SolarQuarter November Issue 2020

Empowering, Insightful, Engaging

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CONTENTS CONVERSATION

NEWS 06

PROJECT MONTHLY

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TENDER TRACKER

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THINK TANK

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POLICY DEBRIEF

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GURU INDER MOHAN SINGH FOUNDER & COO, AMPLUS SOLAR

PERSPECTIVE 14

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INDIA ADDS OVER 800 MW OF ROOFTOP SOLAR CAPACITY IN THE PANDEMIC YEAR 2020: ARE WE STILL ON TRACK TO MEET 40GW 2022 DEADLINE? WHAT ARE SOME OF THE UPCOMING PV MODULE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS THAT WILL BRING DOWN THE SOLAR COSTS IN THE COMING DECADE?

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SANDEEP BANODIYA DIRECTOR – SALES, KRANNICH

INDIA: A SOLAR MANUFACTURING POWERHOUSE IN THE MAKING?

INSIGHTS 20

DEMAND -SUPPLY EQUILIBRIUM OF PV MODULE IN Q1 2021, A BIG QUESTION MARK?

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BRIJESH PRAJAPATI MANAGING DIRECTORINDIA, SOFAR SOLAR

COMPANY FEATURE 21

TBEA

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ENERMAN

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SOLIS

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LONGI

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HUAWEI

CHIRANJEEV SALUJA

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FOXESS

FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR, PREMIER ENERGIES LTD.

PUBLISHING

EDITING

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CONTENT

DESIGNING

Firstview Media

Sangita Shetty

Sadhana Raju Shenvekar

Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

editorial@firstviewgroup.com

Ashwini Chikkodi Samah Rumani

Neha Barangali design@firstviewgroup.com

CIRCULATION

PRINTING

Smriti Singh

Kunal Verma

Vaibhav Enterprises

Meghna Sharma

SUBCRIPTION

ADVERTISING

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Sanjana Kamble publishing@firstviewgroup.com

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PROJECT MONTHLY SUNSOURCE ENERGY BAGS 4 MW FLOATING SOLAR PROJECT AND 2 MW BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM PROJECTS IN ANDAMAN & NICOBAR SunSource Energy recently stated that i t has won an order to develop a 4 MW floati ng solar proj ect and a 2 MW battery storage system i n Andaman and Ni cobar. SunSource Energy, wi ll develop a 4 MWac gri d connected floati ng solar PV power proj ect, along wi th 2 MW/1 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). Once commi ssi oned, i t wi ll be one of Indi a’ s largest floati ng + storage proj ects i n Andaman whi ch wi ll i n turn reduce the exi sti ng reli ance on di esel, the company clai med. It wi ll be si tuated at the Reservoi r of Kalpong ri ver, Kalpong Hydroelectri c Proj ect (KHEP) Dam, Di gli pur, North Andaman, a Di stri ct of Andaman and Ni cobar Islands whi ch wi ll power the i sland that wi ll si gni fi cantly power the enti re regi on, thus i ncreasi ng power reli abi li ty. SunSource Energy wi ll si gn a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 25 years wi th the Electri ci ty Department, Andaman and Ni cobar admi ni strati on (A&NA) for thi s floati ng solar power wi th BESS. Thi s fi rst-ever floati ng solar + storage proj ect i n Indi a i s expected to offset 8, 112 tonnes of CO2 annually.

NTPC REDUCES EPC SOLAR TENDER CAPACITY FROM 600 TO 500 MW; LIMITS PROJECT WITHIN GUJARAT

EESL SIGNS MOU WITH DNRE GOA TO ESTABLISH 100 MW OF DECENTRALIZED GROUND MOUNTED SOLAR PROJECTS

NTPC has recently revi sed i ts previ ous tender of 600 MW solar proj ects for EPC package i n the country. The tender capaci ty has now been reduced to 500 MW. The proj ect locati on now i s li mi ted to Guj arat. In May, Nati onal Thermal Power Corporati on Li mi ted (NTPC) floated an Invi tati on For Bi ds (IFB) for EPC package wi th land for development of ISTS gri d connected solar PV proj ects up to 600 MW. The scope of work for thi s tender i ncludes Desi gn, Engi neeri ng, Manufacturi ng, Supply, Packi ng and Forwardi ng, Transportati on, Unloadi ng, Storage, Installati on and Commi ssi oni ng of gri d connected Solar PV proj ects located anywhere i n Indi a on turnkey basi s.

Energy Effi ci ency Servi ces Li mi ted (EESL), a j oi nt venture of PSUs under the Mi ni stry of Power and Department of New & Renewable Energy (DNRE), Goa, have si gned a memorandum of understandi ng today to di scuss rolli ng out of Indi a’ s fi rst Convergence Proj ect i n the State. The MoU was si gned i n the august presence of R K Si ngh, Uni on Mi ni ster of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shri Ni lesh Cabral, Power Mi ni ster, Goa, Sanj i v Nandan Sahai , Secretary, Mi ni stry of Power and other seni or offi cers of the mi ni stry.

ASSOCIATION OF POWER PRODUCERS (APP) WRITES TO HON’BLE FINANCE MINISTER TO MOBILIZE UNLOCKING OF FUNDS STUCK IN ARBITRATIONS AND RECEIVABLES FROM GOVERNMENT AGENCIES The Associ ati on of Power Producers wrote to Hon’ ble Mi ni ster of Fi nance, Ni rmala Si tharaman, hi ghli ghti ng the concerns of power debtors and extended li ti gati ons that have been eggi ng the power sector. The letter ti tled, ‘ Request for key fi nanci al support requi red for revi val of the i nfrastructure i ndustry’ , lai d out the maj or i ssues pressi ng the sector and suggesti ons for i ts soluti ons. At the foremost, i t brought forward one of the bi ggest challenges affli cti ng the power compani es, the large overdue of recei vables pendi ng over a long ti me, i ncludi ng regulatory dues. It spoke at length on how recovery of such dues i s i nordi nately delayed due to multi ple li ti gati ons by the DISCOMs as a strategy to delay thei r payment obli gati on. Orders i ssued by regulatory forums are challenged as a matter of routi ne and honouri ng di recti ons for i nteri m payment i ssued by regulatory commi ssi ons are rare; even such orders from appellate tri bunals are not adhered to i n many cases and mostly end only at Supreme Court.

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TATA POWER WINS GOLD AND SILVER AT THE 9TH ACEF ASIAN LEADERS FORUM & AWARDS Tata Power, Indi a’ s largest i ntegrated power uti li ty has always been commi tted towards empoweri ng the li ves of underpri vi leged communi ti es i n an effecti ve and sustai nable way. Recogni si ng thi s effort, the company was bestowed wi th two Gold Awards and one Si lver Award at the recently held 9th ACEF Asi an Leaders Forum and Awards, 2020 for ‘ Excellence i n CSR’ and ‘ Excellence i n Brandi ng & Marketi ng’ .

EDF ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF THE FIRST EDITION OF EDF PULSE INDIA COMPETITION EDF rewarded the four wi nners of the fi rst EDF Pulse Indi a competi ti on over an i nternati onal pri ze-gi vi ng ceremony held i n New Delhi . EDF Pulse Indi a programme ai ms at boosti ng young and i nnovati ve start-ups commi tted to provi de low carbon and sustai nable energy soluti ons to support Indi a’ s energy transi ti on. Launched i n Apri l 2020, EDF Pulse Indi a programme attracted 80 appli cati ons from startups across three categori es desi gned to meet the Indi an energy market challenges : Sustai nable smart li vi ng, resi li ent smart i nfrastructures and E-mobi li ty i nfrastructure.

AZURE POWER ANNOUNCES RESULTS FOR FISCAL SECOND QUARTER 2021 Operati ng Megawatts (“MW”) were 1, 834 MWs, as of September 30, 2020, an i ncrease of 2% over September 30, 2019. Operati ng and Commi tted Megawatts were 7, 115 MWs, as of September 30, 2020, an i ncrease of 111% over September 30, 2019. Commi tted megawatts i nclude 4, 000 MWs for whi ch we have recei ved Letters of Award (“LOA”) but the Power Purchase Agreements (“PPAs”) have not yet been si gned.

IEEFA: AS OWNER OF INDIA’S MOST VALUABLE ENERGY COMPANY, THE ADANI GROUP SHOULD LEAD THE COUNTRY’S ENERGY STRATEGY A new IEEFA report i denti fi es the opportuni ty for the Adani Group to lead Indi an energy strategy by further ali gni ng i tself wi th the government’ s vi si on for energy i ndependence and fast-growi ng reli ance on renewables. “The soari ng value of Adani Green Energy i s a clear i ndi cati on of where the market, and thi s group, are headi ng, ”

TATA POWER ANNOUNCES Q2 FY 2020-21 RESULTS: REAFFIRMS STRONG OPERATING PERFORMANCE KEY FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS: Q2 FY21 VS Q2 FY20 Consoli dated PAT up by 10% at Rs. 371 crore (PYQ Rs. 339 crore) Consoli dated EBITDA up by 7% at Rs. 2, 276 Crore (PYQ Rs. 2, 124 crore) Consoli dated Revenue up by 15% at Rs. 8, 413 crore (PYQ Rs. 7, 329 crore) Standalone Revenue stood at Rs. 1, 654 crore as compared to Rs. 1, 813 crore Standalone PAT stood at Rs. 145 crore as compared to Rs. 155 crore

AGEL’S OPERATIONAL CAPACITY GROWS AT CAGR OF 46% OVER LAST 3.5 YEARS AGEL expands TOTAL JV wi th addi ti on of 205 MW solar assets at EV of INR 1, 632 Cr taki ng the total operati ng portfoli o under the JV to 2, 353 MW AGEL’ s total operati onal capaci ty grows to 2, 800 MW at a CAGR of 46% over the last 3. 5 years Conti nue to operate Solar Portfoli o at ~ 100% Plant avai labi li ty Sale of Energy up by 22% YoY at 1, 187 mn uni ts i n Q2 FY21 & up by 23% YoY at 2, 569 mn uni ts i n H1 FY21 Revenue from Power Supply up by 15% YoY at Rs. 530 Cr i n Q2 FY21 & up by 12% YoY at Rs. 1, 139 Cr i n H1 FY21 EBITDA from Power Supply up by 19% YoY at Rs. 490 Cr i n Q2 FY21 & up by 15% YoY at Rs. 1, 050 Cr i n H1 FY21 EBITDA margi n from Power Supply expands by ~ 300 bps YoY to 92% i n both Q2 FY21 & i n H1 FY21 Cash Profi t up by 80% YoY at Rs. 250 Cr i n Q2 FY21 & up by 69% YoY at Rs. 593 Cr i n H1 FY21

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IN CONVERSATION

"We have been using data science for advanced analytics to improve the solar plant performance."

