SolarQuarter October 2017

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Volume 07. l Issue 10

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October 2017

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 2

INDIA’S MOST READ SOLAR ENERGY MAGAZINE

Index

To book your space in the upcoming issue, please contact: Smriti Singh / Aishwarya Baile M: +91 7718877513 / 7718877514  E: bd.firstviewgroup.com

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

TECH INSIGHTS

NEWS AT GLANCE � Indian

� International

Mr. William Zhou Vice President Sungrow

10

04 06

News News

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS � 2018:

Top Emerging Trends in Solar Industry in India

� Internet

of things - A Revolution in the Solar Sector

15 16

Mr. Manish Gupta Director Insolation Energy Pvt. Ltd.

11

Challenges in Managing a Rooftop Solar

22

solar wants to play a very dominant role in solar PV market

� Value

of UAV (Drone) Technology in Solar O&M: Preventive Maintenance

� Trends

in Operation and Maintenance Costs: Based on Sample Empirical Data

18 20 21

� Factors

that Impact Solar Energy Auction Prices

8

SPECIAL STORY

COMPANY FEATURE � Spark

solar technology represents ‘Wave of the Future’

ANALYSIS

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE � “Key

� Transparent

� A

25

quarter of india’s energy demand can be met with renewable energy

32

PRODUCT FEATURE

27 28 29 29 30 31

� SOLGRID � MECO � Delta

Mr. Anuj nigam Director Startling Solar Pvt. Ltd.

11

� Tata

International

� Mahindra

Susten

� Fonrich

PUBLISHING: VIJAY KUMAR Mr. Awadhesh Jha Vice President – Charge & Drive & Sustainability Fortum India Pvt. Ltd.

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EDITOR: VARUN GULATI

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: VIPUL GULATI, SMRITI SINGH AISHWARYA BAILE, VIKAS KHADTALE

CIRCULATION: CHANDAN GUPTA

PRINTING/PROCESSING VAIBHAV ENTERPRISES

EDITORIAL: SANJANA KAMBLE / NIKITA SALKAR / NEHA BARANGALI OFFICE: FirstView Media Ventures Pvt. Ltd. S09 - C1, 2nd Floor, Haware Centurion Complex, Nerul (E), Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. 400 706.

T: +91 22 2771 7143/50 E: info@firstviewgroup.com

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 3

Indian News

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AX DISPUTE STALLS SOLAR PANEL CARGOES, DELAYING PROJECTS

Several solar projects in India are facing delays and inflated costs as customs officials have blocked more than 900 containers of panel shipments for more than a month by demanding higher import duties.

Officials clearing import shipments at the Port of Chennai in South India are classifying solar panels as motors, which attract 7.5 percent import duty as opposed to zero on solar modules, said Sunil Jain, chief executive officer of Hero Future Energies Ltd., a company backed

by International Finance Corp. A 30-megawatt shipment of Hero Future was cleared after paying higher duties, he said.

T

ATA POWER ANNOUNCES 30-MEGAWATT SOLAR PLANT IN INDIA

An average Indian consumes a quarter of the electricity

The 10MW of projects will be spread across nine islands

used by an average Chinese. This isn’t because we’re

of the Union Territory, which lies off the coast of Kerala,

particularly frugal. It’s simply because in most of Bharat,

with varying capacities for each project. The 10MW figure

particularly states like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar

is “likely to increase”, according to LEDA, depending

at least two out of three rural households are in the dark.

upon the load growth.

In light of this, our government’s futuristic aspirations of a digital India feels like a dark comedy. India will face a huge energy supply-demand mismatch for the forseeable future. Importing almost half of its energy requirements, and bringing with it a hovering cloud of import dependence, and currency fluctuations.

We are the third-largest energy consumer in the world.

This is despite the fact that one in four Indian households do not have access to power. With increasing income levels, the growing digital economy, and access to modern amenities, energy consumption of the average Indian will increase at least two-fold over the next decade. Factors like increase in mean temperatures, scarcity of ground water, will only exacerbate demand. Needless to say our

A 30-megawatt (MW) solar facility in India that will meet

coal-powered plants will fail to keep up with the growth.

the yearly energy needs of more than 14,000 homes has

If we keep burning coal and oil for energy, 4 out of 5 cars,

been commissioned, it was announced Tuesday.

and an equal ratio of plug points will run on imported

The plant in Palaswade, Maharashtra, has been developed by Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian company Tata Power.

oil and coal. The question then arises—how can Bharat power itself?

The nine islands are Agatti, Amini, Androth, Chetlat, Kadmath, Kalpeni, Kavaratti, Kiltan, and Minicoy.

A Request for Proposals (RfP) will be advertised across various newspapers at a later date.

The state of Kerala recently saw the completion of the largest floating solar project in India standing at 500kW.

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HPC TO BUILD 150 MW SOLAR IN INDIA

India’s power generation company National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) is presently installing 50 MW of Solar in Tamil Nadu State and is expected to add 200 MW by 2019.

MNRE minister RK Singh and to his left NHPC’s Chairman and MD, Balraj Joshi, are presented at the meeting of the Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament for Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy, in Guwahati, India on October 31, 2017. NHPC’s Chairman

produced crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules.

W

and MD, Balraj Joshi has presented the company’s

Photovoltaic refers to a way of directly converting light

The 5-billion euro Finnish energy systems provider,

held in Guwahati, India on October 31.

from the sun into electricity.

WartsilaBSE 0.00 %, is looking to develop India as its

India’s largest hydropower generation company is

The facility covers more than 140 acres and will generate

biggest Asian market for battery storage solutions, given

envisaging the addition of 150 MW Solar Projects in

more than 62 million kilowatt hours per year.

the huge potential from the country’s solar power play, a

association with SECI in next two years. The project is

top global executive told ET.

part of the MoU signed with SECI on November 30,

India’s solar-power capacity has grown exponentially to

2015, for development of 250 MW grid-connected solar

around 14 gigawatts (GW) and the government has set

power project in India in a time frame of five years from

an ambitious target of 100 GW by 2020, but storage has

the date of signing. However, at present 50 MW of solar

been a missing link thus far and the government is now

plant is under construction located in Theni, Dindigul

acknowledging the need for it. Therefore, the government

District, in the western region of Tamil Nadu state.

The parent firm said the new site was using domestically-

C

OMMENT: EASE OF DOING BUSINESS CHEER? NOT SO MUCH FOR INDIA’S SOLAR SECTOR

Speaking at the signing of a Joint Financial Partnership Declaration between ISA and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

ARTSILA SET TO TAP INDIA’S SOLAR POWER POTENTIAL

in India as a sharp decline in prices of batteries between 2010 and 2017 has made battery-backed solar power

Minister Arun Jaitley urged more multilateral banks and

more viable.

global entities to join hands with the International Solar

“More multilateral and development banks should come forward and join hands with ISA to help fulfill the objectives of massive and affordable deployment of solar power among 121 ISA member countries,” Jaitley said at the signing of a Joint Financial Partnership Declaration between ISA and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) India’s finance minister is right in asking development banks to come forward in financing the costly projects.

Solar power plants have a long gestation period and

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IGHTSOURCE AND MACQUARIE TEAM UP ON INDIAN SOLAR PROJECTS

O

RANGE RENEWABLE COMMISSIONS SOLAR140 MW PROJECTS IN THE STATE OF GUJARAT AND MAHARASHTRA

Orange Renewable, a 100% subsidiary of AT Holdings Pte. Ltd successfully commissioned a total capacity of

British solar power projects developer Lightsource

140 MW SolarPV Projects in the state of Gujarat and

Renewable Energy and Australian bank Macquarie will

Maharashtra.

jointly fund the development of large solar power projects

The projects with respective capacity of 40 MW

in India, the bank said on Monday.

(Charankar Solar Park, Gujarat) and 100 MW(Dhule,

As part of the venture, Macquarie’s UK Climate

Maharashtra) were bagged through a competitive

Investments will provide 49 percent of the equity for the

bidding processin 2016 conducted by Solar Energy

construction of the first project, which is Lightsource’s 60

Corporation of India (SECI), the nodal agency for

megawatt (MW) solar project in India’s Maharashtra state.

implementation of MNRE schemes for developing grid

generally, require government relief to sustain.

The deal reached financial close on Monday.

This is especially true in India where companies need

UK Climate Investments will also provide up to 30 million

support right from land purchase to selling the power

pounds for a broader partnership to help Lightsource

generated to reluctant state electricity boards. While

build a portfolio of up to 300 MW solar power projects.

operational hiccups need to be addressed internally

committee meeting chaired by MNRE minister RK Singh,

wants the industry to set up battery-manufacturing units

Pushing ahead with reforms on solar power Finance

Alliance.

contribution in the field of renewable energy to the

connected solar power capacity through Variable Gap Funding (VGF) model in the country.The VGF scheme is a part of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) to set up grid connected Solar PV Projects in India.

Speaking on the development Mr. Hemant Tikoo,

C

Executive Committee Member, Orange Renewable said,

The Lakshadweep Energy Development Authority

company’s roadmap for future growth.It is immensely

(LEDA) has invited an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the

gratifying to bring value and positive impact on the lives

the time is ripe for Bharat to build thriving businesses in

development of floating solar plants on a set of the Indian

of many through sustainable clean energy solutions.”

renewables, especially solar and wind energy sectors

islands.

government is right in tackling the fund issue first.

S

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 4

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 5

International News

M

ORE GLOBAL ENTITIES, BANKS NEED TO JOIN HANDS WITH INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE: ARUN JAITLEY

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HANA RATIFIES FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE

The Ghanaian parliament has ratified the framework

of 14.6 billion kWh, according to German research institute IWR, citing data from transparency platform Entso-e. Wind and solar power generation almost doubled compared to the same month last year. The previous record was set in March of this year, with monthly generation hitting 12.5

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said more and more

agreement which seeks to establish the International

multilateral institutions and development banks need to

Solar Alliance (ISA) as a treaty-based organization. The

join hands with the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to

International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a voluntary inter-

The IWR pointed to a number of factors behind the new

promote renewable energy.

governmental organization seeking to promote solar energy

record, including higher production from wind farms under

He was speaking at the signing of Joint Financial Partnership

use across the world. Ghana in May signed the framework

favorable weather conditions. For example, the autumn

Declaration between ISA and the European Bank for

agreement to join the IISA on the side-lines of the Annual

storm “Herwart,” which caused severe damage in Germany,

Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) here to deepen

General Meeting of the African Development Bank (ADB).

has led to a new performance record in wind energy. On

the cooperation in support of renewable energy.

The ratification of this agreement, the Ghanaian government

Observing the first financial partnership collaboration

said, will provide clean and cheaper energy, cut down on

of ISA with the World Bank, Jaitley said “more and more

greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the country’s

multilateral and development banks should come forward

quest to increase the presence of renewable energy mix in

and join hands with ISA” in help fulfilling the objectives of

the country.

massive and affordable deployment of solar among 121 ISA

One of the benefits of the agreed Framework agreement

member countries.

has been described by one of the founding members of ISA an “access to a $10 billion renewable energy credit facility

I

NTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE MAY LAUNCH INSURANCE FOR PROJECTS IN DECEMBER

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) may launch an insurance mechanism aimed at lowering the risks associated

from India”.

F

RANCE’S MACRON TO VISIT INDIA IN EARLY 2018 TO ATTEND INT’L SOLAR EVENT

for solar power in December.

French President Emmanuel Macron will fly to India at the

“There could be insurance for risks and to bring down the

beginning of next year to attend the International Solar

cost of capital,” Upendra Tripathy, Interim Director General

EnergySummit, his office said.

of ISA, told BusinessLine. “We are exploring whether this

Macron told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modiduring a

can be announced during RE-INVEST 2017 Summit in New

telephonic conversation that he would make his first visit

Delhi in December,” he added, saying the proposal is still in the works.

In the long run, Tripathy said that ISA could not only support India’s solar imports to other countries where the projects are being implemented, but also developing manufacturing capabilities in those countries to reduce transportation costs.

to India since he took office on May 7 to take part in the meeting.

“They noted the positive dynamic ... of the International Solar Alliance, which aims to optimize the exploitation of solar energy potential, modernize energy systems, universalize access to energy and accelerate economic development,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Elysee as saying on Friday.

The ISA was initially proposed by Prime Minister Narendra

billion kWh.

October 28, German wind turbines generated 39,200 MW of electricity from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. In early October, the storm “Xavier” was also responsible for higher wind generation. The wind turbines produced a total of 12.5 billion kWh of electricity in October, of which 2.2 billion kWh came from offshore facilities. The previous record month, December 2015, has been surpassed, according the IWR. Compared with the previous month, wind power production almost doubled.

E

GYPT: SOLAR PROJECTS SECURE INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT

In North Africa, an Egyptian renewable energy developer and Germany-based solar partner, have secured a $87 million syndicated loan for the construction and operation of two solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants at the Benban complex in Upper Egypt. The funds were pooled from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Dutch Development Bank (FMO).

With a total capacity of 80MW, once completed that plants will be the largest solar installation in the world, with a planned total capacity of 1.8 GW, EBRD said in a statement.

P

OSSIBLE TARIFF ON IMPORTED SOLAR PANELS MAKES THE INDUSTRY NERVOUS

countries, with 15 of them (the minimum number for the

V

body to become legal) ready to ratify the ISA framework

Over 100 provincial government officials, investors and

agreement in December. The 11 countries which have

other stakeholders gathered yesterday in HCM City to

already done so are Bangladesh, Fiji, France, Guinea, India,

discuss policies for the developmnet of solar energy.

