EQ Magazine April 2018 Edition

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April 2018

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April 2018

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C ONTEN T

VOLUME 10 Issue # 4

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID Scaling up Rooftop Solar Power in India: The Potential of Solar Municipal Bonds

ELECTRIC VEHICLES What a teardown of the latest Electric Vehicles reveals about the futureof mass-market EVs

ELECTRIC VEHICLES Yes Bank Study On Importance Of Make In India, Green Policies And Green Bonds For...

Disclaimer,Limitations of Liability While every efforts has been made to ensure the high quality and accuracy of EQ international and all our authors research articles with the greatest of care and attention ,we make no warranty concerning its content,and the magazine is provided on an>> as is <<basis.EQ international contains advertising and third –party contents.EQ International is not liable for any third- party content or error,omission or inaccuracy in any advertising material ,nor is it responsible for the availability of external web sites or their contents The data and information presented in this magazine is provided for informational purpose only.neither EQ INTERNATINAL ,Its affiliates,Information providers nor content providers shall have any liability for investment decisions based up on or the results obtained from the information provided. Nothing contained in this magazine should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sale any securities. The facts and opinions stated in this magazine do not constitute an offer on the part of EQ International for the sale or purchase of any securities, nor any such offer intended or implied Restriction on use The material in this magazine is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. You may not modify,copy,reproduce,republish,post,transmit, or distribute any part of the magazine in any way.you may only use material for your personall,Non-Commercial use, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices.If you want to use material for any non-personel,non commercial purpose,you need written permission from EQ International.

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08 INDIA Electricity should be brought under GST: IEEMA

16 INDIA Govt to amend solar bid rule to allow pass through of import duty hike

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BUDGET 2018-19

IMPACT OF FINANCE BUDGET 2018 An Overview For Indian Renewable Energy Sector

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES White Paper on Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

rt Impo n O Duty lass G r a l o S

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

How Battery Storage Can Help Charge The Electric-Vehicle Market

IREDA & European Investment Bank sign Euro 150 million Loan Agreement...

Record EUR 1 billion European Investment Bank support for global solar...

47 ENERGY STORAGE

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LG Chem and Samsung SDI Are the Leading Manufacturers of

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

Enerparc India Commissions Rooftop Solar Project for Gleason Works Pvt. Ltd.

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

GoodWe Solar Inverters Installed at Nepal Prime Minister's Office

PRODUCTS Pg. 76-77 BUSINESS & FINANCE

ResponsAbility and Cleantech Solar join forces to increase...

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

Microsoft inks renewable energy deal for Bengaluru facility

ELECTRIC VEHICLES ABB installs electric vehicle fast charger station at NITI Aayog

EQ NEWS Pg. 07-33 EQ

April 2018

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GINLONG SOLIS  2003 – Started as an R&D company in UK University Complex  2005 – Ginlong Technologies founded by Yiming (Jimmy) Wang – 13 Years Old  Born in Shanghai in 1981  M.Sc. (University of Edinburgh), Ph.D. Study (University of Bristol)  Committee Member of IEC 61400-2 Standard  Ph.D. Supervisor and Invited Researcher for Chinese Academy of Sciences (Ningbo)  Distinguished Professor and group leader at Shanghai University of Electric Power  Listed as 4040 by Recharger (40 Global Renewable Energy Leader under 40 years)  Part of the “The recruitment Program of 1000 Global Experts” – Expert in PV Inverter Technologies  Renowned R&D Team and government A  Authorised Research Lab  One of the Earliest Manufacturers on Grid – tie Inverters in the World  Over 15 years of Design and 13 years of Supply History  First Chinese Company to achieve UL 1741 certification in 2009  Only the Second company to achieve UK G83 certification in 2006  Second Chinese Company to achieve AS 4777 / AS 3100 certification in 2009  Team of 600 Employees catering to International Business across the World with shipments to exceed 3GW FEATURED PRODUCT  Wide Product Range: 700Watt To 70Kw  Ultra Low Voltage Startup  Multi Mppt  Maximum 4  High Efficiency 99%  Wifi And Monitoring App Available  Numerous Protection FunctionS TECHNOLOGY SPECIFICATION  Solar Grid Tied Inverter With Multi Mppt Technology  Technology Advancement  Ultra Low Voltage Startup  Due To Independent Mppt Intelligency We Can Do Assimetrical Design On Each Mppt Input  Compact And Light Design,Easy Installation TARGET  Rooftop: Because Of Multi Independent Mppt We Can Use Available Space Of Roof For Solar  Ground Mounted: Every

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Biggest Solar Power Plant NGT appoints committee to study harmful effects in Uttar Pradesh set up through transparent auction under the Solar Park Scheme of New & Renewable Energy Ministry of antimony The National Green Tribunal appointed an expert committee to study the harmful effects of antimony on environment after a plea sought a ban on the manufacture, use and import of solar panels containing the heavy metal.

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bench of Justices Jawad Rahim and R S Rathore constituted a three-member committee comprising Vinay A Juvekar from IIT Bombay, and a scientist each from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

“The committee shall state in its report whether antimony was harmful and what are its side effects. Is there any possibility of leaching of the heavy metal and up to what extent any other issue which would be necessary in analysis of ill effects of antimony and the remedial measures thereof,” the bench said.

The tribunal directed the committee to submit the report in six weeks.

“The committee should be provided logistics support by the CPCB and the remuneration shall be one lakh per person,” it said.

The matter will be heard on April 16.

The tribunal had earlier issued notices to the MNRE, the Ministry of Commerce and the CPCB and sought their responses.

Solar panels (also known as PV panels) are used to convert sunlight into electricity The plea, filed by advocate Niharika, had said with increasing use of solar modules and panels under the National Solar Mission, the scientific disposal of antimony posed several problems for the environment The petition had claimed that antimony was at present being dumped in landfill sites along with the solar panels which were crushed after use It had sought a direction to the CPCB to amend the E-Waste Rules, 2016 and bring antimony within scope of Rules 16 pertaining to hazardous substances “Solar modules that could produce six giga watts power were imported from China last year, and each GW had four million modules that weighed 52,000 tonnes,” it had said The plea said that the CPCB should pass a direction to permit import of only those solar modules that do not contain antimony It had also sought random sampling of the solar modules in the collaboration of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to verify the existence of hazardous substances, including antimony. The petition had asked for a direction to the respondents and the environment monitoring agencies to immediately undertake remedial measures to limit the damage caused to the environment by submitting an action plan, showing how to deal with future disposal of solar panels.

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Viability Gap Funding (VGF) of Rs.74.25 lakh per MW provided by the Government of India for the project

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rime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and French President Shri Emmanuel Macron inaugurated Uttar Pradesh’s biggest solar power plant of 75 MW (101DC) capacity in Mirzapur on March 12. Built at a cost of around Rs.528 crores, the 75 MW solar plant at Vijaypur village in Mirzapur, will generate 13 crore units of electricity per annum. The power plant has been set up by the French firm ENGIE through a transparent bidding process under the Solar Park Scheme of the New and Renewable Energy Ministry. The electricity generated by the project will be supplied by ENGIE at the rate of Rs.4.43 per unit for a period of 25 years. Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for the project at the rate of Rs.74.25 lakh per MW has been provided by the Government of India for the project.

The Ministry had earlier approved setting up of 4 solar parks in Uttar Pradesh worth the capacity of 440 MW. These solar parks are being set up by Lucknow Solar Park Development Corporation (LSPDC) which is a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and Non-conventional Energy Development Agency (NEDA) under UP Government. A 50 MW solar power plant has already come up in Allahabad. Another 40 MW solar power is ready for commissioning in Jalaun district. With the inauguration of 75 MW power plant in Mirzapur by the Prime Minister, the total capacity of solar power plants in Uttar Pradesh has gone up to 165 MW. Biddings of 225 MW solar power plants will be opened on 12th April, 2018. Earlier, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Solar Alliance Summit in New Delhi along with the visiting French President Shri Emmanuel Macron.

Representatives from 61 countries along with the Heads of States from 21 countries attended the foundation day ceremony of the conference.

International Solar Alliance (ISA) is dream of the Prime Minister to bring the world together on a platform to promote the use of solar energy and make the solar power available for all at cheaper rates. ISA is the first treaty based global inter-governmental organization set up in India. Its headquarter is located at National Solar Energy Institute (NSEI) at Gwalpahari, Gurugram in Haryana.

The Union Power Minister, Shri R.K. Singh told on this occasion that India is among the pioneering countries in promoting the use of solar power. India has set up an ambitious target of setting up of 1 lakh MW solar power plants in the country by 2022. He also said that in view of the progress made so far, nation will meet the target ahead of the schedule.

The Power Minister said that solar energy is important for India’s energy security and the Government is working in a fast track mode in this direction.

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Mytrah Energy Plans To Add 1 GW Re- Electricity should newable Capacity By September 2019 be brought under GST: Mytrah Energy, the winner in India’s first wind power auction last year, plans to add IEEMA 1-gigawatt of wind and solar capacity by September next year as India increases the pace of tendering.

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That will add to Mytrah’s 2 GW of renewable energy capacity, Vikram Kailas, vice chairman and managing director at the company, told BloombergQuint in an interview.

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ytrah, listed on London’s AIM, won 250 MW bid in the first such auction conducted by Solar Energy Corporation of India last year in February after India moved from feed-in tariffs to auctions. It will sell power from the project at Maniyachi, Tamil Nadu to Power Trading Corporation at Rs 3.46 per unit. Both solar and wind tariffs have since fallen to record lows as India auction projects to meet its target of increasing the nation’s renewable energy capacity about threefold to 175 GW by 2022. That’s because Asia’s third-largest economy wants to lower its reliance on coal-fired energy. That includes adding 100 GW solar and 60 GW wind capacity.

The target for achieving wind capacity will be met but solar sector has fallen behind by 20,000-30,000 MW, Kailas said. The overall target may be delayed by a year or two, he said. “That’s because of regulatory uncertainty in terms of safeguard duty, anti-dumping duty and solar panels being not available in China in the volume and frequency that you would expect it to be. I will recommend the government to have clarity on regulatory aspect of the business.”

Mytrah has 2000 MW of operational and under-development power capacity, according to the information on its website. The assets are spread across 15 wind farms in nine states—Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.The clean energy firm may file for an initial public offering next year, Kailas said. It aims to raise $500 million, he said, Wind tariffs have fallen to record lows in the auction held after February last year. Kailas said pricing will remain in the range of Rs 2.5-3.25 a unit but still cheaper than thermal energy. “That’s because technology has improved drastically. Therefore, there has been an increase in volume. Wind sector faces two risks: the off-taker and grid.

In SECI auctions, there is more clarity in the PPA which bring the risks down and there is assured evacuation. All this is driving the risks and cost of power lower.”

Waiving interstate transmission charges for wind and solar projects commissioned till March 2022 is a good step, he said. Rs 2-3 per unit will be saved as states like Rajasthan that was buying power at Rs 5.50 a unit can now get it at Rs 2, he said. “Now you can locate your wind farms at the best possible wind sites and supply power at the least cost possible. Discoms will demand wind and solar power. We expect the volumes to go up by at least 50-100 percent,” Kailas, however, cautioned that the next financial year will be a dull one for the wind sector.

“Bids have come but most of these projects are not going to happen next year… because you have 20 months to do these projects. The year after that, we see 6,000-10,000 MW addition.”

The electricity should be brought under Goods and Services Tax as it will make power cheaper, the apex industry association of manufacturers of electrical and industrial electronics IEEMA said.

“We are of the view the electricity should be brought under Goods and Services Tax (GST) because the credit will be available and electricity will be cheaper,” Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association (IEEMA) Director General Sunil Misra told reporters here.

He said, that, IEEMA has also made representation to the government, requesting it to bring electricity under the ambit of GST. “Electricity is considered under energy…Our job is to push the government to get GST and electricity under the GST Act. If the government is able to do it then it is fine,” IEEMA said.

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EEMA, the apex industry association of manufacturers of electrical, industrial electronics and allied equipment in India, organised ELECRAMA 2018 from March 10-14.ELECRAMA is the flagship showcased of the Indian electrical industry ecosystem. The exhibition covers the entire gamut of electricity including, generation, transmission, distribution, power electronics and renewable.

Source: PTI

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I Karnataka: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurates 2,000 MW solar power plant Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated the 2,000 mega watt (MW) solar power park at Pavagada in Karnataka’s Tumakuru district, about 70km from here.

“Karnataka has emerged as the third largest producer of renewable energy in the country. We have set a goal to source at least 20 per cent of people’s power requirements from renewable projects,” Siddaramaiah said during the inauguration.

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n the future, Karnataka aims to be an energy surplus state, he said. Built on 13,000 acres across five villages, the solar power park is being set up with an investment of Rs 16,500 crore, according to an official statement.

“The solar park has farmers from the Pavagada region as partners and beneficiaries, leasing out their lands for the park,” said the state’s Energy Minister D.K.Shivakumar.

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Shri RK Singh launches National E-Mobility Programme in India; congratulates EESL for installation of 50 lakh LED street lights EESL to issue tender for procurement of 10,000 electric cars Per kilometer cost for an electric car is just 85 paisa against Rs 6.5 for normal cars

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hri R K Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy, launched the National EMobility Programme here, today. The Programme aims to provide an impetus to the entire e-mobility ecosystem including vehicle manufacturers, charging infrastructure companies, fleet operators, service providers, etc.

The Programme will be implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) which will aggregate demand by procuring electric vehicles in bulk to get economies of scale. These electric vehicles will replace the existing fleet of petrol and diesel vehicles. EESL had procured 10,000 e-vehicles last year and will issue a new tender very soon for 10,000 more e-vehicles to cater to the growing demand. With these 20,000 electric cars, India is expected to save over 5 crore litres of fuel every year leading to a reduction of over 5.6 lakh tonnes of annual CO2 emission.

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The R K Singh, Union Minister congratulated EESL for its new tender of 10,000 e-vehicles and said that it makes sense from point of view of environment and economy both. The per kilometer cost for an electric car is just 85 paisa against Rs 6.5 for normal cars and these would also help us achieve autonomy from expensive petroleum imports, he added.

Calling the installation of 50 lakh LED street lights by EESL “a very impressive milestone for our country”, Shri Singh reiterated the path of energy efficiency that the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi chose for the country on the sidelines of Paris Summit in 2015. He said that India aims to develop as a responsible power, with the motto- “Healthier world, healthier country”, and long term goal is to leave behind a better world. Saying, “The future is electric” the Minister said that in most part of the developed world cooking is electric, and many countries have announced dates to phase out their diesel vehicles. Even our IIT teams have developed electric cooking system and we are going to go electric and go green. He invited the industry to be part of India’s growth story, and said “My message to industry is, come and invest in manufacturing of e-vehicles and batteries”.

Shri Aniruddha Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power; Shri Rajeev Sharma, Chairman, EESL; Shri Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL were among the dignitaries present along with other senior officials of the Ministries.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Power Shri Ajay Kumar Bhalla said that the Government is focusing on creating charging infrastructure and policy framework so that by 2030 more than 30 per cent of vehicles are electricity vehicles. During the programme, it was also highlighted that there would be no need for license for establishing the charging infrastructure in country and the tariff for this would be less than Rs 6.

Source: pib.nic.in

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Diu Becomes India’s First Union Territory To Run 100% On Solar Power

Shri RK Singh directs REC and PFC not to grant any loan to DISCOMs which are making heavy losses, unless they draw up a road map for reducing the losses

A union territory earlier fully dependent on Gujarat for its power requirements, Diu now runs 100 percent on solar power generated energy, becoming the first union territory in India to do so.

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In a model example for effective ways of generating renewable energy, Diu not only generates sufficient energy from solar power for the requirements of its residents, but also generates surplus power, thereby bringing down electricity costs. In a short span of 3 years, Diu has installed solar power plants over more than 50 acres, generating a total of 13 megawatts of energy from solar power facilities.

While 3 MW is generated by rooftop solar plants, 10 MW is generated by its other solar parts. As recent as 3 years ago, the residents of Diu were dependent on electricity supplied by the power grid owned by the Gujarat government, resulting in huge line losses and expensive tariffs.

Daman and Diu electricity department executive engineer Milind Ingle told TOI, “The population of Diu is only 56,000. For water and electricity, the Union territory was solely dependent on the Gujarat government. To overcome this limitation, the administration of the Union territory decided to set up solar power plants in Diu.” He added, “Diu’s peak-time demand for electricity goes up to 7 MW and we generate about 10.5 MW of electricity from solar energy daily. This is way more than the consumption demand requirement.”

Monthly electricity bill charges for local residents has fallen by around 12 percent, Ingle said.

Earlier, the charges for 0-50 units was Rs 1.20 per unit and 50-100 units for Rs 1.50 unit which has now been brought down to 1-100 units for Rs 1.01 per unit. The significance of Diu using 100 percent solar powered energy is great, as it confirms that it is possible to switch over from current non-renewable forms of energy sources to cleaner and renewable sources.

Shri R K Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy took a review meeting of the two financing arms of the Power Ministry – Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) on 7th March, 2018.

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he Minister directed the two institutions that before granting of loan either for capital expenditure or for non-capital expenditure, the adherence to prudential norms must be carefully observed. He noted that many distribution companies have been making heavy transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and it may be difficult for them to repay the loans.

The Minister directed that DISCOMs which are making heavy losses (above 15 per cent) will not be granted any loans for capital expenditure or non-capital expenditure until and unless they draw up a road map for reducing the losses over a definite time frame (not more than 2 years), and they are able to show that they are taking action in accordance with the road map. This will be vetted by the Ministry of Power and only then will the grant of loan be considered for such DISCOMs.

Source: newsworldindia.in

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india

Shri R.K. Singh chairs meeting with IPPs, assures of suitable action to resolve their problems Shri R K Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy held a meeting with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to discuss the issues faced by them and find out possible solutions.

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In the meeting, the issue of recent RBI circular, which lays down stringent provisioning norms on default of even one day in payment to the lenders, was raised by IPPs prominently, particularly in the context of delay in payment by DISCOMs including non-payment of Late Payment Surcharge (LPS).

Some of the IPPs raised concerns about delay in disposal of tariff petitions by Regulators regarding compensatory tariff for increase in taxes, duties, cess etc levied by Government. They also mentioned that escalation index of CERC does not reflect the actual increase in coal prices and requested CERC to make a separate index for power sector.

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The meeting discussed the issues related to coal supply in detail. IPPs also brought up the issue related to implementation of new environmental norms and requested for early clarification regarding pass-through of the consequential increase in the cost of generation. They also raised the issue of financing of the capital costs for the new equipments to meet the norms.

The Minster recognised the important role played by IPPs in capacity addition and addressing power shortage in the country. He said that their concerns would be examined into and assured them of suitable action in consultation with concerned departments to strengthen the power sector.

The contribution of IPPs in ther-

mal generation is substantial. Total installed capacity (including renewables) of private sector is 1,48,896.74 MW, amounting to 44 per cent of the total capacity of 3,34,399.83 MW in India. Senior officials from the Ministry of Power, Central Electricity Authority, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Finance were present in the meeting.

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IBC SOLAR Connects 3 MW Solar Power to the Grid in India Under Open Access

Vikram Solar ties up with France’s CEA India’s Vikram Solar has signed a collaboration agreement with French Alternatie Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) for innovative technology research and development in solar energy.

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he pact, signed during French President Emmanuel Macron’s India visit, is for enhanced research and development in high efficiency crystalline silicon cells, modules, systems and a host of high efficiency generation and storage technologies for French and Indian markets, Vikram Solar said in a statement.

“Under the MoU, CEA will share their know-how and technologies in the field of solar energy, storage, smart grid and thermal efficiency while Vikram Solar will apply these technologies in large volume manufacturing with a wider objective of improving solar photovoltaic cells and modules to perform at record-efficiency in energy conversion and simultaneously developing battery solutions by increasing their energy storage capacity,” it said.Other advanced research and development areas of collaboration will include crystallization and wafering, mono and bi-facial modules, agri-photovoltaics and solar mobility as well as exploring new competitive materials in order to reduce costs.

Gyanesh Chaudhary, MD & CEO, Vikram Solar Limited, said the association with CEA will strengthen the company’s focus on newer technology.

Christophe Ggout, Deputy Chairman of the CEA, said: “Our association with Vikram Solar comes at a time when the need for renewables is at an all-time high in India as well as globally.

This is a perfect time for us to leverage our strength in research and development and fuse it with Vikram Solar’s long standing position as a leading global solar module player with key focus on quality, technology and innovation.” The CEA carries out research on thermal and photovoltaic solar energy, in support of industrial companies in the sector. In the field of solar thermal energy, the CEA has, within the National Institute of Solar Energy (INES), an R&D platform dedicated to the optimisation of solar thermal systems. The CEA also carries out research on the production of electricity using a thermodynamic process known as concentrating solar power technology.

In the field of photovoltaics, the CEA’s research is focusing on improving the output and reducing the costs of photovoltaic modules, and also anticipating the problems of integration in the grid which will arise following a massive insertion of renewables in the energy mix. This work, carried out at INES, makes use of its technological platform to manufacture cells and modules and its software platform to simulate the behaviour of a future grid with renewable energy sources, as well as storage and consumption equipments, the statement added.

