EQ Magazine Oct 2019 Edition by EQ Int'l Solar Media Group

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CONT EN T

VOLUME 11 Issue #10

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

INDIA

INDIA GIFTS SOLAR PANELS WORTH $1 MILLION TO THE UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK

INTERNATIONAL

GERMAN GOVT REACHES 100 BILLIONEURO CLIMATE PLAN DEAL AS GLOBAL PROTESTS HEAT UP

UNILEVER ACHIEVES 100% RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY ACROSS FIVE CONTINENTS

TECHNOLOGY

SOLAR PROJECTS

HERAEUS PHOTOVOLTAICS AND CELL ENGINEERING ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO BRING HIGH-YIELD LECO TECHNOLOGY AND METALLIZATION PASTES TO MARKET

VIKRAM SOLAR COMMISSIONS ROOFTOP SOLAR POWER PLANT FOR SL GROUP

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

EV & ENERGY STORAGE BYD ENTERS INDIA’S ELECTRIC CAR MARKET WITH NEW MPV AND MINIVAN

OCTOBER 2019

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INDIA

GOVT TO ROLL OUT NEW TARIFF POLICY, UDAY 2.0 FOR RESOLVING DISCOMS LOSSES

research & analysis INDIA’S COAL-FIRED ENERGY SECTOR FACES RISK: REPORT

46 INTERVIEW MR. KETSU ZHANG

FEATURED INGETEAM LAUNCHES ITS NEW PV STRING INVERTER FEATURING 1500 VDC TECHNOLOGY

CASE STUDY

SKY PROJECT (KUSUM YOJNA). TOP POSITION IN GUJARAT

INTERVIEW

MR. ANDRES GLUSKI

INDIA India is going to increase the share of non-fossil fuels to 175 GW by 2022, and will further take it to 450 GW: Prime Minister

TECHNOLOGY A Google backed 5G drone took off

64 62

73 74

65 INTERVIEW

MR. THOMAS FRANK

EQ NEWS Pg. 08-59 REI NEWS Pg. 52-60

OPINION

Bill Gates Says Wind, Solar Subsidies Should Go to Something New

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OPINION India’s energy demand to grow by 4.2%: Dharmendra Pradhan

INTERVIEWS Pg. 62-65

OCTOBER 2019

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OCTOBER 2019

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OCTOBER 2019

INDIA

NLC INDIA EXCEEDS 1GW INSTALLED RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPACITY Public sector NLC India Ltd, formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, said it has surpassed the 1 GW installed renewable energy capacity at its facility. The Tamil Nadu-based ‘Navratna’ company under the Ministry of Coal had a present mining capacity of 30.6 million tonne of lignite per annum.

POWER GRID BAGS INTER-STATE TRANSMISSION PROJECT

State-owned utility Power Grid Corporation said it has bagged an interstate power transmission project under a tariff-based competitive bidding, which would benefit Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. “Power Grid Corporation has been declared as successful bidder under tariff-based competitive bidding to establish inter-state transmission system associated with LTA (longterm access) applications from Rajasthan SEZ Part-B on a build, own, operate and maintain (BOOM) basis,” according to a BSE filing by the firm.

he letter of intent (LoI) was issued to Power Grid Corporation of India on September 11, it added. The letter of intent (LoI) was issued to Power Grid Corporation of India The transmission system comprises a 765kV DIC Transmission line and associated bays to be established in Rajasthan. Power Grid also said that after winning the bid, it acquired Bhind Guna Transmission Ltd (BGTL) on September 11 from REC Transmission Projects Company Ltd (the bid process coordinator). BGTL is the special purpose vehicle to establish the transmission system for intra-state transmission work associated with construction of 400-kilovolt (kV) substation near Guna in Madhya Pradesh and intra-state transmission work associated with construction of 220 kV substation near Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, on the BOOM basis. The system comprises 400 kV, 220 kV and 132 kV transmission lines apart from establishing new 400/220 kV and 220/132 kV substations at Guna and Bhind, respectively. The transmission system is an intra-state transmission system project in Madhya Pradesh and is to be completed in 36 months, it added. Source: PTI

he present power generation capacity, including that of its joint venture with TANGEDCO, is 5,192 MW. In a notification to stock exchanges, the company said, “95 MW capacity of the 109 MW solar PV power plant at Avathandai, Veppankulam and Kadamangalam village, Ramanathapuram, out of the 709 MW solar power projects awarded by TANGEDCO has been successfully commissioned”. With this, the total installed renewable energy capacity of NLCIL has exceeded 1 GW, the company said. Shares of the company were trading at Rs 56.25 apiece up by 1.17 per cent over the previous close on BSE.. Source: PTI

DELHI GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES ‘MUKHYAMANTRI KISAN AAY BADHOTARI SOLAR YOJANA’ The delhi power department will soon float tenders to invite companies to set up the solar plants under the ‘Mukhyamantri Kisan Aay Badhotari Solar Yojana’ under the public-private participation model.

he power department has got the consent of farmers to install the solar panels on almost 150 acres of agricultural land in outer Delhi. Under the scheme, the private companies under the RESCO (Renewable Energy Service Company) model will be allowed to install solar panels on not more than one-third of the total land owned by a farmer. The farmers will be paid Rs 1 lakh per acre as rent with 6% annual increase for 25 years. By the 25th year, the farmer will be getting Rs 4.04 lakh per acre from the companies. Though no commercial activity will be allowed on the agricultural land, the official said the installation was exempted under Section 81 of the Land Act. While the installation of solar panels will help the farmers increase their income by 3-4 times, the tips on hi-tech farming will help them augment it further. The scheme was approved by the government in July last year, but picked up speed only after Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) notified the net metering guidelines. The energy generated through the renewable source will be exported to the grid and then supplied to various areas. Source: cleanfuture.co.in

OCTOBER 2019

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OCTOBER 2019

INDIA

SITE DECIDED, GOVT CLEARS MEGA SOLAR PROJECT IN

LEH AND KARGIL

The first package was to be set up in the areas tentatively identified in Zanskar sub-division and Taisuru block of Kargil district. THE DECKS have been cleared for a Rs 50,000 crore grid-connected solar photo-voltaic project spread across Leh and Kargil districts — the single biggest investment proposal in the region since Ladakh was designated as a Union Territory.

Union Power Minister R K Singh told The Indian Express that the Centre has finalised the sites for the solar project, alongside the implementation details of a crucial transmission link to ensure the viability of the project. Pang, about 117 km from Leh, has been finalised as the revised site for a major chunk of the 7,500 MW solar project after an earlier proposed site ran foul of environmental norms. Additionally, the project has been rendered viable by segregating the crucial transmission corridor for evacuation of electricity from the overall project package, as against a combined package under a single tender that was being offered earlier. The transmission link has been routed via Manali in Himachal Pradesh and further to Kaithal in Haryana to ensure that electricity can be feasibly wheeled from the proposed project — billed as the country’s biggest solar project in capacity terms. The renewable energy ministry plans to eventually scale it up to a 23,000 MW grid-connected Ultra Mega Solar PV project in Ladakh, with the 7,500 MW package forming the first part of the larger project.

OCTOBER 2019

“The site that we had earlier selected (Nyoma, 250 km from Leh) turned out to have some wildlife, so there were some environmental clearance issues. So we’ve selected another site — Pang… Now, transmission is an issue. (So), we are segregating the transmission from Pang to… Manali, and from Manali onwards to Kaithal. We’re thinking of doing this as a part of our network expansion. Once we (do it), that’ll become viable, otherwise the transmission costs were making it unviable,” Singh said. The Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) — a company under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — had issued a Request for Selection earlier this year for the development of the grid-connected solar power project spread across Leh and Kargil. The total capacity of 7,500 MW was, at that time, divided into three packages of 2,500 MW each. The first package was to be set up in the areas tentatively identified in Zanskar sub-division and Taisuru block of Kargil district while the remaining two packages were to be developed at Hanley Khaldo area of Nyoma sub-division in Leh district, which has now been changed to Pang. The scope of work would comprise the setting-up of the solar PV projects. The implementation of the entire power evacuation infrastructure (substations along with transmission lines), till the drawl point (tentatively planned to be located in New Wanpoh), which was originally envisaged as part of the single package, would now be executed separately. A tender will be issued for selection of the project developer, who will be responsible for setting up the solar PV project. SECI will enter into power purchase agreements (PPA) spanning a period of 35 years with the successful bidders, who can avail fiscal incentives like accelerated depreciation, concessional customs and excise duties and tax holidays as available for such projects. The project is being targeted for a tight 48-month commissioning deadline from the effective date of the PPA.

Source: indianexpress

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OCTOBER 2019

INDIA

DISPUTE RESOLUTION PANEL FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS TO GIVE DECISIONS IN 3 WEEKS: MNRE The government will by Plans to make functional a resolution committee which would settle disputes of solar and wind energy projects beyond contractual agreements within 21 days, a senior official said.

n June this year, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) had issued an ordered for setting up a Dispute Resolution Mechanism (DRM) to consider unforeseen disputes between solar or wind power developers and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and state-run power giant NTPC beyond contractual agreements. The committee will hear all such cases of solar/wind projects being implemented through SECI as well as NTPC.

The MNRE has issued guidelines for making DRM functional later this week. We are expecting that to be functional by next week. It has already received over a dozen application, a senior official said. The DRM cannot function without guidelines issued by the ministry. Besides, the MNRE has also amended the order for setting up of DRM to facilitate developers, the official added. The renewable energy industry has been demanding setting up of a mechanism by MNRE to resolve expeditiously unforeseen disputes that may arise beyond the scope of contractual agreements between solar/wind power developers and SECI or NTPC. This assumes significance in view India’s ambitious target of having 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022 which includes 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind energy.

OCTOBER 2019

Commenting on this development, Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh told , “A neutral and fair Dispute Resolution Mechanism is one of the most important steps for ensuring ease of doing business. We have set up a transparent Dispute Resolution Mechanism in renewable energy sector. This will increase pace of installation of renewable energy capacity in our country.” In June this year, the MNRE formed a three-member dispute resolution committee (DRC) comprising M F Farooqui (former DOT secretary, heavy industry secretary), Anil Swarup (former coal secretary, school education secretary) and A K Dubey (former sports secretary). Under MNRE’s guidelines, SECI and NTPC have been mandated to provide a secretariat for DRC. SECI and NTPC will make available one officer each, not below the rank of general manager, who shall function as the secretary of the DRC. The DRC shall meet at least once every week, provided there are cases or applications pending before it for resolution. The secretary would ensure that the meetings of DRC are convened in a manner and frequency that can ensure adherence to 21 days period kept for decision on a case. In cases where the DRC is unable to give decision within the time frame of 21 days, the secretary shall inform MNRE in this regard and the ministry may provide an additional 14 days within which the DRC will have to take a decision.

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OCTOBER 2019

INDIA

RENEW POWER MOVES HC OVER CONNECTIVITY DENIAL TO WIND PROJECTS ReNew Power, a wind and solar energy producer, has moved the Andhra Pradesh high court, objecting to the disconnection of a part of its capacity in the state. This follows its earlier petition questioning the government’s decision to renegotiate power purchase agreements.

n the fresh application filed earlier this week, ReNew protested against 300 MW of its wind projects being suddenly denied connectivity by the Andhra Pradesh Transmission Co. (APTRANSCO) at its Uravakonda substation. The first hearing on this application was held. APTRANSCO chairman Srikant Nagulapalli said in a memo dated September 14 that “irregular connections and loads” were being removed after careful examination of the vigilance report. ET has reviewed a copy of the memo. In addition, 100 MW of Greenko’s wind projects have been disconnected.APTRANSCO and ReNew did not respond to ET’s queries. A senior state government official claimed not to even be aware of the APTRANSCO memo. The Wind Independent Power Producers Association had filed a petition with the regulatory commission maintaining that 1,000 MW of power was not being evacuated because two transformers at Uravakonda substation had been malfunctioning. APERC formed a committee to visit the site. About 1,800 MW of wind power capacity is said to be connected to this substation. The state has commissioned 3,978 MW of wind energy capacity, according to Bridge To India, a renewable energy consultancy firm.

“We took our engineers to the site to repair the transformers earlier and they were not even allowed to access it. Half of the wind projects in the state are connected to the Uravakonda substation,” said an industry executive, requesting anonymity. “ APTRANSCO started this new drama of removing connectivity. They want to scare us in all kinds of ways so we will come forward and negotiate tariffs,” the person said. Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who took office in May, decided to renegotiate PPAs signed by the previous government with renewable energy developers because he alleged they were at rates higher than in other states because of corruption. He formed a committee to renegotiate with the developers. The state then threatened to terminate the PPAs if developers didn’t agree to reduce tariffs. Anxious developers – ReNew among them – took the state to court and obtained a stay order on all proceedings of the committee. Hearings have been going on for the past few weeks. In addition, 100 MW of Greenko’s wind projects have been disconnected. Source: PTI

IND-RA REVISES SOLAR SECTOR OUTLOOK TO STABLE FOR FY20 Owing to the recent announcements by certain states on renegotiation of power purchase agreements for renewable power tariffs, ratings agency India Ratings has revised the outlook for the solar sector to stable from positive for FY20. The agency has, however, maintained stable outlook for wind power sectors for the remainder of this fiscal. “Revision in rating outlook for solar stems from resurfacing renegotiation fears and continued delay in payments from some of the off-takers,” Ind-Ra said in a statement.

he agency noted that the stable outlook for both the sectors emanates from likely in-line operational and financial performance of projects with its projection for the rest of FY20, coupled with availability of adequate liquidity despite delay in payments from select state distribution utilities. According to the agency, there were 25 per cent more downgrades than upgrades among renewable projects in Ind-Ra’s portfolio in 2019 (till mid-August), mostly on account of delay in payments from the off-taker.

“However, timely payments from strong counter parties like SECI and NTPC, among others, and expected stable generation of renewable energy power in the upcoming months favour the stable outlook,” it said.

OCTOBER 2019

The developments in the sector include Andhra Pradesh’s attempts to negotiate renewable power tariffs or terminate costly power purchase agreements (PPAs) and increasing receivables period from select state discoms. “On the positive side, the Centre’s efforts to enforce letter of credits (LCs) as a payment security mechanism under PPAs can have a salutary effect on timely payments from off-takers over the long term,” the agency said. Ind-Ra further said that a key potential disruptor to the sector can be the recent trend of linking PPAs with back- to-back power sale agreement with state discoms, stressing on the intermediary nature of SECI and NTPC. “Overall, the positive and negative developments in the sector counterbalance each other, thereby resulting in a stable outlook,” the agency noted. Source: PTI

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INDIA

APTEL ALLOWS ADANI POWER ARM TO CHARGE HIGHER COAL COST FROM RAJ DISCOMS Adani Power Said electricity tribunal APTEL has allowed its subsidiary Adani Power Rajasthan to charge a higher cost of coal regarding a 1,200-MW power supply agreement with distribution companies of Rajasthan. The tribunal has allowed the compensation due to the shortage of domestic coal, the company said in a regulatory filing. “Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) has issued a judgement, allowing the claim of compensation for non-availability/shortage in linkage coal supply from Coal India Ltd, and use of alternate coal by the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, APRL in respect of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) of 1200 MW signed with Distribution Companies of Rajasthan,” a BSE filing said.

PTEL has allowed compensation for domestic coal shortfall arising from change in law pertaining to the New Coal Distribution Policy, 2007 (NCDP), and the Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala (Coal) Transparently in India policy of the Government of India (SHAKTI Policy). In addition to this, the company said that the APTEL has also granted carrying cost pertaining to the above. The APTEL has further directed the discoms to pay to APRL, the balance amount of change in law compensation pertaining to NCDP along with carrying cost within two months from the date of Judgement and the claim pertaining to the period after the grant of coal linkage under the SHAKTI Policy, along with carrying cost within three months of submission of claim along with requisite documents by APRL. Source: PTI

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OCTOBER 2019

INDIA

DELHI DISCOMS REGULATORY ASSETS DOWN BY RS 3,029 CR IN 5 YEARS The combined RAs of the three discoms were Rs 9,349 crore (2015-16), Rs 8,919 crore (2016-17), Rs 8,776 crore (2017-18) and Rs 8,377 crore in 2018-19. The power sector in Delhi has seen a steady decline in regulatory assets to Rs 8,377 crore over the last five years, helping the AAP government keep tariffs under check, an official said.

The transformation of the Delhi’s power sector is best captured by the fact that tariff rates have continuously reduced in the last five years and are now the cheapest in the country, with round the clock power supply in all parts of Delhi, Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission Vice-Chairman Jasmine Shah said. “At the same time the power discoms’ financial health has improved, as measured by regulatory assets,” Shah said.

egulatory assets include receivables from customers. The gap between expenses shown by power discoms and the revenue recovered from consumers would accumulate as regulatory assets (RAs) over the years. Since 2008-09, the combined RAs of the three discoms in Delhi- BYPL, BRPL and TPDDL shot up drastically from Rs 937 crore to Rs 11,406 crore in 2014-15, an officer of Delhi government’s power department said. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government came to power in Delhi in February 2015. The RAs have registered a steady decline over the last five years from Rs 11,406 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 8,377 crore in 2018-19, showing a decline of Rs 3,029 crore in that period, said the officer. The combined RAs of the three discoms were Rs 9,349 crore (201516), Rs 8,919 crore (2016-17), Rs 8,776 crore (2017-18) and Rs 8,377 crore in 2018-19. “It’s important to understand that Delhi government’s power subsidy scheme for lower and middle-income electricity consumers is not a standalone initiative, it is the result of the power reforms in entirety that includes considerably bringing down regulatory assets and interventions like reducing losses, Shah said.

OCTOBER 2019

The Delhi government has fully subsidised monthly consumption of up to 200 units of electricity and extended 50 percent subsidy to consumers in the range of 201-400 units. “Ultimately it’s a result of sheer political will and something that can be replicated in all parts of the country if the same will exists,” Shah said. The Power department official said the reforms included bringing efficiency in power supply as well as its distribution. “Large investment were made in the distribution infrastructure (transformers etc.) to reliably connect all parts of Delhi to the grid. Several measures have been taken that have made Delhi’s DISCOMS today as the most efficient ones in India,” he said. The financial health of discoms is majorly affected by the cost of power purchase and the factors that affect it. Several initiatives by the Delhi government and its SLDC (State Load Dispatch Centre) have brought this under control, he said. Due to upgradation of transmission infrastructure, average transmission and collection (AT&C) losses have substantially reduced in the last five years. “For example, for BRPL, AT&C losses reduced from 17 percent in 2013-14 to 8 percent in 2018-19. Presently discoms in Delhi have among the lowest T&C losses in India,” he claimed. Additionally, the Delhi government played a major role in enabling discoms to enter into purchasing agreements for 2,000 MW of renewable power at the lowest rates in the country of about Rs 2.6 per unit, the officer said. These will kick in from 2020 onwards and will further bring down the power purchase cost, added the official. Source: PTI

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INDIA

INDIA GIFTS SOLAR PANELS WORTH $1 MILLION TO THE UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK In a bid to reaffirm its commitment to combat Climate change, India has gifted solar panels to the United Nations as a goodwill gesture. The gifted solar panels are installed on the roof of the Conference Building at the United Nations headquarters. The panels are powered up to reach a maximum of 50 KW of generation power. A green roof also has been installed on the building as part of the gift from India. The Conference Building at the UN headquarters faces the East River, and it is located between the iconic Secretariate Building and the General Assembly Building of the UN.

India has contributed $1 million for installing the solar panels on the UN building in New York City. In September last year, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin had tweeted saying that India was the first responder to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for climate action. He had said that India was funding the solar project at the United Nations headquarters to reduce carbon footprint & promote sustainable energy. While handing over the contribution, Akbaruddin had said, “It is my hope that installing solar panels at UN Headquarters would set in motion enhanced solar energy cooperation at the international stage.”

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ndia has been a frontrunner in propounding the Paris agreement on Climate change and has set itself ambitious targets to play its part in mitigating global warming. The International Solar Alliance was formed on the initiative of the Modi government in 2016. The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 122 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, and receive plenty of sunlight. With the US showing little interest in honouring the Paris agreement, the world is looking up to India to carry the baton of climate change and spearhead the campaign to protect the environment. India has been a staunch proponent of harnessing the renewable sources of energy such as solar energy, which hitherto hasn’t been utilised to the fullest. The recent endowment of solar panels to the United Nations is a move in this direction. Source: opindia

OCTOBER 2019

INDIA

GOVT TO ROLL OUT NEW TARIFF POLICY, UDAY 2.0 FOR RESOLVING DISCOMS LOSSES The government is in the process of rolling out a new tariff policy and UDAY 2.0 to address the issue of losses of discoms, which is the “only difficulty” in ensuring round the clock electricity supply for all, Power Minister R K Singh said.

ccording to the PRAA portal, the total outstanding of the discoms to gencos as of July this year stood at Rs 73,425 crore, including the overdue amount of Rs 55,276 crore. The dues to discoms become overdue after 60 days of non-payment of the bill, allowing gencos charge penal interest on that.

“There is a capacity to transfer (supply) any quantum (of power). There is no reason why 24X7 power cannot be given. The only difficulty in this (24X7 power for All) is losses to some distribution utilities. They don’t have money to pay for power,” Singh told . About the steps being taken by the government, the minister said that the central government has already made it mandatory for discoms to open letters of credit for getting supply from gencos, excluding state government power plants from August 1, 2019. He was of the view that the mandatory opening of letter of credit, would take some time to reduce stress on power generation companies. He said that new tariff policy has already gone to the Cabinet for vetting and approval while the power ministry is working on the UDAY 2.0 scheme which would be launched this fiscal only. He said that under the new tariff policy, the discoms would have to pay a surcharge for delayed payment, which would be equal to the commercial rate of interest. Elaborating further he said, “After the rollout of tariff policy and UDAY 2.0 scheme, if a discom would not take steps to reduce losses, then Government of India would not give any grant or loan.” About empowering the consumer in the new tariff policy he said, “We have recognised consumer rights in the policy. Earlier those were not recognized. We are saying that it is a service. One thing we are saying that discoms would be penalised if they do load shedding.” On the under-recovery of cost of supply of power, he said, “Discoms cannot put the burden of their inefficiencies on consumers. Earlier they used to charge under-recovered power supply cost to other consumers. Around 70 per cent consumers used to pay for 100 per cent consumers. This is injustice.” He further said, “Now we have given an option of 15 per cent. Now we would allow recovery of up to 15 per cent under-recovered power supply cost from the tariff of other consumers. If your loss is beyond 15 per cent then discom or state government would pay for that. This is the consumers’ right.” Under the new tariff policy, a provision for standards of service which would provide timeline for various services like time period for replacing a burnt transformer etc. Singh said that the tariff policy provides that the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) would set standards of service and there would be a penalty for not meeting those standards. On the UDAY 2.0, he said, “We are coming out with a project under which we would reduce losses of discoms. We will be giving funds to discoms to reduce losses by taking steps like opening new police stations for power theft.” He also said that UDAY 2.0 provides that the funds from the Centre would only be released if the discom takes steps to reduce losses.