Mauritius, Republic of Nauru, Niger, Seychelles, Somalia and

”We would like to provide guidance to investors, local

Tuvalu.

more he’s about to finish for Vivint Solar here in the suburbs

governments and financial institutions about how to

south of Salt Lake City.

Modi and launched at the India Africa Summit in November 2015. It has so far received support from around 40

N PLANS MAJOR SOLAR POWER GROWTH

develop solar energy in Việt Nam,” Phạm Trọng Thực, deputy

E

IB PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE, CONFIRMS €800 MILLION FOR SMALL-SCALE INDIAN RENEWABLES The European Investment Bank (EIB) has entered a new partnership with the International Solar Alliance and confirmed plans to provide €800 million in financing for

head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Electricity and Renewable Energy Agency, said in his speech at a workshop on “Introduction of circular 16/2017/TT-BCT on solar power project development and standardized power purchase agreement for solar power projects”.

He explained the contents of the circular and took questions from participants.

small-scale renewable energy project investment across

Consultants from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale

India.

Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) shared the international perspective

EIB will also now work with the ISA to mobilise financing for

on solar power development in Việt Nam, and made a

renewable energy projects in ISA member countries, which tend to be lcoated between the tropics.

This €800 million financing for India, approved earlier this year, came in partnership with the Indian Renewable Energy

presentation on international and regional experiences in the technical and financial assessment of solar power projects.

G

Until the last few weeks, Christopher Hanson’s work as a foreman installing rooftop solar systems was as bright and steady as the midmorning Wasatch Front sun. By his measure, Hanson has completed over 2,000 residential solar projects in his nearly five-year career, including one

Now Hanson is nervous for his job. On Tuesday, the U.S. International Trade Commission is scheduled to start considering a tariff on imports of the most popular photovoltaic generating panels used in the booming U.S. residential and utility-scale solar markets. A stiff tariff could double the price of imported photovoltaic panels made from crystalline silicon, an outcome that is either calamitous or full of opportunity for the burgeoning solar industry, depending on how you look at it.

Two international solar panel producers with United States plants say they need protection from low-cost imports.

Most of the industry, though, clamors to maintain a sure supply of inexpensive foreign panels to meet the rocketing demand for residential and industrial solar installations.

The trade commission’s decision will be transmitted to

The EIB is also currently finalising a new €200 million credit

ERMANY’S SOLAR, WIND GENERATION HITS HIGH IN OCTOBER

line to provide additional financing for renewable energy

Germany’s solar and wind power plants achieved a new

region where solar-powered electrical generation is one of

projects across India in cooperation with Yes Bank.

record in October, with generation hitting a monthly high

the brightest spots in industry.

Development Agency (IREDA) and the India Infrastructure Finance Company.

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President Trump on Nov. 13. Whatever the outcome, the tariff case has driven the $30-billion U.S. solar sector and darkened Utah’s Wasatch Front — and almost every other

Solar Quarter • October 2017 6

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 7

Analysis FACTORS THAT IMPACT SOLAR ENERGY AUCTION PRICES The prices attained in recent auctions are influenced by

For instance, the commitment of the Government of India to

Auction’s demand In defining the auction’s demand,

several factors; some relate to the auction design and others

its ambitious solar target of 100 GW by 2022, coupled with

ambition for a greater role of renewables in the energy mix

to an enabling environment, including: 1) country-specific

strong policy action, has given project developers, financing

must be weighed against cost-effectiveness.

conditions and access to finance; 2) investors’ confidence

institutions and other market participants confidence in

related to the presence of a conducive environment; and

the country’s solar programme, despite challenges faced in

When the objective is to develop a particular technology,

3) the presence of other policies aimed at supporting

some states related to off-taker credibility.

renewable energy development. Chief among the country-

Off-taker risks are common in emerging economies

introduced, allowing competition between technologies

and they strongly influence the risk perception among

(e.g., Brazil).

investors. These risks can be mitigated by ensuring that

� When the objective is to meet urgent capacity needs

specific conditions that directly affect the winning auction price are 1) the country’s renewable energy resources and 2) the capital costs and operating expenditures that project developers face.

demand-side responsibilities will be met by offering additional guarantees to back the contract, if needed. In

a technology-specific auction can be selected. If the goal is minimising costs, a technology-neutral auction can be

while retaining flexibility in holding auctions, the total volume can be auctioned at once, through a standalone

For example, adjusting the results obtained in Germany to

Argentina, the government provides liquidity guarantees

auction. If the objective is to further enhance investors’

higher capacity factors, from 11 to 25 percent (the norm in

ensuring the continuity of cash flow to the developers as

confidence for a more cost-effective outcome, the total

Latin America), could yield prices close to half of the actual

well as termination guarantees shielding developers from

volume auctioned can be divided into different rounds

results. The higher cost of labour and land in Germany

counterparty risks that are also backed by the World Bank.

in a systematic auctioning scheme. This facilitates long-

(and other European countries) compared to Latin

The impact of investors’ confidence on the price outcomes

term planning by policy makers, bidders, and equipment

American countries also contributes to the price difference.

is mainly illustrated by countries where accumulated

suppliers, which may be beneficial to the grid planning

Installation costs of renewable energy projects may be

experience from recurring auctions has resulted in

and to the country’s renewable energy industry.

affected by policies adopted to support the development

persistently lower prices (e.g., South Africa and India).

of renewable energy. In the United States, for example,

A long-term auction programme, with a predictable

the auction design can include additional selection

schedule of auction demand, and a high degree of

criteria. Local content requirements, for example, can

transparency all contribute positively to the level of

support the domestic industry, job creation and other

investment tax credits have been offered to attract investments in solar PV projects, reducing investment costs by about 30 percent, a reduction that has been reflected in

� If the objective is to meet broader development goals,

competition in the auction.

socio-economic benefits. Such requirements are most as a long-term auction schedule, and applied with other

variations in the weighted average cost of capital, reflecting

THE DESIGN OF THE AUCTION HAS A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE PRICE

both the country’s financing conditions (the cost of debt)

The design features of auctions, namely the auction’s

the price outcomes.

Access to finance considerations are largely related to the

and investors’ perception of the risks of owning renewable assets in the country (the cost of equity). These factors explain many of the country-to-country differences in auction prices. Investors’ confidence can be strengthened by a stable, enabling environment that is conducive to market growth through a clear target backed by a strategy and policy actions.

demand, qualification requirements, winner selection, investors’ risks and liabilities, all strongly influence the price outcomes. Across the different auction design elements, policy makers should carefully consider the inherent tradeoffs between potentially the most cost effective outcome and other objectives.

effective when aligned with other design elements, such supporting policies.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS Qualification requirements are key determinants of the competition in the auction and the prices offered by developers. They can be focused on 1) ensuring that the project will deliver as per the contract by requiring bidders to conduct assessments and obtain permits as a prerequisite to be able to bid, and 2) ensuring the capability of the developer to successfully deliver the project through technical, financial and reputational requirements. Some of the trade-offs to consider in defining qualification requirements include: � If requirements in terms of permitting and documentation processes are too demanding, the transaction costs incurred by developers can be reflected in higher prices. Transaction costs can be reduced through siteor project-specific auctions where the government (or another entity) takes on the responsibility of site selection, resource and impact assessments, grid connection and obtaining necessary permits. This approach is increasingly common in diverse contexts, including off-shore wind development in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. � Auctions can be designed in a way to attract large international companies and achieve the lowest prices through strict qualification requirements. While the requirement for an extensive track record in the field, for example, can help ensure timely project completion, it may also limit the participation to traditional, large players in the sector, which in turn affects the overall development of the sector.

Qualification requirements can also be designed to meet broader development goals, related to domestic industry development and job creation, such as in South Africa and China. These goals are further supported by a winner selection mechanism based on criteria other than the price.

WINNER SELECTION The winner selection process is at the heart of the auction.

The criteria for selection, ceiling prices and limits on project size can significantly impact the price outcomes, with the possibility of facing the following trade-offs: � While a simple winner selection process based solely on the price can improve cost competitiveness, other objectives can be achieved by incorporating

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 9

WHEN THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO ENSURE COST EFFECTIVENESS, A LOW CEILING PRICE CAN BE SET, ABOVE WHICH BIDS ARE NOT CONSIDERED. � Auction design features can limit the developers’ risks resulting in lower prices, but these risks would then be passed on to the off-taker. Currency, inflation and production risks can be reduced through auction design.

In Chile, contracts are denominated in U.S. dollars and indexed to U.S. inflation, protecting developers from currency exchange and inflation risks. In addition, non-monetary criteria, such as socio-economic benefits

prices right below the ceiling (e.g., the first round in

and project location.

South Africa).

the newly introduced hourly supply blocks protect generators from production risks, reducing exposure to spot energy prices in case of deviation from the

Regarding the latter, location signals adopted in the first

A limit on the project size or on the volume that can be won

contracted amount. This is one of the factors that led

round in Mexico resulted in the selection of sites that are

by one bidder also impacts the price. Such measures were put

to the record-breaking solar prices in Chile’s 2016 solar

not optimal in terms of renewable resource availability.

in place in Zambia to diversify the portfolio of generators and

Adjusting those signals in the second round contributed to

reduce risks in case projects do not materialise. Auctions that

� Liabilities can be reduced to encourage participation

a price decrease of about 30 percent.

have no limit on project size can benefit from economies of

and increase competition, but at the risk of facing

� When the main objective is to ensure cost effectiveness,

scale, as in the case of Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab

project delays or underproduction. Investor liabilities

Emirates, where 800 and 1,170 MW of solar was contracted

involve commitment to contract signing and project

respectively, at record-breaking prices.

completion as well as compliance rules and penalties.

a low ceiling price can be set, above which bids are not considered. However, there is a risk that a sub-optimal amount of renewable energy will be contracted, as it

auction.

These are important measures to ensure that projects

could lead to the rejection of some reasonable bids.

INVESTOR RISKS AND LIABILITIES

Experience has shown that keeping the price ceiling

In determining the sellers’ liabilities in the power purchase

needs of the power sector. However, if these measures

undisclosed can help increase cost effectiveness, but

agreement, there are various ways to allocate financial,

are too strict, competition in the auction will be reduced,

at the risk of disqualifying potentially good projects

operational and production risks between the project

that are just above the ceiling (e.g., early auctions in

developer, the auctioneer and the off-taker. Trade-offs that

Peru). Disclosing the ceiling price in auctions where

need to be considered in the allocation of risks and liabilities

competition is not fierce might result in equilibrium

to developers include:

are developed as per schedule to meet the capacity

leading to higher prices. There are innovative ways to address these trade-offs, as in the case of Germany, where bidders with building permits saw their bid bond and completion bond requirements reduced by almost half.

In Conversation SUNGROW IS THE ONLY ONE COMPANY WHICH PROVIDES BOTH STRING AND CENTRAL INVERTERS RANGING FROM 1000V TO 1500V PLATFORM IN THE UTILITY MARKET

MR. WILLIAM ZHOU Vice President Sungrow

SO LET’S BEGIN WITH GLIMPSE OF SUNGROW WITH THE PRESENCE AND OFFERINGS IN INDIA? India is one of the fastest growing economy in the world and has become a very large market for solar recently. The large population and size of economy also means rapidly growing power consumptions.

Sungrow is a world leading inverter solution supplier founded 20 Years ago by a university professor. We have been focused on Utility and C&I market in India. Now we are offering central and large string inverters in India. One thing worth mentioning is that we have realized 100% localization of employees in India which means that we can provide better services for our clients here.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERING IN INDIA? We are divided first in Utility Market – Sungrow is the only one company which provides both string and central inverters ranging from 1000V to 1500V platform in this market. So we at Sungrow focus on to the major market in India. Take the 1500V products for example, this year we have shipped over 120MW of containerized solutions to

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India. Our state-of-the-art products and professional local sales and technical personnel are providing best services for our clients in India.

market. So you can see lot of city rooftops are covered with solar panels. You can start to find the solar panel and we provide the inverters.

BEING A LEADING MANUFACTURE IN PV INVERTER INDUSTRY, WHAT MAKES YOUR PRODUCTS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER?

PLEASE DEFINE YOUR GROWTH IN PAST YEARS AND SOME MILESTONES YOU WISH TO ACHIEVE THIS YEAR?

The difference can be traced to the very beginning of our company. As I have said before, Sungrow was founded by a university teacher and this means that we have a very strong tradition in the research and development of technology.

Back to our headquarters, we have a very large dedicated team of R&D who consists over 35% of our workforce. Now, after years of rapid growth, we have started from a private company and now a listed public company since 2011.

Another important thing is that we still focus on customer needs, meaning from our boss to all team members, we would like to talk and listen to our clients. In some other company may be bosses will not be talking with customers but Sungrow really like to talk to them.

And we know technology and how to fully stratify our customer’s local needs. As different local needs are there.

For example in India some has local needs and we can stratify that and then we can achieve greater success.

WHAT ARE BEING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY TRENDS IN SOLAR INVERTER MARKET GLOBALLY AND IN INDIA? You can say for global market, Solar + storage, especially in the utility section, is a hottest treand. In utility market some companies tried to study the storage application but we are doing this with better and stable grid output.

For India, the 1st important thing is that Indian market is so good, and lots of installation go to the utility market. The 2nd market is commercial roof top market, the so called C&I

Last year has marked a most rapid growth of Sungrow since our entrance into the Indian market. For past 12 months we installed 1.3 GW new installations in India.

This is a benchmark for our local India team, and the local team consists of 100% Indian employees. They are very professional, hardworking group of people. And they have done outstanding job for our customers.

