SolarQuarter October Issue 2020

Empowering, Insightful, Engaging

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BIDDERS CAN FURNISH LOU INSTEAD OF BG:

PERSPECTIVE

HOW WILL IT FURTHER IMPROVE EASE OF DOING BUSINESS FOR COMPANIES?

FOCUS ON RENEWABLE SECTOR IMPORTANT TO ENSURE ENERGY SECURITY & COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE T R E N D I N G

WITH COVID SCENARIO WHAT IS THE STATUS OF SOLAR FINANCING IN INDIA?

TALKS POLICIES TRENDS PERSPECTIVES NEWS W W W . S O L A R Q U A R T E R . C O M

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PROJECT MONTHLY AC ENERGY BUILDS SECOND SOLAR FARM IN INDIA Fresh off the back of i ts mai den i nvestment i n Indi a last July 2020, Ayala Corporati on’ s energy arm, AC Energy, conti nues to expand i ts renewables busi ness i n the country wi th the development of the 70 MWp (50 MWac) Paryapt Solar through UPC-AC Energy Solar, the company’ s j oi nt venture wi th UPC Solar Asi a Paci fi c. The esti mated US$36 mi lli on faci li ty i s expected to start power generati on i n the fi rst half of 2021, and wi ll supply energy to Guj arat Urj a Vi kas Ni gam Ltd. (GUVNL). UPC-AC Energy Solar won the power supply agreement for the proj ect vi a a competi ti ve bi d at INR 2. 55 per kWh, fi xed over a 25-year peri od. The proj ect i s an i mmedi ate follow up of AC Energy to i ts esti mated US$68 mi lli on Si tara Solar plant i n Raj asthan, i ts fi rst maj or i nvestment i n Indi a, whi ch i s expected to commence wi th power generati on i n the same peri od. Paryapt Solar wi ll be set i n the Amreli Di stri ct of the State of Guj arat, one of the fi rst states to develop solar generati on capaci ty i n Indi a, wi th i ts own target to set up 8, 000 MW of solar power by 2022.

ADANI GREEN ENERGY EXPANDS TOTAL JV WITH INR 1,632 CR SOLAR ASSETS ACQUISITION Adani Green Energy Li mi ted (AGEL) and TOTAL SA (TOTAL) had formed a 50: 50 JV for 2, 148 MW solar power assets i n Indi a, whi ch was setup at an enterpri se valuati on of INR 17, 385 Cr i n Apri l 2020. The JV has today completed another acqui si ti on as per JV agreement, by way of transfer of 205 MW of operati ng solar assets for an enterpri se valuati on of INR 1, 632 Cr. Wi th the acqui si ti on, the total operati ng renewable portfoli o under the JV stands at 2, 353 MW. TOTAL, through i ts step-down subsi di ary has i nvested INR 310 Cr i n the JV for 50% stake i n the new acqui si ti on. AGEL had earli er announced acqui si ti on of these assets from Essel Group on 01 Oct 2020. The assets are located i n Punj ab, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. All the assets have long term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) wi th vari ous state electri ci ty di stri buti on compani es. The portfoli o i s relati vely young wi th an average remai ni ng PPA li fe of approxi mately 21 years.

TOTAL STRENGTHENS ITS PARTNERSHIP WITH ADANI IN RENEWABLE ENERGIES Total and AGEL, a renewable energy subsi di ary of the Adani Group, formed a JV to whi ch AGEL contri buted a portfoli o of 2. 1 GW of solar power plants. As part of an opti on provi ded for i n the i ni ti al contract for the formati on of the JV, Total and AGEL agreed to extend thi s portfoli o from 2. 1 to 2. 3 GW wi th the addi ti on of new solar farms.

“Wi th an ambi ti ous target of 175 GW of i nstalled capaci ty by 2022, Indi a i s a strong growth area for renewable energy. Si nce last year, the Group has strengthened i ts commi tment i n Indi a wi th around 5 GW of solar proj ects i n the country, i n li ne wi th i ts ambi ti on to become a world leader i n renewable energi es.

AC ENERGY, UPC SOLAR DEVELOPS A $36 MILLION SOLAR FARM IN INDIA AC Energy Inc. , the power arm of Ayala Corp. i s expandi ng i ts footpri nt i n Indi a wi th the development of a $36 mi lli on solar farm through i ts j oi nt venture wi th UPC Solar Asi a Paci fi c. The 70 Megawatt peak (MWp) Paryapt Solar i s expected to start power generati on i n the fi rst half of 2021, and wi ll supply energy to Guj arat Urj a Vi kas Ni gam Ltd. (GUVNL), an Indi an fi rm engaged i n the bulk purchase and sale of electri ci ty. “UPC-AC Energy Solar won the power supply agreement for the proj ect vi a a competi ti ve bi d at INR 2. 55 per kWh, fi xed over a 25-year peri od, ”AC Energy sai d, referri ng to i ts j oi nt venture company wi th UPC Solar Asi a Paci fi c. Paryapt solar plant wi ll be set i n the Amreli Di stri ct of the State of Guj arat, one of the fi rst states to develop solar generati on capaci ty i n Indi a, wi th i ts own target to set up 8, 000 MW (megawatt) of solar power by 2022.

TATA POWER TO DEVELOP 100 MW SOLAR PROJECT AT DHOLERA SOLAR PARK IN GUJARAT Tata Power, Indi a’ s largest i ntegrated power company, announced the recei pt of a Letter of Award (LOA) from the Guj arat Urj a Vi kas Ni gam Li mi ted (GUVNL) on Fri day 9th October 2020 to develop a 100 MW solar proj ect i n Dholera Solar Park of Guj arat. The energy wi ll be suppli ed to GUVNL under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), vali d for a peri od of 25 years from scheduled commerci al operati on date. The Company has won thi s capaci ty i n a bi d announced by GUVNL i n March 2020. The proj ect has to be commi ssi oned wi thi n 15 months from the date of executi on of the PPA.

TP RENEWABLE MICROGRID LTD. PARTNERS WITH AIRTEL PAYMENTS BANK TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER CONVENIENCE TP Renewable Mi crogri d, a 100% subsi di ary of Indi a’ s largest pri vate uti li ty, the Tata Power Company Li mi ted, and Ai rtel Payments Bank, Indi a’ s Fi rst Payments Bank, announces a partnershi p under whi ch Rural Consumers of TP Renewable Mi crogri d i n Bi har and UP wi ll be able to pay thei r electri ci ty bi lls at Banki ng Poi nts of Ai rtel Payments Bank. Wi th thi s partnershi p, consumers wi ll now be able to enj oy the freedom of payi ng thei r bi lls as per thei r conveni ence at the nei ghborhood banki ng poi nts of Ai rtel Payments Bank. Manned by local entrepreneurs, these Banki ng Poi nts operate even duri ng the weekends whi ch wi ll add to customer conveni ence.

| OCTOBER ISSUE 2020

L&T’S NABHA POWER WINS THE INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER OF THE YEAR AT THE ASIA POWER AWARDS 2020 L&T’ s Nabha Power Li mi ted (NPL) has won the presti gi ous power i ndustry award as the Independent Power Producer of the yearIndi a by Asi an Power Awards-2020. Thi s award has been conferred for NPL’ s outstandi ng achi evements i n plant performance and i ts commi tment to i nnovati ons and taki ng new i ni ti ati ves for i mprovi ng plant effi ci ency. These i ni ti ati ves have helped NPL achi eve the best net heat rate and the lowest auxi li ary power consumpti on i n Indi a. Asi an Power awards, recogni ses ground-breaki ng proj ects and trai lblazi ng i ni ti ati ves i n the power sector i n the Asi a Paci fi c regi on. The Asi an Power Awards i s organi sed by the Charlton Medi a Group, a leadi ng busi ness i nformati on group wi th offi ces i n Hong Kong, Si ngapore, and the Phi li ppi nes.

NHPC FORMS JVC WITH GEDCOL TO DEVELOP 500 MW TECHNO-COMMERCIALLY FEASIBLE FLOATING SOLAR POWER IN ODISHA MoUs si gned wi th Green Energy Development Corporati on of Odi sha Li mi ted (GEDCOL) to form a Joi nt Venture Company (JVC) to plan & develop technocommerci ally feasi ble floati ng solar power proj ects of 500 MW i n the state of Odi sha and wi th Hydroelectri ci ty Investment and Development Company Li mi ted (HIDCL), a company owned by Govt. of Nepal for j oi nt cooperati on to develop hydropower proj ects i n Nepal. He went on to add that the company i s havi ng 2, 800 MW i nstalled capaci ty under constructi on and hydroelectri c proj ects havi ng 5, 945 MW i nstalled capaci ty are under the clearance or approval stage. Company has envi saged floati ng solar proj ects of 500 MW each i n Odi sha and Telangana and 50 MW i n Kerala under Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Power Parks (UMREPPs) Scheme of Mi ni stry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of Indi a. Company has recei ved i n-pri nci ple approval from MNRE for enhancement of Solar Park capaci ty (from 100 MW to 140 MW) i n Odi sha, whi ch envi sages development of two proj ects of 40 MW and 100 MW.

EDEN RENEWABLES INDIA INCREASES ITS PORTFOLIO WITH 1,350 MWP OF NEW SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS EDF Renewables and Total Eren, two world leaders i n renewable energy, are pleased to announce that EDEN Renewables Indi a, thei r equally owned j oi nt venture dedi cated to the Indi an solar photovoltai c market, has been awarded three solar photovoltai c(PV) proj ects for a total of 1, 350 MWp each i n Raj asthan, Northern Indi a. EDEN Renewables has establi shed i tself amongst the leaders i n the Indi an market, wi th a portfoli o of capaci ti es under development, under constructi on and operati onal totali ng more than 2, 200 MWp spread over the states of Raj asthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

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IN CONVERSATION

"The recognition of 100% bankable brand for two years consecutively, exhibits the soundness and stability of Sungrow’s growing business" Sunil Badesra, Business Head, Sungrow (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Please tell our readers about Sungrow's 800 MWp PV Inverter solution contract in Qatar.

What according to you made Sungrow the 100% bankability rating for two years?

What are the new technological innovations that Sungrow is planning to introduce to the market?

Sungrow will be supplying its flagship string inverter SG250HX (1500 V) to 800 MWp Al Kharsaa project, Qatar’s first utility scale solar project. This project is world’s third largest solar project, having a capacity of 800 MW which will reduce carbon dioxide by 26 million tonnes during its lifetime. As this project is planned to be operational before 2022 FIFA world cup and thereby supporting Qatar National Vision 2030 towards economic decarbonization and sustainable development, it becomes more special.The 800 MW PV project will be developed by a consortium of Marubeni and Total after winning the bid of Qatar’s first solar tender. As an Independent Power Producers (IPP) of the landmark project, Marubeni from Japan and Total from France have shown great confidence towards the bright prospect of the project due to prominent product solutions and 100% bankability of Sungrow. The project site covers 1000 hectares in a tropical desert having high temperature and strong wind zones. The world’s most powerful 1500V string inverter SG250HX from Sungrow with IP66 and C5 protection capability smart forced air-cooling technology, is highly resilient in such harsh climate and will be powering this large project. In addition, its compatibility with bifacial modules and tracking systems, make it more compelling to increase the yield considerably by leveraging the maximum sunlight. It enables flexible block design allowing up to 6.75 MW, significantly saving the initial investment and streamlining O&M.

Sungrow, the global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables has more than 23 years of highly recognized credentials in the clean power conversion technology. Sungrow has a strong track record of robust performance across the globe with more than 120 GW of installations and is having the largest manufacturing capacity reaching up to 50 GW per annum. Increasing investment in R&D bolstered by continuously growing annual revenue has helped Sungrow to stay ahead of the curve. Our customers have been rewarded with improved ROI through our technologically advanced and optimized solution for any project. Robust financial ratios, strong operational metrics, consistent high performance, superior technical features, widespread local presence for service support, reliable supplier relationship etc. are some of the key parameters being considered to assess the bankability criteria. The recognition of 100% bankable brand for two years consecutively, exhibits the soundness and stability of Sungrow’s growing business.

Therefore, the lenders and financial institutions are more likely to give nonrecourse term loans for solar projects using Sungrow Inverters to ensure long term sustained return.

The perennial efforts on technological innovations have always been at the core of our business growth. Our latest products are well designed with new age components, efficient thermal design, highest safety standards, stringent grid friendly features and comprehensive functionalities, to offer the most optimized design solution to our customers. Our latest 1500V Battery Energy storage systems (BESS) are launched with LFP technology. Sungrow’s entire product portfolio including turnkey solutions in both PV Inverter and Energy Storage business are well positioned to reduce the LCOE in the increasingly competitive solar market.

Our latest 1500V Battery Energy storage systems (BESS) are launched with LFP technology. Sungrow’s entire product portfolio including turnkey solutions in both PV Inverter and Energy Storage business are well positioned to reduce the LCOE in the increasingly competitive solar market"

| OCTOBER ISSUE 2020

Sungrow has a strong track record of robust performance across the globe with more than 120 GW of installations and is having the largest manufacturing capacity reaching up to 50 GW per annum"

How do you think the solar inverter business will be impacted post-covid?

The solar industry has been coming back to normalcy gradually and we are also observing the same in India. The same is corroborated with Sungrow’s PV Inverter shipment growing over 6 GW in India. As the tendering and auctions are also happening at a healthy pace, we forecast the demand to shoot up significantly in next year.

How has the 2020 fiscal year been? How do you expect the next fiscal year to be?

Though 2020 fiscal year has been tough and challenging in general on various aspects, Sungrow has managed to sail through so far, with resilience and support from our customers.

Overall, our revenue has grown by 55.57% in H1 2020 to US$ 987.2 million indicating a robust performance. We have also maintained a good momentum in India with steady increase in sales and healthy order book. We are hopeful to cross a significant milestone in next fiscal year as the solar industry bounces back with more capacity additions.

Our latest products are well designed with new age components, efficient thermal design, highest safety standards, stringent grid friendly features and comprehensive functionalities, to offer the most optimized design solution to our customers.

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IN CONVERSATION

"ReneSola has been one of the most trusted name in the Solar PV manufacturing business because of its High-Quality Products and Long-Term Commitments" Sky Wang CEO – ReneSola

How has ReneSola evolved over the years? How do you see it growing in the coming years?

ReneSola, since its inception in 2005 has been one of the most trusted name in the Solar PV manufacturing business and that’s because of its High-Quality Products and Long-Term Commitments. In the initial years of operations, ReneSola established itself as a truly global manufacturer & supplier of the Solar PV Modules and continues to have the significant market share in the global solar space. We have supplied more than 21GW of cumulative Solar PV Modules globally covering from a large number of small rooftop owners to a big number of large Solar Farm Developers.

Today, ReneSola operates a 3.65GW of state of art manufacturing facility based in Jiangsu while another 3GW of facility is being constructed in Nantong province taking the cumulative production capacity to over 6GW by the end of 2020. We are planning to enhance the manufacturing facility over to 10GW, 13GW & 16GW by 2021, 2022 & 2023 respectively.

We will keep serving good quality products at the affordable prices globally to make the green energy more accessible to the global communities.

How has the last fiscal year been for ReneSola? What is the prediction for the coming financial year?

2019, indeed was a good year for us and we have been Ranked 4th Largest supplier in the Indian market for the Imported category and ReneSola modules were awarded “Best Performing Solar PV Modules (Imported Category), 2019” in RE-Asset- 2020. 2020, seems to be a lost year for the Solar Segment in India as it is for most of the other sectors those hit by the spread of COVID-19. The projects got extensions of 5-6 months and later the delay in financial closures have impacted the market even further. Today as we speak, many projects are on hold because of the difficulties in the financial closures. In the best-case scenario, the market may add around 5GW of capacity in 2020 which is a 3040% Y-Y decline and almost 50% decline to the forecast. The Solar industry have a lot of expectations from the 2021 and we hope that it will bring a new & better scale to the Indian solar market.

| OCTOBER ISSUE 2020

Please tell us more about the recent 3GW Solar PV Manufacturing facility being established by ReneSola & Zhongnan industry.

Zhongnan industry is one of large conglomerate in China and is our long-term business & financing partner. We have recently announced our mutual initiative of setting up a 3GW production facility in Nantong which will be a state of art manufacturing setup with fully automatic, advanced & expensive production lines to ensure the upmost quality products. The factory is scheduled to start the production by the end of 2020 with its extensive focus on production of Large Wattage Modules and commercialization of the new & innovative SPV technologies. This venture will add more value to our supply chain and; will make the ReneSola modules more accessible and affordable for the customers worldwide and will further support our expansion plans in the new global markets. The new manufacturing unit will start production by the end of 2020.