Source: PTI

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The 3 MWp solar park built for a tea company is IBC SOLAR’s seventh project in India and its first one in Tamil Nadu IBC SOLAR, a global leader in photovoltaic (PV) systems and energy storage, has widened its business in India. Yesterday, the inauguration ceremony took place at the plant site in Tamil Nadu.

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project is part of India’s Open Access Policy. With the Electricity Act (2003), the government confirms open access to the transmission lines as an encouragement to private investors to enter the electricity generation sector. Under this provision, every person who has constructed a captive generating plant is entitled to open access to the transmission lines for carrying electricity from their plant to the destination of its use. It is similar to a self-consumption plant with some distance between generator and consumption point.

“This is a very interesting project,” says Shailendra Bebortha, Managing Director of IBC SOLAR in India, “As it combines a lot of unusual factors.” In fact, the project has quite a few of ‘first times’. While IBC SOLAR so far concentrated on Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Odisha, this is its first solar park in Tamil Nadu.

The solar park was built near Madurai, for The Peria Karamalai Tea & Produce Co. Ltd. which has reduced its carbon footprint with a solar park thus confirming their commitment to renewable energies. The NSE-listed company belongs to the LN Bangur Group who has worked with IBC SOLAR for several other large-scale projects. Mr Shreeyash Bangur, MD of LN Bangur Group says: “This project is of immense significance as we have replaced our more than 20-year-old wind project with solar. From now on, 100% of our tea will be manufactured with solar energy.” The installation crew had to overcome a prolonged monsoon and Shailendra Bebortha takes particular pride in the fact that the solar project was realized on time. At the same time, the solar park was built with the proverbial IBC SOLARquality, with-tier one modules and inverters and meticulous attention to the detail.

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April 2018

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VISIT US : RENEWX 2018, BOOTH NO. HK15

Policy measures for promotion of new & renewable energy Total capacity of 65 GW renewable energy installed in the country so far

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he Government of India has undertaken a number of policy measures for increasing share of renewable energy in Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy mix. These, inter-alia, include:

a) Provision of Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) under the National Tariff Policy; b) Notification of the long term growth trajectory of RPO for solar and non-solar energy for next 3 years from 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19; c) Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects; d) Development of power transmission network through Green Energy Corridor project; e) Making roof top solar as a part of housing loan provided by banks; f) Waiver of Inter-State Transmission Charges and losses;

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g) Repowering of Wind Power Projects for optimal utilization of wind resources; h) Offshore wind energy policy for development of offshore wind energy in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone; i) Supporting research and development on various aspects of renewable energy including with industry participation; j) Financial incentives for offgrid and decentralized renewable energy systems and devices for meeting energy needs for cooking, lighting and productive purposes; and k) Permitting 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment in sector through automatic route.

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he Government of India has set up a target of installing 175 GW capacity through renewables by 2022. As on 28.02.2018, a total capacity of 65 GW had been installed in the country. The lowest tariff discovered for solar at Bhadala solar Park in Rajasthan in May 2017, and for wind in the tariff-based capacity auction of Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd in December 2017 were Rs. 2.44/KWh and Rs 2.43/KWh respectively. However, the cost of production of energy from solar and wind energy sources varies from place to place depending upon, inter-alia, insolation, wind speed, cost of land, cost of financing and basic infrastructure. It is true that in some projects tariff of solar and wind power discovered is in the range or even lesser as compared to the cost of coal based thermal power plants.

This information was provided by Shri R.K. Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

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Govt to amend solar bid rule to allow pass through of import duty hike Allaying fears of an adverse impact on Indias solar energy programme due to the proposed 70 percent safeguard duty, Power Minister R. K .Singh said the government will amend bidding rules to allow pass through of duty hike.

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overnment will ensure that the rules are not implemented retrospectively, he said. With pass through of any hike in duties, solar power developers will be allowed to increase the tariffs based on which they have bagged the projects, so as to recover the extra cost.

“The duty structure prevailing on the day of bid shall be implemented. Any change in taxes and duties would be passed through. Current bidding document provides for passing through taxes only. We would provide for passing through taxes and duties,” Singh told reporters here.

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He also assured that the amendment in the bidding rules can be done by his approval and does not require Parliament nod. He said an inter-ministerial committee headed by commerce secretary will finalise the recommendation on the proposal of Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) by next week.

The recommendations of the DG Safeguards are examined by the Board of Safeguards, which is headed by the Commerce Secretary. If the Board agrees with the findings of the DG Safeguards, it recommends imposition of duty to the Finance Ministry.

The safeguard duty is a global measure and applies to imports from all countries.

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In a January 5 recommendation to the finance ministry, the DGS said solar cells are “being imported into India in such increased quantities and under such conditions so as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry manufacturing like or directly competitive products”.

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Acting on an application filed by an association of five domestic cell and module makers including the Adani Group, the DGS recommended “a provisional Safeguard Duty be imposed at the rate of 70 percent ad valorem on the imports of solar cells whether or not assembled in modules or panels.”

A Parliamentary panel had said in its report yesterday that there is no valid ground for imposing 70 per cent safeguard duty on solar equipment imports It also said that the imposition of duty would affect the viability of existing projects and dampen investor sentiment.

At present customs duty on Solar Cells/Modules/ Panels is levied at the rate of 7.5 per cent. Further, a Safeguard Duty to the tune of 70 per cent has been recommended. Asked about the Rs 16,000 crore new hydro policy to boost the sector, Singh said it has gone for inter-ministerial consultation and other ministries and department would give their comments to the power ministry about the proposal. After that the proposal will be firmed up for putting before the Cabinet for approval. On boosting gas based power plants, Singh said that some talks are going on for gas pooling of domestic and imported gas.

Clarifying on the governments ambitious e-mobility plan, he said: “By 2030 most of the cars sold would be electric and population of e-cars would be 30 per cent. We are for liberal regime for setting up electric chargers for e-vehicles.” On the fears that states populism during polls may increase discoms loss by giving freebies to certain category of consumer, the minister said, “In case any state wants to give any subsidy to any category of power consumers, the money would be transferred through direct benefit transfer. The amount of subsidy would be deposited upfront to discom.”

Source: PTI

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

PM Modi proposes 10-point action plan at solar conference Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for concessional and less-risky finances for raising the share of solar electricity in the energy mix and pledged to generate 175 gigawatts (GW) of electricity in India from renewable energy sources by 2022.

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or achieving the ISA target of over 1,000 GW of solar generation capacity and mobilisation of investment of over $1 trillion by 2030, Modi called for concessional financing and less-risky funds being made available for such projects.

“India will generate 175 GW of electricity from renewable sources including 100 GW from solar,” he said ISA secretariat has to be strengthened and made professional, he said, adding that solar energy presents a permanent, affordable and reliable source for meeting energy needs of mankind. As a demonstration of India’s commitment to ISA, Modi said 500 training slots will be created for member countries and a solar technology mission will be started to lead R&D in the sector. To supplement solar energy generation, India has distributed 28 crore LED bulbs in the last three years which have helped save USD 2 billion and 4 GW of electricity, the prime minister said.ISA, headquartered in Gurgaon near here, is now a treaty-based inter-governmental organisation that was established following the Paris Declaration as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its member countries.

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Speaking at the founding conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), PM Narendra Modi proposed a 10-point action plan that includes making affordable solar technology available to all nations, raising the share of electricity generated from photovoltaic cells in the energy mix, framing regulations and standards, consultancy support for bankable solar projects and creating a network of centres for excellence.

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Parliamnet of India – Standing Committee On Energy Dr. Kambhampati Hari Babu, Chairperson, Standing Committee on Energy, presented the Thirty-Ninth Report on 'Demands for Grants of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for the year 2018-19' to the Lok Sabha Some of the important Recommendations of the Committee are as under: Exhaustive utilization of allocated funds and identification of weak areas on the basis of the Ministry's performance during the previous years, recommended.

The Committee have observed that for the last two years, the Ministry has not been able to fully utilize the allocated amount. It is found that the Ministry could utilize only 63%, 65% and 70% of the total fund allocation during the years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (upto December, 2017) respectively. The Committee have been concerned to note that the Ministry has continuously failed to achieve its yearly targets. For the year 2016-17, against the Grid connected Renewable Power target of 16,600 MW, the Ministry could achieve only 11,303.70 MW. Similarly, for the year 2017-18, against the Grid connected Renewable Power target of 14,555 MW, the Ministry has achieved 5602.65 MW till December, 2017 i.e. 8952.35 MW is still left to be achieved in just three months.

(Para No. 1 and 2 of Part – II of the Report)

Identification of reasons responsible for nonachievement of the physical target in 201718 and monitoring of the progress of various Wind/Solar Energy Projects., recommended.

In Wind Energy Sector, against a target of 4000 MW for 2017-18, only 597.91 MW capacity has been installed (as on January 31, 2018). It means the achievement is even less than 15% of the target.

(Para No. 8 of Part – II of the Report)

Necessary clarifications and modifications regarding applicable rate of GST on Renewable Energy Sector and refund of input tax credit, recommended.

The Committee have been informed that a lot of confusion is prevailing and considerable difficulties are being experienced in the actual implementation of GST on Renewable Energy Sector. It was expected that the GST for all equipments utilized in Solar Projects would be 5 %. But, the Committee have found that GST rates for the Renewable Energy Sector differ from 5 % on Solar Modules to 18 % on Inverters to 28 % on Batteries.

There is also an issue of refund of input tax credit leading to higher working capital requirement. The Committee are of the opinion that this prevailing confusion regarding applicability of GST rate and uncertainty over refund of input tax credit are not healthy for the Renewable Energy Sector. Such a situation will lead to increase in generation cost and pose a threat to the viability of the ongoing projects, ultimately hampering the target achievement.

(Para No. 4 of Part – II of the Report)

Formulation of a dedicated programme to support Solar Manufacturing in the country, recommended.

The Committee have noted that there is an installed Solar Manufacturing capacity of 3164 MW for Solar Cells and 8398 MW for Solar Modules. The Ministry has submitted that the domestic manufacturers are not competitive at present and they are not able to get enough orders to exploit their entire capacity.

(Para No. 13 of Part-II of the Report)

Mission mode work to get ready the Green Energy Corridor within the stipulated time, recommended.

Mission mode work to get ready the Green Energy Corridor within the stipulated time, recommended.

The Committee have observed that for 2018-19, an allocation of Rs. 600 crore (BE) has been made for Green Energy Corridor with a physical target of 3000 ckt-kms (cumulative). The Committee have felt that there is a mismatch between the fund allocated and physical targets set, as for 2017-18, Rs. 500 crore were provided for installation of 350 ckt-kms of transmission lines and for 2018-19, Rs. 600 crore have been allocated for installation of 1900 ckt-kms of transmission lines (target for 2018-19 is more than five times the target for 2017-18 while corresponding budgetary increase is only one-fifth of previous year). It shows the unrealistic assessment of financial requirement and corresponding physical targets by the Ministry. Further, the cumulative target of achieving 3000 ckt-kms of transmission lines by March 2019, leaves 5500 ckt-kms of transmission lines to be installed during 2019-20, so as to get installed stipulated 8500 ckt-kms of Green Energy Corridor by March 2020. The Committee are highly apprehensive about the target achievement with respect to the Green Energy Corridor as the target seems unattainable during the remaining period.

(Para No. 5 of Part – II of the Report)

The Committee have observed that for 2018-19, an allocation of Rs. 600 crore (BE) has been made for Green Energy Corridor with a physical target of 3000 ckt-kms (cumulative).

The Committee have felt that there is a mismatch between the fund allocated and physical targets set, as for 2017-18, Rs. 500 crore were provided for installation of 350 ckt-kms of transmission lines and for 2018-19, Rs. 600 crore have been allocated for installation of 1900 ckt-kms of transmission lines (target for 2018-19 is more than five times the target for 2017-18 while corresponding budgetary increase is only one-fifth of previous year). It shows the unrealistic assessment of financial requirement and corresponding physical targets by the Ministry. Further, the cumulative target of achieving 3000 ckt-kms of transmission lines by March 2019, leaves 5500 ckt-kms of transmission lines to be installed during 2019-20, so as to get installed stipulated 8500 ckt-kms of Green Energy Corridor by March 2020. The Committee are highly apprehensive about the target achievement with respect to the Green Energy Corridor as the target seems unattainable during the remaining period.

(Para No. 5 of Part – II of the Report)

Exemption of Solar Cells/ Modules/Panels from Custom Duty/Safeguard Duty, recommended.

The Committee have been informed that Custom Duty on Solar Cells/Modules/Panels has been levied at the rate of 7.5 %. Further, a Safeguard Duty to the tune of 70 % has been recommended. The Committee have felt that because of the imposition of Safeguard/Custom Duty, project developers will suffer. Such a duty will result in steep rise in input cost, thereby affecting the viability of existing projects and dampening investors' sentiments. In the opinion of the Committee, there are no valid grounds to take such emergency measures which having the potential to cripple the entire Solar Sector.

(Para No. 14 of Part-II of the Report)

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Regarding Solar Energy Sector, the Committee have noted that according to the planned year-wise trajectory of the Ministry to achieve 100 GW of Solar Energy by 2022, there should have been 32,000 MW of installed Solar Capacity by 2017-18, against which a capacity of 18,454.97 MW has been installed in the country (as on January 31, 2018). The Committee have observed that for the year 2017-18, against the target of 10,000 MW of Grid-connected Solar Power, the Ministry has been able to achieve only 6166.15 MW (as on January 31, 2018) with utilization of Rs. 951.93 crore i.e. the achievement is about 40 % short of the target.

(Para No. 10 of Part – II of the Report)

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

IREDA & European Investment Bank sign Euro 150 million Loan Agreement for Renewable Energy Financing in India More than 1 million Indian households to benefit from the new initiative EIB has extended this line of credit without insisting for sovereign guarantee from Government of India

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uropean Investment Bank (EIB) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) Ltd. have signed a loan agreement for a second line of credit (LoC) of Euro 150 million on non-sovereign basis here, today. The line of credit is for tenure of 15 years including a grace period of 3 years, and it will be used for financing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency projects in India. More than 1.1 million households are expected to benefit from clean energy produced with these funds.

The loan agreement was signed by Shri K S Popli, Chairman and Managing Director, IREDA and Mr. W. Hoyer, President, EIB in the presence of Shri R K Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy and Shri Anand Kumar, Secretary, MNRE.

April 2018

Speaking about India’s fascinating journey to electrify every single village, SHRI R K SINGH said, “There are villages in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh where you track on foot for three to four days to reach. Our aim is to bring electricity to even these remote places….

We have decided to go green, as we have a responsibility to future generations and the planet.”

Highlighting the fact that renewable energy (RE) has now become economically viable, he said that companies bidding for RE projects are getting funds from all over the world….

Today, many countries want us to share our experience in this field.”

Shri Anand Kumar, Secretary, MNRE said that two factors- efficient technology and easy finance, are important for the success of renewable energy sector. He expressed confidence that India will exceed its target of 175 GW renewable energy by 2022.

Shri K S Popli, CMD, IREDA said that the speed with which the second line of credit was negotiated shows the mutual confidence and comfort that EIB and IREDA had developed after working with each other for last 4 years. Moreover, the EIB has extended this line of credit without insisting for sovereign guarantee from Government of India, which also shows their commitment and confidence in the sector, he added. Mr. W. Hoyer, President, EIB appreciated India’s role in International Solar Alliance and its commitment to Paris climate deal. He said that with much sunlight, solar energy is evidently a solution here.

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

ISA working for deployment of over 1000 GW of solar energy by 2030

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is working for the deployment of over 1,000 GW of solar energy, and aims to mobilise more than USD 1,000 billion into solar energy by 2030,

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With objective to deepen cooperation in support of renewable energy, R.K. Singh said that ISA has the potential to have a huge impact on future of planet. n this regard, the ISA, African Development Bank (AfDb), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Green Climate Fund (GCF), and New Development Bank (NDB) on Saturday signed a joint financial partnership declaration, here. The International Energy Agency (IEA) also signed a joint partnership declaration with the ISA. The agreements were signed in the presence of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State (I/C) for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh.

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“we are in a happy situation where renewable energy has become viable.

Solar energy is the future,” he added.

The previous three partnerships were signed by ISA with the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Further, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) signed a joint partnership declaration on 11th March 2018.

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

ISA-ADB, NDB, GCF, AfDB and AIIB joint declarations of Financial partnership ISA and IEA sign joint declarations of partnership. ISAIRENA Also sign partnership declaration tomorrow ISA working for deployment of over 1000 GW of solar energy and mobilising more than US$ 1000 billion into solar energy by the year 2030

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nternational Solar Alliance (ISA) and the African Development Bank (AfDb), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Green climate fund (GCF), and the New Development Bank (NDB) signed Joint financial partnership Declarations. The International Energy Agency (IEA) also signed a Joint partnership Declaration with the ISA. The agreements were signed in the presence of Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs and Shri R.K. Singh, Minister of State (I/C) for Power and New and Renewable Energy.

The objective of the agreements is to deepen their cooperation in support of Renewable Energy. The previous three partnerships were signed by ISA with the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will sign a Joint Partnership Declaration on 11th March 2018.

ISA is working for deployment of over 1000 GW of solar energy and mobilising more than US$ 1000 billion into solar energy by the year 2030.

On the occasion the Union Minister of State for Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Shri R.K. Singh said that ISA has potential to have a huge impact on future of planet. He added that we are in a happy situation where renewable energy has become viable. He highlighted that solar energy was the future. The minister while highlighting that the effects of global warming were apparent with every successful year also informed that ISA had 60 signatories and 30 parties already had ratified solar alliance.

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The African Development Bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa aims to achieve universal access to energy in Africa by 2025.

AfDB’s transformative Desert to Power initiative in the Sahel and Sahara regions of Africa envisages 10 GW of solar power generation and providing clean energy to 90 million people. Together with the ISA, they would like to work on mobilization of concessional financing through existing, notably the Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa and the Facility for Energy Inclusion. The Asian Development Bank promotes a vision of an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. ADB’s energy policy aims to help its developing member countries (DMCs) in Asia to provide reliable, adequate, and affordable energy for an inclusive growth in a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable way and provide USD 3 billion per year by 2020 for clean energy, including solar energy projects in its DMCs. ISA and ADB have joined hands for promotion of Solar Energy in Asia and the Pacific, including solar power generation, solar based mini-grids, and transmission systems dedicated for integrating solar energy into the grids and any other future programs launched by ISA. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank finalized an Energy Sector Strategy that emphasizes proactive support to client countries to develop intermittent renew-

able energy, including solar. AIIB and ISA both have joined hands for promotion of Solar Energy in prospective ISA member countries where AIIB operates. The Green Climate Fund’s Strategic Vision includes financing innovative projects and programmes, inter alia supporting the application and dissemination of cutting-edge climate technologies. Both ISA and GCF promote the development of affordable, reliable and sustainable solar energy as an important way towards a sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

The New Development Bank’s purpose is to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of South Africa (BRICS) and other emerging market economies and developing countries. The International Energy Agency is an autonomous agency within the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 30 member countries and beyond. The IEA has four main areas of focus: energy security, economic development, environmental awareness and engagement worldwide. The IEA is at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing authoritative statistics and analysis.

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

The International Renewable Energy Agency is a universal international intergovernmental organisation that plays a leading role in the global energy transformation by supporting countries in achieving the increased adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy.

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From ISA’s side, Shri Upendra Tripathy, the Interim Director General ISA and on behalf of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr. Amadou Hott, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth ; the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Mr. Bambang Susantono, Vice-President Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Dr. Joachim Von Amsberg, Vice President – Policy and Strategy, the Green climate fund (GCF), Mr Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Head of Strategic Planning & Director of External Affairs; the President of New Development Bank (NDB), Mr. K. V. Kamath, the Director General of International Renewable Energy Agency, Mr Adnan Amin, Director of the Office for Energy Markets and Security of the International Energy Agency, Mr Keisuke Sadamori, signed the declarations. During the signing ceremonyShri Subhash Garg, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Shri Anand Kumar Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, were also present on the occasion.

Source: PIB

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

Macron announces 700mn euros to solar-power at ISA

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nnouncing an additional 700 million euros investment for solar-energy, French President Emmanuel Macron, at the first International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit here on Sunday, called for “joint duties” for a “planet that has to be shared”.

Macron along with Prime Minster Narendra Modi cohosted the first ISA summit at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, in the presence of the heads of 23 nations and 10 ministerial representatives.

“The French Development Agency will allocate additional 700 million euros to its commitment to solar energy by 2022,” the French president Emmanuel Macron said at the summit, that aims at deployment of over 1,000 GW of solar energy and would mobilize more than USD 1,000 billion into solar energy by 2030. This, Macron said, takes France’s total commitment to 1,000 million euros. “In 2015, we said we will allocate some 300 million Euros to support projects in the member countries, these commitment by the France was met couple of months ago,” he said.

