EQ Magazine Nov 2016 Edition

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Solar inverter solutions starting from 3kW up to 1MW. We also provide remote monitoring solutions, including SCADA and reverse power flow controllers.

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TRENDS & ANALYSIS

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C ONTEN T

VOLUME 8 Issue # 11

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FEATURED Modi Said to Plan $3.1 Billion Boost for India’s Solar Factories

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RESEARCH

BUSINESS & FINANCE

IEA raises its five-year renewable growth forecast as 2015 marks record year

MYSUN Receives a Funding of $2.5 Million; Hemant Taneja Joins the Company’s Board

12 BUSINESS & FINANCE European Companies’ Statement Calling For An End To Trade Measures On Solar Modules And Cells

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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 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,Non-Commercial use, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices.If you want to use material for any non-personel,non commercial purpose,you need written permission from EQ International.

INDIA Hartek Power bags 460-MW solar EPC orders in first half of 2016-17, records 373% growth in order size

INDIA Suzlon and Ostro Energy join hands for 50 MW solar project in Telangana

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48 ROOFTOP & OFFGRID Electricity From Sun To Un-Electrified Power Starved Remote Villages Rays Efforts To Bring In Solar Revolution In Remote Hamlets Of India

with Li Xiande, Jinko Solar’s Chairman

PV MANUFACTURING

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Panasonic Begins Discussions on Collaboration with Tesla Motors in Photovoltaic Cell and Module Production

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FEATURED Mistry Counters Tata’s Claim on Welspun Buy

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Financing India’s Clean Energy Transition

Central Asian Countries Identify $94 Billion Energy Investment Needs to 2023

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ACHIEVEMENTS

BUSINESS & FINANCE

POLICY & REGULATIONS

JinkoSolar Recognized as One of Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies

Discom Losses To Nearly Halve By Fiscal 2019 On Reforms

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SOLAR ROOFTOP & OFFGRID 125 KWp Solar PV Plant @ Wagh-Bakri Tea Company By Topsun Energy Ltd.

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ACHIEVEMENTS Mytrah Energy Reaches One Gigawatt Milestone

SOLAR INVERTERS KACO new energy accelerates the energy turnaround in Thailand in India

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

CLIMATE CHANGE

ROOFTOP SOLAR

Google Earth images shed light on where solar rooftop’s make sense

Why the Paris Agreement on climate change means the END OF COAL

Carlsberg, Alwar India’s First Brewery To Go Solar Safety First Working On Curved Dome Roofs

36 INTERVIEW With Ketan Mehta C.E.O., Rays Power Infra (P) Ltd.

NEWS & ANALYSIS Pg-8-34 PRODUCT Pg-89

Huawei is a global leader of ICT solutions. Continuously innovating based on customer needs, we are committed to enhancing customer experiences and creating maximum value. With annual sales revenue of 60.8 billion USD in 2015.

On the 2015 Global PV Inverter Shipment List released by international authoritative insutitutions IHS and GTM research, Huawei Smart PV Solution is ranked No.1 in shipment.

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November 2016

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India

Hartek Power bags 460-MW solar EPC orders in first half of 2016-17, records 373% growth in order size

Cruising to its target of connecting 500-MW solar projects to the grid in 2016-17, Hartek Power, one of India’s fastest growing Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies based in Chandigarh, has bagged 460-MW solar EPC orders already in the first half of the current financial year, thus registering a steep increase of 373% over last year when the company had secured just 123-MW orders.

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he 460-MW solar EPC orders bagged by the company include 16 substation projects of up to 132 KV spread across six states, including Punjab, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Specialising in executing high-voltage turnkey substations and power infrastructure projects, Hartek Power will provide complete turnkey solutions for these projects and execute post-inverter works covering the design, engineering, supply, installation, automation and commissioning of the power plant electrification.

“Aggressively capitalising on India’s solar overdrive, we have prevailed over many big competitors to bag these orders.

Given the favourable market scenario, the proactive approach of the government is pushing solar power and our unmatched expertise in connecting solar projects to the grid, we will in fact exceed the 500-MW target quite smoothly. Known for our commitment to quality and timely execution of projects, which has won us the trust and admiration of key developers in the Indian solar space, we will not take up any order unless we are sure about delivering it in time with no compromise on quality whatsoever.”

- Mr. Hartek Singh, (CMD) Hartek Power 10

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November 2016

NTPC Group targets 50,000 MW installed capacity by March 2017 State-owned NTPC Group is gearing up to cross the milestone of over 50,000 MW installed power generation capacity by March-end 2017 with expected addition of over 4,630 MW.

.“The NTPC Group, including its joint ventures and other subsidiaries, will have over 50,000 MW of installed power generation capacity by the end of this fiscal.”

A Senior Power Ministry Official Said,

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he NTPC Group has an installed power generation capacity of 47,228 MW, which includes 800 MW of hydro and 360 MW of solar energy.

“Even if there is some slippage in capacity addition, the NTPC Group as a whole will cross the milestone of 50,000 MW by March-end 2017,” the official said.The company is expected to commission 550 MW of solar power project at Mandsaur, Ananthapuram and Badhla. Besides, thermal power generation capacities at Kudgi (1600 MW), Bogaigaon (250 MW), Mauda (660 MW), Solapur (660 MW), Nabinagar (250 MW JV) and Meja (660 MW JV) are in line for commissioning by March-end next year. Various projects with an aggregate capacity of around 24,000 MW are under implementation at 23 locations across the country. This includes 4,050 MW being undertaken by joint ventures and subsidiary companies. Out of the total capacity under implementation, 1,329 MW is based on diversified sources of renewable energy.The company is quickly moving towards its ambition of achieving a solar portfolio of 10 GW out of the 100 GW target of the government by 2022. Over 1,700 MW renewable energy projects of the company are under execution.

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india

Suzlon Partners with Unisun Energy for 15 MW Solar Project in Telangana

Suzlon Group, one of the leading renewable energy solutions providers in the world, recently announced a joint venture with the Unisun Energy Group for the development and construction of a 15 MW Solar PV Project located at Bhainsa, Adilabad District, Telangana.

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ccording to the contract signed between Suzlon Group and the Unisun Energy Group on August 22, 2016, the Unisun Energy Group shall acquire a 49% stake in Vayudoot Solarfarms Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set-up by Suzlon for executing this project. Unisun Energy has the option to acquire the balance of the 51% stake in the SPV in the future in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations. The off-taker of the Vayudoot project will be the Telangana State Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSNPDCL).

Suzlon will be responsible for project commissioning and to provide comprehensive operation and maintenance services for a period of 25 years. The project is expected to be commissioned in the financial year 2017 (FY17).

Suzlon won solar projects of 210 MW in Telangana through a competitive bidding process and the PPAs for the same were signed in February, 2016. These include one project of 100 MW, one of 50 MW and four projects of 15 MW each.

“The renewable energy sector has transitioned from alternate to mainstream source of energy. Solar complements our existing strengths, infrastructure and experience in wind and we will leverage the same for executing solar projects. We look forward to work collaboratively with Unisun Energy Limited and contribute towards promoting green energy.”

- Mr. J.P. Chalasani, Group CEO, Suzlon “The renewable energy sector has transitioned from alternate to mainstream source of energy. Solar complements our existing strengths, infrastructure and experience in wind and we will leverage the same for executing solar projects. We look forward to work collaboratively with Unisun Energy Limited and contribute towards promoting green energy.”

- Mr. Peng Hao, CEO, Unisun Energy Group

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India

Suzlon and Canadian Solar partner for 30 MW solar projects in Telangana Suzlon Group, one of the leading renewable energy solutions providers in the world, recently announced a joint venture with Canadian Solar, one of the world’s largest solar energy companies, for two solar projects of 15 MW each at the sites of Ramannapet and Kamareddy, Telangana.

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anadian Solarshall acquire 49% stake in Avighna Solarfarms Limited and Amun Solarfarms Limited, the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) setup by Suzlon for executing these projects. Canadian Solar shall provide its top tier solar PV modules , arrange project financing and contribute its technology expertise to ensure the commissioning of these projects in the financial year 2017 (FY17). The offtaker of Ramannapet project will be Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited and for Kamareddy project will be Telangana Northern Power Distribution Company Limited. Suzlon will be responsible for project commissioning and to provide comprehensive operation and maintenance services for a period of 25 years.

Suzlon won solar projects of 210 MW in Telangana through a competitive bidding process and the PPAs for the same were signed in February, 2016. These include one project of 100 MW, one of 50 MW and four projects of 15 MW each.

“Canadian Solar is pleased to partner with Suzlon for the development of 30 MW solar power projects in Telangana. These projects mark our first investment in the Indian solar sector and shall contribute to our global pipeline of 2.4 GW of projects in late-stage development.”

- Mr. Steve Iyer, Vice President (Operations), Canadian Solar

“Suzlon aims to aid green energy requirement by delivering sustainable and affordable energy to all. We are thankful to Canadian Solar for the confidence reposed in Suzlon and its technology. For Suzlon, this is a step forward towards developing environment friendly energy sources, underscoring its commitment towards the Government’s target of setting up 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2022.”

- Mr. J.P. Chalasani, Group CEO, Suzlon

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Gamesa lands its largest ever solar order in India: 130 MW for Atria Power Gamesa has entered into an agreement with Indian developer Atria Power for the EPC construction of 130 MW of solar power at two developments located in the regions of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, in southern India.

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t is the largest solar order received by Gamesa since it entered this sector in India last year.

Under the terms of this EPC contract, Gamesa will develop two solar power plants, with capacity of 90 MW and 40 MW. The company will be responsible for the design and engineering of the facilities and the procurement of 96 E1.37 MW photovoltaic inverters, to be made by Gamesa Electric.

These will be the most powerful inverters installed in India to date. Gamesa has also been mandated to handle operations and maintenance at the facilities. The projects are slated for commissioning in March 2017.

“This contract marks a fresh milestone in our strategy in the solar power segment in India. Here at Gamesa we continue to strive to offer our customers unrivalled solutions, by leveraging our know-how developing and managing renewable energy projects and our competitive local supply chain.”

- Mr. Ramesh Kymal, Gamesa’s CEO in India

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If things never change, what would happened to the world?

This is a television of 30 years ago.

R&D, science and technology give life to innovation and evolution. Innovation always brings technological improvements, while evolution is necessary to reach the best results.

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

European Companies’ Statement Calling For An End To Trade Measures On Solar Modules And Cells The signatories to A letter, representing 403 companies from 28 Member States, believe that the minimum import price (MIP), anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on cells and modules from China should be removed immediately.

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he measures are having the unforeseen consequence of negatively impacting the entire European solar value chain to the detriment of jobs, investment and solar deployment in Europe. A policy that was designed to help the few has failed to do so, only serving to harm the very many right across the EU. Despite the global boom in solar power, Europe today holds a worryingly small and shrinking percentage of the annual market.

At a time when the European solar market has declined, the sector is in need of measures that will boost demand and not these trade measures which increase cost to our customers, consumers and energy bill payers.

The measures have had unforeseen consequences on our companies, leading to job losses and reduced opportunity in the solar market due to increased costs.

With module prices at an artificially high level, all our companies suffer from the dual impact of higher prices and the impact these prices have on demand.

The European Commission and Member States need to end the measures now to accelerate the date by which this industry can grow sustainably without the need for support mechanisms. The trade measures add to the cost of solar and are contributing to slowing down its deployment. The measures add 100,000s Euros of cost to installations in the region of 10MW and above and around 1000 Euros to household installations. With tenders for large scale solar being driven by price, the

trade measures are ensuring that the potential of solar is not being fulfilled in Europe, contrary to the EUs wider renewable energy targets and goals. To return sustainable growth to our sector, to see jobs come back to our companies and to see the value of solar grow in Europe again, the trade measures must go. We call on you to make a responsible decision and act in the interest of the European Union and end the trade measures on solar modules and cells immediately.

Solar Frontier surpasses 4GW of module shipments, increasing shipment areas by 11 countries to almost 60 countries Solar Frontier announced recently that total cumulative shipments of its CIS thin-film solar panels have surpassed 4GW, now reaching approximately 60 countries around the world.

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ome of the 11 new countries that have had approximately 1GW of modules shipped over the last year include Norway, Somalia, and Mongolia.This accomplishment is the result of Solar Frontier’s CIS thin-film solar panels boasting the advantages of delivering outstanding power generation capabilities and economical and environmental advantages in real-working conditions – even in high temperatures or in partial shading – as well as having the “Made in Japan” seal of quality that domestic and overseas customers can place their trust in. Solar Frontier regularly

receives high evaluations as a trustworthy supplier for its maintenance and management services.

Sustaining this shipping has been Solar Frontier’s Kunitomi plant (with a nominal annual production capacity of 900MW) which started commercial production in 2011 and has been fully operational since then. At the same time, through Solar Frontier’s continual efforts to advance the performance of its panels, the Kunitomi Plant this month started manufacturing solar panels with an output of 175W as a main product.

In November 2016 the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) will be held in Morocco, ahead of the Paris agreement coming into effect, and

commitment to global climate change will attract even more attention. Solar Frontier, by delivering its CIS thin-film solar panels all over the world, will continue to contribute to the struggle against global warming.

November 2016

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

IEEFA Global: A $51 Billion Gap (and a $51 Billion Opportunity) in BRICS Nations’ Renewable Energy Development While some $130 billion was invested last year in renewable-energy development in the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—billions more are required if these countries are to meet their commitments to climate-change mitigation policies.

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he four countries, in all, have announced goals that will require an annual investment over the next few years of $177 billion. As the chart here shows, there’s a gap between what’s being spent and what is required.

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We see important stakes being taken by development banks that include the New Development Bank (NDB), which really is new. It is a jointly owned and operated bank funded by the five BRICS nations, and this year made its first loans.

Such efforts aren’t enough, though, and in a research brief we just posted, we note the importance of privatepublic partnerships, or “blended finance.”

Under the “blended finance” model, public capital can catalyze much larger private investment in renewables.

By our lights, every $1 set up through such models to fund infrastructure projects in developing countries and promote sustainable development will draw $4 in private investment.

The caveat is that publicly financed banks like NDB invest appropriately, putting dollars into energy projects that are truly sustainable and that do not rely on outdated fossil-fuel development.

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MYSUN Receives a Funding of $2.5 Million; Hemant Taneja Joins the Company’s Board

Recently launched solar marketplace MYSUN has received an initial funding of $ 2.5 million. This is the first round of funding after the company was founded by Gagan Vermani and two of his colleagues Divyanshu Sachdev and Gyan Prakash Tiwari in September, 2015 to focus on demand creation, technology, big data, analytics and standardization in the non-utility and rooftop solar sector in India.

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This is by far the largest funding received by a company in this new and innovative business segment which is directed towards impacting the rooftop solar industry.

Key Highlights of MYSUN: •

Guided buying options

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Convenient assisted buying

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End to end solutions; Awareness to installation

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A complete unbiased view on who you should choose as your service provider as an aggregator

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Project monitoring and data analytics

Pursuant to this investment, Hemant Taneja, Managing Director at General Catalyst Partners, an American venture capital firm focused on early stage and growth investments, joins the board of MYSUN. In a recent research by CB Insights, Hemant was named as one of the top 100 venture capitalists in the world. He has lead several successful investments including Snapchat, Gusto, Stripe, etc. to name a few. MYSUN plans to utilize Hemant’s deep experience and leadership to drive its aggressive mission to solarize 10 million rooftops in India.

“The potential of off-grid and rooftop solar in India is immense, more so with the falling prices of solar. I am impressed by MYSUN’s unique and innovative approach to drive growth in this sector. With the enthusiastic and experienced team here, I am sure the company will make a huge impact in the solar sector.”

Mr. Hemant Taneja, MD General Catalyst Partners (A Venture Capital Firm) 16

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MYSUN platform aims to change the way solar is perceived, bought and sold in India. It makes it easy for consumers to understand and adopt solar with the help of high-end technology, data, financial products and an online marketplace that connects them to highly-rated pre-screened solar installers to deliver a high quality and best-priced solar system. These pre-screened sellers adhere to strict quality standards prescribed by MYSUN. Moreover, the benefits for consumers don’t stop there as MYSUN stays with the consumers even after the solar systems have been installed and supports them throughout their solar journey.

“We are pleased to announce our first funding of $2.5 million to back our vision. This will help us scale up faster and invest further into technology and infrastructure. We are also delighted to have Hemant Taneja on our board and look forward to gain from his wide experience in scaling up the business.”

Mr. Gagan Vermani, Founder & CEO, MYSUN MYSUN has got immense interest and is seeing increasing momentum amongst the consumers and solar installers since its formal launch just a few weeks back. Moreover, there are a lot of stakeholders like developers, lenders, investors, consultants, architects, etc. who have joined MYSUN to further grow their solar business and to reach out to a vast number of potential customers. It’s advanced and trademark solar calculator MYSUNCalculator is already being run by hundreds of consumers every day across India.

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

Gamesa shareholders representing 99.75% of its share capital ratify the merger with Siemens Wind Power

in Zamudio (Vizcaya) Gamesa held an Extraordinary General Meeting at which its shareholders amply ratified the resolutions needed to close the merger with Siemens Wind Power, specifically casting 99.75% of votes in favour.

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y virtue of this transaction, Gamesa will absorb Siemens’s wind power assets in exchange for newly-issued shares in Gamesa. In the wake of the deal, Siemens will own 59% of the new company, while Iberdrola will retain an 8% interest.The company’s shareholders also approved the distribution of a special cash dividend of €3.591[1] per share (before withholdings), to be paid out by Gamesa after the merger closes. During his speech, Ignacio Martín, Executive Chairman of Gamesa, stressed that the merger will create a world-leading player in the wind industry: “Today’s meeting marks the start of a new era, one that will give Gamesa greater scale, thanks to the merger with Siemens WP, reinforcing it as a global leader in both the

onshore and offshore segments.He also underscored the highly complementary nature of the merger in terms of the two entities’ geographic footprints and product and technology portfolios. He said that the resulting firm would have a truly global reach, with a presence in all the main wind markets and reinforced industrial capabilities on all five continents.

Providing a numerical snapshot of what the resulting company will look like, Gamesa’s Chairman said that the enlarged firm would boast installed worldwide capacity of close to 70 GW, an orderbook valued at €21 billion, revenue of around €10 billion, adjusted EBIT of €915 million and roughly 22,000 employees globally.

Recognition For Gamesa’s Performance This agreement, assured Ignacio Martín, effectively endorses Gamesa’s strengths, noting that in recent years the company had established itself as one of the sector’s most solid firms, climbing to fourth position on the global ranking of onshore original equipment makers (OEMs) compiled by sector specialist MAKE. Gamesa’s excellent business performance has been

echoed in the company’s share price performance.

During the last four years, Gamesa has seen its market capitalisation multiply by a factor of 21: its shares have gone from trading at €1 in July 2012 to €21.44 today[2], marking a gain of over 2,000%, compared to a 52% revaluation in Spain’s benchmark blue chip index, the Ibex 35.