Is ReneSola’s planning to manufacture modules in India?

Since our beginning in India in 2012, we have always been interested to setup the Solar PV Module & Cell manufacturing facilities locally but due to the lack of clarity in the related policies & guidelines this plan never got on ground. Any overseas manufacturing setup is a big responsibility and it need supporting environment & policies so that we feel safe for our such a large-scale investment.We expect the similar kind of benefits like manufacturing subsidies, tax rebates etc. as we receive here in China. We have a clear intent of investment in this market to explore the opportunity of setting up a manufacturing base here and our motive is to diversify manufacturing capacities even further and catering the module requirements of India and neighbouring countries more prominently but that’s only possible when there are clear policies and supportive environment.

We will keep serving good quality products at the affordable prices globally to make the green energy more accessible to the global communities..."

What are the new markets that ReneSola is focusing on besides India?

We have been supplying Solar PV Modules globally since 2005 covering almost all the major Solar PV markets like China, India, Japan, USA, Europe & Australia etc. Our cumulative global supply is more than 21GW covering a large number of global customer base.

We are exploring the opportunities to enhance our presence in the rest of world especially in the South East Asia, Middle East, CIS Region etc. as these markets are emerging as a promising solar market with some considerably large projects coming up in the region. ReneSola is already working closely with the key developers in the region.

We have a clear intent of investment in this market to explore the opportunity of setting up a manufacturing base here and our motive is to diversify manufacturing capacities even further.."

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IN CONVERSATION

"Solis have already established itself as technology driven innovative product and solutions provider."

Honey Raza Head os Sales, Solis India

Please tell our readers about Solis's standard testing measures.

Solis’s vertical-integrated manufacturing for reliability, 100% of inverters produced are duration-tested before shipment to reduce failures during installation.Solis managed every aspect of manufacturing with state-ofthe-art automation, fastidious inspections and rigorous testing, ensuring industry-leading quality and reliability. Solis’s in-house Surface mount technology circuit board production is unique in the industry, guaranteeing quality and streamlining product innovation in response to customer needs.

Solis’s reliability testing includes but is not limited to the following methods Low air density testing Input voltage shock testing UV testing Salt spaying testing Confined space testing Dusting testing Rainfall test in high temperature Extreme thermal shock testing ( 1500 cycles, -40 ℃ to 70 ℃ ) Ice testing Extreme site testing (High salty area, dessert, high altitude, rainforest) Because of our strict reliability testing methods, we have been recognized by many third-party testing agencies and passed various certifications of professional testing , such as CE , IEC62109-1/-2, VDE0126-1-1/A1, VDE N4105, EN50438, G83/2, IEC62116, IEC61727,G59/3, AS3100, AS4777.2/.3, CTick, UL1741, UL1998, UL1699B, IEEE1547, CAN/CSA C22.2 107.1-1, FCCAnd etc

What are the upcoming product lines that Solis is going to come up with?

According to the new Energy Outlook data of Bloomberg New Energy Finance in 2019, the global energy storage will see the first round of rapid growth from 2020 to 2025, and the CAGR will reach 39% from 2020 to 2025. After a brief decline in 2026, the energy storage will continue to grow. Starting from 2030, the installed capacity of new energy storage will keep above 30GW per year.

Following the global photovoltaic development trend, Solis will focus on the development of energy storage products in the future, such as energy storage all-in-one inverter, off-grid energy storage inverter, etc.

| OCTOBER ISSUE 2020

Let me share with you the latest research, Solis will unveil the mystery of off-grid energy storage inverter during REI. Please wait patiently

How do you think the solar inverter business will be impacted post-covid?

Solar industry has almost recovered from the pandemic. I am sure with the time this shall result in better project executions, employment generations and support for the economic recovery on India. We shall see more conglomerates entering into this space.

New tenders of rooftop are promoting MSME to gain good projects and services. Utility scale bidding shall also be closing more than 30GW this year with the execution cycle of late 2021 – early 2022.

What are the new technological innovations that Solis is planning to introduce to the Indian Market?

Established in 2005, Ginlong Technologies (Stock Code: 300763.SZ) is one of the most experienced and largest manufacturers of PV string inverters. Presented under the Solis brand, the company's portfolio consists of innovative string inverter technology with firstclass proven reliability in the field and 3rdparty validation. Armed with a global supply chain, world-class R&D and manufacturing capabilities, Solis optimizes its inverters for each regional market, servicing and supporting its customers with its team of local experts.

Solis have already established itself as technology driven innovative product and solutions provider. Our latest offering includes the products for grid-connected inverter, energy storage inverter, and intelligent energy. In the state of arts storage - energy storage inverter, customized export control devices, AFCI protection, data logging accessories, cloud monitoring for instantaneous generation data & automatic firmware updating facility. In gird-connected space we have string inverter of 80-136K series with unique features of string level monitoring and IV curve scanning, AFCI protection and DC as well as AC isolators as optional are available. Another important thing

related to the C&I is the wide range of capacity ratings which Solis is a better advantage. Solis has head started by introducing world’s biggest string inverter of 255kW capacity, this inverter have all the latest features from series of protection to AI based communication options. Indian tenders recently had multiple energy storage linked grid-connected where our upcoming offering shall benefit developers with better ROI and lower LCOE.

How has the 2020 fiscal year been? How do you expect the next fiscal year to be?

Solis’s financial report shows that its revenue in the first three quarters of 2020 was US$202 million, a year-on-year increase of 74%. Net profit attributable to the parent company was US$31.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 189 %, and a month-on-month increase of 53%. Both revenue and profit growth exceeded market expectations. The company's basic earnings per share was US$0.1, a year-on-year increase of 106%, and the weighted average return on equity was 9%, a year-on-year increase of 3%.

At present, Solis expects that it will raise over $100M USD. Work has started to build the second production base, which is mainly used for the construction of fixed-increasing projects with an annual output capacity of 400,000 inverters (including 300,000 string grid-connected inverters, and 100,000 energy storage inverters). The company's current product line covers all inverters from 0.7kW to 255kW. If the average power of each inverter reaches 40kW, after the completion of the new facility, the total production capacity of g Solis will exceed 20GW. Through the implementation of this plan, its string inverter production scale and market share are expected to further expand. In addition, the company has launched inverter Solis-255KEHV, suitable for ground mount PV Power stations and it is expected that its overall market share of PV inverters will increase.Although sales are expanding, Solis' fees have not exceeded sales growth.

Because of its R&D needs, the company is still investing in the development of innovative products. The R&D expenses in the first three quarters of 2020 showed a year-on-year increase of 118%.

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IN CONVERSATION

"We take efficiency and customer service seriously. So, we upgrade products quickly according to the demand of the market and clients" David Ding Co-founded Growatt

Set out on a path to make a difference in the world’s energy future, young entrepreneur David Ding started Growatt a decade ago at the age of 30. Since then, his company has moved quickly to become one of the largest rooftop inverter manufacturers in the world.

High in energy and swift to make bold moves, Ding is on a mission to shift the role of userside solar generators – to become active participants of the new energy future.

What inspiration led you up to the starting point of Growatt – and are the same foundational elements alive today?

I began my career working for global power giant Eaton as an R&D engineer in its PV department in 2005. But by 2010, I was ready to do something bigger. The solar market was just getting kicked off at this time, and I had confidence in the future of the industry – and really wanted to do something significant for mankind. So I decided to establish my own enterprise at the age of 30, and set out on a mission to provide high quality Chinese PV inverters for the world. In 2010, solar was still an emerging industry and was primarily being deployed in European countries, the U.S., and Australia. After careful consideration I decided to enter the Australian market. There weren’t any big brands in the market yet, so I moved quickly –the market never waits. Looking back, the commitment of our R&D team was tremendous to develop new quality PV inverters. The entire team was working overtime to test the models and keep improving them. It took us less than three months to develop a new inverter in accordance with Australian grid standards.

Since then, speed is the gene of our company.

To date, we keep an impressive track record of developing new inverters in response to market demands. Dedication to innovation, focus on market demands, industry trends, a commitment to product reliability and excellent service – these have been the drivers behind Growatt’s fast and robust growth for the past ten years

With so many inverter manufacturers on the market, how do you stay competitive? | OCTOBER ISSUE 2020

We have deployed a global strategy, but stay specialized in local services. We now have 13 subsidiaries and six large warehouses around the world with regional teams for marketing, technical support, and after-sales service.

Taking Europe as an example, Growatt can deliver replacements to customers within 48 hours. We take efficiency and customer service seriously. So, we upgrade products quickly according to the demand of the market and clients – and then invest 10% of our revenue in R&D every year. Of our 1,200 employees, 200 of them are R&D engineers.

And then, of course, product quality management. We pursue a goal of zero defects – which requires a stringent QC system. Growatt set up a fully automatic assembly line for key components and set up our own production lines for self-developed products – which ensure quality and efficiency– but also reduces costs.

While solar is growing in scale, Growatt has decided to focus on the distributed generation (DG) market.

Why? The DG solar market is growing rapidly, it has already taken a significant share – and we believe it will become even stronger in the future. There are definitely advantages in having a core business segment. We focus on user-side smart energy solutions, especially for the residential, commercial and industrial rooftop projects – which is the realm where we have the greatest opportunity to grow and become stronger. While a leader in DG solar, we are not limited to this segment. We developed the MAX 50-100K string inverter for small to medium commercial and groundmounted plants, which took the top ranked position in TÜV Rheinland’s PVE test program of All Quality Matters award for high power commercial and industrial PV inverters. And our latest MAX 175-253K 1500V inverter product has 15 MPPTs and a DC/AC ratio that can reach up to 2.0.

It has become increasingly popular to install storage with rooftop PV installations. How has your company adapted to this and what are your future plans forsolar+storage?

We were one of the first Chinese inverter companies to develop energy storage products. Although the storage market wasn’t big at that time, we believed that solar+storage would be the future. Currently, our off-grid and energy storage inverters cover a capacity range of 1 kW to 30 kW. Last year, we launched the first storage-ready inverter in Australia. Due to high battery prices, customers are currently using on-grid inverter applications. But in the future, as batteries become even cheaper, customers can easily upgrade to storage systems. In Australia and Europe, the solar+storage inverter solution is already being well received by users. We are doing a lot of work in optimizing storage systems to support smart grids with fast response and smart dispatch.

Smart is the name of the game for the industry right now. With digitization, IoT,and AI advancements, what does the PV home of the future look like?

A smart home includes many aspects – household appliances, access controls,security systems, etc. The energy management system acts as the brain of the PV system while the inverters are like the heart, pumping blood, or electricity, to the various smart devices. They also assume the responsibility of security for the entire system.

The inverter monitors the grid and provides protection, and is also responsible for friendly interaction with users.A new lifestyle of ‘smart+comfort’ is the future. It’s really built upon IoT, Big Data and AI, and it involves the smart dispatch of energy storage, O&M, and user-side power management to maximize solar energy efficiency. We developed a smart home energy management system that perfectly integrates solar+storage, EV and IoT devices. It’s one-stop solution that combines solar power generation, energy storage, and household energy management. It integrates high-efficiency power generation, safe power storage, smart power consumption, real-time energy control, and centralized management of energy information. The technologies of Big Data and AI deep-learning are used to support the prediction of energy generation and consumption, and to enhance the smart control functions. That creates a complete ecosystem for a green smart home.

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INSIGHTS

BIDDERS CAN FURNISH LOU INSTEAD OF BG: HOW WILL IT FURTHER IMPROVE EASE OF DOING BUSINESS FOR COMPANIES?

Year 2020 has posed some of the toughest and unprecedented challenges to the entire world, but September 2020 has brought some respite for clean energy developers as government is set to implement its much-awaited plan of allowing renewable energy players by furnishing a Letter of Undertaking issued by IREDA, PFC or REC (“LoU”) in lieu of the traditional Bank Guarantees (“BGs”), thereby easing the renewable sector from tedious procedures of furnishing of BGs for any state auction of power projects.

The move is in the right direction as it will certainly extend support to the clean energy developers and further contribute towards de-stressing the sector and in turn promote ease of doing business. The established players in the sector will certainly benefit from the said upgradation, but more particularly the move aims to benefit those players who have aspiration and ideas but lack the financial resources to furnish BGs. The underpinning of ‘doing business’ is indeed the notion that private sector development benefits from clear and lucid rules.

In a picture-perfect world, a man’s word would be considered to be his bond. Since the foundation of business transactions cannot be based on trust alone, hence, BGs have over a period of time become a valuable part of commercial transactions. While the word ‘guarantee’ finds its roots from the Spanish word garante, the legal genesis of a BG comes from Indian Contract Act, 1872, which defines a contract of guarantee to be a contract to perform the promise, or discharge the liability of a third person, in case of a breach or default by that person. In context of a BG, the bank / lending institution acts as a surety for the creditor.

But easier said than done, BGs are not costless or effortless for developers as these entail substantial costs in terms of blocking of funds, availability of working capital, stamp duty, bank charges, etc. Moreover, involvement of a bank in a transaction can also sometimes bog down the entire process due to the rigid and uncompromising procedures involved. And further, the BGs continue to reflect as contingent liability on the balance sheets of the developers. Another challenge faced by the developers is to demonstrate their financial soundness to the banks to qualify for the guarantee, thereby charting complete previous trading history, recent accounts, credit history, and liquidity. In many cases, the bank may even ask for some form of security, thereby meaning taking a guarantee to issue the guarantee.

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On the other hand, LoU is expected to be an effective and viable alternative for clean energy developers. With the Covid-19 pandemic engulfing businesses across the world, an innovative solution in the form of LoU is capable of reducing the business risks and providing impetus to domestic trade. The uncertainty surrounding the aftermath and duration of the pandemic has had its fair share of impact on the banking system as well. In the current operating environment with Indian banking system already struggling with feeble business and low consumer confidence, the nod from the government for LoU’s is a much-needed break. The constraints faced by the banking system has made it a cumbersome task for private players to furnish BGs and even in cases where the BGs are given, the margin costs are typically between 30 % - 35% which leaves meagre funds for deployment by the clean energy players. Further, the turnaround time of processing formalities with LoU’s is expected to be less tedious then usual bank formalities. LoU no doubt appears to be more promising being a cost, time and margin effective option, all at the same time. This even works well for security sharing. If at a later stage the same institution issuing the LoU extends a borrowing facility to the developer, the cross sharing of security with other lenders can be avoided.

It is a settled principle that compliance to arduous regulations dissuades the energies of developers away from evolving their businesses. On the other hand, regulations that are efficient, friendly, and implemented in an unpretentious way not only enable business expansion, but also make it easier for ambitious developers to compete on a level playing field.

Though, BG still continues to be a conventional practice in public auctions, as commercial relationships cannot be based only on trust, especially when the stakes are huge, introduction of LoU’s issued by institutions like IREDA result into a fruitful blend of conventional practice with a modern and progressive approach.

RAKSHIKA KAUL PADORA GM- Legal, Amp Energy India

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PERSPECTIVE

FOCUS ON RENEWABLE SECTOR IMPORTANT TO ENSURE ENERGY SECURITY & COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE: YOUR OPINION MATTERS, TELL US HOW?

There are multiple options for lowering Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the energy system while still satisfying the global demand for energy services. Some of these possible options are energy conservation and efficiency, fossil fuel switching and generation of renewable energy. Having a large potential to mitigate climate change, RE can provide wider benefits. RE contributes to social and economic development, energy access, a secure energy supply, and reducing negative impacts on the environment and health.

The energy and environment are the two sides of the same coin. So how do you generate energy is going to determine to what extent you are compromising, whether or not, with climate security and environmental concerns. India's focus on renewable segments like solar, wind and hydro power will not only ensure energy security but also address environmental concerns, said former union minister Suresh Prabhu. Let's read our experts' views on this..

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PANKAJ BATRA Project Director, SARI/EI/IRADe & ExChairperson & Member (Planning), Central Electricity Authority and ExOfficio Additional Secretary to Govt. of India Chair WG 4, ISGF. Chairperson of the BIS Committee of LITD 10

Climate change is wreaking havoc in cert ai n areas of t he globe.

There have been extreme weather event s globally. It snowed for t he first time ever in the United Arab Emi rat es on December 30 t h 2004.