Of the 121 member nations of ISA, 60 have signed the treaty and about 30 nations have ratified it. Speaking at the summit, Macron said that while some (the US) decided just to leave the Paris Agreement, others decided to act because they wish good for their children and grand children.

“All of us her have experienced global warming, some of you here have lost your territories, economy and life of citizens, “We should not forget that we only have one planet and we are sharing it and for that there is no alternatives. There is a joint destiny which means we also have some joint duties. “Without concept of climate justice there would had been no Paris Agreement…

We would have blamed each other and we would go nowhere,” he added.The French President pointed out that while the countries between two tropics account for three-fourth of the world’s population with potential of 138 GW of solar power in next five years, however only 50 to 60 per cent people have access to electricity. Macron said it was needed to identify the projects in every single country.

“Each country with its solar energy potential will identify here there needs and how much finance they need. A 100 projects have already being listed here by 36 member countries,” he said, further calling the member states to invest, adding, “these projects are very profitable”. Under ISA, 100 centre for excellence across the alliance members will train 10,000 technicians to achieve the targets.

He said that ISA shall help small enterprises in the small countries to help them mobilize all the projects and that emergent need is to mobilize the available finance.

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Backed and conceptualised

by India, the ISA currently has 121 prospective member countries and territories.

It was launched jointly by Modi and former French President Francois Hollande at the landmark 2015-Paris Climate Agreement.

“But in order to reach 1000 billion USD by 2030, to reach One TW (1,000 GW) solar energy, we need private investors. The alliance will provide favorable framework,” he said, adding that expensive existing guarantee mechanism, that assures private investors, are being reviewed

by France, India, World Bank and other member states.

The French President also stressed on the affordable low cost solar solutions, adding “alliance should be a place where technology can meet the expectations of people and country”.

He further lauded India for its solar mission.India, with 20 GW installed solar capacity has one of the fastest growing solar mission in world, about eight times increased over past four years. India’s wind power generation capacity is 32.8 GW. India aims at achieving 175 GW of clean energy by 2022, of which 100GW is solar.

Source: IANS

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

ISA formally launched, PM Modi announces Solar Tech Mission The founding conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) got under way here in a grand manner.

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osted jointly by visiting French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the meet is drawing a common strategy to deal with threats of climate change.

Speaking on the occasion, PM Modi announced launching of a Solar Technology Mission in India.

The Mission will address all issues related to research and development on solar energy matters, he said. Mr Modi also shared his 10 points of action to deal with the threat of climate change vis-a-vis making solar energy a true catalyst for the future roadmap.

In his speech, French President Macron said while the world has taken great strides in understanding the importance of solar energy but – “We have do much,” he said.

At the plenary session, Paul Kagame, President of Rawanda, stressed on the need of public private partnership in the endeavours to promote solar energy.

‘I Want a Worldwide Solar Revolution’: Modi at Solar Alliance Meet

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he first International Solar Alliance (ISA) Summit began on Sunday, 11 March, and witnessed as many as 23 nations in attendance, including France, Australia and Sri Lanka.

Apart from French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also met with leaders of Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Somalia, Burkina Faso, UAE, and Rwanda, among other countries.

• PM Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with international • • • •

leaders on the sidelines of the ISA Summit in New Delhi on Sunday, 11 March PM Modi, in his address at the International Solar Alliance Summit, outlined a 10-point action plan to bring about a “worldwide solar revolution” French President Emmanuel Macron lauded India for showing the world the way to scale up solar power generation capacity Representatives from as many as 23 nations attended the International Solar Alliance Summit The summit focused on various aspects of promoting solar energy in 121 countries that are part of the ISA

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Source: UNI

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

$1 trillion needed to achieve 1 terawatt solar power capacity by 2030: Emmanuel Macron “To that effect, it is not enough to look at what governTo achieve the target of 1TW solar power capacity by 2030, Emmanuel Macron ments are doing. We need a new international deal with said there are financing and regulation hurdles that need to be cleared by the private sector, the international public sector and the government, private sector and civil society coming together

civil society as well. It is common good and it is for the development of all countries, he said. The French president said three primary things need to be done. Firstly, identify solar energy potential in each country, their projects and financing requirement. Secondly, mobilise available finance and thirdly to provide a favourable framework.

French President Emmanuel Macron said ISA, he said, will bring member nations financing as well $1 trillion will be needed to achieve one as share expertise between them. On financing, he said, terawatt (TW) of solar power capacity by the French Development Agency will allocate 700 million 2030. Speaking alongside Prime Minister euros in additional spending to its commitment to solar Narendra Modi at the founding conference energy by 2022, taking the total commitment to 1 billion of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), euros. “But in order to reach the $1,000 billion by 2030, to he said there are financing and regulation hurdles for achieving the target which need reach the 1TW of solar energy, we need private investors,” to be cleared by government, private sector he said, adding that the alliance will provide a favourable framework. and civil society coming together.

Without any names, he referred to countries quitting the historic Paris Climate agreement and said ISA nations came together to “deliver complete results”.

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blique reference was to US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, which was signed by nearly 200 countries in December 2015 in an effort to curb global greenhouse gas emission and limit global warming to within 2 degrees Celsius. In November last year, Syria signed the deal, leaving the US as the only country in the world not to support the framework deal to combat greenhouse gas emissions.

“They (ISA member nations) started to act and to deliver complete results.

They didn’t wait, they didn’t stop because few countries decided to just leave the floor and the Paris agreement,” he said.“Because they decided it was good for them, their children and grandchildren and they decided to act and keep acting.”

Macron said countries represented at ISA represent three-fourths of the world population. As much as 20-50% of the population do not have access to power, he said. The joint goal is to have 1 TW of solar energy by 2020 for which “we need $1,000 billion,”.

“We know the hurdles… (there) are financial hurdles, regulations, capacity hurdles as well. We shall therefore lift every single one of them,”.

“It means that we will improve the regulations, the terms in order to support investments in renewable. It is also about improving public procurement and to provide efficient policies,” he said, urging nations to facilitate purchase and supply of electricity generated from solar energy. Stating that existing guarantees need to be reviewed, he said, “We need appropriate guarantee tools. The existing ones are too expensive and do not cover all of the risks”.

Lauding India for showing the world the way in scaling up solar power generation capacity, he said, renewable capacity has within two years gone up from 39 gigawatt to 63 GW, while that of solar energy has soared by 140%.

“India proves that it is possible. What you are in the process of succeeding in doing is being watched by the entire world,” he said.

“You are attracting investment, you are supporting them, you are training young people and so this is what we shall be doing. This is what 121 countries of the alliance in Asia, Africa, Latin America shall be doing.” Later he tweeted: “We make Delhi this weekend the world capital of the sun. Through our presence, we seal an alliance to make the energy of the sun accessible to everyone”. “Countries with the most solar potential are often the most in need of energy, but only a small share of electricity generation.

With ISA Summit, we bring capabilities closer to needs,” he said in a tweet.

Seven months ago, when Modi came to Paris, all was done to make ISA Summit, which was an agreement in principle, a reality. “It’s done today.” “We did not come from all continents to deliver additional speeches that will soon be forgotten. We came to ask the topics on the table and give access to solar energy in the world,” he added.

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

Record EUR 1 billion European Investment Bank support for global solar investment confirmed ahead of International Solar Alliance summit L

India leading focus of EIB backed solar investment outside Europe

argest ever backing for solar investment by world’s largest international public bank

India was the leading recipient of EIB financing for solar investment outside the European Union, both in 2017 and overall since 2013. The EIB has approved a total of EUR 640 million of new investment in solar projects in India set to provide clean energy to an estimated 4.2 million households and save more than 4 million tons of carbon emissions.

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ndia leading country for EIB solar investment

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trengthened engagement for solar energy in developing and emerging economies expected

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n 2017 the European Investment Bank provided EUR 1.05 billion of new financing for solar energy projects around the world, representing the largest ever annual support by the EIB to the solar sector.

Ahead of the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance in New Delhi the European Investment Bank also confirmed strengthened engagement to support significant expansion of solar energy in developing and emerging economies.

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“Solar power is providing clean energy for millions of people around the world and solar energy now represents the single largest source of new power generation. The fate of this planet depends on continuing to expand the use of renewable energy to support sustainable economic growth. This can be achieved through improved access to energy alongside scaling up a viable alternative to fossil fuels. The European Investment Bank – the EU bank – welcomes the vision of the International Solar Alliance to ensure those countries most vulnerable to climate change can harness the proven potential of solar power,” said Werner Hoyer, President

of the European Investment Bank.

“The European Union and India are committed to implementing the Paris Climate agreement and working together to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, including ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. As the European Union’s bank, the EIB has a strong track record of supporting transformational investment in India and working with Indian partners to enhance solar investment across this country to benefit millions of Indian households.” said H.E. Mr. Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the European Union.

President Werner Hoyer did lead a high-level European Investment Bank Delegation to attend the International Solar Alliance summit, taking place in New Delhi this week. During the visit the EIB confirmed significant new support for EUR 500 million of new renewable energy investment across India in partnership with the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency.

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INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

Strengthened EIB financing for solar investment in developing and emerging economies The European Investment Bank is committed to increasing support for climate related investment, including renewable energy, in developing and emerging economies to represent 35% of overall financing activity.

“More than a trillion dollars of new solar investment will be required by 2030 to deploy affordable solar energy. The European Investment Bank has a unique technical and financing experience of supporting solar projects around the world, enabling new research to further reduce deployment costs and mobilising renewable energy investment. The International Solar Alliance welcomed President Hoyer and his colleagues to New Delhi to discuss strengthened cooperation in the years ahead.” said H.E. Upendra Tripathy, Interim Director General of the International Solar Alliance.

During the International Solar Alliance summit the EIB outlined the key role of solar energy investment across a range of technologies to reduce carbon emissions and increase access to clean energy.

Global support for solar investment to address local energy priorities

New EIB financing for solar investment in 2017 included backing for new projects in India, Mexico and Peru, as well as 13 European Union countries.

Since 2002 the EIB has financed more than EUR 6.35 billion of new solar energy investment and 50% of solar investment financed by the EIB in the last 7 years is located in developing and emerging economies. Reflecting the global solar engagement in recent years the EIB has financed photovoltaic and concentrated solar power projects across Africa in Morocco, South Africa and Burkina Faso, in Latin America in Nicaragua and Peru, in Asia in India and Vietnam as well as Turkey and Israel. This has enabled significant expansion of access to energy using clean power production and contributed to improved economic activity and social benefits. In the coming weeks the EIB is expected to confirm significant financing for off-grid solar projects across Africa.

Source: eib.org

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achievements

UL Consolidates North India Operations with 80,000-sq. ft. ‘Centre of Excellence’ in Gurugram BENGALURU/ GURUGRAM — UL, an independent, global safety science company, inaugurated an 80,000-sq.ft. laboratory in Gurugram to enhance access for their existing and potential customers in the North and East India markets.

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his cutting-edge facility is UL’s second ‘Centre of Excellence’ in India after Bengaluru and is in line with the company’s ambitious ‘In India, for India’ strategy to support domestic manufacturers’ need to meet regulatory compliance to access the domestic and global markets. he investment is aimed to facilitate the country’s growth drivers of rapid urbanization and domestic manufacturing. While India’s LED and energy efficiency programs have won international recognition, there is increasing thrust for the smart cities mission. Greater impetus for manufacturing with economic recovery and structural reforms is boosting the prospects of sectors like textiles, toys and consumer goods. The simultaneous policy initiatives to strengthen the domestic standards ecosystem has led to an increased demand for testing facilities that can match global standards. Replete with the latest and best in class equipment and talent, the Gurugram Centre of Excellence offers customers in north and east India easy approach to UL’s renowned thirdparty end-to-end testing, inspection and certification services to accelerate time-to-market. Customers will also benefit from bespoke solutions on multiple product portfolios at one location. UL’s Gurugram laboratory integrates and expands HVAC/R and lighting businesses with the existing operations in Gurugram for consumer and retail services.

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Commenting on the launch of the facility, Suresh Sugavanam, Vice President and Managing Director of UL, South Asia said, “UL’s growth in India is a reflection of the changing policy landscape of the country, one which has seen definite progress in improving quality and safety standards to match those of mature economies around the world. Given the impact of “Make in India”, it is encouraging that the manufacturing communities are recognizing the importance of establishing the safety and quality standards for the domestic market as well, rather than just focusing on the exports.

With this Centre of Excellence, we aim to bring all the testing portfolios under one roof to offer easy access to our customers that will help reduce the turnaround time. It will also give us an opportunity to increase our footprint in the region expand further in newer areas of testing.”

Validated by advanced equipment like goniophotometer, integrating sphere, life test racks and environmental chambers, customers in the LED lighting industry can now obtain complete testing for all lighting products, including safety, photometry and life cycle testing. For the white goods market, the Gurugram facility is capable of evaluating performance and safety parameters through extensive testing including refrigeration chambers, psychrometric testing and ingress protection. To support the textiles, softlines and toy industries in the region, UL’s suite of services span analytical, physical, mechanical, electric and electronics testing.

UL’s Gurugram laboratory was also the first to be accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) to test under the new IS 9873 standards for toys.

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achievements

Hartek Power makes a mark in solar grid connectivity, achieves 1-GW milestone Hartek Power connects 545-MW solar projects to grid in six states in current financial year.

From 598 MW in March 2017 to 1,143 MW now, Hartek Power registers phenomenal growth of 91.1 per cent in its solar grid EPC business in 10 months.

Chandigarh: The power systems EPC portfolio of Hartek Power Pvt Ltd, one of India’s fastest growing Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies, has surpassed 1 GW in solar power projects with the commissioning of 545-MW projects spread across six states.

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ashing in on India’s solar overdrive to match its growth with that of the industry, Hartek Power has registered a phenomenal growth of 91.1 per cent in its power systems EPC business catering to solar plants in a span of just 10 months. From just 598 MW, as on March 31, 2017, the solar power system EPC projects executed by Hartek Power have now gone up to 1,143 MW, registering nearly a twofold growth.

Involving 15 substations of up to 220 KV, the 545MW projects executed by Hartek Power in the current financial year include a 100-MW project in Nagarkurnool district of Telangana, a 50-MW project in Ashoknagar district of Madhya Pradesh, a 25-MW project in Sangrur district of Punjab, six projects totalling 180 MW in Bellary, Tumkur and Davanagere districts of Karnataka, two projects of 140 MW in Badhla district of Rajasthan and four projects of 50 MW in Banda, Hamirpur, Kushinagar and Hardoi districts of Uttar Pradesh. With other 285-MW projects under execution, Hartek Power is expected to reach the 1.5-GW mark by the end of the current financial year. The scope of work of these projects included complete turnkey solutions of post-inverter works covering the design, engineering, supply, installation, automation and commissioning of the power plant electrification.

Hailing the achievement, Hartek Group Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Hartek Singh said, “The power systems business unit of the Hartek Group has done incredibly well. We owe our success to our unflinching commitment to quality and timely execution of projects.

We have won the trust of key developers by creating immense value for them in terms of unmatched expertise and services. These are the factors that have enabled us to emerge as one of the fastest growing EPC companies in the Indian solar space.”

Describing Hartek Power as an old and valued partner known for its high quality standards and reliability, Preet Sandhu, Co-Founder and Executive Vice-President, Infra, Azure Power, which has been associated with Hartek Power in executing substations for solar power projects for the past eight years, said, “Hartek Power’s high-quality alternating current (AC) work and power evacuation has strengthened our execution capabilities.

We are pleased to have them as a valuable partner in our growth story, and congratulate them on achieving this milestone.”

A pan-India company with presence in 18 states which ventured into the solar power systems domain just six years ago, Hartek Power is focusing on South India and new geographies like Jharkhand and Bihar to consolidate its position. “At the same time, we are strengthening our hold in states like Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh where we have traditionally been doing well,” said the Hartek Group CMD. As a backward integration strategy, the Hartek Group also has its own manufacturing division, which makes power distribution products catering to its own projects and to the requirements of industries, utilities and independent power producers, like mediumvoltage switchboard panels, control relay panels and low-voltage panels. The economies of scale of this manufacturing business have been immense for Hartek Power and its EPC portfolio with appreciable improvement in supply chain and considerable reduction in costs.

Hartek Power is part of the billion-INR Hartek Group, which contributes significantly towards the entire power sector value chain through its diversified portfolio covering Power Systems, Rooftop Solar, Power Distribution Products, Fuel Services, Smart Cities and Value Added Services. India’s installed solar generation capacity has gone up by more than 30 times from 0.5 GW to 17 GW in less than seven years, offering huge opportunities for growth to firms like Hartek Power.

Source: adfactorspr

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achievements

Waaree Energies awarded ‘Solar Module Company of the year’ at CSR Leadership Awards

Kor Energy bags ET Now’s Gre-en Future Leadership award for best rooftop solar EPC company

Mumbai: Waaree Energies Ltd. was recently conferred the ‘Solar Module Company of the year’ award at CSR Leadership Awards, held in Mumbai on February 18, 2018, in recognition of the company’s outstanding work in 2017.

New Delhi [India]: Kor Energy (India) Pvt. Ltd., a Noida based Rooftop Solar EPC Company has been honoured with ‘Best Rooftop Solar EPC Company award’ 2018.

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ith an ever present focus on market-facing innovations, it brings together state-of-the-art technology and operational excellence to make solar affordable and accessible. Waaree has a constant presence on the TIER 1 Module Manufacturers List.

To continue the stellar work and to fulfil its vision to provide high quality and cost effective sustainable energy solutions across all markets, Waaree has developed over 200 Channel partners and plans to expand the number to 1000 partners by the end of 2018. As it continues to seek new developments in the field of solar, the company has now ventured into Floating Solar Technology – FloatON, and has pioneered technologies like MERLIN, 5BB, Bifacial, AC Module 1500V & Explosion Proof Solar Module, in India.

Apart from supplying more than 400 MW of modules in 2017, Waaree also executed more than 50 MW of solar EPC projects and supplied 3000 tonnes of module mounting structures and more than 2000 solar pumps. The year also saw Waaree execute some marquee projects like the solarisation of 12 railways stations for Mumbai Metro.

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he award was a part of ‘ET Now Rise with India’, a Solar Leadership Award. The Award was sponsored by ET Now, part of Times Group. The award was presented to Ms. Priyanka Mohan, Director- Kor Energy India Pvt. Ltd. at a function held in Mumbai.

“We are honoured to have received this award. This award is recognition to our commitment for promotion of green energy by utilizing rooftops of residential, commercial and industrial buildings across India. We always give best in technology at reasonable price to our customers so that they can achieve best return on investment, which they had made in their Rooftop Solar Installations.”, Ms. Priyanka Mohan, Director- Kor Energy India Pvt. Ltd. In its endeavor to contribute to their ‘Make in India’ commitment, Kor Energy focuses upon technological superior products and best practices in design, engineering, installation, operations and maintenance of plants so as to give maximum returns to their customers over a longer period of time.

Kor Energy has recently bagged orders from four companies for 2.8 MWp rooftop solar plants in the industrial area of Uttar Pradesh. The Company has also successfully installed a Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Systems at three cold storages in Haryana.

Kor Energy has done installations across residences, school, colleges, religious trusts, cold chains and industries in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

ABB installs electric vehicle fast charger Exicom installs first station at NITI electric vehicle chargAayog ing station at UN office Demonstrating its commitment to clean energy and sustainable transportation, the Indian govt premier policy think tank has installed an ABB Terra 53 fast charging station for EV at the organization’s office in the heart of New Delhi.

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he installation by ABB, a global leader in electric vehicle charging, supports recent proposals by the Ministry of Highways and Transportation and NITI Aayog, which include a pilot project in electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in New Delhi, India’s capital. This shows a way forward for other EV aspirational states around the country. The unveiling ceremony was led by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Indian Minister for Highways and Transportation at the NITI Aayog’s premises in the presence of Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog and other dignitaries. NITI – the National Institute for Transforming India – is working to implement the United Nation’s sustainable development goals, which include clean, affordable energy and smart, sustainable cities. Led by the Ministry of Transportation and Highways, NITI Aayog is spearheading the electric mobility vision framework in the country.

Also, Kant laid out the vision of transitioning to eletric mobility across segments with the commitment of converting NITI Aayog vehicles to electric ones in subsequent months. ABB’s 50kW fast charging station can provide a full charge to an electric vehicle in only 30 minutes.

“We will continue to deploy and leverage the next level of global, open standard technology to provide the best-in-class reliable and cost effective EV charging experience for Indian citizens living in smart cities.

We believe that smart cities are made of smart elements and ABB EV Charging technology is one such important element,” he added.

As a global leader in EV fast-charging solutions, ABB has more than 6,000 units installed across more than 55 countries. The Terra 53 is based on international charging standards for EVs. The charger converts alternating current (AC) from the grid to the direct current (DC) used by EV batteries. But it can also work with EVs that use AC charging. The station’s robust hardware and compliance with global electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing standards ensures safe operation in all-weather conditions.