OCTOBER 2019

He said, “They would not get any grant. They would also not get loans from PFC and REC. These are incentives and disincentives to reduce losses. You may call it UDAY 2.0. It is aimed at reducing losses of discoms and strengthening the distribution system. We want to roll this out this fiscal year.” The Centre in November 2015 had launched the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) to bring about operational and financial turnaround of debtladen power distribution companies. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech in July had said, “Our government launched UDAY in 2015 aimed at financial and operational turnaround of DISCOMs. The government is examining the performance of the scheme and it will be further improved.” About bringing investments in the power sector he said, “There should be demand. We have provided in tariff policy that discom would tell regulator about power demand in their area every year and we have arranged for that supply. The demand would translate into PPA (power purchase agreement) and it would bring investment into power generation.” He also said, “Investors would invest in the power sector only when there would be payment for power supplied. We have fixed that by making the opening letter of credit mandatory for getting power supply by discoms from August 1, 2019. “This would give surety to power gencos about payment of power supply. So there would be demand and payment would be made for power supply. These two issues are fixed now. We are bringing fundamental changes.” Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes

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INDIA

POWER REFORMS | GOVT PLANS TO DEVELOP 2,000 MW CLEAN ENERGY PARKS FOR $2 BN Investments in the country’s renewable energy sector doubled over the last five years to around $20 billion in 2018. In a renewed push to cut India’s dependence on fossil fuels, the central government wants state-run companies to build massive clean energy parks at a cost of around $2 billion each, with built-in incentives to ensure states and operators are invested in the success of the parks.

he proposed ultra-mega renewable energy power parks (UMREPP) of 2,000 megawatts (MW) each will help developers achieve economies of scale and further bring down solar and wind power tariffs. Setting up such parks will bolster India’s image as a clean energy champion at a time the world is grappling with concerns related to climate change. Clean energy projects now account for more than a fifth of India’s installed power generation capacity. These green energy parks will be set up under the existing Solar Park scheme, which provides the building blocks — land and grid connectivity — and will be implemented by a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

Various public sector undertakings have been urged to set up ultra-mega renewable energy plants in major states in collaboration with state governments through SPV mechanism for these parks, said Anand Kumar, Secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, adding that the SPVs can either purchase land or take it on lease from state governments or private parties. To get states on board and facilitate the requisite clearances, state governments will be paid Rs 0.02 per unit of electricity generated from the projects over their lifetime. The Power Ministry’s ultra-mega power project programme was India’s earlier attempt to create large power generation capacities at a single location. However, it has had its share of problems, weighed by environmental concerns and local resistance. “The state governments will facilitate the SPV to identify and acquire land, and obtain required statutory clearances,” a government official aware of the plans said, requesting anonymity. The SPVs will also be paid park development and operations and maintenance (O&M) charges by the developers, and Rs 0.02 per unit on the electricity generated over their lifetime. The operators that will set up renewable energy projects such as wind or solar inside the clean energy park will be selected through tariff-based competitive bids. India is seeking additional clean energy investment of around $80 billion till 2022, growing more than threefold to $250 billion during 2023-30.

According to a government note reviewed by Mint, “the capacity of the UMREPP may be in the range of 2,000MW. However, the minimum capacity of any UMREPP at a single location may be 600MW where there is need for creation of new transmission system by CTU (central transmission utility). The UMREPP, connected to any existing transmission system of CTU/STU (state transmission utility), shall be of the size of 250 MW at a single location. For floating solar PV (photovoltaics) parks, the minimum size should be 50 MW”. These mega solar park plans comes against the backdrop of Tesla, China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL) and BYD Co, among others, showing an initial interest in the Indian government’s plan to build large factories to make lithium-ion batteries at an investment of about Rs 50,000 crore. Aimed at securing India’s energy needs, the plan to set up these 50 gigawatt hour (GWh) factories has been cleared by the expenditure finance committee, with the final tender expected to be awarded by February. Each gigawatt hour (1,000 megawatt hours) of battery capacity can power one million homes for an hour and around 30,000 electric cars. The government wants to make India a global manufacturing hub for electric vehicles and their components. This is aimed at arresting the South Asian country’s reputation as the world’s third-largest crude oil importer, saving on precious foreign exchange and also controlling pollution in its major cities. In what is being marked as a turning point for India’s green economy, investments in the country’s renewable energy sector doubled over the last five years to around $20 billion in 2018, surpassing the capital expenditure in the thermal power sector, according to a joint study by Paris-based International Energy Agency and Council on Energy, Environment and Water. India has been trying to rejig its energy mix in favour of green energy sources. At present, India has an installed power generation capacity of 357,875 MW, of which around 22 percent, or 80,000 MW, is generated through clean energy projects. India has become one of the top renewable energy producers globally, with ambitious capacity expansion plans to achieve 175 GW by 2022 and 500 GW by 2030, as part of its climate commitments. Source: moneycontrol

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OCTOBER 2019

BUSINESS & FINANCE

AIIB AND AMUNDI LAUNCH INNOVATIVE USD 500-MILLION CLIMATE BOND PORTFOLIO TO MOBILIZE CLIMATE ACTION The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, have announced a USD500-million Asia Climate Bond Portfolio which aims to accelerate climate action in the Bank’s members and address the underdevelopment of the climate bond market.

hrough a managed fixed income portfolio of an initial USD500-million, the joint project expects to mobilize another USD500-million from climate change-focused institutional investors. A portion of the investment proceeds will be allocated to market education, engagement and issuer support. Amundi and AIIB have developed a first-of-its-kind Climate Change Investment framework, which takes into account three variables, portion of green business activities, climate mitigation and resilience to climate change, to analyze issuers’ ability to cope with climate change. The Asia Climate Bond Portfolio will invest in labeled green bonds and unlabeled climate bonds and engage with issuing companies to help them transition their business models to increase climate resilience and green leadership. The portfolio will seek performance by identifying, analyzing and selecting tomorrow’s climate champions based on this framework.

This portfolio is another example of how AIIB works with leading partners to develop innovative financial products to deepen capital markets for infrastructure, said AIIB Vice President and Chief Investment Officer D.J. Pandian. “We expect this investment will demonstrate how international financial institutions can approach development finance differently to support the Paris Agreement and adoption of climate finance principles.”

We are honored to work with AIIB on their first capital market initiative focused on climate action,” said Amundi CEO Yves Perrier. “Supporting Climate Champions and the Paris Agreement in Asia is in line with Amundi’s commitment to ESG investing and reflects our extensive commitment to the region. We are proud to launch this new initiative in the field of climate finance. This project will also entail an ambitious engagement policy to support the emergence of climate champions in infrastructure and other productive sectors.

OCTOBER 2019

I am glad to see that a new financial innovation will help support the emergence of green leaders in Asia,” said economist and policymaker Professor Lord Nicholas Stern who also sits on AIIB’s International Advisory Panel. “This comprehensive approach favored by a new public-private partnership between AIIB and Amundi, focusing on the various dimensions through which climate change can impact businesses (including transition risks and physical risks) could help a great deal in mobilizing very large amounts of money for climate action and the energy transition in critical regions of the world. We should expect strong performance—more responsible investment and more modern techniques offer better returns. The emerging market corporate debt strategy will be managed by Amundi’s Global Emerging Market Debt portfolio management team, based in London and whose members each have an average of over 17 years’ professional experience. This team is part of the broader Emerging Markets Investment platform, which manages $50.5bn1 in dedicated EM Equity, Fixed-Income and Cross-Assets strategies and totals 69 investment professionals (portfolio managers and career analysts). In July, AIIB announced a USD500million portfolio that aims to develop debt capital markets for infrastructure, drive responsible investing in fixed income and build a sustainable ESG ecosystem in emerging markets in Asia. The Asia Climate Bond Portfolio will begin investing in January 2020 and will progressively deploy the committed capital in eligible assets. Additional information can be found here.

Source: aiib.org

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

PREMIER SOLAR CHANGES ITS NAME TO PREMIER ENERGIES Mr. Surender Pal Singh, Chairman of Premier Solar Systems Pvt Ltd is glad to announce that the company name is changing to Premier Energies Ltd.

he new name continues to reflect our dedication to PV Manufacturing and diversification into other forms of energy generation, energy storage and e-mobility. There has been no change in the management and the company will continue to serve its clients and business partners with the same dedication and commitment that has distinguished us as one of the leading manufacturers of innovative and quality PV products since 1995. Source: premiersolarsystems

GLOBAL RENEWABLES INVESTMENT TO TRIPLE THIS DECADE: U.N. Global investment in new capacity for renewable energy is on course to reach $2.6 trillion by the end of this decade, more than triple the amount of the previous decade, a report commissioned by the U.N. Environment Programme says.

he figure excludes large hydropower projects and is equivalent to 1.2 terawatts (TW) of new renewable energy capacity this decade. That’s more than today’s entire U.S. electricity generation units and half of the 2.4 TW of total power capacity installed over the same period. The increase stems from a fall in interest rates in major economies and a slump in costs, with the “levelised” cost of solar photovoltaics down 81%, onshore wind down 46% and offshore wind down 44% this decade. The levelised figure is the cost of generating a megawatt hour of electricity; the upfront capital and development cost; the cost of equity and debt finance and operating and maintenance fees.

The biggest investing country during the decade is set to be China, which committed $758 billion between 2010 and mid-2019. Over the same period, Europe invested $698 billion and the United States spent $356 billion, the report said. www.EQMagPro.com

Solar power has attracted the most investment this decade at $1.3 trillion. By the end of this year, there will be more solar capacity installed this decade – 638 gigawatts (GW) – than any other power generation technology.

“While this demonstrates huge and lasting progress, the pace must increase. Renewables are now firmly embedded in the power generation sector but only represent 26.3% of total electricity produced – 12.9% if we exclude large hydro,” the report said. “Fossil fuel subsidies, which run into the hundreds of billions of dollars each year, are slowing progress,” it added. Around 529 GW of new coal plants have been added this decade, 487 GW of new wind capacity and 438 GW of new gasfired power generation. Although more new capacity was added for solar than coal or gas, it does not directly translate into new power generation because solar is intermittent and dependent on sunlight. Despite the growth of renewables, global power sector emissions are likely to have risen by at least 10% by the end of this decade. The report comes ahead of a United Nations climate summit this month, at which Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for countries to give concrete and more ambitious plans to curb global warming.

Source: in.reuters

OCTOBER 2019

BUSINESS & FINANCE

SOLAR LEADS DECADE OF INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLE ENERGY Global investment in new renewable energy capacity this decade — 2010 to 2019 inclusive — is on course to hit $2.6 trillion, with more gigawatts of solar power capacity installed than any other generation technology, new figures published

ccording to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2019 report, released ahead of the UN Global Climate Action Summit on September 23, this investment is set to have roughly quadrupled renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro of more than 50MW) from 414 GW at the end of 2009 to 1,650 GW when the decade closes at the end of this year. Solar power will have drawn half — $1.3 trillion — of the $2.6 trillion in renewable energy investments made over the decade.

By this year’s end, solar capacity will have risen to more than 26 times the 2009 level — from 25 GW to an estimated 663 GW, an increase of 638 GW. The global share of electricity generation accounted for by renewables reached 12.9 per cent in 2018, up from 11.6 per cent in 2017. This avoided an estimated two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions last year alone — a substantial saving given global power sector emissions of 13.7 billion tonnes in 2018. Including all generating technologies (fossil and zero-carbon), the decade is set to see a net 2,366 GW of additional power capacity installed, with solar accounting for the largest single share (638 GW), coal second (529 GW), and wind and gas in third and fourth places (487 GW and 438 GW, respectively). The cost-competitiveness of renewables has also risen dramatically over the decade. The levelized cost of electricity (a measure that allows comparison of different methods of electricity generation on a consistent basis) is down 81 per cent for solar photovoltaics since 2009; that for onshore wind is down 46 per cent. “Investing in renewable energy is investing in a sustainable and profitable future, as the last decade of incredible growth in renewables has shown,” UN Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen said in a statement. “But we cannot afford to be complacent. Global power sector emissions have risen about 10 per cent over this period. It is clear that we need to rapidly step up the pace of the global switch to renewables if we are to meet international climate and development goals.” The report, released annually since 2007, also continued its traditional look at yearly figures, with global investment in renewables capacity hitting $272.9 billion in 2018. While this was 12 per cent down over the previous year, 2018 was the ninth successive year in which capacity investment exceeded $200 billion and the fifth successive year above $250 billion. It was also about three times the global investment in coal and gas-fired generation capacity combined. The 2018 figure was achieved despite continuing falls in the capital cost of solar and wind projects, and despite a policy change that hit investment in China in the second half of the year. A record 167 GW of new renewable energy capacity was completed in 2018, up from 160 GW in 2017.

Source: IANS

RENEW POWER RAISES $300 MN VIA OFFSHORE BOND SALES Clean energy firm ReNew Power raised $300 million by selling bonds overseas, seeking to use the proceeds for capacity expansion. The sale of these bonds, with three-year maturity, opened for subscription . The dollar-denominated securities were priced at 6.45%, the initial target rate. It is said to have obtained subscriptions upto $600 million. “A part of the proceeds may also be used for repaying existing high cost debt,” said a senior executive involved in the fundraising exercise. The company has been planning this issuance the past few weeks.

hose bonds are known as 144A in market parlance, which allows USbased investors to buy them. HSBC, JP Morgan, and Barclays are some of the banks that helped the company raise the money. This was the third series of overseas bond sales by the company. Institutional investors across Asia, Europe and the US invested in the paper. Moody’s had assigned first-time Ba2 corporate family rating to ReNew Power Limited, compared with Ba3 in June, which are below the investment grade.

“Stability in ReNew Power’s operating cash flow also benefits from the geographic diversification in its generation fleet, which reduces its exposure to potential fluctuations in availability of wind and solar resources,” Moody’s said in a report. During the fiscal year ended March 2019, output from the company’s portfolio of generation assets has performed broadly in line with Moody’s base-case expectations. “(The company’s) strengthening credit profile also recognizes its strong track record in project execution, having successfully increased the operating capacity of its fleet to 4.5GW in March 2019 from around 1.0GW in April 2016,” the rating company said. As of June 2019, it had total capacity of over 8 GW of wind and solar power assets across the country, including commissioned and under-development projects. ReNew Power is developing another 3.0GW of new projects, which are likely to be commissioned by March 2021.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes

OCTOBER 2019

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

SOFTWARE MAKER THAT HELPS RENEWABLE INVESTORS RAISES $15 MILLION T-Rex Group Inc., which makes software to analyze investments in renewable power plants and other assets, has raised $15 million in its latest funding round.

-Rex has now raised a total of $30 million, the New York company said in an email. Citigroup Inc., the Westly Group and Viola FinTech led the round. While the company’s roots lie in renewable power financing, T-Rex has expanded its programs to analyze investments in timeshares, aircraft, small business loans and other assets. Viola general partner Daniel Tsiddon and Tim Wang, principal at Westly, have joined T-Rex’s board in conjunction with the investment. Source: Bloomberg L.P.

SHELL LEADS BIG OIL IN THE RACE TO INVEST IN CLEAN ENERGY Major oil companies are poised to do a record number of clean-energy deals this year, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc leading a group of European companies that are well ahead of their U.S. rivals.

he data compiled by BloombergNEF underscore the quickening pace of the transition to low-carbon energy among the world’s largest fossil fuel producers, and the scale of the trans-Atlantic divide. European majors closed seven times as many deals with renewableelectricity and storage companies as their U.S. counterparts since 2010.

“Shareholder pressure, evolving new technologies and rapidly changing consumer preferences have forced oil and gas companies to re-evaluate their long-term strategies and explore new business streams,” BloombergNEF analyst David Doherty said in a report published Oil companies have done about 70 deals in sectors including solar, wind and biofuels so far this year, already close to surpassing the total for the whole of 2018, according to the report. Seven companies account for about three-quarters of the number of deals since 2010, all are European-based aside from Chevron Corp. and Saudi Arabian Oil Co.

Shell has taken second place for the number of cleanenergy deals done since 2010, and has usurped Total SA as the most active investor this year, the report shows. The Anglo-Dutch company’s experiments with flying wind turbines are a contrast to Chevron, BP Plc and Repsol SA, which have concentrated on portfolios closer to their core business operations, such as electric-vehicle charging infrastructure. Total’s consumer power-distribution unit will continue to expand, its Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said to delegates at the SPE Offshore Europe conference . “If I want to continue to develop my company, our company, we need to invest in power and we have decided to establish in our company a real business unit,” he said, adding that the company will increase its current spend of between $1.5 billion and $2 billion annually depending on its profitability. However, Pouyanne added that access to reliable supplies of energy “is fundamental,” which is why the company would continue to invest in fossil fuels. Solar technology dominates Total’s portfolio, with more investments made in the sector than every other technology combined. The company has installed 1.7 gigawatts worth of solar capacity, according to BloombergNEF.

Smaller projects have become more popular recipients of funding and acquisitions, with digital and efficiency technologies outstripping all other investment categories since last year. After those two areas of focus, solar has become increasingly popular, said Doherty.

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Source: Bloomberg L.P.

OCTOBER 2019

BUSINESS & FINANCE

ENERGY PROJECT FINANCIER PFS TO RAISE RS 4,000 CR FROM VARIOUS INVESTORS IN FY20 Renewable energy sector has been doing quite well and the company’s 60 per cent exposure is in the sector. As of now, the company has zero stress, Pawan Singh, MD and CEO of PTC India Financial Servicestold in an interview. Energy project financier PFS is planning to raise up to Rs 4,000 crore from various investors including LIC in the ongoing financial year, and has changed its business model to generate higher profits, a top official said.

enewable energy sector has been doing quite well and the company’s 60 per cent exposure is in the sector. As of now, the company has zero stress, Pawan Singh, MD and CEO of PTC India Financial Services (PFS) told in an interview:

He said the company will shortly get Rs 580 crore as partial credit from LIC. “We are in advanced stage of getting Rs 500 crore from PFC, another Rs 200 crore from IREDA and Rs 300 crore from a large public sector bank,” Singh said. PFS has been talking to various developmental, bilateral and multilateral funding institutions like IFC, he said, adding the World Bank financing arm has agreed to fund USD 50 million recently. IFC is keen on funding especially those projects where there are additional fund requirements and they it fund another USD 100 million, he said. Likewise, PFS has been talking to various other institutions such as Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and has existing relationship with Netherlands Development Finance Company FMO, German Investment Corporation DEG as well as the Australian Development Bank (ADB). “We are also talking to PROPARCO, the French DFI (Development Finance Institution). We are also talking to AIIB and so on and hope to get fresh lines of credit from them,” Singh said. Taking all these into account, PFS hopes to arrange financing of up to Rs 4,000 crore, he said further. Talking about the recent challenges in NBFC sector after unfolding of the IL&FS crisis, he said PFS managed to do better than many other NBFCs because of its institutional nature, which has little bit of quasi government background, besides taking certain preventive measures to avoid the crisis. Singh said the company has been able to mange its liquidity well. It registered a slump of over 72 per cent in net profit to about Rs 16 crore in the first quarter ended June of this fiscal. “On one side of course we are not expanding, but we did try to rotate our assets. We have also started cherry-picking and taking only high end products, selling out low-yield products and replacing it with high-yield products. We have made improvements on the operating front,” the official said.

OCTOBER 2019

PFS is expecting to see further improvements on the operating front from second quarter onwards, he added. On the liquidity front, there are no challenges as it has already raised Rs 1,000 crore from SBI earlier alongside a partial credit enhancement of up to Rs 400 crore. “We have re-written our business model, our thermal assets have been brought down from 30 per cent to 13 per cent. By end of this year, I hope to bring it down to 5-6 per cent. We have now tried to position ourself as a sustainable finance company. “Apart from traditional renewable sources wind and solar, we are doing third party PPAs, we are one of the prime movers in that direction. We also did Namami Gange sewerage treatment water recycling,” Singh said. PFS is now looking to diversifying into areas such as wasteto-energy, urban waste management, electrical vehicle charging, e-mobility. “These are the areas we are very-very keen to study, we would focus on that,” he said. Source : economictimes

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

GREEN CAPITAL AT SCALE URGENTLY NEEDED FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION AND CLIMATE ACTION IN EMERGING ECONOMIES – CEEW CENTRE FOR ENERGY FINANCE Large-scale mobilisation of green capital for investment and innovation in low-carbon energy solutions is the main holdout against a clean energy transition in emerging economies, according to an independent study released by the CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF). More than USD 200 trillion worth of assets are under management in the world’s pension funds, insurance firms and sovereign wealth funds.

et, the greatest challenge of our times – confronting climate change, especially in the most vulnerable countries – does not find enough suitors. India, alone, needs USD 2.5 trillion in climate financing by 2030. The upcoming UN Climate Action Summit, scheduled for 23 September, must demand committed action to build the conduits via which capital can flow from the Global North to the Global South. The CEEW-CEF study comes just days after India’s Finance Ministry highlighted grave concerns over developing countries being denied their right to adequate financial resources for climate action. Despite rising low-carbon investment flows and slowly improving investor confidence in clean energy investments, the study demonstrates that there is a strong and stubborn link between the income levels of an economy and its energy investment. High-income countries, home to just over 15 per cent of the world’s population, accounted for more than 40 per cent of energy investment in 2018.

