developers is a function of how much gets left on the table.”

As per the order, compensation will be in the form of one-time payment.

Alternatively, if both the developer and counterparty agree, then compensation could be on an annuity basis as a percentage of tariff. The payments have to be made within 60 days of the CERC order or submission of claims, whichever is later. Any delay will invoke a penalty as per the terms of the power purchase agreement.

Says Ankit Hakhu, Associate Director, CRISIL Ratings, “Apart from benefiting affected projects, the reimbursement order provides muchneeded clarity by emphasising a definite timeline for payments, and gives preference to the onetime payment mechanism. Such steps will build investor confidence in both the authorities and the regulators, and are essential to the sector’s growth.”

Timely compensatory payments from counterparties are essential to ensure developers do not lose time value of their investments.

Source: crisil

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Solar, Wind, Batteries To Attract $10 Trillion To 2050, But Curbing Emissions Long-Term

Will Require Other Technologies Too 68

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research & Analysis

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Deep declines in wind, solar and battery technology costs will result in a grid nearly half-powered by the two fastgrowing renewable energy sources by 2050, according to the latest projections from BloombergNEF (BNEF). In its New Energy Outlook 2019 (NEO), BNEF sees these technologies ensuring that – at least until 2030 – the power sector contributes its share toward keeping global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.

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ach year, NEO compares the costs of competing energy technologies through a levelized cost of energy analysis. This year, the report finds that, in approximately two-thirds of the world, wind or solar now represent the least expensive option for adding new power-generating capacity. Electricity demand is set to increase 62%, resulting in global generating capacity almost tripling between 2018 and 2050. This will attract $13.3 trillion in new investment. NEO starts by analyzing technology trends and fuel prices to build a least cost view of the changing electricity sector. The results show coal’s role in the global power mix falling from 37% today to 12% by 2050 while oil as a power-generating source is virtually eliminated. Wind and solar grow from 7% of generation today to 48% by 2050. The contributions of hydro, natural gas, and nuclear remain roughly level on a percentage basis.

Matthias Kimmel, NEO 2019 lead analyst, said: “Our power system analysis reinforces a key message from previous New Energy Outlooks – that solar photovoltaic modules, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries are set to continue on aggressive cost reduction curves, of 28%, 14% and 18% respectively for every doubling in global installed capacity. By 2030, the energy generated or stored and dispatched by these three technologies will undercut electricity generated by existing coal and gas plants almost everywhere.”

The projected growth of renewables through 2030 indicates that many nations can follow a path for the next decade and a half that is compatible with keeping the increase in world temperatures to 2 degrees or less. And they can do this without introducing additional direct subsidies for existing technologies such as solar and wind.

The days when direct supports such as feed-in tariffs are needed are coming to an end,” said Elena Giannakopoulou, head of energy economics at BNEF. “Still, to achieve this level of transition and de-carbonization, other policy changes will be required – namely, the reforming of power markets to ensure wind, solar, and batteries are remunerated properly for their contributions to the grid. NEO is fundamentally policy-agnostic, but it does assume that markets operate rationally and fairly to allow lowest-cost providers to win.

Europe will decarbonize its grid the fastest with 92% of its electricity supplied by renewables in 2050. Major Western European economies in particular are already on a trajectory to significantly decarbonize thanks to carbon pricing and strong policy support. The U.S., with its abundance of low-priced natural gas, and China, with its modern fleet of coal-fired plants, follow at a slower pace. China sees its power sector emissions peaking in 2026, and then falling by more than half in the next 20 years. Asia’s electricity demand will more than double to 2050. At $5.8 trillion, the whole Asia Pacific region will account for almost half of all new capital spent globally to meet that rising demand. China and India together are a $4.3 trillion investment opportunity. The U.S. will see $1.1 trillion invested in new power capacity, with renewables more than doubling its generation share, to 43% in 2050. The outlook for global emissions and keeping temperature increases to 2 degrees or less is mixed, according to this year’s NEO. On the one hand, the build-out of solar, wind and batteries will put the world on a path that is compatible with these objectives at least until 2030.