Value Creation Ignacio Martín said during his presentation that “the transaction is not just good for Gamesa, it opens up new horizons for all of our stakeholders. By combining these two highly complementary businesses we will achieve greater geographic reach, a broader portfolio of products, services and solutions and more robust financial solidity”.

“This transaction makes clear and compelling strategic sense in an attractive industry in which size is a key

competitive factor”, underlined Gamesa’s Chairman, robustly expounding the transaction rationale.Lastly, Ignacio Martín sought to emphasise Gamesa’s commitment to maintaining its ties with the Spanish market. The new Gamesa’s registered office will remain in Zamudio and the company’s shares will continue to be traded in Spain; indeed it will emerge as one of the leading industrial stocks in the benchmark Ibex-35 index.

Next Steps Now that the transaction has been approved by Gamesa’s shareholders, the next steps are to secure confirmation from the Spanish securities market regulator (the CNMV)

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of Siemens’s exemption from having to launch a public takeover bid and then obtain authorisation from the antitrust authorities.

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BUSINESS B&F & FINANCE

Central Asian Countries Identify $94 Billion Energy Investment Needs to 2023

Central Asian countries have identified power investment needs of about $94 billion to 2023, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-commissioned study presented at an energy forum in Islamabad. Further, the financing gap that the private sector has to fill in the same period amounts to about $38 billion.

The findings were presented at the 1st Energy Investment Forum (EIF) of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC).

In preparation for the EIF, ADB commissioned a study to identify specific opportunities for private investment in Central Asian countries.

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“Energy is a key component for achieving broad-based and sustainable economic development for not only the CAREC countries but the entire Asia and Pacific region, In order to ensure a secure supply of energy, a substantial amount of investments will be needed over the next 20 to 30 years.”

Mr. Wencai Zhang, ADB Vice-President

he EIF was held to highlight investment opportunities in the CAREC region by bringing together key government officials, project developers/sponsors, project financiers, equipment manufacturers, and engineering, procurement, and construction contractors. More than 150 high-level government officials and business leaders from 10 countries attended.

The main topics discussed included how to introduce policies and incentives in CAREC member countries that support investments in the energy sector. Participants shared experiences on successful investments in the CAREC countries, with selected case studies in CAREC member countries, including Pakistan. They also discussed how development funding can be used to systematically address investment risks and encourage private sector participation in energy projects. The event was organized by ADB and the Private Power Infrastructure Board of Pakistan. The CAREC Program

is a partnership of 10 countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), supported by 6 multilateral institutions, working together to promote development through cooperation. Georgia is set to be admitted as the 11 member. CAREC helps Central Asia and its neighbors realize their significant potential by promoting regional cooperation in four priority areas: transport, trade facilitation, energy, and trade policy.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB in December 2016 will mark 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2015, ADB assistance totaled $27.2 billion, including cofinancing of $10.7 billion.

BRICS need addITIONAL USD51 bln annually to meet renewable targets BRICS countries will require additional annual investment of USD 51 billion on average to meet their current renewable energy capacity addition targets, says a report.

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he Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) today said that overall nearly USD 10 billion would need to come in annually from public finance institutions to channelise sufficient private funds to meet the renewable energy capacity targets of BRICS nations. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa make up the grouping.

”The current renewable energy targets of BRICS countries require an additional annual investment of USD 51 billion on average, which highlights the gap that may be filled by blended finance mechanisms.”

IEEFA said,

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The report has been released ahead of the BRICS Summit this week.IEEFA said there are pockets in the renewable energy space such as residential rooftop segment that are riskier and less attractive for private investments and entities like the New Development Bank (NDB) can play a crucial role in catalysing funds. Overall, BRICS countries have announced targets to add renewable capacity of nearly 500 GW over time horizons ranging from 2020-2030. “Meeting these targets would require an annual investment of around USD 177 billion. In comparison, the investment in the renewable sector in BRICS countries in 2015 was USD 126 billion, leaving an average shortfall of USD 51 billion,” the report said. With respect to India, IEEFA said the country requires around USD 26 billion each year to meet its renewable capacity targets by 2022, including USD 5 billion annually to build a smart grid to handle higher production from renewable sources.

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Structural EPC Solutions Design, Manufacture & Installation of Solar Module Mounting Structures

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November 2016

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

Mumbai: India Green Bonds Council Holds First Meeting: New Group Convened by FICCI and Climate Bonds to Drive Market Development A joint initiative of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Climate Bonds Initiative, the aim of the Council is to bring together a critical mass of senior representatives, drawn from the public and private sector, to propose solutions towards the development of a green bonds market in India.

Who’s On The Council?

The Other Key Findings:

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he Council is composed of a cross-section of senior representation from banking, finance, insurance, investment banks, stock exchanges and public and private sector companies.

The members of the Indian Green Bonds Market Development Council include: • Adani Group, Axis Bank Ltd, Barclays Bank, Bombay Stock Exchange, CDPQ (the Canadian Pension Fund), Climate Bonds Initiative, CLP India, EESL, Exim Bank of India, FICCI, HDFC, HSBC, ICICI Bank, ICICI Prudential, ICRA, IDFC, IFMR Capital, IREDA, Kiran Energy, L&T Financial Services, NTPC, SBI Capital Markets, SBI Life Insurance, Standard Char tered, Tata Cleantech Capital Limited, Trust Group, and Yes Bank.

“FICCI sees a huge potential in unlocking private capital through green bonds. The coverage of green bonds can be quite wide, ranging from clean energy, energy efficiency to water, waste management, sustainable transport and green buildings. The timing is opportune given the huge impetus of the government on sustainable development.”

Rita Roy Choudhury, Senior Director and Head – Environment, Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Water Division, FICCI

Who’s On The Council?

The Council will look to develop and propose solutions around growing green finance and green bonds in India.

The Council will also draft a National Blueprint and provide ongoing guidance to government on green finance directions and market development.

The State Of The Market This first meeting of the Council coincided with the release of the India State of the Market Report, showing that India now ranks 7th internationally for total labelled green bond issuance and is a global leader in external certification of green bonds.

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Renewable energy is the largest segment of labelled green bond issuance at 62%, followed by low carbon transport 17.5%, energy efficiency and low carbon buildings at 14% and, adaption, waste management and water management the remainder at 2.1%, 2.2% and 2.2% respectively.

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NTPC (link is external) was the single largest issuer with their August INR 20bn (USD 299bn) Climate Bonds Certified Masala Bond, funding clean energy and listed on both the London Stock Exchange and Singapore Stock Exchange.

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Renew Power and PNB Housing Finance were the next largest with INR 5BN (USD 75.2m & 75.5m respectively)

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Indian issuers have been leaders in best practice with five out of seven bonds issued in 2016 receiving a review or certification by an external body. This is the highest international ratio for 2016.

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The report found an additional universe of USD 15.7bn of unlabelled, climate-aligned bonds outstanding. 75% where low carbon transport (solely rail) with the largest issuer being Indian Railway Finance, followed by hydro in the renewable energy sector.

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This level of green investment could be converted to labelled issuances in the future, building market depth and liquidity.

“A couple of years ago issuers weren’t sure whether to label their bonds as green. Today, issuers see the potential of green bonds, and see certification as a ‘must-have.’”

Mr. Gaurav Bhagat, Head, Capital Markets, FIG, South Asia, Standard Chartered

“ExIm Bank of India’s business model is significantly dollarised and we raise long duration USD funds from the market. Apart from the bond market, we are happy to engage in long duration swaps whereby we take on the USD leg of other Indian issuers in return for competitively priced Rupees (we are AAA rated domestically), thus effectively serving as an FX hedging facility for Indian issuers for up to 20 years.”

Mr. David Rasquinha, Deputy Managing Director, ExIm Bank of India

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

“We are in touch with most of corporate issuers in the country and they are now primarily focused on the benefits green bonds bring to their bottom line, rather than the costs.”

Use Of Proceeds: Total India Labelled Green Bond Issuance

Mr. Asish Sable, Senior Vice President & Group Head of Debt Capital Markets, SBI Capital Markets Limited

“India’s regulators have shown leadership by providing new guidance to the market. Indian issuers are active in seeking certification and verification of green bond issuance. Indian green bonds are being listed on international exchanges. Together, these steps will build international investor confidence as new waves of green bonds come to market.”

Mr. Sean Kidney, CEO Climate Bonds Initiative

India: Ranking In Total Global Green Labelled Bond Issuance

Use Of Proceeds: Total India Labelled Green Bond Issuance The formation of this Market Development Council is a positive step. Bringing together all the major financial and market participants is crucial.

A good foundation has been established for developing the green finance sources and investment pipelines India needs to meet its ambitious national development, green infrastructure and climate mitigation goals.

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featured

Modi Said to Plan $3.1 Billion Boost for India’s Solar Factories Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is planning a 210 billion-rupee ($3.1 billion) package of state aid for India’s solar panel manufacturing industry, according to two officials.

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he so-called Prayas initiative, short for “Pradhan Mantri Yojana for Augmenting Solar Manufacturing,” a centralgovernment plan designed to lift India’s installed photovoltaic capacity as well as to create an export industry, according to two senior government officials with direct knowledge of the plan. They asked not to be identified because the policy isn’t yet public. Modi wants to raise renewable capacity to 175 gigawatts by 2022 from 45 gigawatts at present. In addition to meeting its own energy targets, which Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates may cost $200 billion, India wants to emulate industrial developments in neighboring China, where solar manufacturers have created a world-leading export industry.

Price Advantage?

The Prayas program, part of Modi’s “make in India” campaign, is intended to create 5 gigawatts of photovoltaic manufacturing capacity from 2019 and build 20 gigawatts of projects in the country by 2026, according to the officials. The policy, which is being developed by the ministry in charge of renewable energy and industrial policy, along with the Niti Aayog government research group, will be presented to the Finance Ministry within a month before going to the cabinet for final approval, they said.

Catching China Last month Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in Mumbai that a policy to encourage domestic manufacturing of solar equipment is in works. When reached on phone, the spokesman for the power and renewable energy ministries declined to comment. India has become one of the biggest clients of Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers and in the absence of its own domestic capacity, that reliance could potentially grow. In the first six months of 2016, India imported 18 percent of China’s production worth $1.1 billion, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. India’s policy proposal, expected to create thousands of jobs, is also in response to the industry’s demand for help to the country’s solar manufacturers, one official said, adding that multiple tenders of a few hundred megawatts each would be issued for the manufacture of everything from wafers to modules.

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The government could offer about 9 million rupees a megawatt for manufacturing tenders and 5 million rupees a megawatt for local deployment, according to one of the officials, who said the numbers are subject to change.

The plan “might give a price advantage” if the manufacturinghub logistics are “well planned,” Money alone isn’t a sufficient incentive for companies to set up the most high-tech automated factories needed to compete.

Jenny Chase, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Analyst Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. told Bloomberg News last month it’s considering a manufacturing joint venture in India that could produce the solar panels needed to meet Modi’s energy targets.

“To build large-scale manufacturing efficiency matching Chinese economics of scale will require government support,” He described Indian support policies in an “evolution stage.”

Manoj Kohli, Executive Chairman Of Sb Energy

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featured

Vikram launches strategic cooperation to enter the Finnish market VikramSolar’s polycrystalline Eldora solar modules are certified for area loads of 5,400 Pa and are therefore especially suited to the extreme conditions in Finland.

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he first direct cooperation between an Indian and a Finnish company enjoys the support of the Indian Embassy in Finland. His Excellency, the Indian Ambassador Mr Ashok Kumar Sharma congratulates the companies on their collaboration: “I am extremely pleased to see an Indo-Finnish collaboration in the solar sector here in Finland and will support both parties to strengthen their ties in future.”

“Finland has harsh weather conditions and solar panels must not only resist the heavy snow loads but also perform for many years under these conditions. The fact that utilities have already had positive experiences with Vikram Solar modules is another important factor for our customers and partners in the energy industry.”

Mr. JuhaPölönen, Partner, Sales & Marketing At Finnwind Oy

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“With approximately 5 MW of installed capacity in 2015, the Finnish market is still comparatively small, but we expect continuous growth including of our project volumes in Finland, In addition, geographic proximity allows us to better meet the needs of customers in other Scandinavian markets such as Sweden as well as implement projects in Estonia.”

Mr. DavideMarro, Head Of Sales And BD Europe, Vikram Solar

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featured

Global PV Tracker Market to Grow 254% Year-Over-Year in 2016

Mistry Counters Tata’s Claim on Welspun Buy

In a new report, The Global PV Tracker Landscape 2016, GTM Research forecasts 12.6 gigawatts of PV trackers to be installed around the world this year, up from 5 gigawatts in 2015.

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y 2021, tracker installations will grow to 37.7 gigawatts and account for nearly half of all groundmount solar systems.The report notes that groundmount systems will continue to represent 70 percent to 75 percent of all solar installations over the next five years, and within that segment, trackers will gain share on the fixed-tilt market.

“Today’s boom in the tracker market is due, in large part, to the rapid build-out of projects in the United States, The economic case for tracking systems is fully proven, and over 70 percent of U.S. ground-mount projects are now being installed with trackers. We expect falling prices to drive further growth of the tracking installations around the world.”

Mr. Scott Moskowitz, GTM Research Solar Analyst Global tracker market growth will be temporarily subdued in 2017, however, as U.S. demand falls from its all-time high. Countries such as Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Jordan and Egypt are expected to experience near-term growth and help the overall market’s upward trajectory.

Tracker installation growth in 2017 will be 19 percent, compared to 83 percent annual growth from 2013 to 2016 and 21 percent annually from 2017 to 2021.By 2018, the Asia-Pacific region will be the largest regional market for trackers, as the Indian utility market grows and the Chinese market matures. According to the report, APAC growth heavily depends on falling tracker prices, improving investor sentiment and maturation of local vendors.

The vendor landscape is highly concentrated, with the leading four vendors, NEXTracker, Array Technologies, First Solar and SunPower, accounting for 72 percent of global shipments in 2015. Tracking technology varies significantly, though the market is dominated by single-axis trackers. In 2015, dualaxis trackers accounted for just under 4 percent of all tracker shipments.The global value of tracker installations will top $4.9 billion in 2021, up from just under $1 billion in 2015. In terms of market value, trackers will be the largest racking segment globally by 2018.

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Stepping up his attack on the Tata Group in general and Ratan Tata in particular, ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry today denied group’s claim that the board was not properly consulted on Tata Power ‘s purchase of Welpsun Power in June.

“It is surprising that Ratan Tata has sought to justify Monday’s conduct by making vague public statements that are contrary to his knowledge and contrary to the records of the Tata Group.

Mr. Cyrus Tata sources said the trustees Mistry, of Tata Trusts were not kept Ousted Chairman informed about the transaction Tata Group with Welspun Power.”

H

e said that all the board notes were shared with Tata in his capacity as the chairman emeritus of the group.

Presenting his side of the facts, Mistry said in the early part of 2016, Tata Power had made a presentation to Tata Sons that a significant focus area would be the renewables sector.

And this was appreciated by the Tata Sons board.

“A note was circulated to the board of Tata Sons and to Tata providing information about the proposed Welspun transaction, and asking them if they needed any further information.

“The only board member to reply was Vijay Singh, a nominee director of Tata Trusts on the Tata Sons board, who appreciated the plan. And with no other view having been expressed, Tata Power executed the agreement,” Mistry said.

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research

IEA raises its five-year renewable growth forecast as 2015 marks record year The International Energy Agency said that it was significantly increasing its five-year growth forecast for renewables thanks to strong policy support in key countries and sharp cost reductions. Renewables have surpassed coal last year to become the largest source of installed power capacity in the world.

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he latest edition of the IE A’s Medium -Term Renewable Market Report now sees renewables growing 13% more between 2015 and 2021 than it did in last year’s forecast, due mostly to stronger policy backing in the United States, China, India and Mexico. Over the forecast period, costs are expected to drop by a quarter in solar PV and 15 percent for onshore wind. Last year marked a turning point for renewables. Led by wind and solar, renewables represented more than half the new power capacity around the world, reaching a record 153 Gigawatt (GW), 15% more than the previous year. Most of these gains were driven by record-level wind additions of 66 GW and solar PV additions of 49 GW. About half a million solar panels were installed every day around the world last year. In China, which accounted for about half the wind additions and 40% of all renewable capacity increases, two wind turbines were installed every hour in 2015.

“We are witnessing a transformation of global power markets led by renewables and, as is the case with other fields, the center of gravity for renewable growth is moving to emerging markets, I am pleased to see that last year was one of records for renewables and that our projections for growth over the next five years are more optimistic, However, even these higher expectations remain modest compared with the huge untapped potential of renewables. The IEA will be working with governments around the world to maximize the deployment of renewables in coming years.”

Dr Fatih Birol, IEA’s Executive Director There are many factors behind this remarkable achievement: more competition, enhanced policy support in key markets, and technology improvements.

While climate change mitigation is a powerful driver for renewables, it is not the only one. In many countries, cutting deadly air pollution and diversifying energy supplies to improve energy security play an equally strong role in growing low-carbon energy sources, especially in emerging Asia.

Over the next five years, renewables will remain the fastest-growing source of electricity generation, with their share growing to 28% in 2021 from 23% in 2015.

Renewables are expected to cover more than 60% of the increase in world electricity generation over the medium term, rapidly closing the gap with coal.

Generation from renewables is expected to exceed 7600 TWh by 2021 -- equivalent to the total electricity

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generation of the United States and the European Union put together today.

But while 2015 was an exceptional year, there are still grounds for caution. Policy uncertainty persists in too many countries, slowing down the pace of investments.

Rapid progress in variable renewables such as wind and solar PV is also exacerbating system integration issues in a number of markets; and the cost of financing remains a barrier in many developing countries. And finally, progress in renewable growth in the heat and transport sectors remains slow and needs significantly stronger policy efforts.

The IEA also sees a two-speed world for renewable electricity over the next five years. While Asia takes the lead in renewable growth, this only covers a portion of the region’s fast-paced rise in electricity demand. China alone is responsible for 40% of global renewable power growth, but that represents only half of the country’s electricity demand increase.

This is in sharp contrast with the European Union, Japan and the United States where additional renewable generation will outpace electricity demand growth between 2015 and 2021.

The IEA report identifies a number of policy and market frameworks that would boost renewable capacity growth by almost 30% in the next five years, leading to an annual market of around 200 GW by 2020. This accelerated growth would put the world on a firmer path to meeting long-term climate goals.

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PV MANUFACTURING

Panasonic Begins Discussions on Collaboration with Tesla Motors in Photovoltaic Cell and Module Production

RENA Technologies received double-digit million order from LERRI Solar RENA Technologies GmbH has received a double-Digit million EUR order for wet processing equipment from Chinese customer LERRI Solar.

L Panasonic Corporation announced it begins discussions on collaboration with Tesla Motors Inc. in photovoltaic (PV) cell and module production.