Emerging economies present a huge, and largely untapped, potential for investments in renewable energy and associated assets. However, a high perception of risk precludes international private and institutional capital from flowing into these economies at scale. As a result, in countries such as India, financing costs account for the largest component of renewable energy tariffs – between 50 and 65 per cent. The demand for energy and the demand for finance converge in emerging economies. As yet, global efforts to build a robust bridge between the supply and demand of green capital have failed.

will be dashed.” www.EQMagPro.com

Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW, said, “As of now, lower-middle and low-income countries, which account for 40% of the world’s population, get less than 15% of energy investment. This is because the cost of finance for renewable energy is extremely high for emerging economies and capital is not moving from capitalrich to capital-poor regions. While India has been averaging about USD 10.5 billion a year in clean energy investments, we need three times that number annually, just for the energy transition. To enable this, we need to have a more literate, more informed, and a more innovative conversation on climate finance and energy finance with the right actors. Without this, the trust deficit in climate finance will continue and the hope for enhanced ambitions for climate action

Kanika Chawla, Director, CEEWCEF, added, “In recent times, the consciousness for enhanced private investment consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development has been increasing. The challenge now is to convert the consciousness into conscious action and investment. A decade of inaction on climate finance has convinced emerging economies that one shade of green capital in the form of multilateral or bilateral development assistance is neither adequate nor forthcoming. Instead, different shades of green capital such as institutional investors, venture capitalists, private equity players, etc. need to find their way into diversified portfolios of projects, within across countries.” The CEEW-CEF study makes three recommendations for facilitating enhanced flows of private capital from the Global North to the Global South. These include: Establishing a Climate and Clean Energy Finance Commission to accelerate the energy transition in emerging countries. The Commission could comprise climate and clean energy practitioners and thought leaders from the Global South, which would be convened to join existing task-forces on climate finance convened by the United Nations and beyond, to deliberate on the means of mobilising finance specifically for emerging markets. In order to facilitate learning between middle-income countries, the study recommends launching an AfricaIndia Clean Energy Co-Learnings Programme that would enable business-to-business exchanges between leading players in these markets. It would also result in the creation of a more aggregated market whereby emerging economies would have greater collective bargaining power as price-makers rather than price-takers. The study recommends reducing information asymmetries between clean energy project developers, on one hand, and prospective investors, on the other. The CEEW Centre for Energy Finance aims to do so and help deepen markets, increase transparency, and attract capital in the clean energy sectors of emerging economies. Source: ceew.in

OCTOBER 2019

BUSINESS & FINANCE

MADHAV INFRA PROJECTS SECURES ORDERS FOR ROAD PROJECTS AND SOLAR PROJECT Infrastructure Major, Madhav Infra Projects has received Letter of Acceptance “(LOA) from the Office of the Chief Engineer (Konkan) & Project Director (EAP) Konkan, Mumbai (A Government of Maharashtra) for the following road project/work for a negotiated contract value of Rs. 161.26 Crores.

he Company has received Letter of Award (LOA) from Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) (a JV of PSUs under the Ministry of Power) for Solar Power Generation Project for a contract value of Rs. 96.39 Crores. The order is for Design, Engineering, Supply, Construction, Erection, Testing, Commissioning and O&M of 100 MW of Solar Power Generating System ranging from 1 MW to 2 MW at various sub-stations / locations in Maharashtra, India. The O&M contract period is for 25 years. The project cost is Rs. 96.39 crores.

Source: UNI

AZURE POWER: NEW US$350 MILLION GREEN BOND TO BE ISSUED Azure Power Solar Energy Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Azure Power Global Limited (NYSE: AZRE), a leading independent solar power producer in India, will issue a US$350,101,000 green bond offering, maturing in 2024 (the “Bond”) with an expected US Dollar coupon of 5.65%.

he Bond has a Green Bond offered by the use the proceeds is offered to mandate or case who are 144A under the offshore the United States in accorAct. The Bond has not been and will may not be offered or sold within the plicable exemption from the registraor purchase nor the solicitation of an not constitute an offer, solicitation or any person to whom such an offer,

been certified by Climate Bonds Initiative as and is the second solar Green Bond to be Company. The Company expects to primarily to refinance existing indebtedness. The Bond eligible yield investors who have a specific portfolio for buying green bonds, and in each qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) or dance with Regulation S under the Securities not be registered under the Securities Act and United States absent registration or an aption requirements. This is not an offer to sell offer to sell or purchase securities and shall sale in any state or jurisdiction in which, or to solicitation or sale would be unlawful. SOURCE Azure Power

OCTOBER 2019

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

INDIA’S COAL-FIRED ENERGY SECTOR FACES RISK: REPORT The country’s energy sector is facing increased pressure due to a number of factors, according to a recent report.

HIGHLIGHTS The report provides an overview of the ongoing challenges facing India’s coal-fired generators It details three major challenges that are expected to only intensify in the years ahead The first challenge is the over-building of coal-fired capacity India’s coal-fired energy sector is facing increasing pressure due to generator over-capacity, water shortages and the rise of low-cost renewables, a report by the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and the Applied Economics Clinic (AEC) said.

he report — ‘Risks Growing for India’s Coal Sector’ — provides an overview of the ongoing challenges facing India’s coal-fired generators due to changes in the energy sector, fluctuations in water supply and stranded-assets as well as other risks.

The energy landscape has changed dramatically in recent years and there are increasing stressors, particularly on the thermal coal sector, that require urgent attention, water being one of the most prominent,” said David Schlissel, co-author and IEEFA’s Director of Resource Planning Analysis. The report details three major challenges that are expected to only intensify in the years ahead. The first challenge is the over-building of coal-fired capacity. The boom in coal plant construction during the early 2010s has resulted in significant over-capacity. The amount of installed coal-fired capacity in India is now 20 per cent higher than the country’s peak demand level and fully 50 gigawatts (GW) above average demand levels. The second challenge is the declining water supplies. Groundwater levels across India are in decline. Since 2012, both total annual rainfall and monsoon rainfall have generally been below normal levels — a major concern for coal generation, which requires substantial amounts of water for steam production and cooling. And the third challenge involves the increasing competition from renewables, particularly during the monsoon season. Low-cost renewable energy has a great advantage during the monsoon season, when coal generation dips while wind and hydro generation peaks.

India’s overbuilt coal power capacity has left two related problems. First, utilisation rates have fallen, impairing the economic competitiveness of coal plants because they must spread their costs over a diminishing number of kilowatthours, said Bryndis Woods, researcher at the Applied Economics Clinic (AEC) and co-author of the report. www.EQMagPro.com

“Second, over-capacity has burdened the system as a whole since the plants’ capital costs still need covering even if their electric output is not needed.” Ongoing water shortage problems in India forced 61 plant shutdowns from 2013-2017, resulting in roughly 17,000 gigawatt-hours of lost generation and revenue. Waterrelated problems are projected to worsen as the impact of climate change continues to exacerbate the duration and severity of both flooding and drought. About 41GW of India’s installed thermal capacity is located in drought-affected areas, with about 37GW located in “extreme drought” areas, according to the report. Another main factor in the energy shift is the wave of new renewable capacity planned for India, 275GW by 2027 and as much as 500GW by 2030. Prices for onshore and offshore wind and solar are expected to continue declining while prices for coal-fired generation are likely to rise. All solar and wind auction prices in India since June 2018 have come in below 3.29 Rs/kWh, less than the average FY 2018-19 price of coal-fired electricity (3.46 Rs/kWh, equal to US$0.045/kWh) from NTPC — the state-run utility that operates 53GW of coal-fired capacity. “The economics already favour renewables, and we expect the cost disparity between renewables and coal to widen as time goes on,” said Schlissel. The report concludes that India should adopt a policy of no net new coal-fired power generation beyond what is already under construction. Also, plants under construction should be reviewed for possible cancellation.

Source: IANS

OCTOBER 2019

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

DNV GL: RENEWABLES AT 80% OF GLOBAL ELECTRICITY MIX BY 2050 Consultancy “very technology optimistic” amid daunting climate challenge, says energy practice CEO Ditlev Engel. Even a drastic uptick in renewable electricity has the globe on course for about 2.4°C of warming, according to a new analysis from DNV GL. The takeaways, while a slight variation on other scenarios of how a global energy transition may unfold, affirm what others have forecasted: The world is dangerously far from averting serious climate change.

THE PATH FOR FOSSIL FUELS The real message here is the urgency,” said Ditlev Engel, the CEO of the consultancy’s energy group. “How many more proof points do we need to take the necessary steps to accelerate this transition dramatically? Because time is of the essence. … Technology is there, but regulation needs to be picked up.

urrently available technologies can close the gap between its forecasted 2.4°C and the 1.5°C scientists say is the upper limit of warming if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change, DNV GL says. To bridge the gap, the firm said the world needs to grow its solar capacity by 1,000 percent and wind power by half that much in the next decade. To support the 50 million electric vehicles that would need to take to the world’s roads annually, DNV GL calls for a 50-fold increase in batteries, new ultra-high voltage transmission and massive buildout of charging infrastructure. That reality is not what DNV GL’s current energy model predicts, though. While DNV GL forecasts that energy demand will flatline in the 2030s, energy supply will peak in 2030 and renewables will account for 80 percent of the electricity mix in 2050 (with electricity accounting for 40 percent of energy use by that year), that all adds up to 2.4°C of warming above pre-industrial levels. That’s a decrease from the approximately 2.6°C the company laid out in its 2018 Energy Transition Outlook. In DNV GL’s most recent model, electricity will knock out some coal and oil in final energy consumption, but the two remain part of the mix through 2050. DNV GL foresees peak gas in 2033 and peak oil in 2022. Though coal has already reached its global apex, its fastest phaseout will be in North America and Europe while it persists in other regions.

OCTOBER 2019

Globally, the role of fossil fuels is gradually curtailed (DNV GL also notes that carbon capture and storage don’t play a “significant role” in its model) as its share of the energy mix drops from more than 80 percent today to about 56 percent by 2050.

Among other predictions: Fossil fuels will account for about 18 percent of electricity in 2050. Solar and wind will each make up over 30 percent of electricity by that year, with solar beating out wind. Offshore wind will account for about 40 percent of total wind generation. Unlike many other forecasts, DNV GL does not include scenarios that would meet the 1.5°C goal that countries agreed to in the Paris agreement. Instead, the firm focuses on one “most likely” future. DNV GL’s picture of the transition has accelerated slightly since last year, shown by the marginal dip in warming and an earlier peak in energy demand. But those changes are still not fast enough. “It doesn’t change the fact that we are nowhere getting near the Paris Agreement,” said Engel. He argues policy and regulation must meet existing technologies to accelerate the transition beyond its current pace. “The technology is there if we want to make it happen,” he said. “There is actually a toolbox available that you can work with if you really want to get there.” The 2020 Democratic field in the U.S. has drawn heavily from that toolbox to craft a slate of ambitious climate proposals that candidates plan to implement if elected. Though most of those plans call for net-zero emissions by mid-century, if not earlier, DNV GL’s analysis may provide a bracing dose of realism about the current state of the transition. DNV GL also forecasts a faster transition than some other analysts. An energy transition report produced by consultancy Wood Mackenzie projects 3 degrees of warming and energy demand increasing through 2040. But Engel said even slight uncertainty about the current environment or the pace of the transition is no reason to dawdle. “We are let’s say, very technology optimistic. But we are also fully aware of all the other challenges that we need to address,” he said. “We need to make decisions, in our view, not just where technology is in the moment, but also by looking at the [energy transition outlook and] where technology is heading.” “We are not a forecast of what the politicians will do, but we want to make them aware.”

Source: greentechmedia

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTIONIZING ENERGY MIX BUT POLICY FAILING TO KEEP PACE – DNV GL ENERGY TRANSITION OUTLOOK REPORT Energy mix rapidly decarbonizing with oil set to fall sharply from 2030 onwards, leaving natural gas as the biggest single source of energy Share of electricity in the final demand mix will more than double from today’s level to 40% in 2050, with two thirds of that electricity provided by solar PV and wind Global emissions will peak in 2025, yet we still exhaust the 1.5 degree carbon budget in 2028 The Energy Transition Outlook is DNV GL’s view on the energy future through to 2050 modeling 10 regions and the impact on 3 industry sectors. It is a forecast of the most likely path ahead A technology-driven energy transition of staggering scale and speed will lead to a rapid decarbonization of the energy mix, with almost half our energy needs met by renewables by 2050, according to a new report. Plunging technology costs and market forces are driving the transition, but without bold policy intervention we will fall well short of the Paris climate goals. These are some of the findings of the third edition of the Energy Transition Outlook (ETO), which, owing to DNV GL’s independence and technical expertise, has become a respected voice in forecasting our energy future.

he speed of the transition is demonstrated by a series of landmarks in the coming decade. Oil will peak in mid 2020s, capital expenditure (CAPEX) on grids and renewables will exceed fossil CAPEX by 2025, natural gas will overtake oil as the single largest energy source in 2026 and in 2030 the amount of energy produced will start to decline even in a world of growing GDP. Electrification will transform how energy is produced and consumed. By midcentury, 40% of final energy demand will be met by electricity (up from 19% in 2017), 63% of which will be generated by solar PV and wind. Electrification is also having a dramatic effect on road transport and by 2032 half of new car sales globally will be electric. The intrinsic efficiency of electric engines means that despite a 75% expansion of the global vehicle fleet by 2050, road transportation will use less energy in 2050 than it does today.

Existing technology can deliver the future we desire – including meeting the 1.5°C target set out in the Paris Agreement. So far, support for the energy transition has been too sporadic. For example, German, Japanese and Chinese support for the solar industry has been vital in transforming its energy mix and Norway’s and China’s uptake of EVs has been rapid because of government support. We need widespread policy supporting emerging technologies, and continuing the support in the build-up phase to accelerate the energy transition” said Remi Eriksen, Group President and CEO of DNV GL.

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The technology exists to meet the Paris target, but policies must be put in place that promote greater energy efficiency, more renewables and industrial scale carbon capture and storage. DNV GL has proposed ten measures that could be implemented to limit global warming. These actions include; $1.5 trillion of annual investment in expanding and reinforcing energy grids, an 8-fold increase in renewable energy production by 2030 and a 50-fold increase in manufacturing of batteries for the 50 million electric vehicles needed per year, also by 2030. On the current path, CO2 emissions will peak in 2025 and will be about half the current level by mid-century, indicating a warming of 2.4 degrees by the end of the century. Policy makers can be emboldened by the affordability of the energy transition. Global expenditure on energy is currently 3.6% of GDP but that will fall to 1.9% by 2050. This is due to a decline in spending on fossil fuels, and the rise of low-cost, efficient electrification that leads to operating savings which more than offset ongoing, substantial high CAPEX on grids. This is reflected in declining energy intensity – the amount of energy required per unit of GDP – which will improve at 2.4% per year through to 2050. Going forward, energy intensity declines faster than the global economy grows, which leads to a peak in world energy demand by 2030 – at that point humanity will start using less energy.

OCTOBER 2019

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

BIG OIL UNDERMINES UN CLIMATE GOALS WITH $50 BILLION OF NEW PROJECTS The analysis found that investment plans by Royal Dutch Shell , BP and ExxonMobil among other companies will not be compatible with the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Major oil companies have approved $50 billion of projects since last year that will not be economically viable if governments implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, think-tank Carbon Tracker said in a report published

he analysis found that investment plans by Royal Dutch Shell , BP and ExxonMobil among other companies will not be compatible with the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Every oil major is betting heavily against a 1.5 degree Celsius world and investing in projects that are contrary to the Paris goals, said report co-author Andrew Grant, a former natural resources analyst at Barclays. Big oil and gas companies have welcomed the U.N.-backed Paris Agreement, in which governments agreed to curb greenhouse gas emissions enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or “well below” 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Scientists view 1.5 degrees Celsius as a tipping point where climate impacts such as sea-level rise, natural disasters, forced migration, failed harvests and deadly heatwaves will rapidly start to intensify if it is breached. Carbon Tracker’s analysis, co-authored by Mike Coffin, a former geologist at BP, found that 18 newly approved oil and gas projects worth $50 billion could be left “deep out of the money” in a lower carbon world. The projects include Shell’s $13 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) Canada LNG project, a $4.3 billion oilfield expansion project in Azerbaijan owned by BP, Exxon, Chevron and Equinor , and a $1.3 billion deepwater project in Angola operated by BP, Exxon, Chevron, Total and Equinor. The report also concluded that oil and gas companies risk “wasting” $2.2 trillion by 2030 on new projects if governments apply stricter curbs on greenhouse gas emissions. Previous reports on the implications of climate change for oil and gas companies by Carbon Tracker and other researchers have contributed to a wave of investor pressure on majors to show that their investments are aligned with the Paris goals. While some companies including Shell, BP, Total and Equinor have increased spending on renewable energy and introduced carbon reduction targets, the sector says it needs to continue investing in new projects to meet future demand for oil and gas as Asian economies expand. Shell said in a statement that it has set out an “ambition” to halve net carbon emissions by 2050 “in step with society as it moves towards meeting the aims of Paris.” “As the energy system evolves, so is our business, to provide the mix of products that our customers need,” Shell said.

OCTOBER 2019

BP said its strategy to produce low cost and low carbon oil and gas was in line with the International Energy Agency (IEA)forecasts and the Paris agreement. “All of this is aimed at evolving BP from an oil and gas focused company to a much broader energy company so that we are best equipped to help the world get to net zero while meeting rising energy demand,” the company said in a statement. Nevertheless, the latest Carbon Tracker report said the big oil and gas companies spent at least 30% of their investment last year on projects that are inconsistent with the path to limit global warming to even 1.6 degrees Celsius. “These projects represent an imminent challenge for investors and companies looking to align with climate goals,” the report warned. Carbon Tracker’s calculations were based on three scenarios produced by the Paris-based IEA models of oil and gas supply under different warming pathways. With fossil fuel supply on course to outstrip demand if the world is to limit warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, the report assumed that the projects with the lowest production costs would be the most competitive. “Demand for oil can be satisfied with projects that break even at below $40 per barrel and pursuing higher-cost projects risks creating stranded assets that will never deliver adequate returns,” the report said. Benchmark crude futures were trading at around $62 per barrel.

Source: reuters

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

OIL DEMAND TO PEAK IN THREE YEARS, SAYS ENERGY ADVISER DNV GL Global oil demand will peak in three years, plateau until around 2030 and then decline sharply, energy adviser DNV GL said in one of the most aggressive forecasts yet for peak oil.

ost oil companies expect demand to peak between the late 2020s and the 2040s. The International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises Western economies on energy policy, does not expect a peak before 2040, with rising petrochemicals and aviation demand more than offsetting declining oil demand for road transportation. Annual report from DNV GL, which operates in more than 100 countries and advises both oil and renewable energy companies, would appear to be at odds with ongoing investment in developing new oil and gas fields.

The main reason for forecasting peak oil demand in the early 2020s is our strong belief in the uptake of electric vehicles, as well as a less bullish belief in the growth of petrochemicals, Sverre Alvik, head of DNV GL’s Energy Transition Outlook (ETO), said in an email to Reuters.

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While DNV GL’s latest forecast shows oil demand peaking in 2022, one year sooner than it estimated last year, the difference is marginal and demand is expected to remain relatively flat over the 2020-2028 period, Alvik added. DNG GL expects electric vehicles to reach 50% of global new car sales in 2032, compared with last year’s forecast of the mid-2030s. By the middle of the century 73% of the global passenger car fleet will be electric-powered, up from 2.5% today, the company estimates. In Norway, where the DNV GL has its headquarters, more than 40% of all new cars sold in the first eight months of this year were electric — the highest proportion in the world. The government wants this to reach 100% by 2025. Demand for natural gas, which oil companies say could serve as a bridge in the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, is seen surpassing oil demand in 2026 and plateauing in 2033, DNV GL said. Meanwhile, electricity’s share of the total energy mix is predicted to double by mid-century to 40% of today’s levels, with solar and wind generation accounting for two thirds of electricity output. Annual power grid spending is forecast to more than double to $1.7 trillion to connect thousands of new solar and wind farms and millions of electric vehicles. Meanwhile, upstream fossil fuel investment as a proportion of total energy expenditure is seen dropping to 38% from 68%, DNV GL said. Source: reuters

OCTOBER 2019

technology

NOCCA ROBOTICS RAISED RS 12.4 CRORE ($1.67 MILLION) FROM IAN FUND FOR PROVIDING SOLAR PANEL CLEANING SOLUTIONS Nocca Robotics Pvt. Ltd, a waterless robotic cleaning solution provider, has raised Rs 12.4 crore ($1.67 million) from the early-stage IAN Fund, with participation from prominent angel investors of Indian Angel Network (IAN). The Pune-based startup will use the funds to manufacture waterless robots with improved quality apart from enhancing research and development, and production, IAN Fund said in a statement.

Harshit Rathore, chief technical officer at Nocca Robotics, said the firm’s waterless and shareable robotic solar panel cleaning solution enables plant owners to operate at peak efficiency while generating attractive ROIs by curbing unnecessary spends on manual cleaning and increasing the power generation.

occa Robotics, which was founded in April 2017 by IIT Kanpur alumni Harshit Rathore and Nikhil Kurele, provides waterless robotic cleaning solution to utility solar park developers and large rooftop installation companies in India. The startup was an incubatee company of Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre at IIT Kanpur. After the launch of the startup, other members Ajeet Chansuriya, Mayur Chate and Samar Ahmed also soon joined.

OCTOBER 2019

Saurabh Srivastava, controlling and designated partner at IAN Fund, said that the startup is well poised to leverage the government’s focus on scaling the country’s solar power generation capacity to 100 gigawatt (GW) by 2020. “Its innovative, tech-based, unique solution will address the auxiliary challenges associated with solar energy operations,” he added. Earlier in May, another startup engaged in solar panel cleaning also raised funding. Noida-based startup Skilancer Solar Pvt. Ltd raised funds from Alfa Ventures, a proprietary fund launched by angel investor Dhianu Das.

IAN FUND The fund announced its first close at Rs 175 crore (around $27 million) in April 2017. Earlier this year, it raised the targeted corpus and said it was looking to make the final close soon. The investments from the fund made public this year include cataloguing startup Flatpebble, local discovery platform Little Black Book and data analytics firm Clootrack. Last year, the fund invested in waterless personal hygiene startup Clensta, fin-tech startup Propelld and farm-to-fork marketplace FarmersFZ. Source: vccircle

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technology

HERAEUS PHOTOVOLTAICS AND CELL ENGINEERING ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO BRING HIGH-YIELD LECO TECHNOLOGY AND METALLIZATION PASTES TO MARKET Heraeus Photovoltaics, a leading technology solution provider for the renewable energy industry, and Cell Engineering, an engineering company based in Germany, announced their joint development partnership on LECO technology.