For milestone we think localisation is the most important thing for us. And we will continue working on it. We think the best achievement now is 1.3 GW shipment. So we can plan for next 12 months, maybe for another 3 GW new installation.

WHAT ARE BEING THE LATEST TRENDS AND DEMANDS FOR SOLAR INVERTER MARKET IN INDIA. WHERE DO YOU SEE THE NEXT DEMAND IN COMING MONTHS? For the solar industry there is very clear change that solar farms are going to have a new image. They will become more and more popular in countries including India. This is not only to substitute or changes tradition of power. Power was operated by traditional power but for example, solar farms can operate for high GW for improve grid stability.

In the recent years we have seen a lot of new power technology has emerging. The 1500V technology is one of the most recent examples. As I have mentioned before, this year alone, we have shipped over 120MW of 1500V central inverters to India. We believe it will become more and more popular in the next year. It’s not only 100% change but this has changed a lot.

Solar Quarter • October 2017 10

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 11

In Conversation GOVERNMENT OF INDIA HAS VERY AMBITIOUS PLANS AND TARGETS FOR SOLAR POWER GENERATION CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT IN COMING YEARS

MR. MANISH GUPTA Director Insolation Energy Pvt. Ltd.

LET’S BEGIN WITH A GLIMPSE OF YOUR COMPANY’S PRESENCE AND OFFERINGS IN INDIA? Insolation Energy’s fully automated 60 MWp plant in Jaipur

have installed 2 Mwp of solar modules manufactured by

import the modules from China and Taiwan rather than

Insolation Energy in our brand name INA are working at a

buying the same from local manufacturers. This is on

single location in Dist. Ujjain, M.P. since June, 2017.

account of cheaper imports from these countries because

TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE RECENT TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS IN YOUR SECTOR?

to 350Wp, modules in both 4 busbars and 5 busbars made from indigenous or imported solar cell, as per the Customer’s requirements are available.

WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT YOUR ORGANISATION? The fully automated manufacturing plant using the latest

products have established their credentials. A testimony to the same is the acceptance of Insolation Energy solar modules by various EPC developers, the largest and arguably the toughest Customer as far the quality is concerned among the Solar Power Developers in India. We

Dumping and Allied Duties and we expect a favourable outcome.

Government of India has very ambitious plans and targets

become commercially viable in the last couple of years, there

for solar power generation capacity enhancement in

has been a continuous increase in conversion efficiency of

coming years and the solar industry in India will be hard

solar cells year after year leading to higher peak power from

pressed to meet those targets.

same size of solar modules. An emphasis on cost of solar lead to better slicing techniques for cutting silicon ingots for

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD FOR OUR READERS?

making wafers. This has resulted in thinner wafers thereby

Besides the issue of dumping mentioned before, the

cells, which account for over 50% of the modules cost have

reducing the cost of cells and modules.

WHAT ARE YOUR GROWTH PLANS FOR THE INDIAN MARKET? WHAT ARE THE MILESTONES YOU WISH TO ACHIEVE BY THE END OF THIS FISCAL? After our current production capacity is fully utilized subject to the Government acting on the issues being faced by the indigenous solar modules manufacturing industry we are thinking in terms of a 100% expansion. By the end of this fiscal we hope to achieve sales of over 40MWp modules.

manufacturing technology was commissioned in April, 2017. In a short period of a few months the Company’s

are being carried out by the Directorate General of Anti-

While no new breakthrough or disruptive technology has

Rajasthan manufactures the full range poly-crystalline and mono-crystalline solar modules, right from 40Wp

of dumping by them at rates below cost. Investigations

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE LATEST TRENDS IN DEMAND FOR YOUR PRODUCTS & SERVICES IN INDIA? WHERE DO YOU SEE THE NEXT DEMAND GROWTH COMING FROM? Given a choice Solar power EPC Contractors prefer to

current GST structure has created an inverse tax structure for solar module manufacturers, whereby which the input GST is higher than the GST on solar modules. With no timely refunds of excess GST (Input GST – Output GST), the industry is facing a working capital crises, which is becoming more and more acute month by month as refund amount accumulates.

Further since import duty on solar modules is zero, Importers of solar modules have an advantage since the import does not have inverse tax structure. The cost of increased working capital combined with dumping has caused an existential crises for solar modules manufacturing industry and if these issues are not addressed soon, many of the solar modules manufacturing plants will face shutdowns, which is contrary to Make in India policy of the Government.

Further the industry today provides direct employment to over 50,000 personnel and indirect employment to a much larger number, who will become unemployed.

BY THE END OF THIS FISCAL WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE SALES OF OVER 40MWP MODULES we are having a growth rate of greater than 100% y-o-y

satisfied customers. We have doggedly worked our way to

basis for the last three years. We are now working towards

becoming a name to reckon with in rooftop solar space.

opening more offices in northern region in order to expand

We are now spreading our wings to other states and hope

our geographical client base. We are also happy to say that

to enter the utlity sector in near future.

MR. ANUJ NIGAM

we are designated as Knowledge Partner for Solar for IIA

Director

(Indian Industries Association) which is an apex body for

Startling Solar Pvt. Ltd.

MSME sector and prides itself in having more than seven thousand member companies. We recently installed solar plant on their marquee headquarter building in Lucknow.

Many of IIA’s members are also among our esteemed clients.

LET’S BEGIN WITH A GLIMPSE OF YOUR COMPANY’S PRESENCE AND OFFERINGS IN INDIA? Our company is a Solar EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) company headquartered in Mumbai. We also have offices in NCR, Lucknow, Indore & Raipur. Thus effectively we have our presence in five states where we have done majority of our rooftop solar projects though we are capable of executing the solar projects pan India.

We offer solar solutions on turnkey basis which includes various activities viz. site surveying, detailed designing, selection of components, installation and then post installation like Net Metering etc. This holistic approach gives a single window access to our clients for installation of solar power plant designed and installed customized to their requirements. We also provide consultancy for setting up solar plants on MW scale.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE RECENT TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS IN YOUR SECTOR? The solar market is inching more towards the on grid systems those without the use of battery. The introduction of net metering progressively over most of the states; the availability of grid power makes these systems very cost effective. The normal payback is around 4-5 years or even less where the grid rates are on higher side. Even where there is a power cut for one or two hours the solar system can be synchronized with diesel gensets to ensure uninterrupted supply of solar power.

WHAT ARE YOUR GROWTH PLANS FOR THE INDIAN MARKET? WHAT ARE THE MILESTONES YOU WISH TO ACHIEVE BY THE END OF THIS FISCAL?

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE LATEST TRENDS IN DEMAND FOR YOUR PRODUCTS & SERVICES IN INDIA? WHERE DO YOU SEE THE NEXT DEMAND GROWTH COMING FROM? The consumers can be distinctly divided into sectors namely C&I (Commercial & Industrial), Institutional, Social, Residential, Telecom & Agriculture. The noteworthy thing is that demand is emanating as well as increasing from all these sectors. We are thankful to the Discoms who are giving very good support in their activities like inspections, installation of net meters at rapid pace.

We are also thankful to the state nodal agencies for promptly disbursing the subsidies wherever applicable. We are happy to say that we are catering to customers in all these sectors.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD FOR OUR READERS? We always request our customers to please pay a very strict attention to the quality of the components and the installation methods used by the EPC companies. Price should be the last factor when considering the option of

WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT YOUR ORGANIZATION?

We had been recently ranked by one of the leading

solar system. The generation is what matters in the end. The

publications as one of the most promising companies in

life of the system is more than 25 years so an incremental

the Energy & Power Sector. We have a very dedicated team

increase in generation from a good quality system every

We started from scratch in 2013 and I am happy to say that

who go at all lengths to ensure that we have a long list of

year can increase the profits manifold.

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 12

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 13

In Conversation THE COMPANY’S ROLE IN INDIA WOULD INCLUDE BUILDING AWARENESS AND ENSURE ASSURANCE OF THE SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH EMOBILITY from ICE Vehicles is one of the contributor. With adoption of EVs this emission is completely removed, thus people will be living in a healthy environment. Further, with more and more renewable energy, which is variable in nature, MR. AWADHESH JHA

fed in the grid, use of EVs shall provide the flexible load

Vice President – Charge & Drive & Sustainability

all electric fleet by 2030 from this perspective, it becomes

Fortum India Pvt. Ltd.

to balance the system. If we see India’s vision to achieve obvious that we have no choice but to achieve this.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF E-MOBILITY FOR ELECTRICITY ECOSYSTEM? With more e-vehicles expected to be on Indian roads now than ever before, one may take into consideration the immense benefits it brings to the consumers and to its larger stakeholder groups. Cleaner air and less pollution leading to living a healthy life.; and Support to the market

Given its commitment to reduce carbon intensity under

for renewable energy sources (RES), - with more and more

Paris Agreement, it is our responsibility now to embrace

solar and wind energy production energy storage and load

the technology and join the change. This will necessitate

balancing will impact our everyday lives – EV offers new

PLEASE SHARE BRIEF INSIGHTS ABOUT THE PILOT IN NBCC PREMISES IN NEW DELHI. WHAT EFFORTS WERE REQUIRED TO SET UP SUCH A CHALLENGING SYSTEM?

the combined efforts of the administration, the private

opportunities for grid-connected storage and bringing

sector, and the public. Taking a cue from success of solar

prosumers into the electricity market. These are few

PV capacity addition during last 3-4 years, I am confident

benefits among many more.

in the Nordic countries, Fortum looks at establishing itself

HOW READY INDIA’S INFRASTRUCTURE IS TO EMBRACE EMOBILITY?

Fortum Oyj, a leading Finnish clean energy company in

as a leading service provider to e-vehicles. Starting with the

Three major stakeholders influence the evolvement of EVs

which Government of Finland owns 50.8% shares, has

pilot launch in New Delhi, Fortum aims at setting up about

in any country, and more interestingly, each one of these is

signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NBCC

150-160 chargers over a period of next 12-18 months

dependent on others. Development of eMobility will directly

(India) Limited for establishing a cooperative institutional

across different cities to give momentum to e-vehicle

concern automobile manufacturers, battery manufacturers,

relationship for developing charging infrastructure across

adoption. The company also aims at building awareness

and charging infrastructure providers. Given the limited

India in all upcoming NBCC construction projects. This MOU

and ensure assurance of the services associated with

consumption of e-vehicles in India currently, the infrastructure

covers all major activities in the value chain from planning

eMobility in order to increase acceptability of e-vehicles

for the same is also at a very nascent stage. The lack of

and designing to making investment and operating the

in India. Besides, we offer our proven Nordic expertise

sufficient infrastructure could be the most common reason

infrastructure using cloud based system.

in operating smart charger network built by Distribution

for a range of concerns, directly affecting the consumer

As a first step, Fortum has installed one 22 KW AC Charger

Companies or any other entity.

behavior and their purchase pattern. This is affecting potential

on pilot basis in New Moti Bagh area, which would be

that we can achieve this target.

Being a pioneer in electric vehicle charging solution provider

EV sales in India. However, from the operators’ point of view,

with OCPP 1.5 and GPRS communication system enabling

WHAT EFFORTS ARE REQUIRED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO PUSH THIS INITIATIVE?

it to communicate with remote server. This is quite user

Government of India has already been taking various

eMobility, it is pertinent that the government readies its

friendly to consumer as they can operate this charger using

initiatives. An enabling incentive scheme in the form of

charging infrastructure in place well before electric vehicles

RFID or Mobile App on Fortum cloud system which makes

Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric

commercially hit the Indian roads.

it quite safe as charger cannot be started without proper

Vehicles (FAME), to promote clean fuel technology vehicles

authorization.

is in place. The government is also set to roll out a national

Installation of such charger is not very complex, but the

policy for EVs by December this year which is expected to

operated using Fortum’s cloud-based system. As far as we know, this is the first smart charger in India equipped

preparatory work requires more time particularly finding suitable location. We are very much thankful to NBCC officials who provided all support that helped us install the

give desired push towards EVs. Policy makers’ sincerity for leap frogging to pure electric vehicles from ICE platform gets amplified when Battery EVs were put under 12% GST

charger in quick time.

bracket. A lot of existing government fleet are also getting

DO YOU THINK INDIA WOULD BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE TARGET SET BY INDIAN GOVERNMENT OF ONLY E-VEHICLES BY 2030. HOW IS FORTUM WORKING TOWARDS IT?

adoption of EVs in India. Although there are a handful of

Adoption of electric vehicle is required to provide a healthy

replaced by e-vehicles. All these steps will foster early charging stations in India as of now, and which is a challenge for vehicle owners to undertake long travels, it is expected through Public Private Partnership, a considerable number of charging network will be laid down in the country so as to cater to the growing need.

environment to present population and more to our future

However, we need to fast track EV adoption. To facilitate

generation. Residents of our cities particularly metros are

faster adoption, Government may consider few out of

exposed to very poor air quality where tailpipe emission

box measures like pre-equipping the upcoming buildings with necessary charging infrastructure by bringing in amendment in Building Code shall be one. Also, asking Oil

FORTUM HAS INSTALLED

Marketing companies to install progressively increasing number of charging station in their fuel stations with the objective of converting these fuel stations to Electric Fuel

ONE 22 KW AC CHARGER

station in future will go a long way in having adequate charging points. As RPOs did catapult solar adoption by

ON PILOT BASIS IN NEW MOTI BAGH AREA, WHICH

all discoms in short period of time, quota of Zero Emission options to consumers which will also propel use of EVs. After all we cannot achieve 100% from Zero in one year. allowing certain capital subsidy would act as extra benefits and would make the environment more conducive for early

USING FORTUM’S CLOUDBASED SYSTEM.

adoption of EVs. Moreover, treating charging infrastructure as commercial business instead of regulated electricity infrastructure will attract private investment in charging infrastructure space which is a priori for mass adoption of EVs.