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anasonic has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Tesla to discuss about possible collaboration on the production of PV cells and modules for the North American market at a factory in Buffalo, New York, under the umbrella of Tesla. Panasonic will look at a collaboration that utilizes the strengths of both companies, creating a synergy between Panasonic’s technological and manufacturing expertise in PV cells and modules and Tesla’s strong sales capacity.

Panasonic produces and sells its HIT™(*1) PV modules with unique silicon heterojunction structure(*2) composed of crystalline silicon substrate and amorphous silicon layers. With industry-leading conversion efficiency and excellent temperature coefficient characteristics, Panasonic’s HIT™ achieves high power generation even in a limited space.

Panasonic is one of the few vertically-integrated PV manufacturers in the world, with in-house production of ingots, cells and modules to inverters, providing high-quality products. The photovoltaic market is predicted to continue a steady expansion in demand worldwide. Continued stable demand is also expected in the Japanese market due to increasing needs in energy self-sufficiency and the popularization of Net Zero Energy Houses (ZEH). Panasonic continues to steadily expand its photovoltaic power business in the world, aiming to help achieve a sustainable society through the widespread use of renewable energy.

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ERRI Solar is a fully owned subsidiary of Xi’an LONGi Silicon Materials Corp., the world’s largest manufacturer of monocrystalline silicon wafers. RENA Technologies will deliver a large number of production tools for alkaline texturing and junction isolation for a production capacity of more than 2 GW of monocrystalline silicon solar cells, supporting the continued growth of LERRI Solar’s production capacity.

RENA BatchTex texturing tools enable LERRI Solar to exploit the benefit of high throughput and IPA free alkaline texturing on a compact equipment footprint. The patented InOxSide+® Inline systems combine junction isolation and rear side smoothing for high efficiency solar cells.

“Our successful long-term business relationship and the outstanding characteristics of the RENA tools convinced us to place the order with RENA.”

Mr. Jack Zou, General Manager at Xi’An Longi Silicon Materials Corp

“The project award is an important achievement, demonstrating again the leading market position of RENA Technologies new equipment generation for wet processes in solar cell manufacturing.”

Dr. Tobias Luecke, CEO of RENA

“We are very proud that LERRI Solar again relies on the quality of our wet processing equipment in order to expand their strong position in the highly competitive market of solar cell manufacturers.”

Dr. Daniel Rieser, Senior VP for Sales and Services RENA

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PV MANUFACTURING

New perovskite solar cell design could outperform existing commercial technologies, Stanford and Oxford scientists report A new design for solar cells that uses inexpensive, commonly available materials could rival and even outperform conventional cells made of silicon.

E

dition of Science, researchers from Stanford and Oxford describe using tin and other abundant elements to create novel forms of perovskite – a photovoltaic crystalline material that’s thinner, more flexible and easier to manufacture than silicon crystals.

“Perovskite semiconductors have shown great promise for making high-efficiency solar cells at low cost, We have designed a robust, all-perovskite device that converts sunlight into electricity with an efficiency of 20.3 percent, a rate comparable to silicon solar cells on the market today.”

Mr. Michael McGehee, Professor Of Materials Science And Engineering At Stanford “The all-perovskite tandem cells we have demonstrated clearly outline a roadmap for thin-film solar cells to deliver over 30 percent efficiency, This is just the beginning.”

Mr. Henry Snaith, Professor Of Physics At Oxford

Tandem Technology Previous studies showed that adding a layer of perovskite can improve the efficiency of silicon solar cells. But a tandem device consisting of two all-perovskite cells would be cheaper and less energy-intensive to build, the authors said.

Stanford post-doctoral scholar Tomas Leijtens and Professor Mike McGehee examine perovskite tandem solar cells. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

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“A silicon solar panel begins by converting silica rock into silicon crystals through a process that involves temperatures above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,600 degrees Celsius), Perovskite cells can be processed in a laboratory from common materials like lead, tin and bromine, then printed on glass at room temperature.”

Mr. Tomas Leijtens, Postdoctoral Scholar At Stanford But building an all-perovskite tandem device has been a difficult challenge. The main problem is creating stable perovskite materials capable of capturing enough energy from the sun to produce a decent voltage. A typical perovskite cell harvests photons from the visible part of the solar spectrum. Higher-energy photons can cause electrons in the perovskite crystal to jump across an “energy gap” and create an electric current.

A solar cell with a small energy gap can absorb most photons but produces a very low voltage. A cell with a larger energy gap generates a higher voltage, but lowerenergy photons pass right through it. An efficient tandem device would consist of two ideally matched cells, said co-lead author Giles Eperon, an Oxford postdoctoral scholar currently at the University of Washington.

“The cell with the larger energy gap would absorb higher-energy photons and generate an additional voltage,” Eperon said. “The cell with the smaller energy gap can harvest photons that aren’t collected by the first cell and still produce a voltage.”

The smaller gap has proven to be the bigger challenge for scientists. Working together, Eperon and Leijtens used a unique combination of tin, lead, cesium, iodine and organic materials to create an efficient cell with a small energy gap.

Cross-section of a new tandem solar cell designed by Stanford and Oxford scientists. The brown upper layer of perovskite captures low-energy lightwaves, and the red perovskite layer captures high-energy waves.

(Image credit: Scanning electron microscopy image by Rebecca Belisle and Giles Eperon)

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PV MANUFACTURING

“We developed a novel perovskite that absorbs lower-energy infrared light and delivers a 14.8 percent conversion efficiency,” Eperon said. “We then combined it with a perovskite cell composed of similar materials but with a larger energy gap.”

The result: A tandem device consisting of two perovskite cells with a combined efficiency of 20.3 percent.

“There are thousands of possible compounds for perovskites,” Leijtens added, “but this one works very well, quite a bit better than anything before it.”

Seeking Stability One concern with perovskites is stability. Rooftop solar panels made of silicon typically last 25 years or more. But some perovskites degrade quickly when exposed to moisture or light.

In previous experiments, perovskites made with tin were found to be particularly unstable. To assess stability, the research team subjected both experimental cells to temperatures of 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) for four days.

“Crucially, we found that our cells exhibit excellent thermal and atmospheric stability, unprecedented for tin-based perovskites,” the authors wrote.

“The efficiency of our tandem device is already far in excess of the best tandem solar cells made with other lowcost semiconductors, such as organic small molecules and microcrystalline silicon,” McGehee said. “Those who see the

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potential realize that these results are amazing.”

The next step is to optimize the composition of the materials to absorb more light and generate an even higher current, Snaith said.

“The versatility of perovskites, the low cost of materials and manufacturing, now coupled with the potential to achieve very high efficiencies, will be transformative to the photovoltaic industry once manufacturability and acceptable stability are also proven,” he said.

Co-author Stacey Bent, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford, provided key insights on tandem-fabrication techniques. Other Stanford coauthors are Kevin Bush, Rohit Prasanna, Richard May, Axel Palmstrom, Daniel J. Slotcavage and Rebecca Belisle. Oxford co-authors are Thomas Green, Jacob Tse-Wei Wang, David McMeekin, George Volonakis, Rebecca Milot, Jay Patel, Elizabeth S. Parrott, Rebecca Sutton, Laura Herz, Michael Johnston and Henry Snaith. Other coauthors are Bert Conings, Aslihan Babayigit and Hans-Gerd Boyen of Hasselt University in Belgium, and Wen Ma and Farhad Moghadam of SunPreme Inc. Funding was provided by the Graphene Flagship, The Leverhulme Trust, U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, European Union Seventh Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, U.S. Office of Naval Research and the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford. http://news.stanford.edu/

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PV MANUFACTURING

Heraeus Introduces New Series of PERC Metallization Pastes at PV Taiwan International Photovoltaic Exhibition Heraeus Photovoltaics, the worldwide leading supplier of metallization solutions to the PV industry, announced the introduction of a new generation of high efficiency silver front-side metallization paste at the PV Taiwan International Photovoltaic Exhibition.

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he new Heraeus SOL9641A series front-side silver paste raises the conversion efficiency of solar cells by 0.1%. It shows superior adhesion for PERC cell and is compatible for both multi and mono crystalline wafers. The excellent adhesion of SOL9641A allows customers to optimize their busbar design for better electrical performance and cost reduction, especially on black-silicon texturings.

Its ultra-fine line screen printing capabilities make the 9641A perfectly suitable for the latest screen technology with narrower finger opening, high mesh and thinner wire as well as for knot-free screens. The SOL9641A incorporates an innovative organic system which enhances printability in high-through-put mass production with improved finger geometry. Such benefits have been testified by customers with better efficiency and higher production yield. An additional key feature of the 9641 is the wide processing window of 50°C with an optimal firing window toward lower temperature range, which is beneficial for PERC-solar cells.

“With photovoltaics scientists and engineers working with customers across Taiwan, China, Singapore and the United States, our research and development is literally a 24-hour a day effort. That type of continuous and non-stop collaboration from our global team is one of the main reasons we can get new innovations like the SOL9641A series to market so quickly.”

Mr. Weiming Zhang, Chief Technology Officer of Heraeus Photovoltaics

The launch of 9641 product marks another milestone

by Heraeus to help solar energy companies improve the performance of photovoltaic technology while addressing costs. The company, at the recent SNEC Show earlier this year, publicly stated its belief that renewable energy production costs have the potential to drop as much as 50% every five years, which will help accelerate adoption of solar and other environmentallyfriendly energy sources.

“The PV markets across the Taiwan straits are strongly interlinked across the Asia-Pacific region.

Taiwan companies have established R&D and production sites in mainland China, so it makes strong strategic sense for Heraeus to have a strong presence in both regions. It allows us to simultaneously work with cell and module manufacturers in both markets to help them deliver even higher-performing cell technologies.”

Mr. Andreas Liebheit, The President Heraeus Photovoltaics

Large repeat order for 2nd Generation InPassion ALD in early 2016 the 2nd Generation InPassion ALD tool was introduced by SoLayTec and one of our main Asian customers installed this type of tool in their high efficiency production facility.

After testing it in mass production for several months, the stability and quality of the machine was proven.

For their next expansion plan, this customer ordered another three 2nd Generation InPassion ALD tools from SoLayTec. Proven 2nd Generation InPassion ALD 30

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November 2016

Mr. Roger Görtzen, Co-Founder Of SolayTec And Sales And Marketing Director

“At the start of introducing the InPassion ALD for mass production in 2013, some SoLayTec customers experienced a lower than expected uptime, resulting in a delay of the market acceptance.

Although the deposition quality of the Al2O3 layer is very good.

Hence the need for an improved design, which was completed by the SoLayTec team in 2015 and introduced this machine in the beginning of 2016 to the PV industry. This industry-advancing tool can handle a larger variety of wafer quality, uses improved motion algorithms, and includes a slightly different hardware design. The testing of this tool within customers’ production lines has shown a major improvement in the reliability by providing less breakage, higher uptime, and less assists per hour, Recently a major Asian customer tested our 2nd Generation InPassion ALD in mass production and due to its results has ordered another 3 tool sets. This clearly proves that the introduction of our 2nd Generation InPassion ALD is successful with plan goals for its performance now achieved”

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SOLAR INVERTERS

KACO new energy accelerates the energy turnaround in Thailand The German photovoltaic specialist has joined forces with other companies in the industry as part of a new initiative.

The “Powerful Blueplanet” alliance is aiming to further the development of the solar energy business in Thailand. The launch event took place in Bangkok at the end of September.

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oing by the name of “Powerful Blueplanet”, the new initiative joins KACO new energy GmbH with companies with various fields of expertise to serve the Thai market. The group is pursuing the aim of making better use of the huge photovoltaic potential that the South East Asian country has to offer and making it available to a larger target market. With this in mind, the group is targeting both private and commercial customers as well as operators of utility-scale plants.

“Interested parties can count on the participating companies to provide comprehensive advice, reliable components and to implement projects accurately, thus growing the level of trust in and acceptance of photovoltaic solutions. “We also want to take advantage of the breadth of expertise the companies possess in order to develop new, tailor-made solutions for the Thai market in the future”, he adds.

- David Mabille, Chief Sales Officer at KACO new energy

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The leading companies behind “Powerful Blueplanet” are PEA ENCOM International and Fah Chai Engineering, both established companies in the Thai sustainable energy industry: PEA ENCOM is a large investor in renewable energy generation and a subsidiary of PEA (Provincial Electricity Authority), the sole state-owned power supply company for the rural areas of the kingdom; Fah Chai Engineering has been implementing turnkey projects and providing EPC services for renewable energy projects since 2001. Other founding members are the Australian-Chinese manufacturer of substructures, Clenergy, and the Korean solar cell and module manufacturer, Hanwha Q-Cells. The group commenced work on 21 September at a joint event in Bangkok.

Taking part in the initiative reflects the growing importance of Thailand as a key element in the internationalisation of KACO new energy. Fah Chai has been the inverter manufacturer’s official representative for products and services since May 2015.

“We have excellent foundations to build on. The geographic location, the increasing demand for energy and the political support in terms of the willingness to provide lines of credit and tax breaks will further the development of our trade greatly. We expect the solar energy industry to grow by 20 percent on an annual basis.”

- Mr Chotthiwath Chirapatputthitana, Managing Director of Fah Chai.

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Why the Paris Agreement on climate change means the

END OF COAL

The Paris Agreement on climate change – the first universal, legally binding, agreement to cut carbon emissions – was voted into law by enough nations to come into force.The nations that have taken action are some of the biggest polluters, including the USA, China, India and the European Union.

A

nd it happened in record time: just 11 months after the deal was signed last December in Paris (the Kyoto climate change agreement, by comparison, took just over seven years).

Momentum for action is building, and the Paris Agreement is a major step on the road to a future free from carbon pollution.

That’s great! So the climate crisis is over then, right?

Not quite. The Paris Agreement legislates substantial cuts to emissions in coming decades, and the fact that the biggest, most polluting nations have agreed to cut emissions and protect people from the effects of a dangerously hotter planet is important. But even those countries agree that these targets need to be strengthened if we are going to make the kind of carbon pollution reductions we need to keep the planet safe.

What does the Agreement mean for fossil fuels?

The targets in the Paris agreement effectively rule out any new fossil fuels projects, whether coal, oil or gas. It also means that we need to start phasing out the mining and burning of existing fossil fuel reserves so that we have a world with clean air and water, a liveable climate and a natural world that flourishes in all its beauty,

rather than a warming planet marked by droughts, fiercer bushfires and hurricanes, and conflict over dwindling resources.

As Bill McKibben recently pointed out, this means that if you still support new fossil fuel projects, you are a climate denier. This is true for governments and corporations alike.

The time is now There’s no time to waste. Global warming is happening here and now and its effects are being felt all around the world. Whether it’s the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef that’s killed a quarter of its coral, or the killer heatwaves that saw major cities in India hit 51C (124F), we are already suffering under human-made global warming that has pushed 2016 to be the hottest year on record.

But at the same time, we are seeing the solutions to the problem everywhere too.

Solar and wind are breaking records in size and speed of installation – and they’re cheaper than ever. Local communities are liberating themselves from polluting fuels through cheap, decentralised renewables.

And a powerful movement for change all over the world is demanding we do more to stop global warming and is pushing our leaders to match their words with real action.

Source:greenpeace.org

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ACHIEVEMENTS

Mytrah Energy Reaches One Gigawatt Milestone Mytrah Energy, one of India’s largest independent power producers in renewable energy announced that the installation of additional capacity at its Aspari project in Andhra Pradesh has taken its total wind portfolio energy capacity to 1000 MW (1 Gigawatt).

Commenting on Mytrah’s milestone, Mr. Ravi Kailas, Chairman, said, “In just six years, Mytrah has covered an extraordinary distance and today marks the significant milestone achievement of one gigawatt of wind energy capacity.

It gives me enormous pride to have reached this juncture after tireless work, preparation, planning and execution by everyone associated with Mytrah. I would like to again thank our employees, shareholders, vendors, investors and bankers associated with Mytrah for their continued support in delivering this milestone.”

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Mr. Shirish Navlekar, Joint MD & CFO, Mytrah Energy, while commenting on the financial journey from the foundation of the company to its present milestone said, “With our first capital raise of Rs.320 crores in 2010-11, our journey started on a steady track, raising capital from highly acclaimed investors every year. With a collective loan book of 2500 crores in 2014 which helped us deliver 543 MW, we kept the momentum to reach a collective fund mobilization of over 10,000 crores including one of the largest refinancing transactions in the renewable space in India in next two years to complete our Gigawatt journey. Our success can be attributed to what we did differently. Keeping the focus on de-risking strategy and fundamental economics of the projects have been the primary contributing factors.”

Elaborating on the key contributing factors to the milestone, Mr. Vikram Kailas, MD & CEO, Mytrah Energy said, “Three things help translate our plans into reality. First, we execute our plans in a rigorous manner. Whether in an underconstruction project or a fund raising exercise, we really sweat the small stuff. Second, we actively support a culture of innovation. Several of our current practices started as ‘garage experiments’ within the firm. Third, we take a long-term view of the business and invest our resources accordingly. Some of these bets may seem quite contrarian but have proved to be right in the long term. Our industry-leading wind resource capability, for example, is the result of this approach.”

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ACHIEVEMENTS

JinkoSolar Recognized as One of Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies

JinkoSolar Appointed Co-chair of the B20 ECRE Taskforce

J JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., a global leader in the photovoltaic (PV) industry,recently announced that it has been ranked 16 in the 2016 FORTUNE magazine list of the 100 Fastest-Growing Public Companies.

This is the Company’s first year on this prestigious list that recognizes public companies with the best three-year growth rates, revenue, and profit.

“We’re extremely proud to be ranked In Fortune’s 100 fastest growing companies this year. This recognition proves that the team has been working incredibly hard to achieve this fast growth. Our continued investment in technology, innovation and people has contributed to this success,” said Mr. Xiande Li, Chairman of JinkoSolar, “We are pleased to be recognized for our strong financial performance that positions us with some of the most prominent companies in the world. Our unwavering dedication to providing the highest quality and performance products and unrivaled service are the most important factors driving the growth of the company.

We will continue focus on technology and innovation, global delivery and investment.”

FORTUNE magazine’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies are publicly traded companies ranked by revenue growth rate, EPS growth rate, and three-year annualized total return for the period ended June 30, 2016. The overall rank is based on the sum of these three ranks.

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inkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. a global leader in the photovoltaic industry,recetly announced that it was appointed as one of the six cochairs for the Business 20 (B20) Energy, Climate & Resource Efficiency taskforce, under the leadership of the Germany G20 Presidency. This is the second consecutive year that JinkoSolar, the only Chinese enterprise and solar PV Company, participated in the B20 process. The selected Co-Chairs are leaders of well-known global enterprises and G20 members, and are vital contributors to the taskforce.It is also the first time the Energy, Climate & Resource Efficiency (ECRE) taskforce accepted JinkoSolar’s recommendation to include solar PV renewable energy as a key topic of discussion at B20 in Germany next year.