ECO (Laser Enhanced Contact Optimization) is a patented solution for solar cell manufacturers to significantly improve high-efficiency cell bin yields. Heraeus has invented, and is now refining, new LECO-specific metallization pastes which additionally improve overall cell efficiency by up to 0.15%. The technology is versatile and designed to be applicable for nearly all cell technologies which use co-firing. The breakthrough LECO tool and metallization package is a simple add-in technology that leverages the industry expertise of Heraeus and Cell Engineering. This technology solution significantly reduces metal-induced recombination while maintaining low contact resistance, thereby increasing cell efficiency with minimal impact to the production line and no process change required. As part of the joint development partnership, Heraeus acquired a LECO tool and invented the new metallization paste to take advantage of the new technology.

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Martin Ackermann, President of Heraeus Photovoltaics, said, “Our collaboration and partnership with Cell Engineering has produced what we believe is a potential gamechanger for solar cell metallization. It will enable ‘perfect’ metallization contacts and help customers get even greater performance from their solar cells.”

Hans Jochen von Bomhard, Managing Director Cell Engineering, said, “Cell Engineering offers the customer the optimal equipment for the use of LECO pastes. The production spectrum includes a laboratory machine as well as equipment for integration into cell lines”. Heraeus will present its work on LECO-specific paste development this week at the EU PVSEC 2019 conference, taking place in Marseille, France. The presentation, will feature results of LECO-specific metallization pastes on several different cell types, including P-type ultra-low doped homogeneous PERC, selective emitter (SE) PERC, N-type PERT and TOPCon. Source : energytrend

OCTOBER 2019

solar projects

VIKRAM SOLAR COMMISSIONS ROOFTOP SOLAR POWER PLANT FOR SL GROUP Vikram Solar, one of India’s leading module manufacturers and a prominent rooftop solar & EPC solutions provider commissioned a rooftop solar plant for Group’s SL Nutritions Pvt. Ltd. at RIICO Industrial Area, Nagaur, Rajasthan. The solar plant has a capacity of (441+117) 558 kWp. Vikram Solar used 1400 Nos of 315Wp and 355 Nos of 330 Wp modules to build the rooftop plant. The solar plant is expected to have an annual energy yield of 2000-2500 kWh.

Mr. Kuldeep Kumar Jain, BU- Head EPC, Vikram Solar, shared on the occasion, “We are glad to be a part of SL Group’s journey towards solarisation. During project development, we focused on offering safety, quality, and performance. Mid- execution, we received capacity extension request from SL Group and successfully re-structured the existing plan, showing customer centricity. We congratulate SL Group for succeeding in taking a step towards sustainable energy adoption and we look forward to participate in the Group’s future green endeavours.”

Mr Dharmendar Taparia, Managing Director, SL Group, “Vikram Solar Limited has done excellent job of completing 1300 kW solar power plant installation & commissioning at our M/s Shubhlaxmi Cotton Pvt. Ltd. & SL Nutrition Pvt. Ltd. plants at Nagaur, Rajasthan.” Vikram Solar is spearheading India’s solar revolution with 1040 MW EPC capacity portfolio including commissioned and under execution, Rooftop and Ground mounted projects. The company currently has a Rooftop portfolio of ~65 MW (Commissioned + Under execution) and has delivered green energy solutions to Government entities such as- ISRO, IOCL, SBI, WBSEDCL, and AAI. The client list in private sector includes- SL Group, Century Ply, KBL, and Anmol Biscuits, etc. Source: conceptpr

OCTOBER 2019

GUJARAT: SOLAR ROOFTOP SUBSIDY SCHEME TARGETS 8 LAKH HOMES IN 3 YRS The Gujarat government has commissioned 180 MW of solar power covering rooftops of 50,000 households in the residential sector, the preamble of the amended scheme states.

ith just 50,000 households coming forward to avail the Gujarat government’s subsidy scheme for solar rooftops in the residential sector in the past three years, the government said it has made several relaxations including extending the SURYA (Surya Urja Rooftop Yojana) scheme to cover group housing societies and residential welfare associations. By financial year 2021-22, the government targets to cover rooftops of 8 lakh households with photovoltaic systems to produce 1,600 MW of solar power.

Now a common man will be able to produce electricity by setting up photovoltaic systems on his rooftop or anywhere on his residential premises, state Energy Minister Saurab Patel said while announcing the changes. “He can use this power and can sell the additional power at the rate of Rs 2.25 per unit to the government for a period of 25 years.” Patel claimed that Gujarat was the top state in implementing solar rooftop projects in the country.

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solar projects

KEHUA COMPLETES GRID CONNECTION OF 200MW UTILITYSCALE PV PROJECT IN INDIA Kehua, a leading power solution provider from China, announced that a 200MW utility-scale PV project with 3.125MW center inverter turnkey solution is connected to the grid this month. It is reported that the successful grid connection of the 200MW PV power station in India can deliver more than 430 million kWh solar power to the local area every year, effectively alleviating local electricity shortage and pollution problems.

The Gujarat government has commissioned 180 MW of solar power covering rooftops of 50,000 households in the residential sector, the preamble of the amended scheme states. It puts the total cost of setting up one kilowatt (KW) of solar rooftop system between Rs 46,827-33,999. “Permission will be given to 2 lakh houses on first-comefirst-serve basis till March 31, 2020,” Patel said, adding that 1,600 MW of solar power will be produced through rooftops in Gujarat by 2021-22. He said the state government had made a provision of Rs 1,000 crore in the current year’s budget in this regard and that the state government would provide 40 per cent subsidy to solar rooftop systems of up to 2 KW capacity and 20% percent subsidy to those of 3 KW to 10 KW capacity. “Under the old scheme, a residential owner cannot set up a solar rooftop system that is more than the contracted load. But under the new scheme, the owner can set up any capacity solar rooftop system but the state government will not give any subsidy beyond 10 KW,” Patel said. The minister said the subsidy would also be extended to cover group housing societies and residential welfare associations, and they can set up the rooftop system for running common amenities such as the water pump for the borewell, gymnasium, swimming pool and lighting in common areas. The subsidy — 20 per cent for solar rooftop system, limited to 10KW per house — shall not exceed 500 KW per society or association. Patel said the state government had given letters for empanelling 450 firms manufacturing solar rooftop systems. 70 companies have already signed agreements with us,” he said, adding that a consumer can select any of the empanelled companies for setting up rooftop systems and submit an application online. The company will also provide a five-year contract. Solar cells and modules of non-Indian origin will not be eligible for subsidy under the scheme, and only new plant and machinery will be allowed for installation. Industrial, commercial and other consumers including government and semi-government organisations will be eligible for this subsidy. The solar rooftop system which has been registered under the Solar Power Policy 2015, prior to the introduction of the scheme will also be eligible. Source: indianexpress

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ajasthan, a state in northwest India, which is one of the nation’s hottest, driest area, is generally sandy and dry. This region receives less than 400mm rain in an average year. Temperature sometimes exceeds 54 °C in summer and drops below freezing in winter. The extreme environment demands the strictest quality standards for PV system. To optimize efficiency and profitability of the power station, the 1500V SPI3125-TH centralized inverter turnkey solution employed in this project adopts new three-level topology technology, dual-MPPT and dual-module redundancy design, with efficiency higher than 99%. This guarantees power generation of the PV power station, especially in the hot and humid climates of India. Moreover, the system is equipped with efficient inverter heat conduction modules, and cooling fans with patent redundant design, which ensures that the inverters meet the extremely high online rate requirements under the local environment of high temperature and strong sandstorm. Besides the equipment performance, Kehua’s strong strengths in supply chain and after-sale service reinforce customer trust and recognition. On the one hand, the company effectively reduced lifting time as well as lifting and handling costs by optimizing combined cabinet lifting plan. On the other hand, the professional team kept on site providing full communication and technical support for the grid connection of the project.

Kehua Tech is dedicated to deliver landmark projects in India. “As our key PV market, India shows a huge development potential. We are looking forward to cooperate with our customers to bring advanced PV technology and products to India, and deliver more reliable and greener power” Said Mr. CHEN Chenghui, Chairman of Kehua Tech.

OCTOBER 2019

solar projects

27 MW SOLAR PV PLANT IN KARNATAKA COMMENCES COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS ThomasLloyd announced that its’ investee company SolarArise India Projects Private Limited (“SolarArise”) has commissioned a 27 Megawatt (“MW”) Solar PV plant in Kerehalli village, Koppal District, State of Karnataka, India

he new solar plant operates under Talettutayi Solar Projects Two Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up by SolarArise, and has a 25 year Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) with the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), an ICRA – “A” rated government off taker. The plant is expected to generate approximately 47 million kilowatt-hours per year of clean energy in Karnataka State.

For ThomasLloyd, Nandita Sahgal Tully, Managing Director Merchant Banking, said: “Commissioning of the site is a major milestone towards providing clean electricity to around 42,000 people in the Karnataka region. We are proud to have been part of this project supporting India’s goals for a clean-energy future.”

For Management, Founder and Director, Mr. Anil Nayar, said: “Our experienced teams worked closely with our contractors allowing us to commission this project three months prior to the deadline. As longterm project owners, our teams continue to learn and improve through each project to deliver on-time and quality projects.” Source: thomas-lloyd

PREMIER SOLAR POWERTECH ( A SUBSIDIARY OF PREMIER ENERGIES ) COMMISSIONS 100MW SOLAR PLANT Premier Energies Ltd announces that its subsidiary Premier Solar Powertech Pvt Ltd (PSPT ) commissioned 100 MW Solar Capacity at Pudur (V), Tirunalvelli Tamil Nadu for NLC India Ltd.

he project is connected at 110 KV to Kanarpatti Sub Station ,Manur Block in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu. Solar Power is one of the most economical sources of power today and Premier Energies is committed to contribute in acheiving the renewable energy targets set by the GOI. Source: premierenergies.com

OCTOBER 2019

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solar projects

VIKRAM SOLAR EXECUTES LARGEST SINGLE-SHED ROOFTOP SOLAR PLANT IN EASTERN INDIA Vikram Solar, one of India’s leading module manufacturers and a prominent rooftop solar & EPC solutions provider, commissioned Eastern India’s largest single-shed rooftop solar project at Nilganj, North 24 Paraganas, West Bengal. The 2.15 MW project was awarded to Vikram Solar by Keventer Agro Limited.

he shed top solar plant has been built to increase the capacity of Keventer’s food processing plant as well as to leave a green footprint by using non-conventional energy at the Barasat plant. The project is spread across 250m x 70m and 6240 nos. of Vikram’s high efficiency 345Wp monocrystalline modules and 18 ABB inverters (50 Kw*1 and 100kW*17) were used to ensure performance of the energy system. To uphold and satisfy safety requirements, Vikram Solar used high quality FRP sheet walkway for easy movement on the roof and state of the art switchgear system for protection of the electrical system. The project is expected to have 2.835 million unit energy yield and will offset 2647 metric tonne CO2 annually.

Mr Kuldeep Kumar Jain, BU Head- EPC, Vikram Solar, said on the occasion, “We are glad to share that Vikram Solar’s focus towards innovation, quality, and performance has helped us to successfully commission this project. We are hopeful that Keventer Agro will undertake more solar and other environment friendly projects in the future. As an organization, we look forward to participating in more such innovative projects in West Bengal and the country at large.”

Mr Saurabh Jajodia, CEO, Keventer Agro said “We are committed to being an environmentally conscious company. Contribution to the clean energy revolution is our way of upholding India’s vision, and we appreciate Vikram Solar’s solution in this regards. Given the quality of execution and after-sales customer service accorded by them, they will be paramount in our decision- making for all similar ventures in the future.” Vikram Solar is spearheading India’s solar revolution with over 1040 MW EPC capacity portfolio including commissioned and under execution, Rooftop and Ground-mounted projects. The company currently has a Rooftop portfolio of 70 MW (Commissioned + Under execution) and has delivered green energy solutions to Government entities such as- ISRO, IOCL, SBI, WBSEDCL, and AAI. The client list in private sector includes- SL Group, Century Ply, KBL, and Anmol Biscuits, etc. Source: conceptpr

GUJARAT ALKALIES & CHEMICALS COMPLETES COMMISSIONING OF 20 MW AC SOLAR POWER PLANT AT CHARANKA Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals announced that remaining 12.5 MW out of the 20 MW AC Solar Power Plant at Charanka has commissioned on 16 September 2019.

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ith this, the commissioning of entire 20 MW AC Solar Power Plant installation in phased manner at Charanka, is completed. Thus, total installed capacity of Solar Power Plant now stands increased to 35 MW

Source: business-standard

OCTOBER 2019

solar projects

TATA POWER ARM COMMISSIONS 150 MW SOLAR CAPACITY IN POKHARAN Tata PowerNSE -1.40 % said its subsidiary Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL) has commissioned 150 mega watt (MW) solar capacity project at Pokharan in Rajasthan. With this, the overall operating renewable capacity of TPREL now stands at 2,628 MW in India, Tata Power said in a statement. “Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Power, has commissioned 150 MW solar capacity in village Chhayan at tehsil Pokharan in Rajasthan,” the statement said.

he company, the statement said, had won this capacity in a bid at a tariff of Rs 2.72/kWh (kilo wat hour) in May 2018. “The sale of power from this solar plant has been tied up under a 25 year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd,” it said. The project is connected at 220 kV to PGCIL’s Bhadla substation, making it the company’s first ISTS (interstate transmission system) solar project. Currently, the company is developing 500 MW of renewable capacity across the country, including 100 MW under PPA signed with Uttar Pradesh Power Corp Ltd and Noida Power Co Ltd in Uttar Pradesh, 100 MW under a PPA signed with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd at Raghanesda solar park and another 250 MW at Dholera solar park.

“The commissioning of 150 MW capacity in Rajasthan has fortified our position as a leading renewable energy company in the country with a strong presence in solar power generation. We will continue to seek potential of sustainable growth of renewable power in India. This is our first ISTS project,” Tata Power President-Renewables Ashish Khanna said in the statement.

BHARATHI CEMENTS COMMISSIONS 10 MW SOLAR POWER PLANT AT ITS KADAPA UNIT IN AP Bharathi Cement, India’s leading Cement manufacturer, announced the commissioning of 10 MW Ground-Mounted Solar Power plant in its manufacturing facility at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.

OCTOBER 2019

Source: economictimes.indiatimes

his plant will generate close to 1.6 crore units of electricity annually and help reduce Bharathi’s overall energy costs by reducing its reliance on Thermal power. Source: UNI

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international

GERMAN GOVT REACHES 100 BILLION-EURO CLIMATE PLAN DEAL AS GLOBAL PROTESTS HEAT UP After marathon overnight talks dragging more than 18 hours, the coalition sealed a deal which covers a slew of measures from tackling emissions in the energy and industrial sectors, to incentives for zero-emission electric vehicles or public transport.

hancellor Angela Merkel’s government reached a deal on a broad climate plan for Germany that commits at least 100 billion euros by 2030 to environmental protection, as tens of thousands of protesters rallied demanding action. After marathon overnight talks dragging more than 18 hours, the coalition sealed a deal which covers a slew of measures from tackling emissions in the energy and industrial sectors, to incentives for zero-emission electric vehicles or public transport. Under the plan, flight prices will go up while train tickets will get cheaper. Some 86 billion euros ($94 billion) will be ploughed into railway infrastructure, and funding will be provided to test innovative ways to incite more people to use public transport such as 365-euro annual tickets. “By 2030, a total of … a three-digit billion euro figure will be made available for climate protection and the energy transition,” according to the summary of the sweeping plan seen by AFP. The government said the investment would not affect its plans to keep the budget balanced, but that it would help to “support the economy”. As the politicians emerged red-eyed from their marathon talks, across Germany, protesters were out in the streets with colourful banners and posters with slogans like “make rainforests great again” or “I want a hot date, not a hot planet”. In the biggest international wave for Future climate strikes to date started by Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, a major bridge in central Berlin was blocked off by demonstrators who strung red and white tape across the streets, while in the financial capital Frankfurt, sit-ins were under way. After two blistering summers and thousands of youths joining school strikes week after week, climate has shot to the top of the political agenda in the EU’s biggest economy. For Merkel’s coalition government, the stakes are also rising. With the economy already projected to slide into recession in the third quarter, balancing the interests of its crucial export industries while not alienating young voters with their green demands was proving to be a tough balancing act. The EU’s biggest economy is set to miss climate targets for next year but has committed itself to meeting the 2030 goal of a 55% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels.

Export powerhouse Germany accounts for around two percent of the worldwide emissions blamed for heating the Earth’s atmosphere, melting ice caps, rising sea levels and intensifying violent weather events. Merkel, a scientist by profession, was once known as the “climate chancellor” as she pushed forward a green energy transition that vastly increased clean renewables such as wind and solar power. However, many of those gains have been eroded by an increased reliance on dirty coal, in part to offset the phaseout by 2022 of nuclear power that Merkel decided after Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster. Her government this year announced a coal phaseout by 2038, but faces local opposition from mining regions, especially in the ex-communist east, where the far-right AfD party has capitalised on fears over job losses. Car-mad Germany has also lagged badly behind in the transport sector, where state-coddled auto giants VW, Daimler and BMW have long focused on gas-guzzling SUVs more than hybrid or zero-emission electric cars. Mindful of the 800,000 jobs tied to the auto sector, Merkel’s government is also cautious that new environment taxes could set off the type of “yellowvest” anti-government protests that have plagued neighbouring France. But the young warn that delaying action is not an option, calling the threat existential with devastating consequences during their lifetimes.

We are heading for a life-destroying crisis and so far nothing has happened,” said Linus Steinmetz of the student movement. “That’s why we’re raising the pressure — together we’re strong.” Source: news18

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OCTOBER 2019

international

LARGEST SOLAR POWER PROJECT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA LAUNCHED IN TAY NINH

The Dau Tieng PV solar power complex, the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, has been put into operation in the southern province of Tay Ninh. he complex, comprising two solar power plants with a combined capacity of 420 MW, was inaugurated on September 7 in the presence of former President Nguyen Minh Triet and Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Nguyen Van Binh. Developed by Vietnam’s Xuan Cau Holdings and Thailand’s B.Grimm Power Public Co., Ltd., the complex covers an area of 504 hectares within the semi-submerged land at Dau Tieng Lake. It has an investment of about 9.1 trillion VND (391.3 million USD).

The project is capable of supplying around 688 million kWh per year to the national grid, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of nearly 320,000 households. In his remarks at the opening ceremony, Binh said the project pioneers in unlocking the province’s great potential in solar power and following the government’s policy to promote the development of renewable energy. It also demonstrates the effective cooperation between Vietnam and Thailand, he added. The new project has made Tay Ninh among the country’s hubs of solar power and contributed to ensuring the national energy security and meeting local demand, he said. –VNA Source: en.vietnamplus.vn

MDBS UNITE TO RAISE ANNUAL GLOBAL CLIMATE FINANCE TO USD175B BY 2025 Nine multilateral development banks (MDBs) announced plans to increase global climate action investments they support each year to USD175 billion by 2025, based on a statement at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York. In 2018, MDB climate finance in developing countries and emerging economies already reached record annual levels, resulting in USD111 billion of combined MDB climate finance and cofinance.

THE INCREASED FUNDING WILL COME IN THREE STREAMS:

“We will focus on building and strengthening partnerships for greater impact,” according to the statement. The nine MDBs have been at the forefront of ambitious climate action for more than a decade. It added: “We are united in increasing our collective ambitions, as well as our clients’, to ensure that the common goals of the Paris Agreement will be met.”

OCTOBER 2019

Annual combined MDB climate finance globally will rise to USD65 billion by 2025—a 50-percent increase from current levels—with USD50 billion for low- and middle-income economies. Within this total, annual combined climate adaptation finance will double to USD18 billion by 2025. Annual cofinancing for investment in climate action is expected to rise significantly to USD110 billion by 2025. Of that, USD40 billion is expected to be mobilized from private sector investors. The joint financing pledge comes amid growing evidence of the need for urgent and systemic combined action to meet the common goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which aims to limit the increase in global temperatures to well below 2°C while pursuing efforts for 1.5°C. Source: aiib.org

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international

DAQO NEW ENERGY BEGINS PILOT PRODUCTION AT NEW PHASE 4A POLYSILICON PRODUCTION FACILITY IN XINJIANG Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) (“Daqo New Energy”, the “Company” or “we”), a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry, announced that it had begun pilot production at its new Phase 4A polysilicon production facility in Shihezi, Xinjiang. The Company expects Phase 4A to gradually ramp up to full production capacity and to increase its total annual production capacity to 70,000 MT by the end of this year.

Mr. Longgen Zhang, CEO of Daqo New Energy, commented, “We are very excited to have successfully completed the construction and installation of Phase 4A months ahead of schedule. I would like to thank our entire Xinjiang team for their hard work and dedication to make this possible. We have already started pilot production at Phase 4A and expect to ramp up production to full capacity by the end of this year, which will increase our total annual polysilicon production capacity to 70,000 MT. In addition, with greater economies of scale, higher manufacturing efficiency, and cutting-edge equipment and process, we expect the total cost of polysilicon production at our Xinjiang facilities to decrease to approximately US$6.80/kg in the first quarter of 2020.” “We have seen that mono-crystalline solar technology is rapidly expanding market share and accounting for an increasingly significant portion of capacity expansion projects of our solar wafer customers. We believe that mono technology will account for over 80% of the global PV market by the end of 2020. The supply of ultra-high-quality mono-grade polysilicon still lags behind the growing demand. As a result, mono-grade polysilicon is being sold at a significant premium over multi-grade polysilicon. We believe that product quality is just as important as cost structure to a polysilicon producer’s profitability, if not more.”

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“As one of the first-tier high-quality polysilicon providers, we sell approximately 85% of our products to mono customers and expect to increase this percentage to 90% after Phase 4A is fully ramped up. At the same time, we are also working closely with some key customers to test our products for potential N-type mono wafer applications, which requires even higher quality polysilicon when compared to standard P-type mono wafer. We are aiming to be market-ready and produce approximately 40% of our total polysilicon products for potential Ntype applications in 2020.” “With the solar industry rapidly approaching grid parity, the successful completion of Phase 4A facility will provide us with added high-quality polysilicon capacity which will allow us to benefit from the sustainable growth of the global solar PV market. It also demonstrates our strong execution capabilities, deep understanding of our customers’ needs, and our long-term commitment to the solar PV industry. We’ve made it a priority to address climate change for the next generation and to make solar PV one of the cleanest, most sustainable, and most cost-effective sources of energy.”