Guru Inder Mohan Singh Founder & COO, Amplus Solar

In an insightful interview with SolarQuarter, Guru Inder Mohan Singh, Founder & COO at Amplus Solar talks about how the company adheres to the safety and quality measures at project sites, their state-of-the-art remote monitoring & in-house analytics technology and the company's trade on IEX's Green Term-Ahead Market.

How has Amplus tackled the Covid phase? What measures were taken overall to come out stronger?

Throughout the pandemic, our top priority has been the health and safety of our people. That taken care of, business continuity was ensured by each of us at Amplus.

The HSE and office administration team ensured that all our locations, offices and sites alike, followed social distancing, temperature checks, daily health monitoring, mask compliance and frequent full-site sanitation.

We took it further through our Million Smiles campaign under which we have already distributed 8 Lakh masks within our communities.

The O&M team stocked up critical spares before the 23rd March lockdown, and with power generation being given the “essential” status, worked round the clock, throughout the lockdowns, ensuring cleaning and maintenance at our sites. Having all our sites connected through our state-of-the-art inhouse remote monitoring system Hawk-Ai helped maintain high uptime of our plants without any physical intervention.

The construction team, after the initial setback due to stoppage of construction and demobilisation of labour, restarted the sites as soon as the rules allowed. Movement passes, intermittent lockdowns, and quarantines, they trudged through all till things started coming back to normal.

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Our regulatory affairs team had to persevere through the permitting departments’ reluctance to move approvals online. As a result, the team had to pursue in person meetings, which were erratic, with officials loaded with Covid responsibilities and themselves exposed to the virus with the teeming crowds at their offices.

Sales which require a personal connection with clients, had a surprising pivot. We were able to get more focus from clients considering people had time available for improvement projects and everyone wanted to bring down production costs. With the industry itself moving online, clients accepted our move to digital platforms including customer meetings, site assessment, technical designing and even signing PPAs.

What parameters are considered while selecting project sites and what are the safety and quality measures you adhere to at your project sites?

Customers are at the core of what we do.

Selection of project sites, safety protocols to be followed at a site, the right energy solution (onsite or offsite, energy efficiency, energy storage and now last mile EV logistics) for a customer are all decided in discussion with the customer.

Coming specifically to onsite projects, site selection involves analysis of electricity consumption pattern of the customer, availability of shadow-free area, regulatory framework, usage of DG, Battery requirement etc We follow a comprehensive, sometimes considered onerous by our peers, safety framework. As a result, we have achieved 3.5Millions of Accident free safe man hours in FY 2019-20. Some of the features of this program are Site specific HIRA (Hazard Identification Risk Assessment).

Installation of vertical fall protection system in monkey ladder for safe ascending and descending Dynamic and Static load test for horizontal and vertical lifeline to ensure appropriate load bearing strength as per CEN/TS 16415:2013 multiple users & EN 353-2:2002.

Installation of lifeline at all requisite locations on roof to prevent fall of person from height.

Maintain 1 metre free space from roof edge around roof periphery to protect the fall of person and material from height, in line with OSHA. Maintain 500mm free space around skylights and turbo vents.

Installation of walkway on roofs for smooth movement and protection of client roof All skylights are covered with safety nets to prevent fall from height risk.

IS- 4035 rescue stretcher along with CE approved component of rescue kit at all projects.

Alcohol test for workers on a daily basis at security checkpoint.

Legal compliance such as ESIC, EPF and Medical fitness certificate and Government ID proof before start of construction at a site.

Dedicated safety engineer for large projects (multiple roofs) during construction For further improvements, we are currently implementing IMS for ISO 45001:2018, 14001:2015 & 9001:2018.

Our focus on quality has ensured consistency in 300+ projects. Some key features of our approach are: Vendor evaluation before onboarding.

PDI (Pre-dispatch inspections) of all major items.

Use of pre-approved documents (Drawing, Quality Assurance Plan, GTP, Bill of Material and Specification) for PDI .

Inspection of PV module at OEM works during production and sample testing in 3rd party labs as per IEC 61215-2016 & IEC 61730-2016.

Dedicated quality engineer at large projects (or else on specific project requirement) for field quality.

Awareness training on material criticality to staff and labour at site.

Stage wise inspections to prevent error for the next stage.

Pre-commissioning tests.

Proper and continuous monitoring of plants plays a crucial role in enhancing the performance and we know that Amplus has a state-ofthe-art remote monitoring & in-house analytics technology in place for the same. Are there any other new innovative technologies making their way in Amplus?

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We have been using data science for advanced analytics to improve the solar plant performance.

The following are the key highlights of the innovative techniques employed by us: India’s Irradiation Grid model: Using data from our sensor network pan-India, we have created an irradiation grid model which can predict the irradiation for any latitude and longitude within India with high accuracy. We are using this model to assess the irradiation for future site installation assessment. This not only validates the data provided by legacy datasets but also provides a secondary onground source of irradiation for accurate generation assessment.

Soiling Estimation and Early Action: Soiling estimation models have been developed using data science to estimate the loss to due to soiling on the solar PV modules. These models estimate the losses and raise early alarms automatically for early on-ground corrective actions.

Irradiation & Power Forecasting: We have developed irradiation and power forecasting models using advanced machine learning techniques including but not limited to time series models, gradient boosting regressors, convolutional neural networks, etc. which can predict irradiation and power at a day-ahead basis at a 15-minute granularity. Models have also been developed to predict energy at a month-ahead level with a high level of accuracy.

Recently Amplus became the first solar power company to trade on IEX's Green Term-Ahead Market indicating its fast adaptability to the ever evolving market. Please tell us more about it.

Power markets are evolving across the world, moving from legacy PPA models (read locked-in for life) to shorter term transactions. Renewable is the de facto technology of new capacity additions, and hence getting the de facto treatment from utility buyers. Corporates want to go green, being responsible to their conscious customers and investors. All these changes are shaping the market. It is very important for any energy company to keep an ear to the ground and keep adapting its product to the demand. Our transaction on GTAM is the result of this belief.

Traditionally, there has been no segregation between thermal and renewable power sale in the exchange market, making it difficult for buyers interested only in renewable energy for meeting their RPOs or for corporate commitments. With the introduction of GTAM, such buyers can now fulfil their green energy needs through these open markets. Another upside of allowing this source-based differentiation is that it paves the way for transparent price discovery of electricity based on its source of generation. Until now, both renewable energy (solar or wind) and thermal were being sold at the same price in the open market, when in fact they are produced at different costs.

While the above depict specific use-cases of the application of data science to improve solar plant performance, visualization of these is also key to understand and generate real-time insights out of these models. All the above developments have been visualized on dashboards in the energy monitoring system which enable users to generate actionable insights from these models and take timely corrective action.

Investments are needed to push any sector further and the solar sector is no different. Please give us some idea about how the investments in the solar sector are currently faring and specifically in Amplus?

Recent bids in utility scale projects show that the global investors are very bullish on India’s renewable energy sector. However, many developers are facing challenges in raising debt at a competitive cost. There is always pressure on equity investors to keep lowering the tariffs, however the grid parity of solar is sustainable only if we are able to provide low cost financing to solar projects.

At Amplus, we are gradually building a diversified portfolio of good quality solar assets. Our operational assets are performing extremely well and rated highly by credit rating agencies. We are well supported by our parent PETRONAS. The strong financial strength of our assets also allows us access to debt for our projects.

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PG 9

IN CONVERSATION

"We offer a wide range of products that confirms to highest global standards and carry a host of national and international quality certifications."

Sandeep Banodiya Director – Sales, Krannich

How has the year 2020 shaped up for Krannich Solar overall? What have been the prime learnings?

Despite of the pandemic, 2020 proved as a year of development for Krannich India in terms of sales and operations. Entire world is facing the challenge of pandemic today and it has given a lot of lessons to learn and implement the same in practise. We saw many layoffs in terms of human resources which should not be done and the main lesson we learnt was to trust and retain the employees.

There were other factors too like currency fluctuation, imposition of BCD etc. which created an unnecessary confusion in the market.

Krannich Solar offers a range of Solar Panel products. Please tell us the key highlights of these products.

We offer a wide range of products that confirms to highest global standards and carry a host of national and international quality certifications.

Krannich India portfolio diversifies the product into different categories like Poly, Poly Perc and Mono Perc to give our customers a versatile option from cost effective to premium brands. Our portfolio meets the demand of customers as in Tier 1 modules it offers high quality and bankable modules from Trina Solar, JA Solar which offers the standard warranty, while we do have high class products from our global partner Axitec and Luxor which offers 15 years product warranty.

We do offer our residential solutions to customers by offering them DCR and non DCR modules from our module partner Solarium, a make in India initiative which is the only brand in India to offer unique 16 years product warranty.

Krannich is the only distributor in the world who has maximum number of branches in the different countries, as well there is no rocket science behind it." | NOVEMBER ISSUE 2020

You have a worldwide presence. Can you tell our readers more about your global presence and what other markets you are tapping in?

Krannich Solar has been a specialist in terms of distribution for photovoltaics since its foundation in Germany 25 years ago. This means we offer photovoltaic installers everything they need for a successful business: sound advice, effective logistics and one of the world's leading product and system ranges for solar power generation.

The first foreign branch was established in Spain in 2004. There are now 25 branches in 23 countries worldwide. Since last year, Krannich Solar is represented in South Africa, Singapore and Brazil. Branches are currently being established in Poland and Romania.

As a distributor, Krannich Solar is interested in those markets in which a large number of PV systems for residential and commercial use can be built due to the legal framework conditions.

In other words, PV systems, including those up to 1 MWp in size, which are sold via the installer, who in turn buys them from the distributor.

According to you, what are the main challenges the Indian solar industry is currently facing and where do you see the future of the Indian PV market?

Indian PV industry is majorly dependent on China. There is a huge demand in the market however, due to insufficient supply of PV cells and modules we cannot meet the demand.

Instability and uncertainty in govt regulations and policies is the major challenge for all the players including manufacturer, distributor and EPCs. For example, in some states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the solar policies are not in favour of EPCs therefore they landed up in compromising on quality to complete the project which will create a major service issue 4-5 years down the line.

The market is almost back to its feet after the COVID – 19 set-back and the mood is upbeat as the industry heads to 2021. According to IEA, latest report, the global renewable energy demand will grow by 10% in 2021. India would be largest contributor to it. No doubt that Indian PV market will keep on increasing as many auctioned projects PGVCL, GEDA and RRECL etc. are expected to become operational in 2021 which will lead to growth in future.