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existing demand for charging services.

However, with the Government’s continuous push towards

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD FOR OUR READERS? Fortum has been a pioneer in electric vehicle charging and has a network of 1600 smart chargers, out of which 500 DC/AC chargers in the Nordic countries. The company’s innovative Charge & Drive system aims to respond to an increasing global demand in eMobility space, through providing world-class cloud based solutions. Charge & Drive Cloud provides an intuitive end user interface and a comprehensive system which support Charge Point Operators in the remote management of Charging Stations.

Fortum’s own Charge & Drive network successfully operates across Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The e-vehicle market is at a nascent stage in India, however, the segment is gaining significant attention of both domestic and foreign investors. The company’s role in India would include building awareness and ensure assurance of the services associated with eMobility. For EV to be acceptable in India, consumers need to be assured of availability of charging stations like fuel stations for ICE vehicles. If adequate and appropriate charging points are available across cities as well as along highways, it would alienate the range concerns of e-vehicle users.

Vehicles (ZEV) for car OEMs could bring in volume and

It has to be progressive. Waiver on road tax, GST and

WOULD BE OPERATED

it is difficult to invest in charging infrastructure without an

IF WE SEE INDIA’S VISION TO ACHIEVE ALL ELECTRIC FLEET BY 2030 FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE, IT BECOMES OBVIOUS THAT WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO ACHIEVE THIS.

Solar Quarter • October 2017 14

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Industry Insights 2018: TOP EMERGING TRENDS IN SOLAR INDUSTRY IN INDIA Massive capacity expansions, flooding investments & funding from banks and lucrative export opportunities are surfacing as the most promising trends for India’s Solar Industry during 2018.

Indian Solar Power Industry is projected to demonstrate double digit growth over the next couple of years owing to the plummeting prices of solar power equipment coupled with conducive schemes and projects launched by GoI to boost the solar power generation in the country.

For instance, Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) is anticipated to offer enormous push to the country’s solar energy sector by 2018.

Following emerging trends are expected to shape the Indian Solar Industry in 2018:

SOLAR MANUFACTURING CAPACITY EXPANSION PLANS FOR 2018

investments to upsurge the solar power infrastructure of

Several capacity expansion projects are planned to expand

� The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)

share of solar power in the country’s energy mix. Some of them are discussed below: � The Government of India is taking an initiative to invest nearly USD2.5 Billion under the ‘Saubhagya Yojna’ Scheme to electrify all the rural as well as urban households which are eager to use solar energy, by the end of 2018. � Ministry of Defense and Railways are also planning massive capacity expansions by 2018, in response to efforts by PM Modi to reduce the energy dependency on fossil fuels. For instance; � Indian Navy is setting a target to install 10 Mega Watts

Growth Trajectory of RPOs for Solar Energy

of Solar Photovoltaics by 31st December 2018. The navy is planning to carry out the installation in 3 stages and would be spending almost 1.5% of allocated work budget towards renewable energy production. � 7,000 out of 7,137 making almost 98 per cent of railway stations across the country are going to install rooftop solar power systems under the Solar Mission of the Indian Railways programme. The government of the Union of India is seeking to attain the target by 2018.

POURING DOLLARS AND EUROS: Source: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)

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The international financial institutions are providing

India by 2018. For instance, is aiming to achieve 10 GW solar capacity for rooftop and other small grid-connected solar projects by 2018. kfW, Asian Development Bank and World Bank have reportedly issued funding of EUR1 Billion, $500 Million and $500 Million, respectively to conquer 25% of the set target by next year.

BRIGHTER EXPORT PROSPECTS FOR ‘MADE IN INDIA’ SOLAR MODULES IN 2018 The final hearing on the Section 201 case by president of US on January 12, 2018 is expected to open trade opportunities for Indian solar module manufacturers. At the same time, the implementation of new Minimum Import Price (MIP) has averted the European solar power equipment supplies towards South East Asian nations, certainly leaving Indian companies to target US imports in 2018.

Several other trends such as distributed generation, usage of unproductive and non-agricultural lands to set up solar parks in addition to technology trends such as Biosolar cells, floating panels, floating solar farms, etc. would continue to fuel the India Solar Power Industry through 2018 and beyond.

By Jaideep Kumar, Consultant - Energy, TechSci Research

Solar Quarter • October 2017 15

Industry Insights INTERNET OF THINGS - A REVOLUTION IN THE SOLAR SECTOR Supervisory control and data acquisition systems gained

generators sufficient time to ramp up or down thereby

IoT has enabled a transformation in which much more

popularity in the power sector in the 1990s as means to

reducing emissions of the power sector.

than supervision and control of the process associated with

automate industrial processes. It was an early version of

(iii) Advanced metering infrastructure with automated

the IoT. Its functions included supervision of the operation of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) by collecting data about the underlying process, analyzing the data, and sending commands to control the processes. Smart meters are another early example of IoT, with its ability to deliver near real-time

demand response would allow utilities to reduce demand

the following three applications:

and as a result, minimize use of expensive and highly

� Increase the efficiency and reliability of assets. This

polluting peaker plants, and maximize the penetration of

can be accomplished with IoT-enabled operation and

renewable energy.

maintenance (O&M) on generation, and transmission and

(iv) When there is a generator trip, ICT can provide data about

consumption data and connect and/or disconnect customers, both without visiting the customer location. In the continuum of IoT maturity (Figure 5), both solutions do monitor and control. Often, operational technology like SCADA and smart meters have to be complemented with information and communication technology (ICT) like geographic information systems (GIS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems

distribution (T&D) assets.

which customers will be affected (through a geographic

On the operations end, IoT can reduce fuel consumption and

information system [GIS] and a customer information

emissions, and increase flexibility of generation by lowering

system), how much energy should be bought from

minimum capacity factor and increasing ramp rate. In the

neighboring utilities versus from peaking generators and

Asian context, the following are examples of IoT projects that

if there is need for repairs, what is the level of the spare

can lead to meeting the double objectives of lower cost and

parts inventory.

lower emissions:

for an IoT solution to move up to a higher level of maturity. A

The convergence of IT and operational technology therefore

few examples of IoT solutions with a higher level of maturity

provides significant opportunities for optimization. Consider

are described next.

a second example of work management, in which a truck with crew rolls out to fix a problem at a pole (Figure below):

An example of an underlying process controlled by SCADA

generation and delivery of power is accomplished. Consider

(i) automatic generation control that takes into account economics and emissions; (ii) reduce technical losses in T&D network through active voltage management, installation of actuators on smart transformers; and

is burning of fuel, generating steam, and generating power

(i) Operational technology components like smart meters

using a turbine. Until recently, it was costly to put enough

and other line sensors provide near real-time information,

(iii) reduce nontechnical losses using a network of smart

sensors, transmit high frequency data, store the large volume

which can be combined with IT accessories like GIS to

meters. On the maintenance end, IoT can play an

of data, perform smart analytics on the data, and tune the

pinpoint the location of the problem.

important role in condition monitoring and predictive and

process for optimal performance. These constraints are being

(ii) IT systems can inform the crew of spares and sensors that

overcome and a “full digitalization” of the process is being

are required but not on the truck to complete the job.

unleashed by IoT.

(iii) IT applications on a tablet or laptop can provide locations

Continuing with this example, examine the entire generation

of assets like switch gear, relays, and other equipment on

to consumption process in the power sector:

a map that need to be managed before work can begin

(i) The generation process can be made flexible by IoT and

on the line.

hence it can support efficient operation at various capacity

(iv) Operational technology can provide direction of flow of

factors as opposed to always operating in baseload mode.

power and voltages in neighboring buses to the IT system

This flexibility is essential to integrating higher amounts of

(GIS-based map on tablet).

renewable power.

IoT can therefore enable the crew to efficiently and safely

(ii) IoT with advanced analytics can accurately forecast solar

repair and restore the circuit.

and wind generation, which would allow conventional

proscriptive maintenance of assets. In the Asian context, IoT can help by moving a utility to transition from running assets until failure or performing schedule maintenance (see Figure 7: bottom two levels of the pyramid) to conducting predictive and proscriptive maintenance to reduce cost and improve reliability � Grid optimization with large penetration of renewables and storage. In Asia, utility-scale wind and solar plants are being curtailed because of inflexibility of generation and demand. IoT can accomplish flexibility in generation and demand thereby reduce the amount of curtailment of clean power sources like wind and solar, thereby increase the ability to fully realize reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from higher penetration of variable generation. � Enable consumers to be energy-efficient. IoT can

Figure 5: The Internet of things Maturity Model

significantly improve the efficient use of electricity while enhancing the level of comfort, by providing customers access to near real-time information about usage and peak events; and, machine learning algorithms to make smart decisions.

Within a home or building this can enable customers to manage time of day consumption; turn on or off devices; and make decisions about buying, selling, or storing energy; all of which may occur with limited or no involvement of the established power utility.

General Electric (GE) predicts that in the electricity value chain $1.3 trillion of value can be captured during 2016 to Figure 6: Illustration of the Components of the Internet of Things

2025 globally by IoT. This value is from deployment of smart devices, cloud computing, advanced analytics, advanced dashboard, and the overall integration of all these services

IT CIO Verticle Appl. S/W

Enterprise S/W 

ERP



Finance



A/P



HR



Payroll

OT (Does someone own this?)









Geographic info system

Centralized  Supervisory control and data 

Enterprise asset management Customer information system Energy trading and risk management





Energy management system

Distributed  Programmable logic controllers 

Advanced protection relays

Automatic general control



Distribution asset analysis



Sensors, monitors, and fault indicators Gateways and substations integration

into a platform.

According to GE, the $1.3 trillion value will be derived from the following three areas: (i) Asset performance management would contribute $387 billion in value. This is derived from lower repair and maintenance cost, lower downtime of assets, and fewer critical breakdowns. (ii) Operational optimization and aggregation would contribute $445 billion in value. This is derived from realtime supply and demand platform, real-time network controls, energy aggregation platform, and connected and interoperable devices (iii) Comprehensive customer services would contribute $438

Corporate IT network

Control network(s)

billion in value. This is derived from digitizing customer interactions and smart energy management services.

CIO-Chief Information Officer, OT-Operational Technology, ERP-Enterprise Resource Planning, A/P-Accounts Payable, HR-Human Resource.

Source: Gartner. 2008. Overview: IT and OT: Intersection and Collaboration, http://www.gartner.com/doc/766920/ overview-it-ot-intersection-collaboration

In addition to the $1.3 trillion value capture by the industry, more than $2 trillion in societal benefits will be realized through IoT, which include reduction in carbon emissions, new job creation, and value creation for consumers.

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 16

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 17

Tech Insights TRANSPARENT SOLAR TECHNOLOGY REPRESENTS ‘WAVE OF THE FUTURE’ See-through solar materials that can be applied to windows represent a massive source of untapped energy and could harvest as much power as bigger, bulkier rooftop solar units, scientists report today in Nature Energy.

Led by engineering researchers at Michigan State University, the authors argue that widespread use of such highly transparent solar applications, together with the rooftop units, could nearly meet U.S. electricity demand and drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels.

“Highly transparent solar cells represent the wave of the future for new solar applications,” said Richard Lunt, the Johansen Crosby Endowed Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at MSU. “We analyzed their potential and show that by harvesting only invisible light, these devices can provide a similar electricity-generation potential as rooftop solar while providing additional functionality to enhance the efficiency of buildings, automobiles and mobile electronics.”

Lunt and colleagues at MSU pioneered the development of a transparent luminescent solar concentrator that when placed on a window creates solar energy without disrupting the view. The thin, plastic-like material can be used on buildings, car windows, cell phones or other devices with a clear surface.

The solar-harvesting system uses organic molecules developed by Lunt and his team to absorb invisible wavelengths of sunlight. The researchers can “tune” these materials to pick up just the ultraviolet and the nearinfrared wavelengths that then convert this energy into electricity.

Moving global energy consumption away from fossil fuels will require such innovative and cost-effective renewable energy technologies. Only about 1.5 percent of electricity demand in the United States and globally is produced by solar power.

But in terms of overall electricity potential, the authors note that there is an estimated 5 billion to 7 billion square meters of glass surface in the United States. And with that much glass to cover, transparent solar technologies have the potential of supplying some 40 percent of energy demand in the U.S. - about the same potential as rooftop solar units. “The complimentary deployment of both technologies,” Lunt said, “could get us close to 100 percent of our demand if we also improve energy storage.”

Lunt said highly transparent solar applications are recording efficiencies above 5 percent, while traditional solar panels typically are about 15 percent to 18 percent efficient.

Although transparent solar technologies will never be more efficient at converting solar energy to electricity than their opaque counterparts, they can get close and offer the potential to be applied to a lot more additional surface area, he said.

Right now, transparent solar technologies are only at about a third of their realistic overall potential, Lunt added.

“That is what we are working towards,” he said. “Traditional solar applications have been actively researched for over five decades, yet we have only been working on these highly transparent solar cells for about five years.

opening up a number of new commercial and economic opportunities, the report highlights.

Launched during the ‘Innovation for Cool Earth Forum’ in Tokyo, Japan, IRENA’s Electricity Storage and Renewables: Costs and Markets to 2030 assessment of electricity storage in stationary applications also found that global storage capacity could triple if countries double the share

much as 73 per cent for transport applications from 2010.