The Terra 53 can take advantage of the ABB Ability™ Connected Services digital networking suite portfolio to link the charging station to payment platforms and smart grid systems. The cloud-based ABB Ability connection also makes possible smart trip planning for travelers by indicating where the next recharge stop will be. ABB Ability™, which is based on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform, can also enable the operator to perform several key functions, including remote monitoring and configuring; resolution of driver issues; servicing of equipment with minimal downtime; and the flexibility to connect to any charging network, back-office, payment or energy management solution.

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The unveiling ceremony was led by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Culture, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, the UN Executive Director, Mr. Erik Solheim, Secretary, MoEF&CC, Shri C.K Mishra,

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eb 19, 2018: Exicom installed the first electric vehicle charging station at United Nation office in Lodhi Estate. It is part of the plan to develop EV charging points across the country. Exicom EV AC Charger supports BEVC-AC001 specifications.

It is designed with 3 sockets to charge up to 15A per socket (or 3.3KW). It is suitable for installation at wide range of places including parking, service stations, commercial and residential through pedestal mount/wall mount or pole mount.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that Indians have learnt living in harmony with nature from the ancestors.

He emphasized that for India, environmental issues are not merely technical issues, but real moral issues and a movement for the future generations.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Erik Solheim noted the manner in which the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and the Environment Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan have altered the nature of dialogue on environment in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, MoEF & CC, Shri C.K Mishra underlined that the effort is to hand over a much better world to the future generations.

Anant Nahata, Managing Director of Exicom said, “We are very happy to take part in the EV movement.

We heartily support government’s commitment to develop an effective charging infrastructure for creating an enabling ecosystem for EVs to operate smoothly. Our solutions are capable to deliver the performance needed for anxiety free transport at the lowest cost while also helping to solve many problems like reducing pollution and oil import.”

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Delta Electronics India launches Electric Vehicle charging solutions to support the Government’s 2030 EV vision Delta Electronics India launches Electric Vehicle charging solutions to support the Government’s 2030 EV vision, Introduces innovative solutions at Elecrama 2018 to strengthen the electric vehicle ecosystem in the country Launches fourth multi-million dollar manufacturing plant in the country

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n support of the government’s electric mobility drive, Delta Electronics India Pvt. Ltd., a leading Power and Energy management company, launched its complete range of energy efficient electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions in India. The advanced EV charging solution offerings from Delta will enable the ecosystem to keep pace with the growing demands for a robust electric automobile infrastructure. Exhibited at Elecrama 2018, Delta showcased its diverse portfolio of EV solutions with DC Quick, AC Chargers and Site Management System. These chargers can be conveniently installed in multiple applications such as parking spaces, highway service, as well as residential and commercial buildings.

Hsieh Shen-Yen, President of Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL. said, “The business climate in India offers Delta exciting opportunities to partner with the government to power India’s growing economy. In line with our vision to be a strong catalyst and partner in India’s growth story, we are also announcing our fourth manufacturing plant in the country . This is testimony to our commitment to the “Make In India” initiative. Delta’s goal is to develop sustainable and energy efficient integrated solution offerings in India, for India, that will offer immense employment opportunities across the geography.” Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL. is the parent company of Delta Electronics India.

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The manufacturing plant in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, will be operational in 2019 and is expected to generate employment for thousands in the state. Along with its state-of-the-art R&D Centre in Bengaluru, Delta is looking at investments of over a US$150 million in India. The EV charging solutions launched by Delta will also be manufactured at this plant.

“Driven by robust product engineering, R&D, service support infrastructure and most importantly domain knowledge, Delta in India has been successful in growing 35 times over in the past 14 years. Our India growth trajectory has been a resilient legacy of accomplishments in Telecom Power, Industrial Automation, Solar Inverters, Display Solutions, to name a few. We have now embarked on the journey to expand upon these core values and entering the EV Charging, Energy Storage and Rail Transportation Solutions industries. Our entire suite of solutions in EV Charging will complement the Indian e-mobility initiative providing a reliable technology and backing of the Delta brand.” said Dalip Sharma, Managing Director of Delta Electronics India Pvt. Ltd.

Speaking on the occasion, Herman Chang, General Manager, Energy Infrastructure Solutions BG Delta Electronics, said, “The absence of a reliable infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, is perhaps the biggest roadblock impeding the rise of EV adoption in India. With our new range of electric vehicle charging solutions, we intend to support the GOI’s mission to drive electric mobility.

Delta’s solution also encompasses smooth integration of micro-grids with EV charging providing a future-proof roadmap for a homogenized ecosystem of power prosumers.”

Delta also showcased its Energy Storage Solutions, Renewable Energy Solutions, Telecom Network Energy Solutions, Industrial Automation Solutions, Display & Monitoring Solutions, Building Automation Solutions and UPS & Datacenter Infrastructure Solutions at the Elecrama 2018.

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budget 2018-19

IMPACT OF FINANCE BUDGET 2018 An Overview For Indian Renewable Energy Sector

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he last full-fledged Union Budget before the Lok Sabha Election 2019, has been tabled by our Hon’ble Finance Minister , on 1st of February, 2018. In the budget several initiatives are planned to boost up the rural infrastructure, why may have the a positive impact on Renewable Energy Segment. The KUSUM Scheme would expect to provide an addition to the income of the farmers. The directive to the State Discoms to buy Solar Power from the farmers, has been sewed in such a way so that the farmers would find an additional source of income by installing solar pumps. This is undoubtedly a very commendable initiative which will spruce up the rural infrastructure cum economy of India as well as will make a market for small integrators. According to Shri Jaitley,” The Government will take necessary measures and encourage State Government to Put in place a mechanism that their surplus solar power is purchased by the distribution companies or licensees at reasonably remunerative rates.” He also added the Income Tax for Micro Small and Medium Enterprise(MSME) companies with annual revenues upto Rs. 5 billion has been reduced to 25 percent. It is expected that this initiative would benefit smaller renewable companies in many folds.

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Author :

Soumyen Mukher jee President; Sova Solar Ltd.

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budget 2018-19

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he industry was pretty hopeful for some incentives or subsidies but in his last budget before the Loksabha Election, 2019, Shri Jaitley did take a path way around. He has initiated the path of abolition of import duty on solar glass which will help Indian Solar Module Manufacturers. The Income Tax rate (Section 44AD) reduction will encourage companies under MSME which will ultimately strengthen the base part of the market. The Budget has announced measures to facilitate the access to bond market for meeting 25 percent of debt needs by large corporate which will allow the entities in power and renewables to diversify the funding sources at a cost competitive rate, given the large financial requirement. That means the budget has not only concentrated to encourage the MSME or farmers only it has also focused and proposed to encourage the large-scale companies or entities also. The budget has also proposed an allocation of allocation of Rs.4200 towards the fund requirements for the augmentation of capacity in the wind power, solar power and green energy corridor. The part funding for Green Energy Corridor is very critical for strengthening of network for evacuation of green energy in Renewable Energy rich states.

rt Impo n O y t Du lass G r Sola

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he accelerated depreciation has been reinstated to the tune of 80% to small domestic investors with project size less than 25Mw till FY2022. This is another initiative that would boost the mood of the Renewable Energy Market. The Finance Minister took this initiative to make the target of 175Gw by 2022, more feasible. This will also benefit the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). It will give huge impetus to the Government’s ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ motion. Another move which has been introduced to spruce up the Renewable Eneary Sector, is to provide Performance Based Incentive (PBI)to state DISCOMS @ 50 paise/kWh. This incentive will begiven to DISCOMS for procuring RE based of FiT for small Project upto 25Mw.

Another major point is elimination of import duty on Solar Tempered Glass. Manufacturing of Solar Modules will become relatively less costly. This will curve the difference between the cost of Chinese Modules and Indian Modules. By this way the market base of domestic module manufacturers will be much more wide and stable.

Two most important issues that have been covered in this budget, to encourage the Renewable Energy Sector of our country are GOBAR DHAN and SAUBHAGYA YOJONA. These two scheme will push the hope high for the total RE Sector.

Further the commitment/focus of the Government of India to provide ‘24x7 Clean and Affordable Power for All’ has been taken care of appreciably.

In the words of our Hon’ble Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Shri R.K.Singh, the Union Budget 2018 is path breaking in many way. Only a few issues like Anti Dumping /Safeguard Duty remain undecided in this Union Budget. By the time this write up will be published the decision may have been finalized. No body knows whether this enquiry might be withdrawn. Hope for the best.

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Business & finance

ResponsAbility and Cleantech Solar join forces to increase momentum of rooftop solar energy adoption in South-East Asia and India Zurich and Singapore — A responsAbility-managed climate fund and Singapore-based solar energy provider Cleantech Solar have signed an agreement for a USD 20m long-term corporate loan to finance new pan-Asia rooftop solar power plants.

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ounded in 2014, Cleantech Solar is the leading pan-Asia solar energy provider to commercial and industrial (C&I) customers with a portfolio of more than 50 MWp and 65 sites in India and South-East Asia.

Cleantech Solar offers solar-as-a-service solutions by financing, installing, operating and maintaining rooftop solar power plants to corporates. Sustainability has become a key priority for leaders in the corporate sector and onsite solar has become grid-competitive in most countries in the region. These factors further accelerate the transition from conventional to renewable energy. The responsAbility-managed climate fund and Cleantech Solar are joining forces to help pan-Asian companies tackle soaring energy costs and in parallel implement sustainable business practices through the adoption of solar energy.

Cleantech Solar Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Raju Shukla underlined: “We are helping corporates attain their goal of being sustainable and responsible leaders and hedge against volatile power prices. This is what makes our rooftop solar systems such a compelling business case. The long-term funding from the fund will enable us to scale up our operation and drive solar electricity adoption in the region.”

Speaking on behalf of responsAbility, Sameer Tirkar, Senior Investment Officer – Energy Debt Financing, highlighted: “Distributed solar and especially roof-top solar is one of the key focus areas for our energy financing activities. We believe that Cleantech Solar, with its strong management team, pan-regional presence and strong execution track record is an ideal partner for us to scale up our involvement in the distributed solar space in the region.”

Source: cleantechsolar

Ujaas Energy slips 9 per cent on weak Q3FY18 numbers Ujaas Energy reported results for the quarter.

The company’s standalone revenue for the quarter came in at Rs. 75.44 crore, registering 24.7 per cent yoy decline. This was primarily driven by sharp decline in revenue from manufacturing and sale of solar power systems by 28.4 per cent.

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lso decline in sales from solar power plant operation by 28 per cent contributed to the deterioration in revenue.

EBITDA for the quarter fell by 39.3 per cent yoy to Rs. 9.73 crore with a corresponding margin contraction of 309 bps. EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 12.9 per cent. This margin contraction was led by 13 per cent jump in employee benefit expenses. The PAT for the quarter came in at Rs. 3.96 crore, yoy decline of 54 per cent. This

was partly due to sharp decline in other income from Rs. 1.09 crore to Rs. 0.69 crore in Q3FY18. Ujaas Energy Limited, formerly M&B Switchgears Limited, is engaged in solar power plant operation business, and manufacturing and sale of solar power system.

The stock opened at Rs. 21.80, down by almost 9 per cent from its previous closing of Rs. 23.95 and touched an intra-day low of Rs. 21.75, on the BSE. Source: dsij.in

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Business & finance

SBI-UK DFID invest in India’s SunSource Energy

This is Neev fund’s fourth investment, and Varsha Purandare, MD, and CEO of SBICAPS said, “Neev Fund has been a highly successful partnership between SBI and the DFID of UK, having made a meaningful impact in India’s low-income states and a model fund for future funds by SBI/SBICAPS.”

NEW DELHI: India’s largest public sector lender State Bank of IndiaBSE -2.55 % (SBI) has invested an undisclosed amount from its Neev Fund in Indian solar player SunSource Energy, for developing solar project assets in states with low levels of capital investment, the company said in a statement

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unSource Energy, a solar project developer and EPC services provider, currently has 200 MWs of solar projects in India and abroad. The company targets to reach 1.5 GW of capacity by 2025, the statement said.

Founded in 2010, the company’s turnover has been rising at a compounded growth rate of nearly 200 percent year-on-year.

“Our focus on environmentally sustainable solar energy solutions is fully aligned with Neev’s focus on underinvested states. We look forward to deploying this capital into solar assets in these states, and significantly contribute to the sustainable development of these states,” said Adarsh Das, CEO and Co-Founder of SunSource Energy.

The Neev Fund, an initiative of SBI and UK’s department for International development (DFID), is an infrastructure private equity fund which aims to invest in low income or developing states in India, with a focus on infrastructure subsectors such as renewable energy, agricultural supply chain, among others.

The funding will help SunSource develop projects in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhatisgarh, outside of their operations in other cities.

“Collaborations like these help SunSource reduce our clients’ costs and deliver effective solutions,” said Kushagra Nandan, President, and CoFounder of SunSource Energy.

Economic Laws Practice, a leading Indian law firm, was the key legal advisor, and Venturebook Capital Advisors was the financial advisor, on the transaction.

Gavin McGillivray, Head, UK DFID India said, “We are pleased that Neev Fund is the first investor in SunSource.

The investment will help the company grow in India’s under-invested states.”

Volvo signs pact with CleanMax Solar for long-term power supply The move is expected to reduce Volvo’s Carbon Dioxide emissions by 3,380 tonne per annum and will also lead to a significant operating cost savings for Volvo, the company said in a statement.

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olvo Group India (VGIPL), the Indian arm of the Swedish automotive company VOLVO, has signed an agreement with CleanMax Solar for long-term supply of 2.75 Megawatt of solar power for Volvo’s truck operations in Bangalore.

The move is expected to reduce Volvo’s Carbon Dioxide emissions by 3,380 tonne per annum and will also lead to a significant operating cost savings for Volvo, the company said in a statement. The agreement was signed by Kamal Bali, President and Managing Director of Volvo Group and Andrew Hines, Co-founder of CleanMax Solar.

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By supplying 60 per cent of their power requirement from our solar farm, Volvo will see significant operating cost savings while also making a very impressive reduction in their CO2 emissions, Andrew Hines, Cofounder of CleanMax Solar said.

He added Volvo will achieve these benefits with minimal risk and hassle because the entire investment and operations is done by CleanMax. Under the agreement, Volvo is expected to begin drawing power from CleanMax Solar’s Bellary facility in May 2018 for its Hoskote and Peenya manufacturing facilities and the supply would continue for ten years.

Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes

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SunSource energy plans to build Actis set to buy Bhoruka’s renewable energy 200-mw solar park in UP NEW DELHI: SunSource Energy, a solar EPC player in India, is boosting its portfolio with assets plans to develop a 200-mw solar park in Uttar Pradesh entailing an investment of Rs

T 900 crore.

he company has also received funding from State Bank of India-led Neev Fund, which a top executive said will help it reach its target of 1.5 gw project capacity by 2025.The Neev Fund is a joint initiative of the SBI and UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to develop projects in states with low capital investment.

“At the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit, the company sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government to develop a 200-mw solar park, which should be completed between 2021 and 2022. We have committed ₹900 crore for this,” Kushagra Nandan, president of SunSource Energy, told ET. The project will be financed through a mix of debt and equity, he said.

SunSource has 200 mw of solar projects in India and overseas. The company has a short-term target of reaching 300 mw of project capacity by 2020, said Nandan, who is also one of the founders of the company.

The fund from Neev is to be used for projects in eight low-income or developing states identified by the fund, namely Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, outside of the company’s operations in other cities.

“The fact that there is SBI involved, we have automatic access and visibility all over India. We are already seeing some impact… They are connecting us in ways that we didn’t think possible,” said Adarsh Das, a cofounder of SunSource Energy.

“We will require funds over a period of time so it positions us very well for future raises.”

The funding gives SBI, the country’s largest public sector lender, and UK DFID, a minority stake in the company. The founders did not disclose how much stake SBI and UK DFID hold.

Das, who is also the company’s CEO, said the funding provides SunSource an opportunity to collaborate with the industry. “We need to deploy this money into domestic PPAs (distributed generation). Second is, just provide enough development support to other developers so that we can do larger EPC projects, and the third is international expansion,” he said.

With consolidation growing in both utility scale and commercial-industrial scale segments, SunSource is also looking at similar opportunities. “There will be opportunities for joint investment as well. We are considering acquisition of a few assets in FY18-19,” said Nandan.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes

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BENGALURU: Global private equity fund Actis LLP is poised to acquire renewable energy assets of Karnataka-based Bhoruka Group, a person familiar with the negotiations said.

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he deal will be based on enterprise value of about Rs 2,700 crore, the person told ET. “The deal is close to being sealed. Due diligence is currently being carried out,” the person said. Bhoruka Group, which also has interests in real estate, coal mining, gas and steel, is selling its entire renewable energy portfolio of 321 MW under its subsidiary Bhoruka Power Corp Ltd to Actis, continuing the wave of consolidation in the solar and wind energy domain, which has seen rapid capacity addition with thin margins in recent years.

Yes Securities, a subsidiary of Yes Bank, is the sole investment manager for the deal. Actis declined to comment on the matter. S Chandrasekhar, managing director at Bhoruka Power, too, declined to comment on “unconfirmed reports”. Founded in 1986, Bhoruka Power started by setting up small hydro plants, but has since branched into wind and solar energy. It has 15 small hydro projects with total capacity of around 121 MW, six wind projects with capacity of around 170 MW, and two solar projects totalling 30 MW. Barring one small wind project in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, and a hydro project in Yamunanagar, Haryana, all its projects are in Karnataka.Bhoruka Group has been looking for a buyer for Bhoruka Power for nearly a year. L&T Infrastructure Finance has an equity stake of around Rs 350 crore in the company. London-headquartered Actis, which invests in energy markets across Latin America, Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, Two years ago, a separate Actis fund also put $450 million into Sprng Energy, which along with its Mauritius-based holding company Solenergi, has already bagged two projects in India – a 250 MW solar project in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh at an auction held in February 2017 and a 197.5 MW wind project in Gujarat at the auction held in December 2017. Other recent acquisitions in the renewable energy space include ReNew Power’s buyout of the wind assets of KC Thapar Group for around Rs 1,000 crore in November last year; Hero Group’s takeover of the wind portfolio of LNJ Bhilwara Group for an undisclosed sum in October; and IDFC Alternatives-backed Vector Green Energy’s purchase of 190 MW solar assets from US-based First Solar for an undisclosed amount in July. The biggest deals in the business remain Tata Power’s buyout of Welspun Energy’s renewable portfolio of 1140 MW for Rs 9,249 crore in June 2016 and Greenko Energies’ takeover of the Indian assets of around 500 MW of US-based SunEdison for $392 million, or about Rs 2,500 crore, in October 2016.

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Business & finance

Shell may buy majority stake in solar power firm Fourth Partner Energy New Delhi: Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s second-biggest publicly traded oil company, plans to acquire a majority stake in Hyderabadbased rooftop solar firm Fourth Partner Energy, two people aware of the development said.

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hell is looking to buy a “significant stake” in Fourth Partner Energy, said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity. The second person said Shell is looking to acquire a majority in the firm. Shell’s interest in Fourth Partner Energy comes amid the central government’s ambitious plans to set up 175 gigawatt (GW) of clean energy capacity by 2022. Of this, 40GW is to come from rooftop solar projects. The Anglo-Dutch company runs a liquefied natural gas terminal at Hazira on India’s west coast and is the operator of the Panna-Mukta-Tapti fields, in a joint venture with state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Reliance Industries Ltd. It is among the few foreign oil companies to have a fuel retail licence in the country. Shell has been looking at the clean energy space in India for some time now.

Mint reported on 10 February last year about Shell’s interest in solar power producer Amplus Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd.In one of the largest overseas investments in the Indian rooftop solar space, Warburg Pincus agreed to invest as much as $100 million in CleanMax Solar in July last year. In 2015, infrastructure investment manager I Squared Capital, announced its $150 million investment in Amplus Energy.

While queries emailed to Fourth Partner Energy’s founders Saif Dhorajiwala and Vivek Subramanian remained unanswered, Aditya Gupta, senior manager, business development, at the firm in an emailed response said, “We regret that we do not have any news to share with you in this regard.”

“Shell does not comment on speculation,” a Shell India spokesperson said in an emailed response. Some of the global oil companies interested in the Indian clean energy space as reported by Mint include Norway’s Statoil ASA, France’s Total SA and Russia’s OAO Rosneft. In a move that may impact solar project developers, the Indian government is conducting an anti-dumping investigation on solar equipment imports from China, Taiwan and Malaysia. The government is also considering levying a 70% provisional safeguard duty on imported solar panels and modules from China and Malaysia, as recommended by the directorate general of safeguards.

A final decision is awaited.

India’s green power tariffs have remained near a record low. While solar power tariffs rose to Rs2.65 per kilowatt hour (kWh) at an auction conducted by the Gujarat government in September, last December’s auctions conducted by Solar Energy Corp. threw up winning bids of Rs2.47 and Rs2.48 per unit. This hasn’t dissuaded overseas firms including solar equipment makers from setting up base here. China’s LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. Ltd, for example, said it plans to invest $309 million investment to set up a solar equipment manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh

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Microsoft inks renewable energy deal for Bengaluru facility Tech giant Microsoft said it has inked its first renewable energy deal in India for powering its new facility in Bengaluru.