In 2020, by mid October 2020, 10 hurri canes hi t t he Uni t ed St at es, breaking the record of nine set in 1916. The capi t al of Indonesi a, Jakarta, is being inundated more and more frequent ly by t he wat er due to rising sea level, so much so that t he Government has deci ded to shift the capital to a safer place. Jakart a i s si nki ng by an average of 1-15cm a year and almost half the ci t y now si t s below sea level.

The ice shelf around Antarctica has been melt i ng. Ant arct i c i ce shelves have lost nearly 4 trillion met ri c t ons of i ce si nce t he mi d1990s, scientists say. Ocean water is melt i ng t hem from t he bot t om up, causing them to lose mass faster t han t hey can refreeze. As i ce shelves melt, they become thinner, weaker and more li kely t o break.

When this happens, they can unleash st reams of i ce from t he glaciers behind them, raising global sea levels. The areas affect ed by the havoc has been expanding, and i f not dealt wi t h expeditiously, will eventually cover t he ent i re globe.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli mat e Change’ s (IPCC) fifth assessment report, human emi ssi ons and act i vi t i es have caused around 100% of the warming observed si nce 1950. A maj or cause is the emission of carbon dioxi de. The maxi mum carbon dioxide emissions come from burning of fossi l fuels for power generation and transportation.

According to the US Environment Prot ect i on Agency, 27% of t he emissions came from power generati on and 28% from t ransport i n 2018. Globally, according to a survey, 28% of all greenhouse emissions came from power generati on and 28% from t ransport i n 2016.

Therefore, we can cut down more than half t he greenhouse gas emissions by switching to renewable sources of energy. Renewable sources of energy, namely solar and wi nd power are also present ly inexhaustible, and so also contribute t o energy securi t y. It i s presumed the sun’ s energy will not come t o an end for mi lli ons of years. Besides, solar and wind energy has also become cheaper than new coal based power, even if one t akes i nt o account energy storage costs for catering to the intermi t t enci es of solar and wi nd power, to supplement the flexibility of hydro power, whi ch i s prevalent to a substantial extent around t he globe. Addi ng t o t hat are the rapid developments and innovat i ons t aki ng place i n energy storage, like liquefied air energy storage, gravi t y st orage based on solid blocks, flow batteries, etc. There are also new t echnologi es for storing energy in progress, like the hydrogen fuel cells and aluminium fuel cells. Most national Government s also have poli ci es to shift to electric vehicles to cut down on vehi cular emi ssi ons. The power which would flow for charging t he bat t eri es or fuel cells of these vehicles would also come from renewable sources of energy.

SIMARPREET SINGH Director, Hartek Group

The power sector continues to grow at a rapid pace to cater to the everincreasing requirements of the economy, and it is renewable energy which is setting the pace for this unforeseen growth. The annual growth in electricity generation from renewables is five times higher than conventional sources of energy, which is a welcome change given the environmental fallouts of overreliance on fossil fuels. Currently, renewables account for 23. 9 percent of the country’ s power capacity mix, out of which solar power alone makes up for 9. 8 per cent. The government has set an ambitious target of taking it up to 60 percent by 2030, and is aggressively working towards it. This shift to renewable energy in general, and solar power in particular, has gone a long way in reducing overdependence on fossil fuels and hydel power, thus contributing to energy security of a country which would need massive capacity additions to bring about economic growth.

While ground-mounted solar projects, aided by mega solar parks, will have an instrumental role to play in taking India closer to the 2022 target of 100 GW, it is rooftop solar which can be the next big thing for the Indian power sector when installing rooftop projects on government and new residential buildings becomes mandatory across the country in the foreseeable future. The housing boom can play a major role in scaling up India’ s rooftop solar capacity in coming years and ensuring sustainable growth. It is the residential category of the rooftop solar segment which has the maximum potential on the strength of sheer volumes. Rooftop solar can grow by leaps and bounds if it brings about mass adoption by the community. A study by Price Waterhouse Coopers has estimated that if India achieves the 40-GW rooftop solar target in the next couple of

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years, it can save more than 10, 000 million units of electricity that would have otherwise been wasted on account of T&D losses. So, solar energy is, slowly but surely, making India self-reliant in meeting its power needs without stressing the depleting cola reserves or adversely impacting the environment.

Complemented by effective net metering policies, customised smallscale solar solutions like easy to install plug-and-play kits, non-invasive structure design catering to RCC roofs and remote monitoring will also propel rooftop solar installations in years to come. Innovations like biosolar cells, floating panels and floating solar farms will also augment demand considerably.

While conditions conducive to scalable growth of rooftop solar are shaping up with technological breakthroughs leading to a steady fall in prices, we should have a national policy in place aimed at revolutionising rooftop solar to light up thousands of remote and backward villages which are still not connected to the electrical grid in order to ensure inclusive and equitable growth. Favourable rooftop solar policies will eventually lead to a self-sustaining business model once we have the infrastructure in place for domestic manufacturing of solar components on a mass scale, which in turn will appreciably reduce costs and encourage innovation.

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P.K.AGARWAL

SIDHARTH CHOUDHARY,

Former Director & CISO,

Assistant Vice President,

POSOCO Ltd.

Invest India

The ability of a country to access the energy resources needed to maintain its national progress is of paramount importance to the people and government of the country. In other ways this is termed as energy security, which is defined as the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price. The present society relies on a vast energy supply to fuel everything from transportation to communication, to security and health delivery systems. At a time when society is increasing its demands for accelerated growth, the energy data worldwide paint a worrying picture, with both energy demand and carbon emissions growing at the fastest rates for years.

The WEF’ s Global Risk Report 2020 lists climate change as one of the top 5 long-term risks facing humanity. Limiting global temperature rise (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prescribes less than 1. 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2050) will necessitate limiting emissions of carbon di-oxide due to human activities. As part of the global efforts to fight climate change, 186 countries have submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which outline and communicate their post-2020 climate action plan. India has committed a 33-35% reduction in emissions intensity by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.

Alongside the concern for energy security, concern of combating climate change is also a priority agenda to the nations worldwide.

Climate change is already affecting countries and regions around the world. Its future impacts will be more costly compared to the cost of prevention.

Electricity generation alone accounts for more than half of total GHG emissions in India. The electrification of sectors such as transport and industry is also primed to be a major driving force for future emissions.

For instance, road transport (accounting for ~90% of total GHG emissions from the transport sector) is showing early signs of electrification, especially in segments such as public transit vehicles and two/three wheelers, which together account for nearly 87% of the market. Other important trends which will drive GHG emissions upwards are increasing economic prosperity, urbanization, and the government’ s push to provide electricity to all households. But meeting this rising demand for electricity with fossil fuels would be disastrous for India and the world.

At COP-21 in Paris, parties to the UNFCCC reached a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. The Paris Agreement’ s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1. 5 degrees Celsius.

The recent IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Special Report on Global Warming of 1. 5°C has underlined the urgency of taking decisive steps to tackle climate change, including through the transformation of global energy use. Some effects may be long-lasting or irreversible, such as losing some ecosystems. Considering that twothirds of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions originate from the energy sector, the IPCC unequivocally calls for an immediate, large-scale shift to renewable energy and energy efficiency (IPCC, 2018).

Further, as per IPCC report, emissions reductions are mainly achieved by changing the way in which energy is produced, and to a lesser degree by reductions in demand. Energy production from renewable resources provides greater opportunities for reducing the greenhouse gas emission and energy security. Wind, solar, hydro etc. , are non-depleting resources available in abundance and exist over a wide geographical area of the earth unlike the fossil fuels which are depleting fast and are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and technological diversification of energy sources would result in significant energy security and economic benefits.

India has set an ambitious target of having 175 GW of RE energy capacity by 2022 and 450GW by 2030. This will not only provide energy security but also achieve the commitment to NDC for climate change.

Development and use of renewables energy resources worldwide offer a safe, reliable, and affordable way to achieve massive decarbonisation as well as availability of energy at affordable prices. As per IPCC Special report of 2018 on In 1. 5°C pathways, renewables are projected to supply 70–85% of electricity in 2050.

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Renewable energy could be a potential game-changer by not only ensuring energy security by reduced dependence on fuel imports, and pollution mitigation, but also development of a globally competitive ‘ green’ industrial base. Consequently, India has set ambitious goals for renewable energy – 175 GW by 2022, onwards to 450 GW by 2030.

Currently, the total installed capacity stands at around 86 GW and includes solar, wind, small hydro and bio-energy. While India has made remarkable progress in the last decade, much more is required both to meet capacity targets as well as ensure long-term sustainability.

To foster new green industries, it is vital to strengthen the energy research and innovation ecosystem in the country via capital infusion, skill development, and forward-looking policies to ease market access for new technologies. India needs to double down on its commitment to renewable energy and strive to develop cutting-edge technologies for integrating renewables in the energy grid, management systems for distributed energy resources, microgrid and energy storage solutions, electric mobility, and waste to energy. Furthermore, development of technologies to improve resource efficiency across the energy value chain – generation, transmission, storage and consumption – is essential.

Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change remains the biggest threat facing the world. Hence, India has a critical choice to make regarding powering the next wave of its economic development – either transition to renewables or stick with conventional sources such as coal. The correct choice will ensure that we meet our climate targets, while fostering an industrial base capable of supplying “green” technologies globally. It will also help generate employment for a burgeoning labour force, and ensure a sustainable future for the planet.

Let’ s hope we don’ t pick the other option.

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HARDIK SHAH Associate Director - Corporate Ratings, CARE Ratings Ltd

Energy and environment are interlinked with each other. The energy we consume i s captured by the envi ronment around us. Hence, in order to have a sustainable future, the use of renewable energy becomes i nevi table. Renewable energy provides reliable power supplies which would enhance energy security and help to conserve the nati on’ s natural resources.

Renewable energy plays an important role in supporting energy security. Generati on of power through conventi onal mode, viz. , thermal, is exposed to numerous risk factors right from innumerable ri sks attached to i mplementati on of the project to recurring risk factors in day-to-day power generation. Also, we often forget the negati ve i mpact i t leaves on the climate which has been overlooked at times. Renewable energy comes handy here as i t carri es low i mplementati on ri sks and even lower operational risks with no negative impact on the climate. Also, compared to other countri es, Indi a has more than 300 days of sunshine in most parts of the country which is nature’ s gi ft and we must use the same i n our combat to energy security issue in a significant way. Further, over the last decade, wi th decli ne i n the cost of setti ng up renewable energy projects, viz. , solar & wind, tariffs of renewable power have become even cheaper than thermal power leaving no reason now to ignore the importance of renewable energy. We have now reached an i nflecti on poi nt from where the story of renewable energy starts in India.

India already has a large thermal power capacity whereby utilisation has remai ned less than 60% i n the last few years.

This could act as a really good proposition for India going forward, if the share of renewables i n Indi a’ s total energy mi x i s enhanced whereby renewable power can meet the routine demand, whereas thermal can meet the peak demand and both could complement each other rather than competing with each other and enhanci ng the i mportance of thermal also.

Apart from normal growth in demand for power linked to GDP growth, India could experi ence an exponenti al demand for power in the coming decade mainly from the expected higher share of electri c vehi cles whi ch could reduce Indi a’ s dependence on imported petroleum products and save a sizable portion of forex reserves. If Indi a could expand i ts renewable capacity in a big way, migration to electronic vehicles could be faster than expected whi ch i n i tself underli nes the importance of renewable energy. Battery storage solutions are in their ini ti al stage and relati vely costly; however, once battery storage would be economically viable on a widespread basis, it has the potenti al to enti rely change Indi a’ s energy landscape.

There is no path to protect the climate without efficiently changing how we produce and use electri ci ty. Global warmi ng is one of the main symptoms of climate change and we are already paying a hi gh pri ce for the same. Renewable energy sources will eliminate the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contri bute to global warmi ng.

Renewable energy would lead to cleaner atmosphere, better air quality and improved publi c health. Thus, i nvesti ng i n renewable energy can have significant dividends for our energy security and towards our pledge for cli mate.

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PERSPECTIVE

IS INDIA'S RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR PRIMED FOR VIABLE GROWTH? India has over 300 bright sunny days, over a dozen perennial rivers and a coastline of more than 7, 500 kms and since the age of puranas, has realised the importance of the sun and other sources of renewable energy and the power they possess for the benefit of its inhabitants.

India is the world' s fourth-largest carbon emitter with its population of 1. 3 billion people with the power sector contributing majorly to the same. But in recent years, India made significant strides in the renewable energy space.

However, with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis the pace of renewable energy growth slowed in India. Policy-related headwinds and a collapse in electricity demand due to the COVID-19 crisis disrupted India’ s renewable energy capacity tendering and commissioning process. But despite these setbacks, renewables are proving resilient with investment capital available for new proj ects with favourable risk-return profiles says a recent report by IEEFA. The note looked at the outcomes of seven renewable energy capacity and storage auctions held to-date in 2020. It found that together they attracted some US$10-20bn of investment commitments, despite the pandemic. So, let' s find out from our experts their opinion on the growth projection of the renewable energy sector and its viability. . .

MANOJ GUPTA VP-Solar and Waste to Energy Business, Fortum India Pvt Ltd.

India is a global leader in renewable energy and the government’ s long-term obj ective of 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030 has set the country on a track towards a contemporary, low- cost renewable energy-based power system, developing energy security and decarbonizing the energy ecosystem in the process. The strong performance of renewable generation during these unprecedented tough economic conditions has provided impetus for India to continue its electricity sector transition.

Domestic and international investors are taking notice of declining renewable energy prices and analyzing the apparent government policy alignment and ambition, and this is reflected in the very positive results of the recent Solar Energy Corporation of India’ s (SECI) 2 gigawatt (2GW) solar auction in June 2020. Seeing the current growth of the solar industry and the government' s support towards energy transition and emphasis on Atmanirbhar Bharat, it is quite evident that the growth of the renewable energy sector is a must.

HARSHA V. RAO Research Analyst Council on Energy, Environment and Water

Renewable energy (RE) in India has grown at a tremendous pace (from 16, 817 MW in 2010 to almost 78, 316 MW in 2019). RE capacity addition continued despite the COVID-19 lockdown. A recent report published by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) suggests that an investment of approximately INR 5, 200 crore (USD 690 million) over 2021-28 could create an economically viable market for 28 per cent onshore wind and solar PV by 2030, creating another 528, 000 j obs. However, increasing RE’ s share, requires electricity procurement and dispatch to be market-based. This will imply a transition to medium and short-term procurement by the buyers and decreasing dependence on long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) by the investors.

Initially, guaranteed long-term PPAs catalysed RE growth. The cracks in this strategy became visible as soon as the RE tariffs fell, causing many states, including Guj arat and recently, Andhra Pradesh, to renegotiate tariffs. Contracting structures are central in shaping the markets. Large-scale RE is already cheaper than conventional power, making it cost competitive. However, deeprooted issues such as the procurer’ s obligation to pay fixed costs under long-term PPAs, inadequate demand-supply planning, and skewed fuel subsidies distort the market. A shift from established procurement modes could increase perception of offtake risk among investors. However, locking down buyers in long-term PPAs reduces their ability to respond to new market developments and optimise their costs, posing a greater risk for the sector in the long term.

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There are also a couple of challenges which are impacting the growth of the renewable energy market such as land, Power Evacuation and changes in taxes & duty structure (Safeguard, BCD & GST) for under implemented proj ects which has adversely affected the implementation of renewable energy in India.

The financial health of DISCOM’ s is another such challenge which is causing a delay in the payment of electricity being generated. Land and Evacuation challenges are delaying the commissioning of the plant and shift in taxes & duties and payment delay by Discom’ s are drying out the Equity from the market.

The Finance Ministry has addressed some of these challenges in the Draft Proposed Amendments to the Electricity Act and in the FiveTranche economic stimulus package, thereby bringing in some relief to the MSMEs and Discoms that were affected the most.

Despite a few short-term headwinds, renewables’ cost competitiveness and ongoing price deflation makes them a more viable energy producer than many existing conventional sources of energy, and all new import power plants. As the pandemic has demonstrated, thermal power will bear the maximum impact of the downside risks in a transitioning market given its high marginal cost of production and lack of flexibility. A green stimulus that speeds up the investments into renewable energy infrastructure possibly will help India to emerge from the economic downturn by boosting employment, reducing fossil fuel imports, and building energy security.

Developments that could disrupt the market include new technologies like storage and new electricity market platforms.