On the other hand, a lot more will need to be done beyond that date to keep the world on that 2 degree path. One reason is that wind and solar will be capable of reaching 80% of the electricity generation mix in a number of countries by mid-century, with the help of batteries, but going beyond that will be difficult and will require other technologies to play a part – with nuclear, biogas-to-power, green hydrogen-to-power and carbon capture and storage among the contenders.

NEO 2019 is the result of a detailed study of the outlook for energy demand and supply, country-by-country, conducted by 65 BNEF analysts around the world. It draws on BNEF’s market-leading work on the evolving economics of different generation sources.

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Source: bloomberg.net

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technology

What Is the Smart I-V

Curve Diagnosis 3.0?

In 2019, Huawei launched the AI Boost Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis 3.0, integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in the field of solar operation and maintenance (O&M) for the first time. The solution uses smart photovoltaic (PV) inverters to scan PV strings to obtain the relationship (I-V curve) between the output voltage and output current. The smart PV management system performs big data-based analysis on the I-V curve of PV modules, applies AI smart diagnosis algorithms, identifies faulty strings accurately, and outputs a diagnosis report. Through AI self-learning, the solution is accumulating I-V experience and optimizing fault models, transferring O&M of solar PV into the AI era.

WHAT PROBLEMS CAN SMART I-V CURVE DIAGNOSIS 3.0SOLVE? It is fully proved that PV module faults are the key factor that affecting the energy yield of PV plants. PV module faults at early, middle, and late stages differ greatly. Manual inspection and traditional supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) cannot accurately locate the root cause of the faults. Traditional I-V detection is offline detection that requires site visits with devices carried. A 100 Mega Watt (MW) PV plant, for example, has tens of thousands PV modules and covers an area equivalent to 300 football fields. As a result, not all PV modules can be scanned. Moreover, generating reports manually is error-prone and time-consuming.

Increasing PV application scenarios, complex terrain, as well as the advent of new types of PV modules such as bifacial PV modules all impede manual detection and raise the costs.

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Huawei Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis 3.0 changes the traditional manual sampling detection. The system performs full detection on all PV modules. It takes only 15 minutes to scan a 100 MW PV plant and automatically generate a detection report covering 14 types of faults. The solution applies to a wide variety of PV scenarios, such as large-scale ground, distributed, and residential PV plants. The detection is completed online, sparing the personnel of site visits. This greatly improves the O&M efficiency of PV plants in the entire life cycle and reduces the O&M cost. Compared with monofacial PV modules, bifacial ones, affected by weather and ground conditions, suffer the mismatch effect more. Due to the uneven irradiation on the rear side of bifacial PV modules and ground reflected diffuse, the accuracy requirement of the I-V detection is higher. Besides, the incurred current mismatch should not be simply considered as faults.

Through AI self-learning, Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis 3.0 further adapts with bifacial PV modules, improves the recognition accuracy of bifacial modules' model, and accurately identifies mismatches caused by shading and PV module faults.

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APPLICATION OF SMART I-V CURVE DIAGNOSIS Recognized and highly appraised by customers worldwide, Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis has been deployed globally in large-scale ground, distributed industrial and commercial rooftop, residential rooftop, mountain, floating, solar-agricultural, and solar-fishery PV plants with a scale of over 5 GW by now.

It is certified onsite by TÜV Rheinland that Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis has the data precision up to 0.5%. A 100 MW smart PV plant in Golmud, Qinghai witnessed the 15-minute detection for all PV strings with 100% accuracy.

In a 50 MW Indian ground PV plant, Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis was used to scan 9,689 PV strings with 569 ones detected as faulty.

The fault rate was 5.87%. Based on the Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis report, O&M personnel had a detailed understanding of the health status of each PV array, which facilitated targeted site maintenance. If all the faults are fixed, the power generation of this plant will increase significantly. AI technology has promoted industrial upgrading and transformation.

The renewable energy industry has ushered in a rapid development period of digital transformation. In the field of PV plant O&M, Huawei will take advantage of its innovative technology and extensive experience to greatly improve O&M efficiency, reduce O&M costs, and improve the operating efficiency of the entire life cycle of PV plants.

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Ambitious plans vs. complex challenges. Will India realize its energy potential?

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India has some of the world’s most ambitious renewable energy targets, and the country’s policymakers and utilities are striving to deliver on those goals.