As a player that is very strong globally in the solar distribution, what are the absolute pre-requisites to grow in a market?

Krannich is the only distributor in the world who has maximum number of branches in the different countries, as well there is no rocket science behind it. We follow a very simple policy to trust our suppliers and customers as the product what we choose is very important in terms of quality and economical viability to meet the demands of customer. Once you have this understanding of what market needs, then there are very less chances to fail!

We have heard that Krannich is switching between the brands very frequently. What is your stand on that?

Quality is our primary concern to deliver whether in terms of products or our services.

Everything that’s adopted in our portfolio is tested carefully beforehand. We not only buy high-quality and effective photovoltaic solutions but also have random samples undergo strict quality testing. We work closely with manufacturers as well as research institutes. In past we faced some complaints related to quality which somewhere affects our values and mission of delivering quality.

Therefore, we had to take some strict actions to maintain the trust of our customer.

Lastly, what in your view is the biggest strength of your company in the solar industry?

We are known for our high-end quality and effective logistics which is our biggest strength. Our specialised sales team in different states with 5 warehouses makes us to reach our customers very quickly.We believe on delivering rewarding experience in terms of products and the services. Apart from regular quality checks during procurement, we also ensure that right product to fit into customers requirement. Therefore, we have our specialised technical team supporting EPCs in Project design, development, technical planning and solar generation report. All this make us stand ahead of the competition.

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IN CONVERSATION

"In the 2021 year Sofarsolar is very aggressive with a new agenda for business expansion with new innovative products along with some up-gradation on current products."

Brijesh Prajapati Managing Director- India, Sofar Solar

How has the year 2020 been overall for the inverter industry and particularly for SofarSolar?

2020 is the key year for India's PV industry to go to grid parity from bidding subsidies, which means that grid companies not only meet the new energy efficiency assessment demands, but also put forward the requirements of power quality and grid friendliness to the PV industry. The company has a total manufacturing capacity of 10 GW with a Year on Year growth of more than 20 per cent.

However, currently with the impact of Covid 19, “The entire world is on edge with the Coronavirus epidemic, it is a very bad impact on global economy, despite, our team is available to support clients in the best possible way during these times.” Impact of the Coronavirus mostly affected our firstquarter growth due to the highly impact of Coronavirus on China, where our manufacturing plant is situated in Shenzhen.

Then, in India also our business affected upto some extent in the second and third quarters as well. Also, we are not sure about fourth quarter up-down business growth due to Corona, although, nowadays the renewable sector is doing well in India.

You offer a range of inverter products. Could you highlight the top three qualities of your inverters which differentiate them from competitors?

Solar system is playing an important role, given that they will soon be the most costeffective energy source in all over the world.

Now, with so many solar inverters of different brands available in the market, it can be a challenge to select the correct inverter for your roof-top solar plant. It is important to note that some brands such as SOFARSOLAR is a was established in 2013, specializes in R&D, production, sales and service of grid-tied inverters ranging from 1kW to 7.5kW (residential), 10kW to 70kW (industrial and commercial ) 100kW to 255kW (commercial) and Hybrid inverters ranging from 3kW to 20kW. SOFARSOLAR is currently known to be one of the top 5 string inverter companies found throughout China & in India.

Wrf. very high demand products in the market about 100kw system SOFARSOLAR have very

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technically –unique features as compared to different competitors products.

Some competitors brand inverter don't have Differential Mode Inductance, multiple units connected to the grid will cause oscillation and affect the stability of the utility grid; While SOFAR has same design as add Differential Mode Inductance on output side to minimize the effect on utility grid.

Some competitors brand BOOST circuit use single tube so it is less reliable, diode use SIC with small current and no antisurge diode which may have the possibility of lightning stroke; while SOFAR use IGBT module that is much more reliable.

Some competitor brands use “I” shape topology which only has two control clips and the control system has no CPLD clip.

That design could cause overvoltage and affect the reliability of the inverter.

Please tell us how you facilitate R&D for bringing about innovation as that plays an essential role in the competitive inverter industry.

SOFARSOLAR modern factory is located in Dongguan, covering an area of more than 40, 000 square meters, with a number of fully automated production lines, where there are six 100% inspection links from the component incoming to the product delivery to guarantee the product quality from the source, and modern laboratory and burn-in room to escort the product quality continuously.

SOFARSOLAR has always pursued excellence products and services to meet the growing demands of customers. For more than ten years, SOFARSOLAR always followed the philosophy of continuous innovation and loyal operation, and focusing on the development, production, sales and service of PV inverters, energy storage inverters, batteries, charging platforms etc. By using globally-recognized components’ brand, SOFARSOLAR product is extending the life span of products used within the power grid. Meanwhile, Sofarsolar inverters have a upgraded technology e.g Built in DC switch,IV curve intelligent scan,Audible alarm, Ground fault monitoring, Integrated zero export function, Support for remote firmware upgrade function, Parallel function of energy storage multiple machines, Three-phase energy storage supports the unbalanced use of three-phase loads,etc)

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Which are some of the major new projects for you in the pipeline for the coming year?

In the 2021 year Sofarsolar is very aggressive with a new agenda for business expansion with new innovative products along with some up-gradation on current products. Yes, we have EV Charger products and already our management has decided to come with this in the India market with our quality products.

Also discussions are going on with some Indian reputed companies about EV Chargers.

We believe EV chargers and Li-Ion batteries have good scope in Indian market. For future scope, Sofarsolar is very much interested in EV segment business in India.

What are some of the upcoming trends in the inverter industry globally and in India?

We will launch several new products; 255KW with 1500V string inverter for large-scale applications, 80-136kw 1100V string grid-tied PV Inverter, The 1500 V string inverter is for large utility-scale power plants. It has 12 maximum power point tracking (MPPT) channels and 24 string inputs. Transformer less compact Hybrid inverter, Storage inverter, EV Chargers, LI-Ion Batteries will be an upcoming trend with upgraded technologies in the coming years.

Some competitors brand inverter don't have Differential Mode Inductance, multiple units connected to the grid will cause oscillation and affect the stability of the utility grid; While SOFAR has same design as add Differential Mode Inductance on output side to minimize the effect on utility grid."

PG 11

IN CONVERSATION

"Premier Energies has expertise in providing multiple solutions which enable us to offer our clients the best according to their requirements."

Chiranjeev Saluja Founder & Managing Director, Premier Energies Ltd.

Premier Energies is a pioneer in the solar PV module and cell manufacturing industry in India. Tell us about your vast presence in India and abroad.

Premier Energies was founded in 1995 by our Chairman, Mr Surendar Pal Singh. In the 25 years of our presence, we have grown and today we are providing solar power solutions to organisations across India and 30 countries in the world.

We are aiming to become one of the top few players in India, with a strong overseas presence in the next 3 years. We have manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad which occupy over 40,000 sq feet."

Your company has undertaken numerous projects for different industries and big establishments. Please tell us more about these projects.

Premier Energies has expertise in providing multiple solutions which enable us to offer our clients the best according to their requirements. These include: Solar IPP in states like Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, among other states Manufacture of a spectrum of monocrystalline and polycrystalline cells with high quality and efficiency Turnkey EPC solutions – from concept to completion Rooftop solutions Ground mounted solutions Solar pumps Hybrid solar solutions

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Kindly help our readers to understand about your solar rooftop solutions and how they are the best fit for any topographical situations.

On the rooftop of a building (commercial or residential), a solar photovoltaic (PV) system is mounted to harness the sun’s energy into electric power, through an inverter connected with off-grid/ on-grid/ hybrid systems. The power capacity and size of the solar installation depend on the available space, potential electricity consumption and the budget. The benefits one can reap from rooftop solutions include: Saving on electricity bills 24X7 availability of electricity Protection from power shortages Minimal maintenance costs Optimisation of renewable energy Helping the environment Our EPC team has been successfully delivering rooftop solutions across geographies and topographical situations.

On the rooftop of a building (commercial or residential), a solar photovoltaic (PV) system is mounted to harness the sun’s energy into electric power, through an inverter connected with off-grid/ ongrid/ hybrid systems."

Your company is known for coming up with timely innovative products. Can you brief us about your R&D efforts and new innovation being undertaken?

At Premier Energies, we take pride in having fostered a culture of continuous innovation.

These innovations are largely with a view to saving space and include: Floating solar solutions Canal top projects Using asbestos roofs to have solar solutions Solar carport canopies Tracker projects, which use either a dual or single axis, designed to track the moving sun, with a view to providing the optimum production of solar energy at all times

How do you see your company evolving and growing over the next decade in the competitive solar market?

We are aiming to become one of the top few players in India, with a strong overseas presence in the next 3 years. We have manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad which occupy over 40,000 sq feet. We aim to strike partnerships with leading global players with a view to working closely in helping to solve the climate change crisis, by providing sustainable, clean energy.

With a view to our future growth, we are almost ready with our new state of the art facility located at Fab City, Hyderabad which will help us double our capacity. This new facility is expected to open by December 2020.

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TENDER T R A C K E R

TENDERS FLOATED BY CENTRAL AUTHORITIES

TENDERS FLOATED BY PSU TENDERS FLOATED BY STATE AUTHORITIES

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PERSPECTIVE

INDIA ADDS OVER 800 MW OF ROOFTOP SOLAR CAPACITY IN THE PANDEMIC YEAR 2020: ARE WE STILL ON TRACK TO MEET 40GW 2022 DEADLINE?

According to the experts, rooftop solar market has been hit badly with the current pandemic and the market may take longer to recover as consumers prioritize core business operations and conserve cash in view of the economic uncertainty. Despite lockdown and COVID-19, over 800 MW Of Rooftop Solar Capacity was added in the first nine months of 2020. Gujarat ranks first with contributing nearly 43% of the total rooftop installations in the first nine months of 2020. The primary reason behind the significant capacity addition in Gujarat is the Surya Urja Rooftop Yojana – Gujarat that targets installation of solar rooftops for 8 lakh consumers by March 2022 in the residential sector. This scheme provides 40% of state subsidy on installation of systems up to 3 kW of size and 20% subsidy for 3 kW- 10 kW. After Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu are the leading states who have added the highest rooftop solar install. Let's read what our experts say..

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DR. HANS-PETER (IGOR) WALDL Managing Director Overspeed, Germany

Satellite-based nowcasting of power out put from di st ri but ed rooftop Photovoltaics.

The installation of rooftop PV is an import ant cont ri but i on t o t he growth of PV power. Due to short inst allat i on t i mes and decentralized investments, it is an import ant part of maki ng t he energy economy more environment fri endly and bri ngs down ai r pollution, and, looking at the current development of i nst allat i on costs, may bring down the cost of the supply wi t h elect ri c energy.