“We are honored to participate as co-chair of the B20’s ECRE Taskforce. The taskforce supports G20’s goals by obtaining the appropriate financing, carbon market mechanism and policy that is needed to support global investment flows. More specifically, the world’s infrastructure and clean energy requirements,” said Mr. Xiande Li, Chairman of JinkoSolar, “This is the first time the B20 ECRE Taskforce selected a solar PV company as a Co-Chair. This indicates a common objective of G20 members to lead the world’s economy towards a more sustainable path. In order to alleviate the current economic challenges, green energy infrastructure reform is the key. Solar power is now undercutting coal fired electricity in lots of regions; we need to focus on ways to seek investment to support the huge demand for clean energy finance, and the transition to a low-carbon society, “he added.

When discussing the Chinese solar industry, Mr Li states “China has the ability to manage the transition from an export-led manufacturing economy to a consumption-based, energy services economy, executing its strategy with great technical and business model innovation. Chinese clean energy companies such as JinkoSolar have grown rapidly in recent years, playing a critical role in accelerating grid-parity and delivering strong productive gains across more and more countries.

They are not only meeting consumer needs of today, they are building scale for the future.”

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rooftop & offgrid

Sungrow Successfully Installs the World’s Largest PV & Energy Storage Microgrid Plant

Sungrow, the world’s leading PV inverter manufacturer, announced that the world’s largest PV & energy storage microgrid power plant with 13 MW of PV inverters and 7 MW of energy storage inverters, was successfully installed in Shuanghu, China, the highest region in the world located in China’s Tibet province.

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he 20 MW microgrid power plant aims to provide electricity to over 14,000 people living in the vicinity, with average elevations reaching heights of over 5000 meters. With temperatures often dipping below -5oc and the lowest temperatures recorded at -40oc, Shuanghu County’s extreme climate has frequently posed challenges to inverters and other solar components, operating in the region’s frigid conditions. Sungrow’s solar and energy storage inverters, together with the company‘s batteries systems, are employed in this project. Sungrow’s inverters are designed with standardized container specifications, drastically shortening the time required for installation and commissioning which in turn reduces overall installed costs. In difficult geographic locations where labor and other installation-related costs are proportionately higher, these types of cost reductions are even more accentuated. Backed by class-leading solar inverter hardware, Sungrow’s massive microgrid power plant is also intelligently designed for remote monitoring and makes unattended operation a reality.

“We are always dedicated to bringing green and effective energy to markets in need all around the world, especially for those who reside in areas with limited access to electricity.”

- Professor Renxian Cao, President of Sungrow

Now Read on

Tablet & Smartphone

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rooftop & offgrid

Google Earth images shed light on where solar rooftop’s make sense During his free time on the job as a Google employee, Carl Elkin began tinkering with the company’s 3D mapping program, wondering if it could identify rooftops that receive enough sunlight to make installing solar panels worthwhile.

When months later the U.S.-based engineer showed a handful of colleagues the results of his labor, they had a eureka moment.

S .”The lightbulb kind of went off,” said Joel Conkling, Elkin’s colleague at the California-based company. “It felt like intuitively it had some real potential.”

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oon after, a team followed Elkin’s lead and designed Project Sunroof.

The project website uses Google Earth’s high-resolution aerial images to calculate any roof’s solar energy potential.For homeowners, figuring out whether installing thousands of dollars worth of solar panels is a sound investment can be confusing.Project Sunroof aims to make the decision easier – and speed up the adoption of solar energy, which today accounts for less than 1 percent of U.S. electricity generation.

Homeowners interested in assessing their property’s solar potential can enter their address on Project Sunroof’s website, and in roughly a second get a calculation of how many hours of usable sunlight their roof receives, Conkling said.Thousands of lines of computer code analyze factors such as the shade trees cast on a roof, its orientation and local weather patterns, he said.Project Sunroof then connects users whose roof is suitable for solar panels with companies that install them.

“People can come in and very quickly and very easily get a pretty sophisticated understanding of their solar potential and whether it makes sense for them to go solar,” said Conkling, a product manager for Project Sunroof. The response has been encouraging, he said.

Last month, Project Sunroof was among 13 projects from around the world to win a Momentum for Change award, which recognises innovative and

potentially transformative ways to tackle climate change and move toward a lowcarbon future.”We were impressed by the scalability of the technology with more and more states and homes able to utilize it,” said Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the Bonn-based U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, which presents the award.

Since launching last year, Project Sunroof has expanded from offering analysis of rooftops in two states to 42 states, from New York to California. Thousands of users have been connected with solar-panel installers, Conkling told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.In many states, homeowners who produce solar energy can sell all or part of it the power grid.

Such payments – and other incentives – are often essential to help offset the steep upfront investment, which can run between $17,000 and $24,000 for a typical solar panel system, according to data from research firm GTM Research.

Other U.S. companies also map the solar potential of roofs, including Geostellar and Mapdwell. But Conkling said he is confident that Google Earth’s global reach and high definition images can help it cover more ground and provide estimates with an unprecedented degree of accuracy.

Nuttall, of the U.N. climate secretariat, agrees the system potentially could be used in many more places.”There seems no reason why one day it could not go global,” he said.

Source:Reuters

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REACH OUT to SOUTH INDIA

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November 25, 26 & 27, 2016 Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai, India

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PV Cells & Modules  Solar Inverters  Solar Batteries  Tracking & Mounting Systems  Solar Water Heaters

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www.solarsouth.in

solarsouth@smartexpos.in

INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW WITH KETAN MEHTA EQ : What is the likely impact of Demonetization on the Indian solar and renewable energy industry?

C.E.O., Rays Power Infra (P) Ltd.

KM : In the long term we feel this will not have any significant effects on the Solar/renewable energy market. In the short term, this would have effects on paying daily wage labor and construction workers owing to shortage in cash – the primary payment means for the labor class.

EQ : How is the road ahead for the global and American renewable industry following the victory of Donald Trump in the US Elections? What impacts it might have in the Indian solar energy market?

KM: The pre-election rhetoric coming from Trump has not been too promising.

Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax. He has selected Myron Ebell, a climate change sceptic, to lead the EPA transition. He wants to repeal all federal spending on clean energy.

He has said he wants to pull the United States out of the Paris climate deal. We hope that it was all election talk, and that now that he has advisors guiding him on policy decisions, he chooses to see the light on these issues and continues that good work President Obama had done on fighting climate change and pushing R&D for cleantech.

If this doesn’t happen, the solar industry in USA will lose its momentum and other countries will have to pick up the baton.

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EQ : What is the impact of recent decline in solar module prices in the Indian PV market and what is going to be likely trend of solar module pricing and technology?

KM: The recent decline in PV module prices has seen a drop in EPC prices and PPA tariff bids, since PPV modules constitute 50-60% of the EPC cost.

We expect this trend to continue over the next year and see a further 5-6% drop in prices.

EQ : Comment on the ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change?

KM: It binds nations to uphold their promises, and it is a major step in fighting climate change. Before this, India has also voluntarily reduced emissions, and we expect India to be at the forefront of leading change through this agreement.

EQ : What is your view on the WTO ruling against the Indian Government’s local content requirement on solar power developers?

KM: “The WTO ruling doesn’t have very serious long term implications, as long as the government doesn’t raise duties in the short term. Many American and Chinese companies are looking at setting up fully integrated plants in India, and as such we expect the domestic market to flourish in the medium to long term. The onus is on the government to incentivize domestic panel production, so that in the future there comes a day when it would realistically be the same to procure panels manufactured by these companies in India as opposed to importing them from China, factoring freight and transportation charges.”

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Policy & regulations

Discom Losses To Nearly Halve

By Fiscal 2019 On Reforms Coal Output Ramp-Up, Refinancing Cut Projects At Risk By 6000 Mw To 40,000 MW

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owever, the gap will still be well above the ‘nil’ envisaged under UDAY because some states with very high aggregated technical and commercial (AT&C) losses have lesser preparedness to reduce it because of inadequate feeder separation, feeder and distribution transformer metering, and poor track record of other efficiencies.

And the ability to increase tariffs is restricted in some states because elections are due within 12 months, cross-subsidisation is high, and tariff orders are delayed.Gap is calculated as average revenue realised minus average cost of supply.

“Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, and Uttarakhand are expected to fare better in the implementation of UDAY, so are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries. However, UP, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir are expected to be the laggards. These three states would account for almost two-thirds of the gap in fiscal 2019. So concerted efforts by them will be critical to narrowing future gap”.

CRISIL estimates the aggregate ‘gap’, or loss, of distribution companies (discoms) of 15 states that have joined the Ujwal Discom Assurance (UDAY), would more than halve to 28 paise per unit by fiscal 2019 compared with 64 paise in fiscal 2016. Consequently, aggregate losses of these discoms are seen declining 46% to Rs. 20,000 crore from Rs 37,000 crore.

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- Mr. Gurpreet Chhatwal, Business Head - Large Corporates, CRISIL

E

nergy requirements of discoms are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7% by fiscal 2019 compared with around 4% till fiscal 2016. Yet this will not be a major respite to generation capacities that do not have long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), as fresh signing of PPAs seems unlikely. That’s because 25,000 MW of capacities with already-signed PPAs are expected to be operational by fiscal 2019, and there will also be some pick-up in plant load factors of existing capacities because of better fuel availability. Any uptick in long-term PPA signings is possible only if discoms turn profitable by fiscal 2019, and strive to meet the government’s Power for all’ objective. Over the past year, initiatives to increase coal production, and the 5:25 refinancing scheme of the Reserve Bank of India have reduced operational capacities at risk by 6,000 MW to 40,000 MW from 46,000 MW that CRISIL had flagged.

“While lack of fresh long-term PPAs continues to impact generation capacities, facilitation of medium-term PPAs and corresponding coal linkages, continued focus on augmenting domestic coal production, and facilitation of open access by states can help further reduce the capacities at risk.”

- Mr. Sudip Sural, Senior Director, CRISIL As for under-construction thermal projects, CRISIL estimates 24,000 MW capacities are facing viability issues.

Of these, 13,000 MW capacities face commissioning risks because of weak sponsors, while the rest are reeling because of poor offtake by discoms or inadequate fuel arrangements. A third of capacities with weak sponsors can be revived through debt restructuring or sale to a new sponsor.

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SOLAR ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

Gujarat Tea Processors & Packers Ltd –GTPPL (Wagh Bakri Tea Group) is a Premium Tea Company, having presence in tea business since 1892. Today it is the 3rd largest packaged tea company in India with a turnover of over Rs. 900 Cr. and over 30 million Kgs of tea distribution.

125 KWp Solar PV Plant @ Wagh-Bakri Tea Company

By Topsun Energy Ltd.

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SOLAR ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

KEY QUALITY FACTORS More than 15% of High efficiency SPV poly-crystalline modules of Topsun Energy Ltd (TEL)

Gujrat Tea Processors & Packers Ltd. (Wagh Bakri Tea Group) Site : Dholka Ahmedabad)

Protections like DC & AC surge protection devices, chemical Earthling, reputed protection relays and breakers.

Time bound Installation.

Top rated String inverter from KACO, among the best performing string inverters in the world.

Generate more Solar energy in Less Area.

High Strength aluminum Structure which can sustain 150Kmph wind Speed.

This precious 125 KW Solar Power Plant installed & Commissioning by Topsun Energy Ltd, Gandhinagar. This Solar Power Plant will generate 1.90 lacs of electricity units during entire year. This Solar Power Plant saving more than Rs.15. lacs per annum, moreover plant will generated excess energy which is fed back to grid via Net meter and Govt. will pay to customer as per APPC rate.

Topsun Strength During This Project Topsun is leading manufacturer of solar modules and EPC Company based in Gujarat. We have very less time to execute this project as to claim for depreciation. Project execution at site has been done within a week. We have professional engineers who did wonderful job during this project. As Topsun Believe in customer satisfaction rather than sales figure so we always do our best.

Benefits to the customer include The Solar Plant will generate 44lacs kWh over 25 years Reduced 665 tonnes of Carbon Annual Benefit due to Solar Plant - > INR 15 Lacs / year LCOE is less than Rs. 4 Per unit Payback period is less than 4 year. (We have considered the power consumption the Rs.7.5 /KWh)

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rESEARCH & ANALYSIS

TOTAL CORPORATE FUNDING IN THE SOLAR SECTOR RISES QOQ TO $3 BILLION IN Q3 2016, REPORTS MERCOM CAPITAL GROUP Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector in the third quarter of 2016.Total corporate funding, including venture capital, public market and debt financing into the solar sector in Q3 2016 was up to about $3 billion in 45 deals, compared to the $1.7 billion in 32 deals in Q2 2016.

“Funding levels bounced back across the board compared to a weak Q2 but they are still well below last year’s totals. The combination of slower than expected U.S. demand, the overcapacity situation coming out of China, and global hypercompetitive auctions leading to lower margins has affected the entire supply chain and most of the solar equities are in the red year-to-date.

The exception has been the rebound of some of the yieldcos.”

Mr. Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group

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lobal VC funding (including private equity) for the solar sector almost doubled in Q3 2016 with $342 million in 16 deals compared to the $174 million raised in the same number of deals in Q2 2016.

Solar downstream companies raised $273 million in eight deals compared to $112 million in seven deals in Q2 2016. The largest share came from the $220 million raised by Solar Mosaic, a provider of residential solar loans, from Warburg Pincus, Core Innovation Capital and Obvious Ventures.Other top VC deals this quarter included the $47 million raised by Heliatek, $20 million raised by BBOXX, $15 million raised by d.light, and the $10 million each raised by Morgan Solar and Off-Grid Electric.Solar public market financing in Q3 2016 came to $880 million in five deals, including one IPO, compared to $179 million in four deals in Q2 2016. In Q3 of 2015, public market financing totaled $1.8 billion.The first solar IPO this year was recorded by BCPG, a solar downstream company for $166 million.

Debt financing came to almost $1.8 billion in 24 deals in Q3 2016 compared to 12 deals in Q2 2016 for $1.3 billion. Year-over-year, $4.1 billion was raised in 22 deals in Q3 2015.The top large-scale project funding deal this quarter was Magnetar Capital’s raise of $397 million to refinance its 135 MW UK solar projects portfolio. Sinogreenergy raised $200 million to develop a portfolio of up to 550 MW of solar projects in Taiwan. SunPower secured a $199.7 million syndicated loan for its 100 MW Pelican Solar Project in Chile. Gunkul Engineering secured $115.8 million in a syndicated loan for the construction of the 31.75 MW Sendai Okura solar project in Japan.

Fotowatio Renewable Ventures received $103.4 million in project financing for the 50 MW solar PV project in northern Jordan.

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rESEARCH & ANALYSIS

The largest disclosed transaction was the $218 million acquisition of a 24 percent stake in Desert Sunlight Investment Holdings’ 550 MW solar project in California (called Desert Sunlight Solar Energy Center) by NextEra Energy Partners.

Solar Partnership Capital acquired 152 MW of solar projects from Sky Solar Japan for $165 million.

Residential and commercial solar funds raised in Q3 2016 came to $1.1 billion in five deals compared to $1.36 billion in 11 deals in Q2 2016. Of the $1.1 billion announced this quarter, $760 million went towards lease and $333 million went to loan funds. So far this year, close to $3.5 billion has been raised in 22 deals.

During the same period last year, more than $5 billion was raised in 21 deals.There were 18 solar M&A transactions in Q3 2016 compared to 17 in the previous quarter.

Solar downstream companies accounted for half of the transactions (nine), followed by manufacturers with five. Four acquisitions involved SunEdison companies this quarter as a result of the company filing for bankruptcy and selling off parts of its business.

There were 55 large-scale solar project acquisitions (24 disclosed for $1.3 billion) compared to Q2 2016 which had 38 transactions (13 disclosed for $1.9 billion). About 2.6 GW of solar projects were acquired in Q3 2016 compared to 2 GW in the previous quarter.

Integrated Asset Management acquired a portfolio of 30 solar projects totaling 34 MW in Italy for $141.4 million.

8point3 Energy Partners, a yieldco company formed by First Solar and SunPower, acquired SunPower’s 49 percent stake in its 102 MW Henrietta Solar Project in California for $134 million.

Macquarie Group and BRUC Capital acquired a 37 MW solar project pipeline including 27 individual projects in Japan from IBC SOLAR for-

$101.2 Million

Source:Mercom

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ROOFTOP SOLAR

Carlsberg, Alwar India’s First Brewery To Go Solar Safety First

Working On Curved Dome Roofs • Location: Alwar, Rajasthan • Capacity: 471kWp • Type of system: Dome-Shaped Metal Roof

• Type of modules: Polycrystalline • Type of inverters: String • Annual generation: 6.7 lacs units annually

Beginning of an alliance

C

arlsberg believes that sustainability of the environment is vital to their business. Carlsberg’s environmental policy with respect to energy usage is to strive to use all kinds of energy sources as effectively as possible, and regularly assess the possibilities of introducing renewable energy in order to reduce the carbon footprint.

Carlsberg India partnered with CleanMax Solar with an aim to develop India’s first solar brewerys at Alwar and Daurhera, on a PPA-basis.CleanMax helped Carlsberg achieve 3-fold benefit: 1. Going green 2. Without capital investment 3. Saving money on electricity units.

For CleanMax engineers, the unique rooftop shape at Carlsberg, Alwarinvolved various challenges and safety precautionsto be considered before the installation.

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• Carbon dioxide abated: 620 tonsof CO2 abated annually • Date of commissioning: March 2016

First Steps in Going Solar

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he dome shaped metal roof of the brewery at Alwar is 20 meter high and at each end of the roof is a sharp curve slanting towards the ground.The daunting task was to install solar modules at a height of 20 meter on a curvy roof, where it is extremely difficult for people to even stand properly. This problem was further compounded by high wind speeds, due to the high altitude, and the lack of access to the rooftop.

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ROOFTOP SOLAR

Key challenges during the installation: • Height of the building • No access to the rooftop • Slanted shape of the rooftop • High wind speed

The simplified solutionSafety First

E

ngineers from CleanMax Solar enabled access to the roof, without compromising the safety of the existing infrastructure. They established an access route to the rooftop by setting up a ladder through which a safety line with harnesses and ropes was established around the dome. The wires with anchor points was designed to hold workers and save them from falling from the rooftop. A walkway was created to enable easy movement across the roof.

The workers at site were given special training before the beginning of each day, to highlight the risks and precautions to be taken for the day’s activities.To ensure maximum safety, a dedicated resource monitored the wires and ropes for their strength at all times.

This additional safety measure ensured prompt action in case of emergency.

Project completed in record time

D

espite the mammoth challenge, the turnkey project was completed in a record 60 days and was commissioned in March 2016, a meagre 60 days after the PPA was signed. The “safety first” approach enabled a swift and easy installation.