When established industries are disrupted, it’s often emerging markets — unhindered by legacy systems — that adapt to change the quickest. This transformation is clear in India, where the government has announced ambitious plans to achieve 227 GW of renewable energy capacity addition by 2022.1 Digital technologies, a more empowered consumer and the proliferation of renewable, distributed generation are driving fundamental changes.

owering the world’s fastest growing economy This push for a cleaner energy supply comes against a backdrop of massive economic and demographic change. India’s population is growing fast and by 2025 is expected to overtake China as the world’s biggest, with more people than ever living in urban areas. This, along with the world’s fastest economic growth, is forecast to quadruple India’s demand for electricity by 2050. As demand for reliable power soars, India’s Modi government has set a target of 100% electrification by 2022 and is modernizing and extending the electricity grid to all of the country’s villages — a goal that the prime minister announced had been reached ahead of schedule in April 2018.

TIPPING POINTS TO A NEW ENERGY SYSTEM It’s these drivers that have combined to accelerate the transformation of India’s energy sector. In fact, EY teams and a leading global analyst house have calculated exactly when three critical milestones will change the country’s energy market forever: India’s tipping points on the journey to energy transformation are expected to come later than those calculated for other regions (Oceania 2021; Europe 2022; US 2031; China 2031, if fuel subsidies are phased out). Understanding this timing requires examining India’s current energy picture. While the government is committed to prioritizing renewables, India’s soaring demand for power means that coal and natural gas will continue to sit alongside clean sources in India’s energy mix for some time. India’s total demand for coal is expected to double from current levels by 2050, though the rise of renewables will see a sharp shift in the country’s energy mix. While the Modi government acknowledges that coal will have an ongoing role in India’s energy mix for some time, it is also committed to limiting its expansion, announcing that coal capacity will remain at current levels, with little additions.

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And, in further support of renewables, in June, India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced a new renewable purchase obligation (RPO) that sets mandated targets for renewable power use in each of India’s 29 states. The RPO may soon be updated to include storage obligations, and plans are already underway to add significant battery storage capacity at specific power plants to support the use of solar energy. As batteries play a bigger part in India’s energy mix, moves are underway to build the country’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility, using technology developed by local scientists.

OVERCOMING MAJOR CHALLENGES TO TRANSFORMATION If current momentum in solar and battery technologies continues or accelerates, tipping point 1 — grid parity — could be within reach for India even before 2033. But, major challenges remain if the country is to transform its energy sector, including the following...

Infrastructure upgrades of India’s power sector are urgently needed. The outdated electricity grid experiences high losses and frequent outages, both of which are exacerbated by the inability of current technology to communicate problems in real time.

Modernizing the grid must be the sector’s top priority to improve efficiency, bring power to the millions of Indians still living without electricity and reduce the energy losses that are draining utilities’ finances. Only then can work begin to prepare for the future integration of both conventional and renewable power into the grid.

Creation of a national energy market, supported by policies and regulatory frameworks, will be critical to bring India’s 29 states in line with federal intentions. There are currently no common standards for open market trading between states, and even energy retail prices differ. There are also key questions to ask regarding how to incentivize utilities to better manage existing contracts.

Government stability: Much of India’s progress in the transformation of its energy sector has been driven by Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to clean power. With the government getting re-elected for another five-year term, the sector is expected to maintain momentum.

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Policy certainty and frameworks can maximize the potential of India’s enthusiasm for renewable technologies. For example, much has been speculated about India’s goals for batteries to maximize renewables, but no incentives or regulations have been finalized to support storage.

The financial stress of utilities, particularly distribution companies, limits their ability to invest in critical infrastructure updates and digital grid capabilities or explore alternative business streams. This funding challenge will need to be addressed, including through tariff reforms that bring the cost of electricity in line with actual costs. Serious consideration should also be given to opening the market to retail competition.

5 THINGS INDIAN UTILITIES CAN DO NOW Whether it’s in 2033 or sooner, grid parity is coming and is only the first milestone on the Indian utilities’ journey to a completely new energy market. Are energy companies ready?