From the energy system point of view, t here are also some downsides to rapid growth of roof-top i nst allat i on. In t he di st ri but i on grid, most roof-top installations are not equi pped wi t h si ngle-plant measurements, so they show up in the gri d as negat i ve loads. Thi s impact leads to the fact that load profi les, whi ch have been known very well in the past, are kind of pollut ed by t he energy product i on from roof-top PV. Due to the fact that well-known load profi les and excellent load predictions are essent i al t o an effi ci ent energy supply, this issue has to be addressed.

An estimation of the current PV roof-t op product i on, called nowcasting, could overcome this situat i on. Thi s solut i on has been proven to be valid in other countries wi t h hi gh penet rat i on from Renewables like Germany and Australi a. Based on weat her forecast s

and weather satellite images, the current energy out come of t he distributed PV installations may be est i mat ed wi t h a hi gh accuracy, together with a short-term prediction of t he expect ed product i on for the next hours.

With the help of historic measurement s, advanced models calculat e the current irradiation at the ground from t he cloud cover deri ved from the satellite images. From these i rradi at i on dat a, t oget her wi t h the distribution of roof-top PV over di fferent ci t y areas and an estimation of the PV-panel orientations, t he current power out put of decentralized solar power can be nowcast ed. A number of reference measurement stations on the ground may furt her i mprove t hi s calculation.

From consecutive satellite images, the movement s of clouds may be derived by so-called cloud motion vect ors. On t hi s base, an accurate very-short term forecast of t he expect ed solar power may be derived in addition, which helps in addi t i on t o schedule energy trading in order to cover the expected load.

This nowcasting and very-short-term forecast i ng of power from rooftop PV brings back load estimation and forecast s t o t he st at e-of-t heart before distributed PV enters the scene, and makes t he energy supply safer and significantly more cost -effi ci ent agai n.

PV modules. At the state level, multiple states have successfully tendered RTS to the project developers even during the lockdown period using digital portals.

SHREYAS GAUR Manager, Strategy and Transformation, Ernst & Young LLP

NITHYANANDAM YUVARAJ DINESH BABU Team Leader, Sustainable Partnership for Rooftop Solar Acceleration in Bharat (SUPRABHA-The World Bank SBI Initiative) Executive Director, & Transactions,

Among the states, Gujarat managed the highest capacity addition of 380 MW 1 , contributing nearly 43% of the total rooftop installations in 2020. Reasons attributed to this performance are state subsidy support and special policy catering to MSMEs for RTS installation. The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) decided not to levy grid support charges to RTS installations until the state reaches 2 GW RTS capacity. Kerala went about its drive of adding 500 MW RTS capacities through its DISCOM-centric SOURA initiative. Such initiatives by the central and state government entities are instrumental in driving 80% Compounded Average Growth Rates to achieve the 2022 targets.

Strategy

Ernst & Young LLP

The Government of India in 2015 set an ambitious renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022. Out of the 175 GW renewable energy target, Rooftop Solar (RTS) accounts for ~22% of the target.

Concerned agencies at centre and state level have endeavoured to develop enabling policy & regulatory frameworks for achieving the RTS targets. However, the uptake of RTS has been low, the installed capacity of RTS as of June 2020 is 5. 9 GW or ~15% of the 2022 targets. The key challenges behind the low uptake have been an unstable policy regime, lack of institutional strength, access to capital and willingness of state electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) to promote RTS.

FUTURE ACTIONS

Digitization of the entire RTS value chain to provide one-stop solution to customers, active participation by DISCOMs, a stable and supportive policy regime, availability of funding for stakeholders and focus on equipment quality are the key enablers which can help India unlock its RTS potential. Apart from having an eye on the targets, we should also be asking: Are we continuing to take the right steps for a robust rooftop solar future?

"The key challenges behind the low uptake have been an unstable policy regime, lack

POSITIVITY DURING THE PANDEMIC

of institutional strength, access to capital

Despite the COVID-19 lockdowns yearly the sector has witnessed capacity addition of ~800 MW till date. The recognition of renewable energy as “essential” activity during the COVID-19 lockdown period by GoI underline and reinforce GOI’ s commitment to the sector. In addition, GoI has announced a INR 4, 500 crore package for domestic solar PV module manufacturing with an aim to reduce reliance on imported solar

and willingness of state electricity

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Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) to promote RTS."

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PERSPECTIVE

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE UPCOMING PV MODULE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS THAT WILL BRING DOWN THE SOLAR COSTS IN THE COMING DECADE? In the 2020s, solar module costs will continue to fall, albeit at a much slower rate. Instead, improvement in module efficiency and power class will propel the declining capex trend forward and ultimately lower the solar levelised cost of energy (LCOE), new research from Wood Mackenzie found. Wood Mackenzie examined three technologies that have the potential to improve solar module power class and performance: large wafer, n-type cells, and cell- and module-level techniques. Module technology innovations, in addition to hardware cost reduction, will be the quintessential driving force that propels the continuous reduction of solar LCOE in the new decade, let’ s find out more

SARVESH KUMAR SINGH, Head -Supply Chain Management, Azure Power

Solar PV has been one of the pioneering renewable technologies for more than a decade and is turning out to be an environmental savior. The various technological changes in Solar PV modules has resulted in significant cost reduction in capital cost of setting up large Solar PV Proj ect. The Technological changes in module technology has made solar power affordable globally and is going to become the cheapest and sustainable source of energy. In recent bidding by Solar Energy corporation of India (SECI) the tariff derived is INR 2/Kwh. The total installed capacity of solar PV reached more than 550 GW globally (excluding CSP) by the end of 2019, representing one of the largest renewable energy sources globally.

The evolution of the solar PV industry so far has been remarkable, with several milestones achieved in recent years in terms of installations (including off-grid), cost reductions and technological advancements, as well as establishment of key solar energy associations such as International Solar Alliance. Solar power will clearly continue to be an essential renewables option in the coming decades.

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Today, the photovoltaic modules are a well-known product.

Everybody knows the differences among monocrystalline and polycrystalline modules, but not everyone knows that there are some peculiarities that determine performances, duration and reliability. Thin film technology is also an option but not getting favorable support from the industry due to techno-economical reasons.

Together with other innovations, many players have introduced modules with PERC technology (Passivate Emitter and Real Cell) which are made with monocrystalline silicon cells with the back layer passivation. In this way, it is possible to increase the possibility of the photons recombination and to increase the internal reflection at the j unction.

The main producers have introduced PERC technology, certain measures to counteract the phenomena of performance degradation over time and some.

The Industry is continuously revolving and the new norm is bifacial Perc technology modules which will increase energy yield depending upon the albedo of the surface installed. The countries such as India and the Middle East where solar proj ects are being installed on sandy soil are focusing more on bifacial Monperc module with tracker.

It can be concluded that with innovation in Module technology the solar tariffs will keep on reducing resulting in the cheapest source of energy with environment protection.

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GEORGE TOULOUPAS, Director of Technology and Quality, Solar and Storage, Clean Energy Associates(CEA)

The rapid introduction of high-power modules across the PV industry in 2020 signals a new phase, where the module assumes an enhanced role in bringing down the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE).

The PV module manufacturers no longer compete only on a $/W basis, but also on a LCOE, $/kWh basis. Of course, the latter calculation can be very complex, and country and proj ect specific, but, overall, we see proj ects being won on this basis, with the manufacturers getting premiums in return. However, these premiums will be temporary, as the fundamental costs are down, and competition will eventually push prices down. There are several paths towards LCOE reduction.

The introduction of bigger wafers and bigger modules has a clear cost advantage on the module cost. Equally important, the introduction of dense interconnection technologies, such as paving, tiling and shingling, combined with multi busbar and halfcut cells, increases the module area efficiency, and decreases the $/W module cost. As said above, the cost savings will eventually be given to the buyers, but even so, bigger, more efficient modules require less, land, steel, labor and electrical components, bringing down the

ALOK KUMAR Country Manager India, DNV GL

As of 2018-19, India’ s per capita electricity consumption is 1, 181 units, which is lower than half of the world’ s average. With a population of 1. 3bn people, a massive increase in electricity production is required to support economic and population growth. Almost all of the new capacity would come from renewables. DNV GL’ s Energy Transition Outlook 2020 forecasts that the share of electricity in final energy demand in Indian subcontinent will almost triple to a 42% share in 2050.

Based on the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report on optimal generation capacity mix for 2029-30, the solar generation capacity in India is slated to increase from 34. 6GW in March 2020 to 280GW by March 2030. Solar has already reached tariffs lower than conventional sources, and in the recent auction it reached a new minimum of 2 Rs. per unit. There are currently research and innovations going on throughout the supply chain which have the potential to further reduce the cost.

The solar industry will continue to move towards larger wafers that have the potential to reduce the CapEx further for the utility scale solar proj ect. It is expected that in the next 10 years, M10 and G12 wafer-based modules will dominate the production facilities while currently dominated wafers of less than M6 will be gradually phased out. Larger wafer sizes increase power output, thereby reducing the per-watt production cost. However, in order to limit the weight, the glass needs to be made lighter thereby reducing the wind loads and making microcracks more likely to happen.

The current preference for PERC (passivated emitter and rear cell) modules would continue before switching to n-type modules and

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balance of system costs and reducing the LCOE. There is another potentially important driver of LCOE reduction, based on energy yield increase, due to the trend towards improved power temperature coefficients, better yield at low sun angles, increased bifaciality etc.

However, these newly introduced module-level technological improvements will be soon reaching their limits, as, for example, it is not practical to increase either the wafer size or the module size beyond certain limits. Eventually, the manufacturers will have to readj ust their focus on developing and scaling up higher efficiency cell technologies, such as n-type passivated contacts (also known as TOPCon) or heteroj unction and abandon the PERC cell platform, which will soon reach its limits. The move to n-type has been pushed back, because of “lower hanging fruit” improvements being reaped first, but eventually the tough competition on a LCOE and module cost basis will force them to move ahead, probably in the next 2-3 years.

However, single j unction silicon-based PV has maximum efficiency limits, so there are new candidate technologies, such as tandem thin film perovskite on heteroj unction silicon cells, that can give us 30%+ efficient modules. There are huge technological hurdles to overcome, of course, but the rewards are so high, and the amount of effort and innovation will be so intense, that it is certain that by the end of the decade, advanced module technologies will be available in vastly massive volumes, bringing down the LCOE from PV plants to “penny” level, and the focus of the energy industry will gradually shift to making this, almost free energy, dispatchable to the grid or directly to consumers, by integrating storage technologies and timeshifting these ultra-cheap electrons to the time slots that they are needed or even use them to produce valuable molecules, such as hydrogen.

finally to introduction of tandem cells for higher efficiency in the coming decade. PERC technology increases the efficiency by increasing the possibility of the photon absorption and reducing electron recombination and heat absorption. Though p-type cells have dominated the market so far, the industry will move towards ntype in the coming decade for higher efficiency. N-type modules such as HIT and TOPCon have already proven higher cell efficiency, however, the gains achieved by these efficiencies have been negated by high production costs. There is a need to reduce the cost of production of these cells in order to increase uptake.