While Li-ion batteries in stationary applications have a higher installed cost than those used in EVs, in Germany, small-scale Li-ion battery systems have also seen their total installed costs fall by 60 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2014 and the second quarter of 2017.

of renewables in the energy system.

“The growth of lithium-ion battery use in electric vehicles

“As storage technology improves and prices decline, both

and across the transport sector over the next 10 to 15 years

utility-scale and small-scale, distributed applications

is an important synergy that will help drive down battery

could grow dramatically, accelerating renewable energy

costs for stationary storage applications,” said Dolf Gielen,

deployment” said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin.

Director of the IRENA Innovation and Technology Centre

“In this dynamic, low-carbon energy environment, now is a crucial time for storage technology.” added Mr. Amin.

“This research demonstrates that the business case for renewable energy continues to strengthen, positioning it firmly as a low-cost and secure source of energy supply,”

and an author of the report. “The trend towards electrified mobility will also open up opportunities for electric vehicles to provide vehicle-to-grid services, helping feed a virtuous circle of renewable energy and storage integration.

he concluded.

“Storage technology will deliver service flexibility to the

The report, which is focused on stationary applications,

grid and electricity storage to small-scale rooftop solar

highlights that while pumped-hydro systems currently

applications in markets where commercial and residential

dominate total installed power storage capacity, with

electricity rates are high, and grid feed-in remuneration is

96% of the installed electricity storage power globally,

declining,” concluded Mr. Gielen.

economies of scale and technology breakthroughs will support the accelerated development and adoption of

By 2030, the calendar life of Li-ion batteries could also

alternative storage technologies, such as lithium-ion (Li-

increase by approximately 50 per cent, while the number of

ion) batteries and flow batteries.

full cycles possible could potentially increase by as much as

Stationary electricity storage can directly drive rapid

90 per cent. Other battery storage technologies also offer

decarbonisation in other key segments of energy use, such

large cost reduction potential. High temperature “sodium

as in the transport sector where the viability of battery

sulphur” batteries could see their costs decline by up to 60%,

storage for electric vehicles (EVs) is improving fast. At the

while the total installed cost of flow batteries could potentially

end of 2016, the cost of Li-ion batteries had fallen by as

fall by two-thirds by 2030. Although they are subject to higher costs

up-front compared

Ultimately, this technology offers a promising route to

to

inexpensive, widespread solar adoption on small and large

technologies,

surfaces that were previously inaccessible.”

flow

BATTERY COSTS IN STATIONARY ENERGY COULD FALL BY UP TO 66%, GROW 17-FOLD BY 2030 The cost of battery storage for stationary applications could fall by up to 66 per cent by 2030, according to a new report published today by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The falling price of batteries could

other batteries

often

exceed

10,000

full

cycles, balancing the

costs

very lifetime

with high

energy

throughputs.

stimulate 17-fold growth of installed battery storage,

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 18

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 19

Tech Insights VALUE OF UAV (DRONE) TECHNOLOGY IN SOLAR O&M: PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE Preventative maintenance (PM) includes routine inspection and servicing of equipment to prevent malfunctions and unnecessary production loss. Generally, solar plant developers enter a power purchase agreement (PPA) with host customers to sell power generated at a fix rate and at a predetermined generation capacity. It is imperative for solar farms to maintain an optimal level of performance, and Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group, whose membership includes more than 450 solar developers, financiers and capital managers, and other stakeholders in solar asset management, recommends routine inspection of PV array to check all mounting systems and other hardware for corrosion and damage.

CURRENT PROCESS TO DETERMINE FAULTY PV MODULES According to South Africa’s country manager Velasco from Enertis, a global solar O&M service provider, “Carrying out the site data collection for quality control using infrared imaging across a 75 MW, 200- hectare plant would usually

Step 1. A PV module specialist checks for hot spots using an infrared camera

take two or three people at

defected panels while use one-tenth of time it would take for

least a month.”1 Our case

manual inspections. Aerospec’s inspection report provided

study at a 100 MW utility

immediate actionable items to replace faulty panels and

solar farm confirms this

ensure the plant operates at its optimal level.

projection. grew 119% in 2016, and

TECHNICAL CHALLENGES IN USING UAV TO SOLAR INSPECTION

with federal tax incentive

Using thermal sensor mounted drones to conduct solar

effective through 2022, the

inspection has been around for the last few years. However,

U.S. solar market is projected

the industry has not seen a correlate growth of drone

to surpass 100 cumulative

inspection with the growth of solar installations due to one

GW by 2021, according to

major technical challenge – unable to pinpoint faulty solar

GTM Research. Compare to

panels in a uniformly distributed thermal image including

35.8 GW today. With such

hundreds of panels at a time.

The

U.S.

solar

market

level of exponential growth rate, of

current inspection

methods is

simply

not sustainable nor is it economically feasible.

Step 2. An electrician checks the module to ensure all electrical connections are sound

PERFORMANCE, AND SOLAR ACCESS TO PUBLIC CAPITAL (SAPC) WORKING GROUP.

According to the Electric

With any utility level solar plant, the number of PV modules

Power Research Institute

ranges from thousands to hundreds of thousands, precisely

(EPRI), drones can perform

location a faulty PV module is analogous to finding a needle

a

–

in a haystack. Using simple GPS and altitude information from

variety

of

tasks

imaging

a UAV is proven ineffective because thermal imaging cannot

(of modules, wiring, and

visual

be done at a 90-degree angle. To overcome this challenge,

other plant components),

scientists at Aerospec developed a proprietary image-

infrared

thermography,

processing software that uses a metadata with advanced

and vegetation monitoring

computer vision and machine learning algorithm to precisely

– that have the potential

pinpoint faulty panels. The algorithm has consistently

to update largely manual

performed at close to 100% accuracy level. Future software

conventional processes and

application will include more comprehensive data analytics

more

through pattern recognition and change detection.

efficiently

identify

and diagnose PV system performance issues.

Case Study: 100 MW utility solar farm Aerospec was invited to inspect a 100MW solar farm in the U.S. which consist

of

450,000

approximately PV

modules.

With its proprietary image processing

technology

and detection algorithm, Aerospec

successfully

identified and located all

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SOLAR FARMS TO MAINTAIN AN OPTIMAL LEVEL OF

USING LATEST DRONE TECHNOLOGY TO DETERMINE FAULTY PV MODULES

including

Step 3. A technician manually records problem areas for further investigation

IT IS IMPERATIVE FOR

MEASURING THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT Using its technology, Aerospec determined that the solar farm has 3,500 faulty PV modules, or approximately $1 million in replacement cost, a huge cost-saving by identifying and replacing these modules within the warranty period. In addition, if left unnoticed, these faulty PV modules will result in close to $350,000 annual revenue lost due to generation lost. Most importantly, UAV inspection can be done 6 – 10X faster than traditional method which gives customers ample time to make corrective decisions.

Contributed By: Aerospec

Solar Quarter • October 2017 20

Tech Insights TRENDS IN OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS: BASED ON SAMPLE EMPIRICAL DATA In addition to up-front installed project prices,

TABLE 3: OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COST SAMPLE (CUMULATIVE OVER TIME)

utility-scale solar projects also incur ongoing operation and maintenance (“O&M”) costs, which

PG&E

are defined here to include only those direct

YEAR

costs to operate and maintain the generating

# of MWAC

PNM25

2011

least as reported here—exclude payments such

2012

50

3

8

2013

100

6

2014

N/A

to total operating expenses). Here we review and

2015

analyze the limited data on O&M costs that are in

2016

performance bonds, various administrative and other fees, and overhead (all of which contribute

the public domain.

Empirical data on the O&M costs of utility-

predominant technology

scale solar projects are hard to come by. Few of the utility-scale solar projects that have been

Georgia Power

APS26

PSEG27

FP&L

# of # of # of # of # of # of # of # of # of # of # of # of # of projects MWAC projects MWAC projects MWAC projects MWAC projects MWAC projects MWAC projects

plant itself. In other words, O&M costs—at as property taxes, insurance, land royalties,

Nevada Power

51

3

110

3

2

96

4

110

3

30

4

136

6

110

3

N/A

55

7

168

7

110

3

150

9

95

11

191

9

110

3

150

9

95

11

237

10

110

3

Fixed -tilt c-Si

4 Fixed-Tilt, 7 Tracking

16

1

Tracking c-Si

36

2

Fixed-Tilt c-Si

Tracking c-Si

44

3

Fixed-Tilt c-Si

mix of c-Si and CSP

Figure 13: Empirical O&M Costs Over Time for Growing Cumulative Sample of Projects

operating for more than a year are owned by regulated investor-owned utilities. Even fewer of those investor-owned utilities that do own utilityscale solar projects actually report operating cost data. For example, at least historically, some investor-owned utilities have not reported empirical O&M costs for individual solar projects, but instead have reported average O&M costs across their entire fleet of PV projects, pro-rated to individual projects on a capacity basis. This lack of project-level granularity requires us to analyze solar O&M costs on an aggregate utility level rather than an individual project level. The table below describes the O&M cost sample and highlights the growing cumulative project fleet of a sample of utilities in the US. (Fig 1) Despite these limitations, Figure 2 shows average utility fleet-wide annual O&M costs for this small sample of projects in $/kWAC-year (PV, blue solid line) and $/MWh (PV, red dashed line). The error bars represent both the lowest and the highest utility fleet-wide PV cost in each year. The yellow dotted line, meanwhile, shows the annual O&M costs of FP&L’s 75 MW CSP plant (in $/kW-year terms only, because this project provides steam to a co-located combined cycle gas plant).

Although this article focuses on PV projects, we have included this lone CSP plant here largely for the sake of expediency, given that it is the only CSP project for which we have O&M cost data. Not surprisingly, its O&M costs—which may not even be fully representative if they reflect just the solar collector field and not the power block of the gas-fired combined cycle plant—are well above those of the PV projects shown.

Average O&M costs for the cumulative set of PV plants within this sample have steadily declined from about $19/MWh (Or INR 1273/ MWh) in 2011 to about $7/MWh (Or INR 469/ MWh) in 2015, but rose in 2016 to $8/MWh (INR 536/MWh). And while the average O&M expense across all utilities has increased slightly in 2016, the utilities with the highest- and lowest-cost fleets have been able to lower their relative costs in both $/kW-year and $/MWh terms (see error bars). This general declining trend potentially indicates that utilities are capturing economies of scale as their PV project fleets grow over time. In 2016, all but three out of 15 PV projects in the sample (i.e., in those instances where we have project-level rather than aggregate utility data) had O&M costs of less than $20/kWAC-year (or $11/MWh).

As utility ownership of operating solar projects increases in the years ahead (and as those utilities that already own substantial solar assets but do not currently report operating cost data hopefully begin to do so, the sample of projects reporting O&M costs should grow, potentially allowing for more interesting analyses in future editions of this article.

ALTHOUGH THIS ARTICLE FOCUSES ON PV PROJECTS, WE HAVE INCLUDED THIS LONE CSP PLANT HERE LARGELY FOR THE SAKE OF EXPEDIENCY, GIVEN THAT IT IS THE ONLY CSP PROJECT FOR WHICH WE HAVE O&M COST DATA.

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 21

Industry Perspective “KEY CHALLENGES IN MANAGING A ROOFTOP SOLAR ASSET PORTFOLIO” The rooftop solar market is expected to grow to a market

processes of business development, technical feasibility

seen several cases where

size of 20 GW by 2022 (15x growth of current size). We

assessment, contract negotiation, regulatory approval,

the same customers are still

expect a large contribution of this portfolio to come from

asset financing, installation and commissioning. Moreover,

waiting for solar players to

OPEX projects where the client (off taker) enters into a

the contracts are not standardised and there are several

build the plant.

long-term power purchase agreement with the project

permutations to consider while finding the right match

developer. Developers face varied challenges in building

that fits the client’s requirements. These time-consuming

Lastly, at a policy level,

and managing a rooftop solar asset portfolio and some of

processes hinder scalability and make rooftop solar a

the key challenges have been highlighted below.

resource intensive business. At Fourth Partner Energy we

Achieving scale presents the biggest challenge for any

have built a team of over 140 people today across 10 offices

while

we

are

pleasantly

surprised by the initiatives taken by the Government, the market is still in its

rooftop solar developer given the relatively small size of

in India to be able to build and manage this business.

each rooftop installation. Every project goes through the

Rooftop solar presents a unique challenge with respect

uniform understanding of

to credit risk of the clients. Since these plants are set up

these policies. This leads

under long term agreements (varying from 10 years to 25

to

unnecessary

THE ROOFTOP SOLAR MARKET IS

years), evaluating and mitigating risks associated with the

in

obtaining

EVOLVING CONTINUOUSLY AND

credit profile of such clients becomes critical. Besides, the

approvals and in financial

contract laws in India are not the strongest. Our sales team

loss. We have a dedicated team managing CEIG

at Fourth Partner Energy dons their financier hat and are

approvals and Net Metering for our projects across

ably supported by a strong risk assessment team.

India.

Sometimes we do hear of irrational pricing by some players,

The rooftop solar market is evolving continuously

and we wish players demonstrated more maturity on this

and project developers need to continuously apprise

front. We have walked away from such contracts, and have

themselves of new challenges and opportunities.

PROJECT DEVELOPERS NEED TO CONTINUOUSLY APPRISE THEMSELVES OF NEW CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES.

The Challenges start right from the stage of signing

our PV portfolios. This is definitely not accounted

the PPA to proper execution, Net metering / CEIG and

properly while bidding tariffs.