There are efforts, especially by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), to push for market-based dispatch of electricity. New platforms like the green term-ahead market and realtime markets have started operations. Market based economic dispatch for all generating stations, ancillary services markets, and futures market could well be on the horizon. Variation in procurement strategy for thermal power is already visible with the Ministry of Power examining prospects for medium-term power procurement.

Experience from more advanced countries, including the USA and Europe, has shown that market-based power procurement reduces overall costs for the buyers. For example, in the USA only 10-40 percent of estimated demand is locked in PPAs of terms ranging from 7-10 years. The remaining demand is procured through shortterm and day-ahead contracts.

Establishing a market-based model In india will require accurate demand estimation, robust and integrated transmission and distribution planning, constant watch on technology development trends, and strict market monitoring. Forecasting is anyway an essential component of integrating RE in the grid and it is a natural progression to transition to power markets.

Policymakers must develop a market-based long-term vision and strategy for power procurement on economic principles. A clearly defined procurement strategy balanced between the short, medium, and long terms will provide clear signals to investors and confidence to invest in the market. Developers and financiers will have to respond to the changing market dynamics by innovating new financing strategies that enable investment in proj ects in a market-based power procurement scenario.

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INSIGHTS

DRAFT ELECTRICITY (CHANGE IN LAW, MUST RUN STATUS, AND OTHER MATTERS) RULES: A PERSPECTIVE The Ministry of Power on October 1, 2020 released the Draft Electricity (Change in Law, Must Run Status, and other Matters) Rules (Draft Rules). Pursuant to the Draft Rules the Ministry of Power has come up with a new mechanism to allow power generating companies to recover additional costs resulting from a change in law event. It allows the affected parties to restore their economic position as before the event by way of adjusting the monthly tariff in a speedy manner. Previously, power generating companies had to raise claims for a change in law event with the procurer and appropriate commission which was a rather lengthy process and greatly affected the generating companies.

The proposed Draft Rules have introduced a pass-through mechanism that would allow power generators to adjust tariffs to compensate for any change in law event within 30 days.

The pass through would be on per unit electricity basis and be part of the tariff. Of course, the relevant documentation has to be submitted to the appropriate commission for truing up the rate of pass through per unit and the appropriate commission would verify the calculation within a period of 60 days. These proposed Draft Rules are a welcome change as it would expedite the process to recover claims and avoid long drawn regulatory procedures and contested claims and cut down on litigation and disputes. Now, the proposed Draft Rules are also helpful for power generating companies which do not have explicit clauses for recovery of such costs in their PPAs. The definition of change in law events provided in the Draft Rules are rather broad and well defined to cover various scenarios. However, these Draft Rules should bring clarity on whether any change in law events which happens outside the territory India would be included or not. The current definition given in the Draft Rules do not specifically exclude change in law events happening outside India. It is important to bring clarity on this as in the past several cases in the electricity sector has seen long fought battle between procurer and power generator on the issue of whether change in law clause includes any changes in law outside the Indian territory.

Renewable energy power plants had already been given “must run� status. Now the Draft Rules have spelled out that such power plants with must run status shall not be subjected to curtailment or regulation of power on account of merit order dispatch or any other commercial consideration. Power from such must run plants may be curtained only in cases of technical constraints in the electricity grid or reasons of security of the grid. In case of any curtailment the procurer has to pay compensation to the power generator according to the PPA. However, if the procurer has given notice of curtailment to the generating companies at least 24 hours in advance, the power generating companies shall mandatorily sell the power not scheduled in the power exchanges and the amounts realized from such sale shall be adjusted against the compensation payable as per the PPA. If, however, the rate of compensation has not been mentioned in the PPA then the power generator shall be compensated at the rate of 75% of PPA rate per unit.

These proposed Draft Rules are a welcome change but are also rather intriguing at the same time. Forcing power generating companies to sell in power exchanges may not be the best solution for such companies as there may potentially be much better prices available in open markets. Also, in cases where the rate of compensation has not been in the PPA the cap of 75% of PPA rate per unit on curtailment compensation needs to be reconsidered.

These Draft Rules are welcome steps towards doing business in India.

However, certain clarifications and amendments, as mentioned above, needs to be provided prior to notification of the rules.

Pranjal Bora,

Partner, Bora & Partners

The definition of change in law events provided in the Draft Rules are rather broad and well defined to cover various scenarios.

However, these Draft Rules should bring clarity on whether any change in law events which happens outside the territory India would be included or not.

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INSIGHTS

Solar is the New Ruler of the Indian Electricity Market SOLAR’S LEVELISED COST OF ENERGY COULD DROP TO US$15/MWH (~RS1.1/KWH) BY 2030 – A DECADE EARLIER THAN PREDICTED

The International Energy Agency’ s (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2020 forecasts India to lead the recovery of global energy demand out of the COVID-19 pandemic for the coming decade. However, the IEA has downgraded its proj ection for the global energy demand growth rate to 9% (or lower depending on the global pace of recovery from the pandemic) from its pre-COVID forecast of 12% for the period between 2019 to 2030.

Although electricity only forms 20% of the total global energy consumption, increased electrification will see the renewable energy sector will become more dominant on the global investment horizon coming out of this economic downturn – even more so in India given our still unsustainable reliance on fossil fuel imports, with all the associated energy security risks and current account headwinds.

India, as the world’ s third largest electricity market with an ambition to build 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030, is well positioned to be a leading driver of growth in investment into solar power generation infrastructure globally.

IEEFA notes that despite the pandemic, domestic and global investor interest in India’ s renewable energy market remains robust – demonstrated by the very positive outcomes of some recent auctions.

Solar Energy Corporation of India’ s (SECI) 2GW solar auction in June 2020 delivered India’ s lowest-yet renewable energy tariff at Rs2. 36/kWh (US$31/MWh) with zero indexation for 25 years. Other important auctions in 2020 from SECI included 12GW of solar plus 3GW of module manufacturing capacity, 1. 2GW of solar with storage for peak power supply auction and 400MW of round-the-clock (RTC) renewable energy tender.

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The IEA predicts the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of solar will be dramatically down at US$15/MWh (~Rs1. 1/kWh) by 2040 from US$35/MWh (~Rs2. 6/kWh) in 2019. However based on the recent record-low solar tariffs in the SECI auction, IEEFA believes that the solar LCOE could reach the IEA’ s projected US$15/MWh a decade earlier.

The winner of the long-term race between renewable energy and coal-fired plants is well established, especially given the two-part tariff structure of thermal power.

Due to the inflationary and suboptimal structure of legacy thermal tariffs, ultra-low-cost solar will undermine thermal power plants capacity utilisation and will even accelerate the closure of end-of-life coal plants. The pandemic has exacerbated structural and financial issues in India’ s power distribution sector — the Achilles heel of India’ s electricity sector — and increased counter party risk as well as created a massive liquidity crunch in the sector.

As the pandemic has illustrated, thermal power will bear the maximum impact of the downside risks in a transitioning market given its high marginal cost of production and lack of flexibility.

In contrast, renewables are proving resilient. A long-term price signal for peaking power is a key next step to ensure grid stability and investment in balancing firm peak capacity.

The Indian government must endeavour to resolve the structural issues of the discom sector and policy-related issues in the renewable energy sector. Unlocking India’ s renewable energy potential has immense long-term economic and energy security benefits for the country.

KASHISH SHAH Research Analyst, IEEFA

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PERSPECTIVE

WITH COVID SCENARIO WHAT IS THE STATUS OF SOLAR FINANCING IN INDIA?

COVID19 pandemic is spreading and affecting countries across the globe and bringing economies to a halt. The solar industry at large and also in India is not insulated from the pandemic’s impact and its uncertain future is causing concern for many businesses. The COVID-19 outbreak comes at a time when the country’s solar project execution is at its peak in the last quarter of the financial year. It will become difficult for developers to control price surge, as the prices of supplies from other sourcing nations are going up by 15-20 %. Industries, including those in the solar space, are looking for additional financial support to deal with working capital costs and interest payments due to the delay. It will be interesting to see how India’s solar sector tackles the issues due to the coronavirus outbreak and plots a strategy to achieve its targets.To find out more, read on...

GIRISHKUMAR KADAM Sector Head – Corporate Sector Ratings, ICRA Ltd

Near term headwinds amid the COVID impact on discoms’ finances; Long term prospects for solar energy however remain solid The policy focus on renewable energy by Government of India (GoI) continues to remain strong and this coupled with an improved tariff competitiveness of renewable energy – particularly solar and wind energy, long term demand prospects for renewable energy (RE) remain in-tact. Within a renewable energy segment, pace of solar energy capacity addition is likely to remain faster than other renewable sources, also backed by strong project award activity so far.

The tariff competitiveness for solar energy both in the utility & open access segment also remains superior for the off-takers (i. e. state-owned distribution utilities in utility scale & corporate commercial & industrial consumers in the open access segment). Further, there has been an increasing focus & preference by MNRE through Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) to award hybrid renewable projects, solar projects with peak & off-peak tariff as well as round-the-clock (RTC) availability based renewable projects recently in the last six month period.

Tariff discovery in auction rounds for such projects also remains favourable for the off-takers both in terms of competitiveness of tariff as well as mitigating the concern w. r. t. intermittency / variability of renewable generation to a large extent.

From the viability perspective for IPPs, tariff viability will be critically dependent upon a) capital cost, b) PLF level, and c) long tenure debt availability at cost competitive rate. While module price behaviour has been declining the past period (although showed an upward trend in CY 2017 in between), the same remains a key variable for the project viability. Further, debt coverage metrics also remain exposed to variation in INR-USD rate (in case of imported modules) and interest rate, besides the exposure to PLF variation risk due to climatic conditions.

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Moreover, the risk w. r. t. sourcing of solar PV modules for underconstruction solar projects as well as procurement of raw materials for domestic solar module manufacturing OEMs, especially from China and consequent cost implications would be a monitorable, given the backdrop of geo-political risks between India and China.

Nonetheless, the capacity addition in the renewable energy sector is expected to remain subdued at about 7. 5-8. 0 GW in FY2021 given the continued execution challenges amid Covid-19, because of disruption of supply chain as well as labour availability issues as seen in the first half of the current fiscal.

Execution challenges amid COVID has added to the woes of the sector which already continues to remain plagued by several issues such as delays in land acquisition and receipt of evacuation approvals, regulatory delays in tariff adoption and obtaining financial closure in a tight financing environment over the last 15-18 month period.

Moreover, even prior to COVID pandemic, the renewable IPPs have also been facing significant delays in receiving payments, especially from discoms in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The discoms finances have been further constrained by the adverse impact of the lockdown imposed to control the Covid19 pandemic. The GoI’ s announced liquidity support scheme in May 2020 for Rs. 900 billion for the discoms, in the form of loans against government receivables, from the Power Financial Corporation (PFC) and the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has been a short-term positive measure. Given that this scheme is still under progress & has been implemented partially so far, the discoms in states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have now cleared past dues to some extent, thus benefiting the affected renewable IPPs. Nonetheless, the sustainable improvement in discoms finances remains crucial for future investments in the renewable sector, which is linked to improvement in operating efficiency of the discoms and aligning the tariffs in line with the cost of supply for the discoms by the respective state electricity regulators. This apart, an extent of energy demand recovery in H2 of current fiscal & thereafter for the distribution utilities as well as time bound favourable resolution of the pending tariff issue for wind and solar power projects in Andhra Pradesh also remains key monitorables in the near term.

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ALOK A JAHAGIRDAR, Senior Consultant, Government and Public Sector, EY

GAURI R MANJREKAR Consultant, Government and

However, the Covid-19 outbreak has virtually brought the world economy to a standstill with strict lockdowns and global supply chain thrown into disarray. The complete lockdown protocol has jolted not only operation and maintenance (O&M) but also solar investment and related activities.

Based on the research reports, in the calendar year of 2020, solar installations in India were projected to be 11-12 GW. Solar installations in the first half (1H) of 2020 totalled 1. 3 GW, a 59% decrease compared to 3. 2 GW of capacity added in 1H of 2019. This financing gap of approximately Rs. 11, 000 crores can be strongly attributed to the Covid.

However, a robust solar tendering of 6. 3 GW in Q3 by government agencies is expected to have positive impact with higher interest from developers.

Public Sector, EY

India has made a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 33-35 % (from 2005 levels) by 2030 which is articulated in the government’ s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). India’ s renewable energy target for 2030 was further revised to 450 GW with 300 GW earmarked for Solar power by 2030. India added 7. 3 GW of solar in calendar year 2019 with a cumulative capacity of 35. 7 GW. Availability of easy financing avenues for solar is an important pillar acting as an enabler for accelerated renewable energy penetration in India. Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and State Bank of India (SBI) have pioneered the lending for ground mounted solar projects. Equally strong representations for attractive rooftop solar lending are made available from various financial institutions such as State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA). Overseas lenders such as FMO, Netherlands, European Investment Bank, and equity investors such as KKR, Asian Development Bank (ADB) have contributed to solar financing in India.

All these financial institutions provide multiple avenues for Indian developers to secure financing for respective solar projects.

Pandemic has seen a negative impact on market sentiment for all the stakeholders in the solar financing ecosystem. Lenders have become cautious due to factors such as supply chain uncertainties, cash flow impact on businesses and liquidity issues. Equity investors are also expected to sit out the period of high uncertainty and wait for normalcy to return before committing more funds to the sector.

Efforts are being taken to provide required impetus for the solar sector.

To ease the financing issues, the Government has implemented Central Financial Assistance (CFA) and declared incentives to developers and Discoms respectively. Lenders, such as SBI, have initiated remote training of its appraisal officers to equip them to meet the expected demand inflow in near future. This indicates conducive support to solar financing in near future.

India’ s solar industry is expected to witness additional challenges due to ongoing pandemic. However, lower installation costs, cost consciousness of businesses, government support and attractive financing products from Financing Institutions will provide a panacea for financing woes of the sector. *All the data points sourced from Mercom India.

NITISH MEHTA Co-Founder, Artha Energy Resources

Various market forces shape infusion of finance in any sector and Covid19 has caused shifts in many preconceived notions. C&I is no different.

We look on how some factors have affected funding in the solar sector which was severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. As Artha Energy Resources specializes in C&I segment, and a significant number of our investors are Indian HNI’ s and Family offices hence, my views too will be based on the same.

1. DEMAND HAS INCREASED DUE TO COST-CUTTING TARGETS. For Executives faced with cost-cutting targets, going Solar is one of the easiest ways to achieve those goals. We have seen at least 3. 5 times more positive response than pre-Covid-19 time.

2. REDUCTION IN CAPEX PROJECTS With companies trying to conserve cash, CAPEX projects are drying up due to project postponement or conversion to OPEX. Hence, many EPC’ s who relied purely on CAPEX projects have started looking for channel partner who can provide OPEX option. This has provided us with a better outreach than in pre-covid times.

3. CREDIT WORTHINESS COVID-19 has negatively impacted the credit ratings of many companies which have resulted in higher tariff offers or increased project security.

4. DEBT FUNDING With Interest rate slashing, there is an opportunity of having cheaper debt or refinance options opened. However, this benefit is taken up by only a few developers. Most lenders refuse to consider solar roof-top as a collateral if they are not amongst the top developers.

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5. MORE INVESTORS LOOKING FOR FIXED INCOME With the current 10 years G sec at 5. 91% and Corporate bond spread of AAA – BBB ranges from 1. 63% - 9. 75%. In comparison a 15-year PPA with a similar company yields much better returns and steady monthly cash flow. Thus, many HNI, Family offices have started looking at solar as a serious option.

6. EXECUTION ISSUE AND AN INCREASE IN COST Covid-19 has created a few execution issues; for example, local lockdowns or rules has made accessibility to a few locations difficult.

Like any other industry, Solar is also facing labour shortage, with results increased I&C cost. Being Covid-19 compliant has also increased operational cost.

7. NO GRANDFATHER CLAUSE AND CHINESE PANELS Around 60% of a project cost is comprised of panels and even marginal fluctuations in panel price can impact a lot. As C&I segment is not protected with a grandfather clause which means if there any increase in duty between the time period when panels are being booked and get custom clearance, it can reduce project IRR to a greater extent.

Apart from this, Chinese panels manufacturers are doubling down and have increased cost citing excuses like floods, unavailability of glass, decline in local demands. Unfortunately, Indian panel manufacturers are not yet at par with Chinese counterparts in terms of technology, and hence we are heavily reliant on imported Chinese panels.