Tandem technologies can increase performance beyond the single j unction theoretical limit. For example, a combination of silicon as the bottom cell with III–V based top cells has already demonstrated in laboratories efficiencies well above 30%. The maj or challenges, though, are to produce defect-free III–V layers at a lower cost.

Another emerging technology is perovskite solar cells (PSCs) made with metal halide base, which has several advantages such as strong absorption coefficient, long carrier lifetime and diffusion length. PSCs can be easily integrated with other technologies to create hybrid tandem. For example, combined perovskite and Si-PV materials have shown a record efficiency of up to 28% under laboratory conditions.

Perovskite-Perovskite tandem solar cell (PPTSC) has shown huge potential in terms of fewer fabrication processes, higher efficiency and lower cost for the recycling at the end of their lifecycle. The current research on tandem is more focussed towards reliability, lower cost processes and durable materials.

While the last decade mostly saw the significant drops in solar tariffs largely on account of economies of scale, the coming decade will see the overall optimisation and innovation in all facets, including pushing efficiency boundaries. It will also see significant diversification of solar usage mainly in the areas of floating solar, building integrated PV and agrivoltaics.

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PERSPECTIVE

A SOLAR MANUFACTURING POWERHOUSE IN THE MAKING?

Solar PV manufacturing is one of the strategic sectors announced by the government as part of the post-Covid-19 Aatmanirbhar Bharat recovery initiative. Efforts are underway to make India a global hub for solar PV manufacturing. Amitabh Kant, The Niti Aayog CEO, said India with its huge market and relevant manufacturing advantages can be a giga-scale manufacturing destination for cutting-edge PV technologies across the entire value chain. India has the opportunity to be the global hub for solar PV manufacturing and we are confident of building competence, capabilities and capacities, especially in the sunrise areas of growth.

PRASHANT MATHUR, CMO, Adani Solar

Solar power in India is a fast developing industry. The country' s solar installed capacity is 36 GW as of now.

The Indian government had an initial target of 20 GW capacity for 2022, which was achieved four years ahead of schedule. In 2015 the target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity (including 40 GW from rooftop solar) by 2022, targeting an investment of US$100 billion. India has established nearly 42 solar parks to make land available to the promoters of solar plants.

As India is inching closer to its stated mission of 100 GW installed capacity, it is imperative to become “Atma Nirbhar” in solar PV manufacturing.

The present scenario perfectly reflects the Government of India’ s bold and decisive initiatives to make India a manufacturing hub and claim the export market, while satisfying the in-house requirements as well.

Initiatives like Make in India, the introduction of SEZs, increasing export incentives, launching phased manufacturing programme (PMP) and Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme have helped India grow into a lucrative market for investment and progress. India’ s best chance for a phenomenal revival is also within one of these initiatives.

The Indian manufacturing sector has the potential to become a $1 trillion industry by 2025, thus powering industrial and technological growth, creating jobs, claiming export markets, generating revenue and bringing in socio-economic growth. SEZs play a major role in the growth of the manufacturing industry.

"Solar PV manufacturing is one of the strategic sectors announced by the

Solar PV manufacturing is one of the strategic sectors announced by the government as part of the post-COVID-19 Atma Nirbhar Bharat recovery initiative. Efforts are underway to make India a global hub for solar PV manufacturing.

government as part of the post-COVID-19

India with its huge market and relevant manufacturing advantages can be a giga-scale manufacturing destination for the cutting-edge PV technologies across the entire value chain.

global hub for solar PV manufacturing."

Atma Nirbhar Bharat recovery initiative.

Efforts are underway to make India a

Additionally, the recent evolving geopolitical situation has resulted in trade flows from China coming under intense scrutiny, and possibly heavy protection duties, thus posing an imminent supply risk to developers.

Most developers will be revisiting their supply strategy, possibly moving away from China, or even considering self-manufacturing. This presents a unique opportunity for India to push ahead in its solar mfg. journey, and even become a preferred alternate supply hub of the world.

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PG 18

India’ s solar market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world with over 31. 5 GW of utility solar photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity.

Furthermore, the target of 100 GW of installed solar capacity by 2022 offers a tremendous opportunity to introduce indigenous PV manufacturing.

lending for Solar PV manufacturing a priority. In addition, other areas through which manufacturers can be supported are through rebates on electricity tariffs and exemption from Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT).

In the medium to long term, the focus should be on facilitating development of required infrastructure through providing land, power supply and environmental clearance and developing solar manufacturing plants along the lines of SEZ. To expedite manufacturing, solar manufacturing clusters or hubs can be established that will provide a scale. Further, to address the issue of frequent technology changes and high cost of acquiring the technology, R&D must be incentivized. For example, funds collected through coal cess can be channelized towards increased R&D investments and technological upgradation of solar cells and modules.

However, even the growing domestic demand for solar power coupled with favourable trends of tariff have not helped the domestic solar PV manufacturing industry to pick up. At present, the country’ s installed manufacturing capacity of cells is only about 3. 1GW and that of the modules is just around 10 GW.

Other structural factors which can help in building the pipeline and sustainable ecosystem in the long run could be creation of funds such as Green Manufacturing Fund via funds collected through realization of safeguard duty on imported solar modules. GoI can also facilitate availability of viable insurance products for solar panel performance.

Since, Indian cell manufacturing market is currently at a nascent stage, it must initially focus on reliable, low cost scalable technology for the domestic market. Therefore, Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (PERC) seems to be the most suitable choice at present, with further scope of cost reduction.

To integrate the value chain and promote indigenous manufacturing, India can follow phased approach: Stage 1- Cell and Solar Module Manufacturing: Initially, India can focus on solar modules and cell manufacturing; Stage 2 – Ingots and Wafers: As the market evolves, ingots and wafers can be integrated; and Stage 3 – Polysilicon Manufacturing: Finally, when the market reaches maturity, domestic manufacturers can look into polysilicon manufacturing.

K J C VINOD KUMAR Senior Manager Business Consulting- Strategy & Transformation, Ernst & Young LLP

However, wafer size and technology are dynamically changing. Since solar wafer and cell equipment are cost and technology sensitive, newer technology such as Heterojunction Technology (HJT) can be adopted in the future as the domestic market evolves To accelerate solar manufacturing in India, Government intervention is crucial both in the short term and long term. In the short term, primarily GoI can facilitate financing for Solar PV manufacturers through creating special packages for high-efficient technologies by providing non-recourse financing, availability of long-term finance at lower interest rates and making

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India is eyeing for leadership in the Solar PV market which is visible through its Renewable Energy targets and its work on ISA. To ensure it happens, the manufacturing landscape cannot be left behind.

Considering the evident risk in the supply chain that we have witnessed in pandemic, we cannot be dependent on imports alone for Solar PV and resilient indigenous manufacturing is required to be developed.

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INSIGHTS DEMAND -SUPPLY EQUILIBRIUM OF PV MODULE IN Q1 2021, A BIG QUESTION MARK?

Will Chinese manufacturers fulfill Indian demand during the on-going shortage of glass?

During the first 3 quarters of 2020, India installed 1. 73GW of PV plants which are almost 68% less compared to 2019. However, Q3 showed an almost 114% increase in PV installation compared with Q2 2020. COVID-19 halted the growth in 1st half of 2020 and now the industry made a slow comeback in Q3. Now the market is almost back to its feet after the COVID – 19 retard and the mood is upbeat as the industry heads to 2021.

According to the latest report of IEA, the global renewable energy demand will grow by 10% in 2021. India would be the largest contributor to it. According to SolarZoom, at least 13. 67 GW of large-scale solar proj ects including PGVCL, RRECL etc. have recently opened bids and will be operational by the end of this year. There is a huge demand-pull in the market.

With this good news of high demand in the market there comes bad news of a shortage in supply. For the past 25-30 days, the industry is facing delays in PV modules due to a shortage of raw materials mainly Polysilicon, Solar glass, and EVA. EPCs are concerned about proj ect delays due to the initial slowdown in manufacturing. This shortage is coming at the peak time of industrial growth where all the developers are rushing to complete the proj ects before the financial year-end to secure govt subsidies and claim depreciation.

The scarcity of glass is causing a bottleneck for the industry and limiting module production. It is not only creating uncertainty and delaying proj ects but also raising module prices driven by 70100% increased prices of raw materials since July 2020. Likewise, the end customer has to share the pie of increased cost.

Moreover, this increase in module prices will again be a big challenge for EPCs to complete proj ects under the new lowest tariff of 2. 00 per unit. Completing proj ects in such situations would be uneconomical and they would land up making no profit or loss.

The maj or reason behind this shortage of raw materials is the lack of effective demand forecast along with innovation and technological development. The shortage comes as the industry turns towards bifacial panels, which coat both top and the bottom with glass to increase power output. Along with this, the industry has seen a wide variety of modules to be prevalent, which require variants of glass sizes. To meet the demand for large silicon wafers and large-sized components, some glass companies are focusing on the technological upgrades of the existing production lines, resulting in a short-term decline in production capacity. If the industry trend and inclination towards higher Wp modules could have analyzed and the demand could have forecasted effectively before time, we might have controlled/reduced the shortage up to some extent.

The question here is how long will this increasing gap of demand and supply continue? Will the Chinese manufacture of raw material and PV modules would fulfill the increased demand in Q1 of 2021 or the demand-supply gap will continue and halt the industry momentum?

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PG 20

COMPANY FEATURE

TECHNOLOGICAL AND MARKET LEADER: TBEA SUNOASIS WINS THREE MAJOR AWARDS OF 2020 CHINA GOOD PV BRAND

The 5th China PV Industrial Forum (CPIF) and 2020 China Good PV Brand Ceremony organized by Omni Media platform of International Energy Website (INEN. com) is held in Beij ing on November 15. TBEA SunOasis, relying on its quality innovative services, leading technical strength and powerful brand influence, wins three special honors including “Top 10 PV Inverter Suppliers 2020”, “PV Inverter Technology Breakthrough Award 2020” and “Excellent Brand Publicity Award 2020”.