About Carlsberg India Carlsberg Group’s operations in India began in May 2006 with the creation of South Asia Breweries Pvt Ltd, which in 2009 was renamed as Carlsberg India Private Limited. In March 2008, Carlsberg expanded its operations by establishing its second brewery in Alwar, Rajasthan. The brewery uses modern technology and the very best of fresh ingredients to consistently brew great beers.

- Article By CleanMax Solar

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Balance Of system

Power Solution For High-Voltage Static VAR Generator (SVG)

- BY Mornsun

Abstract

Key Words

Compared with traditional SVC such as modulator, capacitor reactor and thyristor controlled reactor (TCR), SVG is the best solution in the reactive power control field at present and has unparalleled advantages. In other words, SVG is currently the most advanced dynamic reactive power compensation device all over the world. MORNSUN PV4529D1515-15 power supply for SVG’s core power unit provides a highly reliable power solution to meet the customers’ demands.

SVG, power unit, IGBT, high isolation, PV45 SVG stands for Static VAR (Volt-Ampere Reactive) Generator. It is also known as high-voltage dynamic reactive power compensation device and static synchronous compensator, which performs dynamic reactive power compensation by a self-commutated power semiconductor bridge inverter.

I. APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-VOLTAGE SVG High-voltage SVG is suitable for many applications shown as below, such as PV solar, wind, railway, drilling platform, mill, hoist and electric arc furnace (EAF), etc. The market of high-voltage SVG (6KV/10KV/35KV) is promising and prospective.

In power system, the reactive load not only increases the active energy loss of the power grid, but also seriously affects the quality of it.

Real-time fast SVG is significant to improve the utilization ratio of power equipment and the stability of operation and ensure the power supply voltage within allowance.

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Balance Of system

II. Basic structure of high-voltage SVG High-voltage SVG generally consists of control cabinets, power cabinets and starting cabinets. And power cabinets consist of multiple power units in which MORNSUN PV45-29D1515-15 used and play a key role in transmitting reactive power. Because power units are mainly composed of power supply (such as PV45-29D1515-15), power unit board, GBT driver, film capacitor, surge absorption capacitor and heat dissipation device.

III. SVG Application of PV45-29D1515-15 High-voltage SVG usually adopts the chain structure by using multiple H-bridges in series. and then power power supply in power units. Therefore, the grid voltage actually determines the number of required power supplies. PV45-29D1515-15

directly gets power through the grid as diagram 4 below, removing from problems of unstable supplies’ voltages or troubles of adding external components. Therefore, it enhances the reliability and safety of the system.

For example, the fluctuating grid voltage in each H-bridge is 500V-1100V regarding 35KV bus bar. It’s recommended to use one PV4529D1515-15 for every H-bridge to power two IGBT drivers respectively, totally four IGBT power tubes, due to its double 15V outputs.

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Balance Of system

VI. About PV45-29D1515-15 PV45-29D1515-15 is specialized for high-voltage SVG and offers 10:1 ultra-wide input voltage range of 150VDC1500VDC, 4000VAC isolation and double outputs. It meets Industrial grade operating temperature of -40oC to +85oC , 5000m altitude requirements and ± 2KV/4KV surge

protection. And it has high voltage accuracy and excellent load regulation and cross regulation, solving the problem of load imbalance caused by double outputs. Moreover, its built-in multiple protections ensure the safety of load and the module itself under abnormal condition.

Features: ● 10:1 ultra-wide input voltage range: 150 - 1500VDC ● Industrial grade operating temperature: -40oC to +85oC ● High isolation voltage: 4000VAC ● High efficiency, low ripple & noise ● Meet 5000m altitude

requirements ● ±2KV/4KV surge protection (level four) ● Double outputs with excellent cross regulation ● Input under-voltage, reverse voltage, output short-circuit, over-current and over-voltage protections

To sum up, MORNSUN PV45-29D1515-15 specialized for high-voltage SVG features extremely high performance, taking into account industry specifications and simplified customers’ design and resulting in a long-term stability and reliability of the system. For more details please visit us at www.mornsun-power.com

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

Electricity From Sun To Un-Electrified Power Starved Remote Villages Rays Efforts To Bring In Solar Revolution In Remote Hamlets Of India

A.S. Kapur, Head- Technical Rays Power Infra

Solar powered mini-grids are most promising for India to meet GDP growth and access to electricity for all. One 50 kilowatt peak (kWp) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant with battery storage and an aggregate mini-grid length of five km can power a host of small businesses, banks, petrol pumps, institutions, etc, and over 500 homes. How this segment fared in 2015, issues faced by the segment and expectations of how it may fare in 2016.

The future of solar revolution in remote un-electrified hamlets looks bleak, but solar professionals are of the view that someday the sun will rise above the darkness (created by economics/ politics/government policies/urban society) for the benefit of millions of poor residents of remote, un-electrified rural villages.

The question is when and by whom.

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

W Economists say that SUBSIDY is the worst enemy of the Indian economy.

It is there in the existing electricity system all over India. Farmers get subsidized electricity, which causes heavy losses to the state electricity departments. But when the mini solar grid system is introduced, mainly in remote rural areas, the issue of subsidy will automatically vanish. Yes, initial capital will be required at the rate of Rs. One Lac per KW, thereafter no subsidy.

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e are doing a PV Solar Power Project in remote area of India’s North East. There is no electricity in that area, no grid, no State Electricity Boards and no interference of the big power producers. We will install a 150 kw, battery backed up PV solar power plant there, which will cater to a hamlet of 500 inhabitants living in small houses. I will analyze this arrangement here below.

Presently India has a total installed capacity of 250000 MW consisting of all type of power generators viz. coal, oil, hydel, atomic, renewable etc. If we consider the combined plant load factor of all these generators as 70%, then we are getting a power output from these generators equal to 175000 MW. Out of this power, deducting transmission and distribution losses-which have risen to 30%- we get actual power equal to 122500 MW only. I am not considering the theft of electricity here, as this is also utilized by power thieves. Our actual demand is more than 300000MW of available power and not the installed capacity. This means that the quantum of total Indian population, deprived of electricity is very high. If I say that out of 1260 million Indians, 400 million are not getting any electricity, then I am not very wrong. Presently India has a total installed capacity of 250000 MW consisting of all type of power generators viz. coal, oil, hydel, atomic, renewable etc. If we consider the combined plant load factor of all these generators as 70%, then we are getting a power output from these generators equal to 175000 MW. Out of this power, deducting transmission and distribution losses-which have risen to 30%- we get actual power equal to 122500 MW only. I am not considering the theft of electricity here, as this is also utilized by power thieves. Our actual demand is more than 300000MW of available power and not the installed capacity.

This means that the quantum of total Indian population, deprived of electricity is very high. If I say that out of 1260 million Indians, 400 million are not getting any electricity, then I am not very wrong.

Continuing this dialogue further, the solution to this problem of non availability of electricity to all Indians does not lie in increasing the big power plants. Even if we double the installed capacity of big power plants, the electricity will not reach to the last consumer living in remote hamlets, as this will require a very strong and efficient power transmission and

distribution network. India does not have money to install the power distribution system of this magnitude. Even if it is installed, we do not have money to operate and maintain this gigantic grid.

More so when we know that most of the electricity consumers in rural areas will not pay the electricity bills. This fact has caused failure and dismantling of all State Electricity Boards of India. Then what is the solution to this problemhow can we provide electricity to the deprived people. Self contained Solar powered mini-grids with small solar power plants is the only solution. Can not consider wind generators as wind is available for only 5 months in a year, that too at places situated in wind flow segments-nature you cannot control it.

I compare this mini power system with the Panchayati Raj system implemented in India soon after Independence. The rural population of India was not getting the benefits of independence because the ruling British established administration was catering only to the urban population.

So the concept of Panchayat was introduced. Though corruption at Panchyat level also, has reduced it’s impact on rural life but good panchayats are also there, doing good for the poor rural population. Gandhi ji’s concept of charkha and cottage industry is more suited to Indian economy, though the protagonists of big industrial houses will differ. Diya and Kulhar still exist in India.

Comparing all this with self contained solar powered mini-grids, we feel that the electricity deprived population will get electricity only through this system.

Economists say that SUBSIDY is the worst enemy of the Indian economy.

It is there in the existing electricity system all over India. Farmers get subsidized electricity, which causes heavy losses to the state electricity departments. But when the mini solar grid system is introduced, mainly in remote rural areas, the issue of subsidy will automatically vanish. Yes, initial capital will be required at the rate of Rs. One Lac per KW, thereafter no subsidy.

As the actual users will maintain the system, they themselves will make arrangement for the upkeep of the plant. It is worthwhile to mention here that O&M charges for the mini solar plant is almost nil. On the contrary, the actual users will appoint their own O&M staff, one person per plant, which will generate jobs for the rural population.

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

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his concept was originally developed by a farmer of a remote village in Japan in late nineties. There was no electricity in his village. He gathered all inhabitants of the village and explained to them this concept of mini-solar powered grids. They all pooled their resources and installed a mini solar plant which gave electricity to each member of the hamlet. With this electricity the farmers started their water pumps for watering the fields thereby increasing the farm output, flour mills were installed generating work for the residents, hospital and schools were opened bringing health and education in the area, reduced cost of Kerosene required for lanterns, diesel generating sets and water pumps were now not required. This village is now prospering nicely.

There small low voltage grid did not require any involvement of the state electricity boards and the government intervention was nil. On itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success they installed a wind generator also to generate electricity, of course when the wind velocity was available. The strength of a chain lies in its weakest link-in our case the weakest link are the 400 million villagers living in the remote, under developed villages. Provide them electricity; they will do the rest to increase the GDP of the complete nation. Japanese did it; we Indians too are capable of doing it. The policy makers can understand and act to make India an economically strong nation. Germany is a small country with not much of sun. But there small groups of house holders have installed mini solar plants sharing the generated electricity almost free of cost. No one will believe that total installed capacity of solar power plants in Germany is 50000 MW. Similarly, a small country like Italy has installed 30000 MW solar power plants. Now compare it with India-today in 2016 we have only 5000 MW capacity of solar power plants. The worst part is that all these plants are installed by big players and the power developed by these plants is going into the state grids. This means the rural poor electricity deprived people are not getting any benefit of these solar plants.

Not much was done till 2015 in this concept and approach of utilization of solar power for remote areas. With the beginning of 2016, this concept gained some popularity. But, here again, the management of initial cost of the plant came in the way of success of this concept. The NorthEast states realized that this concept can provide electricity to villagers. They will benefit politically if they provide electricity in the villages. They also realized that they will save on the costly Kerosene, which is required by villagers for their lanterns during night hours. They are floating tenders for such plants and orders are being given to successful bidders for doing EPC. A good step and is likely to pick up fast.

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The MNRE guidelines are reproduced here belowThe Ministry is implementing a program for providing financial support for electrification of those remote un-electrified census villages and un-electrified hamlets of electrified census villages where grid-extension is either not feasible or not cost effective and are not covered under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. Such villages are provided basic facilities for electricity/lighting through various renewable energy sources. Small Hydro Power Generation systems, biomass gasification based electricity generation systems, solar photovoltaic power plants, etc., in distributed power generation mode may be used depending upon the availability of resources for generation of required electricity.

But the effect of this policy is not visible so far in any state. The reason again is the cost and economics.

The government is bearing 90% of the cost of the plant and is charging a fixed amount of Rs.50.00 to 100 per month per consumer. End users are not ready to pay this small amount as well. In times of political decisions of freebies to people, the government should think of some means to settle this small issue also.

Why should the powers to be in the government not understand that by providing self contained Solar powered mini-grids, they are saving heavy money on installation of big thermal power plants, the associated very costly 400 kv grids and loss bearingtheft prone distribution system. A small part of money saved there can be utilized to construct, operate and maintain mini solar parks. I think a 10% cut on the budget of big thermal/hydel/atomic power plants and the associated transmission and distribution system, can provide electricity to vast number of electricity deprived rural remotely located villages. But who thinks on these lines.

However, maximum work done under this policy is installation of solar street lights in such villages. But as the lights are installed and no arrangements have been made for their safety and upkeep, these lights too are not working.

The future of solar revolution in remote unelectrified hamlets looks bleak, but solar professionals are of the view that someday the sun will rise above the darkness (created by economics/politics/ government policies/urban society) for the benefit of millions of poor residents of remote, un-electrified rural villages. The question is when and by whom.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

FINANCING INDIA’S CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION - BY Bloomberg New Energy Finance

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY India’s energy system faces the triple challenge of meeting growing demand,cutting pollution and offering more than 300m people not connected to the power grid access to modern energy. The government has set the target of building 175GW of renewable energy by 2022, primarily solar and wind, and mandated the rapid electrification of more than 18,000 villages. If realised, this presents an investment opportunity of more than $150bn in clean power generation.

• India’s renewable energy sector can be divided into four distinct categories, namely utility-scale projects (>1MW), small and rooftop solar (1kW 1MW) projects, small energy grids (100W-50kW) and solar home systems and lanterns (<100W).

The current situation and the path forward for these are summarised below.

Utility-scale projects

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance, MNRE

• Installed capacity: at the end of FY2016, the country had 42.6GW of installed renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro) – representing 14% of total generation capacity – and 2016 is on track to become the best year for renewable installations. The sector is not only drawing Indian firms but also foreign utilities. Power generation companies particularly from Europe and Asia are increasing their presence through greenfield investments or acquisitions.

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

• Renewables versus coal: The share of renewable energy (excluding large hydro) in the total capacity mix increased from 12.5% in FY2013 to 14.1% in FY2016. We believe that this percentage will keep on increasing, as India adds renewables, coal and some hydro capacity. Renewables already have a higher growth rate in the country, with a cumulative CAGR of 15% which is higher than 12.5% for coal power plants.

• Growth of solar: PV is rapidly emerging as the king of Indian renewables. The sector has seen an impressive 59% CAGR in the last four fiscal years to reach 6.8GW installed capacity at the end of FY2016 (March 2016). While it still represents only 2% of grid-tied generation capacity, it is growing twice as fast as wind and coal. Driven by federal and state-level auctions, solar power is also being installed in almost all states across the country, unlike wind power which is focused in the south-west of the country. The more distributed nature of solar helps alleviate transmission bottlenecks and brings generation

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closer to the point of consumption.

• Asset finance: Investments in utility-scale projects have increased significantly since the government announced the target of having 175GW of solar, wind and biomass installed by 2022. Asset finance has grown from $6.6bn in FY2014 to $10.5bn in FY2016 with solar cornering the most investment in the last financial year. Based on disclosed transactions, we observe that Indian government organisations and multilaterals have so far contributed 49% and 66% of the debt finance for wind and solar respectively.

• Future funding needs: Despite this strong position, the renewables sector needs to accelerate its pace even more to meet the government targets.

We estimate that around $100bn asset finance is required during 2016-22, including $30bn in equity capital, to put the nation on the track to reach 135GW of utility-scale renewable energy by 2022. That is the utilityscale share of the overall 175GW target. Moreover, India also has the

highest cost of capital in the AsiaPacific region. Increasing capital flow and reducing financing costs will both be critical to meet targets.

• Scaling-up investments: Raising the next $100bn of asset finance will require a bigger role for capital markets. Green bonds, both domestic and offshore ones, are increasingly being used to raise debt or refinance projects and their issuance is expected to grow further. On the equity side, progress is slowly being made on Infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), which are a regulated version of yieldcos used in the US market. The idea is that investor interest is protected and developers can quickly recycle equity in large commissioned projects by selling it to long-term institutional and retail investors seeking lower, but more stable returns. These structures have started to attract increased interest after a series of regulatory amendments made them more palatable and could be crucial for the estimated $30bn equity that the utilityscale projects need.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

SMALL AND ROOFTOP SOLAR

SMALL ENERGY GRIDS

• Installed capacity: The government aims to install 40GW of rooftop solar by 2022. We estimate that cumulative installations grew to 500MW at end of FY2016 at a staggering annual CAGR of 92% in four years. The surge is primarily from commercial and industrial customers although some residential installations are also taking place. A cumulative CAGR of 108% is required in the next six years to achieve the 40GW target.

• Potential for off-grid market: The government has ramped up its efforts to extend new power lines to central buildings in villages, but often fails to connect individual residences or provide 24-hour electricity. Nonetheless, India’s 73m rural households that are not connected or are underserved by the power grid, are benefitting from solar energy in their own ways.

• Policy support: Most states have recently introduced netmetering regimes and are supporting the roll-out of projects.

These will likely carry the market forward in the immediate future, although they may not be enough to expand into the still dormant residential market. In the medium-term, captive projects that consume the solar output directly on site will be better protected from changes to the regulatory environment.

• Business models and financing: The rooftop solar industry in India is primarily divided into two models. The first is captive ownership where the consumer owns the PV system. This segment accounted for 75% of the projects we surveyed and is driven by commercial & industrial (C&I).

These projects are buoyed by favourable economics due to high power tariffs and cash availability. Financing is arranged either through their balance sheets or through their existing banks. The remaining projects are being built and financed by the renewable energy services companies (rescos) or third-party investors. We estimate that $610m was invested in rooftop solar segment across the country between FY2013 and FY2016, but the lack of financing for resco projects raises concern as it is a dominant part of other major solar markets. This is a big drawback for a sector that needs almost $50bn of capital to meet the ambitious government goals.

• Clearing the path forward: Various international agencies are committing new funding for the small solar segment to their partner banks/non-banking financial companies in India. But quick loan disbursement still remains a challenge.

The following steps can go a long way towards ensuring further growth in the sector: educating loan disbursement agencies and creating standardised loan application review processes, establishing and propagating norms for quality control of products, pilot studies to measure the technical and commercial impact of high penetration of rooftop solar on host power distribution companies, creating intermediation platforms to raise awareness and reduce transaction costs, and time bound clearance of subsidy applications. Smart grids, which allow for two-way flow of power, upgraded transformers that can take the added rooftop capacity and smart metering technology with proper IT infrastructure are needed to make rooftop addition to the existing grid easy and enabling.

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• Installed capacity and reach: Small energy grids (100W-50kW) are now serving over 75,000 households.

Our survey indicates that almost 2.9MW of these had been installed by the end of FY2016. The falling cost of solar PV and its modularity have made it the technology of choice for small energy grids (SEGs), ahead of biomass, which dominated this market until a couple of years ago.

Installations in FY2016 were almost 300% higher than in FY2013 (after a relatively poor FY2015), and the average size of these grids is rising as well.

• Emerging business models: There is no blue-print business model for a SEG operator yet. Even the most advanced companies are still amending their offerings and projects, trying out new services and improving their technology and taking on projects as and when they find them feasible. The build-operate-and-maintain business model (where the operator maintains long-term ownership of the asset) is, however, emerging as the most popular way to roll out commercially viable SEGs. • Financing trends: Financing for the SEG segment happens in fits and starts and is tied to the fortunes of a small number of companies. Bank loans, venture capital and private equity, occasional funds from corporate social responsibility mandates and crowdfunding are all being tapped as sources. Still, as per our survey, the 11 leading mini-grid companies raised a mere $16m equity and $6.26m of debt finance from the beginning of FY2013 to the end of FY2016. The limited access to capital is significantly constraining the sector’s ability to grow. The long tenures required for mini-grid financing, bundled with the risk of seeing assets stranded by grid extensions, remains among one of the largest hurdles.