OCTOBER 2019

international

UNILEVER ACHIEVES 100% RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY ACROSS FIVE CONTINENTS 100% of grid electricity across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America comes from renewable sources Sites across five continents have achieved 100% renewable grid electricity use ahead of Unilever’s global 2020 target

Unilever announced that its factories, offices, R&D facilities, data centres, warehouses and distribution centres across five continents are now powered by 100% renewable grid electricity.

s far as possible, Unilever’s transition to renewable electricity has been delivered through supporting the development of local renewable energy markets, with 38% of its grid electricity supplied through corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and green electricity tariffs. Where it has not been feasible to do this, Unilever has purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) – openlytraded certificates linked to renewable electricity generation.

Sam Kimmins, Head of RE100 at The Climate Group, said, “Congratulations to Unilever – achieving 100% renewable electricity across five continents means the company is quickly advancing on its RE100 goal as it works to become a ‘carbon neutral’ company by 2030. Through its membership of RE100, global companies like Unilever are sending a strong demand signal to the few markets where renewables remain harder to access. They want to be able to source renewable electricity locally at an affordable price – and they want to do that now.” Announcement comes ahead of Unilever taking to the stage at the opening ceremony of Climate Week NYC and participating in the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit, where it joins leaders from government and business in advocating for the importance of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C – in line with the Paris Agreement. Unilever’s achievement is a significant step towards its target to become a carbon neutral company before 2030. Unilever has worked with partners around the world to generate renewable electricity at its own sites, with solar power in use at Unilever facilities in 18 countries.

OCTOBER 2019

Marc Engel, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Unilever, said, “The climate emergency is one of the most urgent challenges we’re all facing. Our team have worked hard to secure renewable energy contracts for our sites across five continents, accelerating the delivery of our 100% renewable energy targets. “Of course, there is more work to do, but we hope that today’s announcement will inspire further action elsewhere and help to prove that it is possible to combat the climate crisis and hold global warming at 1.5 Degrees Celsius. Renewable is doable.” A substantial contribution to today’s announcement comes from Unilever’s investment in energy efficiency programmes, which have led to a reduction in total energy consumption of 28%, and to the halving of carbon emissions per tonne of production since 2008, as well as the introduction of on-site solar electricity generation.There have been no net on-costs to get to this point. Savings that Unilever was able to generate through mechanisms such as PPA’s have counterbalanced additional costs. Source: finance.yahoo

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international

$11 BILLION GREEN-ENERGY INITIATIVE TAKES SHAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA A plan to establish the world’s largest green-energy financing initiative is being threshed out in South Africa, which needs to reduce its environmental footprint and find innovative ways to fund debt-stricken state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.

The plan being formulated by Meridian Economics, a Cape Town-based think tank, is under consideration by the government. It envisions the establishment of an $11 billion facility backed by development finance institutions and private funders. The new entity would lend money to Eskom at slightly below commercial rates on condition it accelerates the closure of polluting coal plants to make way for renewable energy.South Africa is the world’s 14th-largest producer of greenhouse gases and the government is under pressure to deliver on a commitment it made in 2009 to reduce emissions by 42% by 2025. Under the new plan, the country would add an additional 10 gigawatts of renewable-energy production capacity over a decade, thereby reducing its potential carbon dioxide emissions by 715 million metric tons by 2050.

This would be the largest and most significant global climate finance transaction to date, Emily Tyler, a climate economist at Meridian, said in an interview. “It would propel South Africa to a cleaner and more resilient energy future.” Eskom supplies about 95% of South Africa’s power and has turned to the government for aid to remain solvent after amassing 450 billion rand ($31 billion) of debt. Under the plan, it would secure loans in tranches from the new facility over five years and have to repay them over 20 years. The money would be used to wean Eskom off bailouts and cover its future financing needs, rather than fund new and already self-sustaining green energy projects. Implementation of the plan would be contingent on the government following through on a commitment to break up Eskom into generation, transmission and distribution units under a state holding company and reorganizing its debt to place it on a more sustainable footing. The new entity would utilize most of the difference between the cost of the concessional funding it secures and the price it charges Eskom to finance a so-called transition fund. It would focus on creating jobs and promoting development mainly in the eastern Mpumalanga province, where most of Eskom’s plants are located. It would also contribute to state coffers in the form of a carbon payment. The establishment of the transition fund could help win backing for the plan from labor unions, which oppose coal-plant closures and Eskom’s breakup on the grounds there will be job losses.

The unions played a key role in helping President Cyril Ramaphosa win control of South Africa’s ruling party in late 2017. Several large development finance institutions, climate funds and philanthropic organizations have expressed initial interest in participating in the initiative, Tyler said, without identifying them. Discussions on the green funding proposals are at an early stage and it would be premature to comment on them at this stage, said Ismail Momoniat, a deputy director-general at the Treasury, which is assessing the plan. Meridian is headed by Grove Steyn, a member of a government task team set up to advise on a resource plan for Eskom. The green energy initiative was included in the team’s report submitted earlier this year, but the details have since been refined. Source: bloombergquint

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OCTOBER 2019

PV MANUFACTURING

INDIA, CHINA TO COOPERATE IN R&D FOR DEVELOPING NEW TECH FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL The working group on pharmaceuticals decided that both the sides should explore cooperation for promoting Indian generic drugs and Chinese APIs (raw material for pharma sector).

ndia and China have agreed on cooperation in R&D for developing new technology for manufacturing solar cell from alternate material and improvement of efficiency of solar cells, Niti Aayog said. Both sides have also agreed on cooperation in the field of e-mobility and energy storage. This among issues was discussed during the sixth India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue.

“Both sides agreed on cooperation in R&D for developing new technology for manufacturing solar cell from alternate material and improvement of efficiency of solar cells,” it said. Under this dialogue, there are six standing joint working groups which are appointed by both sides to address economic and commercial issues across infrastructure, energy, high-tech, resource conservation, pharmaceuticals and policy coordination in a structured and outcome-oriented manner. The working group on pharmaceuticals decided that both the sides should explore cooperation for promoting Indian generic drugs and Chinese APIs (raw material for pharma sector).

Similarly, the working group on high-tech exchanged views on regulatory procedures of ease of doing business, development of artificial intelligence, high-tech manufacturing, and next-generation mobile communications of both countries. On infrastructure, they held discussions on identifying the next steps in all areas of cooperation as well as on taking forward the study project exploring the possibility of Delhi-Agra high speed railway in the pilot section. Senior representatives from policy making, industry and academia participated in this dialogue from both the sides. The Indian side was led by Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog and the Chinese side by He Lifeng, Chairman, NDRC (National Development and Reforms Commission). Source: health.economictimes.indiatimes

INNOLIA ENERGY ANNOUNCES RS 225 CR INVESTMENT IN SOLAR MODULE, EV PRODUCTS MANUFACTURING “Leveraging years of developing advanced technology solutions for companies in the US, Innolia Energy’s manufacturing plant (300MW) in India delivers a fully integrated and customisable system solution of solar panels, lithium-battery and EV products manufacturing under a single roof,” a company statement said.

S-based Innolia Energy said it has launched a project entailing investment of Rs 225 crore to set up a manufacturing facility in Hyderabad for solar modules, lithium battery and electric vehicle (EV) products.

“Leveraging years of developing advanced technology solutions for companies in the US, Innolia Energy’s manufacturing plant (300MW) in India delivers a fully integrated and customisable system solution of solar panels, lithium-battery and EV products manufacturing under a single roof,” a company statement said. According to the statement, the manufacturing unit is India’s first fully integrated solar and lithium battery pack manufacturing company providing technology integration solutions for general-purpose or application-specific renewable markets. Innolia Energy was founded by Arvind Reddy, who has over 27 years of experience in the industry and has worked in companies such as

OCTOBER 2019

Altera/ Intel/Cirrus Logic/SST/Microchip. As an investor and entrepreneur, he has been involved in successful startups, and is currently focused on developing chip and system-level solutions in power and renewable sectors. Source: PTI

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PV MANUFACTURING

MONDRAGON ASSEMBLY LICENCES ‘CONTINUOUS STRINGING’ IP TO KOREAN EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER

INNOVATIVE FINE-LINE SCREEN PRINTING METALLIZATION REDUCES SILVER CONSUMPTION FOR SOLAR CELL CONTACTS

Specialist automation and PV module assembly solutions provider, Mondragon Assembly has struck a deal with Korean equipment supplier, STiN for its ‘continuous stringing’ intellectual property (IP).

Together with their project partners, scientists at the Photovoltaic Technology Evaluation Center PV-TEC at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg have succeeded in improving the traditional screen printing process for the fine-line metallization of silicon solar cells. Using specially developed fine-line screens, the project team was able to create contact fingers with a width of merely 19 µm and a height of 18 µm in a single printing step. This means that up to 30 percent less silver is needed, which in turn leads to a significant reduction in manufacturing costs.

ondragon noted that the continuous stringing technology enabled 15% higher productivity in cell stringing per hour. According to this agreement, STIN would be able to deliver this solution to all PV module manufacturers in South Korea. Source: mondragon-assembly

DAQO NEW ENERGY SIGNS TWOYEAR POLYSILICON SUPPLY AGREEMENT WITH JINKOSOLAR Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) (“Daqo New Energy”, the “Company” or “we”), a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry, announced that it has signed a two-year polysilicon supply agreement with JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (“JinkoSolar”) (NYSE: JKS), one of the largest and most innovative solar module manufacturers in the world.

nder the terms of the supply agreement, Daqo New Energy will supply JinkoSolar with 12,000 to 14,400 MT and 15,600 to 21,600 MT of polysilicon during calendar year 2020 and 2021, respectively. Prices will be determined on a monthly basis according to market pricing.

Mr. Shihua Su, Chief Marketing Officer of Daqo New Energy, commented, “We’re very pleased to sign this two-year supply agreement with JinkoSolar which will further strengthen our long-term strategic relationship. JinkoSolar is significantly expanding its mono-wafer capacity as part of their strategy to meet the rapidly changing demand from end customers. Our two companies have a long-standing partnership that spans many years and we are delighted to have been selected for our ability to produce high-purity mono-grade polysilicon. This supply agreement further demonstrates Daqo as the supplier of choice for high-quality mono-grade polysilicon with proven reliability. Once our Xinjiang polysilicon production facility expands to 70,000 MT capacity by the end of this year, we will be able to meet the rapidly growing demand from our mono-solar customers and the global solar PV industry.”

ilicon solar cells rely on metal electrodes on their front and rear sides to carry the electrical energy generated in the semiconductor material from light irradiation. To this end, a flatbed screen printing process is typically used to print a fine contact grid onto the front side of the cell. This grid should block as little as possible of the active cell surface from exposure to light and must be sufficiently conductive to keep the solar cells’ series resistance low. The technological challenge in the screen printing process lies in creating the narrowest possible continuous contact fingers with a sufficient height for good lateral conductivity. Printing extremely fine contact fingers requires the use of highly engineered specialized screens and metallization pastes in addition to complete mastery of the screen printing metallization process.

Working together with industry partners in fine-line screen printing metallization, in particular with screen manufacturers Koenen GmbH and Murakami Co. Ltd. as well as screen chemical supplier Kissel + Wolf GmbH, we have managed to reduce the contact fingers’ width to less than 20 micrometers — a reduction of 30 to 40 percent compared with the current industry standard, explains Dr.-Ing. Andreas Lorenz, project manager in the Printing Technology group at Fraunhofer ISE. Innovative fine-mesh screens were used in the metallization of passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells in two independent test series. Using such a screen made it possible to create contact fingers with a width of merely 19 µm and a height of 18 µm in a single printing step. Not only are the contact fingers extremely narrow, their electrical properties are also outstanding. When integrated into modules — particularly with newer technologies such as multi-busbar interconnection with 8 to 15 busbars — they enable a notable reduction of the power loss in the contact fingers. These newly developed screen printing processes require up to 30 percent less silver compared with the current industry standard with a contact finger width of approximately 30 µm. Source: ise.fraunhofer.de

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OCTOBER 2019

featured

INGETEAM LAUNCHES ITS NEW PV STRING INVERTER FEATURING 1500 VDC TECHNOLOGY Ingeteam is finalizing the launch of its new INGECON® SUN 160TL photovoltaic string inverter, offering the possibility of achieving a power output of 160 kWAC in a single 75kg/165lbs unit. This inverter, which has already been physically showcased at a number of national and international fairs, is now at the production stage thanks to an order for two hundred units for the Brazilian market.

his new three-phase inverter, featuring 1500 Vdc technology, is suitable for indoor and outdoor installation alike, and is primarily directed at multimegawatt projects, in other words large-scale solar PV plants. In addition to its high power density, the inverter's main features include its high maximum efficiency (99.1%), Wi-Fi and Ethernet and PLC (power line) communications supplied as standard, and advanced grid support functionalities, with low voltage ride-through and reactive power capability.

A further key advantage lies in its significant cost savings potential, given the fact that its high power density means that it is possible to drastically reduce the number of inverters to be installed and, therefore, the total amount of cabling. Furthermore, no connection boxes are required (either in DC or AC) and neither is a neutral cable necessary, thereby reducing the total AC cabling cost by up to 20%. All this leads to huge reductions in capital expenditures (CAPEX).

OCTOBER 2019

This inverter also offers lower operating costs, thanks to the Wi-Fi communication which is supplied as standard, making it possible to start-up, monitor and control the PV installation through either a mobile phone, tablet or laptop. Furthermore, its string inverter philosophy guarantees minimum potential maintenance requirements, with no need to vacuum the inverter interior or to check the state of the fuses, or the thermal magnetic breaker or torque. The new Ingeteam inverter can be supplied in two different versions (STD and PRO) in order to adapt to customer needs and to the technical requirements of as many projects as possible. This PV inverter is part of the INGECON® SUN 3Play family which has PV inverters installed in more than 15 countries and which, up to now, had power outputs of between 20 to 100 kW.

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featured

KEHUA TECH “PV+ESS” INDIA SEMINAR INNOVATIVE ENERGY SOLUTIONS LIGHTEN THE LAND On September 6, KEHUA TECH “PV+ESS” Seminar was held at ALOFT Hotel New Delhi Aerocity, India. At the conference, KEHUA along with industry leaders and local partners focused on the innovative application of renewable energy and discussed the development opportunities of the market in India.

KEHUA PV String Inverters Attract Many Participants to Inquire

Mr. Joey Chen, General Manager of KEHUA TECH, shared with the attendees the development strategies for Indian market , demonstrated the company’s superior strength in research and development, supply chain, presales technical support and after-sales service, and introduced the company’s outstanding performance all over the world. “KEHUA has landed large-scale photovoltaic projects in India and surrounding countries in the past few years, which has greatly promoted the optimization and upgrading of the local power structure.” said Mr. Joey Chen

ndia, as the third largest photovoltaic market after China and the United States, will raise the target of 175GW of solar energy installation to 225GW by 2020, starting a construction boom of large-scale renewable energy power generation projects and upgrading of grid infrastructure. Driven by this, India’s renewable energy power generation, power grid and customer market are showing a unprecedented enthusiasm.

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“In recent years, India’s iron and steel, IT, automobile, pharmaceutical, electronics and other industries have been booming, among which there are many ‘large energy consumers’.” “In this regard, we can provide integrated solutions and comprehensive energy management services including photovoltaic, energy storage, smart microgrid, etc. to help Indian users better utilize their unique energy advantages, improve energy efficiency and enhance market competitiveness,” KEHUA team stated at the seminar. “KEHUA has more than 30 years of industry application experience which means reliable quality and technology, especially the integrated advantages of its program, is quite impressive!” attendee said after the Seminar. At present, KEHUA is providing renewable energy integrated solutions and energy management services to users in more than 100 countries and regions around the world, including India. KEHUA is actively participating in creating a better future for the renewable energy industry, based on 31-year experience on power electronics technology and equipment manufacturing.

OCTOBER 2019

ev & energy storage

BYD ENTERS INDIA’S ELECTRIC CAR MARKET WITH NEW MPV AND MINIVAN BYD (Build Your Dreams) India, a subsidiary of BYD Group, China, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker, has entered India’s pure electric van segment with the introduction of two new pure EVs – T3 pure electric passenger MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) and T3 pure electric commercial logistics minivan.

PROPRIETORY BATTERY TECHNOLOGY FOR BOTH VEHICLES In the past few years, with the support of the Indian government and our local partners, BYD has realised the local design, R&D, manufacturing of electric buses in India, and established battery manufacturing facilities here. We are also the first OEM in the country to export e-buses to overseas markets from India. Our pure electric buses have cemented their position as a market leader in the Indian e-bus segment, said Liu Xueliang, Managing Director of BYD India. “Seeing the huge potential of India’s EV market, BYD is responding to the Indian government’s call to promote the local market and make India a global hub for EVs, and so today we are proud to announce that BYD is moving toward its next step in India. We are delighted to launch the all-new pure electric T3 MPV and T3 minivan for the Indian market and are confident that our products will set a benchmark in India’s electric van segment. We always strive to bring the most advanced and cleanest technology into the Indian market and better serve our local customers,” he added.

At this early stage, we are going to focus on creating a more efficient, more reliable B2B and electric public transportation sector, said Ketsu Zhang, Executive Director of BYD India. “We will also gradually look at increasing investment and manufacturing electric vans locally, according to Indian market demand and government policies.”

The T3 MPV and T3 minivan models adopt BYD’s proprietary battery technology, whose safety, reliability and lifecycle are proven by the company’s 11-year track record of EV operation as well as its global EV footprint. According to BYD, the vehicles offer the best configuration and features available in the market, including keyless entry, push-button start, a music system with Bluetooth connectivity, reverse parking camera and sensors, and well-designed space for cargo storage or passengers. The vehicles are equipped with automatic transmission, which makes them among the most easily operable vehicles. Both models also come with advanced safety features like Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electric Parking System (EPB), Brake Override System (BOS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), and more. The regenerative braking system helps to improve range and save energy, while the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus communication system provides smart management and maintenance. BYD claims that compared to a traditional fuel minivan, the T3 MPV and T3 minivan can effectively reduce the cost of urban logistics distribution. Adopting BYD’s cuttingedge technology, one single T3 MPV or T3 minivan can save the fuel consumption and emissions equivalent to 5 passenger cars. Both models require only an hour-and-a-half hours to fully charge using DC charging equipment, and both also support standard AC chargers. Once fully charged, both models can travel up to 300km. In addition, BYD is now actively seeking local Indian partners for the the electric van product series. BYD India was set up in March 2007 in Chennai and New Delhi. The Indian subsidiary has two factories, covering more than 140,000 square metres, with a cumulative investment of over US$150 million (Rs 1,080 crore). The business covers mobile components, solar panels, battery energy storage, electric buses, electric trucks, electric forklifts, chargers, rail transit, and more, also providing customers with product solutions and related after-sales services. BYD’s India branch has gradually developed into the group’s South Asia regional headquarters, realising the group’s localisation strategy in South Asia. With local partners, the Indian branch has successfully piloted pure e-buses in Bangalore, Rajkot, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, Cochin, Chandigarh, Vijayawada, Manali, Mumbai, Surat, and other cities. At present, BYD says it has a 52 percent market share of e-buses commercially operating in India.

Source: autocarpro.in

OCTOBER 2019

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ev & energy storage

JOLYWOOD TO POWER FULL-ELECTRIC HEAVY TRUCK WITH SOLAR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co (“Jolywood”), China’s leading PV modules manufacturer, unveiled its solar energy storage system with the launch of the full electric heavy truck manufactured by Breton. Fueling the emerging electric trucks sector, Jolywood has driven substantial growth in the Internet of Energy (IoE) sector, making renewable energy more accessible.

ogether with Breton, Jolywood presented the full-electric heavy truck and its smart energy system at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (“WAIC”) held from August 29-31 in Shanghai. WAIC is the world’s most significant event for the tech industry, welcoming over 400 global companies, including Alibaba and Huawei.

Powering by solar and wind plus energy storage system is integrated by automation and the internet. Become a significant green alternative to gas-guzzling trucks, said Mr Meng from Breton.

Powered by Jolywood’s PV energy system, the full-electric heavy vehicle, or e-truck is powered by clean energy supplied by the PV power generation station and wind turbine. The system makes clean energy widely accessible and highly efficient. Heavy trucks usually need to take long routes with large loads; the full-electric heavy vehicle makes these journeys less arduous and less polluting. The PV module used in the system is the JW-T60N N-type monocrystalline high-efficiency bifacial paving module developed by Jolywood. In addition to advanced performance features of the Jolywood N-type module, such as high conversion efficiency, the module is equipped with Jolywood’s groundbreaking transparent mesh backsheet, which significantly reduces the weight of the module. For heavy-duty trucks, the lightweight installation translates into a reduction in load, power consumption and an increase in distance. In addition to making excellent use of new energy, the Breton full-electric heavy-truck is controlled by a self-driving system. The two features together show the rise and importance of the Internet of Energy trend. According to Chen Fangming, chairman of Breton, the future for energy will be electrical, low-carbon and intelligent. And it is the Internet that integrates every sector. In that sense, a new and smart future for energy has just started from an all-electric trip begun by Jolywood and Breton. Source: Jolywood (Taizhou) Solar Technology Co. Ltd.

DAIMLER TO SOURCE BATTERY CELLS FROM FARASIS ENERGY Daimler has struck a deal to buy lithium ion battery cells from Farasis Energy, a Chinese-American supplier that is building a factory in east Germany to help Mercedes-Benz ramp up electric vehicle production, it said.

arasis is constructing the plant in Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt region, Markus Schaefer, Daimler’s board member responsible for research and Mercedes-Benz Cars development, said at the Frankfurt car show.

It will be a multiple gigawatt facility and it will supply cells for our battery plants in Kamenz, Bruehl and Sindelfingen, Markus Schaefer said, adding that the energy needed to produce the battery cells will come from renewable sources. Farasis has said it is investing 600 million euros ($662.5 million) to build the German plant. Daimler will use lithium ion battery cells made up of nickel, manganese and cobalt (NMC) for now, as other battery composition materials-

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-which promise higher energy density have not proved as reliable, Schaefer said. “Some of the new materials work in a laboratory but not in the real world,” Schaefer said, adding that experimental batteries often failed to withstand the vibrations and temperature changes that vehicles experience while driving. Mercedes-Benz is building battery plants in China, the United States and Germany as part of a broader push to electrify the German luxury brand.

The next battery plant is being built in China, primarily for the EQC, Daimler Chief Executive Ola Kaellenius said, referring to the new Mercedes-Benz electric car.