O&M. However, DEVELOPING A SOLAR ASSET NOW IS NOT AS CRITICAL AS MANAGING CONSTANT PLANT

2.3.

The

O&M,

AM

Disconnect:The

disconnect

maintenance (O&M) and asset management (AM)

The Industry is matured and has evolved several competent

activities vary with different goals and objectives

players in the market who are responsible and credible in

both are trying to achieve. Critical Aspects being:

executing the Solar Power Projects. Developers have even

- Streamlining O&M in field efficiency

standardised their Bill of Materials and their requirements are taken care by EPC Contractors.

- Integrating monitoring into overall reporting,

1. Finding the right O&M Partner: But once the Number

- Integrating

Performance

through

EPC

and

O&M

Contractors.

2. O&M and Asset management Disconnect:

reporting

asset

Aspects of solar PV which can be addressed effectively with a more holistic approach to data generation and reporting include: - Spare parts

Companies. Developers are now facing below mentioned

- Preventative maintenance labor - Corrective maintenance labor

2.1. Proper Reporting:Data does not help manage all sought for aspects and if it needs to be constructed, it takes too much time to generate the reports.

Data needs to be designed to accurately maintain and manage techno commercial aspects of PV assets.

- Software Costs (Monitoring & Management platforms) - Asset Management cost and/or internal labor

PV site or even more alarming, we don’t know

components and plant repairs including insurance claims.

AND HAS EVOLVED SEVERAL COMPETENT PLAYERS IN THE MARKET WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE AND CREDIBLE IN EXECUTING THE SOLAR POWER PROJECTS.

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current, � Calibration: Sensors, SCADA, Monitoring system, � Inverter functionality, Corrective, reactive, Adhoc Maintenance, � Condition based Maintenance (challenging sites),

Mr. Hitaksh Sachar Director, Asun Solar Power (P) Ltd.

behavior in the power plant, Alarm handling (Response time 48 hrs.) – Identification of problem. � Notifying Supplier faults � Management of Repair /upgrades (Civil, mechanical, electrical) � Reporting - Periodical reporting on weekly basis) � Spare Parts (mc4 connectors, fuses, spare electrical, AMC)

for timely checks and balances of failure in critical

THE INDUSTRY IS MATURED

connections, string

There needs to be a proper robust mechanism within the AM structure - wherein the O&M team is made responsible

necessary information to maintain and manage

imaging), loose

inverter in case of faults will be provided by Asun

lot of human hours generating reports on each

amass, validate, analyze and communicate the

� Checking electrical

3. Plant Rework and Warranty Claims:

2.2. Wasted Time: We as an industry are spending a

how many “man hours” we are spending to

requisite

� Diagnosing abnormal

We feel there is a huge gap in the market for O&M issues:

with

management,

of Assets increase, Companies are striving to achieve Optimal

O&M

delays

Mr. Gavish Gupta Manager – Corporate Development, Fourth Partner

connections (thermal

between information tracking operations and

PERFORMANCE.

nascent stages and lacks

� Warranty claim assistance

4. Maintaining Plant as per Clients standards and timings:

THE CHALLENGES START

Though the Asset is created on client’s rooftop; all safety

RIGHT FROM THE STAGE OF

and other rules and procedures of the client need to be strictly adhered. No Asset Manager would like to spoil its

SIGNING THE PPA TO PROPER

relationship with its client during the term. This ensures

EXECUTION, NET METERING

smooth cash flow from the plant.

Over the years Asun AMC has also developed its team with highly skilled in-house engineers providing the desired O&M services suiting individual Client needs. Our Regular services include: � Cleaning panels, Clearing vegetation, bird drops, shading from nearby trees, plants etc.,

/ CEIG AND O&M. HOWEVER, DEVELOPING A SOLAR ASSET NOW IS NOT AS CRITICAL AS MANAGING CONSTANT PLANT PERFORMANCE.

Solar Quarter • October 2017 22

Industry Perspective “KEY CHALLENGES IN MANAGING A ROOFTOP SOLAR ASSET PORTFOLIO” monitoring system for its installations, and leads to very efficient checks of the system. � Another

challenge

managing

the

is local

administration

and

protocols of the region.

Different

clients

different

systems

billing Net

and metering

and

have

payments. process

permissions

varying

for

depending

are

Mr. Umakant Shende COO, CleanMax Solar

on

the state and DISCOMS. The application process is tedious and even after the grants, the bills from various DISCOMS do not reflect the credit to the offtaker, which can further create issues for solar billings. Safety of the personnel while maintaining the solar plants is of utmost importance and all protocols at the client site need to be followed.

Manipal University

Emergencies and force majeure come with problems of their own.

Solar energy is one of the fastest growing industries in India,

� Rooftop systems are installed on-site and are distributed

and with the government’s aim to install 175 Gigawatts (GW)

across multiple roofs/areas in the premises with several

WHILE THE ROOFTOP SOLAR

of renewable power by 2022 there is a sudden increase in

points of injection of electricity. This leads to challenges

the adoption of solar energy in all customer segments,

in detection and pin-pointing of system breakdowns.

INDUSTRY IS INNOVATING

especially corporate India. While the rooftop solar industry

Remote monitoring the plant generation can help reduce

DIFFERENT CONCEPTS, THERE

is innovating different concepts, there are still several

the issue to some extent, as it leads to quick turnaround

ARE STILL SEVERAL CHALLENGES

challenges in managing a Rooftop Solar Asset Portfolio.

time in case of non- generation from the plant because

IN MANAGING A ROOFTOP SOLAR

Some of these challenges are given below:

of system faults. CleanMax installs cloud based remote

ASSET PORTFOLIO.

Harrison Gatos + Natalie Babij NRG Systems Technical Support

Our turnkey approach to solar resource assessment and monitoring was designed with our customers in mind. That’s why we have expanded our product line to include: • Soiling Measurement Kit to quantify site-specific impact of particles on PV projects • All-Weather Pyranometer Ventilation and Heating Kit for accurate and reliable solar radiation measurements When paired with our Solar Resource Assessment System, these tools are ideal for improving data collection and project operation. nrgsystems.com

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Solar 23 Solar Quarter Quarter •• October October 2017 2017 23

Industry Perspective “KEY CHALLENGES IN MANAGING A ROOFTOP SOLAR ASSET PORTFOLIO” Indian Solar sector has received great commendations.

long term. Associated with the client credit risk is another

the grid) becomes viable

With drastic decline in solar energy tariffs from INR 17/

risk of timely payments. Since the asset is located on the

only

KWh to INR 3 per unit recently paves the path for rooftop

client’s premises, there is little that the developer can do

metering policy is favorable

solar growth. Facilities like excise duty exemption, custom

in case of non-payment (unlike the Discom, which can

(many

duty exemption and foreign investments pouring in have

disconnect the power of the consumer). Removing the plant

Commercial establishments

helped states in India to install rooftop solar plants with

from the rooftop is usually the last resort, as other than

are

ease. However, challenges still exist. The main challenge

modules and inverters, many other important materials

However, solar energy can

that remains is that of the client credit risk and continuity

(including structures and cables) cannot be reused. The

be only exported to the

risk throughout the PPA term- as PPA terms tend to be of

modules too, may get damaged since any micro-cracks

grid as long as the grid is

long term somewhere around 15-25 years, hence it is very

may not be visible to the naked eye during the transfer of

functioning. Therefore, if the

essential to check the creditworthiness of the client for the

the plant. In addition to these cost, the plant is idle during

grid electricity availability to

the time taken to shift the plant and re-erect it. Sometime

a site changes in the future,

later in the future it is possible that the client may wish

expected gains from net

to redesign the building on whose rooftop the solar plant

metering will not materialize,

is located. A clause regarding the cost-bearing by the

putting pressure on the

THE ROOFTOP IS USUALLY THE

client for such an eventuality can be covered in the PPA

client’s adherence to the

itself. However, the risk of damage does remain. Another

PPA. In case of a disruptive

LAST RESORT, AS OTHER THAN

unforeseen risk is that of the performance of the pant as

new technology that becomes commercially available

it is possible that despite using the most sophisticated

that helps in bringing down costs or increasing solar

MODULES AND INVERTERS,

and reliable satellite data, the actual generation at a site

efficiency, once again, the PPA’s may be threatened.

varies from the forecast. In case the variation is high, it can

While the likelihood of such a disruption occurring

MANY OTHER IMPORTANT

lead to lower financial returns on the project. Repairs and

in the next 5 years or so may not be too high, it is

replacement is another risk factor as repairs of the modules

certainly possible in the next 1-15 years.Apart from

and inverters can adversely impact the pant generation.

the challenges mentioned, changes in the policy and

Hence the lost generation can never really be recovered.

taxation becomes a key challenge putting pressure on

Even taller buildings and obstructions can come up post

the client’s adherence to the PPA. Primarily the cost of

installation of the rooftop plant causing partial or total

solar power is lower than the grid power. Introduction

shading of the plant. Hence leading to shading losses. Net

of taxes and levies on solar power may reduce or erode

metering policy9 the excess energy can be fed back into

the savings vis a vis grid power.

In India there are several challenges associated with

Uninterrupted internet connectivity as well as easy

security personnel cannot

managing rooftop assets – especially within the rooftop

accessibility can be problematic for installations in remote

be assigned to each rooftop

PPA model.

areas.

asset,

The most important aspect being cleaning, asset owners

Within

assume the responsibility

need to ensure availability of dedicated staff for regular

pollution makes it more difficult to maintain solar panels

cleaning. Solar assets also need clean water at site for

and effectively remove particle deposition. Also, the

cleaning. This can be difficult in remote areas – robotic

development of any high-rise buildings next to the rooftop

security of the property.

cleaning may not be financially viable for rooftop assets.

plant can significantly alter irradiation for the plant and

Even with the challenges,

Checking for soft water availability, before asset installation,

thus, the output.

rooftop

Security is also critical in a rooftop asset. These assets

potential in India and is

REMOVING THE PLANT FROM

MATERIALS (INCLUDING STRUCTURES AND CABLES) CANNOT BE REUSED.

along with providing basic training to the staff can ensure on-schedule and within-budget maintenance.

cities,

as

more

industries

develop,

higher

may become targets for theft or vandalism. There might

We also need continuous internet connectivity to monitor

be adverse impact due to negligence of staff within the

the generation from the larger rooftop assets, as well do

consumer campus or due to wildlife surrounding the

predictive maintenance. We also need easy accessibility

property. Presence of rodents, pigeons, squirrels etc can

to transport spares or to study and rectify a breakdown.

cause damage to the cabling within the plant. As separate

when

state’s

net

Industrial

shut

on

clients

and

weekends).

Ms. Ritu Lal Vice President- Business Development, Amplus Solar

generally

of the safety of the asset, as they are already maintaining

a

solar

great

has

huge

opportunity

for

both consumers as well as developers to increase the country’s power capacity in a non-polluting manner.

Mr. Pratyush Kumar Thakur COO, Statkraft BLP Solar Solutions Private Ltd

THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT BEING CLEANING, ASSET OWNERS NEED TO ENSURE AVAILABILITY OF DEDICATED STAFF FOR REGULAR CLEANING. SOLAR ASSETS ALSO NEED CLEAN WATER AT SITE FOR CLEANING.

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 24

Company Feature SPARK SOLAR WANTS TO PLAY A VERY DOMINANT ROLE IN SOLAR PV MARKET Founded in 2010, Spark Solar (formerly Spark International) is a part of consortium of Jakhotia Group which has been in business since 1952, having its forte in multifarious verticals such as Solar Energy, Contract Farming, Agri Business and chemicals. Spark Solar has managed its unique position in the industry by delivering seamless product quality and innovation in the field of solar module manufacturing.

customized OEM solutions. Our modules are tailored for various geographic areas; the modules are highly cost competitive in respective technology segments.

Spark Solar has its core focus set on research, development and manufacturing of high performance solar modules.

Spark has always been in the forefront of the technology adaption in the manufacturing of its products. The modules produced by the company have been very well accepted by many companies in India and abroad as a preferred choice for their projects. The company at present manufactures solar photovoltaic modules for residential, commercial and utility-scale power generation.

Spark Solar is also very active in EPC space for large solar power projects.

c. Quality Policy Of The Company:

b. Business Competitiveness Spark Solar is committed to provide module with unparalleled conversion efficiency, yield efficiency, and reliability to enable customers to maximize the returns of their PV projects.

We have very stringent quality norms. We are driven by quality DNA and our plant comprises of best in class technology and quality process. Spark Solar complies with required certifications, IEC 61215, IEC 61730, MNRE and is empaneled as MNRE and MEDA channel partner.

d. Service Pledge: With its leading industry experience, continuous effort on R&D and customer –oriented service, Spark Solar is the most trustworthy long-term partner in the industry.

Team & Management The company is promoted by Mr. Ashok Jakhete, a technocrat with decades of technical expertise and business experience. The company has team strength of 150 employees working in the areas of R&D, production, product qualification and reliability testing.

Customers & Projects India, US and Middle East are the top market for Spark Solar. Spark Solar has offices across India.

Strategy a. Vision Statement: To be the most admired and preferred global partner in Solar PV industry. b. Mission Statement: Optimize green energy portfolio, be an integral contributor in reducing global warming and conserving our environment by delivering most efficient, cleanest and affordable solar solutions. c.

Business Goals & Objectives: Our objective is to provide highly qualitative, innovative and cost effective solar photovoltaic modules and systems that will provide clean and reliable energy sources around the world. d. Business Strategy: Spark Solar is committed to meet our existing and prospective customers emerging needs.