• Grid arrival threat and way forward: Due to weaker economies of scale, SEGs face strong competition on a $/ kWh basis when the grid arrives at a location. A few things can help. Firstly, building mini-grids to the same standards as the AC power distribution grid will make eventual integration a lot easier and in the interim can also increase revenues from the commercial load. Secondly, regulation that enables collaboration with local power distribution companies, in the form of a franchise model, can go a long way towards alleviating investor concerns.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

SOLAR HOME SYSTEMS AND LANTERNS • Current market size: At least 5.5m lanterns and solar home systems had been sold in India by the end of FY2016 (excluding unbranded products). The majority of these were small portable lanterns smaller than 5W. • Barriers to scale: This market is lightly regulated, which may be helping growth. However, bad quality products can cut consumer confidence in technology. Access to debt finance for solar kit companies is also difficult as the sector is unproven and considered too risky by banks and investors.

Moreover, import duties are currently levied on all electronic items in India, making some products expensive.

• Business models and financing: Solar home systems have historically enjoyed significant government support and more recently, also from profit-driven companies selling solar kits on a retail basis. The companies surveyed by us in this segment have collectively raised $65m in the last four financial years. As the market grows, new models like pay-as-you-go are gaining ground. Reserve Bank of India has given payment bank licences to 11 companies to increase banking

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penetration in rural areas. Besides this, a unified payment interface has been launched that will allow money transfer from a bank account to different merchants, both online and offline, without the hassle of typing credit card details, IFSC code or net banking passwords.

• Ensuring future growth: Selling solar home systems requires only limited regulatory support, but companies are seeking a level playing field, whether by reducing subsidies for kerosene or ensuring promised product quality is actually delivered. Targeted interventions such as exemptions from import duties for products aimed at the lowest income segments could also increase sales.

• Financial measures to accelerate off-grid: The lack of access to working and consumer finance capital is an important barrier to growth. This can be tackled by supporting seed stage companies to build out new distribution channels, specialised funds or cooperation with local banks to extend corporate loans to solar lantern distributors, as well as harmonised metrics and risk guarantees for pay-asyou-go providers.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

INDIA’S TRIPLE ENERGY CHALLENGE India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with a population of 1.2bn people. As the country grows, it faces different pathways to meet the challenges of growing electricity demand, rising pollution levels and providing energy access.

GROWING ENERGY DEMAND

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ndia remains one of the few countries with rapidly growing power demand and its total electricity consumption is projected to increase fourfold between 2015 and 2040. Demand is expected to growwith increases in economic output, usage of electricity and with more people connected to the grid (Figure 6).

India’s total electricity consumption is projected to increase fourfold by 2040.

GREENHOUSE GASES AND LOCAL POLLUTION

Large power generation capacity additions give India the chance to add more renewables than fossil fuel capacity.

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ndia also remains an exception amongst major countries as it will continue to build fossil fuel power plants to meet its power demand. By 2040, India’s coal and gas power generation emissions will go from about 1Gt to more than 3Gt even after adding over 470GW of renewables (excluding hydro) over the period, according to BNEF estimates (Figure 7).

India’s long-term clean energy push will be spurred on by its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), which aims to reduce emissions intensity of the country’s GDP by 33-35% by 2030 from 2005 levels. India also committed to source 40% of its electricity from non-fossil sources by 2030.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

ENERGY ACCESS AND ELECTRIFICATION India’s per-capita power consumption is expected to increase 3.2 times by 2040 (Figure 8) but even then it would be less than that of the US, China and Japan in 2015. The country is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2021. Around a quarter of its population is not connected to the grid and those that are connected generally do not have round-theclock power. To address this, the government has set an ambitious goal of providing 24x7 ‘Power for All’ by 2019.

We estimate that there are at least 62m households in India without access to the power grid (Figure 9). Some 11m households live in villages or hamlets that are officially connected to the power grid, but often remain under-serviced. This may be due to frequent outages or to the definition of village electrification used by the government – which often neglects the expansion of last-mile distribution network to all residential houses.

There are currently 16m other households that have been identified for connection under the government’s electrification scheme.

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India is expected to become the most populous nation within a decade.

62 Million households in India do not have access to grid electricity.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have half of countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unelectrified households.

Most of the off-grid population in India is located in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Together, they account for 50% of the un-electrified households, followed by West Bengal, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.

States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal that are doing poorly on electrification rates also have very high population density (Figure 11). This should make it easier for companies, as the same distribution network/channel can reach more people and therefore offer better returns.

Source: Census 2011 and Bloomberg New Energy Finance , Note: For Telangana same electrification rate has been assumed as that of Andhra

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

Source: National Commission on Population,2011 and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Note: For Telangana same population density has been assumed as that of Andhra Pradesh

THE STATE OF CLEAN ENERGY IN INDIA India’s clean energy sector can be divided into four segments. First would be utility-scale grid-connected projects, which are mostly supported by feed-in tariffs (for technologies like wind, biomass and small hydro) or competitive auctions (in the case of solar). The second category (and the fastest growing) is small and rooftop solar, which is driven by a combination of factors including rising retail electricity prices, net metering and feed-in tariff policies. The third segment is small energy grids (SEGs), which include mini, micro and nano grids to provide reliable power and energy access to more than one house or individual. The fourth includes systems targeted for a particular establishment/ household and we classify them as the solar home systems (SHS) and lantern category. Table 1 gives a general overview of the asset size and investments into each clean energy segment between FY2013 and FY2016.

The total offgrid and rooftop renewables market size in FY2013-16 is estimated to be $0.8bn

Table 1: Market size: various solar categories (FY2013 – FY2016)

Source: Interviews and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Note: Market size refers to asset financing for a particular category except SHS and lanterns where it represents estimated sector revenues from sales of products. Average cost of installation for rooftop solar has been estimated from the interviews. For SHS and lanterns the total revenue has been estimated by assuming an average selling price of $27/unit as per Global Off-Grid Lighting Association’s solar off grid semi-annual market report.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

UTILITY-SCALE, GRID-CONNECTED PROJECTS

Growth rates of utility scale renewable projects have increased since India announced a target of having 175GW capacity till 2022.

Rural households and agriculture customers often get electricity at rates significantly below the discom’s average cost of supply.

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he first segment – utility-scale, grid-connected projects have seen some growth in recent past (Figure 12) – partly due to government’s ambitious ‘175GW renewable energy by 2022’ target and also due to the declining cost of these technologies, particularly solar (Figure 13).

While utility-scale projects are growing in number, multiple challenges exist, including the poor financial health of power distribution companies (discoms), lack of transmission capacity and the need for innovative mechanisms to scale up capital flow.

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n India, commercial and industrial consumers pay higher electricity tariffs than residential consumers. This is done so that low income residential and agricultural customers can get cross-subsidised cheap electricity – which is often significantly below the discoms’ average cost of supply. Part of the utility-scale project development is now being fuelled by demand for clean energy from large commercial and industrial consumers. Foreign and Indian companies are turning to clean energy to make their operations less carbon-intensive and in some cases carbon-neutral. Some drivers for a shift towards renewables would be their declining cost, poor servicing by distribution companies, the need to curtail expensive diesel back-up power generation, and renewable energy purchase obligations. Moreover, procurement of clean power through the grid is being helped by corporate social responsibility mandates, consumer/investor demands, the growing scale of independent power producers specialising in renewable energy, cash availability in these firms (for captive projects) and improvements in open access pushed by electricity regulators (and in some cases the courts) are helping procurement of clean power through the grid.

SMALL AND ROOFTOP SOLAR

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t a compound annual growth rate of 92% in yearly installations, the rooftop solar segment is growing the fastest of the four mentioned above (Figure 14). The growth in this area is driven by commercial and industrial customers at the moment. However, installations in homes are increasing as well.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

Government policies and new business models led the rooftop solar sector to grow by a annual CAGR of 91% in FY2013-16.

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Note: The data has been gathered by both primary and secondary research. We interviewed 26 rooftop PV installers. Further, data have been captured from BNEF database, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, SECI disclosures, company websites and press releases. Most of the projects taken into account from the MNRE website did not have clear commissioning dates. Hence, the year of subsidy release has been assumed to be the year of commissioning

The segment will continue to see high growth rates, given ambitious government targets, specific rooftop solar policy in most states, new business models being tried by entrepreneurial companies and an increasing availability of debt and equity.

SMALL ENERGY GRIDS

Growth in small energy grids has been uneven over the past four financial years.

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rowth is a little bit uneven in the SEG segment (Figure 15), with activity concentrated within a small number of companies. A lack of financing, or slow installation rates by a few companies, can impact the total annual market size significantly. The SEG market is seeing some innovation in terms of technical upgrades and business models. The arrival of the centralised grid is, however, the biggest threat to this business. Regulatory intervention and clarification on this issue is the pressing need in this sector.

SOLAR HOME SYSTEM AND LANTERNS

Solar home systems and lanterns registered an annual CAGR of 47% in FY2013-16.

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he solar home system and lanterns category has seen impressive growth as well (Figure 16) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with annual CAGR of 47% in terms of annual sales. Historically, this market has been supported by government subsidies and the efforts of non-government organisations (NGO). New business-driven distribution models are, however, starting to look promising.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

The advent of pay-as-you-go mechanisms, growth in financing options and penetration of retail banking are expected to support future growth in this market.

UTILITY-SCALE FINANCING India has historically accounted for only a small fraction of world’s investment in renewable energy projects but, as the country chases a target of 175GW renewables by 2022, it has positioned itself as a serious investment destination.

UTILITY-SCALE NEW INSTALLATIONS

Renewable energy capacity in India has a higher growth rate than coal power plants.

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t the end of FY2016 (April 2015-March 2016), India’s power sector had an installed capacity of 302GW in which coal projects had a 61% share (Figure 17). Several private IPPs had strategic plans to build a large pipeline of coal projects, citing India’s power needs. As a result, India added recordbreaking amounts of new coal capacity in the last three financial years.

However, many coal power projects are running at lower than expected capacity factors and some also face uncertainties in securing captive coal supplies that were previously allocated for running their power plants. Due to these problems and the government’s large green energy targets, most power producers have now changed their strategies and are more focussed on adding renewables.

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The share of renewable energy (excluding large hydro) in the total capacity mix increased from 12.5% in FY2013 to 14.1% in FY2016. We believe that this percentage will keep on increasing, as India mostly adds renewables, coal and some hydro capacity. According to our New Energy Outlook 2016,2 in order to meet the total projected power demand in a sustainable and economical way, India’s renewable sector would need to grow nearly 14 times to reach a cumulative installed capacity of 484GW by 2040 from 35GW installed at the end of 2015 (Figure 18). Cost competitiveness of renewables would flip over India’s capacity mix from fossil fuel dominated, to one that relies more on solar and wind technologies.

Cost competitiveness of renewables will overturn India’s capacity mix by 2040.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

UTILITY-SCALE FINANCING

State governments are implementing favourable policies to meet their increased renewable targets.

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ctivity in the renewable energy financing space increased significantly after 2014 after the announcement of the government’s target of having 175GW green power capacity by 2022. This also pushed the state governments and government-owned companies to revise their commitments to renewable energy and led to states implementing favourable policies, especially for rooftop solar projects. The wind and solar sectors had similar level of financing in FY2016 (Figure 19). New-built solar projects are expected to overtake annual wind installations for the first time in 2017, as their target is steeper than that for wind. As per projections made by BNEF’s New Energy Outlook 2016, we expect India’s total power sector spend by 2040 to be more than $1 trillion. Nearly 60% of it would be spent on building renewable power capacity (Figure 20).

Independent power producers are trying new ways to raise finance for their projects and are also innovating to reduce cost of financing. A sample of 4.8GW wind and solar energy projects suggests that most wind projects are financed by private lenders, whereas solar projects in the country are being financed largely by government banks, followed closely by private banks (Figure 20). In order to meet the goal of 175GW renewable capacity, the lending activities of both private and government banks need to increase rapidly.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

Private and government lending still needs to increase many times to meet Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s renewable energy targets.

In terms of geographical split, wind projects (Figure 22) are located in the western and southern parts of India, while solar projects (Figure 23) are being installed in all places due to high solar insolation throughout the country.

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Note: based on publically disclosed data on 2.7GW wind projects and 2.1GW of solar PV projects commissioned in FY2013-16

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

SCALING-UP FINANCING FOR UTILITYSCALE RENEWABLES India will need to spend $100bn to meet the target for utility-scale renewables.

India has started registering growth in utility-scale clean energy investments in the last few years. But to meet its 135GW renewable energy target by 2022 (this excludes a figure of 40GW for distributed solar but includes 60GW utility-scale solar and 60GW of wind capacity), the country needs an estimated $100bn of asset finance investment in generation over 2016-22 (Figure 24), including almost $30bn of equity. This requires a massive ramp-up of capital flows from current levels.

Moreover, India has the highest costs of capital in APAC for clean energy (Figure 25 & Figure 26).

Success of renewable companies in public markets is crucial to increase the availability of finance and reduce cost of capital.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

To date, private investors and corporates have put equity into utility-scale renewable energy projects, and both domestic and international banks have provided debt.

But public market activity by renewable energy companies has been modest, with only a few firms listing on the stock exchanges.

The huge capital requirement to meet the targets, and the high cost of capital, mean that fundraising from the public markets, particularly through ways that reduce the cost of debt and equity will be critically important.

We focus our attention on two specific measures. The first is the Infrastructure investment trust (InvIT). Like yieldcos, these can help developers combine multiple projects, securitising the cashflows and offer them to public and private investors. The second is onshore and offshore green bonds. Growing issuance of these is helping developers raise cheaper debt to retire expensive loans and build new capacity.

INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT TRUSTS PURPOSE AND SCOPE

InvITs are expected to help inflow of foreign capital and reduce the exposure of domestic banks to the infrastructure sector.

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he concept of infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) has been in discussion in India for more than five years. InvITs, like other publically-traded and yieldproviding vehicles, are used to free-up/recycle developers’ capital stuck in operational projects by securitising the revenue streams and offering the units on the public market. The cash flow of these projects is paid to investors in the form of dividends against the units they have purchased in the trust. InvITs are expected to help the inflow of foreign capital and reduce the exposure of domestic banks in the infrastructure sector. For investors, they will be able to own, indirectly, part of the portfolio of projects that are rolled-up in the InvIT. Given that an InvIT consists largely of completed assets, it is expected that the returns required by investors will be lower than the financing costs of the developer, including the development and construction risk. The capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI3), issued final notifications4 for these platforms on 26 September 2014. Energy sub-sectors classified as infrastructure and eligible to list InvITs are electricity generation, transmission and distribution, oil/gas pipelines, oil/gas/ liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities, and gas pipelines (including city gas networks).

STRUCTURE OF INVITS

Several safeguards are being built into InvITs to increase investor protection.

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orming an InvIT will require multiple parties to come together to create the required structure and operationalise the platform (Figure 27). An InvIT will need to have a minimum asset value of INR 5bn ($74.5m) and an offer size exceeding INR 2.5bn ($37.3m). Two kinds of InvITs can be listed: • Public InvITs: minimum 20 investors putting in at least INR 1m each, with more than 80% investment in commissioned projects • Private InvITs: at least five investors putting in minimum of INR 10m each, with more than 10% in projects under construction

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any infrastructure projects in India are created and maintained as part of special-purpose vehicles (SPVs). This is done to isolate a project/asset/ activity from the core business of the company. The SPV theoretically has a separate management and ownership (with some investors putting equity directly into the SPV rather than the parent company). An SPV can also hold a stake in another SPV. An InvIT in India will have to own a minimum 50% stake in an SPV for it to be a part of the investment trust. The trust can also own projects that are not structured as SPVs.

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Although financial regulations on InvITs were issued in 2014, interest in them has only picked up recently after the government and SEBI cleared some suggestions given by the industry. These include exempting dividends paid by SPVs to InvITs from dividend distribution tax, reducing the mandated minimum post-listing holding of the sponsor from 25% to 10% and allowing InvITs to hold stakes in an SPV (or holding company) that in turn holds a stake in another SPV.

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COMPARING INVITS WITH YIELDCOS

InvITs and yieldcos help in securitising an illiquid portfolio of renewable assets to enable investment from retail and institutional investors.

In essence, InvITs and yieldcos do the same thing – securitising an otherwise illiquid portfolio of largely commissioned assets to enable investment from retail and institutional investors that perhaps have a lower return expectation than the original developers. However, the US yieldco model has been criticised on various grounds. Some of these are discussed below, along with the safeguards that SEBI is trying to put in InvITs. 1. Relationship between sponsors and the InvIT/yieldco management In the yieldco model, even though it is a separate legal and listed entity, the sponsor firm can have significant management control. This raises the question of how the interest of the yieldco’s shareholders can be protected. The InvIT regulations have tried to create various safeguards.

These include a requirement for a minimum number of independent directors in the investment management firm, restrictions on transactions done between related parties and unit-holders’ approval requirements under certain conditions.

2. Valuation when transferring assets in and out Valuation of assets being transferred to the yieldcos has been debated in the past. Given the strong links between the sponsor and the yieldcos, there could be a tendency to overvalue projects being transferred. However, the InvIT regulation requires an independent assessor with a minimum required experience to do asset valuations and seek unit-holder approval under certain conditions. These rules are intended to provide comfort to investors against low quality (and high-priced) assets entering the InvIT or high-quality assets being sold-off cheaply.

3. Dividend pay-out requirements A key term used in the yieldco structure is CAD – which is the cash available for distribution to the shareholders after adjusting for cash expenses like interest, tax and capital expenditure. Most of the US yieldcos had promised 80-90% of CAD to be paid out as dividends. In comparison, the InvIT regulation mandates at least 90% of the CAD to be distributed with a minimum frequency of six months.

4. Composition of projects and checks on completeness To protect the unit holder, it must be ensured that mostly-completed projects are housed in a public InvIT. Thus the regulations specify that more than 80% of the value of a public InvIT has to be in completed and revenue-generating assets. Less than 20% of the value can be in under-construction projects, listed/unlisted debt of companies in the infrastructure sector, equities of Indian firms having more than 80% revenue from infrastructure projects or liquid money market instruments.

5. Allowed leverage One of the major problems identified with US yieldcos was accumulated liabilities which ballooned due to aggressive expansion plans akin to those of growth stocks rather than yield-providing platforms – even as the firm failed to offload completed projects quickly. InvIT regulations do not place a restraint on the leverage that a sponsor can have, although each sponsor needs to have a net worth of INR 1bn. However, the regulations do place a limit on the leverage an InvIT is allowed, by restricting the net consolidated borrowing and deferred payments to less than 49% of the value of the InvIT.