Source: reuters

OCTOBER 2019

ev & energy storage

TATA CHEMICALS LAUNCHES LI-ION BATTERY RECYCLING OPERATIONS In keeping with our entry into the energy sciences opportunities in the country, Tata Chemicals marks an important milestone by successfully commencing the commercial recovery of cathode active materials from spent lithium-ion cells/batteries.

his further strengthens our commitment to longterm sustainable practices as we build a circular economy around our energy sciences business. Li-ion battery recycling recovers valuable metals like Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese at 99 percent plus purity with-in Industry leading levels of yield. As a result, we will reduce environmental pollution, save energy and natural resources by extracting fewer raw materials from the earth.

The Recycling operations are carried out at a 3P facility located near Mumbai. The operations, launched at pilot scale, has successfully recycled the spent Li-ion batteries and we endeavor to scale it to recycle 500 tons of spent Li-ion batteries. We will continue to pursue our quest for developing cutting edge, Scienceled Chemistry as we build our Specialty Chemistry portfolio. Source: tatachemicals

EVELOT LAUNCHES INDIA’S FIRST ELECTRIC QUAD BIKE, E-SCOOTERS The company is targeting its market in Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The company is planning to make Evelot available pan India in the next two months. Making its debut in electric vehicles, Evelot has launched a range of e-scooters and Warrior electric quad bikes.

Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari launched the Evelot e-scooter to promote renewable resources and to curb pollution. “We will do everything that is necessary to make the transition from fuel-based to electric vehicles as smooth as possible. The demand is very high as people are now aware of its benefits and harmful effects of fossil fuels on the environment and human beings. We are working on a multi-pronged approach and hope that soon India will have cleaner air to breath,” Gadkari said at the launch.

OCTOBER 2019

he Rissala Electric Motors Pvt Ltd introduced a range of e-scooters including, Polo, Derby, Pony and Warrior. The company is targeting its market in Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The company is planning to make Evelot available pan India in the next two months. The e-scooters are priced at Rs 39,000 and its highest-end is priced at Rs 59,000. Source: indianexpress

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ev & energy storage

BHEL SETS UP 5 SOLAR EV CHARGING STATIONS ON DELHICHANDIGARH HIGHWAY Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), the government-owned engineering and manufacturing company, is setting up a network of solar-based electric vehicle chargers (SEVCs) on the Delhi-Chandigarh Highway. The EV chargers are located at the resorts of Haryana Tourism Corporation at Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat and Samalkha (Sonepat). The project is covered under the FAME scheme.

SNEL CHARGE INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED (A CHEMI TECH GROUP COMPANY) LAUNCHED NOIDAGREATER NOIDA’S FIRST PUBLIC CHARGER FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES Located at Gaur City Mall in Greater Noida West in the famous Gaur City, the charger installed is a 22 kW AC Type-II Charger, manufactured by ABB

aur City, a township spread across 300 acres and home to around 10,000 families, will have access to the chargers. The chargers will also help in avoiding range anxiety amongst Electric Vehicle owners, who can charge their vehicles from Delhi/Gurgaon to Noida and Greater Noida and come back with ease Being located in the parking of Gaur city mall, EV drivers can have a quick bite in the mall or watch a movie or grab a coffee. This is Snel Charge’s 20th installation across the country. The company, working with leading automotive OEM’s in the country, aims to install around 500 chargers by the end of this financial year

rvind Ganpat Sawant, the Union minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, inaugurated five charging stations in the series in the presence of Dr Nalin Shinghal, chairman and MD, BHEL. BHEL says establishing EV chargers at regular intervals over the entire 250km stretch between Delhi and Chandigarh would allay range-anxiety among EV users and bolster their confidence for intercity travel. As part of the project, BHEL has also developed a Central Monitoring System (CMS) for EV chargers with a userfriendly mobile app. The government firm says its scope of work in the project includes design, engineering, manufacturing, supply and installation of the EV charging stations along with a CMS. Each SEVC station is said to be equipped with a rooftop solar power plant to supply energy and EV chargers.

This, BHEL says, is part of its diversification initiative and to expand its footprints in the e-mobility business. It is extending its product offerings for the e-mobility segment and has equipped itself to foray into manufacturing of EV chargers, electric buses and related critical components. As part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government of India, in-house development of EV motors, propulsion systems and fast chargers has also been undertaken by the company.

Source: chemitechgroup

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Source: autocarpro.in

OCTOBER 2019

REI- 2019

HUAWEI AI BOOST FUSIONSOLAR WON 860 MW CONTRACT AT REI 2019

Huawei, a leading global ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and network energy solutions provider, showcased the AI Boost FusionSolar Smart PV Solution at Renewable Energy India (REI), the largest exhibition and conference for the solar industry in India.

POWERFUL COMBINATION OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES Followed by more than 1.5 GW cooperation, Huawei signed an 860 MW contract with Adani Green Energy, India’s largest solar power developer, on the second day of REI at Huawei booth. This is a win-win cooperation between Adani and Huawei to combine the advanced technologies and build industry landmarks in India. Huawei’s new launched FusionSolar Smart PV Solution 6.0 with SUN2000-185KTL-INH0 brings higher yields and smarter performance at an optimal LCOE (Levelised Cost of Electricity), which provides a better output out of the same asset for Adani, especially under the price pressure situation in Indian solar market.

AI BOOST FUSIONSOLAR FOR OPTIMAL LCOE WITH SUN2000-185KTL-INH0 Huawei demonstrated the leading FusionSolar 6.0 Smart PV Solution that cover utility-scale scenario to Indian solar market. The SUN2000-185KTL inverter integrates bifacial modules, trackers and smart DC system as a solution to promote yields and lower the LCOE by at least 5% comparing to central solutions. With 9 maximum power point trackers (MPPTs), it could reduce string mismatch effectively and increase yields by over 3%. Huawei demonstrated the leading FusionSolar 6.0 Smart PV Solution that cover utility-scale scenario to Indian solar market. The SUN2000-185KTL inverter integrates bifacial modules, trackers and smart DC system as a solution to promote yields and lower the LCOE by at least 5% comparing to central solutions. With 9 maximum power point trackers (MPPTs), it could reduce string mismatch effectively and increase yields by over 3%. Smart IV Curve Diagnosis 3.0 using big-data analysis can proactively discover low-performance PV panels, achieving the revolution from passive maintenance to active preventive maintenance. Moreover, further application of AI evolves the operation and maintenance (O&M) of PV plants towards “Autonomous driving”. Compared with manual I-V Curve test, it performs full detection of 100 MW strings and generates the diagnosis report in 15 minutes, rebuilding a more efficient and lower cost O&M model.

DIGITAL PV SOLUTION FOR ULTIMATE SAFETY & BETTER EXPERIENCE During this REI, Huawei launched the digital PV solution for ultimate safety and better experience with latest SUN2000100KTL-INM0, SUN2000-20KTL-M0 integrated arc-fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) function. SUN2000-100KTL-INM0 applied for large scale C&I rooftop systems and the 2019 Intersolar Award Winner SUN2000-20KTL-M0 as the first unveiled three-phase inverter in India, which applied for small scale C&I rooftop systems. These two models implement multi-MPPT to obtain maximum power generation from PV strings. DC arcing may occur in solar system, posing a danger to properties. AI powered AFCI can proactively mitigate the fire risk: arc fault detection and confirm mechanism and machine learning accumulated capability for reliable & wide range arc fault identification.

OCTOBER 2019

According to the latest India RE Map 2019 released by Bridge to India on the first day of REI, Huawei had a market share of 19.9% and ranked No.2 among all the inverter suppliers. There’re more than 4 GW Smart PV Solution deployed in India till now. Huawei will continuously team up with partners and bring more advanced and competitive products and solutions to the Indian market to contribute to the prosperity of the PV industry in India. Source: Huawei

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REI- 2019

SOFARSOLAR ATTENDED REI AND SHOWED THE NEWEST PRODUCT, IMPROVE BRAND RECOGNITION Since September 18-20 2019, Renewable Energy India expo, was held in New Delhi,India which is a good platform discussion between user & developer for business strategy, future business scope & transparently meet with organization peoples.

t’s a one stop solution for Solar systems products. Sofarsolar attended this exhibition and showed the bestselling products including new inverter ranges such as the single phase inverter (1-7.5kW),three phase inverter (470kW), hybrid inverter (3-6kW), battery and AC charger. During the expo, Sofarsolar achieved a complete success and laid a solid foundation for accelerating the pace of Indian market in the next step. Indian PV market plays an important part for Sofarsolar international market expansion, since then Sofarsolar system has been installed on the buildings of prestigious Business buildings, Industrial’s Slanted roofs, Local houses under guidance of Rooftop Policy and Commercial Projects in India. Sofarsolar is continuously winning most selling Inverters in Gujarat under GEDA rooftop policy & other states also good quantum installation database with prompt service support. We well positioned to become a major player in commercial roof-top &utility-scale PV installations.

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SOFAR inverters are installed in the farms under SKY PROJECT (Surya Kisan Yojana) initiative of GUJARAT Government at different Feeders covering GUJARAT region. For example, Sofarsolar has provided more than 28MW inverters to SKY PROJECT-GUJARAT. And SOFARSOLAR has another projection which is more than 50MW for SKY PROJECT. In this Project SOFAR 6.6KW to 70KW three Phase models installed with compatibility of synchronize with Three phase motors, communicating with dataloggers via RS-485 and various grid voltage ranges. Now, Sofarsolar has earned an important position in the field of PV inverter in India. With the continuous growth of the power demand, Sofarsolar will seize the market development opportunity, launching more solar inverters to suit market demand, deepen service, further expand the Indian market, and increase the share of Indian market, to improve brand recognition.

OCTOBER 2019

REI- 2019

TBEA OFFERING PACKAGED SOLUTION|1500V INVERTER SMART MICROGRID | TB-ECLOUD TBEA Xian Electric Technology Co. Ltd, participated in REI Expo 2019 as an exhibitor showcasing its 1500V Central & String Inverter Solutions, Smart Microgrid/Storage Solution, Power Quality Management Solution (SVG) and intelligent Operations & Maintenance TB-eCloud Platform. While major focus of the exhibition was towards the new launched Optimal LCOE Solution 1500V 208kW Multi MPPT String Inverter.

BEA exhibition booth witnessed a high traffic of people interested in various solutions offered and various techno-commercial sessions were delivered by both Indo-Chinese team of TBEA. Sessions were blended with various topics covering Technical parameters of Inverter, Microgrid/Storage and TB-eCloud Solutions offered by company. Also, figuring out commercial benefits of each solution along with merits of TBEA solutions over others.

TBEA FOCUS OVER INDIA MARKET TBEA organized a gala dinner party on 18th September i.e Day 1 of REI, which happened to be a highly successful program with almost all major Big & Medium Solar Giants attended the party. Mr.Zhang Jianxin (Chairman of Xinte Energy Co. Ltd., &general manager of TBEA Xinjiang New Energy Co., Ltd) during his speech discussed about the cooperation of China & India towards the Renewable sector globally; both China & India being world’s biggest solar markets. Mr. Zhang continued sharing his future plans of upcoming TBEA factory in Bangalore India, which will help TBEA serve Indian market even better and wish a regular technology exchange between both countries.

1500V TS208KTL-HV MULTI MPPT STRING INVERTER SOLUTIONS EXHIBITED DURING REI TBEA showcased its 1500V Inverter Solutions having displayed 1500V 3.75MW Central Inverter and newly launched 1500V Optimal LCOE Solution TS208`KTL-HV. This 1500V 208kW Multi MPPT String Inverter has the highest 1.7times capacity ratio and capable to fit in 5MVA, 6.25MVA, 7.5MVA & 10MVA PV Array Block sizes. Having maximum power up-to 235kW. TS208KTL-HV along with bigger block size and intelligent operation and maintenance TB-eCloud is capable to achieve a comprehensive income increase of more than 7%.

OCTOBER 2019

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REI- 2019

SUNGROW DEBUTS A 1500 VDC OUTDOOR CENTRAL INVERTER WITH IP65 PROTECTION LEVEL AT RENEWABLE ENERGY INDIA EXPO Sungrow, the global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables, unveiled a comprehensive product portfolio, in particular an impressive 1500 Vdc outdoor central inverter SG5000UD and the world’s most powerful 1500 Vdc string inverter SG250HX-IN, at Renewable Energy India (REI), demonstrating the Company’s continued efforts on addressing local demand and aiding India’s green mission by promoting competitive solutions.

he SG5000UD turnkey station for 1500 Vdc systems features an optimal protection level of IP65, maximum efficiency of 99% and can work without derating at 50 degree Celsius, making it ideal for India by reducing O&M cost and enabling sustained power yields despite the typical scorching heat and sand corrosion found in the Indian desert. Developed for large-scale utility plants, the 5 MW product also characterizes a high DC/AC ratio of up to 1.7 and flexible 5 MW or 10 MW block design, ensuring an optimized LCOE.

Another flagship product on display was SG250HX-IN. Known to be the world’s most powerful 1500 Vdc string inverter, the high-profile product characterizes 12 MPPTs and a maximum efficiency of 99%; it also enables designs with 6.3 MW blocks, making it a perfect solution for hilly utility-scale applications. Products focusing on commercial and industrial rooftops showcased range from 10 kW to 110 kW. They come with multiple MPPTs and compact design and can maximize yields under complicated conditions. Sungrow introduced its residential rooftop solutions at REI for the very first time due to the great potential in the residential segment in India. Residential solutions utilizing string inverters from 3 kW to 8 kW of volume are designed with easy installation and smart monitoring, and timely service support and excellent performance for investment are guaranteed.

We are particularly excited by the progress we made in expanding our product portfolio and strengthening our partnerships, said Mr. Hu Yukun, Country Manager of Sungrow India. “And we are delighted that our solutions were highly appreciated by clean energy professionals at the show and beyond,” he added. Since its entry to the India solar market in 2015, Sungrow has established itself as the comprehensive technical, service and sales platform with four offices across the country. The Company opened a Bangalore-based manufacturing facility in 2018 and reached 4 GW milestone in India this July, making it poised to bring more exciting solution ranges to accelerate the step to a brighter and sunnier future in the world’s second most populous nation. Source: Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd

LONGI BRINGS HI-MO 4 HIGH-POWER BIFACIAL MONO PERC MODULE TO INDIA MARKET AT REI LONGi presented its new Hi-MO 4 high-power bifacial module at the 13th Renewable Energy India Expo (REI) bringing the high performance module to the Indian market.

In his introduction at the exhibition, Dr. Rahul Kapil, Operation VP and Director, LONGi Solar India, said, “Hi-MO 4 uses the new M6 166mm size silicon wafer. Employing upgraded PERC technology, cell efficiency can reach 22.5% and front-side power up to 440W. Hi-MO 4 is available in monofacial and bifacial, variants. In bifacial, the module can achieve 8%-20% in rearside power gain in different surface environments.”

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s the world’s second most populous country, India’s economy has grown rapidly in recent years, and with it, a sharp increase in energy demand. The Indian government has committed itself to the use of reliable clean energy to address power shortages and environmental issues. India is one of the important markets for the global photovoltaic industry. Large-scale photovoltaic power plant projects are developing rapidly. Solar products with both high-efficiency and good value are important for Indian customers. Hi-MO 4 bifacial PERC modules are the most ideal choice for us”, said local customer at the exhibition.

“The Indian market has a pivotal role in LONGi’s global strategy. In the past year, LONGi has supplied several hundred megawatts monocrystalline modules for photovoltaic power plants in India,” said Dr. Rahul Kapil. “LONGi is committed to a strategy of “Think Global, Act Local” where global bankability and production scale is matched with local Indian expertise, products and customer service.” LONGi will continue to supply India and South Asia with high-efficiency products with advanced technologies as the region ushers in a new era of green energy.

OCTOBER 2019

REI- 2019

GINLONG (SOLIS) AT RENEWABLE ENERGY INDIA EXPO 2019 The three-day Renewable Energy India Expo (REI) has concluded satisfactorily on Sept. 20, 2019, gathering more than 1000 enterprises globally with their best products and latest technologies. Ginlong Technologies, home of the Solis Inverters was invited to participate in REI with latest inverter fifth generation technology platform. Thank you all for taking time to visit our booth 5.172 to discuss the advanced technology and development trend of the current renewable energy industry during REI. Ginlong (Solis) featured the PV system solutions widely used in Residential, Smart Home, Commercial and Industrial, and Utility Cases at REI 2019. Residential: Your strategic partner for solutions that last. Solis single phase inverter from 700W-10kW.

Smart Home: Maximize self-consumption with unique design flexibility Solis energy storage inverter from 3kW-5kW. Compatible with both lead-acid battery and li-ion battery.

Utility: Maximum Uptime. Maximum ROI. Designed for higher energy yield, the Solis 125kW offers unique advantages including: 33% higher DC string voltage than 1000V systems, resulting in higher energy density and lower installation costs 99.1% maximum efficiency — one of the highest in the market 20 DC inputs results in DC to AC ratios up to 150% for greater energy generation during lower irradiance conditions Optional AC combiner connects two-125kW units into a 250K system, substantially reducing AC cable costs

Commercial & Industrial: Designed for flexibility & higher yield. Solis three phase inverter from 5kW-136kW. 10 MPPT design with precise MPPT algorithm, maximum efficiency up to 99%.50% DC overload, 13A input for each PV string.

The Solis 80kW features built-in string monitoring, which measures all string parameters for quick fault isolation and system commissioning. An integrated smart I/V curve scanning feature helps detect such string faults as panel mismatch and shading, decreasing O&M time and increasing system energy yield. DC fuses on both positive and negative inputs protect the inverter and DC cables, while built-in replicable DC and AC Type II surge protection devices (SPD) safeguard during power surges, further ensuring system availability. Lastly, Type I SPD protection is also available to shield against damage from frequent surges and lightning strikes.

As the brand new model of Ginlong (Solis) at REI 2019, Solis Commerical & Industrial Solution never stops the flow of people in front of it.

With an award-winning R&D group focused on PV string inverters and related technologies, Ginlong (Solis) is delivering innovation, better value and a superior after-sales service experience for their customers worldwide in the past 15 years. Up to now, Ginlong(Solis) has accumulated many high-quality customers and partners over 100 countries and regions such as Asia, Europe, America, and Australia and etc. Ginlong (Solis) will continue to meet the needs of India market with high efficiency &reliability inverters. Ginlong (Solis) are committed to the idea of sustainability. We sincerely promote and practice the green way of life and continue the development of the renewable energy all over the world. With their global footprint, Ginlong (Solis) is dedicated to supporting its planet’s transition to a more sustainable future. Source: ginlong

OCTOBER 2019

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REI- 2019

TBEA OFFERING PACKAGED SOLUTION AT REI 2019 TBEA Xian Electric Technology Co. Ltd, participated in REI Expo 2019 as an exhibitor showcasing its 1500V Central & String Inverter Solutions, Smart Microgrid/Storage Solution, Power Quality Management Solution (SVG) and intelligent Operations & Maintenance TB-eCloud Platform. While major focus of the exhibition was towards the new launched Optimal LCOE Solution 1500V 208kW Multi MPPT String Inverter.

TBEA FOCUS OVER INDIA MARKET

1500V TS208KTL-HV MULTI MPPT STRING INVERTER SOLUTIONS EXHIBITED DURING REI TBEA showcased its 1500V Inverter Solutions having displayed 1500V 3.75MW Central Inverter and newly launched 1500V Optimal LCOE Solution TS208`KTLHV. This 1500V 208kW Multi MPPT String Inverter has the highest 1.7times capacity ratio and capable to fit in 5MVA, 6.25MVA, 7.5MVA & 10MVA PV Array Block sizes. Having maximum power up-to 235kW. TS208KTL-HV along with bigger block size and intelligent operation and maintenance TB-eCloud is capable to achieve a comprehensive income increase of more than 7%.

TBEA organized a gala dinner party on 18th September i.e Day 1 of REI, which happened to be a highly successful program with almost all major Big & Medium Solar Giants attended the party. Mr. Zhang Jianxin (Chairman of Xinte Energy Co. Ltd., & general manager of TBEA Xinjiang New Energy Co., Ltd) during his speech discussed about the cooperation of China & India towards the Renewable sector globally; both China & India being world’s biggest solar markets. Mr. Zhang continued sharing his future plans of upcoming TBEA factory in Bangalore India, which will help TBEA serve Indian market even better and wish a regular technology exchange between both countries.

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Source: TBEA

OCTOBER 2019

REI- 2019

JINKOSOLAR WITNESSED INCREDIBLE RESPONSE TO ITS HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLAR MODULES DURING REI EXPO 2019 JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (the “Company,” or “JinkoSolar”) (NYSE: JKS) participated in recently concluded Renewable Energy India Expo 2019 (REI Expo 2019) in Greater Noida, India. JinkoSolar is the largest Solar module manufacturer in the World in terms of module shipment for consecutive last three years.

nown as Solar Module technology Market Thought Leader, it received a gigantic response from all corners of Solar Industry during these three days. Various stakeholders were observed from IPPs, Solar Project Developers to EPCs, Consultants and diversified market segments including Commercial, Industrial and distributed generation. Star attraction for this year was Intersolar award winning “Swan” bifacial module with DuPont™ Tedlar®-based transparent backsheet. This innovative product created a exceptional interest among audiences due to its inherent characteristics & benefits, especially its light weight & an ability to generate up to 415 Wp from front side & up to 5-25% from back side. In addition to N type Swan module, JinkoSolar accentuated its leadership in Mono PERC segment with a demonstration of three Cheetah series modules, each one suitable for distinct applications, including that for floating solar projects. Since its launch in 2018, Cheetah has been liked in quantum of > 5.5 GW confirmed orders globally.

Head of South Asia & Central Asia Markets, Mr. Daniel Liu said “India has an enormous potential to grow due to its demand & state driven bidding policies. High Efficiency Solar module technology is offering more opportunities to improve the plants performance and generation. It can help Indian Government in accomplishing its ambitious RE Goals. During REI Expo 2019, we witnessed marvelous interest from our existing & potential clients, and other stakeholders in our high efficiency Solar modules. It underlines the fact that though India is price sensitive market, stakeholders here are eager to explore Bifacial technology like Swan with transparent backsheet, to win competitive bids. He also added “Our last year REI’s Stellar product Cheetah module has already established itself as first choice among key stakeholders in their upcoming projects” During REI Expo this year, visitors discussed and explored business potential to work together with JinkoSolar in coming years. JinkoSolar is seen optimistic & poised to convert this potential into strong pipeline & reclaim its market leadership in India. JinkoSolar was an official High Efficiency Solar Module Partner of REI Expo 2019.