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he agreement will see Microsoft purchase 3 megawatts of solar-powered electricity from Atria Power for its new office building in Bengaluru, meeting 80% of the projected electricity needs at the facility, Microsoft said in a statement.

The company, however, did not disclose the financial details of the deal. The facility, which will be operational starting June, is spread over 5.85 lakh square feet. The Karnataka government is encouraging investments in local solar energy operations, in line with the country’s goal of ramping up solar power generation to 100 gigawatts by 2022.

Once completed, the project will bring Microsoft’s total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects to nearly 900 megawatts.

“Investing in local solar energy to help power our new Bengaluru office building is good for Microsoft, good for India and good for the environment,” Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari said.

"He added that this deal will help the company grow in a sustainable manner and also support the growth of the Indian solar energy industry. This is Microsoft’s first solar energy agreement in India, and one of the first ones in the Asian region."

The Redmond-based firm completed a new solar agreement in Singapore last week. The deals in Asia follow wind projects in Europe and a substantial portfolio in the US. Microsoft’s goal is to rely on wind, solar and hydropower electricity for at least 50% of its energy usage worldwide by the end of 2018.

Source: PTI

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trade wars

WTO members consider India’s request for compliance panel in dispute over solar cells special meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), WTO members considered India’s request for a panel to be established to examine India’s compliance with the recommendations and rulings of the DSB in a dispute over India’s domestic content requirements for solar cells and solar modules. The United States did not agree to the establishment of the compliance panel.

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ndia recalled that, on 23 January 2018, it had requested the establishment of a panel to determine its compliance with rulings of the DSB in this dispute.

India also recalled that it had filed its compliance status report, dated 14 December 2017, in which it informed the DSB that it has ceased to impose any measures found to be inconsistent with the DSB’s recommendations and rulings. On 19 December 2017, the United States requested authorization from the DSB to suspend concessions with respect to India due to what it said was India’s failure to comply with the rulings by the 14 December 2017 implementation deadline.

"India, at the meeting, said its request for a compliance panel has been necessitated by the United States seeking suspension of concessions or other obligations."

"India said the logical course of action is first to have recourse to compliance proceedings under Article 21.5 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding before going into procedures related to the US request to suspend concessions."

The United States did not agree to the establishment of a compliance panel.

India had not provided any evidence to demonstrate that it complies with the

DSB’s recommendations and rulings, the US said. It further said that India’s request for the establishment of a panel appears to indicate that India will continue to apply WTO-inconsistent domestic content requirement measures contained in Power Purchase Agreements that India entered into before December 2016. The US reserved its rights to move forward with procedures to obtain DSB authorization to take countermeasures in relation to India’s domestic content requirements; however, it also said it remains willing to work with India to find a bilateral resolution without further proceedings. Under WTO rules, a request for the creation of a panel can be blocked in the first instance.

A number of members intervened to comment on the sequence of procedures for determining compliance and authorizing the suspension of concessions. One noted that India’s request for the establishment of a compliance panel continues a trend in the WTO’s dispute settlement practice, illustrating that such a course of action was useful and appropriate. Another member said that concessions could only be suspended once a multilateral determination had been made to determine compliance.

One member referred to its previous statement calling for a proper course of

action that would serve the purpose of a prompt, positive and effective resolution of disputes.

The DSB took note of the statements and deferred the establishment of a compliance panel for this dispute.

DS464 United States — Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Measures on Large Residential Washers from Korea The United States took the floor under the agenda item of “Other Business” to inform the DSB of its intention to implement the recommendations and rulings of the DSB for this dispute in a manner that is consistent with its WTO obligations. The DSB had adopted the panel report on this dispute on 12 January 2018. The US indicated it would need a reasonable period of time to do so and was willing to pursue discussions with Korea in this regard.

Korea welcomed the notification of the United States. It said it had had fruitful consultations with the US regarding the determination of a reasonable period of time for implementing the DSB ruling.

Korea said it believed both parties will soon reach a mutual agreement on this matter and that it expected the US to promptly take all necessary actions to bring its measures into conformity within what will be the agreed period.

Source: wto.org

Korea initiates WTO complaint against US anti-dumping, countervailing duties

Korea has requested WTO consultations with the United States concerning the use of “facts available” by US investigating authorities in anti-dumping and countervailing investigations. The request was circulated to WTO members on 20 February.

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n its request, Korea challenges the provisions of US laws and regulations allowing the US Department of Commerce (USDOC) to use facts available in anti-dumping and countervailing investigations; the USDOC’s practice of using adverse facts with regard to producers or exporters deemed to have failed to cooperate in the investigation; and six anti-dumping and countervailing duty determinations on certain products from Korea in which the USDOC relied on adverse facts available.

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What is a request for consultations?

The request for consultations formally initiates a dispute in the WTO. Consultations give the parties an opportunity to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution without proceeding further with litigation. After 60 days, if consultations have failed to resolve the dispute, the complainant may request adjudication by a panel.

Source: wto.org

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trade wars

South Korea’s Moon urges ‘stern’ ISMA to file fresh petition for anti-dumping response to new US tariffs Trump has put his “America First” doctrine into action by imposing duties of 20 to 50 probe on solar equippercent on large washing machines made in nations including the South, as well as tariffs on solar panels imported from China and elsewhere. ment

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outh Korean President Moon Jae-in called for a “stern” response to new US tariffs on the South’s exports as concern grew over looming trade restrictions by Washington.

US President Donald Trump threatened retaliatory action against China and South Korea and vowed to revise or scrap a 2012 free trade deal with the South which he described as a “disaster”. Trump also put his “America First” doctrine into action last month by imposing duties of 20 to 50 percent on large washing machines made in nations including the South, as well as tariffs on solar panels imported from China and elsewhere.

Seoul has said it would take the issue to the World Trade Organization while Beijing expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with the move, adopted to protect US manufacturers. The trade frictions have strained ties at a time when Seoul and Washington are seeking to present a united front against North Korea’s nuclear threat.

Moon, at a meeting with aides, expressed concern over “intensifying protectionism” that may take a toll on the South’s export-reliant economy — also the world’s 11th largest.

“I am concerned that widening restrictions by the US on our exports, including steel, electronics, solar panels and washing machines, may take a toll on the exports despite their global competitiveness,” he said. “I’d like (officials) to respond to unreasonable protectionist measures in a confident and stern manner by… reviewing whether the measures violate the current KoreaUS free trade pact,” he said.

Moon also urged officials to “actively argue the unfairness” of the tariffs when renegotiating the bilateral free trade deal. Moon’s comments also came days after the US Commerce Department recommended hefty new tariffs on steel imports from countries including the South.

The US trade deficit — which Trump has vowed repeatedly to fix — widened even further during his first year in office, up 12 percent to $566 billion. The Trump administration last July initiated talks to renegotiate the free trade pact with Seoul, arguing it was lopsided because America’s bilateral trade deficit had ballooned under it.

Two previous rounds of talks made little progress and Seoul’s chief trade negotiator Kim Hyunchong said at the time there was “a long way to go”. The next round of negotiations is scheduled in Washington next month.

New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) The Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) said it has withdrawn its anti-dumping petition on solar equipment and will soon file a fresh plea with a different reference period of investigation.

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he ISMA feels there was a jump of 33 to 45 per cent in imports of solar equipment from China, Taiwan and Malaysia during July to December last year. The body had earlier filed its petition covering the investigation period till June 2017. The fresh petition would cover the period December 2017.

“It necessitated the need to contemporarise the period of investigation, and therefore ISMA has withdrawn the earlier petition,” it said in a statement. ISMA has said it will soon be approaching the commerce department and the honourable authority to file a fresh petition with a more relevant and more recent period of investigation.

Elaborating further, it said, “We had filed the petition for anti-dumping duty on solar cells and modules, covering the period of investigation till June 2017. However, the import trends since then have made the period of investigation irrelevant.”

It said, “Despite an ongoing investigation, the exports from China, Taiwan and Malaysia of cells and modules increased by 33 to 45 per cent during the period of July 2017 to December 2017. This massive increase in volumes was enabled by a significant price reduction to dump more material in India. The prices in the same period fell by about 25 per cent.” Meanwhile, India had proposed to levy a 70 per cent safeguard duty on import of solar power equipment from countries like China for 200 days to protect domestic industry.

The Directorate General of Safeguards in a January 5 recommendation to the finance ministry said solar cells are “being imported into India in such increased quantities and under such conditions so as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry manufacturing like or directly competitive products.”

Source: PTI

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technology

Trina Solar Announces New Efficiency Record of 25.04% for Large-area IBC Mono-crystalline Silicon Solar Cell CHANGZHOU, China — Trina Solar announced that its State Key Laboratory (SKL) of PV Science and Technology (PVST) has set a new record of 25.04% total-area efficiency for a large-area (243.18 cm2) n-type mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar cell, with open-circuit voltage up to 715.6 mV. The result was independently certified by Japan Electric Safety and Environmental Technology Laboratory (JET).

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he IBC solar cell is the most complicated but with the highest cell efficiency for mass production c-Si solar cell today. The recordbreaking n-type mono-crystalline silicon solar cell was fabricated on a large-sized industrial phosphorous-doped Cz Silicon substrate with a low-cost industrial IBC process, featuring conventional tube doping technologies and fully screen-printed metallization. The 6-inch solar cell reached a total-area efficiency of 25.04% as independently measured by JET in Japan. The IBC solar cell has a total measured area of 243.18cm2 and was measured without any aperture. The champion cell presents the following characteristics: an open-circuit voltage Vocof 715.6 mV, a short-circuit current density Jsc of 42.27 mA/cm2 and a fill factor FF of 82.81%.

It has been demonstrated to be the first single-junction c-Si solar cell developed in China to attain an efficiency above 25%, and also has been demonstrated to be the highest efficiency c-Si single junction solar cell based on a 6-inch large-area c-Si substrate.

As the largest photovoltaic modules supplier and the leading PV total solutions provider, Trina Solar aims to be a global leader of Energy Internet of Things. The Trina Solar State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology is one of the first state key laboratories based in PV companies and accredited by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. The laboratory so far has broken 18 world records in PV cell efficiency and module power output.

Source: Trina Solar Limited

At 23.6%, Chinese solar manufacturer LONGi Solar breaks its own world record for the highest efficiency of monocrystalline PERC solar cells

Chinese solar manufacturer LONGi Solar Technology Co., Ltd. (“LONGi Solar”) held a press conference in Japan . at which the company announced that it had achieved a record 23.6% conversion efficiency with its monocrystalline passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cells, as certified by China’s National Center of Supervision and Inspection on Solar Photovoltaic Product Quality (CPVT).

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he solar cell manufacturer not only broke its own record, but continues to be the world’s leading producer of monocrystalline PERC solar cells with the highest efficiency.

Over the past two years, monocrystalline PERC technology, with its distinct advantages in terms of performance and cost, has been increasingly favored and recognized across the solar cell industry, a sector that has higher requirements for efficiency as a result of the push among solar power producers to reduce the cost per kilowatt hour of solar power and achieve grid parity.

As a result, an increasing number of solar cell manufacturers have begun to produce monocrystalline PERC cells.

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LONGi Solar’s plans are to continue to invest heavily in monocrystalline PERC cells, to quickly expand production to meet the increasing demand for high-efficiency cells and to achieve the mass production of cells with a conversion efficiency exceeding 22 per cent, delivering more value to its customers,” stated LONGi Solar president Li Wenxue.

“LONGi Solar has been focusing on the R&D of monocrystalline solar cells and modules as part of its drive to make breakthroughs in monocrystalline technology. Since October 2017, LONGi Solar has broken the world record three times in terms of conversion efficiency of monocrystalline solar cells,” said Dr. Li Hua, vice president of research and development at LONGi Solar. ” The company achieved a new world record of 23.6% in efficiency at the beginning of 2018, after having announced on October 27, 2017 that it had reached a world record of 23.26%, exceeding the highest efficiency that industry analysts believe PERC cells can achieve. This achievement is another testament to LONGi Solar’s leading technology in monocrystalline cells.”

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

GoodWe Solar Inverters Installed at Nepal Prime Minister's Office As reported by China Central Television (CCTV),a large solar energy project in Nepal supported by the Chinese government was finally completed last December.

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aunched in October 2016, the project included the installation of solar panels on 23 government buildings such as the Prime Minister’s Office, the Energy Ministry and the Finance Ministry in order to effectively solve the frequent power outages in Nepal’s government departments by providing an average of 10 hours of office electricity every day.

GoodWe solar inverters were selected for this project due to their good quality and reputation.

Thanks to its reliable grid support capabilities, high waterproof and dustproof grade and extra-wide voltage range of modules, GoodWe DT series inverter was the ideal inverter for this project.

“The Belt and Road Initiative brings a good opportunity for the development of Chinese PV enterprises and promotes Chinese PV technology widely around the world” said GoodWe CEO Mr Huang Min.“GoodWe will seize the opportunity tokeep growing and expanding into the international markets”. GoodWe is a leading, strategically-thinking enterprise

which focuses on research and manufacturing of PV inverters and energy storage solutions.With an average monthly sales volume of 30,000 pieces in 2017 and 16 GW installed in more than 100 countries, GoodWe solar inverters have been largely used in residential, commercial rooftops, industrial and utility scale systems, ranging from 1.0 to 80kW.

Tatya Tope multipurpose stadium in Bhopal becomes the first solar powered non-cricket stadium Tatya Tope Multipurpose Stadium in Bhopal becomes the first non-cricket stadium in the country which is completely powered by solar energy. 60% of the expenses on energy are expected to be saved because of the solar power infrastructure in the stadium.

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his information was tweeted by the minister of state for power and new renewable energy Raj Kumar Singh. The Madhya Pradesh sports minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia told Economic Times that 375 KW electricity is being generated by the solar panels in the stadium. The stadium has been paying energy bills of 5 lakh per month so far.

This is expected to go down to 2 lakhs once the solar panel infrastructure is used for its

energy needs The sports minister also said that the cost of installation would be recovered in four/five years because of these savings. The stadium has facilities for football, athletics, volleyball, hockey, basketball, badminton, cricket, handball, table tennis, taekwondo and wrestling.

With the current upgrade, the stadium will be a cost-effective asset aiding sports development in Madhya Pradesh.

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

Vikram Solar Commissions Rooftop Solar Plant For IOCL Vikram Solar Limited, one of the top tier solar modules manufacturer and a renowned EPC solutions provider, has successfully installed a 100 kWp (50 kWp x 2) Rooftop Solar PV system at two sites in Bikaner and Jhunjhunu for the Indian Oil Corporation Limited offices in Rajasthan. The cumulative annual energy generation capacity of the two solar installations is 120000 kWh. A spokesperson at IOCL, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan– shared, “We are glad to join the renewable energy race, partnering with Vikram Solar. Our 100 kWp solar plant was powered on and although we are yet to analyse the output, we are happy to have made the stride in contributing to the Indian solar growth. Vikram Solar has done an exceptional job in installing and commissioning the system ensuring to highquality standards and above industry standard services”

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ikram Solar has a prestigious 60 MW (Commissioned + Under execution) Rooftop EPC portfolio comprising of government clients such as ISRO, IOCL, SBI, WBSEDCL, and AAI; whereas Private Sector solar enthusiasts from SL Group, IMFA, Century Ply, KBL, and Anmol Biscuits, among many others have further strengthened our resolve. India’s first Floating Solar Plant, done by Vikram Solar in Kolkata, also resonates our commitment towards innovation and social commitment.

Ms Neha Agrawal, Head-Corporate Strategy, Vikram Solar, shared on the occasion, “Focusing on quality, performance, and latest technology use, we have successfully satisfied the most conservative circle of clients in India and abroad. Our recent win in delivering a 100 kWp (50 kWp x 2) Rooftop Solar PV system to Indian Oil Corporation Limited testifies our resolve and complements our proven track record.”

She also added “We used ABB String Inverter (50kVA), imported from Germany, for this project, and faced logistical challenges as the installation site was on the outskirts of the city. The system, not only provides financial benefits but also environmental benefits in the form of Carbon Dioxide offset of 120 metric tonnes annually. We congratulate Indian Oil Corporation Ltd for joining the Indian solar revolution and thank them for helping us in our commitment of supporting the Indian solar dream.”

Source: indiaprojectsnews.in

Enerparc India Commissions Rooftop Solar Project for Gleason Works Pvt. Ltd. in Bengaluru.

Enerparc Energy Pvt. Ltd., Indian arm of Global Turnkey Solar Solution provider, Enerparc AG, Germany commissioned a 343kWp Solar Rooftop plant at Gleason Works Pvt. Ltd.

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situated in KIADB Aerospace Park in city of Bengaluru. Gleason Corporation, established in the year 1865 is a global engineering company with headquartered in Rochester, USA with presence in more than 25 countries and is primarily into design, manufacture and sale of machinery, tooling and equipment for the production of bevel and cylindrical gears used in variety of automotive, aerospace applications.

On this occasion, Mr. Pardeep Kumar Aggarwal, General Manager at Gleason India said, “The concept of installing Solar power plant at Gleason’s Bangalore facility reflects company’s commitment for green energy and environmental sustainability, it also portrays our global philosophy of always moving forward in finding new innovative ways for cost optimization.

Installed Solar power plant would generate more than 5 Lakh units annually and help Gleason to meet 90% of its daytime energy demand. By installing this solar power plant Gleason would help in reducing global carbon footprint by 460 tons per year.

Source: Enerparc

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SOlar Projects

Statkraft BLP inaugurates one of the largest “in-campus” solar power plants in Tamil Nadu Bengaluru/Chennai: Statkraft BLP Solar Solutions, one of the leading customer-focused solar solution providers and independent power producers in India, inaugurated a 5 MWp solar park on 13th February 2018 for SRF’s manufacturing plant in Gummidipoondi (Tamil Nadu).

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he project is one of the largest in-campus solar power projects in Tamil Nadu and will reduce electricity costs and CO2 emissions of SRF’s production plant for polymer-based technical textiles significantly: It is estimated to generate 7,500 MWh clean energy per year.

“We are proud to have set up one of the largest “in-campus” solar projects in Tamil Nadu that provides a high quality solar solution for SRF Limited.

This will further enhance our position as a unique service provider in the solar sector, and is another step to contribute to reach India’s renewable energy targets by 2022”, says Tejpreet S. Chopra, CEO of Statkraft BLP Solar Solutions.

“SRF has always been at the forefront of adopting technologies that aim at delivering quality to the customer on a sustainable basis and simultaneously promote green manufacturing in our business. Climate change and rising energy demand intensify the need for greater usage of clean and green energy in order to ensure environmental protection.

With the successful commissioning of the 5 MWp solar park we are making our operations both green and more sustainable,” said Sanjay Chatrath, president and CEO Technical Textiles Business, SRF Limited.

“The solar park we built for SRF is a milestone project for us where innovative design helped overcome technical challenges that we faced in setting up such a large project within an operating factory. The project has accounted for more than 1 Lakh hours of employment without any safety violation incidents, which proves that we follow our world-class health and safety standards rigorously” adds Pratyush K. Thakur, COO of Statkraft BLP Solar Solutions.

Solarpack commissioned 104MWdc Solar PV project in Telangana Solarpack, a multinational company with Head Quarters in Spain and regional presence in USA, Latin America, South Africa, Malaysia and India that develops, constructs and operates photovoltaic solar plants globally has commissioned Six photovoltaic solar plants with a total capacity of 104MWdc in the Indian state of Telangana.

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olarpack was awarded Six (6) PPA’s through competitive bidding for supply of power to Telangana state distribution company, TSSPDCL will acquire all the generated electricity through a longterm power purchase agreement (PPA) for a period of 25 years.

These are the first contract that were awarded to Solarpack in India in January 2016, which was the only Spanish company among the winners of this bid. These plants are expected to generate around 160 GWh annually. Solar PV projects are located in the districts of Mahbubnagar, Medak and Nizamabad in the Indian State of Telangana.

In our discussion Mr. Pradeep Chauhan, Country Manager-Indian Subcontinent of Solarpack said, “We aim to build about 200MW Solar PV projects every year in India, since India is a very important market for us. We have developed projects in Spain, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Colombia, USA, Malaysia and India. In addition to India, we have focus on neighboring countries eg. Bangladesh, Srilanka in the subcontinent etc. We believe in building world class assets with highest quality standards, our team have developed in-house design, engineering, construction, asset management and Operation & Maintenance capabilities. We have been able to successfully operate our global capacities well above 99.5% availability, which is testimony of our capability.

Further We have recently won 95MWac capacity projects for 5 locations in Karnataka State bid, that demonstrate our commitment for Indian renewable energy sector.