We see many in denial or moving too slowly to seize the potential of changes. As India’s energy market attracts more foreign players, domestic utilities will need to make critical changes to their operating model and culture if they are to survive and thrive: Become digitally enabled to equip them with the capabilities they need to operate in the energy future. As most Indian utilities are financially constrained, budgets will need to be carefully directed to those digital capabilities with the potential to deliver the greatest value, such as asset health analytics and blockchain for peer-to-peer trading.

Review business models to enable growth in a changing sector.

Instead of trying to artificially block the changes that are coming to the sector, utilities should consider how playing a bigger role in transformation could generate alternative revenue. For example, following Prime Minister Modi’s September 2018 announcement of a target of having EVs make up 15% of the country’s vehicles within five years, several utilities have already announced plans to invest in EV charging infrastructure. Others may explore unlocking value in battery storage deployment, as more Indian states actively pursue this technology.

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For example, the Solar Energy Corporation of India has recently issued tenders for solar power projects supported by batteries in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. There also may be opportunities for utilities to shift their business models to adapt to the rise of the Indian electricity prosumer — introducing new behind-the-meter offerings, such as connected homes and EV charging.

Consider different capital strategies to fund change. More innovative financing mechanisms will be needed if cash-strapped utilities are to generate the capital to fund future investments. Some companies may consider rethinking their capital agenda to free up more funds, while others may want to pursue external funding from government programs or global multilateral organizations, such as the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Companies will also need to prioritize where to allocate resources — to modernize the grid, integrate distributed generation or invest in new business streams.

Assess capability gaps. As well as the need to be digitally enabled, utilities will need to consider whether they have the additional capabilities needed, particularly in creating compelling customer experiences. The rise of the Indian electricity prosumer, driven by rising awareness and competitive prices, will call on utilities to rethink engagement with customers around billing, metering and new energy management solutions. Companies may consider how to best retrain current employees or recruit new talent to fill gaps.

Change the mindset. Most importantly, utilities need to recognize that change is coming. The sooner they begin to adapt to change, the more capable they will be of seizing its potential.

SEIZING THE POTENTIAL OF INDIA’S ENERGY FUTURE It’s hard to find a more dynamic energy market than India’s. The pace of change there is dizzying, as governments and utilities scramble to meet the electricity demands of a growing, increasingly urbanized and economically empowered population. While EY teams have forecast the first tipping point of the energy transformation to hit a little later in India than in other regions, there is the potential for the milestone to come earlier, if the government can back its ambition with supporting policies, regulations and investments.

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LUBI To Solarize The World’s Biggest Cricket Stadium

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The Sardar Patel Stadium, well known as the “Motera” Cricket Stadium is currently under an overhaul. The stadium, built in 1982, catered a seating capacity of 54,000 seats until 2015, before going under the hammer. The stadium, being pipped as a ‘dream project’ shall boast of a seating capacity of over 1 lakh, overtaking MCG as the worlds largest stadium.

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he stadium spread over 63 acres of land has been designed to manage huge crowds, with parking areas capable of handling around 3000 cars and 10,000 two wheelers. The stadium shall house four dressing rooms, clubhouse equipped with 55 rooms and an gargantuan swimming pool. The project intends to utilize sustainable power at all levels.

Currently, the stadium premise shall house a solar power plant to feed its key utilities. LUBI Solar shall undertake the supply and commissioning of the proposed solar power house. The power house will utilize solar panels manufactured at LUBI’s state-of-art manufacturing unit in Gandhinagar. The power house will be erected in line with global renewable energy standards to derive optimum performance and hassle free operation.

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The project erecting the world’s largest stadium has a sanctioned load capacity of around 4 MW with a proposed backup of around 3 MW. Using renewable energy sources to power key utilities in the stadium is expected to take out load on the traditional power suppliers, at the same time ensuring access to clean and cost effective power. The world class multifacility stadium is being re-erected by Larson & Toubro and is expected to complete around the end of the year 2019.

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technology

Single-Crystal MAPbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells Exceeding 21% Power Conversion Efficiency Twenty-micrometer-thick single-crystal methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI3) perovskite (as an absorber layer) grown on a charge-selective contact using a solution spacelimited inverse-temperature crystal growth method yields solar cells with power conversion efficiencies reaching 21.09% and fill factors of up to 84.3%. These devices set a new record for perovskite single-crystal solar cells and open an avenue for achieving high fill factors in perovskite solar cells

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n the past few years alone, hybrid metal halide perovskite materials have revolutionized the field of low-temperature-processed solar cells, providing devices with power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) that compete with the most established decades-old commercial photovoltaic technologies. To date, studies on perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have principally been on polycrystalline film PSCs (Pc-PSCs).