In Conclusion, the options to invest in solar power projects has increased in the C&I space in both OPEX and CAPEX models equally.

Although Covid-19 had a major impact on the finances being held up due to initial lockdown periods, but slowly as the economy opens and businesses look to cut down on expenses, Solar project financing has found increased flavour with HNI / Family Offices looking for Steady cash flow. With more maturity, the C&I solar space is set to see an increase in financing from such investors.

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PERSPECTIVE

HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS TRANSFORMED THE PV INDUSTRY FROM PRICE COMPETITION TO VALUE CREATION?

During the 1960s when solar technologies first made their debut, solar photovoltai cs (PV) were seen as a thi ng of the future. However, si nce 2011, technology advancement has taken place leading to attractive pricing, reliability and scalability which made solar energy the preferred choi ce for clean energy adoption, spurring the exponential growth of the sector. Photovoltaic modules(PVs) have been at the center of these technology advancements.

With significant growth as a result of strong demand and the continual emergence of new markets, the global solar photovoltai c (PV) i ndustry has undergone a major transformation in recent years. Some improvements have been i n the effi ci ency range whi ch was earli er around 16 to 18% and has now increased up to 24% with the help of monocrystalline, along with the PERC techni que. Wi th i ncrease i n effi ci ency, power rati ngs of modules have i mproved to 350 Wp and higher, allowing the module to harvest more energy from the same si ze module. PV modules are also seei ng a technology shi ft i n other components such as backsheets, EVA and frames. Today, when India is spearheadi ng the technology evoluti on, let' s fi nd out from our experts what has been the influence of technology on the evolution of the solar industry and parti cularly the PV i ndustry. . .

HARDIK PATIL Engineer-Technology, Hinduja Renewables

Technology has played a pivotal role in development of the PV industry right from 1954 when the fi rst solar cell was developed. Technologi cal development in the PV industry has created thousands of jobs in the PV industry. It has also helped i n development of speci ali zed ski lls whi ch help in further technological development in the industry. Technological development has also led to the explorati on of new and underdeveloped markets in the world.

Technology has also helped the PV industry to explore new market segments li ke rooftop and facade mounted bi faci al systems. Ni che and innovative PV technologies like flexible modules have also led to development of new and i nnovati ve products maki ng further i mpact on human life.

Technological improvements in the PV industry have pushed price competiti on to new levels and are conti nui ng to do so. Thi s has been achi eved by developing new and improved manufacturing techniques. Development of larger si ze devi ces leads to reducti on i n BOS i tems further reduci ng costs. Development in technology has led to production of more efficient modules and i nverters whi ch lead to i ncreased power generati on and price competition. Economies of Scale have also helped in increasing price competi ti on.

Technological development in the PV industry does not only come from developments i n semi conductor technology but also from development i n the IT industry. New IT technologies like the Internet of Things and BlockChai n have been pushi ng solar moni tori ng to new levels. These technologies have made it possible for solar plant developers to employ analysts who moni tor the data comi ng from the plant SCADA and pi n poi nt deficiencies in them to further improve plant performance. These technologies have also helped i n creati on of new startups whose sole obj ecti ve i s to study solar plant performance at a very granular level and find deficiencies i n the performance. development in the PV industry has aided in humanities resolve to move to carbon neutral economi es.

Technological development is also happening in the chemicals and materials industry where specialists are looking to develop specialized EVAs and back sheets to further improve performance of PV modules.

Such improvements have provided better generation guarantees from the module manufacturers.

Technological development is also coming in the fields of Energy Storage and Green Hydrogen to take the PV industry to the next level.

Developments in Energy Storage technologies will lead to realization of round the clock solar and will also provide solar plants with the capability of providing grid support which has limited growth of solar in some markets. Development in Green Hydrogen will lead to new developments in long distance transportation which will again be indirectly powered by solar for production of hydrogen.

Further developments in solar technologies have the potential of opening new market avenues. The price competition driven by technological

Technology has also helped the PV industry to explore new market segments like rooftop and facade mounted bifacial systems."

FIGURE 1: TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN PV INDUSTRY OVER THE YEARS | OCTOBER ISSUE 2020

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SHIRISH GARUD, Senior Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Value creation is the primary aim of any business entity. In simple terms, value is created for business when it earns revenue in excess of the expenses. However, a broader definition of ‘ value creation’ increasingly includes intangible drivers like innovation, people, ideas, and brands.

The first step in achieving an organization-wide focus on value creation is the understanding of sources and drivers of value creation within the industry, company, and marketplace. From this perspective, solar photovoltaic (PV) can provide affordable and viable energy solutions.

Till around 2010, solar PV technology faced the challenge of highcapital cost, resulting in high cost of generation for solar PV electricity.

Launch of the Solar Mission in 2008 as part of the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) opened doors for large utility-scale projects along with solar rooftop and distributed systems. The initial target of 20 GW installed capacity by 2022 set the ball rolling, while the revised target of 100 GW by 2022 announced in 2015, gave clarity and long-term vision for the industry to plan for expansion and accordingly create infrastructure and attract investments.

This also introduced huge price competition amongst developers.

However, global developments in PV technologies changed the scenario rapidly in the next few years. Developments in solar PV technologies and manufacturing techniques can be summarized as below: In the last 10 years, the efficiency of average commercial waferbased silicon modules increased from about 12% to 17% (supermono 21%). At the same time, CdTe module efficiency increased from 9% to 19%.

Material usage for silicon cells has been reduced significantly during the last 13 years from around 16 g/Wp to less than 4 g/Wp due to increased efficiencies, thinner wafers and wires as well as larger ingots.

PV system performance has significantly improved. Before 2000 the typical performance ratio was about 70%, while today it is in the range of 80%–90%.

Utilization of large module sizes—from 200 Wp in 2010 to above 400 Wp in 2020—has notably reduced cost of balance of systems and land requirements.

PERC (passivated emitter real contact) technique Multi-bus bar module design useful for extracting energy during periods of lowsolar angles.

Advanced inverter designs with multiple Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) technologies These technological developments converted price competition to value addition for suppliers and project developers. Resultantly, the price of solar electricity generation considerably reduced, from Rs 17. 5/kWh in 2010 to Rs 2. 35/kWh in 2020. In addition, it has resulted in establishment of competitive tariffs for solar electricity such that from a financial perspective, solar energy is the cheapest available source of power today.

Along with technology, large scale manufacturing and market creation through policy supports resulted in rapid increase in the installed capacity of solar PV globally. The total cumulative installations amounted to 584 GWp at the end of year 2019 which is about 2. 2% of the installed power-generation capacity.

Along with technology, large scale manufacturing and market creation through policy supports resulted in rapid increase in the installed capacity of solar PV globally."

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Today, PV is a fast-growing technology. According to the report of Fraunhofer ISE, Germany, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of cumulative PV installations including off-grid was 35% in 2010–2019 period.

In the context of solar PV, value creation also includes local value creation by creating socio-economic benefits like infrastructure development, employment and skill development for the local communities. This, in my opinion, is also an important function of the industry. According to an International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report, globally, cumulative investment in solar PV is likely to exceed USD 6. 6 trillion by 2050, creating 9. 1 million jobs in the process.

Further, about 56% of labour for solar PV development is concentrated in operation and maintenance, while 17% is in installation and grid connection.

PV has played a note-worthy part in creating value for larger society including marginalized populations in rural and remote areas by providing them access to clean and renewable energy at affordable prices. Some of the important aspects related to PV development are briefed here. Since the 1980s, the Government of India has been primarily focusing on promoting off-grid solar devices. The focus areas include providing access to pollution-free solar street lights, home lighting, community area lighting, and solar irrigation pumps. High cost was a major hurdle and heavy subsidies were provided by the central and state governments. This also restricted the scale of the programme due to limited budget. It is worth mentioning that the scenario changed with the cost of solar coming down and also with the introduction of the technology of low power-efficient LED (light emitting diode) technology being available for solar lighting devices. With the use of LEDs, a solar lantern using 15 Wp module, costing around Rs 5000–7500 in 1990s now has a 1–5 Wp module and costs between Rs 200–700.

Pandemic COVID -19 can boost the solar industry by providing expansion to the rooftop solar market. Need for connectivity and electricity to maintain connectivity was felt by all. Solar rooftop can be the best option for this. We also need to focus on creating income-generation opportunities for rural youth and women through innovative solar technologies and applications. We can create employment opportunities for rural youth by integrating solar technologies and government initiatives like KUSUM, doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022, and affordable housing. This will take us from price competition to value creation for society and people. A strong focus on R & D and technology development to solve problems in rural areas is needed of the hour.

Coordinated efforts by Industry, R&D institutions and academia supported by the government are essential. Recent initiative by the MNRE to develop policy for promoting Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) applications is a welcome step in this direction. Solar PV offers multiple opportunities to create value for society including contribution to mitigate Climate Change, reduce pollution across the country, development of industries from micro to large scale and access to clean energy for farmers and rural households. The government and industry should keep the focus on continued policy and regulatory push to expand the market for solar PV for decades.

1 ©Fraunhofer ISE: Photovoltaics Report, updated: 16 September 2020.

Details available at https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/ise/de/documents/publicatio ns/studies/Photovoltaics- Report.pdf 2 ©Fraunhofer ISE: Photovoltaics Report, updated: 16 September 2020.

Details available at https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/ise/de/documents/publicatio ns/studies/Photovoltaics- Report.pdf 3 ©Fraunhofer ISE: Photovoltaics Report, updated: 16 September 2020.

Details available at https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/ise/de/documents/publicatio ns/studies/Photovoltaics- Report.pdf

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PERSPECTIVE

INDIA'S 50% PUBLIC SECTOR FUEL STATIONS TO BE SOLAR POWERED: A BIG BOOST TO THE SOLAR INDUSTRY?

With government encouragement, Indian oil and gas companies are turning to investing in green energy such as renewables, biofuels and hydrogen to reduce the country's carbon footprint. India aims for 50% of fuel stations owned by public sector oil companies to be operated by solar power within five years under the government's green energy drive. India's three state-backed fuel retailers Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum, which operate more than 63,000 fuel stations across India, are moving to deploy solar panels across their operations said the Oil Minister.

The oil and gas public sector undertakings are increasingly evaluating new opportunities in the solar and renewable energy space for diversification and it is a big boost to the solar industry. Let’s find out more...

ARJUN MEHTA Associate General Manager – Business Development ReNew Power

India is on the path of decarbonising its entire energy system. Two components of this are utilising our petrol pump network and generating onsite solar power.

Of India’ s 70, 000 petrol pumps fuel stations, around 63, 000 are owned by the state-run oil marketing triplets: IOCL, HPCL and BPCL. Our Oil Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has recently announced a plan of solarising 50% of these stations in the coming five years, out of which 5, 000 are already completed wi th rooftop solar retrofit.

How large can such a market be? Assuming a typical petrol pump has an average available canopy size of 1, 000 square feet (larger ones on highways, smaller ones within urban areas), this works out to around 1, 000 MWp of a total potential solar installation base, using the solar photovoltaic technology available today. The targeted 50% of this works out to be 500 MWp. This capaci ty represents under 650 GWh worth of clean energy output, which would offset the station’ s consumption of erratic brown power from the grid, or expensive power from diesel gensets, thereby providing the station with some measure of energy independence. Further, several states offer net metering for rooftop solar plants of such capacities, which boosts the potential of these onsite generating plants to offer a near-RTC type configuration if sized appropriately. Although the market segment may not significantly address the government’ s 40 GW rooftop solar target, this may provide an opportunity to the OMCs to increase their adoption of more sustainable fuels.

One important challenge to note is that these will be highly fragmented in terms of installing such systems in widespread rural areas, across highways, and in regions with a relatively inferior penetration of the rooftop solar supply chain.

Here, obtaining quality installation and construction, as well as effective maintenance, may prove to be a constraint. However, this may also give the opportunity for regional channels, EPC and O&M vendors to play a notable role in the value chain. When we look beyond a petrol pump’ s own energy needs, there may be bigger latent opportunities in expanding onsite generation in these fuelling stations, especially for two novel business models that are much talked about currently. The first is charging of electric vehicles, which can be DCpowered, essential for high mileage / long distance driving by passenger vehicles or larger cargo vehicles. The second is energy storage at the point of generation. Imagine fuel cells being recharged with DC charging constantly during solar hours, back fitted with a battery-swap system that addresses the dual dilemma: reducing the time taken to charge the EVs as well as optimising the consumption power pricing, in case of a prevailing Time-Of-Day tariff structure at the location of the petrol pump.

The business opportunities vested in the charging value chain would not only allow these state-run OMCs to gradually decarbonise their footprint and lower a part of their power costs, but may also offer a much larger competitive advantage in scaling up this ecosystem in an already-established network of petrol pumps. This may be the big boost that the distributed solar sector has been waiting for.

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PG 29

DEEPAK ZADE Head – Power, Utilities and Renewables, SGS India Pvt. Ltd.

The decision by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India, to operate 50% of fuel stati ons owned by publi c sector Oi l Marketi ng Companies (OMCs) to be run using solar power by 2025, is a huge encouragement to the solar i ndustry.

India’ s ambitious plan of 175 GW renewable energy installation projected for 2022, consti tutes 100 GW from solar. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemi c has caused a steep decline in the rate of new installations. In this crisis, such poli ci es provi de strong support and i mpetus for growth of the solar industry and are very promising for the industry to upscale capacities to the planned 100 GW. As of 2020, the OMCs have installed a combined 270 MW of solar power capaci ty and are scheduled to add 60 MW i n 2021. It’ s a promi si ng si tuati on as we wait to witness the additional capacities that would be added due to above development.

Once implemented, fuel stations with solar power can enjoy uninterrupted power supply, zero voltage fluctuati ons, si gni fi cant savi ngs i n the energy bills. This is especially advantageous for places with DG usage as it saves expendi ture on di esel consumpti on i n DG sets. The solar power system can work in synchronization with grid & DG sets and enjoy a very good life expectancy and are able to deli ver at opti mum levels for a very long ti me with minimal maintenance.

Additionally, these are easily expandable at minimal costs etc. On the demand side, there are more than 65, 000 fuel stations in India, out of which a whopping 63, 150 are operated by PSUOMCs. Assuming an average solar rooftop system size of 5 to 10 kW, the total installations would be around 150 to 300 MW by 2025. This is roughly 50% to 100% of the current installed base of OMCs. Considering the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) approved benchmark price of INR 41/W, it opens a market for minimum Rs. 600 to 1200 crores for components such as modules, batteries, inverters and fabrications.

On the supply side, India traditionally imports around 80% of its solar cell and module requirements from China, as domestic manufacturers have struggled to compete with cheap Chinese modules. As per recent reports, the COVID-19 disruption has enabled local manufacturing in India amounting to 10 GW of solar power equipment in 2020. Further, the Government of India has proposed the implementation of basic customs duty (BCD) on solar imports. This measure is expected to safeguard the interests of domestic solar manufacturers.

Domestic manufacturers have a current installed module manufacturing capacity close to 8 to 10 GW. Solar panels imported from China cost less than domestic modules. Once BCD is in place, Indian manufacturers are expected to get a more level playing ground. This coupled with the proposed newly structured financing schemes from Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), in a manner that lower rate of interest for domestic manufacturers, will better the domestic manufacturers’ prospects in catering to the additional demand generated by 50% public sector fuel stations being solar powered.

With government encouragement, Indian oil and gas companies are turning to investing in green energy such as renewables, biofuels and hydrogen to reduce the country’ s carbon footprint. For fuel stations situated in remote and rural parts, installation of solar systems will help the area as the grid availability is poor or unreliable. In addition, this initiative has the much-needed potential to create employment opportunities especially in rural areas.

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PG 30

COMPANY FEATURE RENESOLA SIGNS RMB 2 BILLION COOPERATION AGREEMENT FOR SOLAR PV MANUFACTURING PROJECT WITH HAI'AN ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ZONE

On October 21, Renesola Energy Nantong Co. Ltd (a j oint venture between Zhongnan Industry and ReneSola Yixing Co. , Ltd, ) , signed a cooperation agreement with Hai' An Economic and Technological Development Zone to set up the new manufacturing unit. The total investment of the proj ect will be 2 billion yuan, mainly for Solar PV Products and Sales. Renesola Energy Nantong Co. , Ltd which is a j oint venture between Zhongnan Industry (a large conglomerate in China) and ReneSola Yixing Co. , Ltd (a world reputed Solar PV Manufacturer), will be mainly engaged in the manufacturing and sales of solar PV modules. The strong financial support of Zhongnan Industry and vast manufacturing experience of ReneSola will maximize the benefits for the JV. In April 2020, ReneSola signed a $100 million strategic investment agreement with the Zhongnan Industry to enhance solar module manufacturing supply chain and later in September, both the organisations announced their JV to setup the additional 3GW of manufacturing facility.