In the area of solar inverter, TBEA SunOasis embeds AI technology into inverter and helps solar plant to realize intelligent transformation while saving their costs and increasing their efficiency. TBEA SunOasis’ 1, 500V 228kW PV inverter, as the world’ s first batch of series inverter with the power of above 200kW, is one of the industry’ s high-level series inverters. Its advantages such as high power-capacity ratio, friendly grid connection, safety and reliability and intelligent operation & maintenance make it the best tool to reduce costs and improve efficiency for solar plants, and can effectively reduce the electricity costs of solar plant within its life cycle.

TBEA SunOasis has been engaging in the PV area for 20 years during which it has accumulated advanced technical experiences; focusing on core products like PV inverter, TSVG, power router and power storage, it utilizes big data and artificial intelligence to develop the electronic cloud platform system, monitoring and data collection system, environment management system and other systems to provide clients with optimal LCOE solution, wind power generation, intelligent micro-grid, flexible DC transmission and other services. In the future, TBEA Sunoasis will continue sticking to the obj ective of maximizing client value, dedicate itself to shouldering the social responsibility of “contributing green energy and creating better life” by technical innovations and promote the development of PV market.

“China Good PV Brand” award, one of the most influential brand awards of PV industry, is officially initiated in 2016 by the International Energy Website (IN-EN. com), the authoritative media of energy industry, and this year marks the 5th ceremony.

“China Good PV Brand” award aims to praise excellent enterprises of the year in PV industry, showcase elite enterprises, improve corporate brand images, expand the impact of fine corporate brands, promote advanced innovative technology and pattern, facilitate orderly market competition and enhance the competitiveness and influence of the industry as a whole.

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PG 21

COMPANY FEATURE

DIGITIZE EVERY SOLAR PV PLANT AND MAKE IT IOT READY

EnerMAN Technologies Pvt Ltd provides innovative IOT based SCADA / Remote monitoring & control solutions for Solar PV plants. EnerMAN is a subsidiary of Avi Solar Energy Pvt Ltd. India’s most trusted independent O&M service provider for Solar PV market with experience in over 2Giga Watts of PV plants. EnerMAN was incorporated in 2019-July and within a year acquired monitoring portfolio of over 950MW of PV plants.

From data acquisition at the site equipment level, to analysis of data that provides insights to plant generation & health, EnerMAN provides end to end solution to digitize and manage your PV asset.

STRATEGY

Company’s broader vision for the renewable energy sector is to “Provide Innovative Solutions to Save Energy and Reduce Carbon Footprint”. Very specific to Solar PV technology our vision is to “Digitize every PV plant and make it IOT ready" EnerMAN is on a mission to be a global leader for Energy Monitoring & Managing Products and solutions. Our goal is to enable IOT at plant level and store all data in a cloud platform. EnerMAN shall provide users Energy Management Dashboards that is simple, easy to use and affordable.

In the first year of operations EnerMAN did lot of retrofit projects – replacing few expensive SCADA systems which lacked service support and was also very expensive to maintain. Now that we have proven our technical competitiveness, we are poised to enter the global market with our affordable solutions.

Our strategy is to partner with local players who have a strong regional presence and help us quickly acquire customers who are unhappy with existing SCADA suppliers.

OUR KEY PRODUCTS ARE

ETi-LOG – a datalogger specifically designed to acquire data from Solar PV equipments, which has been tested by all Inverter brands.

ETi-SOL – Cloud based monitoring platform that provides you data from all equipment in the plant and gives you comprehensive insights about plant performance. You can monitor multiple plants using one login ETi-CONNECT – is the analytics engine which can be used to compare equipment /plant performance & do lots of trend analysis.

SPIDAR is our OMS assist tool which includes an APP that helps you capture inputs from the field to improve the efficiency of the OMS team. You can capture module cleaning status, DGR generation, PM check list management are some of the other salient features.

TEAM & MANAGEMENT

The founders of EnerMAN are the same team that built Avi Solar energy which was identified as India’ s leading independent O&M service provider by GTM research in 2017. Ashok DM & Somashekar TH cofounded EnerMAN with selected high performing team members of AviSolar who had a passion to build global products.

The products in EnerMAN are developed based on the real field experience of Solar PV plants. EnerMAN development team visit the PV plants & get hands on training on data acquisition methodology at the plants.

That has helped us build a robust solution which is not simply based on theory.

BUSINESS CONCEPT

EnerMAN provides end to end solution – i.e. Hardware, Firmware and Software systems that are developed inhouse. This removes the dependency on third party suppliers and also helps us sell at the lowest cost.

The core team has years of experience in MNCs developing products for Networking, Telecom, Semiconductor industry. Much of these knowledge about technology & process has been replicated at EnerMAN to churn high class reliable monitoring solutions.

CUSTOMERS & PROJECTS

From Rooftops to large Utility PV plants we have diversified clientele. Few of the Solar PV industry leaders with whom we are proud to associate with are Soft Bank Energy, BHEL, Focal Energy, LNB Renewables, Hinduj a Renewables, Mahawa Solar (Srilanka), AMP energy, Cleantech Solar, Fourth Partner Energy, SIMCON & Think Energy.

One of the problems we see in the PV industry is that very large utility plants >100MW are hesitant to migrate from legacy PLC based SCADA systems to IOT based SCADA. Our ambitious goal is to get deploy our monitoring solution in large solar parks & prove to industry that IOT – Cloud SCADA is low cost – reliable solution and its time to switch from legacy PLC.

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PG 22

COMPANY FEATURE

SOLIS REPORTS 2020 Q3 REVENUE; ITS STRONGEST QUARTER EVER

Ginlong Technologies’ 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-onyear increase of 3%.

After the announcement of the results the company’ s stock price continued to rise throughout the day on Thursday 21st Oct 2020. As the markets closed, Ginlong Solis shares stood at $US18. 23 per share, an increase of 4. 56%. , once again becoming one of the A-share green concept stocks with a high increase. What is driving this enthusiasm about Ginlong Solis stocks?

Through the expansion of sales and the strengthening of the company' s accounts receivable collection efforts, the company' s "cash received from selling products and providing labor services" reached US$149. 6 million, a year-on-year increase of 67%. The company' s "net operating cash" has reached a historic high due to its overall revenue and ample cash on hand.

"During the reporting period, COVID-19 brought some inevitable pressure and challenges to our business and others. However, through the dedication of all of our colleagues, the company' s capacity rapidly recovered and then increased to seize more domestic and overseas market share through the positive response of the company. " said Yiming Wang, President of Solis (Ginlong Technologies).

In terms of overall operation and operating costs, Solis is currently wellmanaged. Its bills and accounts receivable fell by 13% year-on-year, and accounts receivable fell by 12% year-on-year. Of course, because of the expansion of the company' s production and operation facilities, its investment in fixed assets and projects under construction has increased, paving the way for the forecasted increase of distributed business from 2021.

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At present, Ginlong 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 Ginlong 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-255K-EHV, 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%.

About Ginlong Technologies:

Established in 2005, Ginlong Technologies (Stock Code: 300763.SZ) is one of the most experienced and largest manufacturers of solar inverters. Presented under the Solis brand, the company's portfolio uses innovative string inverter technology to deliver first-class reliability that has been validated under the most stringent international certifications.

Armed with a global supply chain, world-class R&D and manufacturing capabilities, Ginlong optimizes its Solis inverters for each regional market, servicing and supporting its customers with its team of local experts. For more information on how cost-effective Solis delivers value while maximizing reliability for residential, commercial, and utility customers, go to www.solisinverters.com.

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COMPANY FEATURE

WHITE PAPER: THE TECHNICAL EVOLUTION BEHIND THE 10GW SHIPMENT MILESTONE OF LONGI BIFACIAL MODULES With the delivery of 100MW of the Hi-MO5 bifacial module in midNovember 2020, the global cumulative shipments of LONGi bifacial modules reached 10GW. The value of the bifacial module has been widely recognized by the industry under LONGi’ s leading promotion, furthermore bifacial module has become a mainstream solar product for utility-scale PV plants with an ever increasing market share. This paper will provide a detailed review of the development history and milestones for the LONGi bifacial module.

THE EVOLUTION OF LONGI’S BIFACIAL MODULE

Epoch-defining product——Hi-MO 2 The PERT and HJT bifacial module based on N-type wafers had existed for some time, but had a limited market because of high cost. In 2017, LONGi and other PV companies released the P-type bifacial module based on a PERC cell. The LONGi Hi-MO2 module used 2+2 mm dual glass to reduce module weight and POE encapsulation to increase reliability. The adoption of a frame avoided damage to the module during installation and longterm use, meanwhile the design of a short frame without a C-side reduced shading on the cell’ s rear side, thus enhancing energy yield. The Hi-MO2 module was installed at the Kubuqi (ELION) and Golmud power station (Huanghe Hydropower Development) projects following its release, achieving outstanding energy yield performance, thus promoting the use of bifacial modules in “Third Phase Top Runner” projects to reach a share of more than 40%.

The introduction of half-cell technology

Hi-MO 3LONGi released the Hi-MO3 module in 2018 by combining P-type mono-crystalline bifacial PERC technology with half-cell technology. Halfcell technology halves the operating current to significantly reduce internal loss and lower the module hot-spot temperature. White grid glass was used in Hi-MO3 to enhance front power, a solution proven to be more effective than transparent rear glass, based on comprehensive analysis of energy yield and BOS costs. Almost 275MWp of Hi-MO3 modules were installed at the Chinese Sihong “Top Runner” project following release.

With the delivery of 100MW of the Hi-MO5 bifacial module in midNovember 2020, the global cumulative shipments of LONGi bifacial modules reached 10GW. The value of the bifacial module has been widely recognized by the industry under LONGi’ s leading promotion, furthermore bifacial module has become a mainstream solar product for utility-scale PV plants with an ever increasing market share. This paper will provide a detailed review of the development history and milestones for the LONGi bifacial module.

Best solution for ultra large power stations ——Hi-MO 5

With the rapid development of the PV industry, new build capacity was able to reach over 100GW in 2020 and it was already feasible to look beyond the compatibility of existing capacity to design larger size modules for large power stations. After a comprehensive analysis of the entire industry chain (module cost, BOS cost, transportation, installation, module reliability and energy yield), LONGi launched the Hi-MO5 module (2. 82 m2 and 32. 3kg) and announced the M10 standard wafer (182mm side length) together with 6 other PV companies. The Hi-MO5 module would provide the lowest LCOE solution for ultra large power stations and reset standardization in the PV industry.

The bifacial module’s energy yield advantages and global field verification

On the initial promotion of the bifacial module, the industry was unfamiliar with its potential application. LONGi carried out significant research into the mechanism of bifacial energy gain and made an enormous contribution to the technology’ s popularization. LONGi research indicated that: In addition to receiving light reflected from the ground, the rear side of a bifacial module can also receive scattered light. The absorption of reflected light will be affected by the shadow of the module array, so factors such as module height, inter-row spacing, plane tilt and azimuth will also affect bifacial energy gain.