Solarpack’s first plant has now been generating energy for 10 years Solarpack recently celebrates 10th anniversary of its 1st Solar PV plant build in Spain with Single Axis Tracker, the Isla Mayor Solar Photovoltaic park in the province of Seville, has been operating non-stop since October 2007, avoiding 6,160 tons of atmospheric CO2 a year. We are present in Spain, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Colombia, USA, Malaysia and India. The company has commissioned over 200 MW in several countries. Solarpack also manages customer facilities that add an additional 250MW. Source: Solarpack

Source: statkraftblp

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artificiaL INTELLIGENCE

EDF Energies Nouvelles and Bharat Light & Power extend their partnership to add additional wind and solar farms to the AI powered IOT platform, “Orion”.

Delhi – EDF Energies Nouvelles’ subsidiary dedicated to operations and maintenance activity in Europe and Bharat Light & Power (BLP), an Indian renewable energy IPP, announced renewing their partnership.

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he goal is to develop one of the world’s most advanced dedicated AI powered IOT (internet of things) platforms, “Orion”, a solution that processes data for operations and maintenance services for renewable energy facilities. EDF and BLP shall be renewing their partnership to improve the performance of wind and solar farms by leveraging big data analytics, cloud, and machine learning.

The Orion platform, which EDF and BLP have been developing in partnership since 2015 increases the competitiveness of operations and maintenance, and optimises and improves asset performance by harnessing the insights gained from predictive analytics to deliver efficient management of renewable energy assets. Big data used to boost the operations and maintenance segment’s competitiveness The Orion platform provides monitoring, reporting and predictive intelligence for operations and maintenance providers, assets owners and utilities via the BLP control centre in Bengaluru. It harnesses big data, cloud, mobility and advanced analytics via a single platform.

Using customised algorithms, and machine learning, the platform considerably enhances data access, monitors production in real time, optimises predictive computations and delivers personalised reporting. This platform, available 24/7 around the world via its mobile application and web portal, revolutionises predictive maintenance – an essential service that EDF Energies Nouvelles’ subsidiary performs in 7 European countries.

Thierry Muller, CEO of EDF EN’s subsidiary dedicated to operations and maintenance said: “The extended partnership between Bharat Light & Power and our European team of renewable experts will provide the highest standards of operations and maintenance services to a large number of customers by leveraging the platform, Orion. This innovative digital tool supports the renewable part of the Indo-French partnership to increase clean energy globally and make it affordable by utilizing disruptive new technologies such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and big data analytics”.

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“This partnership reflects the disruption occurring globally in the energy sector”, said BLP CEO Tejpreet S. Chopra.

“With the significant decline in renewable energy prices, AI driven IOT platform Orion brings together deep global renewable energy expertise from EDF Energies Nouvelles with deep IT and domain expertise in India to provide cost effective actionable intelligence that improves the performance of energy assets.” A product that has evolved from a robust and complementary Franco-Indian partnership at the forefront of innovation EDF Energies Nouvelles operations and maintenance activity has already connected more than 1 GW in wind and solar energy assets that it manages from its European Diagnostic Centre, on the Orion platform, and has benefited from improved visualisation, predictive maintenance and real time tracking. Orion has benefited from the EDF Energies Nouvelles operations and maintenance teams’ strong expertise across 7 countries. The platform has leveraged the strength of EDF Energies Nouvelles’ engineering expertise with cost effective IOT and AI solutions in India to develop a global product. The teams have been working closely to enable the system to grow and develop around operational requirements with the benefit of real time feedback.

The renewal of this partnership for a further three years has demonstrated the relevance of this association of technical wind and solar expertise and data management knowledge to boost the competitiveness of renewable energy power plants.

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Energy storage

LG Chem and Samsung SDI Are the Leading Manufacturers of Lithium Ion Batteries A new Leaderboard Report from Navigant Research examines the strategy and execution of 10 lithium ion (Li-ion) battery manufacturers, with LG Chem and Samsung SDI ranked as the leading companies.

“Leaders in this market have clearly differentiated themselves from the competition through exceptional product development and strong industry relationships with project developers, utilities, financiers/investors, and system component vendors,” says Ian McClenny, research analyst at Navigant Research. “We believe that these Leaders are poised to spearhead the charge for current and next-generation Li-ion batteries in the coming years.”

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apid growth in markets that rely on Li-ion batteries has allowed suppliers to develop economies of scale through major investments in new manufacturing facilities, which are also driving down prices. With this, the global landscape of Li-ion manufacturers is becoming increasingly competitive as companies vie for market share, leveraging the technology’s benefits of low cost, energy density, efficiency, and safety. Click to tweet: According to a new Leaderboard report from @NavigantRSRCH, LG Chem and Samsung SDI are the leading manufacturers of Liion batteries.

Navigant Research expects the Li-ion industry to reach $23.1 billion by 2026. Market growth is likely to be spread primarily among the regions of North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, driven by regulatory changes and incentives before prices come down enough to compete with retail electricity rates, according to the report.

The report, Navigant Research Leaderboard: Lithium Ion Batteries for Grid Storage, examines the strategy and execution of 10 leading Li-ion battery manufacturers that are active in the global market for Li-ion batteries for grid storage. These players are rated on 12 criteria: vision;

go-to market strategy; partners; production strategy; technology; geographic reach; sales, marketing, and distribution; product performance; product quality and reliability; product portfolio; pricing; and staying power. Using Navigant Research’s proprietary Leaderboard methodology, vendors are profiled, rated, and ranked with the goal of providing industry participants with an objective assessment of these companies’ relative strengths and weaknesses in the global Li-ion batteries for grid storage market. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the Navigant Research website.

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Energy storage

Lithium Seen as Lifeline for Oil Majors in Clean Energy Future

Lithium is a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries that are prevalent in electronics from mobile phones to electric cars. The metal is part of the cathode, which houses the electric charge. Demand for the mineral is projected to rise 38-fold by 2030 to 7,845 metric tons per year from 200 metric tons in 2016, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Big oil companies have the capital to deploy and expertise in developing large projects that could help the lithium industry expand.

Oil majors have been dabbling in clean energy for decades, but it doesn’t make up a significant percent of any of their businesses. This is beginning to change, with the industry seeking new revenue streams and to keep themselves at the center of the energy business.

Lithium could be a lifeline for oil majors as the energy industry shifts toward lower-polluting alternatives to fossil fuels, said Jeff McDermott of Greentech Capital Advisors LLC. Their specialty is resource extraction, McDermott, managing partner of the New York-based boutique investment bank advising energy companies and investors, said in an interview in London.

They should buy lithium miners, get involved in the upstream of core battery technology.

T

his suggestion marks out one solution to the existential question some of the world’s biggest energy companies are facing about how to survive as governments clamp down on the fuels they produce. As the curbs on carbon emissions tighten, a key issue for fossil fuel producers are how much oil and gas demand is at risk.

Total SA bought the battery maker Saft Groupe SA for 950 million euros in 2016. Royal Dutch Shell Plc recently made tracks into electricity, buying First Utility Ltd. in the U.K. in December. BP Plc has taken a 43 percent stake in British solar developer Lightsource Renewable Energy Ltd. for $200 million. McDermott also sees opportunities for oil majors in offshore wind and integrated systems for autonomous vehicles.

Shell and Statoil ASA of Norway have made recent moves into the wind industry, capitalizing on their experience in drilling for oil and gas in the sea. Shell is a part of the consortium building the Borssele III & IV wind farms in Dutch waters.

Source: Bloomberg

British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta to beat Tesla, plans to build world’s biggest lithium ion battery

S

CANBERRA: British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta has revealed plans to build the world’s biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said that the battery would benefit the broader community, Xinhua news agency reported. “We know that more renewable energy means cheaper power, and that’s why we have increased our renewable energy target to 75 per cent and also introduced a new renewable storage target of 25 per cent,” Weatherill told reporters in Adelaide.

“These targets will accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewables and lower bills for South Australians.”

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ince its completion in December 2017, Tesla’s South Australia battery has surpassed expectations, regularly supplementing the state’s power grid to prevent widespread blackouts.The planned 120 megawatts (MW)/140 megawatt hours (MWh) storage capacity of Gupta’s Liberty House is larger than that of the current record holder, built

by Elon Musk’s Tesla in South Australia in 2017, which has a cap of 100MW/129MWh. The battery will power solar farm to be built at the site of a former steelworks near Adelaide which Gupta’s Liberty House bought in 2017. Gupta secured a nearly $8 million loan from the South Australian government through its Renewable Technology Fund for the project which is expected to create 100 construction jobs.The announcement of Gupta’s project came on the final day of campaigning ahead of Saturday’s state election, a campaign where renewable energy has been a key issue. Funds for the project were committed by Weatherill’s government prior to the government going into a caretaker period, meaning the project will go ahead regardless of Saturday’s result.

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PV MANUFACTURING

DuPont Introduces New Sol- Risen Energy Initiates Ten amet® PV21A Metallization Billion-Yuan Capacity ExpanPastes at 2018 Tokyo PV Expo sion Plan As the industry leader in solar solutions that delivers proven power and lasting value for the solar industry, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions introduced the complete DuPont™ Solamet® PV21A portfolio to fulfill emerging cell technology trends at the 2018 International Photovoltaic Power Generation Expo in Tokyo, Japan.

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ith proprietary design that delivers better contact performance and high aspect ratios, Solamet® PV21A metallization paste enables excellent fine line printability that can drive cell efficiency enhancement >0.1 percent and maintains high throughput in mass production. The optimal balance of good adhesion and low laydown leads to low cost of ownership for cell manufacturers. The Solamet® PV21A product family is designed to fulfill all mainstream cell technology, it also includes product series for advanced printing such as double printing, dual print and mesh cross free screen printing. Industry-leading performance is proven on a variety of substrates such as DWS (Dimond Wire Saw) wafer and black silicon.

“Serving the solar industry for more than 30 years, DuPont is proud to lead the pace of innovation on solar cell efficiency. By pioneering more than 140 innovations of Solamet® we have consistently enabled our customers to improve their power output and reduce total system installation costs,” said Andy Kao, Solamet® global technology manager, DuPont Photovoltaic & Advanced Materials.

At the Expo, DuPont is collaborating with TSEC Corporation to demonstrate the latest solar modules powered by Solamet® PV21A which helps to deliver increased efficiency and higher power output. TSEC, which specializes in manufacturing high performance, top quality mono- and multi-crystal solar cells and modules, has observed 21.75 percent and 20.3 percent cell efficiency and module power output as high as 315 watts and 300 watts (60 pcs) in its 5 busbar half-cut design mono PERC and multi-PERC black cell modules respectively. the DuPont booth at PV Expo 2018, located at E40-8, will feature collaborations with two of the world’s leading module makers, JinkoSolar and Longi Solar regarding high power and reliable modules protected by DuPont™ Tedlar® PVF film.

A new highlight in the DuPont booth will be the clear Tedlar® PVF film with 20+ years outdoor proven performance in transparent backsheet. Clear Tedlar® PVF film is the ideal backsheet material for bi-facial modules. Compare to double glass module structure, breathable clear Tedlar® PVF film can help to release moisture and acetic acid from EVA layer; in the meantime, the transparent backsheet layer largely reduces module weight up to 30 percent which can help to lower transportation and installation costs. It is a ready manufacturing solution that is compatible with current module manufacturing processes. The DuPont booth also will feature exhibits from DowDuPont Specialty Products Division, including DuPont™ Xavan® weed control fabric for ground mounted systems that helps make system operation and maintenance safer and easier, and DuPont high-performance polymers that enable lighter-weight system installations.

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In response to the massive growth taking place across the PV sector, on December 5, 2017, A-share market-listed PV module producer and China industry leader Risen Energy Co., Ltd. announced that the company has signed an agreement with the government of Jintan district, Changzhou, Jiangsu province, to invest 8 billion yuan in building 5GW solar cell and 5GW PV module manufacturing facilities in the area.

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he company announced that it signed a framework agreement with Yiwu Information and Optoelectronics High-Tech Industrial Park on an investment in a 5GW solar cell module manufacturing base. Along with a 200 million-yuan, 30,000-ton PPE modification and PV module production line in Ruicheng, Shanxi province, Risen Energy’s total investment has exceeded 10 billion yuan. PV module makers are realizing they need to rapidly improve their technologies and equipment capacity. Their steady growth gave impetus to the accelerated capacity expansion.

Risen Energy’s recently announced 2017 performance forecast shows revenue for the fiscal year is expected to break the 10 billion-yuan mark, while net profit attributable to shareholders (excluding non-recurring gains and losses) is in the 645-705 million yuan range, up 25.5-37.19%.

Risen Energy has begun pushing ahead with its capacity expansion plan, while maximizing control of underlying risks.

The firm plans to bring together a team of qualified professionals, build high-profile technology research centers, strengthen collaborative efforts between Chinese and foreign experts, develop and master new processes, apply new technologies and develop new products, manage intellectual property rights, while constantly enhancing core competitiveness to address various technical risks.

“Among many boats vying to overtake one another, only the most hard-working one can be the winner,” said Risen Energy president Wang Hong. “In a period that is key to us in our move to accelerate our industrial transformation, we must increase our investment in R&D, continuously improve the cost performance of our products, strengthen cost controls, further differentiate our products, and provide customers with valueadded services, to maintain our products’ competitive advantage.

At the same time, we must always be prepared, and actively explore new markets, to, in our role as one of China’s leading industry player, contribute to the optimization of the structure of the entire sector at a global level.”

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

White Paper on Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

Over the past couple of years, there is a surge in electric vehicle development across the globe and India is in race to become a major player in Electric Automation.

•

• •

India has the potential to electrify as much as 40% of new vehicles hitting the country’s roads by 2030 (NITI AYOG).

Many industry experts suggest that the lifetime costs of owning and driving an EV will be comparable to ICE by 2022.

Sales of the electric cars to soar in the 2020s.

Mr. Ravi Shaw

Head Engineering Hinduja Renewables Pvt. Ltd

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations The EV chargers can be AC or DC type.

• The AC chargers (home) generally comes with 1.5/3 KW capacity • The DC charging can be categorised as . The Level 1 charges from 10 kW to 15KW with output voltage up to 72 Volt. . The Level 2 charges from 30 kW to 150KW with max out put voltage up to 1000 Volt.TheLevel 2 can be further segmented into fast charger for capacity above 50KW range.

The architecture for the whole EV infrastructure as shown below

EV – Electric Vehicle, EVSE – Electric vehicle supply equipment, CMS – Central monitoring system

3. EV Charging Stations vs. Vehicle Matrix

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

4.Regulatory framework for EV:

CERC Proposed Business Model: CERC has approved 3 business models viable within the framework of the Electricity Act 2003.

1. Battery Swapping model where Company own the battery, charge them and swap with discharged one.

Battery Swapping Flow Chart 2. PPP franchisee model where companies can partner with electricity distribution companies.

3. Electricity distribution companies in state can establish charging infrastructure with tariff under special category.

State/Government Initiative & Announcements: • In Karnataka, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) plans to install 10 charging station in Bangalore • Bescom has proposed a ‘Time of Day tariff’ system under which motorists can be charged at Rs. 4.5 per unit during day time and Rs. 4 at night. (click to view) • Maharashtra government recently announced tax sops for purchases, manufacturing of EV’s and setting up of charging infrastructure. (click to view) • The Southern and Eastern Power Distribution Companies of Andhra Pradesh (A.P) has proposed a power tariff of 6.95 per unit for electric vehicles (Click to view) • Based on recent announcement all government offices will using EV’s by 2020

5. Standardization of Charging protocols: The Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises has issues standard protocol for charging infrastructure.At present only two charger specifications are released Bharat EV AC Charger (BEVC – AC001) &Bharat EV DC Charger (BEVC – DC001)

A. Bharat EV AC Charger (BEVC-AC001) Sr. No.

Parameter

Requirement

General Requirements 1

EVSE Type

AC

2

Energy Transfer Mode

Conductive

Input Requirements 1

AC Supply System

Three-Phase, 5 Wire AC system (3Ph.+N+PE)

2

Nominal Input voltage

415V (+6% and -10%) as per IS 12360

3

Input Frequency

50Hz, ±1.5Hz

4

Input Supply Failure backup

Battery backup for minimum 1 hour for the control system and billing unit. Data logs should be synchronized with CMS during back up time, in case battery drains out.

Environmental Requirements 1

Ambient Temperature Range

0 to 55°C

2

Ambient Humidity

5 to 95%

3

Ambient Pressure

86 kpa to 106 kpa

4

Storage temperature

0 to 60°C

Mechanical Requirements

58

1

Suggested Cable Security

PMAO and the vehicle connector outlet to have provision for locking mechanism during charging to ensure the safety of the cable

2

Mechanical Stability

Shall not be damaged by mechanical impact energy: 20 J (5 kg at 0.4 m)

3

IP Ratings

IP 54

4

Cooling

Air cooled or forced air cooled to protect the equipment against temperature hazards

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES Sr. No.

Parameter

Requirement

Output Requirements 1

Number of outputs

3

2

Type of each output

230V (+6% and -10%) single phase, 15A as per IS 12360A.C.

3

Output Details

3 Independent charging sockets

4

Output Current

Three Vehicles charging simultaneously, each at 15A current

5

Output Connector Compatibility

IEC 60309

6

Limiting output current

Circuit breaker for each outlet limited to 15A current output. Breaker should be reset to resume operation

7

Connector Mounting

Angled connector mounted looking downwards for outdoor use

8

Isolation

Between Input & Output; Between all outlets with proper insulation

User Interface & Display Requirements 1

ON- OFF (Start-Stop) switches

Simple Push button type

2

Emergency stop switch

Mushroom headed Push button type (Red colour)

3

Visual Indicators

Error indication, Presence of input supply indication, Charge process indication and other relevant information

4

Display & touch-screen size

Minimum 6 inches with 720 x 480 pixels EVSE should display appropriate messages for user during the various charging states like

5

Display Messages

• Vehicle plugged in / Vehicle plugged out • Idle / Charging in progress - SOC • Fault conditions; metering: unit’s consumption; Duration since start of charge, Time to charge, kWh

6

User Authentication

Using mobile application or User interface (OCPP gives only a field mandate, media to be used is open)

7

Metering Information

Consumption Units

Billing & Payment Requirements 1

Metering

Metering as per units’ consumption for charging each vehicle

2

Billing

Grid responsive billing

3

Payment

BHIM and Bharat QR compliant mobile application payment

Communication Requirements 1

Communication between EVSE and

Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) 1.5 protocol.

Central Server

Should be upgradable to next version of OCPP whenever it is released including OCPP 2.0 which is a draft version now Should enable handshaking between EVSE and CMS for discovery.

It should authorize the operation, before electric vehicle can start or stop charging.

EVSE should respond to CMS for various queries and commands like reservation, cancellation.

2

Metering

Grid responsive metering as per units’ consumption of each vehicle

3

Interface between charger and central management system(CMS)

Reliable Internet Connectivity

Protection & Safety Requirements 1

Safety Parameters

Safety and protection to be ensured for India specific environment (As per AIS 138 Part1)

2

Start of Charging

The outlet will be locked and covered, the connector will be exposed to charging only after user authentication using user interface or mobile application. Only when the lock opens and connector is properly connected, the switch/relay will turn ON to feed power to EV. Lock will be opened only after full charging and authentication by user or the operator. Once disconnected, the charging session terminates

3

Power failure

If there is a power failure, user is indicated about this. The charging resumes when power comes on. If the user wants to terminate the session during power failure, the user can shut-off the switch and remove the plug

4

Interruption of Charging

O Connector terminals to be mounted with temperature sensors to avoid burning of connectors. Safety mechanism to trigger switching off the charging at temp.>80°C.In such situation, an appropriate signal will be sent to turn the switch/relay OFF to stop the charging. Once disconnected, the charging session terminates. O If the above locking mechanism is mandated then the following point won't be required: If plug is taken out (for more than 2 seconds) and then reinserted for charging, the chargingsession will disconnect. A new session will be required to continue charging to ensure that no one can remove a vehicle being charged and insert their own cable and use the infrastructure without paying or at someone else’s account

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Connector Details:

Connector Details: EVSE Plug

EVSE Socket

Pin Details

B. Bharat EV DC Charger (BEVC-DC001) Sr. No.

Parameter

Requirement

General Requirements 1

EVSE Type

Dual-connector DC EVSE

2

Energy Transfer Mode

Conductive

3

Charging mode

Mode 4

4

Reliability and Serviceability

Modularity, self-diagnostic features, fault codes and easy serviceability in the field

System Structure 1

Regulation Method

Regulated d.c EV charging station with combination of CVC or CCC but not simultaneously

2

Isolation

Each output isolated from each other with proper insulation

3

Environmental conditions

Outdoor use

4

Power supply

d.c. EV charging station connected to a.c. mains

5

DC output voltage rating

Up to and including 100 V

6

Charge control communication

Communicate by digital and analog signals

7

Interface inter-operability

Inter-operable with any EV(non-dedicated, can be used by any consumer)

Operator

Operated by a trained person or EV Owner

8

Input Requirements 1

AC Supply System

3-Phase, 5 Wire AC system (3Ph+N+E)

2

Nominal Input voltage

3Ø, 415V (+6% and -10%) as per IS 12360

3

Input Frequency

50Hz, ±1.5Hz

4

Supply side AC Connector for Input

IEC 62196 Type 2

5

Input Supply Failure backup

Battery backup for minimum 1 hour for control system and billing unit, to enable activities such as billing, to be provided.