Mr Ren Yongfeng (Director of the Hai' An Development Zone) signed the cooperation agreement with Mr Wan Lirong Director of the Renesola Energy Nantong Co. , Ltd)

ďźˆ

Mr Yan Changj iang (Member of the Hai' An Standing Committee) congratulated the successful signing of the proj ect. He said that Hai' An will fully promote the optimal policy to push the proj ect to be put into operation as soon as possible. Hai' An will support enterprises to become bigger and stronger, and realize win-win results.

About ReneSola: Founded in 2005, ReneSola is a leading international brand of PV modules. Leveraging its global presence with its worldwide offices, warehouses, expansive production facilities, and sales network, ReneSola is well positioned to provide the highest quality of green energy products and on-time services for EPCs, installers, and green energy proj ects around the world.

Having accumulated more than 20GW in sales worldwide, ReneSola serves a large number of customers around the world ranging from small rooftop owners to large solar farm developers.

ReneSola is a reliable and long-term partner of its valued customers and investors.

About Zhongnan Industry: Zhongnan Industry is a subsidiary of Zhongnan Holding Group, one of the largest conglomerate in China . The group aims to build a modern enterprise dominated by its two core industries, engineering construction and cultural creativity. Founded in 1988, Zhongnan Holding Group now has more than 100, 000 employees and owns two listed companies, Zhongnan Construction (SZ000961) and Zhongnan Panshi New Energy (871460).

Zhongnan Holding Group is a top 500 ranked Chinese enterprise whose total sales volume exceeded USD 40 billion in 2019. In 2020, Zhongnan Holding ranked 78, ranking up 16 places compared with 2019.

About Hai' An Economic and Technological Development zone:

Mr. Sky Wang (CEO of ReneSola Yixing Co. , Ltd) mentioned that this new venture will add more value to our supply chain & will make the ReneSola modules more accessible & affordable for the customers worldwide and will further support our expension plans in the new global markets. The new manufacturing unit will start the production by the end of 2020.

Mr. Zheng Lei (CEO of Zhongnan Industry, a subsidiary of Zhongnan Holding Group), said that the new venture is expected to have Solar PV Manufacturing facility of annual production capacity of 3GW. The company will continue to speed up technological innovation, adhere to strict quality management, and strive to hand in a satisfactory answer sheet to customers worldwide.

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Hai' an, adj acent to the Huanghai sea to the east and facing the Yangtze River to the south, is the center of land and water transportation in the middle of Jiangsu province.

Approved by the State Council of the people' s Republic of China on July 30, 2012, it was upgraded to a national economic and Technological Development Zone, named Hai' an Economic and Technological Development Zone. The district has formed three industrial clusters of high-tech, equipment manufacturing and modern textile, with more than 20 enterprises ranking among the top 20 in global and domestic industries.

PG 31

COMPANY FEATURE

“WE BUILD QUALITY, WE OFFER QUALITY”

#Sofarsolar is part of the Sofar Group, a highly diversified company who are No. 1 in the GPS business. They have been involved in the communications and renewable energy fields since 2007 and entered the PV inverter business in 2012 with the establishment of Sofarsolar, specializing in R&D, production, sales and service of grid-tied inverters. SOFAR is very pioneer group in GPS sector in china & we would like accept new challenges in the market. So we have started PV market business & doing successfully business globally. In order to support the current growth of the Indian PV market, SOFARSOLAR has recently taken steps to strengthen its business position in the country with a new office and leadership.

10GW MANUFACTURING CAPACITY

First of all, 80-136kW large series inverter, which is mainly aimed at large-scale industrial and commercial and ground power stations, is famous for its "High Quality, High Income", with the maximum efficiency of 99%. It has IP66 protection grade, 12channel MPPT design, I-V Curve Scanning Function, TYPE -2 SPD for both SC & DC Side, advanced AC / DC dual power redundancy design, Remote firmware upgrade, Support Modbus communication, external Wifi/ PLC/ GPRS (optional), AC / DC dual power supply redundant design, 24-hour status monitoring , built-in high-precision intelligent string detection and other functions, which can better adapt to wind, sand, rain, snow and other complex and harsh environment. With its listing, the owners will have more choice space, and the income they care about will be strongly guaranteed.

SOFARSOLAR is positioned to play important and leading role in the Indian solar industry.

We are continuous growing company and we have variety of products like NEW ENERGY AUTOMOBILE (Supercharger) products & HYBRID INVERTER, STORAGE INVERTER & ON GRID string inverter developments in our basket.

NEW TECHNOLOGY PRODUCT ROADMAP 2020-21: Hybrid Inverter- 3kW/3. 6kW/4kW/5kW/6kW (1 Phase) Hybrid Inverter- 8kW/10kW/12kW/15kW/20kW (3 Phase) AC Retrofitting Single phase 6kW String Inverter : -a)80 kW (LV)/100 Kw (LV & HV both Option) /125kW (HV)/136kW (HV) b)12Kw/15Kw/17 kW/ 20kW/22kW/24kW (New Innovative series) New upcoming Rating: - 255kWwith 1500v DC Electrical Vehicle Charger (EV Charger) STORE BATTERY with Various sizes Battery Pack (BATTERY PACK) SOFAR AMASS Li-Ion Batteries. (Li-Ion Battery)

New energy storage products of SOFARSOLAR in 2020: The high voltage and low voltage series batteries of 4-20kW three-phase energy storage inverter will be released in the near future. The new product is mainly oriented to the global market. Both grid-connected and off-grid systems can be built into a multi complementary energy generation microgrid system with the help of this new product to realize photovoltaic self-use and residual power storage, and arbitrage by combining energy storage peak and valley to maximize economic benefits and effectively mitigate the load impact on the distribution grid.

SOFARSOLAR takes technological "Photovoltaic Storage" as the theme and relies on "Photovoltaic Storage and Charging" as the innovation carrier. Four series of new products of "Photovoltaic Storage" are launched in the world, to strive to create the top brand of "Photovoltaic Storage and Charging".

Four series of new products cover: large series of 80-136kW, 1020kW three-generation inverter, 5-20kW three-phase grid-connected inverter and HYD inverter , and high-voltage and low-voltage batteries.

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Secondly, the third-generation 10-20kW inverter is praised by customers as "Key Tool in the Large-Scale Household Market".

The inverter has high cost performance. The appearance of the inverter adopts lightweight design, simple and fashionable, which is suitable for the home environment and is easy to install; the interior of the inverter adopts the industry-leading heat dissipation technology, and selects a new generation of international brand components, which has a longer service life; in terms of efficiency, it is also industry-leading, which greatly guarantees the income of users; at the same time, multiple protection is adopted inside, which can guarantee the service life of the inverter and greatly increase the time limit of users' stable income.

Thirdly, 5-20kW three-phase HYD 5-20KW inverter is a machine developed for energy storage system, mainly used in large household energy storage system and small and medium-sized industrial and commercial energy storage. This machine integrates PV and energy storage, and can realize multiple working modes of off grid and grid connection.

Fourthly, low voltage and high voltage series batteries, as several heavyweight products launched by SOFARSOLAR to the global energy storage market, have a good reputation in European markets such as Italy and Britain for their convenient installation, strong, compatibility, long cycle life and rich communication. This strong return provides a broader

In the future, SOFARSOLAR will continue to ride the wind and waves, lead the trend, actively explore, deepen cooperation in the new era and under the new situation, improve products and solutions, bring forth the new, and develop more "Photovoltaic Storage and Charging" products with excellent performance, so as to increase the power for the development of global new energy industry.

“WE BUILD QUALITY, WE OFFER QUALITY. "

BRIJESH PRAJAPATI

Managing Director- India

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PRODUCT FEATURE

TBEA SUNOASIS TS208KTL-HV

The road of TBEA' s inverter production began as early as 2000. At that time, the inverter market was monopolized by foreign technologies, and there were no mature technical products in China.

TBEA faced the dilemma from scratch, but this did not bother them.

After three years of painstaking research, they passed. In the way of cooperation between universities, TBEA will transform the inverter products from prototype to maturity.

Product maturity does not mean market recognition. It took another 17 years for TBEA Xinj iang Sunoasis Co. , Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as TBEA SUNOASIS) from product maturity in 2003 to industrial production to become the industry' s leading enterprise. In the inverter industry of "a big change in three years and a reshuffle in five years", too many companies have retired from the limelight in 17 years. The inverter business of TBEA SUNOASIS has spread to more than 20 countries including India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, and its cumulative shipments have exceeded 30GW. Inverter products have also gradually expanded from the earliest centralized inverters to current high-power cascade inverters.

TBEA SUNOASIS has the world' s first 200kW and more string inverters, TS208KTL-HV products, which can support up to 36 strings of photovoltaic strings and 12 MPPTs, reducing the power generation caused by the parallel mismatch of strings Loss; maximum conversion efficiency ≼99. 02%, capacity ratio of more than 1. 7 times, output overload capacity of 1. 1 times, support 3 MW+ square matrix, can meet the needs of the global market; the protection level of the whole machine reaches IP66, anticorrosion level C5, using no-fuse design , Can fully adapt to harsh environments such as salt spray, high humidity, high wind and sand, extend the service life of the equipment.

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TBEA SUNOASIS uses TS208KTL-HV high-power string inverter as the core support, and uses AI, 5G, big data, cloud computing and other technologies to achieve dual-end data fusion from the cloud to the station, providing the equipment layer and pipeline. The three-layer core management of the data layer and the data layer creates a targeted "dual-end, three-layer, multi-scenario" smart photovoltaic solution for comprehensive scenarios such as different terrains, different system configurations, and different application environments. Several large-scale photovoltaic proj ects such as the Indian ACME 200MW desert power station, the Indian BOSCH roof power station, the China Huaneng Yimin open-pit coal mine power station, and the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Plant have been successfully connected to the grid in 2019, making India and China become global. The first batch of countries with 1500V 200kW and above photovoltaic proj ects connected to the grid. With these achievements, in the "2019 Global Top 500 New Energy Enterprises List", TBEA Sunoasis' s ranking has steadily increased by 8 places, ranking 89th. This year, TBEA SUNOASIS' s two inverter assembly lines in Bangalore, India were also officially completed, with a planned production capacity of 3GW.

TBEA SUNOASIS has the world's first batch of 200kW or more cascade inverters, TS208KTL-HV series products, can support up to 36 strings of photovoltaic and 12 MPPTs...

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PRODUCT FEATURE

UTILITY SERIES PERFORMS WITH INDUSTRY LEADING EFFICIENCY LEVELS, DELIVERING DELTA’S PROMISE OF GREENER ENERGY AND DURABLE QUALITY

M250HV - 250KW (@50˚C) STRING INVERTER FOR UTILITY APPLICATIONS

M250HV - 250KW (@50˚C) STRING INVERTER FOR UTILITY APPLICATIONS Delta’s C3750 is a technologically advanced, utility scale Central inverter with rated output of 3750kW comes with Delta’s cutting edge technology and reliable service support.

With the smart Fan controlled Forced Air cooling system, the inverter can achieve absolutely no power de-rating up to 50°C ambient temperature. This also helps to provide 10% additional power up to 4125kW over and above the nominal rating, up to 30°C ambient. The IP65 cabinet comes as a true Outdoor system gives higher reliability and ease of installation to the customers.

This high power density inverter is compatible with maximum capacity (Wp) Mono-PERC and Bi-facial PV modules available currently. The built-in passive Anti-PID relay logic feature reduces the PID effects on the panels.

There is no requirement of any external arrangement for auxiliary power, UPS and ducting thus reducing installation overhead costs and comes as a Plug and Play design.

Delta’ s latest advanced inverter, powering new efficiencies is the New M250HV string inverter. With a maximum output power of 250 kVA and a wider input voltage range from 550 to 1500V DC, this highperformance inverter is particularly well-suited to large, megawattscale ground-mounted solar plants. The M250HV optimizes electrical generation for photovoltaic systems with its peak efficiency of 99 percent. In addition, the higher input voltage results in lower current, which allows for smaller cable diameters and reduces energy loss during operation. The IP 66 based enclosure level protection helps a lot especially when installing in outdoor environments.

The C3750V includes the advanced grid support functions like PQ control, LVRT, and grid voltage regulations which can be parametrically set, based on the local utility requirements and comply to latest CEA 2019 guidelines as per Indian grid code.

Furthermore, a sophisticated cooling system ensures that the operating temperatures are always within the optimum range for the electronics thus provides No de-rating power up to 50°C. A combination of natural convection and fans is used to ensure air flow through the device, and to prevent hotspot formation inside the housing. This makes the M250HV ideal for use in areas with very high outdoor temperatures. Thanks to its compact design and low weight, the M250HV is easy to transport and install.

Having 12 MPP trackers, string current monitoring, I-V Curve scanning, Night time reactive power generation, Anti-PID function, Modbus RS 485, Sub-1G wireless communication, Y-Connector string support, Arc Fault detection, PRO EL imaging test and an electromagnetic interference (EMI)-proof design give the system planner more flexibility when designing PV plants & maximizing overall yields.

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COMPANY FEATURE

BULL POWER ENERGY HAS CONNECTED WITH MORE THAN 500 HAPPY CUSTOMERS THAT INCLUDE MORE THAN 50% INSTALLATIONS ONLY IN THE C&I SEGMENT.

Solar energy is becoming a necessity in a daily livelihood. Easy availability and simplicity along with the zero maintenance cost as cherry on the top makes it even more demanding energy source in the market. In order to get reliefs from net metering hurdles and high C&I tariffs, savings in terms of electricity bills has become the primary driver to change the customer’ s mindset of shifting from grid-based conventional power to the green energy.

Sharad D. Acharya, Founder and Chairman, Bull Power Energy , believes that “Apprehensions for climate change and health will leave all stakeholders with no other alternative but to adopt renewables.

Solar rooftop solutions with or without storage are a perfect answer – it brings down the energy cost; it has low maintenance cost and longterm sustainability. As a country, we would need another wave of policy reforms and state DISCOMs need to ease out the adoption of net metering, which can give a big push to this sector and facilitate wider adoption of rooftop solar. ” Talking over the regulatory policy that varies state to state, the developers are facing a sluggish growth in the sector due to the unavailability of on-ground support. Talks over removing the net metering policy by various states leads the C&I customers to lose their faith in the solar energy potential. Also the implementation of the net metering policy in various states has been problematic primarily because DISCOMs do not want to lose premium customers in the C&I segment that pay high tariffs and are a maj or source of their revenue.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, almost every industry is likely to be impacted in varying proportions, from Oil & Gas, Hospitality, Tourism, Textiles, Metals, to FMCG, Aviation, Education and Financial Institutions. Similarly the Solar industry is also facing some challenges due to this pandemic. However, Bull Power Energy Pvt. Ltd. is highly optimistic that the industry is likely to come out stronger after this pandemic due to following beliefs: Solar energy provides one such indigenous option that is free from price volatility risk of energy prices for businesses and the economy.

Solar energy has the potential to provide big savings to the C&I segment by reducing their electricity cost by as much as 15 to 30% of their total expenses.

Solar energy has high business potential in C&I segment as only about 3. 5% of all commercial buildings have onsite solar installation (study by Wood Mackenzie).

Solar energy also provides the good saving option for all those C&I customers that lack the space for an on-site installation by getting associated with Open Access Captive Solar Park (Bull Power Energy is developing “MARTAND” for the same).

Government offerings in terms of subsidy schemes for solar installations.

Downfall in the supply and demand ratio as imports seems largely to be back on track.

Lowering Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by RBI will help create muchneeded liquidity in infusing capital needed for CAPEX Belief for migration towards more sustainable green energy from conventional grid connection

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Being the C&F partner of Jakson and enthusiastic visionary for a green future, Bull Power Energy is working hard towards the easy availability of green energy to all those who believes that solar energy can be their profit generating catalyst and also who want to contribute something for Mother nature. Focusing on the C&I sector, the company is offering end-to-end solutions in each and every aspect to gain the customer’ s faith maintaining top level of satisfaction. Leveraging experience in the custom designed structures market, Bull Power Energy works with its clients to identify the most economical, durable and robust solar structures, and completes the plant setup with great engineering and proj ect management standards. The maj or services offered by the company include: Complete conceptual designing starting from feasibility study to the final signed and sealed engineering drawings.