VIKRAM SOLAR LAUNCHES MULTI BUS BAR (MBB) HALF-CELLS MODULE AT REI 2019 Vikram Solar, one of India’s leading module manufacturers and solar EPC solutions provider, launched a new line of high-efficiency MBB half-cell modules at the Renewable Energy India Expo (REI) in Greater Noida. This module series is an upgrade of Vikram Solar’s existing 5 BB half-cell module and a new addition to the Company’s product portfolio.

he modules will house 144 half-cells and would have maximum power up to 415 Wp in monocrystalline technology . This new series would be available in the market from January 2020 and would offer increased light harvesting by reducing inactive area of solar cells and internal resistance to yield higher field performance.

Mr Ivan Saha, BU Head– Manufacturing & CTO, Vikram Solar Limited informed that the next generation of advanced technology module series are built for the ever demanding new-age customers who want maximum performance, efficiency and power. “The latest launch of new series MBB by Vikram Solar is a testament of the company’s mission to continuously push boundaries of efficiency improvement in solar in India. Fitted with a higher number of busbars, our new MBB half-cell module would also reduce performance impact from micro-cracks in field, and offer lesser internal resistance by reducing space between cell bus bars leading to lower levelised cost of energy. These features will result in improved performance and durability.”

Source: JinkoSolar

OCTOBER 2019

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REI- 2019

GROWATT CONTINUES TO BE THE HIGHLIGHT OF REI It’s the biggest annual gathering of the Indian solar industry at REI. Solar manufacturers around the world join the event with their latest PV solutions on 18-20 September at India Expo Centre in Greater Noida. New solar inverter models at Growatt booth are catching the eyes of visitors from the solar industry.

We’ve just launched a couple of new inverters in India, MIN 2500-6000TL-X for residential systems, MAC 50-60KTL-X for commercial and industrial projects, and the smart and powerful MAX 200KTL3 HV for utility scale solar plants. So with the wide range of capacity of new series inverters, Growatt is really your one-stop solar inverter manufacturer, said Rucas Wang, Growatt Regional Director.

uilt with powerful quad-core architecture, MAX has excellent performance in system protection, monitoring, one-click diagnosis and other smart functions. The 200kW MAX has 12 MPPTs and can meet the demand of flexible system design in complex scenarios. Its efficiency can reach up to 99% and produce higher yields for investments. Visitors also showed great interest in commercial and industrial inverter MAC. This newly launched inverter has 3 MPPTs that would fit commercial and industrial rooftop solar plants. It has compact design and it’s lighter compared with other C&I inverters. Its OLED display and touch button make it more appealing to end users, providing better experience.

Looking forward, Wang is confident and optimistic, “We have a wide range of inverter offerings and brand new up-to-date inverters have been introduced into India. In addition, we have a big team in India. By far we have over 15 local service engineers with support from senior service engineers from headquarters in Shenzhen, and thus our service capability has been significantly improved. With such strong foundation, in the near future we are looking for exponential growth in India!”

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OCTOBER 2019

REI- 2019

SINENG DISPLAYED INNOVATIVE NEW AND FLAGSHIP PRODUCTS IN REI-2019 Sineng Electric, being a “one stop solution provider” for solar inverters and energy storage, has unveiled its a comprehensive product portfolio to meet the large market demand of residential, C&I and utility scale applications on the occasion of REI-2019. Exhibited solutions, innovative new and upgraded, have been well received and won positive feedback from customers.

ineng showcased its hero product 1500V/3.125MW central inverter-EP-3.125MWHA-UD which was developed for utility-scale application scenario. Eco-friendly and robust design for a 25 years lifespan makes it suitable for extremely humid or hot areas like Gujrat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andra Pradesh of India. To protect the inverter from dust and water, it also come along with IP54 overall protection (IP65 for key components such as IGBT module, DC bus capacitor, SMPS for various drive, DSP control board etc) and anti-corrosion protection. This standout product is well known to the customers for its large number installations all over the world, namely-India and Vietnam. Compact design and smart control algorithm of 3.125MW inverter give an ease of installation, controlling and monitoring. In means of 3-level topology and smart 2 phase redundant cooling method, the efficiency can be achieved up to 99%, and it can work without derating till 50-degree Celsius. It also features 1500V DC inputs, maximum DC/AC ratio of 1.5, flexible 6.25MW or 12.5MW block design and overload capacity of 115%. All of these characteristics allow this inverter to offer customers with high yields and easy O&M which, in returns, profit the customers with a large amount by optimum LCOE. One of undeniable features is night static var generator (SVG) functionality what helps plant owners utilize inverter efficiently before and even after sunset by injecting controllable reactive power to the grid. Additionally, Inverter also owns negative grounding technology for recovering module PID effect and an auxiliary power supply. Needless to say, this machine is equipped with everything what a plant owner would wish for. To fulfill the diversified needs of commercial and industrial PV application, string familySP-50K-L, SP-60K-L, SP-70K inverters were presented. They feature multi-MPPTs to reduce mismatch problem which could effectively increase the yield. In particular, they are also designed for wide MPPT voltage range, anti-corrosion, ingress protection IP65 (cooling fan with IP68) and whatnot. Without derating of up to 50 degrees Celsius, inverters work stably in full power operation to maximize the return on investment. Sineng’s energy storage solution has been able to achieve appreciation in the exhibition and has been installed in many new and old plants all around China. Containerized DC-coupled ESS solution integrates PCS, lithium-ion battery banks and advanced energy management systems. Transformerless design and less conversion links give a higher investment payback. AC coupled ESS solution is suitable for large scale PV plants; it helps to improves ongrid controllability.

Source: sineng

OCTOBER 2019

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case study

SKY PROJECT (KUSUM YOJNA). TOP POSITION IN GUJARAT The Gujarat government on launched a solar power scheme for farmers- Suryashakti Kisan Yojana (SKY) enabling them to generate electricity for their captive consumption as well as sell the surplus power to the grid and earn an extra buck & Now in future it will be undercover in KUSUM scheme (Government launched new scheme). SOFARSOLAR own WAREHOUSE in Ahmedabad-Guajrat with wide space & local Indian registration as name of SOFARSOLAR INDIA PVT LTD. LOCAL SALES-SERVICE SUPPORT with LONGVISION Business Policy Establishment in INDIA.

OFARSOLAR is currently installed more than 28MW covering whole Gujarat Region & another more than 30Mw projection to install very soon. These project demanding very high quality and flexible adaptability for various grid situations and outstanding efficiency in extreme weather condition. SOFAR 4.4KW – 70KW models are using with RS-485 communication. SOFARSOLAR is biggest installer & TOP Position in SKY PROJECT Scheme. In recent SKY project numbers of inverters are installed in PGVCL feeder. But due to grid fluctuation of one phase w.r.t other phase inverters repetitively tripped. So we are taking voltage graphs on CRO during Peak time and find the reason of grid voltage variation. We troubleshoot that problem by upgrading inverters and changing voltage limitation for particular feeder. Now all inverters are working in all types of weather condition in different state and generate more energy. In adequate performance of SOFARSOLAR inverters with different data loggers, Grid voltage, extreme conditions, flexible installation pattern proves to be leading in PV market.

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OCTOBER 2019

interview

MR. ANDRES GLUSKI PRESIDENT AND CEO AES CORPORATION

India Could Establish Itself As A Leader For The Region In Energy Storage Tata Power is one of the most prestigious groups in India, and if you look at our partners around the world, they are of the same league. The success of the partnership is important for us, said Andres Gluski, President and CEO of AES Corporation. US energy storage major AES Corporation recently installed India’s first grid scale energy storage unit with Tata Power. Andres Gluski, President and CEO of this Fortune 500 company, talks to Business Today’s Anilesh S. Mahajan about the global energy storage market and how India – with its ambitious solar energy and electric vehicle plans – can gain from the latest trends. Edited excerpts: Help us understand the trajectory of the energy storage space. In India, we are looking for solutions which can be scaled up quickly, and in the entire conversation there is a price point, too. A. The time for the energy storage technology has come. The price is a critical part of this equation across the world. In the last five years, it has come down by about 70 per cent and, with this, we are already seeing the market taking off. Globally, five years ago, a total of 200 MW energy storage (grid connected) was installed. Last year, the figure reached 4 GW.

OCTOBER 2019

This is a factor of 20. Some markets are much more advanced and some are laggards, but there is no dispute that this technology is fundamental to the grid of the future. Markets progress at their own speed and a lot of that has to do with regulations and price of energy. In the US – perhaps the most advanced market globally – there is a tremendous influx of renewable energy, especially solar. To stabilise the grids, one option is fossil fuel-based thermal power plants. The other is energy storage systems which soak up energy and allow you to inject it when you need it the most. It is the key for India as well. It allows for flexibility while designing the grid and laying transmission lines. For example, if there is growth in demand at the other end of the transmission line, conventional planning requires an increase in capacity of the entire line even if the demand increase is for 15 minutes or two hours a day. Installation of the energy storage system at the end of the line can meet the demand. In India, which has a target of 175 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022, storage will play a critical role.

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interview Q.-1: What are your calculations of movement in price points over the next five years? What’s your vision for the future of storage?

Q.-5: How do you rate the Elon Musk gigawatt factory? Will his venture be able to disrupt the pricing of storage?

AG: I’d say that in next five years, it may not be a 70 per cent cut, but long-term costs will certainly continue to come down. There are several factors at work. One is technology, as we have better designs, but it really comes down to economies of scale, which has been the big driver for renewables. In solar panels, there have been technological improvements, but it’s mostly been scale. The same thing happened in wind turbines. It is a matter of getting scale. That will improve once you are selling not 4 GW but 10 GW around the world. That depends on electric vehicles, as in any forecast I have seen, the breakdown is usually 90 per cent vehicles, 10 per cent grid. At the most it may be 80:20. The input has been lithium. The world has a lot of lithium and people are opening up mines. It will also get cheaper as you become bigger. There were some bottlenecks with cobalt, mostly from Africa and some difficult geographies. But they are coming up with new chemistries, using more nickel and magnesium, and no cobalt. Tomorrow they may come up with a much cheaper battery with different chemistry. We are fine with that. We just put those batteries into the kit. We are not betting on one specific chemistry equation or one specific battery, but we really think it will be lithium-ion for a foreseeable future. We realised these batteries are for the most part the same as the ones you put in electric vehicles. So, the bigger that [electric vehicle] market becomes, the more economies of scale there will be for grid-scale energy storage.

AG: It is a good addition. They are gearing up to fulfil vehicle orders primarily. They are using some of the same batteries for their energy storage. I’d say it is welcome, because the more batteries you produce, the cheaper they will become.The product is the same. The chemistry can vary a bit, or the designs vary. You can optimise for one or the other. I’d say that in the energy storage space, he does not have the desire or the chemistry to be disruptive from what we have. He is certainly a competitor in some markets but has much less reach than we do. We generate energy from all possible sources excluding nuclear. We have a wealth of experience that no car manufacturer can match. We have a fundamental view that we need an open architecture. Battery technology is changing rapidly. The cost has come down, the efficiency has increased. So, the battery of today is going to be very different from the battery we will get five years down the line. It is going to be more efficient and cheaper. So, the world will not be tied up to one giga factory. We can go out and source batteries from multiple players and go to the latest and best technologies at the time. For India, the potential for grid [storage] application is so big that it may be bigger than the potential from electric vehicle at first.

Q.-2: Are you also moving to the mobility side of the business? Are there some lessons from the Chinese that we can take? AG: We are doing some incubation project, because if you have a lot of electric vehicles out there, you have two things. One, you have to charge them effectively like mobile storage units. So, you have to incorporate what happens in the electric vehicle market. It will also affect the price of batteries. We see that as natural progression. We are not doing anything yet, but it’s natural progression of the business we are in. As far as lessons from Chinese experiences are concerned, it depends. China is a very different market. It is much less market-driven than India. For example, users there have to change their routes to suit an electric bus. Q.-3: Are the Chinese companies on a shopping spree to capture sources of materials for storage? AG: Not really, because the biggest resources of lithium are in South America – Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Most of the production is happening with either western firms, big mining companies or local firms. And they are the most successful companies. The Democratic Repbulic of Congo had more cobalt but is reducing the amount used. There are other sources such as Australia as well. This is not a case of the Chinese having a lock on this. This is much more in what are called precious metals and things like that. It’s interesting as those aren’t so rare, it’s just very dirty to produce them. So, quite frankly, that’s why China has a lock on them, as other countries don’t want to produce them. This sort of rare metals, as they are called, go into electronics. Q.-4: So what are the unique points for companies to cut prices? AG: We are aggregating. Take India. We get demand from several large customers. No one large customer is likely to have those economies of scale. Plus, we bring the experience. What is very interesting that one of the first successful grid-scale energy storage system was in Chile, not in the US, associated with a coal plant. Because we are in different countries, we have a lot of experience and we can try different things.

Q.-6: In India, the energy mix is changing rapidly. We may have some dysfunctional gas-based projects, then we have coal, and now we are adding renewable to the energy basket. Do you envisage drastic change in the energy basket once these storage facilities come up? AG: India is a big market. Not all states generate at the same speed. But I am certain that it will make a very big difference in the Indian grid over time. It will be good for the local environment, for the global environment, and also for consumers. I also think it will allow India to become a leader in a very interesting technology. What we will see in India is what you are going to see in the rest of, for example, Southeast Asia. India could establish itself as a leader for the region in energy storage. India has a very different market from the US or western countries. There is less policy clarity. Then there are hurdles from regulators. Q.-7: How do you see yourself in the India market, especially as you have selected the Tatas, probably one of the most reliable partners. What were the things going on in your mind? AG: Tata Power is one of the most prestigious groups in India, and if you look at our partners around the world, they are of the same league. The success of the partnership is important for us. With Tata Power, there is an opportunity to expand to their entire portfolio. Along with this, energy storage is bit like a hammer, as you can have various avenues to remunerate, such as making solar power more reliable and avoiding fines in case of inaccurate predictions. The grid can be made more resilient. You may want to use the electricity stored instead of a peaking plant or replan transmission investments. We understand that the regulations are going to be different in different countries. The applications will also be different and we value partners creating this knowledge for us. I think India will be one of the biggest markets, and that too with a very ambitious renewable programme. In various markets, renewable energy is cheaper than the variable cost of fossil fuel. The future is renewable. The storage is making it available round the clock. India can’t have 100 GW energy storage capacities overnight. So, it requires conventional energy as well. But the future is much more renewable and much more energy storage. It will be cheaper and more green power. Think of the air quality in your cities. Source: businesstoday.in

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OCTOBER 2019

interview

MR. KETSU ZHANG EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BYD INDIA

We would like to start electric car production in India, both for the domestic market and also for global markets. Q.-1: What is BYD India’s current business plan in India? What are the key areas the company is working on? What potential do you foresee in India’s EV market? KZ: At this current stage, BYD India is focusing on introducing the most advanced and cleanest technology into the Indian market to answer the government’s call and people’s will of building a more clean and sustainable country. BYD India’s business covers mobile components, solar panels, battery energy storage, electric buses, electric trucks, electric forklifts, chargers, rail transit, and more. The BYD-Olectra partnership introduced the first pure electric bus into India. In the past few years, the partnership has realised the local design, R&D, manufacturing of electric buses in India, and even established battery-manufacturing facilities here. The partnership has successfully piloted electric buses in Bangalore, Rajkot, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, Cochin, Chandigarh, Vijayawada, Manali, Mumbai, Surat, and other cities. At present, the BYD-Olectra partnership has gained a 52 percent market share of electric buses commercially operating in India. BYD sees great potential for this market, and India will become one of the biggest electric vehicle markets in the future. We believe more and more companies will enter the competition and offer solutions to the problems of pollution, congestion and energy consumption. Together with Olectra, BYD will work hard to maintain its dominant market position in India. Q.-2: What is the strategy behind entering the T3 pure electric passenger MPV and T3 pure electric commercial logistics minivan segments in India? KZ: BYD values the strength and potential of the Indian market and now we are actively demonstrating the product and exploring market demands. In the end, we would like to start our electric car production in India not only for the Indian market but also for overseas markets. The charging infrastructure in India has not yet been well established, thus we believe electrification in public transportation sectors and B2B sector is more reasonable and reliable at the current stage. The promotion of the T3 series is in line with our strategy of public transportation electrification and 7+4 full market EV strategy. The BYD 7+4 full market EV strategy encompasses most forms of ground transportation as well as every aspect of daily transportation needs. It comprises seven conventional types of transportation (passenger vehicles, taxis, buses, coaches, urban logistics vehicles, urban construction vehicles and urban sanitation vehicles) and four specialised types of transportation (vehicles for mining, ports, airports, and warehousing). Q.-3: Could you elaborate on the key features of these products, in terms of specifications, range, and localisation? What’s the suitability of these products to the Indian market? 64

OCTOBER 2019

KZ: BYD’s T3 MPV and T3 minivan models adopt BYD’s proprietary battery technology, whose safety, reliability and lifecycle are proven by the company’s 11-year track record of EV operation as well as its global EV footprint. The vehicles offer the best configuration available in the market, featuring keyless entry, push-button start, a music system with Bluetooth connectivity, reverse parking cameras and sensors, and well-designed spaces for cargo storage or passengers. The vehicles are equipped with automatic transmission, which makes them among the most easily operable vehicles on the market. Both models also come with advanced safety features like Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electric Parking System (EPB), Brake Override System (BOS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), and more. A regenerative braking system helps to improve range and save energy, while the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus communication system provides smart management and maintenance. Compared to a traditional fuel minivan, the T3 MPV and T3 minivan can effectively reduce the cost of urban logistics distribution. Adopting BYD’s cutting-edge technology, one single T3 MPV or T3 minivan can save fuel consumption and emissions equivalent to 5 passengers cars. Both models require only 1.5 hours to fully charge using DC charging equipment, and both also support standard AC chargers. Once fully charged, both models can travel up to 300km. The T3 series is designed and developed for global markets and complies with international standards. Since this is the first time that BYD has introduced these models into the Indian market, we are exploring local clients’ requirements and the most suitable configuration for this market. Nevertheless, we firmly believe that the T3 series is a very good option for the Indian market, as it is well-tuned to the demands of the B2B and logistics sector. Q.-4: Building infrastructure is extremely critical to allowing EVs to take off in India. Are you working on plans to help customers with all the necessary support to charge, run and maintain the EVs? KZ: Yes, BYD is supporting local partners and customers to build charging stations/networks and service centres in different locations for the operation of EVs, as well as providing charger maintenance services. Q.-5: What are the investments the company has made in India thus far? What are the future investment goals in the short to medium-term? KZ: BYD India was established in March 2007 in Chennai and set up an office in New Delhi. The Indian subsidiary has two factories, covering more than 140,000 square metres, with a cumulative investment of over 150 million US dollars.

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interview

MR. THOMAS FRANK GLOBAL MARKETING HEAD HERAEUS PHOTOVOLTAICS

Q.-1: Technology as a Game Changer in Solar PV Modules with emergence of 1500V, BiFacial Cells, PERC/ PERT, 5-6 BusBars, Glass to Glass etc….Please comment on the technology roadmap, its cost trends, adaptability, your preference TF: Basically, Heraeus embraces all the new technologies and offers a broad range of silver paste products to adapt and boost every new technology. Earlier this year, we launched SOL9661 family of silver metallization paste which has received a very goodresponse from the market and boosted our global market share. The industry has appreciated the ultra-fine line print capability, excellent longterm printability, high open circuit voltage (Voc), reduced laydown and overall higher efficiency generated by using the SOL9661 family of pastes. Our new solution for upcoming technologies like HJT andTop-con has found great level of appreciation from world’s leading Research Institutes and we foresee wide level of acceptance at commercial level in the next 2 years. For module technology,wehave launched Electrically Conductive Adhesive (Hecaro®) for Solar Module Manufacturing to increase the overall efficiency without affecting the cost. This product mainly applies for shingled modules. Q.-2: Whats your view on the Government of India target of 100GW Solar and 75GW Wind Power by 2022….Can we achieve that and what would be the challenges? TF: Starting from 2 GW in 2014 to 30 GW in 2019, what India has achieved in last 5 years in terms of Solar Installations is phenomenal. Surely the Target of 100 GW by 2022 looks achievable with the support of policy initiatives by Indian Government. For global Investors & Project Developers, India is a lucrative market in terms of strong forecast on Energy demand side and opportunity to sign PPA with AAA rated off-takers like SECI &NTPC. Solar parks are helping to bring cost reduction with economy of scale across BOM & recent announcement of Ultra Mega Solar project will take this cause further.So lower the cost, widespread the adaption and 100 GW is surely within the range or maybe India can surprise everyone by doing better than this. Q.-3: How much is your R&D budget as % of your sales / profits? TF: As the technology leader, Heraeus always regards R&D as our core competency. We will introducea newstate of the art innovation center in China which will significantly expand current R&D capabilities. The new innovation center, will focus on the technical requirements of China-based customers. The facility, which will be fully staffed and operational by September 2019, will work with customers on current-generation of metallization pastes to accelerate customers’

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speed-to-market. At the same time, Heraeus Photovoltaics will significantly strengthen its current R&D capabilities at its Singapore Technology Center, which focuses on current generation paste for global accounts in the South East Asia regionand also India. Q.-4: What are the top 5 markets for your company in the past, present and future? TF: We are a global company and dedicated to serve allkey markets. We are active where our customers are, meaning especiallyin China, SEA and India markets, etc. For our beyond paste products that focus on components for solar cell modules, also USA and Europe are our target markets. India is a key market for us. With the establishment of a dedicated local sales team in India, Heraeus will intensify its customer relationship and provide a secure supply chain. Heraeus will also establish dedicated resources in its R&D Center in Singapore, to better tailor and further speed up customization of silver pastes for Indian cell manufacturers. Q.-5: Whats is your market share in the solar pv manufacturing market TF: Heraeus Photovoltaicsisthe market leader globally with our broad metallization products portfolio and solutions. In last 2 years, we have been able to grab more than 50% market share in India working together with the largest Solar cell Manufacturers in India. We are also proud Receipt of “Solar Cell Material Supplier of the year award 2019 “by First Media. Q.-6: Explain tech features of your materials, its importance, USP’s, distinctive and competitive advantages etc. TF: Heraeus is the world’s leading company in silver metallization paste and the only company in its industry offering products for all solar cell architectures and photovoltaic technologies, ranging from n-type, black silicon and PERC to double printing and knotless screen. The paste of Heraeus Photovoltaics holds several efficiency records in these technologies and is constantly increasing the efficiencies of its products with photovoltaic experts in its R&D centers all around the world. In the last ten years, Heraeus has continuouslyinvested in both short-term operational projects and long-term strategic initiatives to support its customers. This year, Heraeus Photovoltaics became the first metallization paste maker to achieve the feat of supplying pasteover the last years to manufacture a total sum of 200 GW of PV cells.