Output Requirements 1

Output Details

Suitable for 48V and 72V vehicle battery configuration

2

Charger Configuration Types

i. Type 1: Single vehicle charging at 48V or 72V with a maximum of 10kW power, or a 2W vehicle charging at 48V with maximum power of 3.3 kW. ii. Type 2 : Single vehicle charging at 48V with a maximum of 10kW power or 72V with a maximum of 15 kW power or a 2W vehicle charging at 48V with maximum power of 3.3 kW.

3

Output Current

200 Amp Max

4

Number of Outputs

2

5

Output Connectors

2 output connectors

6

Output Connector Compatibility

one connector with GB/T 20234.3 + 1 connectors to be defined

7

Converter Efficiency

> 92 % at nominal output power

8

Power factor

≥ 0.90 (Full load)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Sr. No.

Parameter

Requirement

Cable Requirements 1

Charging Cable Length

5 Meter, Straight Cable

2

Cable Type

Charging cable and connector permanently attached to DC FC

Environmental Requirements 1

Ambient Temperature Range

0°C to 55°C

2

Ambient Humidity

5 to 95%

3

Ambient Pressure

86 kpa to 106 kpa

4

Storage Temperature

0 to 60°C

Mechanical Requirements 1

Ingress Protection

IP 54

2

Mechanical Stability

Shall not be damaged by mechanical impact as defined in Section 11.11.2 of IEC 61851-1

3

Cooling

Air Cooled

4

Mechanical Impact

Shall not be damaged by mechanical impact as defined in Section 11.11.3 of IEC 61851-1

5

Dimension(W*H*D)/Weight

To be decided e.g W*H*D mm, xxx Kg

User Interface & Display Requirements 1

ON- OFF (Start-Stop) switches

Simple Push button type

2

Emergency stop switch

Simple Push button type in Red Color

3

Visual Indicators

Error indication, Presence of input supply indication, State of charge process indication

4

Display

Minimum 6 inches with 720 x 480 pixels TFT LCD Touch Screen

5

Support Language

English

6

Display Messages

EVSE should display appropriate messages for user during the various charging states like: • Vehicle plugged in / Vehicle plugged out. • Duration since start of charge, Time to charge, kWh. • User authorization status. • Idle / Charging in progress: SOC. • Fault conditions. • Metering Information: Consumption Units

7

Authentication

As per OCPP (through mobile application or card reader)

Performance Requirements 1

DC Output voltage and current tolerance

DC Output current regulation in Constant Current Charging (CCC): ± 2.5 A for the requirement below 50 A, and ± 5 % of the required value for 50 A or more DC Output voltage regulation in Constant Voltage Charging (CVC): Max. 2 % for the max rated voltage of the EVSE

2

Control delay of charging current in CCC

DC output current Demand Response Time: <1 s Ramp up rate: 20 A/s or more Ramp Down rate: 100 A/s or more

3

Descending rate of charging current

EVSE should be able to reduce DC current with the descending rate of 100 A/s or more

4

Periodic and random deviation (current ripple)

DC output current ripple limit of EVSE: 1.5 A below 10 Hz, 6 A below 5kHz, 9A below 150 kHz

5

Periodic and random deviation (voltage ripple)

Max. ripple voltage: ±5 V. Max slew rate: ±20 V/ms

Communication Requirements 1

Communication between EVSE and Vehicle

CAN based as per IEC 61851-24

2

Communication interface between charger and central management system(CMS)

Ethernet(Standard), Wi-Fi

3

Communication between EVSE and Central Server

Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) 1.5 protocol. Should be upgradable to next version of OCPP whenever it is released including OCPP2.0 which is a draft version now Should enable handshaking between EVSE and CMS for discovery. It should authorize the operation, before electric vehicle can start or stop charging. EVSE should respond to CMS for various queries and commands like reservation, cancellation.

Metering: Grid responsive metering

Billing Requirements 1

Billing

Grid responsive metering

2

Payment

BHIM and Bharat QR compliant mobile application payment

Protection & Safety Requirements 1

Safety Parameters

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Over current, under voltage, over voltage, Residual current, Surge protection, Short circuit, Earth fault at input and output, Input phase reversal, Prevention of vehicle movement during charging, Emergency shut- down with alarm, Over temperature, Protection against electric shock

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

A. Level 1 – Non-Networked EV Charging Stations

Selection of EV Charging Station The suitability of charging station at particular location depends on the charging requirements.As shown by the charging pyramid, most vehicles will charge at home (single- or multi-family) for the majority of the time. However, EV drivers also seek public charging infrastructure to use at work, around town, and on longer trips. Many of these chargers come with an option to purchase a subscription to a charging network that can collect payments from users and limits use of the station to charging network members.

C. Level 2 – Networked EV Charging Stations

Level 2 charging stations are a popular choice for commercial public installations because they typically offer better durability and more features, such as a cord management system that keeps the cord off the ground when not in use and network connections for tracking use, establishing payments, or making reservations. Listed below are networked Level 2 stations that offer valuable features, but the stations are more expensive because of this capability and require a subscription fee for the owner. There are non-networked Level 2 charging station models available as shown in below Table, but they cannot collect payments from the users or monitor station activity.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

7.Decision Flowchart for Charging Stations Installation: 8. Techno commercial issues to be addressed:

• The right Business model to enter into the segment? Swapping or PPP? • The right electricity mix and tariffs.

• Are Indian grids ready for EVs and can meet the demand diversity if Indians start charging cars at some particular time where tariffs are low.

• On an average how often in a day will the driver swap/charge the batteries? (2 times, 3 times?)

• Charging or Swapping? What should be the right mix?

• Impact on investment of charging station provider if wireless charging becomes a reality in near future.

• On an average how many Kms will the e-vehicle travel in one hour given the traffic density?

• How much will the driver charge the passenger for one km of travel?

• In case of swapping, If the driver confesses to having the battery charged through a non-authorized source, what tools do we have at our disposal to recover the lost revenue?

• In case of swapping, what if the driver sells off the battery in a secondary market and flees away? Can we really afford to spend resources on recovering the lost batteries?

• What type of motor (in terms of HP) will the e-vehicle use?

• Where are we going to install the GPS system, batteries or vehicles?

• And more…

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

How Battery Storage Can Help Charge The Electric-Vehicle Market People are reluctant to buy electric vehicles because of concerns about charging. But public, fast-charging infrastructure is not yet widely available or profitable. There is a way to resolve that conundrum.

By : Stefan Knupfer, Jesse Noffsinger, and Shivika Sahdev

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Electric vehicles are beginning to win considerable attention but are still rarely sighted on American roads. Through the first half of 2017, fewer than 800,000 battery EVs (BEVs) had been sold in the United States, or about 1 percent of all cars.1 But growth has been strong of late due to rising consumer acceptance, improved technology, and supportive regulation. McKinsey estimates that there could be ten to eleven million BEVs on US roads by 2030.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

For this to happen, though, access to charging infrastructure must improve.

Although many BEVs are charged at home, public charging is necessary for owners who are travelling or if they don’t own homes with garages.

{ { Right now, there are only about 16,000 public charging stations in the United States; there are seven times as many gas stations.

Fewer than 2,000 of these are fast charging stations because those are expensive and currently unprofitable with too few transactions to break even. It is a classic chicken-or-egg situation. People will be reluctant to buy a BEV if they worry that it will run out of juice. But unless more BEVs are sold, the charging infrastructure will not be built to serve them.

Two Problems, One Solution There Are Two Major Problems.

FIRST, there is convenience. Most public charging stations are “Level 2,” meaning that they deliver 7 to 19 kilowatt-hours (kWhs) of energy every hour (think of kWhs as equivalent to gallons of gas).5 A BEV sedan with a 60-kWh battery would take five to ten hours to “fill up” at a conventional (as opposed to fast-charging) Level 2 station. Having so few stations and such long service times turns off would-be buyers (Exhibit 1).

SECOND, there are the economics. Although direct-current fast-charging (DCFC) stations with 150 kilowatts of power can fill up a BEV sedan in about 30 minutes, they can cost up to $150,000 to install; a 50-kilowatt DCFC station can cost $50,000. The kilowatt number refers to the maximum amount of energy that can be drawn every hour; a higher kilowatt delivers more electricity faster. DCFC stations are also expensive to run.

O

ne reason behind the expense is “demand charge” (see sidebar, “What are demand charges?”). All electricity customers pay for the energy they consume, as measured in kWh; this charge is like paying for gallons of water used.

Nonresidential customers, including charging stations, also pay a demand charge for the maximum amount of energy used in any 15- to-30-minute period in a month. Measured in kilowatts (kW), a unit of power, this charge is like paying for overhead.

It is assessed to recoup the fixed costs for power plants, power lines, transformers, and so on that connect customers to the grid and supply power even at times of high demand. Demand charges account for a significant fraction of consumers’ electric bills and can make EV-charging stations unprofitable (Exhibit 2).

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

H

ere is a hypothetical situation. A DCFC station has four 150-kilowatt chargers. In an average month, two or three cars a day show up to charge, none at the same time. Each car uses energy at a rate of 150 kilowatts and charges for at least 15 minutes; the peak is therefore 150 kilowatts for that month. If two cars showed up during the same 15 minutes, though, the peak energy used would be 300 kilowatts, which would double the demand charge for the month.

D

emand charges can be as little as $2 per kilowatt all the way to $90 per kilowatt6; paradoxically, they tend to be higher in states where BEVs are more popular, such as California, Massachusetts, and New York. In a high-charge state, with no cars charging at the same time, the monthly demand charge could be $3,000 to $4,500. For the BEV owner, that could translate into $30 to $50 per session, plus the cost of the actual energy. Customers just will not pay that.

Clearly, if there were more customers, the cost per session would fall. But because current costs are so high, investors have been slow to build stations, and because there are not enough charging stations, consumers have been slow to buy BEVs.

T

here is a way to resolve this conundrum: stationary battery storage (Exhibit 3). On-site batteries can charge and discharge using direct current (DC) and connect to the grid through a large inverter. They can then charge from the grid at times when costs are lower, store the power, and release it when demand is higher (a practice known as peak shaving). When a car arrives, the battery can deliver electricity at 150 kilowatts without drawing power from the grid. If two vehicles arrive, one can get power from the battery and the other from the grid. In either case, the economics improve because the cost of both the electricity itself and the demand charges are greatly reduced.

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A

In addition, the costs of batteries are decreasing, from $1,000 per kWh in 2010 to $230 per kWh in 2016, according to McKinsey research.7 So are the costs of the rest of the system, such as the inverter, container, software and controls, site design, construction, and connection to the grid.

Here is how it could work.

A station owner installs a battery system capable of charging and discharging at a power of 150 kilowatts and builds in 300 kWh of battery cells to hold the energy. When no vehicles are present, the battery system charges up to ensure that energy is available and does not trigger a higher demand charge. When a car arrives, the stationary battery delivers the needed juice without calling on the grid. When two vehicles come in, the battery could provide power to one and the grid could provide power to the other.

battery with a 300-kWh capacity can manage the peak demand through several two-vehicle charges and recharge in between, thus keeping peak demand below 150 kilowatts. A system configured this way could reduce demand charges to a minimum; that would be $3,000 a month that would not need to be passed on to consumers, which would substantially cut costs. Tesla has already said it is going in this direction, and others may â&#x20AC;&#x153;follow suit.â&#x20AC;?

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hen and if BEVs hit the roads in high numbers, batteries will no longer be able to reduce peak demand efficiently because there will not be enough time to recharge them as cars queue up for power. At this point, though, economies of scale will kick in, and the demand charge will be absorbed by the many cars coming through the station.

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hat does not mean that on-site batteries will become obsolete.

They can still be a source of value.

Where costs vary widely by the hour, such as in California, batteries can reduce the per-kilowatt-hour cost of electricity. They can also generate revenue by providing additional grid services such as frequency regulation and demand response.

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here is considerable optimism about EVs, and for good reason, given rising concerns about the environment, volatility in oil prices, and falling costs. McKinsey estimates that EVs, which now account for less than 1 percent of the global fleet, could hit 20 percent by 2030 (for cars) and 12 percent (for commercial vehicles).

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ut these are hypothetical scenarios.

In reality, it is consumers who will ultimately decide the destiny of EVs. Accustomed to the ease of conventional cars, they want the same from EVs. For that to happen, charging must become cheaper and easier. By helping cut operating costs, enhance revenues, and improve reliability, battery storage could play a crucial role in this evolution.

Source: mckinsey

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Yes Bank Study On Importance Of Make In India, Green Policies And Green Bonds For Paradigm Shift Of Electric Mobility In India

Release of YES BANK – TERI study ‘Electric Mobility: Achieving a Paradigm Shift’, at World Sustainable Development Summit 2018

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ES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector bank partnered TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) as Banking Partner for the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2018 in New Delhi.

The joint initiative outlines key findings, including front runners in adoption of Clean Energy, basis ease of scalability and preferred mode of transport, and the onvergence of the ‘Make in India’ initiative together with Green policy interventions and Green bonds to make EV a transport reality in India. This is in line with the Government’s ambitious target of achieving 100% electrification of transport by 2030.

L – R: Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI; Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES BANK; Shri Anand Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy; Shri Jayant Sinha, MoS for Civil Aviation; Shri Upendra Tripathy, Interim DG of International Solar Alliance

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Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi delivered the Inaugural Address on February 16 and stressed on re-enforcement of India’s commitment to work towards a sustainable planet, for present and future generations. The PM highlighted India’s steady progress on creating a carbon sink of 2.5-3 bn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030, a mighty feat. As the world’s fastest growing major economy, the PM spoke about India’s immense energy needs, expected to be met by 175 GW Energy from renewable sources, by 2022.

Commenting on this occasion, Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES BANK, said “Electric mobility landscape in India is currently at a nascent stage, with India requiring nearly 8 times the existing global stock of EVs. There is an urgent need to scale creation of an enabling infrastructure. This ambitious target will provide the much required thrust to make Electric Mobility a programmatic reality in the near future.”

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he Summit also witnessed participation from Shri H.S. Puri, Minister (IC) for Housing and Urban Affairs; Shri R.K. Singh, MoS (I/C), Power & Renewable Energy; Shri Jayant Sinha, MoS, Civil Aviation; Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister, Ministry of Science & Technology, Ministry of Environment, amongst a host of other National and International decision makers.

YES BANK believes that as a financial institution, there is an inherent need to play a leading

role in India’s development. Since its inception in 2004, YES BANK through its ‘Responsible Banking’ ethos has believed in creating sustained value for its stakeholders, through social, economic and environmental dimensions. Integrated with core business strategy, Responsible Banking steers the sustainable development agenda at YES BANK through its pathways of Social & Developmental Impact, Climate Action, and Transparency & Disclosures.

Source: yesbank.in

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What a teardown of the latest

Electric Vehicles reveals about the future of massmarket EVs

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ill 2017 be remembered as the year when electric vehicles (EVs) made the move to become mass producible?

A thought-provoking question for the industry, and reason for McKinsey, in partnership with A2Mac1, a provider of automotive benchmarking services, to deepen our work in the field. Last year, roughly 1.3 million EVs were sold globally.

While this makes up only about 1 percent of total passenger-vehicle sales, it is a 57 percent increase over 2016 sales, and there is little reason to believe this trend will slow down. Established OEMs have announced launches of more than 100 new battery electric vehicle (BEV) models by 2024, further accelerating automotive and mobility trends, potentially growing EVs’ share of total passengervehicle sales to 30 to 35 percent in major markets like China, Europe, and the U.S. (20 to 25 percent globally)by 2030. Moving away from previous “niche roles” such as high-performance sports or midrange city cars, there will also be a sizable share of midsize and volume-segment vehicles among the many new BEV models. A prominent, recently launched example is Tesla’s new Model 3, with more than 450,000 preorders.

McKinsey and A2Mac1 analyzed design choices that can help pave the way to profitable mass-market EVs.

By : Antoine Chatelain, Mauro

Erriquez, Pierre-Yves Mouliere, and Philip Schafer

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hat will help EVs gain market share is that OEMs have reached ranges with their EVs that allow them to focus on reducing price points, for example, by increasing design efficiency or reducing manufacturing cost in order to become affordable to more customer segments.

As shown in Exhibit 1, we find that once the average range of our set of benchmarked EVs has surpassed 300 kilometers (or 185 miles), OEMs seem to be able to concentrate on entering lower-price segments while keeping range up. This indicates that the long-awaited EV volume segment—“midsize EVs for the masses”—may be on the verge of becoming reality.

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he definition of “good” range varies across the globe, depending on geography and city archetype. But average battery range seems to have exceeded the expectations of the largest customer segments. This, combined with a decrease in prices for electric vehicles, means the market for EVs may be close to a commercial tipping point.

Whether an EV volume segment is (or will be) profitable for OEMs remains a burning question for many in the industry.

We estimate that many EV models in their base version, and potentially even including options, still may have low contribution margins, especially compared with current internal-combustion-engine (ICE) levels.

With profitability in mind, and given the fast pace of technological advancements and new design trends in EVs, McKinsey and A2Mac1 undertook a second benchmarking analysis on trends in electricvehicle design (see sidebar, “McKinsey and A2Mac1 on trends in electric-vehicle design”).

In this article, we describe success factors on the way to profitable serial production of EVs and discuss essential practices for paving the road toward the EV mass market. This includes four high-level commitments to design and development through the lenses of architecture, integration, technology, and cost that can help realize a positive business case for massmarket EVs.

BUILD A NATIVE & INHERENTLY FLEXIBLE ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Despite higher up-front investments—in the form of engineering hours, new tooling, and soon—native EV platforms have proved advantageous over nonnative models in multiple ways. Designing the vehicle architecture entirely around an EV concept, without combustion-engine legacy elements, means fewer compromises and more flexibility on average (Exhibit 2).

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

EXHIBIT 2 What a teardown of the latest electric vehicles reveals about the future of massmarket EVs-2 As native EVs have to compromise less, particularly in their architecture and body in white, they can accommodate a bigger battery pack, which in turn correlates with a higher range. This is evidenced by the fact that native EVs have on average a 25 percent larger battery-pack volume (relative to body in white volume) compared with non-native EVs. One reason is that the body structure can be fit around the battery pack and does not have to be integrated in an existing architecture. This additional freedom in design typically resulting in larger batteries also leads to other potential advantages such as higher ranges, more power, or faster charging.

Further, as battery technology evolves quickly, allowing the newest EVs to have ranges which are not a bottleneck anymore, we see early indications that EVs are moving toward practices common in mass-market ICEs, for instance, offering powertrain options. The inherent flexibility of native EVs plays an important role in this as well. For example, battery packs can house a varying number of active cells while keeping the same outer shape and variable drivetrain technologies can allow players to produce rear-wheel, front-wheel, and allwheel drive on a single platform.

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MCKINSEY CENTER FOR FUTURE MOBILITY? While this may raise the idea that EVs will start moving toward modular strategies, as we know them from ICEs, thereby moving closer to industry-typical massproduction approaches, we still do not see a clear convergence toward one standard in design solutions. Players will need to stay agile on their way to mass-market EVs.

KEEP PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF EV POWERTRAIN INTEGRATION Our benchmarking reveals a continued trend toward EV powertrain integration, with many parts of the power electronics moving closer together and being integrated into fewer modules. Yet, as players keep searching for additional design efficiency, one “mainstream” EV powertrain design has not yet emerged— either for overall architecture or for the design of individual components. A good indicator of the increased level of integration is the design of the electric cables connecting the main EV powertrain components (that is, battery, e-motor, power electronics, and thermalmanagement modules). When looking at the weight and total number of parts for these cables across OEMs and their EV models, we observed a decrease in both cable weight and the number of parts in the OEMs’ latest models compared with earlier vehicles, which reflects the higher integration of more recent EV powertrain systems (Exhibit 3).

EXHIBIT 3

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EXHIBIT4 In addition to the physical integration of main EV powertrain components, we also observed a move toward more simple and efficient thermal-management solutions across said components. However, while some OEMs are on a consolidation charge here too, others still rely on multiple systems, and we do not see a clear convergence of designs yet (Exhibit 4).

EXHIBIT5 Beyond the fact that technology is still maturing, the EV powertrain design variety may also be aided by its intrinsic, higher level of flexibility, as the components are generally smaller and the degrees of freedom based on available space in the underbody and front and rear compartments are higher than for ICE powertrains. To give just one example of different EV powertrain architectures: the Opel Ampera-e seems to leverage an ICE-like positioning of its powertrain electronics, including ICE-typical body and axle components, whereas the Tesla Model 3 integrated most components on the rear of its battery pack and the rear axle directly (Exhibit 5).

It is worth pointing out that such freedom in the positioning of components also gives more flexibility in overall features offered, for example, choosing to have room for a bigger trunk or to offer superior driving performance due to a lower center of gravity. In their ongoing pursuit of mass marketability, EV players

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therefore might identify further opportunities in highlevel integration of their EV powertrain systems. Doing so could help them capture potential benefits, such as reduced complexity in development, lower material and assembly costs, and weight and energy-efficiency improvements.