According to the mechanism of bifacial energy gain, LONGi made a number of suggestions for PV station design using bifacial modules: The ground albedo is the most important factor affecting bifacial gain.

The order by albedo of common ground is: concrete & sand > dry land > grassland >water surface (LONGi confirmed that the albedo of water surface is relatively low, and the bifacial energy gain is about 3%).

The bifacial module’ s minimum ground clearance should not be less than 1m.

If it is unavoidable to use mounts shading the rear side of the module, the distance between the steel purlins and module should not be less than 50mm, in order to reduce the adverse effect on bifacial energy gain.

Avoid or reduce the shade of cable, combiner box or string inverter on the rear side of the module.

A bifacial module can achieve over 15% energy gain by using white paint or laying a high reflectivity waterproof membrane on a flat roof.

It is recommended to use bifacial modules in locations with snow, because the rear side yield gain will not be affected, and the operating heat can melt the snow on the front-side.

The global bestselling M6 module—Hi-MO 4

During the second half of 2018, different larger size wafers emerged in the industry. Following comprehensive analysis of compatibility with existing equipment, the supply capacity of glass and other materials and the product’ s versatility in distributed and utility markets, LONGi launched in 2019 the M6 wafer standard (166mm side length) and Hi-MO4 module, based on the M6 wafer. Front power could reach 450W, bringing BOS costs down by over 0. 7 /W and making Hi-MO4 the bestselling among bifacial modules. LONGi’ s adaptation of a new generation of POE encapsulation material increased the productivity of the bifacial module, narrowed the cost gap with monofacial and promoted bifacial’ s wide application.

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In order to specifically verify energy yield gain and stability of a P-type bifacial module under different scenarios and climatic conditions, LONGi cooperated with the China Electric Institute (CEI), B&V, TÜV SÜD, TÜV Rheinland, RETC and other institutions to build global pilot projects to evaluate the energy yield performance of bifacial modules. The results showed that: The energy gain of a LONGi bifacial module is consistent with theoretical expectation. Under reasonable installation conditions, the bifacial energy gain is positively correlated with the ground albedo.

LONGi P-type bifacial and monofacial modules both meet first year degradation of < 2% under various scenarios and the bifaciality of bifacial modules remains stable (Confirmed the anti-LID and anti-PID performance of LONGi bifacial module).

A bifacial module has better energy gain performance when matched with a tracking system. An advanced tracking system will optimize both front and rear side irradiation to maximize the overall energy yield of the module, while the bifacial energy gain will not be affected.

Bifacial energy gain will be affected by scattered light, so it is stable at noon and apparently rises in the morning and evening. It will also be affected by azimuth, with bifacial gain higher in summer and lower in winter.

Bifacial energy gain can be simulated by Pvsyst (Version 6. 65).

TÜV Rheinland pilot projects in India and Saudi Arabia have verified that the energy gain of a LONGi P-type bifacial module is very close to that of an N-type bifacial module, which proves its high cost performance.

At TÜV Rheinland’ s 2020 "All Quality Matters" awards event, LONGi bifacial modules were deemed to have performed best in outdoor power generation tests in an experimental field in Arizona, USA during the period from January 2018 to August 2019, winning the “Outdoor Energy Yield - Bifacial Group” award. In an outdoor power generation test organized by the PV magazine, LONGi bifacial modules were also placed first in energy yield rankings, their performance significantly ahead of all other participating modules.

In the evaluation of energy yield gain of bifacial modules from different manufacturers on a 1P tracker by PVEL laboratory in the United States, LONGi modules were significantly higher than similar products from other manufacturers.

After the integration of half-cell technology with a bifacial module, LONGi continued to evaluate its energy yield and reliability at the China National Electric Apparatus Research Institute. Experimental data showed that a half-cell module has better energy yield than a full-cell module when radiation is higher, with the full-cell module having better yield when radiation is lower. The critical irradiation value is about 400W/m2 (excluding rear irradiation). The half-cell technology not only reduces the hot-spot risk of a module by reducing the operating current, but also enables the module to have better energy yield performance when used in regions around the world with abundant light resources.

The outstanding performance of the LONGi bifacial module Based on high-quality wafers, high-efficiency PERC cells and strict requirements regarding module materials and processes, LONGi modules demonstrate excellent performance in third-party reliability tests, energy yield evaluations and client applications.

In 2019, RETC released its "PV Module Index" for the first time, based on the evaluation results of more than 2,500 modules from 46 crystalline silicon and thin-film module manufacturers. LONGi was one of only two companies to win the "High Achiever" award, based on the excellent performance of its modules in 18 indicators of reliability, performance and quality.

SUMMARY

The development of the LONGi bifacial module has always been focused on customer value, fully considering the balance of cost, energy yield and product reliability. LONGi aims to deliver lower LCOE for large utility PV stations and, with the introduction of the HiMO5 module, is confident that shipments of its bifacial products will soon achieve a second 10GW milestone.

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PRODUCT FEATURE

RETHINK THE FUTURE OF SOLAR ENERGY WITH AI HUAWEI FUSIONSOLAR 6.0+ UTILITY SMART PV SOLUTION

With the rapid development ICT technologies such as AI, cloud, big data, and 5G, Huawei has engaged with experts in the field and has released 10 emerging technical trends for solar energy and smart PV for 2025. Based on these understandings, Huawei created FusionSolar 6. 0+ Utility Smart PV solution consists of smart inverters, controller for the data transmission and control, the smart transformer station for overseas IPS solution, and Smart PV management system for real-time monitoring and management. At Huawei, we use AI-Boost FusionSolar Smart PV solution aiming to reduce LCOE and supports grid with the following 3 key features.

SMART TRACKER CONTROL ALGORITHM:

The tracker can significantly increase the energy generation.

More and more PV plants deploy trackers to reduce LCOE. Currently, the trackers rely on astronomic algorithm to ensure the modules to be perpendicular to the direct sunlight.

However, the uneven landscape in the PV plant is not being considered. The shading between different rows of PV panels could reduce the yields. In cloudy days, the diffused light accounts for higher ratio than that in normal days. And the tracking angle without optimization can’ t harvest as much as power when the light is scattered.

Huawei integrates AI and the collaborative energy generation with tracking algorithm to optimize the tracking angle through the recurrent neural network based on the mass data from the plant performance. And during the backtracking, Huawei adopts each row to avoid inter-row shading and capture more solar energy. Based on our testing, compared with standard mode, the smart control algorithm can improve the energy generation by at least 1%. This technology utilised standard interface and communication protocol and it’ s quite easy to collaborate with different vendors of trackers.

This year, the 4th generation can support diagnosis of the mono, bifacial and shingle PV modules. It is also compatible with the mix installation of different PV modules in 1 string. The function is provided through licensing and any of our current customers with Huawei Smart PV solution, either for their existing or the new PV plans, are welcome to test it out.

SMART GRID-CONNECTION ALGORITHM

As the LCOE of PV continuously decreases, solar is expected to become the maj or energy source according to the International Energy Agency’ s outlook. In the near future, over 30% of the annual newly installed power plant will be the PV plant. However, with the increase in renewable energy construction, the short circuit ratio (SCR) of the power grid is gradually reduced. We could see the SCR in some countries will be going down quite significantly. More regions will face a new challenge of weak grid.

It is expected that between 2025 and 2030, the SCR will be lower than 2 in a lot of the countries.

Huawei has been researching on the grid connection technologies for many years and the improved its control accuracy. Currently, Huawei has achieved stable grid-connection in all PV scenarios. We are confident that our algorithm could help our clients to build a robust system with more resilience. The smart inverters could support SCR as low as 1. 5 to avoid frequent synchronization failure incidents. Moreover, Huawei solution is capable to provide better POD (power oscillation damping) control, which has already been considered and partially adopted with some of our clients.

At Huawei, our vision is to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. We advocate building an AI-enabled smart PV ecosystem by working with clients, policymakers, upstream and downstream partners to create a fully connected and digital PV system.

SMART I-V CURVE DIAGNOSIS

We also use AI to reduce OPEX as we improve I-V curve diagnosis. We developed an online inspection and diagnosis of all PV strings. The smart I-V curve diagnosis can largely shorten the site inspection time from weeks to half a day. AI learns based on experts’ knowledge and can accurately identify 14 types of string failure which is certified by TÜV. These diagnosis can further provide trouble shooting solution to close loop the O&M process.

This function has already been deployed in 7GW PV plant worldwide at the moment and the number is still growing.

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COMPANY FEATURE

FOX IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST BATTERY CELL MANUFACTURERS, PRODUCING MILLIONS OF CELLS EACH YEAR. Fox is a subsidiary of Tsingshan Group, a Fortune 500 company with annual sales revenues in 2019 of 37. 6 billion USD. It is the world’ s largest stainless steel manufacturer and operates the world’ s largest nickel mining and production hub in Indonesia, and now, the company is aggressively stepping into position for the energy transition with its investment in Fox, a new company specialising in the development, production, and distribution of distributed generation products and solutions for the residential PV and ESS market and the commercial solar and storage market.

Fox offers a range of flexible battery storage solutions for all applications. One of its flagship battery products is the LV5200, a highperformance, scalable battery storage module. The modular design allows for maximum flexibility, making it suitable for a broad range of storage applications. Up to 12 batteries can be installed in parallel, allowing for a maximum storage capacity of 62. 4kWh. Installation is easy, with a plug and play solution that can save valuable time for installers. This low voltage battery benefits from a 98% charge/discharge efficiency, a 90% depth of discharge and is rated for >6000 cycles.

Fox has brought to market an exciting range of grid-tied inverters offering unrivalled performance and efficiency. The product range is available for single-phase installations from 0. 7 to 6. 0Kw (S & F Series); and for 3phase applications up to 25kW (T Series).

Fox is one of the world’ s largest battery cell manufacturers, producing millions of cells each year. These cells have been deployed to countless electric vehicles and Fox are now applying those battery cells to their storage systems.

In addition, Fox has launched a range of battery options, tapping into the deep supply chain of Tsingshan Group to provide advanced solar plus storage solutions to its customers around the world. One such offering is the LV5200; a high-performance, plug and play, deep-cycle battery.

Fox uses a total of 16 nickel cells comprising 8 cells per module and 2 modules per battery to create outstanding storage capability with their in-built lithium 4 battery system.