The record efficiency for Pc-PSCs, currently at 24.2% PCE,(1) is still far from their theoretical Shockley–Queisser limit (SQL), which is ~30.5% PCE for a single-junction cell based on methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI3).(2) To approach the SQL, it is essential to improve the device’s fill factor (FF) (FF ≈ 90% in the SQL for MAPbI3 PSCs),(2) which contributes to the overall PCE. The FF is perhaps the most challenging figure of merit to improve for Pc-PSCs because losses in FF are mainly governed by the ideality factor that is related to nonradiative bulk and interface carrier recombination.(3−5) Despite marked efforts in improving the FF, polycrystalline thin films have significant parasitic nonradiative carrier recombination due to their inherent grain size and surface defects.(6,7). In theory, single-crystal perovskites, with their orders of magnitude lower defect density and higher carrier diffusion lengths compared to their polycrystalline counterparts,(8−11) offer a chance for PSC technology to overcome the limitation of polycrystalline thin films and get as close as practical to the SQL.(12)

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Unfortunately, because of the challenges with their thickness control and typically device-incompatible solution-growth conditions, only a handful of groups have led the charge in the development of singlecrystal-based PSCs (SC-PSCs). SC-PSCs reached their highest (PCE of 17.8% with FF of 78.6%) in a 2017 report by Huang and co-workers.(13) Here, we realize highly efficient SC-PSCs with PCEs reaching 21.09% and FFs of up to 84.3% (under 1 sun illumination AM 1.5G).

These devices, based on a ~20 μm thick MAPbI3 single-crystal absorber layer in an inverted p-i-n architecture, set a new record for SC-PSC PCE and a new benchmark for potential FFs that PSCs should aim for, which Pc-PSCs have struggled to achieve. The crystals were grown using a simple solution space-limited inverse-temperature crystal growth method (see the Supporting Information).(13,14) The crystal structure and optical absorption edge of these crystals are that of typical MAPbI3 single crystals (see Figures S1 and S2). A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) cross-sectional image of the MAPbI3 SC-PSC (Figure 1a) shows that the active area is pinhole- and grain boundary-free (see also top-view SEM image of the crystal, Figure S3). The smooth surface allows for the full coverage of the charge transport layers, preventing direct crystal-to-metal-electrode contact.

The device follows an ITO/poly(triarylamine) (PTAA)/MAPbI3 single-crystal/C60/bathocuproine (BCP)/copper (Cu) architecture with the corresponding energy band diagram illustrated in Figure 1b. The crystal thickness in devices is typically around 20 μm (see distribution in Figure S4).

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Characterization of SC-PSCs. (a) Cross-sectional SEM image of a MAPbI3 SC-PSCs. Note that the few nanometer-thick transporting layers at the crystal’s two interfaces are not visible at such magnification. (b) Energy-level diagram for SC-PSCs. (c) J–V curves of the champion cell in forward- (orange) and reverse-scan (blue) modes and the corresponding photovoltaic parameters under 1 sun illumination. (d) EQE spectra with the integrated JSC of the champion cell. (e) Steady-state photocurrent and PCE output at maximum power point with 0.93 V bias for the champion cell. (f) Statistical summary, based on 12 devices, of the photovoltaic parameters of SC-PSCs. Figure 1c shows the current– voltage characteristics of our best performing cell. The reverse-scan short-circuit current density (JSC), open-circuit voltage (VOC), and FF are 23.46 mA·cm–2, 1.076 V, and 83.5%, respectively, yielding a PCE of 21.09% with negligible hysteresis. The corresponding external quantum efficiency (EQE) and integrated JSC are shown in Figure 1d. To exclude the effect of any potential error in aperture area determination, the JSC of the champion device was verified and corrected from the integrated current calculated from the EQE. The calculated JSC from the EQE measurement was only 1.2% lower than that obtained by an I–V scan for the device, which is within the expected error of solar cell J–V measurements. The steady-state maximum power output (SPO) of the champion cell (Figure 1e) shows that the PCE reaches over 21% during the first 10 s of measurement and then stabilizes at ~20.7% for over 120 s, consistent with the J–V measurement (Figure 1c). A statistical summary of the device characteristics (Figure 1f) attests to the reproducibility of the fabricated cells and their outstanding performance. It is useful to emphasize the experimental precautions, during fabrication and testing, required to achieve the dramatic increase in device performance. First, any spincoating post-treatment that includes a solvent that might dissolve the charge-transporting layer beneath the active layer was avoided to ensure proper attachment of the single crystal. Second, fabrication, storage, and testing of the devices were conducted in a nitrogen-filled environment to prevent interface hydration that might lead to poor contacts.