OCTOBER 2019

opinion

Opinion | It’s time to look for permanent solutions to fix an ailing sector Last few years have been reasonably hectic for the renewable industry in India, with the Indian government solidly backing its growth. The intention of the government to promote renewables is fairly evident from the commitment made by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at various international forums. In the last few months, fault lines have started developing in the renewable capacity development program of India with various issues coming to surface, including bids not getting fully subscribed, negotiations after transparent bidding process, and bidders’ discomfort with the ceiling tariffs in a bidding process. However, what seems to have become the last straw, is the state of Andhra Pradesh’s call for renegotiation of already concluded PPAs. Of course, an issue of major concern for international investors and for the Indian government’s ambitious renewable energy programme over the next decade. But, is it just Andhra’s decision that has created the issue that is faced by the industry as a whole or is it some larger issue? I would like to reflect back to the 90s when many of the so called ‘fast track projects’ were being implemented by the international developers including the likes of Enron, AES, and National Power. One of the main requirements of these international developers was a sovereign guarantee by the Indian Government. But why?

xactly because of the same issue that we are faced today in the context of Andhra—almost bankrupt distribution utilities. Over years, investors have learnt to live with that risk by accepting the state distribution company risk. There is a sense of false balance in the system that payments will happen—may be with delays. With Andhra episode, the time has come to call a spade a spade. As a fact of the matter, there is not enough money with the distribution companies to meet all their expenses—be it on power purchase, fuel purchase, maintenance, or for employee salaries. Now, you cannot have a situation where you invite investors and don’t pay for what you contract for. So, where does the buck stop? Multiple times in the past, the central government has stepped in and has tried to fix the ailing power sector; with probably the first by Montek Singh Ahluwalia-led Expert Committee on the one-time settlement of State Electricity Board Dues in 2001 and the latest being Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme of 2015. Indeed, an honest effort every time;

OCTOBER 2019

but with very limited results, for a short time and then we are back to square one. With the Andhra episode, probably the time has come, for the Central Government to take the bull by the horn. We cannot continue to have a situation where the consumers are not paying the full cost of the electricity. The solution to this perennial issue can be twofold. First, the distribution companies need to become only the network providers and the power should be supplied to retail consumers in small geographic areas by distribution franchisees, who will expectedly be more agile, commercial, and customer oriented. Second part, which fits well in the larger scheme of promoting Indian manufacturing, is to reduce the cost of electricity for the large consumers, by providing them with freedom to choose their suppliers. In effect, implementation of the captive and open access provisions of the Electricity Act 2003. Time for the real restructuring and not just a book entry.

Author

Sanjeev Aggarwal Founder and MD Amplus Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

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solar inverters

Is the SOFARSOLAR AC Battery storage inverter really simple? The SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP only needs a separate MCB off the existing fuse board (or a dedicated unit). There is no plug point needed, as it can take any required power from this AC connection. The batteries must be located within 2meters of the SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP. To summariz on AC supply from the fuse board to the SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP, 2 local sensors to be fitted, and the battery pack should be installed close to the unit.

SIMPLE CONTROLS The AC battery storage inverter ME3000SP from SOFARSOLAR was officially listed in 2015. with the industry leading energy storage technology, stable product quality and advanced energy storage system solutions, it occupies the main market share in dozens of countries and regions in the world, forming a good word-of-mouth effect. Since then, AC battery storage inverter has attracted the world’s focus and attention. As one of star products of SOFARSOLAR, which allows you to charge from the grid or solar panels, the main reasons why it has won market recognition and attention from peers are as follows:

SIMPLE COMPATIBILITY The system functions regardless of what set-up is present on the DC side. This means the system will work with String inverters, dual string inverters, micro-inverters, optimizers such as the Solar Edge Battery storage requirements, or even wind turbines. As long as whatever renewable SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP.

SIMPLE MATCHING The SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP system can be matched to any DC generating system. It only picks up the power once converted to AC, so you have no limitations which are caused by string set-ups, or voltage inputs, or voltage outputs! The existing system simply carries on doing its job, and the SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP simply adds on lower down the system.

SIMPLE INSTALLATION The SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP is generally installed close to the fuse board of the property. So, there is no need to locate it next to the inverter for example. This means that all the necessary cables are generally available to clamp around for the sensors. There are 2 sensors – the AC supply to the property for monitoring power in and out, and the AC generation from the renewable source (which generally comes down to the fuse board on a single AC feed, or to a small dedicated consumer unit).

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The display on the unit could not be simpler. It shows 4 power levels. The renewable generated power (solar or turbine), the battery power, the property power and the grid power. With this system, if the renewable power does not satisfy the property, the battery will always export in order to minimize ever buying from the grid. It supports the safety regulation settings of more than 30 countries, and the switching time follows the safety regulation standards of each country less than 10ms, which meets the use needs of backup UPS/EPS scenarios. Advanced charge and discharge management technology, when the power grid is cut off, the battery can supply power in time, after the power grid is restored, the mode switches automatically.

SIMPLE POWER USAGE This system will always aim to minimize your property buying power from the grid. So at all times if there is power in the battery, and the renewable source is not covering the house load, it will deploy power. This is a huge improvement from a simple fill in the day and empty at night type of solution, as it means you can gain much higher savings from your battery capacity.

SIMPLE WIFI MONITORING The SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP has inbuilt Wi-Fi unit and External GPRS module unit which are simple to pair to the property router. A FREE to download APP (Search SOLARMAN) is then used to monitor the performance on iPhone or android.

SIMPLE BATTERY OPTION The SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP system works with an option of 1,2,3 or 4 of the SOFARSOLAR 2.4kWh batteries. These batteries are stackable, and can be linked to allow a system to be increased in size. On the whole, SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP is a battery storage management unit which allow AC battery storage and its own 5,10 years warranty. There are significant benefits to using AC side battery storage. In particular is the ease of compatibility for the wide range of renewable systems – the SOFARSOLAR ME3000SP will work with all single phase systems, and allow an expandable battery solution.

OCTOBER 2019

electric vehicle

How Delhi can become electric vehicle capital of India W

To realize its dream to have clean, green and people-centric mobility solutions, Delhi may need to deploy nearly 35,000 electric and accessible passenger vehicles, at least 1,000 electric vehicles for last-mile connectivity and several hundred public charging and swapping stations in the next year, a first-of-its-kind report has stressed.

ith one of the world’s largest CNG-propelled bus fleets and an expanded metro-rail network covering 373 kms, the Delhi government has now embarked on its next phase of journey – clean, shared and people-centric mobility solutions. According to the report by the “Urban Mobility Lab, in addition to vehicles and hardware, other goals for the Delhi government include getting thousands of users on to digital ride-hailing and data-sharing platforms and ensuring that information related to routing, booking, and payment are accessible in multiple formats.

The Urban Mobility Lab’ is a platform where we bring together government and private players to collaborate and help advance mobility solutions that have the hope of transforming the lives of citizens in the city, said Akshima Ghate, Principal, Rocky Mountain Institute. To translate policy action into progress on the ground, the Delhi government, through the Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDC), and non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) kicked off the “Urban Mobility Lab”, a platform that supports Indian cities in identifying, implementing, and scaling pilot projects and solutions that transform how people and goods move. Mobility leaders from government and industry participated in the two-day workshop in the capital recently where electric and urban mobility were the two focal points. A 10 system-level needs and proposed solutions were identified and elaborated at the workshop and each one represented an opportunity to amplify Delhi’s initiatives in electric and urban mobility. “The participants aim to provide new products and services for a range of vehicle segments and use cases. They also aim to kick-start the development of Delhi’s public charging network,” said the report. To support the objective of improving Delhi’s air quality, the draft EV policy by the Delhi government sets an ambitious target for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) to make up 25 per cent of new vehicle registrations by 2023. In a city with the highest number of registered vehicles in the country (more than 10 million) that is adding more than 2,000 vehicles every day, reducing vehicular emissions

OCTOBER 2019

is a priority, the report stressed. As part of its green budgeting initiative and efforts to reduce vehicular pollution, Delhi has initiated action to procure 1,000 fully electric buses. The draft EV policy also highlights the “target of making 50 per cent of the public transport bus fleet zeroemission by 2023.

The plan of Delhi government is to create collaborations and provide manners and platforms like the Urban Mobility Lab through which we can constantly be in dialogue with all the stakeholders who are serious about implementing electric mobility solutions in Delhi, and partner and collaborate with them to ensure that Delhi becomes the electric vehicle capital of India, elaborated Jasmine Shah, Vice Chairperson, DDC, which is a premier think-tank of the Delhi government. Studies indicate that vehicle tailpipe emissions constitute nearly 30 per cent of particulate pollution in Delhi. In a city with the highest number of registered vehicles in the country (more than 10 million) that is adding more than 2,000 vehicles every day, reducing vehicular emissions is a priority, the report noted. Delhi government and RMI are jointly developing a pilot project on the electrification of final-mile delivery vehicles in Delhi. The electrification of goods-carrier vehicles used for short-haul deliveries is one of the key focus areas of the draft Delhi EV policy. The urban freight pilot aims to support the launch of 1,000 electric delivery vehicles in Delhi by January 2020,” said the report. Although the “Urban Mobility Lab” workshop focused on Delhi and the proposed solutions are specific to the city, “the needs and insights are relevant to other states and cities”. “As the capital city of potentially the second largest metropolitan area in the world, Delhi sends a signal to other cities, states and other nations,” said Clay Stranger, Principal, Rocky Mountain Institute. The “Urban Mobility Lab” is led by RMI and was announced by NITI Aayog in November 2017. Source: IANS

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India

CM announces important changes in Gujarat Solar Power Policy 2015

Chief Minister of the state Mr. Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Nitin Patel, in the presence of Energy Minister Mr. Saurabh Patel, have taken an industrial and environmental friendly decision in order to ensure that the MSME sector is able to reap benefits of solar energy

he Gujarat Solar Power Policy 2015 introduced by the state government promotes the use of solar energy. In order to ensure its outreach and accessibility, the state government has made necessary changes for production and use of solar energy by MSME sector. Energy Minister Mr. Saurabh Patel stated that the MSME units in Gujarat, after the amendments in the policy, can now establish solar installations with a capacity of more than 100% compared to the previous limit of 50%.

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At present, MSME units pay Rs.8 per unit for electricity consumption.The new decision will benefit the MSME sector and provide them a profit of Rs.3 per unit. The MSME units will obtain a profit of Rs.3.80 per unit if they produce solar energy on their own land and in case of leased land, they will obtain a profit of Rs.2.75 per unit. Another advantage of this decision is that it will enable MSME units to purchase solar energy from third parties too. The units will be able to sell the excess solar energy to state government at a cost of Rs.1.75 per unit. This novel initiative will provide a win-win situation for the MSME sector. It is to be noted here that the Electricity Duty and Wheeling Charges shall have to be paid by the MSME units as per the existing norms.

The state government has decided to cover 8 lakh households by 2022 under the Solar Rooftop Policy. The changes in the Gujarat Solar Power Policy 2015 will encourage 33 lakh MSME units towards production and use of Green and Clean Energy.

OCTOBER 2019

opinion

Bill Gates Says Wind, Solar Subsidies Should Go to Something New It’s time wind and solar passed their subsidies along to emerging technologies that need them more, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates says. After decades of government incentives, wind and solar have been deployed widely enough for manufacturers and developers to become increasingly efficient and drive down costs. Now they can probably survive without them, Gates said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

The tax benefits there should be shifted into things that are more limiting, like energy storage, offshore wind — which still has a huge premium price, said Gates, who cochairs a global group of business, political and scientific leaders formed in 2018 to push for investments to help the world adapt to climate change.

.S. states including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts see proposed offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean as crucial ingredients to phase out fossil fuels and fight climate change. But the costs of building wind farms at sea are still nearly twice as high as on land. Energy storage, meanwhile, is key to allowing wind and solar plants to dispatch power even when the sun sets and breezes go slack. But big batteries remain expensive, too. “The progress in solar and wind is very helpful,” Gates said. “But the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day.” Source: Bloomberg L.P.

OCTOBER 2019

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india

India is going to increase the

share of non-fossil fuels to 175 GW by 2022, and will further take it to 450 GW: Prime Minister World leaders have gatheredin New York for the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) Climate ActionSummit. The Summit is being called by UNSG Mr. António Guterres to ramp up climate actions worldwide. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi stated

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“We must accept that if we have to overcome a serious challenge like climate change, then what we are doing at the moment is just not enough; What is needed today, is a comprehensive approach which covers everything from education to values, and from lifestyle to developmental philosophy”.

OCTOBER 2019

india

Bringing attention towards India’s efforts in always following a climate sensitive sustainable development pathway by mainstreaming climate change concerns in development policies, Shri Narendra Modi stated “Need, not greed has been our guiding principle. PM expressed that an ounce of practice is worth more than a ton of preaching. “In India, we are going to increase the share of non-fossil fuels to 175GW by 2022, and to further increase it to 450GW”, announced Shri Narendra Modi. “We have launched the Jal Jeevan mission for water conservation, rainwater harvesting and for the development of water resources. India is going to spend approximately 50 billion dollars on this in the next few years”,the Prime Minister further informed the gathering.

rime Minister further said that on the occasion of India’s 73rdIndependence Day, we have called for a people’s movement to end the menace of single use plastic. PM expressed hope that this will create an awareness at a global level about the harmful effects of single use plastic.

“On the International forum, almost 80 countries have joined our International Solar Alliance campaign. In order to make our infrastructure disaster resilient, India is launching a Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.”, the PM invited UN Member states to join this coalition.

Earlierin his thought-provoking opening remarks the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres shed light on the significance of science and technology and its use as a powerful tool in combating climate change. “The climate crisis is caused by us and the solutions must come from us. We have the tools, technology is on our side, readily available technological substitutions already exists for more than 70% of today’s emissions”, said Mr. Guterres .

OCTOBER 2019

Having the key focus on raising ambition and accelerate action to implement the Paris Agreement, the Climate Action Summit focuses on nine interdependent tracks, which are led by 19 countries in total and are supported by international organizations. The Summit has brought together governments, private sector, civil society, local authorities and other international organizations to develop ambitious solutions in actionable areas. The Secretary-General has also prioritized a number of action portfolios. The key areas identified are the following: Finance: mobilizing public and private sources of finance to drive decarbonization of all priority sectors and advance resilience; Energy Transition: accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, as well as making significant gains in energy efficiency; Industry Transition: transforming industries such as oil and gas, steel, cement, chemicals and information technology; Nature-Based Solutions: reducing emissions, increasing sink capacity and enhancing resilience within and across forestry, agriculture, oceans and food systems, including through biodiversity conservation, leveraging supply chains and technology; Cities and Local Action: advancing mitigation and resilience at urban and local levels, with a focus on new commitments on lowemission buildings, mass transport and urban infrastructure; and resilience for the urban poor; Resilience and Adaptation: advancing global efforts to address and manage the impacts and risks of climate change, particularly in those communities and nations most vulnerable. Mitigation Strategy: to generate momentum for ambitious NDCs and longterm strategies to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Youth Engagement and Public Mobilization: to mobilize people worldwide to take action on climate change and ensure that young people are integrated and represented across all aspects of the Summit, including the six transformational areas. Social and Political Drivers: to advance commitments in areas that affect people’s well-being, such as reducing air pollution, generating decent jobs, and strengthening climate adaptation strategies and protect workers and vulnerable groups. It is noteworthy to point that India along with Sweden, supported by World Economic Forum is leading the ‘Industry Transition’ track meeting.India and Sweden together with other partners are launching the Leadership group within the Industry transition track. This initiative will provide a platform for governments and the private sector with opportunities for cooperation in the area of Technology innovation. This will help to develop low carbon pathways for industry.

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technology

A Google backed 5G drone took off T

the HAWK30 drone, which has a massive 260 foot wingspan, took to the skies during its inaugural test flight at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in California. The HAWK30 is a solar-powered 5G drone also known as a high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS) that can fly non-stop for six months at a time while sending 5G back down to the ground. he project is currently being developed by the University of Hawai’i (UH), in partnership with SoftBank, AeroVironment, and Google’s parent company Alphabet. If approved though, the HAWK30 will eventually move from California to Hawaii’s Lanai Island for its final tests and Oracle’s founder and chairman, Larry Ellison, currently owns 97 percent of the island.

Qualcomm readies for a 5G future 5G phones: these are the first next-gen handsets Government launches plans to boost rural 5G

Junichi Miyakawa, who is the representative director and CTO of SoftBank as well as the president and CEO of HAPSMobile, explained that last week’s test flight is just the beginning for the HAWK30 drone, saying: “We’re very pleased that HAWK30’s first test flight was a success. It was an exciting journey to get to this point. We were able to see HAWK30 take flight in front of us and witness its grace in the air. We’re extremely grateful to NASA for their guidance and operational support. While this successful test flight represents just the first step, we’re moving forward with tests in the stratosphere and long flight duration tests lasting several months up to a half year. HAPSMobile will continue to work toward its goal of bridging the world’s digital divide and revolutionizing mobile networks by leveraging HAPS.”

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The HAWK30 is an unmanned, low-speed, high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft which is propelled by 10 electric fans and has been designed to carry 56 communications relays. The end goal of the project is to one day deliver next generation mobile connections to remote areas all over the world. The drone is designed to operate for up to six months in a single flight and each HAWK30 will provide continuous service covering 150 square miles of land. The proposed project will utilize two airplanes that will remain centered above Lana’i airspace.

However, local tensions have heightened after health scares surround 5G technology has emerged and there is even a campaign building to ground the project. The HAWK30 project has addressed these tensions head on in its proposal though, saying: “The way HAWK30 projects cellular radio waves downward to the surface of the earth, with only one Watt of transmit power required to cover a surface area equal to the entire island of Lana‘i, compared to the 8 to 10 Kilowatts of power it would take to power normal cell towers transmitting horizontally. This low wattage reduces or eliminates health concerns associated with powerful radio transmission.” Source: techradar

OCTOBER 2019

opinion

India’s energy demand to grow by 4.2%: Dharmendra Pradhan

he projected energy demand growth is 4.2 per cent per annum up to 2035. This makes India’s energy demand growing faster than all major economies of the world,” he said. “We are preparing for such a growth path of energy demand in the country.” Pradhan said the per capita energy consumption of the country with 1.3 billion people is lower than the global average. The projected energy demand expansion calls for making matching investments in the energy sector, he said adding at USD 85 billion India recorded the highest growth of foreign energy investments anywhere in the world. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year declared that “energy justice” is a top priority for India. “This encompasses a renewed commitment of India to advance inclusive access to secure, affordable and sustainable energy services,” he said.

India’s energy demand is projected to grow by 4.2 per cent through 2035, an expansion faster than all major economies of the world, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, as he sought investments in the country’s energy chain. Speaking at the eighth Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable in Abu Dhabi, he said the share of world’s third-largest energy consumer in total global primary energy demand is set to double to 11 per cent by 2040.

Pradhan said India was significantly expanding its energy infrastructure — be it power generation, more renewables and gas-based infrastructure — pipelines, city gas network and LNG terminals. “We launched a major campaign to improve access to clean cooking fuel under the Ujjwala Yojana scheme three years back,” he said adding the target of 8 crore connections was achieved just a couple of days back. The scheme has ensured that LPG coverage reaches more than 90 per cent from 55 per cent five years ago, he said. “India attained universal electrification in all villages. This year, India aims to achieve 100 per cent electrification of households.” In World Bank Ease of Getting Electricity ranking, India improved its ranking from 111 in 2014 to 29 in 2018. The minister said India is jumping from BS-VI emission compliant fuel to BS-VI fuel by April 2020. This is the equivalent of EURO-VI standards. “India is moving towards a gas-based economy by increasing the share of gas from 6 per cent to 15 per cent in the energy mix by 2030,” he said. “We have constructed over 16,000 km of gas pipeline and an additional 11,000 km is under construction. We have covered over 400 districts and 70 per cent of our population.” Also, the country is on the way to achieving the target of adding 175 GW of renewable energy sources by 2022, he said. Source: PTI

OCTOBER 2019

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OCTOBER 2019

Growatt Launched New MAC Series Commercial and Industrial Inverter in India Growatt has started its Shine Elite series training workshops in India! On 6 September Growatt held Shine Elite Mumbai at Novotel Juhu Beach and provided wide-ranging training from C&I inverter selection, system design, installation precautions, online smart service etc. Ahmedabad and New Delhi is expected to be the next two stops of Shine Elite later this month. This is part of Growatt’s continuous efforts to improve customer service and clients’ technical skills of system design, installation, operation and maintenance.

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Growatt has been increasing its investment in building a stronger local service network in India. “We provide a comprehensive range of services including technical support, onsite service, online smart service, installation and troubleshooting training workshop. By building these service capabilities, we are able to prevent causing unnecessary issues, quickly diagnose and solve the problems for clients.” said Rucas Wang, Growatt regional director. he event highlights the product launch of Growatt’s new MAC series commercial and industrial inverter with capacity ranging from 40kW to 70kW. MAC has LV and MV modes, so customers can choose different version according to the grid voltage. MAC is designed with 3 MPPTs and flexible string number, making it adaptable to a variety of complex situations. In addition, it’s of beautiful compact design. Its OLED display and touch button provide longer life span and better user experience., MAC adopts an advanced cooling algorithm and

OCTOBER 2019

achieves excellent cooling performance and long life span of cooling system. It can work under the temperature of up to 60o Cand can easily adapt to the challenging conditions in India. MAC series inverter is compatible with multiple monitoring devices including WIFI, GPRS, RF, 4G, RS485and USB. Once installed with the device, clients can monitor and control the PV systems anytime and anywhere! “Overall, MAC will be the fantastic choice for many commercial, industrial and small ground-mounted solar plants in India,” said Rucas. “You can have higher yields and ROI with MAC. Its efficiency can reach up to 98.8% and you can oversize the system at 1.3 DC/AC ratio. We look forward to seeing installations of MAC inverter in India soon!” Source: growatt

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OCTOBER 2019

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