Procurement and construction of plant maintaining highest quality standards at each and every stage.

Installation by highly qualified and experienced manpower under high HSE parameters.

End-to-end proj ect support including compatibility test and expert examination.

Govt. liaisoning that includes acquiring the necessary permits and DISCOM’ s legal activities.

After sales services as well as O&M services with highest quality standards.

Within a span of about 3 years, Bull Power Energy has connected with more than 500 happy customers that include more than 50% installations only in the C&I segment. Installations on the Carpet & Woolen industry, Textile Mills, Agro & Food processing industry, Warehouses, Cold Storages, Hospitals, Educational Institutes, Hotels & Resorts, and all other Small, Medium and Large scale enterprises, makes the company’ s competency even more versatile. Whether it is related to the quality, services or even the government subsidy schemes including capital investment subsidy, interest subsidy etc. which are especially designed focusing the C&I sector, Bull Power Energy regularly thrives to provide all possible benefits to the customer and thus positively offers end-toend solution under one single roof.

Some of the key achievements by the company are: Rooftop EPC services provided for up to 20 MW solar installations till date Civil and construction services provided for a 65 MW utility scale solar park More than 18% installation contributes to repeative orders Consultancy provided for up to 350 MW solar installations Received India Business Award 2019 for Leading Turnkey Solar Solution Provider in Raj asthan Received International Leadership Excellence Awards 2019-20 for Best Quality Solar Energy Company in Raj asthan Received Solar Energy Leadership Awards 2019 for Best Solar Rooftop System Provider in Raj asthan

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COMPANY FEATURE

REDEEM YOUR NON-FUNCTIONAL PV SCADA WITH ETi-SOL BY EnerMAN

“With Covid-19 pandemic striking the world, the need to operate remotely is at high stake than ever.

If anything, this is the best time to make affordable retrofit to restore your non-functional SCADA and prevent expensive replacements in the foreseeable future.”

template. Our solutions make sure you have reduced down-time, required predictive maintenance thereby bringing down the operational costs. We employ Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning techniques to slice and dice the data to provide meaningful insights.

Solar PV plants are usually spread across large geographical area with many equipments like inverters, string combiner box and protective switchgears. SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system provides a complete overview of the operational status and control of these very equipments. It is a system that unifies all the equipments in a plant to put forth a complete picture. Poorly engineered system can give out an adverse causality at any point in time.

Already have IoT (Internet of Things) SCADA but having trouble with the gateway / dataloggers? Call us. We are the experts and one of the Market leaders in this area.

We survey your third party dataloggers and get your SCADA up and running. We also support any data formats from existing loggers and get the data with the templates you want to see.

If your PV SCADA system is not functional, or if you cannot see the generation data remotely, do not worry – you are not the only one. A big percentage of PV plants in India do not have fully operational SCADA. In 2019-20 alone EnerMAN has retrofitted over 350MWs of PV plants with ETi-SOL, IOT based low cost SCADA system.

With over 1GW of monitoring experience, EnerMAN Technologies provides solutions to restore your Non-functional SCADA, expansion of your current SCADA system and tailormade solutions like virtual plant control to meet your specific requirements With our products like ETi-SOL, ETi-Connect and ETi-SAM we further streamline your monitoring to make it cost effective, with advanced alarming, artificial intelligence driven alerts and insightful reports. Here are the broad cases where our solutions have successfully restored Non-functional SCADA systems.

Listed below are the most common use cases where customers switched to ETi-SOL.

3. NO SERVICE FROM THE SUPPLIER TO RESTORE / REPLACE NON-FUNCTIONAL LOGGERS.

We also take up replacement of non-functional sensor equipments used for weather and power monitoring.

5. NEED ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS ON WORKING SCADA

Already using a functional SCADA system but wanting to expand your power lines but existing SCADA does not support expansion? No worries. Our IoT solutions provide flexibility for present and future expansion possibilities. We will be able to expand your existing functional SCADA in a very short span. No need to worry about the scalability of our solutions for future expansion. Our products are Interoperable, standardized, and scalable. We not only provide monitoring but also device control. All in a single login and a few clicks.

Author: Megha V Gopal

Sr. Engineer - R&D EnerMAN Technologies Private Limited

1. PLC BASED SCADA SYSTEMS DOES NOT ALLOW EASY REMOTE ACCESS / EXPENSIVE TO UPGRADE FOR NEW FEATURES

If you are worried about your hugely invested non-functional PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) with unavailable site support from equipment manufacturer, there is an affordable and simple solution from EnerMAN Technologies. We survey your site with the help of our experts and provide IoT dataloggers that are much more efficient and data-driven than the PLC’ s. We can reuse most of the networking hardware from PLC based systems. Scalability and Interoperability are in favour of IoT devices today, and we provide j ust that.

2. DATA AVAILABLE AT MCR FOR VIEWING PURPOSE ONLY. CANNOT DOWNLOAD / GENERATE REPORTS

Are you missing that big picture for operational costs, scheduling, maintenance, and resource management despite having an entire SCADA system in place? This is because of the lack of insightful data. EnerMAN Technologies with its expertise in data-driven solutions should be your corrective measure. A small investment can give you a big save. All you need to do is provide your requirements and your existing

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COMPANY FEATURE

SINENG ELECTRIC PRESENTS LATEST PV INVERTERS AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS AT THE SNEC-2020 IN SHANGHAI Sineng Electric, the global leading inverter supplier for solar, unveiled its the latest PV and energy storage innovations with the theme of “achieving grid parity” in SNEC 2020. A variety of products had been exhibited aiming at addressing diversified applications ranging from utility-scale PV plants, C&I solar parks to energy storage systems and floating solar systems. Utilizing clean solar energy day and night is not a fiction anymore with the help of Sineng smart inverter and ESS solutions.

CENTRAL & STRING INVERTER AND TURNKEY SOLUTION FOR UTILITY-SCALE PV PLANTS

Committed towards large utility-scale applications, Sineng showcased its hero product 3. 125MW central inverter- gigawatts of installations worldwide and turnkey solution which can be of 5MW, 6. 25MW and 6. 8MW. Turnkey features an integration of two units of 2. 5/3. 125/3. 4 MW central inverter, SF6 switchgear, double split transformer, and LV distribution & communication cabinet. In means of 3-level topology and smart 2 phase redundant cooling method, the efficiency can be achieved up to 99%, and they can work without derating till 50-degree Celsius. They also feature 1500V DC inputs, maximum DC/AC ratio of 1. 8, overload capacity of 115%, night SVG functionality and IP55 overall protection (IP65 for key components). This machine is equipped with everything what a plant owner could wish for.

To address application scenarios like complex terrain, fully uneven hilly regions, Sineng presented 225kW string inverter SP–250K-INH. As one of the world' s most powerful 1500 Vdc string inverters, SP225K characterizes the optimal protection capacity of IP66 and 12 MPPTs. It can maximize yields while coupling with bifacial module and tracking system.

ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTION FOR UTILITY AND COMMERCIAL PLANT-FOR THE FIRST TIME

Smart and friendly

Independent charging and discharging management which make it more battery friendly Integrated local controller to enable comprehensive devices management and easy for EMS access.

String Inverter solutions for C&I rooftop

To fulfill the diversified needs of commercial and industrial PV application, string family- SP-50K-L, SP-60K-L, SP-100K-L/SP110K-L inverters were presented. They feature multi-MPPTs to reduce mismatch problem which could effectively increase the yield. In particular, they are also designed for wide MPPT voltage range, anti-corrosion C5 environment, ingress protection IP66 (cooling fan with IP68) and what not. Without derating of up to 50 degrees Celsius, inverters work stably at full power operation to maximize the return on investment.

String I/V Scanning make able to monitor and locate string faults easily.

About Sineng Electric Sineng Electric is a leading global high-tech enterprise specialized in renewables and has been pioneering inverter market with enormous amount of worldwide installed inverters. Being a “one stop solution provider” for solar inverters and energy storage, we have a broad product portfolio to meet the diversified needs of customers for residential, C&I and utility -scale applications. To ensure state-of-the-art technology and reliable products, the company possesses in-house testing center and a dynamic R & D team which has been acquired from fortune 500 company. As a product-focused company, Sineng always looks at its offerings and there is a zeal in us to make products and service betters

In the post-grid-parity and 100% stable grid era, PV will be deeply integrated with energy storage and solidly support the grid stability. Sineng debuted its latest 1500V turnkey solutions with PCS and LFP lithium-ion battery tailored for utility and commercial plant. The product is flexible for both DC- and AC-coupled designs and allows for the creation of all-in-one systems capable of providing services such as frequency regulation, peak shaving, and ancillary services. The nominal power is 2. 5MW and maximum power can reach 3. 465MW in different AC voltage situation.

Highly integrated Highly integrated ESS for easy transportation and O&M. Safe and reliable Two power modules can work independently, better system reliability.

Fast breaking and anti-arc protection.

Key component compartment has IP65 protection level.

Efficient and flexible 99% efficiency can be achieved thanks to three-level topology Modular design, easy capacity expansion

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COMPANY FEATURE

LONGI SUPPLIES 73 MW OF HIGHEFFICIENCY MODULES FOR THE LARGEST SOLAR SHARING PROJECT IN BANGLADESH

LONGi, the world leading solar technology company, has supplied 73 MW of bifacial double-glass modules for a solar sharing project developed by the YongFu Group in Mymensingh, a major financial center and the 4th largest city located on Bangladesh’s Brahmaputra River. Solar sharing is a land sharing system between agriculture and electricity generation, which aims to generate electricity on farmland, using solar panels mounted on a raised framework, with crops growing underneath.

The biggest utility-scale PV system in Bangladesh, the Mymensingh Project went live in September. Despite the backdrop of COVID-19 causing the cancellation of overseas events and restricting business trips and face to face meetings, LONGi was still able to deliver its modules and technical support to make sure that construction could be completed on time, saving time & cost for all parties involved. The Project uses LONGi Hi-MO 4 modules, which themselves help drive down installation as well as BOS costs.

“LONGi has a strong track record of helping our clients maximize their economic returns while reducing our own environmental impact,” said Dennis She, Senior Vice President of LONGi Solar. “In Bangladesh, LONGi, as one of the leading manufacturers in the PV industry, seeks to contribute more to the development of the solar sharing model.”

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TENDER T R A C K E R

TENDERS FLOATED BY CENTRAL AUTHORITIES

TENDERS FLOATED BY STATE AGENCIES

TENDERS FLOATED BY PSU

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T H I N K INDEXED RENEWABLE ENERGY TARIFFS COULD SAVE INDIA’S DISCOMS UP TO RS21,880 CRORE (US$3BN) OVER FIVE YEARS, SAYS IEEFA The i nflati on i ndexati on of tari ffs for future solar capaci ty could provi de much-needed fi nanci al respi te to the di stressed power di stri buti on sector and help Indi a move away from coal-fi red power, accordi ng to a j oi nt bri efi ng note by the Insti tute for Energy Economi cs and Fi nanci al Analysi s (IEEFA) and the CEEW Centre for Energy Fi nance (CEF). Zero i ndexati on tari ffs have been the norm i n Indi a for many years, say co-authors CEEW-CEF Advi ser Gagan Si dhu and IEEFA Research Analyst Kashi sh Shah. Indi an solar power tari ffs hi t a record low of Rs2. 36 per uni t i n June 2020, wi th zero i nflati on i ndexati on for 25 years. But the authors say the state-owned power di stri buti on compani es (di scoms) have not been able to take full advantage of new cheaper renewable energy due to two-part thermal contracts whi ch command a fi xed capaci ty charge even i f no power i s drawn. The note proposes that solar tari ffs start at a very low Rs2. 00/kWh for the fi rst year of the 25-year PPA, ri si ng at an i ndexed rate of 2. 2% of annual i nflati on for 15 years and then at a flat rate of 0% for the remai ni ng li fe of the contract.

KOSO PROVIDES LONG-TERM UNIFORM OBSERVATIONS OF THE SUN SAYS DR. BANERJEE Sci enti sts may soon be able to study the future magneti c acti vi ty of the sun wi th the understandi ng of i ts behavi our i n the past. A magneti c fi eld map correspondi ng to the fi rst half of the last century has been developed recently that can i mmensely i mprove that understandi ng.

Just li ke i n case of cli mate studi es, astronomers need i nformati on of the behavi our of the Sun i n the past to predi ct how i t wi ll behave i n the future. A cri ti cal parameter of the behavi our i s the magneti c fi eld whi ch keeps varyi ng and governs the long-ti me changes i n the Sun. Accordi ng to Dr Banerj ee, the di gi tal data from KoSO i s uni que because thi s i s the only observatory i n the globe whi ch provi des the long-term uni form observati ons of the Sun i n terms of the locati on and strength of i ts magneti c fi eld as well as polari ty through Ca II K and H alpha li nes for more than a century. More than 15, 000 di gi ti sed i mages of the Sun has helped develop the magneti c fi eld map of the peri od. The map wi ll also help study wi th preci si on polar reversal, a uni que feature of the Sun, whi ch occurs every 11 years and shows a di sti nct pattern that repeats over ti me.

RENEWABLES INVESTMENTS CAN SURGE 35% IN INDIA Whetted global i nvestor i nterest and enabli ng regulati ons can fuel addi ti on of as much as 35 GW of renewables (solar and wi nd power) capaci ty, i nvolvi ng Rs 1. 5 lakh crore of i nvestments, i n the three years through fi scal 2023, a CRISIL esti mate shows. That would be a 35% growth over the Rs 1. 1 lakh crore i nvested i n the past three fi scals. A push towards clean energy i s dri vi ng the global i nvestor i nterest i n the Indi an renewables sector — as reflected i n proj ect tenders getti ng oversubscri bed ami d strong parti ci pati on by global i nvestors. Says Hetal Gandhi , Di rector, CRISIL Research, “Global i nvestments have ri sen from around 15% of total capi tal i nvestment i n fi scal 2015-18 to around 50% of total i nvestments i n fi scal 2018-20. Goi ng forward, global i nvestments and i nternal accruals can generate around half of the Rs 1. 5 lakh crore i nvestments requi red. ” Conti nued i nvestor i nterest also bui lds on sustai ned enabli ng regulati ons, vi si ble through removal of tari ff caps, consi stent regulatory poli ci es, and ri si ng renewable energy targets.

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T A N K THESE 7 AUCTIONS SHOW INDIA’S RENEWABLES SECTOR IS STILL PRIMED FOR GROWTH Whi le the pace of renewable energy growth has slowed i n Indi a, posi ti ve outcomes i n recent aucti ons suggest there remai ns plenty of appeti te among domesti c and forei gn i nvestors to bui ld renewable i nfrastructure, accordi ng to a new IEEFA bri efi ng note. The note poi nts to the Solar Energy Corporati on of Indi a’ s (SECI) 2 gi gawatt (2GW) solar aucti on i n June as a parti cular hi ghli ght. It deli vered Indi a’ s lowest-yet renewable energy tari ff at Rs2. 36/kWh (US$31/MWh) wi th zero i ndexati on for 25 years. Developers from around the world secured wi nni ng bi ds: Solarpack (Spai n); Enel (Italy); Amp Energy (Canada); Eden Renewables (France); IB Vogt (Germany); Ayana Renewable Power (backed by the UK’ s CDC Group); and ReNew Power (Indi an, but backed by Abu Dhabi ’ s ADIA, Canada’ s CPPIB, Japan’ s JERA and the U. S. ’ s Goldman Sachs).