POTENTIAL LISTINGS RELATED TO THE ENERGY SECTOR

SEBI is still finalising some modalities for InvITs but it has already received four requests for listings.

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hile SEBI is still finalising some modalities for InvITs, it has received four requests to list, out of which two have been reportedly approved. Table 3 shows a list of firms that have intentions to list InvITs with power assets. While both Mytrah Energy and IL&FS have significant wind projects, Sterlite Power Grid and GMR Infrastructure are power transmission sector players.

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GREEN BONDS GLOBAL TRENDS

Global issuance of green bonds has been steadily growing and exceeded $45bn in 2015.

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he term ‘green bond’ started appearing in 2007-08 when the World Bank and the European investment Bank issued their first environment-themed bonds. Since the early days, global issuance of green bonds has been steadily growing (Figure 28) and exceeded $45bn last year (even though this does not include unlabelled corporate bonds).

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Three distinct categories of bonds now exist that can be used to finance activities in the renewable energy, energy efficiency or other environmentally and sustainable activities. These are: l Labelled green bonds: which are labelled ‘green’ by issuers using an acceptable standard or accreditation (for example the Climate Bonds Standard) and are marketed using these labels.

l Project bonds and asset-backed securities (ABS) backed by renewable energy and energy efficiency assets: bonds that are not labelled or marketed as ‘green’ but they are clearly linked to underlying ‘green’ projects.

Unlabelled corporate bonds: are issued by a company with at least 50% revenue exposure to the clean energy value chain. Either the partial or full amount of the issue may be used in clean energy activities.

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UPTAKE IN INDIA Indian equipment manufacturers, financiers and power producers had issued bonds in the past but did not label them as green.

1. Unlabelled green bonds Indian firms involved in clean energy sector have been issuing bonds for a long time now. However, most of these have not been labelled ‘green’. Three distinct kinds of firms have been involved in such issues.

Equipment manufacturers Clean energy equipment providers have tapped the debt capital markets for over five years. For example, wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy issued foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) in 2007. Similarly, Websol Energy issued FCCBs worth $16.8m in the same year.

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Financial companies Indian banks and non-banking financial companies have also raised unlabelled bonds to in turn provide debt to clean energy companies. Two major issuers include government-owned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda) and Tata Cleantech Capital. Both have issued bonds as recently as H1 2016.

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Project developers

Given the growth in the Indian renewable energy market, some project developers are starting to have portfolios of 1GW or more. The success of their future plans are dependent on raising capital quickly as well are reducing the cost of capital. Large developers like ReNew Power and Tata Power’s renewable energy arm have already tapped the bond markets to refinance existing portfolios and lower the cost of debt.

Rupee- or dollar denominated issuances of green bonds in overseas markets have started to gain traction.

2. Labelled green bonds As interest in clean energy rises, green bonds are starting to become a standalone asset class. Indian companies have in-turn started raising labelled green bonds.

In February 2015, Yes Bank issued India’s first ‘Green Infrastructure Bond’, of INR 10bn with a tenor of 10 years and 8.85% coupon. Since then Export-Import Bank of India, Hero Future Energies and CLP India have all issued bonds that are labelled as green.

3. Offshore and masala green bonds While issuance in Indian markets have increased, offshore bond markets are being tapped as well, often those in key financial centres. IDBI Bank, for example raised $350m green bonds in November 2015 under the medium-term note programme listed on the Singapore Exchange. Similarly, Axis Bank listed $500m green bonds on the London Stock Exchange in May 2016. Another category that is emerging is the masala bond. These bonds are issued by Indian firms in the overseas market but the money is raised in Indian rupees and not the currency of that international market. In such cases, the foreign currency risk is borne by the investors rather than the issuer. This may require the bond to have higher ratings or offer higher returns to investors. In August 2015, International Finance Corporation issued the first masala bond on the London Stock Exchange for INR 3.15bn, the proceeds of which were invested in Yes Bank’s domestic green bond. More recently, Indian thermal power major NTPC issued green masala bonds of INR 20bn in August 2016 on the London Stock Exchange and Singapore Exchange.

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THE PATH FORWARD Reserve Bank of India has relaxed its rules allowing borrowers to get up to $750m from overseas entities without prior approval.

Labelled and unlabelled green bond issues are undoubtedly on the rise as Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s renewable energy market accelerates. A few important events that have happened recently will provide further momentum. First, on 11 January 2016, the securities market regulator, the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) issued disclosure requirements for issuance and listing of green bonds. Some key requirements are: l Incremental disclosures under the SEBI (Issue and Listing of Debt Securities) Regulations, 2008.

Requirement of independent third party reviewer/certifier/validator, for reviewing/ certifying/validating the pre-issuance and post-issuance process including project evaluation and selection criteria. However, this is kept optional. l

l Issuer to make disclosures including use of proceeds, list of projects to which green bond proceeds have been allocated etc. in the annual report/periodical filings made to the Stock Exchanges.

SEBI will also keep updating these norms. These requirements will help create standardised processes within the country for the issues of bonds. Second, in September 2015, the Reserve Bank of India issued a notification for issuance of rupeedenominated external commercial borrowings (including masala bonds).

These allow eligible borrowers including InvITs to borrow upto $750m without seeking an approval for a period of at least five years. As Indian companies raise increased amount of bonds in the domestic and international markets, these initiatives by government agencies are expected to help in the further growth of the green bond market.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS SMALL AND ROOFTOP SOLAR Many commercial and industrial consumers purchase grid electricity at rates comparable or higher than the LCOE of rooftop projects.

Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power distribution companies (discoms) handle more than 90% of total electric supply business. Discoms charge a varying range of tariffs for different categories of consumers, where the largest power consumers are generally billed at the highest tariff levels. Still, high tariffs have not assured reliable power supply to commercial and industrial (C&I) consumers and therefore these have been using diesel generators or other captive power sources to meet the shortfall in power. However, with progressive decline in costs of solar PV, rooftop solar has created business opportunities in the C&I segment and has also started to grab the attention of residential customers.

Most C&I consumers purchase electricity from discoms at prices that are close to, or higher than, the LCOE of rooftop-scale solar projects (Figure 30).

This creates an immediate economic benefit if all or a part of the total electricity is sourced from solar projects.

Several electricity buyers have reduced supplies from discoms by installing captive renewable generation.

Several electricity consumers in the manufacturing, food, information technology and service industries have started to partially opt out of buying electricity from the discomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s network by installing solar power generation equipment within their premises, usually on unused rooftops. To analyse the market with more detailed information, BNEF interviewed 26 solar PV developers, with a cumulative capacity of 182MW installed by them in the past four financial years. As per our interviews, rooftop PV is currently growing with an average annual CAGR of 182% over the past four financial years (Figure 31).

Residential users are not sought as potential rooftop candidates due to high cost of realising government subsidies.

Annual rooftop solar financing by the survey participants crossed $120m in FY2016, up from less than $53m a year before (Figure 32). However, this is only a part of the market, and the overall installations have been shown in Section 3.

These projects are generally financed through the equity of the rooftop owner, who also consumes the power generated (meaning these projects are captive), but there are a few cases in which an investor wishing to take the benefits of accelerated depreciation would finance the building of a project on the rooftop of the power purchaser. In this scenario, the ownership of the equipment lies with the investor (usually a renewable energy services company or a high net-worth individual), and it may be transferred to the power purchaser after a certain time period.

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India’s target for small solar capacity has helped create rooftop solar and net metering policies in nearly all states.

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overnment-owned firm Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) provides a capital subsidy of up to 30% (70% for special category states)5 of the project cost to educational institutions, hospitals and residential consumers, but not to C&I investors. The rooftop consultancy and engineering, procurement and construction, or EPC, providers in our survey do not encourage their customers to apply for the government subsidy, since customers expect the service providers to spend the time and effort to collect subsidies. More importantly, the lure of subsidies also delays the decision-making process for the end-customers.

Therefore the service providers try to bring out the merits of the rooftop system on its own rather than through government support. One knock-on effect of this is that due to high transaction costs to receive the subsidies, residential users are not actively being sought as potential candidates for rooftop solar installations. Thus, awareness becomes one of the key challenges in rapid uptake of rooftop systems.

The federal government’s target is to have 40GW of rooftop and small solar installations. A positive side-effect of this ambitious target is that it has recently led to the development of rooftop solar and net-metering policies in nearly all states in India. These policies are expected to create demand for rooftop solar projects, especially from educational institutions that can now sell surplus power to the grid on holidays.

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he power distribution networks in India are not built to handle large two-way flows of electricity, and this significantly curtails the capacity of projects that could be built under the net metering policy. It is also anticipated that at some point there will be a pushback on this policy from the discoms as they lose more revenues from their highest paying consumers (the C&I segment). However, captive rooftop projects will still be able to register high growth, as they do not depend on the government for any subsidy or special support. State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) in many states have declared FY2017 solar renewable purchase obligation targets in the range of 0.2-2.5% of total electricity consumption for obligated entities – which include discoms and large electricity buyers. If these RPOs are enforced properly, they will help create a market for rooftop solar installations by commercial and industrial consumers.

BUSINESS MODELS There are various business models in the rooftop PV category, depending upon the investor’s risk and return preferences. We have broadly classified these into four categories.

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CAPTIVE INVESTMENT Reserve Bank of India has relaxed its rules allowing borrowers to get up to $750m from overseas entities without prior approval.

Under this model the solar rooftop facility is owned by the consumer. The operation and maintenance can be done by the consumer or by the developer with minimum charges. This model can have either of these two provisions for metering: l Gross metering: If the entire electricity generated by the solar PV is injected into the grid then only one-way metering is required. l Net metering: only the excess electricity is injected into the grid and the rest is used by the consumer. This requires a two-way meter system.

The captive model is suitable for those industrial and commercial players who have the ability to make upfront investments in building rooftop capacity and are already paying high prices per unit of electricity.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SUPPLY COMPANY Under this model, the project developer owns the solar rooftop facility and provides electricity to consumers for a fixed tariff. There can be different combinations under this model depending on the ownership of the roof:

In FY2014-16, resco business models reached a cumulative capacity of 45.3MW (Figure 35) or about a quarter of the total capacity observed in our interviews (Figure 33). Since resco capacity starts from a negligible installed base, it has a higher CAGR than captive projects (Figure 35).

l Standard resco model: Under this model, the developer implements the solar project on the roof or within the premise of the consumer, owns the PV system and is also in charge of its operation and maintenance. The power generated is sold to the consumer according to a pre-determined power purchase agreement. This model is suitable for residential and those commercial consumers who do not want to make a large upfront investment.

Rooftop rental: Under this model the developer implements the solar project by entering into a lease agreement with a roof owner. The project is entirely owned by the developer. The power generated is fed into the grid and the roof owner gets a rent. This model is suitable for residential consumers who are sceptical about solar technology and are not willing to shift from conventional grid electricity. They can lend their roof and the discom can pay a feed-intariff per unit of electricity generation to the developer.

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THIRD-PARTY INVESTMENT MODEL

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his model is mostly used by corporates or high net-worth individuals who want to take the benefits of accelerated depreciation in partnership with EPC companies. The project developer conducts EPC and maintenance works and installs the system on the rooftops of the electricity buyer. In this model, usually

the developer finds both the investor and the consumer and acts as the common interface between them.

This model matches the best strengths of the investor, developer and consumer but is expected to have limited scalability as it needs the coming together of three entities with different interests.

BARRIERS TO SCALE FOR ROOFTOP SOLAR IN INDIA

The interviewees often shared common challenges in up-scaling rooftop solar capacity in various states.

Some of the frequently occurring challenges and their possible remedies are mentioned in Table 5.

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THE WAY AHEAD Rooftop solar developers can offer products combined with storage systems in the future.

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he rooftop segment has emerged as a rapidly growing sub-segment in India’s clean energy sector.

Power is generated at the point of consumption, circumventing complicated land leases, grid connections and transmission losses that often affect large projects. Several Indian lenders have been capitalised by international and multilateral lenders to finance rooftop solar projects, especially the ones owned by C&I consumers. Due

to the greater availability of funds with banks, well-defined policies, increasing awareness amongst consumers and pressure on discoms to increase electricity rates, we expect the pace of rooftop installations to pick up significantly in the coming years. Rooftop developers may also start to market combined solar and storage systems that capitalise on the use of battery-based, back-up power that is already prevalent in metropolitan areas and other big cities.

OFF-GRID ELECTRIFICATION Economics of solar energy are already advantageous compared to kerosene lamps and diesel generators.

Providing electricity to India’s 73m rural households that do not have reliable power is crucial to unlock the country’s full economic potential.

Clean energy, and solar in particular, is likely to play a game-changing role.

The economics of solar are already advantageous compared to kerosene lamps and diesel generators and allow consumers or entire villages to work and live independently of an often irregular grid power supply. Scaling solar will require innovative business and financing models just as much as new hardware.

Off-grid power is primarily supplied through two main technologies: SEGs comprising of nano, micro or mini-grids are hamlet or village level micro-utilities involving installation of a small power plant with distribution system, and billing customers either by number of days or by kWh. The installed capacity can range from tens of watts (W) to a few dozen kilowatts (kW) depending on the number of customers served and the appliances powered.

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Solar kits, namely portable solar lanterns and solar

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home systems. These are small or even handheld devices combining a solar panel with a rechargeable battery and an LED light. Combined with multiple lights, a phone charger and small appliances like a radio or a fan, they can provide the most basic level of modern energy to an individual household or small business such as a shop. By their nature, they are targeted directly at the individual household and sold as a product, without any billing per kWh.

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Solar kits are sold for cash and therefore carry lower financial risk for the company.

Solar kits have been more successful to date, measured both in terms of sold capacity as well as financing raised (Figure 36, Figure 37 and Figure 38, Figure 39). By the end of March 2016, we counted almost 10MW of cumulative solar kit sales from just the 11 leading companies, compared with 3MW of renewable mini-grids built in the past four financial years. Solar kits can be marketed directly to an individual customer, and are often sold against cash. The financial risk is therefore more manageable. Consumers are also free to decide to buy a solar lantern whenever they wish. Mini grids need a critical mass of customers in any given village, making them more complex to finance.

Solar PV is rapidly emerging as the dominant renewable off-grid power generation source. It is the only technology that is modular to be packaged into kits small and cheap enough to be affordable by a typical off-grid household. Biomass power plants were until recently the main generation source for SEGs. Solar module costs have however dropped by almost 30% since 2014. Because solar is now not only cheap to manufacture, but can also be installed and scaled much more easily and does not require a local fuel supply chain, most SEG developers now opt for solar as their main generation source. SEGs are typically also complemented by diesel generators and batteries (lead acid, although a shift towards lithium-ion is likely in the medium term).

Solar home systems and SEGs will both contribute to solving Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s electrification challenge. Home-systems excel in places where consumers have no other option, where grid extensions are inadequate and low population density or preventive policy frameworks prevent mini-grid operators from offering services. Mini-grids, in particular those offering grid-like AC power, will be crucial to enable not just basic residential consumption, but also more powerful small manufacturing and commercial applications.

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REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN OFF-GRID ENERGY UPTAKE Success in operation of off-grid renewable companies depends upon local presence and ease of doing business.

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nsurprisingly, off-grid energy has found the most up-take in states where the majority of India’s offgrid population lives. Uttar Pradesh, which hosts more than 34% of India’s total off-grid households, leads the pack with a total installed capacity of 3.4MW (see Figure 40). But off-grid companies have also done well in Karnataka where almost 87% of rural households use electricity as their primary energy source6. This might reflect the the

unreliable electricity supply situation existing in Karnataka.

Bihar, which has the lowest electrification rate of all Indian states, has been far less successful in attracting off-grid energy investments to date, with almost no private-sector-driven sales of solar home systems and just 400kW of renewable mini grids installed.

The local know-how and ease of doing business also determines the success of operations in a state.

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SMALL ENERGY GRIDS Renewable grids can provide power for basic lighting and small commercial activities.

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For simplicity, we have divided SEGs into three groups: l Nano-grids are about as powerful as large solar home systems, but serve a handful of households with basic energy. Output is usually restricted to certain hours and to maximum usage, typically sufficient for lighting and mobile phone charging. These grids have low capital cost and faster paybacks. They generally include two to four solar panels, two batteries, a battery cabinet, a charge controller, a current control device, lights, and phone chargers.

Engineers can install a nano system in just one day due to the simplicity of design.

Micro-grids can power a larger array of appliances for a larger part of the day.

These systems are typically within the 1-10kW range and can power a few dozen households. l 3-phase AC mini-grids are powerful enough to provide for full residential or even commercial load 24/7, for one or several villages. Such systems can serve several hundred households plus small industrial assets such as water pumps, flour mills and telecom towers. The largest mini-grid in our survey had a 30kW solar component. Due to the high loads, billing is usually metered per unit. l

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INSTALLED CAPACITY SEGs installations more than trebled in FY2016.

Our survey of off-grid market participants found that 11 mini-grid companies built 1.4MW of renewable minigrids in 2016, up from 400kW a year prior.

However, the trends are driven by the success of very few players, as several firms reported declining installations.

Solar PV is rapidly becoming the main generation technology in mini-grids. Alternative renewable power technologies such as biomass and small hydro had played a larger role a few years ago (Figure 42).

Now, they are often not competitive with PV anymore.

They are also a lot harder to incorporate into a scalable business model.

Mini-grid developers plan to build hundreds or thousands of sites. They need a technology that can reliably be installed in hundreds of sites with minimal location-specific adjustments, be remotely monitored and cuts operational and maintenance expenditure. Solar scores better on the key criteria of operations and maintenance (see Table 7). Biomass may still play a role in combination with PV when used as an alternative to diesel, enabling a mini-grid to be run almost entirely on renewables. Small wind turbines are more suitable for places at higher altitude and hilly regions.

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

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THE EMERGING SEG BUSINESS MODELS Distributed grid companies are still evolving their business models and offerings.

There is no blue-print business model for a SEG operator yet. Even the most advanced companies are still amending their offerings and projects, trying out new services and improving their technology and taking on projects as and when they find them feasible.

However, the build-operate-and-maintain business model is emerging as the most popular way to roll out commercially viable SEGs. In this model, the operator maintains long-term ownership of the asset. It therefore ties the developersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; long-term interests to the local community, as they only make a

profit when the system remains functional and customers continue to pay. This is the most important difference of this model from the build-only model, which has also proven popular with other for-profit companies such as Minda NexGenTech or Grid India. Selling a constructed asset to a third party or the local community prevents the operator from developing best practices and economies of scale in the operation and maintenance of the grid. This can lead to higher costs and worse performance after the mini-grid is built (see Figure 43).

Business models that lead to full or partial community ownership have typically been supported by not-for-profits.

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Remote monitoring mechanisms are crucial to keep costs in check.