Anticipating the need of customers, the state of the art manufacturing facility is located in Mumbai. Spark Solar wants to play a very dominant role in solar PV market. It produces high quality photovoltaic modules using the latest and best machines. As a part of our commitment to the “Make in India” initiative by the Government of India, we will augment our current capacity of 90 MW to 300 MW by Dec 2018.

Business Concept a. Company’s Products & Services Company manufactures crystalline modules in 60, 72, 120 and 144 cells series in 5 bus bar format. We also offer

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 25

Product Feature SOLGRID PLAYS AN VITAL ROLE - THIS IS A ONE STOP SOLUTION FOR ALL THE PROBLEMS SMART POWER MANAGEMENT CONTROLLER - SOLGRID With

continuous

innovations

in

Solar

technologies and falling solar panel prices, solar energy is emerging as a popular alternative to

a) Access through internet b) Graphical presentation 4. Alerts a) For information b) For corrective action 5. Weather monitoring a)

Variety

for solar energy and have started opting for solar but it’s not possible for some to go completely solar due to limitations like space, availability of solar and technological issues. A

b) Available in charts and line diagrams 6. Performance calculations a) Ready availability of PR (performance ratio), Radiation yield (KWh/m2/

large number of industries have complex hybrid installations which are a combination of multiple power resources like solar, grid, DG or wind. For such complex installations efficient synchronisation of various power resources and optimum

day), PLF (plant loading factor) 7. Local Storage

reverse rating of diesel generator(DG), optimum generation

So this will help a lot to keep in touch with the system when we

a) Continuously storing data in Local memory chips or

are at remote location.

Pen drive for ready reference.

utilisation becomes a priority. Arresting reverse power flow to the grid, optimum utilisation in accordance with the spin

radiation,

the generation

of

industrial consumers have realised the advantages of going

of

temperature and comparison with

traditional non renewable energy.

Measurement

APPLICATIONS

WORKING :

The product has application in multiple industries and areas

configuration of such complex installations.

DG synchronisation controller :Operating Principle:

For such situations Sileaf has developed a smart controller

There are two main functions of SolGriD when used with

Some applications include

(SolGriD) that can be installed at power plants of various

Diesel Generator:

� Monitoring of Off Grid solar power plants (Hospital, Petrol

capacities. SolGriD is a revolutionary product that has

1. To synchronise the solar system with Diesel Generator by

multiple features including synchronisation of different power

maintaining the Spinning reserve of DG at about 25-30%

sources, Reverse power controlling, Real lime monitoring of

when the load is less.

of solar power are key factors to be considered during

system parameters , weather monitoring and performance calculations etc.

where multiple power sources are used and It can be used for monitoring of any solar system.

� Grid export control for On grid/Rooftop solar power plants � DG synchronisation for OnGrid/Rooftop solar power

Spinning reserve of DG is very important in order to maintain the DG parameters and the specific range. It is also required to

Solar consumption and Linear inverter output control to

avoid the heating of DG components. If the spinning reserve

leverage maximum generation of solar power.It takes care of

is not maintained then there will be fluctuations in voltage

optimisation of DG utilisation to save the cost of diesel and

and frequency of DG and it

ensure optimum generation of solar power. It can work with

may damage the parts in the

upto four diesel generators with no limit on DG capacity,

load. Also self-heating may

grid power, batteries and solar power. SolGriD regulates the

reduce the life of DG.There is

generation of solar power in accordance with load at that

also a need to control reverse

time and the specified minimum rating of DG set. It Can

feeding of excess generated

communicate with all major Inverter and MFM (multifunction

power into DG. If reverse

meter) mode and can control 3 different Inverter models at

power is fed , it will trip the DG

a time.

initially and if not controlled

The product continuously monitors solar, grid and load

for a long time it may also

the grid when net metering is not available. The response and corrective action takes less than a minute and it can help bring down the consumption from gird to as low as 1% of the load.

It also works as data logger and remote monitoring system that can be accessed through internet and provides graphical representation of different parameters. In case customers are not able to access the data logger interface they can opt for SMS & email alerts of the daily generation and failures.

The Weather interface is inbuilt and provides measurement of radiation, temperature and comparison with the generation.

Sileaf’s service network across India provides Local support for the product whenever necessary. The product has had Zero failures in last 30 months with more than 100 devices installed in India.

damage the DG. In order to

the solar system with DG without any troubles, SolGriD plays an vital role. This is a

� Continuous monitoring of load and taking corrective

REMOTE MONITORING AND ALERTS customers

load,

generation and DG power and also at the same time uploads

form anywhere, anytime when internet connection is available.

In this data monitoring you can check various parameters like kW, kWh, Power factor, daily

generation,

total

etc. with daily messages and

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January 11 – 12, 2018

INDIA HABITAT CENTRE, NEW DELHI, INDIA

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP January 10, 2018

INDIA HABITAT CENTRE, NEW DELHI, INDIA

MEET OUR EXPERTS!!

Dr. Satish Agnihotri Former Secretary MNRE, Government of India

Pankaj Batra

Member, Planning, Central Electricity Authority

P. C. Pant

Dr. P. C. Maithani

Anil Srivastava

Director, Hydrogen Fuel Electric Vehicles & NBEM Energy Storage, MNRE

Scientist/ Director, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of india

Advisor NITI Aayog Govt. of India

Sourab Kumar Managing Director Energy Efficiency Services Limited

Daniel Eillot

President & Chief Executive Officer, EnerBlu

Jim Green

Mikhail Kupriyanov

Manish Kumar

Global Business Manager Energy Storage CSA Group

Founder, Nord Systems

Managing Director Distributed Energy The AES Corporation

it is possible to monitor the

corrective action in less than one minute

3. Real time remote monitoring of system parameters

EXPO & CONFERENCE

solar

generation, voltage, current,

metering is not available

5TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ON ENERGY STORAGE & MICROGRIDS IN INDIA

SolGriD continuously monitors

action on power from solar power system. Response and � Ensures the power does not flow into the grid when net-

ENERGIZED BY:

problems.

complete data set remotely

2. Reverse Power Control

plants

one stop solution for all the

1. Synchronisation

� Inbuilt functionality to monitor Grid vs Solar consumption

� UPS synchronisation for OnGrid/Rooftop solar power

load, DG parts and to operate

this data on the internet. Hence

UPS)

plants

avoid all these damages to the

SOLGRID FEATURES � Synchronise with multiple sources of power (DG, Grid,

� Monitoring for On grid/Rooftop solar power plants

2. To protect DG from excess solar power.

The product has an Inbuilt functionality to monitor Grid vs

parameters and ensures that the power doesn’t flow to into

pumps)

mails

of

generation

data.

Stephan Fernands

Founder and President Customised Energy Solutions

Hiren Shah

Sr. Director - ESS Delta Power Solutions

Dr. Ashok Saraswat

NEC Energy Solutions, Inc.

Dr. Jashua Partheepan

PhD in Agriculture and Systems West Texas A&M University, USA

John Wood

Chief Executive Officer Ecoult

IMPLEMENTING THE ENERGY STORAGE MISSION For more information, please contact: Ms. Shanky Joshi, Asst. Project Manager Messe Düsseldorf India Pvt. Ltd. Tel. : +91 (0)11 4855 0063 Mob. : +91 9958439668 Email: JoshiS@md-india.com

POWERED BY

ORGANISED BY

Also download of the same is possible whenever required.

Solar Quarter • October 2017 26

Product Feature MECO “SOLAR MODULE ANALYZER (PHOTOVOLTAIC I-V CURVE TESTER) MODEL 9009” The MECO Solar Module Analyzer Model – 9009 is a portable

FEATURES :

analyzer

� Solar

for

used

testing,

maintenance and

finding

efficiency of

various

parameters of solar panel and cell.

Analyzer

can be used to

design

Solar

System

to

generate

s p e c i f i c power. It can identify

Solar

Power System requirement,

power

measurement

with

Orientation and Tilt angle � Easy measurement for rate of daylight penetration � Auto change for measuring range � Auto power off with disable function � Instantaneous display Ave/Min/Max values � 20 points memory � Socket of tripod mounting � Magnetic mount � Backlit LCD and 4 digits triple display

APPLICATIONS : � Solar radiation measurements � Solar power research for location of the solar panels or solar water heater

best angle of

� Physics and optical laboratories

Solar Panel installation and Broken / Worn-Out cells.

� Meteorology

� Agriculture � Windows performance – calculation and verification of the heating or heat reduction caused by direct sunlight.

Solar Module Analyzer 9009 can scan solar cells/ panels upto 60V and 12A maximum. The portability of this device means that it is also useful in quality assurance at various stages on the production line and can be taken from one site to another. When used in the installation of solar panels, solar panel analyzer assists in determining the proper inverter size as well as optimum power output position of panels and helps to identify defective cells or panels that have worn out over time.

The solar panel analyzer also provides the user with current and voltage (I-V) test curves, maximum solar power (Pmax) as well as current (Ishort, Imax) and voltage (Vnow, Vopen, Vmax). Solar cell/ panel efficiency (%) is also easily determined using the unit.

Solar Module Analyzer is supplied with user friendly software for Data Storing and Analysis. Users can store data (.CSV/.TAB) that can be read in MS Excel and print Waveform / Graph via printer.

Other features: Max. Solar Panel Power (Pmax) search by Auto-Scan : 60V, 12A, Best Resolution of 1mV-1mA, Memory Size 100 Records, Large LCD backlight, Communicate with PC via USB Cable, Manual AC Adaptor & Rechargeable Lithium Battery, I-V Curve with Cursor to Display each Data Point For details please visit : website www.mecoinst.com

MECO “SOLAR POWER METER MODEL 936” MECO Solar Power Meter is a portable meter used for measuring Solar Power or Solar Irradiance. It uses High sensitivity Silicon Photodiode to measure solar power. Solar Meter can also detect Solar Tilt Angle with Orientation.

This instrument is designed to measure solar power in the range from 400 to 1100 nanometers.

It Measures the solar power and transmission up to 2000 W/m2. Solar Power Meter has Max / Min / Avg and data hold functions to indentify locations with maximum or minimum power. The good spectral range, orientation and angular detection of meter allow users to conduct the most precise quantitative measurements of Solar Power Radiation.

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 27

Product Feature DELTA’S 2.5(1500 VDC) CENTRAL INVERTER FOR LARGE UTILITY SCALE APPLICATIONS Delta, known for its innovation and developing new products and technologies; has come out with technologically advanced 2.5MW 1500VDC Outdoor PV inverter - IPVCI 2.5MW HV 00.

The continuous evolution of Solar panel technology to higher DC Voltages up to 1500V has helped to lower the BoS costs, higher output capability leading to reduction in Energy production costs.

Delta’s commitment to be on par and adapt with this latest technology developments of other interactive systems has led to the deployment of 2.5MW 1500VDC Central Outdoor Inverter. The inverter is with three Level NPC technology augmented with state of art high performance electronics and protection features.

With the ability to withstand harsh Indian Climatic conditions, the inverter enclosure is structurally stable, weather resistant, termite and water proof. By diligently following the Preventive Maintenance and scheduled parts replacement, Delta’s IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V is designed to have operating life of 25 years delivering maximum feed

in revenues and RoI to the customer. Thanks to its low maintenance costs and host of life cycle services offered by Delta’s extensive regional service network.

There is no need of any external arrangement for Auxiliary power, UPS or any sort of cooling arrangements thus reducing installation over heads costs to the EPC Company.

It is of plug and play design which requires just connecting DC and AC power cables enables quicker installation and commissioning which is a key in today’s EPC practices.

It is fully compatible with both Thin Film and Crystalline PV panels. The DC terminals could be floating or either polarity grounded. The built in passive Anti PID relay logic feature reduces the PID effects on the panels to some extent. The numbers of input strings are user configurable to address the complex PV array configurations. Each and every string is fuse protected with monitoring apart from other standard protection features like insulation monitoring, DC Over voltage protection etc. The DC panels are completely isolated during night time reactive power processing at the inverters rated power (2.5MVAR) through a motorized DC disconnect switch rated for DC21B networks.

The Delta’s IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V is equipped with its proprietary 1.25MW IGBT based 4 quadrant stack modules to achieve maximum of 98.7% efficiency including the filter losses and Auxiliary power consumption at full power. It has design reserves of 900Vdc and 0% FIT rate of Semiconductors due to cosmic radiations at higher altitudes. Thanks to its optimized maintenance free hybrid cooling technology, Delta’s IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V is able to achieve absolutely no power De-rating up to 55°C. Also Delta’s IPVCI

2.5MWHV 00 , 1500V can provide 10% extra power over and above the nominal rating up to 40°C which is 2.75MW. This IPVCI 2.5MW HV is having modular architecture with 2 blocks of 1.25MW which ensures no loss of generation in case of 1 block under maintenance. The System Power Allocation Algorithm ensures that all modules have same operational duty at any point of time. The state of the art hardware and software protection features implemented ensures high reliability of the power core components.

The Delta’s IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V is capable of reactive power processing during night time up to its rated power of 2.5MVAR. The reactive power limitation can be preset remotely, hard programmed in HMI or by regulating the Grid voltage. During nonoperation, Delta’s IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V features a relay logic to implement passive Anti PID to reduce the PID effects on the ungrounded PV Panels. Delta’s IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V facilitates easy integration of external SCADA systems using MODBUS TCP/ IP communication protocols. IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V has a built in additional Analog and digital input ports for weather station integrations and other sensors like wind, irradiance etc., and relay status monitoring which does not call for additional data logging investments to the end user.