TERI LAUNCHES PORTAL FOR BUSINESSES TO SELF-ASSESS AND IMPROVE RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSUMPTION

IEEFA: WIND-SOLAR HYBRID SYSTEMS CAN POWER INDIA’S NEXT WAVE OF RENEWABLES GROWTH

The Energy and Resources Insti tute (TERI) on Thursday launched PRAMAAN – Portal for Renewable Energy Acti on Assessment Metri cs, i n the presence of representati ves from vari ous i ndustri es and the Mi ni stry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of Indi a. The portal i s an onli ne rati ng tool for assessment of an organi sati on’ s acti ons around renewable power consumpti on. It provi des a set of i ndi cators for an organi sati on to assess i ts progress i n movi ng towards a low-carbon future and can be used as a framework to pri ori ti se electri ci ty opti ons, assess ri sks, i denti fy opportuni ti es, set targets and develop a sustai nable energy roadmap. All commerci al and i ndustri al enti ti es i ncludi ng medi um, small and mi cro enterpri ses (MSMEs), large corporates i nterested i n assessment of thei r progress i n renewable energy transi ti on and strengtheni ng thei r renewables poli cy can parti ci pate i n the PRAMAAN rati ng. Calli ng the portal a very useful tool and a way to work together, Dr Aj ay Mathur, Di rector General, TERI, sai d, “Thi s i s a way for organi sati ons who adopt PRAMAAN to learn not only about what they are doi ng, but also about what the rest of i ndustry i s doi ng i n order to understand thei r own readi ness and to draw on the benefi ts bei ng provi ded by the move towards renewable energy. ”

Indi a’ s total wi nd-solar hybri d capaci ty i s expected to grow rapi dly to reach nearly 11. 7 gi gawatts (GW) by 2023, accordi ng to a new report by IEEFA and JMK Research. “Thi s i s a new and fast-growi ng market i n Indi a, ” say the report’ s authors Vi bhuti Garg, energy economi st at the Insti tute for Energy Economi cs and Fi nanci al Analysi s (IEEFA) and founder of JMK Research.

“There i s a lot of i nterest i n the potenti al of wi nd-solar hybri d generati on to better manage the i ntermi ttency problem of standalone wi nd and solar and to make clean power more competi ti ve agai nst tradi ti onal thermal plants, ” says Garg. WIND-SOLAR HYBRID SYSTEMS CAN PRODUCE MORE CONSISTENT POWER because solar power i s produced duri ng the day, whi le wi nd power i s typi cally strongest at ni ght. Thi s i nherent complementary nature of wi nd and solar power makes hybri d systems wellsui ted to meet energy demand, accordi ng to the report.

| SEPTEMBER ISSUE 2020

PG 41

OCTOBER 2020

POLICY DEBRIEF CENTRAL: POLICY UPDATES MNRE ISSUES AMENDMENT TO GUIDELINES FOR TARIFF BASED COMPETITIVE BIDDING PROCESS OF SOLAR PV POWER PROJECTS The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently issued an order on Amendment to the Guidelines for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Solar PV Power Projects. Some of the amendments are: successful bidder, if being a single company, shall ensure that its shareholding in the SPV/project company executing the PPA shall not fall below 51% at any time prior to 3 years from the COD, except with the prior approval of the Procurer. In the event the successful bidder is a consortium, then the combined shareholding of the consortium members in the SPV/project company executing the PPA, shall not fall below 51% at any time prior to 3 years from the COD, except with the prior approval of the Procurer.

Further, the successful bidder shall ensure that its promoters shall not cede control of the bidding company/consortium till 3 (three) years from the COD, except with the prior approval of the Procurer. In this case it shall also be essential that the successful bidder shall provide the information about its promoters and their shareholding to the Procurer before signing of the PPA with Procurer.

MNRE ISSUES GUIDELINES FOR TARIFF BASED BIDDING FOR WIND- SOLAR HYBRID PROJECTS Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued Guidelines for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Process for procurement of power from Grid Connected Wind Solar Hybrid Projects. Some of the guidelines are: Individual minimum size of the project allowed is 50 MW at one site and a single bidder cannot bid for less than 50 MW. Further, the rated power capacity of one resource (wind or solar) will be at least 33% of the total contracted capacity.

For procurement of wind solar hybrid power, the tariff quoted by the bidder will be the bidding parameter. The Procurer may select either of the following kinds of tariff based bidding: (a) fixed tariff in Rs./kWh for 25 years or more or (b) escalating tariff in Rs./kWh with pre-defined quantum of annual escalations fixed in Rs./kWh and number of years from which such fixed escalation will be provided. The procurer can also opt for an e-reverse auction for final selection of bidders, in such a case, this will be specifically mentioned in the notice inviting bids and bid documents. The procurer may disclose in the RfS, the prevailing incentives available to the HPGs.

OCTOBER 2020

POLICY DEBRIEF MNRE ISSUES DETAILS OF EOI SUBMISSION FOR INSTALLATION OF INNOVATIVE SOLAR PUMPS The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has passed an order inviting Expression of Interest (EOI) for installation of innovative solar pumps. Earlier, the ministry submitted proposals for innovative solar pumps. Ministry later received requests from interested parties to allow submission of EOIs in soft copy through email. In this regard, the ministry decided that EOIs can be submitted through email. EMD was sent through a demand draft and a scanned copy of which may also be submitted through email. Agencies who earlier submitted EOI in physical documents must also submit soft copy on the above mentioned email address.The Ministry highlighted that all other terms and conditions mentioned in the Call for EOIs remain unchanged.

MNRE DRAFTS POLICY FRAMEWORK TO PROMOTE DRE LIVELIHOOD IN RURAL AREAS Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently drafted a Policy Framework for developing and promoting Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) Livelihood Applications in Rural Areas – for comments of stakeholders. To promote DRE livelihood applications in rural areas of the country a policy framework is proposed to be brought by the Ministry to provide a conducive environment for development and large-scale adoption of these applications. The Ministry invites comments/ suggestions from all the stakeholders by 02.11.2020 .

MNRE ISSUES AMENDMENT FOR DISPUTE MECHANISM The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) recently issued an order on Amendment regarding dispute Resolution Mechanism to consider the unforeseen disputes between solar and wind power developers and SECl/ NTPC/ NHPC, beyond contractual agreements.

Some of the important amendments are The DRC will consider all kinds of cases of appeal against decisions given by SECl/NTPC/NHPC on disputes, SEC/NTPC/NHPC from the date of application. No separate extension of time shall be granted for overlapping periods of effect as a result of two or more causes, In case of Extension of Time dispute, the fee payable shall be 1% (one percent) of the impact of SECl/NTPC/NHPC’s decision being challenged, with the impact being limited to the Performance Bank Guarantee (P80) submitted for the project concerned, and which in no case be less than Rs. 1,00,000/and not more than Rs. 50,00,000/- .

MNRE GRANTS BCD EXEMPTION FOR IMPORTED SOLAR CAPITAL GOODS The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has recently accepted a request to provide a list of capital goods and machinery required for inclusion in list 19 for exemption from payment of BCD. The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy consulted with the Ministry of Finance and Department of Heavy Industry regarding the same. The Ministry has decided that In order to expedite such updation, priority will be given to high-value capital goods.

For further necessary action the ministry ordered Solar PV Manufacturers and Solar PV Manufacturer Associations to provide a list of high-value machinery/capital goods required for the manufacturing of Solar PV Modules from Cells, Solar PV Cells from Wafers and Thin Film PV Modules.

POWERGRID SIGNS MOU WITH MINISTRY OF POWER DETAILING TARGETS FOR YEAR 2020-21 Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (POWERGRID) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Power, Govt. of India on September 29, 2020. The MoU has been signed by Sanjiv Nandan Sahai , Secretary (Power), Government of India and K.Sreekant, Chairman & Managing Director, POWERGRID in the presence of senior officials from MOP and POWERGRID.The MoU includes targets related to various parameters such as Financial, Physical, Project execution, etc. to be achieved by POWERGRID during the FY 2020-21.

MNRE ALLOWS EXEMPTION OF BIS CERTIFICATION All India Solar Industries Association (AISIA), New Delhi has conveyed that COVID 19 disruption has posed serious challenges for the survival of domestic solar industry, and sought extension of the BIS certification exemption till the validity of IEC certificates for their products (SPV Modules).

Regarding the same, the ministry allowed exemption for BIS registration to such module manufacturers till the validity of IEC certificates corresponding to the Indian Standards specified in the said order provided the IEC certificates for SPV Modules which had been obtained before 16.04.2018.

These manufacturers will be required to go compulsorily for BIS registration after the validity of IEC Certificates is over.

OCTOBER 2020

POLICY DEBRIEF MNRE DISCUSSED ISSUES RELATED TO INDIA’S SOLAR MANUFACTURING SECTOR ON INDIA PV EDGE 2020 To catalyze cutting-edge PV manufacturing in India, NITI Aayog, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and Invest India organized a global symposium virtually, ‘India PV EDGE 2020’. There was a plenary session and subsequent sessions on ‘Wafers and Cells’, ‘Modules and Production Equipment’ and ‘Supply Chain’. It also included an ‘Investors Conclave’ on PV Manufacturing. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh states have participated in the conclave. This was followed by a ‘Investors Roundtable’, which discussed issues related to India’s solar manufacturing sector viz. affordable financing, role of developers in building the ecosystem of cutting edge solar manufacturing etc.

CBDT EXEMPTS POWER TRADING FROM NEW TDS & TCS The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) recently issued new guidelines for the applicability of Tax deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax collected at source (TCS). According to the new guidelines, ecommerce operations which include transactions in electricity and trading of clean energy certificates (REC and ESCerts) are not subjected to TCS or TDS. The Central Board also added that the updated guidelines are applicable from 1st October, 2020. CBDT clarified that the TCS is to be collected and paid to the government on all payments received on or after 1st October, 2020 which includes the amount of GST and on sales made prior to 1st October. The Finance Act 2020 had imposed a levy of 1% and O.1 % on all e-commerce transactions above Rs 50 lakhs under TDS and TCS respectively.

STATE : REGULATORY UPDATES UPERC ACCEPTS 6 MONTHS DELAY BY SLDC IN IMPLEMENTING FORECASTING RULES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS

RPO TARGET FOR AUGMENTED CAPACITY MUST BE EQUAL TO RPO TARGET APPLICABLE SAYS MERC The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) recently issued new guidelines for the applicability of Tax deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax collected at source (TCS). According to the new guidelines, ecommerce operations which include transactions in electricity and trading of clean energy certificates (REC and ESCerts) are not subjected to TCS or TDS. The Central Board also added that the updated guidelines are applicable from 1st October, 2020. CBDT clarified that the TCS is to be collected and paid to the government on all payments received on or after 1st October, 2020 which includes the amount of GST and on sales made prior to 1st October. The Finance Act 2020 had imposed a levy of 1% and O.1 % on all e-commerce transactions above Rs 50 lakhs under TDS and TCS respectively.

Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) has recently issued an order accepting delay by the state load dispatch center (SLDC) for 6 months in implementing its procedures for forecasting, scheduling, and deviation settlement due to the barriers caused by the COVID 19. UPSLDC has filed a petition seeking 6 months relaxation for implementation of the procedure of Forecasting Scheduling Deviation Settlement & Related Matter Solar & Wind Generating Sources Regulation 2018 under UPERC. SLDC also informed that in order to carry out the necessary changes in the portal, the work was assigned to a service provider but on account of the Countrywide Lockdown w.e.f.

22-03-2020 due to Covid-2019 Pandemic, the service provider could not do necessary modifications / changes in EASS / Scheduling Portal and in absence of which the above procedure could not be implemented in time.

HPPC TO PURCHASE 10 MW OF SOLAR POWER ON SHORT-TERM BASIS AT ₹2.70/KWH The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) approved a draft power purchase agreement by Haryana Power Purchase Center’s (HPPC). The draft PPA stated that Haryana wanted to be executed with LR Energy for 10 MW of solar power on a short-term basis for a period of 3 months.The commission allowed HPPC to issue the letter of intent and sign the PPA. It also granted both parties to extend the contract up to 31-03-2021 at ₹ 2.70 /kWh.

GERC RECEIVES PETITION FOR RPO COMPLIANCE EXEMPTION Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) recently passed an order on RPO compliance exemption for FY 2017-18 under the GERC (Procurement of Energy from Renewable Sources) Regulations, 2010 and its (First Amendment) Regulations, 2014 FY 2017-18. The RPO has earlier been fixed at 10% which consists of 7.75% for Wind, 1.75% for Solar and 0.5% from other Renewable Sources (Biomass, Bagasse, MSW and Hydro) for the obligated entities of the State.

TAMIL NADU PASSES NEW TARIFF ORDER FOR SOLAR PROCUREMENT The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has issued a tariff order for solar power procurement by distribution licensees and The effective date of the order is 16th October 2020.The Commission passed its order after reviewing the feedback from the industry. The Commission permitted the procurement of solar power by distribution licensees to meet their renewable purchase obligations (RPO) through the competitive bidding route.Licensees are now allowed to bid again without a tariff cap if a competitive bidding process is unsuccessful. The Commission decided that the rates of open access charges will be at 50% of that applicable for conventional power for transmission, wheeling charges, scheduling, and system operation charges. However, it noted that 100% of the respective charges would be applicable for projects availing renewable energy certificates (REC).The Commission also declared that wheeling solar power would only be allowed when power is being generated.

OCTOBER 2020

POLICY DEBRIEF KERALA TO RESUME GENERATIONBASED INCENTIVES FOR OFF-GRID CAPTIVE SOLAR PROJECTS

VALIDITY OF LEVELIZED TARIFF FOR SOLAR PROJECTS IN UTTARAKHAND EXTENDED

The Kerala State Electricity Regulation Commission has again issued an order extending the applicability of the Generation-Based Incentive (GBI) program for off-grid captive solar power projects in Kerala. The incentives would apply at the rate of ₹ 1 /kWh until 30th September 2021.The program is introduced by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) which aims to promote off-grid solar power projects.

KSEB Ltd raised the issue that KSEB argued that the extension was ‘bad in law.’ The Commission then re-examined the provision of the GBI program and stated that until a decision on the subject was not arrived at, the implementation of the order extending the GBI’s validity for two years would stand deferred.

The Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) has recently extended the validity of benchmark capital cost and levelized generic tariffs for solar projects.UERC Cited that state renewable energy regulations 2018 allows it to review and revise the benchmark capital costs and tariffs for solar and other renewable source-based projects annually and also noted that given the Government’s focus on its “Make in India” campaign, the prices of goods and products could be volatile in the initial period.The Commission ordered that the validity of benchmark capital cost and levelized generic tariffs for solar projects is extended till 31-March-2021. It highlighted that the other terms and conditions under the state’s renewable energy regulations, 2018, would be applicable without any changes.

NOT TO BLAME DISCOMS FOR FAILURE TO MEET RPO TARGETS SAYS RERC The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) supported the state distribution companies (DISCOMs) in a petition demanding action against them for not achieving their renewable purchase obligation (RPO) targets.The Commission stated that there was no case to initiate action against the DISCOMs or impose a penalty. The Commission also directed the DISCOMs to assess the energy requirements in advance and sign the power purchase agreements (PPAs) accordingly in the future. It directed DISCOMs to make up for the RPO shortfall in the next 3 years.

TELANGANA PROPOSES PRE-FIXED LEVELIZED TARIFF FOR KUSUM SOLAR PROJECTS OF ₹3.13/KWH ; INVITES SUGGESTIONS BY 11TH NOVEMBER

TSERC ASKS DISCOM TO PAY FOR USING BANKED ENERGY The Telangana Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) directed Transmission Corporation of Telangana Limited (TSTRANSCO) and the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL) to provide long-term intrastate open access (LTOA) to Ener Sol Infra Private Limited . The Commission also added that they should take immediate steps to make payments for the energy drawn from its 2 MW solar project.The order added that the agency beforehand should intimate about the feasibility of open access facility within 30 days from the date of the application.TSERC also stated that the DISCOM and the nodal agency have not allowed open access for two years and are liable to pay the charges for the energy drawn by it.

The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) has proposed a pre-fixed levelized tariff of ₹ 3.13 /kWh for solar projects between 500 kW- 2 MW under Component-A of the PM-KUSUM program.The TSERC has invited suggestions and comments from stakeholders which are to be made before 11 November 2020.Renewable-based projects are to be installed by farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, farmer-producer organizations, or water use associations within a five-kilometer radius of the closest substations. If these parties are unable to afford these projects, they can develop them through developers or a local distribution company.

UTTARAKHAND PLANS 1,000 SOLAR SCHEME OF 25 KW FOR UNEMPLOYED YOUTH AND SMALL FARMERS The Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) recently issued an order extending the control period for benchmark capital costs and generic tariffs as a one-time exception for upcoming 25 kW grid-connected solar projects totaling 250 MW in the state to create income opportunities for youth who had to migrate back home due to the COVID-19 lockdown.UREDA also added that the competitive bidding process for these projects may defeat the purpose of the program .These projects may take up to 31-03-2022 to be completed.The Commission directed UPCL to procure power from these projects at the rates previously set by the Commission. It also suggested that UPCL and UREDA support eligible applicants in developing these projects so they can fulfill their aim before 22-March2022.

OCTOBER 2020

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