Successful mini-grid operators are running dozens, and plan to run thousands, of assets distributed across a state. An immediate overview of asset and portfolio health is crucial not just to maintain the promised service levels, but also to assure debt investors that cash flows will live up to the original expectations. Several companies have therefore developed proprietary low-cost monitoring devices that will be able to share performance data from remote micro grids for online access anywhere in the world. Similar offerings are also available from specialised providers catering to the global market.

Nano-grids generally use a post-paid fixed billing system, whereas for mini-grids the billing is done on a metered basis.

Payment terms are not a major differentiator between companies, as long as collection happens in digital form. Nano-grids generally use post-paid fixed billing systems (fixed charges for a week), as installing meters is costly given the small regular payments. For AC mini-grids, billing is usually metered, since consumption can differ significantly between consumers. OMC is the most prominent company billing customers after consumption. Others, such as Husk Power Systems and Boond use pre-paid meters where customers pay a small fee for the connection and then they buy credits or recharges by weekly or monthly basis. The meter automatically disconnects power when the credits are used.

SEG FINANCING Financing for SEGs has been meagre and taps into whatever source it can. As per our survey, the 11 leading mini-grid companies raised a mere $16m in equity and $6.26m of debt finance since the beginning of FY2013. The limited access to capital is significantly constraining the sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to grow. Different types of investment have

come into the mini-grid sector, such as debt from banks, venture capital and equity finance, as well as occasional funds from corporate social responsibility mandates and crowdfunding. The long tenures required for mini-grid financing, bundled with the risk of seeing assets stranded by grid extensions, represent another high hurdle.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE GRID ARRIVES? Building renewable grids with the same standards as the discom network will make the eventual integration a lot easier.

Mini-grids require a long-term investment. The financiers recoup the investment by charging tariffs that are significantly above those charged by the national grid. This arrangement can work as long as the mini-grid can offer the cheapest and/or most reliable power. A successful grid extension that provides 24/7 electricity can quickly make the mini-grid uncompetitive and risks leaving investors unable to recoup their investment. This risk is among the chief reasons stopping investors from backing mini-grids.

Addressing the potential of grid arrival requires changes to the regulatory framework. Rules that determine potential compensation or exit options for mini-grid investors following a grid extension are one way to address the financial uncertainty.

Carving out small concession areas in which

a minigrid operator can establish a local monopoly with regulated tariffs, not unlike the distribution monopolies on the national grid, is another option.

Long-term viability of SEGs will also require technical changes. Building minigrids to the same standards as the national grid will make eventual integration a lot easier. This will both improve service levels prior to grid-arrival and ensure that installed equipment can be used to plug directly into the grid once it arrives. This is only possible with AC grids. Smaller DC grids are far more likely to become redundant in this scenario â&#x20AC;&#x201C; unless the quality of service derived from the national grid is so poor that off-grid services remain desirable.

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

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WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEXT FOR SEGS?

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SEGs have so far seen less uptake than solar home systems, but it is far too early to dismiss the technology.

Solar kits can provide access to energy almost on demand, making the customer completely independent from the decisions of others. Installing SEGs requires more complex, coordinated action. Several factors need to be aligned. There needs to be enough demand and ability to pay in a village.

Houses need to be close enough together to keep the distribution grid economic. A willing developer needs to convince a bank that the asset will provide long-term returns. The bank requires a regulatory framework that ensures the electricity tariff that can be charged, as well as a guarantee that either the grid will not be extended to compete with the micro-grid asset, or the developer

will be compensated, if it ever is.

Therefore clear transparent and longterm policies are needed to boost the confidence of financiers. All of this makes SEGs more complex to build.

But there are indications that solving these complexities promises rapid economic growth. Anecdotal evidence shows that where grid-like power is reaching, people often find innovative ways to put it to productive use. Husk Power Systems claims it has seen a 113% increase in commercial load within two months after upgrading an existing asset to provide grid-quality power. The increase is most likely driven by small businesses that find it profitable to add new appliances to serve their own customers (Figure 44). Instead of SEG companies living under the threat of the grid being extended to the un-electrified areas and making the business

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

uncompetitive, the discoms and the SEG providers can work together to electrify remote areas. Power distribution companies can allocate certain rural areas that could be electrified by SEG companies under a franchisee model. SEG operators would need to follow certain standards to meet the discom’s technical and service parameters in exchange for permission to manage the local operations (generation and distribution) in that area under the

patronage of the discoms.

It is expected that use of technology, especially mobile banking and payments, will increase in future.

Therefore it is necessary to partner with telecom companies to power the communication towers with renewable energy. This has a two-fold benefit. Firstly the presence of a telecom tower improves mobile penetration and helps in mobile banking. Secondly, the mobile towers act as anchor customer

for renewable energy companies.

Availability of early-stage financing is crucial for the success of the SEG business model. Grants, prizes and competition money can be useful sources of equity without diluting the ownership of the company. More of such financing could increase the number of players willing to take risks in this sector, and this would improve the rural penetration, awareness and acceptance of SEGs as a viable alternative to grid power.

SOLAR HOME SYSTEMS AND PORTABLE LANTERNS An estimated 90,000 solar home systems and at least 5m lamps were sold in FY2013-16.

Solar kits can provide all basic residential energy needs for off-grid customers. Solar lanterns and home systems range from handheld single lights with a 0.5W solar panel all the way to systems with several hundred Watts capable of lighting multiple rooms, charging phones, and powering radios and even TVs, fans and fridges. The cheapest items can retail for under $5 per unit, providing an alternative to simple candles or kerosene lights. They can therefore address most off-grid

customers.

More advanced solar home systems can cater for customers ‘stepping up’ the energy consumption ladder towards more powerful appliances, or even provide a back-up for unreliable grid connections.

Solar lanterns have proven the most popular in the market, largely due to their low cost. We estimate that more than 90,000 SHS have been installed and more than 5m lanterns have been distributed in the past four financial years, just from our survey.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT AND NGO-DRIVEN SALES The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has run a lighting programme under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) since November 2010. The

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subsidy was discontinued on 31 March 2015, but has been launched again with effect from 29 February 20167.

Nabard provides a subsidy of INR 160/ Wp ($2.4/Wp) for systems up to 40Wp

and INR 100/Wp ($1.5/Wp) for systems of 40Wp to 300Wp. Systems above 300Wp are not eligible for subsidy.

The subsidy is only provided to a predetermined list of eligible companies.8

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BUSINESS-DRIVEN DISTRIBUTION MODELS It is important to encourage for profit companies to enter the SHS and lantern business to scale up activities.

Companies establish dedicated sales networks or make use of existing retail channels to sell their products in rural areas.

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Government and NGO-driven efforts have not been able to reach all potential customers.

Inadequate after-sales service often meant that systems did not live up to expectations. Delays in the approval of loans, subsidy applications and system installation have also left potential customers unserved. The gap has been filled by for-profit and social enterprises selling off-grid solar kits on a commercial basis. Developing customer trust is of utmost importance in this business because growth often depends upon word-of-mouth marketing. Locally assembled Retail distribution is the hardest part of selling solar kits. Off-grid households are mostly in the remote areas. Hence an effective distribution and retail network is required. Some companies create their proprietary sales networks while others leverage existing channels (Table 10).

products have historically dominated the market. Most SHS companies in India procure products from component manufacturers, do the assembly and try to distribute them by developing networks in the villages. Companies focus on retail and, to successfully do so, they invest in product customisation and developing customer relationships. However, there is another category of solar lantern companies that are designing and manufacturing their own products to have better flexibility to meet customer requirements (Figure 45).

Many players have partnered with microfinance institutions to distribute lanterns and SHS, often bundled with a loan. Since they know customers well and are aware of their repayment habits, they can target those that can make a onetime payment and have a good track record.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

PAY-AS-YOU-GO SOLAR AND CONSUMER FINANCING

M

ore recently, some solar home system companies have vertically extended their operations and engaged more directly with micro-finance institutions themselves.

By combining a solar home system with a mobile phone connection, they allow customers to make small payments. If a customer falls behind, the solar home system is automatically disabled until the balance is settled. This model has become popular in East Africa, but is used in India

by Simpa Networks. Because those firms refinance the consumer loans themselves,

the business model is very capital-intensive.

However, it does also generate potentially valuable data on customer payment patterns, which can later be used to provide loans for other consumer goods, using the solar home system as collateral. This business model has attracted the majority of venture and impact-backed financing in off-grid solar companies in Africa. It is so far gaining less traction in India, where lower mobile money penetration and a more advanced and cashbased micro-finance system reduce the potential upside of the system.

Source: SIMPA and Bloomberg New Energy Finance BARRIERS TO SCALE FOR SOLAR HOME SYSTEMS Consumers are often unaware of quality differences amongst solar products, and no brand is recognised on a panIndia basis yet.

The solar lantern and home system market is generally considered very light on regulation, as kits are primarily sold as products over the counter, more like consumer electronics than energy. Most companies seek to maintain that independence, but say they face challenging conditions on the following fronts: Quality standards and truth in advertising: consumers are often unaware of quality differences among products, and no brand has yet become widely enough recognised that consumers can turn to it. As a result, products compete on price and some low-quality products break so fast that they may deter consumers from the category as a whole.

Enhancing international efforts at quality verification, such as IFCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lighting Global programme can improve

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consumer recognition.

Access to debt finance: most solar kit companies require debt capital to maintain inventories and finance supply chains. As a small and unproven sector, they are often considered too risky by banks and investors.

At the same time, many companies have voiced scepticism over government product subsidies that are paid late or infrequently. These funds could be converted towards debt facilities that let companies compete on a level playing field while accelerating access to regular corporate loans. Import duties are currently levied on all electronic items in India. It has been argued that products targeting the lowest-income segments should be exempted from such duties, as is the case in several African markets.

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THE WAY FORWARD SHS and lanterns are often the first step on the energy ladder for many people and will continue to play an important role in meeting basic electricity needs.

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Across several parts of un-electrified India, solar home systems and lanterns are providing lighting and other small electrical uses for the first time. Thus these will continue to play an important part in providing basic electricity needs. Government and NGOs have been pivotal in providing electricity access but they have not been able to reach all potential customers and often their participation halts after a few years, which may lead to poor customer support. Therefore it is necessary to encourage for-profit companies to eKonter the SHS and lantern business to scale up activities in this business. The on and off nature of government subsidies and electrification programmes does not bode well for the off-grid sector as they create market uncertainties for product manufacturers and sellers. Retail distribution and last mile connectivity are amongst the biggest challenges in the SHS and lantern business. Most companies sell their products

through dedicated sales channels or through intermediaries. There could be a lesson for these companies from the e-commerce giants in the country through consolidation of the distribution chain. Connect India is an independent company that provides product shipments and micro logistics services to e-commerce companies such as Amazon.

If the solar lantern and SHS manufacturers are able to overcome the challenges of faulty deliveries and product returns through dedicated logistics providers, then it can improve their reach within rural India. One of the biggest challenges for SHS and lantern companies is getting access to debt without any collateral. Till the time this sector gains traction with commercial lenders, the donors to off-grid companies can help create a fund to minimise collateral requirements. This partial risk guarantee fund can help off-grid organisations achieve faster growth with better availability of financing.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

FINANCIAL INNOVATION TO ACCELERATE OFF-GRID INVESTMENTS IN INDIA Off-grid solar companies are usually not able to access commercial financing because they are unproven companies operating in an unproven market with little or no collateral.

Renewables, and solar in particular, require a lot of upfront capital and little operating costs. For solar home systems and certainly for mini-grids, the largely selffinanced success seen in the rooftop solar segment will not be replicated because they mainly cater for poor, cash-constrained consumers. Financing, and in particular debt for consumer or mini-grid loans, is therefore a crucial challenge to scaling the off-grid business models. Off-grid solar

Companies in India have so far turned to a number of sources and structures to establish their businesses, with varying success.

• Start-up competitions, challenges and prizes are useful tools to help companies in very early stages looking for non-dilutive capital to develop their product and business model. Indian off-grid companies that have benefited from such prize money include Orb Energy, Mera Gao Power and Frontier Markets.

• Government development grants aim to provide a similar function as prize money, but can be more targeted and handed out for future projects rather than reward past achievements. One of the examples for this category is the PACEsetter fund, an $8m facility shared by the governments of India and the US and exclusively focused on clean energy access. Another example is the USIndia Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) initiative which will make available $20m in project preparation support for companies under consideration by OPIC. The initiative is funded by US foundations (including The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which commissioned this study) and the Indian government.

• Crowdfunding aims to raise money by skipping the financial system and going straight to a large pool of individuals instead. The method has been applied over

Consumer payment data is important to communicate that distributed solar in India can deliver returns for investors and lenders.

companies are usually not able to access commercial financing because they are unproven players operating in an unproven market. Overcoming the first hurdle will likely require purpose-made financial vehicles that can build the business models, operational skills and teams to run off-grid companies. Allowing them to raise debt financing to serve a usually unbanked consumer segment will require new financial products and infrastructure.

websites such as kiva.org, a development-focused crowdsourcing site that directly finances consumers.

Several off-grid companies such as WakaWaka or Buffalo Grid have also used other crowdfunding sites to launch products. MyMosambi is another start-up that is focusing exclusively on tapping the Indian diaspora to finance off-grid solar. The amounts raised on crowdfunding are, however, typically small or very small, while the competition for the attention of retail investors boosts transaction costs.

We consider it unlikely to be deep enough to finance a meaningful roll-out of off-grid solar products.

• Local bank financing has been pioneered by companies like Orb Energy and Selco, which have developed close partnerships with local banks that understand the risks in extending consumer loans tied to solar home systems. The success in working with such banks is one of the reasons why the pay-as-you-go solar model has seen less uptake in India than in East Africa.

• Development finance loans can play an important role in providing debt capital to off-grid companies proving their business model in a particular market. For instance, in December 2015 Simpa Networks arranged a $6m loan administered by the Asian Development Bank aimed at rolling out its solar home systems to 75,000 households, mainly in Uttar Pradesh. The firm previously also received commercial debt from OPIC and GDF Suez.

To achieve scale and provide the 46m households currently living without reliable power supply in India, commercial finance will have to be tapped. Among the most important remaining challenges to do so are: • Foreign exchange risk occurs when foreign currency is lent in India. Any depreciation of the Indian rupee will directly increase the cost of repayment for debtors, and therefore make the loan riskier. Any financing provided by foreign funders into Indian off-grid solar companies that remain unhedged simply transfers the currency risk to the local company. These are often reluctant to take on the risk.

• Tapping corporate social responsibility funds can unlock another source of financing for the off-grid sector. Several corporates have internal targets or government mandates to make some spending on CSR initiatives that can include energy access issues. The funds from these corporates can be used to subsidise the cost of rural electrification initiatives and provide earlystage risk capital to invite more companies.

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• Consumer payment data and standardised portfolio metrics are important to communicate that distributed solar in India can deliver returns and to communicate portfolio health on a continuous basis. Some of the regional banks working with companies like Orb Energy and Selco in India already have experience in assessing solar-backed consumer receivables. Harmonised performance indicators are currently under development, under leadership from the World Bank10.

• Asset structuring, in particular special-purpose vehicles that offload outstanding consumer loans from the corporate balance sheet are likely to play an important role in expanding the reach of consumer-financing or bundled mini-grid investments. Such structures are also directly suited to mix commercial financing with donor-led first-loss tranches for risk mitigation.

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Trina Solar Announces New World Record of 19.86% Aperture Efficiency for “Honey Plus” Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Module Trina Solar Limited, a global leader in photovoltaic modules, solutions and services, recently announced that its State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology of China (the “SKL PVST”) has set a new world record of 19.86% aperture efficiency for its high-efficiency “Honey Plus” multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar module, which contains 120 pieces of P-type mc-Si solar cells (156x78mm2). The result has been independently verified by the Fraunhofer ISE CalLab in Germany.

Dr. Pierre Verlinden, VP and Chief Scientist of Trina Solar

T

he record-breaking solar module, using the Company’s independently developed high performance mc-Si wafers with a high minority carrier lifetime, is manufactured with a number of advanced in-house technologies including half-cell interconnection, passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) technology and highly efficient light trapping. Following the previous efficiency record of 19.14% on a 1.515m2 aperture-area announced in April 2015, the SKL PVST successfully achieved a new aperturearea efficiency record of 19.86% on a module area of 1.514m2 within one year and a half.

The new record represents an increase of more than 0.7 percentage points, or approx.

3.8%

Higher

Source:PRN

“We are very delighted to announce the latest achievement from our research team at the SKL PVST. The efficiency of PV modules is one of the key parameters to estimate the final Levelised Cost of solar Electricity (LCOE). This 19.86% aperture efficiency result that Trina Solar achieved demonstrates the huge potential for future multicrystalline p-type silicon research. It is also a leap forward in the trend of continuous efficiency improvements of crystalline silicon solar modules,” said. “In the innovation-driven PV industry, Trina Solar is always focused on developing leadingedge PV techniques and products that improve cell efficiency and reduce system cost. By tuning into the needs of the market, we look to achieve commercial success with our innovations.”

Refusol PV Inverters Now Listed By Dubai Electricity And Water Authority (Dewa)

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s of October 13th, the REFUsol string inverters have been included in DEWA’s list for equipment meeting eligibility requirements for their Distributed Renewable Resource Generation (DRRG) program. The DRRG listing provides an overview of the manufacturers and equipment that meet DEWA’s technical standards and are therefore approved for PV on-grid applications. The DRRG program is part of the Shams Dubai initiative, which encourages residents and companies to produce and consume their own energy through a grid-tied PV system.

“We are excited to announce that our inverters were qualified for this initiative,” said Henner Funk, Head of Sales Solar at Refu Elektronik. “It offers anyone the opportunity to use the new generation

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of REFUsol inverters in their projects and to benefit from their easy installation, high efficiency and low maintenance costs. We are honored to be a puzzle piece in realizing the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to make Dubai the smartest city in the world and to build a sustainable future for the Emirates.” To support customers from the region, REFUsol’s sales team cooperates closely with Prettl Energy Middle East FZE, a subsidiary of Prettl group led by Deepak Solomon. Prettl Energy is based in Jebel Ali, the world’s largest free trade zone, and establishes REFUsol in the Middle East. The listing includes both REFUsol product ranges – the new generation of the 08-23K inverters as well as the 40-46K for larger applications.

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Apar Industries..................................................................07 delta.....................................................................................03 EQ International................................................................33 PEBS PENNAR.........................................................................17 filmcutter(joolywood)...................................................11 Huawei Telecommunications.........................Front Cover JA SOLAR...........................................front GATEFOLD cover Jinko solar.........................................................BACk COVER lerri solar.......................................................inside front mornsun..............................................................................09 renewsys.............................................................................21 SOVA POWER.........................................................................13 solar south.......................................................................35 solar expo.........................................................................47 Swelect..............................................................................00 tbea......................................................................Inside back

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