Delta’s IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V has built in energy data logger, error log with time stamp, remote and cloud access capability with 8GB storage. The user friendly IPVCI 2.5MWHV 00, 1500V includes all the advanced and latest grid support functions like PQ control, LVRT and Grid frequency regulations which can be parametrically set based on the local utility requirements.

TATA INTERNATIONAL IS TODAY THE ‘PREFERRED PARTNER IN PROGRESS’ FOR TURN-KEY SOLAR PROJECTS ACROSS DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIES Tata

International

specializes

in

module

mounting

systems including design, supply and installation of steel mounting structures and associated foundations for solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants.

We commenced setting up of module mounting systems for solar projects in 2012 to address the increased demand for solar power. We manufacture optimized steel module mounting structures for the solar PV industry, underwritten by our strong design and technical capabilities. In a short span of time, we have gained significant market share in the Indian solar arena with an overall installation of 1300 MW including individual projects ranging to 100+ MWp. With the advantage of an unmatched global reach backed by engineering excellence, Tata International is today the

Adjustable Tilt

‘Preferred partner in progress’ for turn-key solar projects

Our seasonal tilt module mounting systems are customized

across different geographies.

based on project location and customer requirements. In

FEATURED PRODUCT

suppliers enables us to provide solar tracking solutions which leads to a gain of 15-18% in generation.

ROOF-MOUNTED SYSTEMS AND CARPORTS Our expertise in designing module mounting structures

One solution doesn’t fit all. We offer superior customized

enables us to provide customized solutions for rooftop

designs for solar farm projects, based on various inputs like

solar projects and carport projects to our customers.

location, wind-speed, tilt angle, module type and size, and

We aim to provide optimized, cost effective and durable

terrain information. Our fabrication processes are robust

solutions considering safety of the civil structure, not only

and follow stringent quality norms which are validated by

during construction phase but also during operations and

third-party experts. Our photovoltaic module mounting

maintenance. We are capable of providing solutions for

systems are optimally designed for durability and long

different types of roof designs, including industrial pre-

life based on project specifications. We use high-quality

fabricated roofs and RCC roofs.

steel while offering a pricing advantage through our expert supply chain management and market reach to ensure optimum return on investment

GROUND MOUNTED SOLUTIONS

this solution, the panel tilt can be adjusted seasonally. Our

Fixed Tilt

year by adjusting the tilt of the panels, as the sun is higher

seasonal tilt structures capture more energy during the

Our fixed tilt module mounting systems with solar panels

in the summer and lower in the winter.

tilted at a fixed angle are simple and convenient to install.

We can offer two, three and four seasonal variations.

Our engineers study the local terrain and calculate the

Seasonal tilt structures are heavier, but generate more

optimum fixed angle so as to capture the maximum amount

electricity as compared to fixed tilt structures.

of sunlight throughout the year. Our unique and patented profiles also allow faster installations as compared to conventional systems.

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Tracker Solutions: Our partnership with leading and proven tracker technology

Solar Quarter • October 2017 28

Product Feature WIRELESS INTEGRATION HELPS AND CONTROL TRACKER‘S CRITICAL PARAMETERS WITH MINIMAL CABLING Mahindra Susten Private Limited, is a diversified services company with a keen eye on the renewable energy / cleantech space. A leading player in Indian solar with 1750 MWp of portfolio, Mahindra Susten has also ventured into the sustainable transportation sector through its development of solar charging stations for electric vehicles, which it has installed in several cities across India.

In addition to its solar EPC and electric vehicle charging stations, Mahindra Susten’s service portfolio spans telecom tower solarization; Solar DG Hybrid solutions; green factory building and Energy Management Services. Mahindra Susten’s portfolio also includes MachinePulse, a software division that provides rapidly scalable solutions addressing the machine data requirements of industrial protocols, M2M and IoT segments with real time big data analytics and decision science on a cloud platform.

MSAT 100- MAHINDRA SUSTEN AZIMUTH TRACKER Product Introduction: Mahindra Susten Azimuth Tracker (MSAT 100), commercially launched in 2016, is an indigenously developed in house product of Mahindra Susten. While developing this tracker, the key design philosophy was to bring a tracker in the market that is as simple as a fixed tilt system, is environmentally suitable and Robust. MSAT 100 was devised with Plug and Play technology to ensure both simplicity and reliability, thereby making tracker more attractive to developers.

MSAT 100, Horizontal Single Axis Tracker overcomes traditional disadvantages of using tracker systems. Here is how:

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� Quick and Easy Installation:  Plug & Play: The entire tracker system has been designed keeping Plug and Play Philosophy, which in turn allows easy installation, without any welding requirement at site  Self-Powered: MSAT 100 is a self-powered tracker, hence, does not require additional cabling at site.  Independent Row Tracker: MSAT 100 as specified above has an independent row tracking, thereby making both installation and maintenance easy.  Pre-Programmable Controllers: MSAT 100 tracker controllers will be pre-programmed before sending to the site. Each controller will have clear indication of which controller should be on which row of tracker, making MSAT 100 truly “plug and play”.  Wireless Interface: Wireless integration helps and control tracker‘s critical parameters with minimal cabling. Real time monitoring adds an extra point over fixed tilt systems. � Undulation Management: With MSAT-100 upto 900mm slope for 60m span in North-South direction can be managed. 300mm slope can be managed in EastWest direction for 5m pitch. To minimize grading at site, stubs of variable lengths ranging from 2.7m to 3.3m are utilized. � Reliability: MSAT 100 was designed keeping in mind various components like bearings, torque tube, rails, etc. to last for a plant lifetime of 25 years. These components have undergone accelerated life cycle test of almost 30 years to ensure reliability. Various other tests from ERTL Lab on temperature cycling, Humidity Tests, Salt

Spray Test, ensures that MSAT 100 is maintenance free and reliable system. Auto stowing feature for harsh climatic conditions, extreme temperatures and highspeed winds ensures reliability of system under adverse conditions. � Proven Performance:  Gain on Sites: MSAT 100 has recorded an exceptional gain of ~23% with respect to fixed tilt at GRT Silverwares site in Tamil Nadu and gain of around 21% at our Bright Solar Site in Andhra Pradesh. The average gain across installations is at 21%  Installation Regions: MSAT 100 has been installed at various sites in India including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan. It has also travelled international to Thailand.  Customer Portfolio: esteemed customer portfolio includes Renew Power, Hero Future Energies, GRT Silverwares, Kiran Solar, Saketh Solar, Premier Solar, Emmvee, Jakson, Ritismeera, etc.

Targeted/ Benefitted Customer Segment: Government Agencies, IPPs, Developers, Private Equity Firms, Venture Capital firms and Industrial houses active across Solar domain across India and abroad are the targeted customer segment of Mahindra Susten.

Solar Quarter • October 2017 29

Product Feature FONRICH BRINGS STRING MONITORING AND MODULE OPTIMIZING SOLUTION INTO INDIAN MARKET TO OPEN THE ‘BLACK BOX’ OF PV SYSTEM Fonrich New Energy, a leading solar power company based in Shanghai, China, has

the power output will be

applied for more than 100 patents and acquired UL, TUV, CE certification for their PV

dramatically reduced due

Power Optimizer, Intelligent Combiner Box, Smart Data Logger, String Monitoring Unit

to any bucket-effect on a

and DC Arc-fault Detector.

single module, like shading,

Fonrich attended the 2017 REI Expo in Noida and brought its most advanced 1500V string

defect, ect.

monitoring unit and combiner box into Indian market.

Fonrich

Fonrich String Monitoring Unit (SMU), named as Gilgal, takes the first market share in China,

monitors

has been widely used for more than 15GW solar system. Gilgal 2 and Gilgal 3 are designed for 1000V and 1500V system respectively, have enclosed and compact PCB board and modularized current sensor, can monitor the string current, bus-bar voltage, combiner box temperature and the status of breaker and SPD, and transfer the data through Modbus RS485 to SCADA system. With the embedded power supply, Gilgal can be directly connected to the bus-bar, which saves the space of combiner box and the cost of the external power supply. Advance Gilgal3 unit can monitor 4 digital and 2 analog data and detect the arc-

optimizer the

also

status

of

each PV panel, to identify the module level problem remotely and realize realtime

and

cloud-based

O&M with mobile APP, which also means more power, less input and more

fault to protect the system from fire. According to a report, 40% fires are caused by DC

money.

arc-fault in solar system. Moreover, LoRa wireless communication is also a shining feature

Fonrich is dedicated to

for Gilgal 3.

provide overall solutions

Fonrich

about

Intelligent

Combiner which

has

Box, been

certificated by TUV, has optional worldclass made

and

Chinese

both 1000VDC and 1500VDC Compared

system. to

traditional separated

combiner box or array junction box, all of the

Smart

Generation, O&M

Power Intelligent

and

Mechanism

Safety for

both

distributed and utility-scale solar power system.

components

and are available for

#1 Shipment SMU in China

Cloud-based management system1

FONRICH IS DEDICATED TO PROVIDE OVERALL SOLUTIONS ABOUT SMART POWER GENERATION, INTELLIGENT O&M AND SAFETY MECHANISM FOR BOTH DISTRIBUTED AND UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR POWER SYSTEM.

components, fusers, breaker, SPD, monitoring unit, are all installed in one box, makes the system more compact and easy to maintenance.

With Fonrich string monitoring unit, Gilgal, the string current, bus-bar voltage and temperature can be monitored in SCADA system. Optional DC arc-fault protection can also be used to prevent the system from fire.

Fonrich PV Power Optimizer and cloud-based management APP is designed for distributed solar system, especially for rooftop projects.

PV Power Optimizer1 The

optimizer,

installed

at

the

which

is

back

of

each PV panel, tracks the Maximum Power Point of each PV panel separately to increase the installation at a same place and improve the power output of the whole system. As the modules are in series in a traditional system,

Intelligent Combiner Box

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 30

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Solar Quarter • October 2017 31

Special Story A QUARTER OF INDIA’S ENERGY DEMAND CAN BE MET WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY India can raise its renewable energy use to meet a quarter of the country’s total final energy demand by 2030, according to the findings of a report presented today

by

the

Renewable (IRENA).

International

Energy

Agency

Renewable

energy

prospects for India, a study from IRENA’s

REmap

programme,

outlines action areas that can unlock India’s vast renewable energy potential, ensure clean and

sustainable

generations

to

energy come,

for and

enable the country to fulfill its pledges under the Paris Climate Agreement.

Renewable energy prospects for India describes how solar energy will play a vital role representing the second largest source of renewable energy use with 16 per cent, followed by wind at 14 per cent, and hydropower at 7 per cent of the country’s total final renewable energy use by 2030.

Biofuels — which can be used

affordable financing and adapting new business models

technologies and technology options in heating, cooling

across the end demand spectrum, such as for transport,

will be essential to achieve this. India will also need to

and transport.

electricity generation and heating — would account for 62

accelerate the transformation of its power system to

per cent. The country could potentially increase its share

integrate higher shares of renewables by strengthening

The India study is the latest in the series of country-level

of renewable power generation to over one-third by 2030.

transmission grids, reducing grid losses, and in general

“With one of the world’s largest and most ambitious

improving

renewable energy programmes, India is taking a leading role in the energy transformation both regionally and globally,” said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin.

“India possesses a wealth of renewable resources, particularly for solar and bioenergy development, which can help meet growing energy demand, power economic

the

resilience

investing in more flexible system that values demandresponse,

interconnectors

and storage, as well as greater

transport

and

power-sector synergies.

energy security.”

India’s

Increasing renewable energy deployment could save the

economic

2030, creating jobs, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and ensuring cleaner air and water, with savings on health-related costs. Furthermore, the renewable energy technologies identified in the report would lower the demand for coal and oil products between 17 per cent and 23 per cent by 2030, compared to a business as usual scenario.

“Balancing

economic

growth

and

development,

environmental protection, and energy security is a real challenge in India that can be tackled by enabling more renewable energy deployment,” said Dolf Gielen, Director of Innovoation and Technology at IRENA. “Through

this

report

we

have

attained

Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and the United States.

of the power system by

growth and improve energy access, as well as boost overall

economy twelve times more than its costs by the year

REmap analyses, which includes countries such as China,

population

and growth,

combined with accelerating urbanisation,

is

expected

to increase the number of people living in cities and towns from approximately 435 million in 2015 to 600 million by 2030. In addition, estimates

suggest

that

80 million households — roughly 300 million people — have limited or no access to

electricity.

Renewables

can improve energy access

SOLAR TODAY EXPO

for poor communities and a

better

bolster

energy

understanding of India’s renewable energy potential, that

through

diversified,

can assist in guiding the country’s energy policy in a way

largely indigenous, sources

that is both economically and environmentally attractive,”

of supply.

Gielen added at the World Renewable Energy Technology Congress in New Delhi today, where he presented the main findings.

Renewable prospects:

security and

energy India

REmap

analysis is part of IRENA’s

Meeting India’s electricity demand, which has grown by

renewable energy roadmap

10 per cent a year over the past decade, and attaining

programme, REmap, which

the country’s economic growth targets will require

determines

significant investments in power-generation capacity and

for

related infrastructure, and in transport, buildings and

and the world to scale up

industry sectors, creating important opportunities for

renewables to ensure an

renewable energy deployment. IRENA’s report shows that

affordable and sustainable

investments in renewable energy capacity must more than

energy future. The roadmap

double to make the most of India’s potential. Mobilising

focuses on renewable power

w w w . s o l a r q u a r t e r . c o m

the

potential

countries,

regions

Solar Quarter • October 2017 32

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Solar Quarter.pdf

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10/15/17

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