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STAY AHEAD IN THE TECHNOLOGY GAME

APPLY DESIGN-TO-COST LEVER

McKinsey research has shown that many electric-vehicle customers are very tech savvy. At the same time, new technologies are largely getting mature enough to be put to practice. This creates a great testing field for the new technologies that OEMs and other players hope to push into cars. But it also almost obligates EV manufacturers to equip their vehicles with the highest levels of technology around advanced-driver-assistance systems (ADAS), connectivity, and other trends that are redefining the driver experience and travel strategies. Next to increasingly introducing ADAS technologies, OEMs meet the needs of their EV customers by enhancing the user interface and infotainment systems. Specifically, they are increasingly integrating the control of a wide range of interior functions into a more central, “smartphone-like” user interface (HMI).

For example, controls move from buttons to continuously growing touch screens—a concept that was first tried in a few models from US car manufacturers in the late 1980s and now seems to have reached sufficient levels of technological maturity and customer interest. We observed EVs in our benchmark that have as few as seven physical buttons in the interior, compared with 50 to 60 in many standard ICEs. A key enabler of such advancements is the rapid rise in computing power. While traditional cars often show many decentralized and standardized electronic control units (ECUs), the latest EVs seem to rely on ever growing and increasingly centralized computing power. ADAS technology, for example, requires a lot of computing power for the real-time signal processing of the various sensors.

When putting the latest ADAS solutions—such as adaptive cruise control, autonomous braking, and potentially even autonomous driving capability—in the context of increased ECU centralization, it seems that EVs equipped with such ADAS technology further drive consolidation of ECUs in comparison to equally or less ADAS-equipped ICEs or EVs (Exhibit 6). An OEM’s decision for a centralized or decentralized ECU architecture can be a strategic question and will be driven by different factors. One reason for a centralized approach may be the choice to “own” a key control point in the vehicle by becoming an integrator, which could facilitate advanced software development and potentially open up new revenue streams, for example, from over-theair updates.

Besides strategic considerations, the ECU architecture may also affect weight and cost. For example, centralization may optimize wiring and sourcing efficiency via increased bundling. Because they require simpler protocols and fewer connections compared with multiple, decentralized ECUs—thereby also reducing the number of operations that could go wrong—centralized ECUs can increase reliability. On the development side, more ECUs also mean more teams who must collaborate and communicate efficiently to ensure quality across systems. Fewer teams and simplified processes can result from centralizing ECUs, and this simplification can lead to shorter development cycles. Further, central, high-power ECUs could be the backbone for developing fully autonomous driving, thereby equipping EVs to be ready for future mass-market characteristics and potential customer expectations. Ultimately, however, the ECU architecture choice will depend on the OEMs’ individual strategy, and as centralization may require significantly building up additional skills in-house, it will always be an individual business-case decision.

Achieving profitability is still a struggle for EVs, especially due to high powertrain cost. Since OEMs seem to have reached acceptable ranges by now, rigorous design to cost (DTC) will become more important to pave the road for EVs to successfully enter the mass market.

That is, it could help achieve an attractive price point, while not jeopardizing margins for the OEM. Cost efficiency seems to be the home turf of established OEMs and suppliers, who may be in the best position to leverage their experience and knowledge in traditional DTC levers (Exhibit 7).

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Therefore, it may come as little surprise that ICEs and non-native EVs seem to be more proficient in DTC than native EVs due to the makers’ track record of continuous cost optimization and the possibility to carry over highly optimized components from previous models.

Yet the latest native EVs may be able to quickly catch up. For example, because of advantages in battery-pack advancements, native EVs now appear to switch from lightweight to more cost-efficient material solutions, such as steel elements in the body in white. They also seem to apply more rigorous despecification and decontenting (for example, in controls and air vents on the instrument panel) and to invest in mass-production processes, such as high-strength stamped steel instead of bent-pipe seatstructure designs.

As the move toward the mass market continues, EV experiments are increasingly becoming a serial-production game. Nontraditional OEMs will likely study the DTC practices of traditional OEMs, for example, including sourcing industry-standard parts, to identify better ways to close the gap in cost performance and thus increase their profit margins from the product-cost side. Nonetheless, achieving a superior cost performance might still be a competitive advantage for established OEMs and thus comprises an opportunity to step up against potential new market entrants.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES •

OUTLOOK: CAN OEMS MAKE MONEY IN THE VOLUME EV MARKET?

• Most recently, EVs have gained a

significant share in the new product announcements of many OEMs. At the same time, EV models individually have not yet offered much in the way of contributing to overall profitability compared with ICEs. As the global market share of EVs inevitably grows, their margins increasingly move into focus.

• Taking the four steps in EV design outlined in this article into consideration may help OEMs to reduce the higher manufacturing costs (including materials, production, and final assembly) of EVs. With a focus on simpler and more flexible platforms, along with a fresh approach to technology and design, we believe that a positive mass-market business case for EVs may exist.

• In fact, based on our analysis, the

delta from total manufacturing cost to list price for sufficiently well-equipped (including hardware and software options such as nonstandard color, range extension, and different software settings), midsize EVs could potentially reach a level of 40 to 50 percent.

While powertrain-independent components and final assembly appear similar in their cost structure to ICEs, major cost drivers still lie in the EV powertrain itself and in related uncertainties in the development of battery cost.

• This also highlights that for an overall

attractive business case, additional measures—for example, in optimizing the offering logic and channel strategy—will still be necessary. In summary, we may see an era of profitable mass-market EVs on the horizon, driven by design trends toward flexibility, integration, and simplification that maximizes customer value, and under the clear governance of cost efficiency for mass producibility.

• As noted earlier, this publication

presents only consolidated findings— detailed insights from our work are available upon request but would exceed the scope of this article.

Source: mckinsey

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

Scaling up Rooftop Solar Power in India: The Potential of Solar Municipal Bonds By : Saurabh Trivedi

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ndia has set an ambitious renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022, including 100GW of solar power. Of that, the government aims for 60 GW to be utility-scale solar, and the rest to be rooftop solar.

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

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•

•

•

•

• •

hough India has made significant progress on the 60 GW utility-scale solar target, getting to the 40 GW rooftop solar target will be a significant undertaking. As of December 2016, installed capacity of rooftop solar was only in 1.25 GW, which means that in 6 GW would need to be installed every year to reach the 40 GW target by 2022. Filling this gap between the current installment and the 40 GW goal will require an estimated USD 39 billion (INR 3 trillion).

This paper—produced in collaboration between Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), and funded by the Swedish Energy Agency as part of its support for the New Climate Economy project—proposes the use of municipal bonds to support the scale-up of rooftop solar in India, and details how such bonds could be designed and implemented.

The adoption of rooftop solar is primarily driven by expected savings in electricity costs, the need for an alternative source of electricity, and the desire to mit- igate climate change risk. However, three key barriers hinder the growth of this technology in India: high upfront capital expenditure, perceived performance risk, and limited access to debt capital. To address the first two issues, CPI has previously advocated for a third- party financing model.

However, the third-party financing model has had limited success due to inadequate availability of debt capital for project developers. This lack of availability is driven by various factors, including: limited avenues of raising debt capital, already stressed commercial banks in India, concerns on the credit quality of the developer, limited long-term capital opportunities for Indian financial institutions with regard to rooftop solar, and small ticket size of investments leading to high transaction costs.

Municipalities have several market advantages in their potential role as finance aggregators for rooftop solar: Institutional goals and mandates. Municipalities have target-based responsibili- ties to increase renewable energy deployment under the Solar City Program, so they have a built-in incentive to increase rooftop solar.

Access to debt capital markets. Compared to rooftop solar developers, municipalities are in a better position to access the debt capital market due to their larger balance sheets.

Superior credit profiles. More than half of the rated municipalities – 94 in total - are investment grade (i.e. BBB- or above); whereas almost all rooftop developers are below investment grade. The better credit profile of municipalities compared with project developers can help in raising debt capital at lower costs.

Access to public guarantees. Compared to private project developers, municipalities (as public entities) have relatively better access to public guarantees that are typically required to achieve the risk-reduction necessary to attract institutional investment.

Diverse revenue sources. Municipalities have multiple sources of revenues (e.g. property taxes), which can provide additional security to investors.

Good consumer engagement. Given munic- ipalities’ relatively good proximity ith the consumers, the government can quickly facilitate rooftop solar project aggregation.

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Municipal financing, via issuance of municipal bonds, has the potential to increase debt availability for rooftop solar project developers and lower rooftop solar costs up to 12%.

In the proposed model, which we are calling “solar municipal bond model” (SMB), a municipal entity would play the role of a finance aggregator for renewable energy project developers.

Funds available through a municipal bond would be disbursed to project developers via a Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach, similar to the Design-Build-Finance and Operate (DBFO) model with the financing activity taken care by municipal corporation or corporate municipal entity (CME).

By aggregating projects, this model would allow a project developer to access the debt capital markets otherwise difficult to access.

Innovative transaction structures would be required tofacilitate the role of municipalities as finance aggre-gators. A particularly attractive structure (Figure ES-1) is where a municipality-owned master special purpose vehicle (SPV) or a corporate municipal entity (CME) would raise the bonds and disburse the proceeds of these bonds to SPVs owned by project developers via capital lease arrangements. In our paper, we also provide a detailed roadmap for municipalities to deploy the proposed model.

The SMB model shows considerable promise based on its application to Surat and New Delhi.For Surat and New Delhi, rooftop solar potential is 727 MW with a capital requirement of INR 38.5 billion and 110 MW with a capital requirement of INR 6 billion respectively. By reducing the cost of rooftop solar by up to 12%, a municipal bond would not only make rooftop solar competitive with existing tariffs, but also provide the much needed additional debt capital.

Apart from reduction in the cost of financing, a solar municipal bond also has the potential to mobilize the significant untapped investment into the rooftop solar sector, for example, from domestic institutional inves-tors, which, according to a previous CPI study has an untapped investment potential of USD 56 billion in debt for renewable energy. Issuing municipal bond for solar will also help in building municipalities’ capacity to access the debt capital markets, and utilize an innova-tive transaction structure for other projects.

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ROOFTOP & OFFGRID Despite its promise, implementation barriers remain, which are described below in the order of how critical they are: • There is no statutory mandate for municipal corporations to promote electricity generation: The municipal functions listed under the 12th Schedule of the 74th Constitutional Amendment do not include power generation. Though Municipal Corporations would play limited roles as financiers in the proposed model, this may prove to be the most significant barrier.

• Solar municipal bonds would need to achieve high credit ratings: India’s debt capital market is relatively shallow, as it fails to attract enough investors if the credit rating of the bond is below AA or A+. Hence, high credit ratings of the municipal bonds would be critical to

the success of the model.

• Municipalities are required to provide minimum equity contribution of 20% of the project cost: According to Section 12 (5) of SEBI’s Regulations,3 municipalities would need to provide 20% of project costs as equity. Since most municipalities are struggling to meet the investment demand for basic infrastructure services, this regulation will be hard to meet.

• Absence of supporting regulations will hinder municipal corporations to act as a financial company: In the proposed transaction structure, proceeds of the bond would be disbursed to projects via capital lease arrangements. Since capital leases are mostly executed by financial entities, in the absence of any specific regulation, municipalities might be reluctant to act as the finance aggregators.

• Reluctance of Municipal Corporation to issue bonds: Successful issuance of municipal bond warrants transparency and due diligence in project management and accounting practices of municipal corporations. Many municipal corporations have serious shortcomings on these fronts and have to revamp their current practices before bond issuances.

Figure ES-1: Transaction Structure to raise Municipal Bond for Rooftop Solar Financing

• High transaction cost: One potential downside of the proposed model is that transaction costs could be higher than either self-ownership or third party financing models, mainly due to the novelty of the approach.

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his paper, therefore, recom ends several focused interventions to address these barriers.

Table ES-2 focuses on solutions/recommendations for the most critical barriers, as well as their potential impact and feasibility. Impact is the ability of the proposed recommendation to address the challenge, and fea- sibility is the likelihood of implementation for the recommendation. he proposed SMB model, though radical and futuristic, could be crucial if India wants to achieve its rooftop solar target by 2022. If we are able to successfully address the barriers highlighted in the above table, it will not only help rooftop solar to scale up its growth, but also help municipal corporations to use the similar structure for other priority infrastructure projects. ext steps include further analysis in future work, particularly on an appropriate incentive mechanism to involve municipal corporations to act as financiers for private projects, which this study does not cover.

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Table ES-2: Summary of Barriers and Potential Solutions to improve the feasibility of the proposed model Source: climatepolicyinitiative.org

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MYSUN Commissions a 231 kW Industrial Rooftop Solar Project in Gurugram, Haryana The Delhi/NCR based rooftop solar focussed company, MYSUN, is already working on several projects across Delhi/ NCR, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in Residential, Commercial &amp; Industrial categories

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YSUN, India’s leading rooftop solar platform focused on providing end-to- end solar solutions, has announced the commissioning of an industrial rooftop solar project for ‘Update Prints (India)’, a household name in hightech label printing. The project, 231 kW in capacity, is spread across an area of 2446 square meter. The gridtied solar system is installed with Net-Metering to ensure maximum savings. Keeping in line with its promise of using only top tier equipment for the highest reliability and longevity, the plant features top of the spec equipment. MYSUN also announced that it was able to commission the project before the committed deadline.

The rooftop, located in Gurugram, Haryana is an industrial site which sees a monthly electricity bill of close to Rs 4 lakh, putting it in the tariff band of Rs 8.62 per unit. Update Prints will be saving up to at least 90% on its monthly bills by installing the solar system, which will generate close to 3.5 lakh units per year.

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Commenting on the announcement, Mr Gagan Vermani, the Founder & amp; CEO of MYSUN remarked, “We are delighted to have commissioned this project in a record time in Gurugram.

This solar system has been designed to not only work with the grid but also with the existing Diesel Generators through an Energy Management System so as to maximise the savings for the customer.”

Mr Vermani added, “At MYSUN we are dedicated and committed to bringing the best customer experience not just to larger projects like this but to each and every project we execute. The focus is to ensure the highest possible ROI for the customer over the lifecycle of the solar system.”

Mr. Rajesh Chadha, the Managing Director of Update Prints said, “We are excited to have started reaping the benefits of solar energy and expect to significantly reduce our monthly electricity bills. With this wellengineered and premium quality solar system installed by MYSUN, we are sure to save more than Rs 7 crore over the next 25 years in electricity costs.

We are also very proud to have been able to make our contribution towards a cleaner environment.”

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TECHNOLOGY

FTC Solar launches SunDAT Essential and releases a license model specific to the India market Advanced solar design and optimization software for SketchUp

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TC Solar, Inc. announced the launch of a new version of SunDAT for the India solar market called SunDAT Essential. The new version of the software aims to put the power of SunDAT, a 3D solar design automation and optimization platform, in the hands of all India-based solar designers and engineers.

SunDAT can now be purchased in three subscription formats, Essential, Standard and Pro, each with a subscription model structured specifically for the India market.

SunDAT Essential enables users to quickly optimize solar designs for rooftops, ground mounts and canopy systems. SunDAT’s layout algorithm iterates through multiple design scenarios using a 3D model of the project site in SketchUp. The Essential version of SunDAT limits models to a 1MW DC system size, however the Standard and Pro versions have no system size limits.

SunDAT Essential includes several key features necessary for solar design optimization including module layout, shading analysis and energy modeling/analysis (powered

by NREL SAM). Additional features in the Standard and Pro versions include singleline diagram generation, slope/topography analysis, DC electrical design and many more tools that enable solar designers and engineers to further optimize PV design.

April 2018

“In SunDAT Essential we’ve created a tool kit with everything that solar designers need to quickly generate optimized system designs for sites under 1 MW DC,” said Avinash Srinivasan, Software Engineering Manager at FTC Solar. “The best part is that we can offer this version of SunDAT specifically to the India solar industry at a competitive cost.”

“Our team received very positive feedback about SunDAT from the attendees at Intersolar India in Mumbai last December,” said Andrew Morse, Director of Software at FTC Solar. “The launch of SunDAT Essential and the changes in our license strategy for our Standard and Pro subscriptions represent our response to that feedback and our willingness to serve the unique needs of the India solar market.”

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Source: kaco-newenergy

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PR DUCTS

Panasonic and Enphase Energy Announce Strategic Partnership for High Efficiency AC Modules

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NEWARK, N.J. and PETALUMA, Calif., — Panasonic Corporation of North America announced a strategic partnership with Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH), the world’s leading supplier of solar microinverters, for the development of high efficiency AC Modules (ACMs). To support this partnership, the 320W Enphase IQ 7X Microinverter™ offers compatibility with Panasonic’s N Series Photovoltaic (PV) Modules HIT® (N325/N330), and will be made available to distributors starting May 2018. he Enphase IQ 7X Microinverter is compatible with Panasonic’s HIT® modules, and the partnership will continue with the co-development of AC Modules (ACM) that will offer significant advantages to integrators and installers. A recent Enphase market survey of installers nationwide affirmed the value-add of AC modules, with significantly lower install times, and additional savings on logistics and overhead costs, making it a preferred choice for installers. Installers and Integrators also benefit from fewer inspection steps with factory-assembled and tested ACM products.

“Panasonic prides itself on its dedication to delivering reliable products to our customers,” said Mukesh Sethi, Group Manager, Panasonic Residential Solar Group “This partnership with Enphase Energy will enable us to combine our products and expertise to offer a new solar solution that can help our customers meet their renewable energy needs. We look forward to our future with Enphase Energy and what we are able to achieve within the residential solar industry.”

Panasonic’s N Series HIT® Modules are among the most efficient panels on the market, with high power outputs and greater energy yields due to their industry-leading temperature coefficient of -0.258% /⁰C. Panasonic solar modules keep at least 90.76% of their initial power output even after 25 years of use.

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“The N series PV Modules are manufactured for peak performance, making them an ideal partner for the Enphase IQ 7X Microinverter,” said Mr. Sethi. “With a unique heterojunction technology and advanced bifacial cells, these high efficiency panels offer homeowners state-of-the-art features and maximum solar production.”

As part of Enphase’s seventh-generation microinverter platform, the IQ 7X Micro leads the industry with broad regulatory compliance, advanced “Smart Grid” features, and the high fire safety rating. The IQ 7X Micro will support 96-cell PV modules up to 400W with peak AC output power of 320W and a Maximum Power Point (MPP) tracking range of 53-64V.

“Built on our extremely successful IQ platform, the Enphase IQ 7X Microinverter delivers superior performance with 97.5% CEC efficiency, as well as high levels of reliability and safety,” said Raghu Belur, Chief Products Officer at Enphase Energy. “Our seventh-generation product now powers 96-cell high-efficiency panels, including the Panasonic N Series panels HIT®, with a single, worldwide SKU.”

When combined with the Enphase Envoy™ Gateway, AC Combiner 2.0™ with built-in Revenue Grade Meter (RGM) and disconnects, the Panasonic-Enphase ACMs will provide highly advanced PV systems to home owners and quick installation time for integrators and installers. Compliant with Rapid Shutdown Requirements of NEC 2017, the IQ 7 Microinverter System will significantly lower overhead costs and offer homeowners a safe residential PV systems solution.

“We are excited to work with Panasonic on this new high-performance AC module program,” said David Ranhoff, Chief Commercial Officer at Enphase Energy. “Panasonic is a global brand that homeowners know and respect. Together we will bring high-quality solutions to the roof that our customers can trust and benefit from for years to come.”

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PR DUCTS Waaree Energies launches ‘Pronto’ to revolutionise rooftop solar in India Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Solar panel manufacturing company, Waaree Energies Ltd., recently launched a first of its kind, do-it-yourself solar kit – ‘Pronto’.

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Available at all Waaree Solar Experience Centres, this revolutionary product aims to transform the renewable energy sector in the country, by making clean energy accessible to one and all. With a solar PV based power generating system, Pronto can deliver at least 30 percent savings on electricity bills.

“Pronto is a result of the continued commitment of Waaree to make renewable energy accessible across the country. It brings together the best in technology and innovation, to a product that can be used across residential, industrial and commercial sectors.

We hope Pronto marks the beginning of a new chapter and encourages people across demographics to opt for green energy,” said director, Waaree Energies, Sunil Rathi.

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ronto is available in the range of one to five KW, and requires only two people and 30 minutes to be installed. It comes with a patented rooftop non-penetrating racking system, with a focus on a design that embodies simplicity and is sturdy to withstand any weather.

The product also provides, by bypassing numerous sourcing and logistics steps, the same cost benefits as large rooftop solar systems. In addition, since it can be used for any net-metering based application, consumers can get credits for excess generation gains. With state of the art technology, Pronto is also beneficial for small scale industries.

The solar kits, which include all critical components like solar modules, solar inverter, and structure, are backed by warranty. With optimum design for maximum power generation, the product also comes with an inverter with latest Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technology with remote monitoring and is available in both single phase and three phase inverters.

Source: ANI

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