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We observed that efficient SC-PSCs can drastically decrease in performance when measured under ambient conditions (22 °C, 50–55 RH); in particular, the JSC markedly decreases while the VOC and FF are largely unaffected (see Figures S5 and S6). Note that when the devices are kept under dry air, the performance does not change significantly (see Figure S7). Interestingly, the devices fully recovered after storage in N2 for ~48 h, suggesting that the decrease is unrelated to perovskite degradation but likely a result of hydration of the single crystal’s surface, leading to poor contacts with the transporting layers.(12,15) Our devices exhibit ultrahigh FFs (FFaverage = 82.6% and FFmax = 84.3%; Figure 1f). Our best fabricated, analogous architecture Pc-PSC and SC-PSC have similar VOC; yet despite the higher JSC of the Pc-PSC, the PCE of the SC-PSC ends up being on top because of its superior FF (see Figure S8). We confirmed that the higher FF is not a consequence of the mask area: even when the mask area is small, the Pc-PSC FF barely reaches 80%, which is still below that of SC-PSCs (Figure S9).

In summary, we fabricated MAPbI3 SC-PSCs with PCEs reaching 21.09%, which sets a new efficiency benchmark for SC-PSCs. While there is still room for larger-area SCPSCs(16) and substantial interfacial optimization, the high PCE and FF highlight the promise of single crystals for advancing perovskite device technology, which could be a parallel development path to the one taken by their polycrystalline counterparts.

Source: pubs.acs.org

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PR DUCTS Waaree Energies’ Bifacial solar modules to increase output by 30%

In the recent wake of the US administration exempting bifacial panels from tariffs, Waaree Energies Ltd, India’s leading EPC player and largest solar PV manufacturer, has launched their very own bifacial solar modules namely Super 400 Pro. Considered to be a disruptor in the Indian solar industry, the innovate solution is expected to increase the solar generation output by 30%, which in-turn is likely to generate additional solar credit through the net metering policies and thus, reduce the cost of operations by 5~15%. With the potential to absorb sun rays from both sides, the module is being indigenously developed at Gujarat. The product is designed with enhanced focus on the rooftop and the utility scale market, where-in maximized output in moderate conditions is a vital aspect for efficiency.

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he bifacial modules enable more absorption of incident light on both sides of the modules, thus eliminating the redundancy of tradition mono-facial panels. The enhanced performance of bifacial modules is also the result of a reduced internal temperature in the module. The solution will also provide cost benefit to the developers and in-turn the end consumer. With product innovation at its core, the module has been indigenously developed to take a step further towards India’s 175GW renewable target.

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Sunil Rathi, Director, Waaree Energies said,“With significant cost benefits, the Super 400 Pro modules are witnessing a significant demand in the utility segment of the US markets. we expect demand from both, the CIN and residential segment. Moreover, through our robust network of 270+ franchise units across the country, we plan to make these modules available across the entire country in the time to come. Our acclaimed post-sales service coupled with our years of experience in the O&M segment, is bound to provide an added advantage to our partners.”

Due to the diversity in topography and climatic conditions in India, albedo varies vastly from place to place, and with mono-facial modules, the reflected light from the ground tends to increase the internal temperature of the module resulting in lower productivity of the module. This phenomenon hampers the need for maximized output in limited spaces, making bifacial modules a necessity in the rooftop segment. With a year-on-year growth of 66% in 2018 in the rooftop segment, Waaree expects the bifacial module to become the next disruption that propels further growth for the company.

Source: waaree

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