The S Series is a single-MPPT range of inverters ranging from 0. 7-3. 0kW. It is small and compact, offering home power generators a low start-up voltage of just 60V for longer generation windows, with the MPPT channel having a range of 50 to 450 V. The F Series is a dual-MPPT model aimed at systems from 3 to 6kW, benefitting from a 600V maximum input voltage on each MPPT, a low start-up voltage, a maximum efficiency of 97. 4% and providing a variety of communication interfaces for advanced local and remote monitoring.

The versatile T Series is aimed at 3-phase installations and is available sizes to suit installations from 3kW to 25kW (and larger systems when installed in parallel).

Whether it be inverters, chargers, storage systems or battery cells - all system components are designed, developed and manufactured by Fox. This ensures total hardware and software compatibility and allows for warranties that are fully integrated. Unlike equivalent systems, there is only ever one aftersales point of contact, providing the customer and installer with the best possible after sales service and total peace of mind.

Fox is revolutionising the solar and storage sectors with groundbreaking product developments, a vertical supply chain that is driving up quality and driving down costs, and an unswerving commitment to after sales care.

Fox inverters are precision engineered to provide maximum performance, efficiency, reliability and longevity. They incorporate a unique heat-sink and cooling fin design that is integrated into the inverter casing to ensure optimal direct contact with heat generating components. The pioneering fin design creates a larger surface area and this larger contact surface greatly increases the cooling effect, increasing the heat transfer ability of the inverter by up to 30% when compared to other leading brands.

In addition to reducing heat stress, the R&D team at Fox paid special attention to the inverter capacitors, the most expensive electrical component, a Fox have selected the market-leading tier one brand for their inverters. A key factor impacting on capacitor lifespan is their capacity to store charge during each cycle, and Fox have scaled up the number of capacitors, decreasing the amount of charge stored and prolonging the lifespan of the inverter.

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T H I N K HYBRID PROJECTS TO DRIVE FUTURE BIDS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR; RENEWABLES EXPECTED TO WITNESS INVESTMENT OF MORE THAN FOUR LAKH CRORE TILL MARCH 2025 ICRA Rati ngs has sai d that i t expects the i ncremental bi ddi ng acti vi ty for renewable energy (RE) proj ects to gradually shi ft over the medi um term from standalone wi nd or solar bi ds to hybri d proj ects blended wi th other sources for round the clock (RTC) and peak supply. Thi s i s gi ven the competi ti ve tari ffs di scovered and the fact that hybri d proj ects enable effi ci ent gri d i ntegrati on of renewables. Further, the bi d out pi peli ne for the awarded proj ects as on date remai ns strong at about 50 GW and thi s i n turn, i s expected to result i nto a recovery i n capaci ty addi ti on to about 11-12 GW i n FY2022.

ICRA expects the RE capaci ty to reach to about 160 GW by March 2025 wi th a combi nati on of standalone solar & wi nd proj ects and hybri d proj ects, wi th i ncremental capaci ty addi ti on of 74 GW duri ng Apri l 2020 – March 2025, wi th esti mated i nvestment of more than Rs. 4 lakh crore.

However, the reali sati on of thi s potenti al i s subj ect to resoluti on of executi on challenges and ti mely si gni ng of power purchase agreements (PPAs)/ power sale agreements (PSAs). Thi s apart, a sustai nable i mprovement i n the fi nanci al posi ti on of state di stri buti on uti li ti es (di scoms) remai ns cri ti cal, gi ven that counterparty credi t ri sk i s one of the promi nent ri sks for RE IPPs.

BSES LAUNCHES SOLARISE SAFDURJUNG & SOLARISE KARKARDOOMA PROJECTS TO BOOST ADOPTION OF ROOFTOP SOLAR IN DELHI SES Raj dhani Power Li mi ted (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Li mi ted (BYPL) are commi tted to aggressi vely promote roof-top solar i n South, West, East and Central Delhi . As a result, there are over 2800 roof-top solar i nstallati ons i n BSES areas wi th a i nstalled load of above 90 MWp. Taki ng thi s commi tment further, BSES di scoms have expanded the BSES Solar Ci ty Programs by launchi ng ‘ Solari se Safdurj ung” and ‘ Solari se Karkardooma’ .

The ambi ti ous di scom led and communi ty-based demand aggregati on programs were launched i n vi rtual ceremoni es i n presence of the RWAs from the two areas.

Thi s i ni ti ati ve, a pi lot, i s pursuant to a Statement of Intent (SoI) si gned by the US Department of State and Indi a’ s Mi ni stry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) under the US-Indi a Clean Energy Fi nance Task Force on November 15, 2018. Thi s i ni ti ati ve has been rolled-out i n partnershi p wi th SmartPower, a US based non profi t organi sati on focused on local communi ty campai gns to i ncrease consumer adopti on of clean energy, WeeGreen and Counci l on Energy Envi ronment and Water (CEEW), a leadi ng not-for profi t poli cy research organi sati on.

INTEREST TO INVEST IN THE INDIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR REMAINS STRONG, THOUGH EVOLVING RISKS COULD DAMPEN FLOW OF INVESTMENTS Interest to i nvest i n the Indi an renewable energy sector remai ns strong, accordi ng to a new report on Indi a’ s Clean Energy Investment Trends by the CEEW Centre for Energy Fi nance (CEEWCEF) and the Internati onal Energy Agency (IEA). 15. 3 GW solar PV (i ncludi ng solar-wi nd hybri d) was sancti oned i n competi ti ve tenders i n the fi rst half of 2020 overall, comparable to the capaci ty sancti oned over the full year 2019. Thi s was dri ven i n large part by the exerci se of an opti on i n June 2020 by two developers to expand allocati ons under SECI’ s manufacturi ng-li nked tender, capaci ti es under whi ch were i ni ti ally awarded i n December 2019.

However, equi ty i nvestor returns expectati ons rose from around 14 per cent i n the fi rst half of 2019 to 16-17 per cent over the second half of 2019 and the fi rst half of 2020. The hi gher ri sk returns expectati ons are a reflecti on of hei ghtened ri sk percepti ons stemmi ng from poli cy and market uncertai nty over potenti al contract renegoti ati on by off-takers and the potenti al i mposi ti on or extensi on of duti es on solar PV i mports, further exacerbated by supply chai n uncertai nti es caused by COVID-19 and delays i n the si gni ng of power purchase agreements (PPA) i n 2020.

IEA’S ENERGY TECHNOLOGY PERSPECTIVES 2020 REPORT IN INDIA The IEA held the Indi a launch of Energy Technology Perspecti ves 2020 duri ng a webi nar on 19 November 2020. The event was i ntroduced by Dr Fati h Bi rol, the Executi ve Di rector of the IEA and a keynote address was provi ded by Mr Prakash Javadekar, Honourable Mi ni ster of Envi ronment, Forest and Cli mate Change (and Mi ni ster of Heavy Industri es and Publi c Enterpri ses).

Dr Bi rol hi ghli ghted that Indi a has moved to the centre of global energy markets due to the Government’ s conti nued success and leadershi p i n energy access, energy effi ci ency, and renewable energy. Dr Bi rol also noted that clean energy transi ti ons need to happen i n all parts of the energy sector, whi ch wi ll requi re the development of low emi ssi ons technology soluti ons at commerci al scale. He commi tted the IEA’ s ongoi ng support for Indi a i n conti nui ng i ts move towards a sustai nable, secure and affordable energy system.

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T A N K SYSTEM CAN STERILIZE MEDICAL TOOLS USING SOLAR HEAT Autoclaves, the devi ces used to steri li ze medi cal tools i n hospi tals, cli ni cs, and doctors’ and denti sts’ offi ces, requi re a steady supply of pressuri zed steam at a temperature of about 125 degrees Celsi us. Thi s i s usually provi ded by electri cal or fuel-powered boi lers, but i n many rural areas, especi ally i n the developi ng world, power can be unreli able or unavai lable, and fuel i s expensi ve.

Now, a team of researchers at MIT and the Indi an Insti tute of Technology has come up wi th a way to generate the needed steam passi vely, usi ng j ust the power of sunli ght, wi th no need for fuel or electri ci ty. The devi ce, whi ch would requi re a solar collector of about 2 square meters (or yards) to power a typi cal small-cli ni c autoclave, could mai ntai n safe, steri le equi pment at low cost i n remote locati ons. A prototype was successfully tested i n Mumbai , Indi a

ALL-INDIA ENERGY DEMAND TO CONTINUE TO RECOVER IN 2HFY21 Indi a Rati ngs and Research (Ind-Ra) has publi shed the November 2020 edi ti on of i ts credi t news di gest on Indi a’ s power sector. The report hi ghli ghts the trends i n the power sector, wi th a focus on capaci ty addi ti on, generati on, transmi ssi on, merchant power, defi ci t, regulatory changes and the recent rati ng acti ons by Ind-Ra. In October 2020, the all-Indi a energy demand i ncreased 11. 5% yoy for the second consecuti ve month, after decli ni ng over March-August 2020 to 109. 6 bi lli on uni ts (September 2020: up 4. 0%). Thi s was led by an i mprovement i n the demand from the northern regi on (up 12. 9%; September 2020: up 6. 2%) and the western regi on (up 18. 3%; up 9. 2%), due to the further li fti ng of lockdown for certai n economi c acti vi ti es. Even though the energy demand has been recoveri ng, the demand over Apri lOctober 2020 came i n 6. 0% yoy lower (1QFY21: down 15. 9%; 1HFY21: down 8. 7%).

RENEWABLE POWER IS DEFYING THE COVID CRISIS WITH RECORD GROWTH THIS YEAR AND NEXT, IEA REPORT SAYS Renewables wi ll account for almost 90% of the i ncrease i n total power capaci ty worldwi de i n 2020 and wi ll accelerate i n 2021 to thei r fastest growth i n the last si x years, new IEA report saysRenewable power i s growi ng robustly around the world thi s year, contrasti ng wi th the sharp decli nes tri ggered by the Covi d-19 cri si s i n many other parts of the energy sector such as oi l, gas and coal, accordi ng to a report from the Internati onal Energy Agency. “Renewable power i s defyi ng the di ffi culti es caused by the pandemi c, showi ng robust growth whi le others fuels struggle, ” sai d Dr Fati h Bi rol, the IEA Executi ve Di rector. “The resi li ence and posi ti ve prospects of the sector are clearly reflected by conti nued strong appeti te from i nvestors – and the future looks even bri ghter wi th new capaci ty addi ti ons on course to set fresh records thi s year and next. ”

INDIAN AND BRITISH EXPERTS TO DISCUSS CLIMATE ACTION IN KEY SECTORS, AHEAD OF COP26 Speaki ng ahead of the four-day deli berati ons, Dr Aj ay Mathur, Di rector General, TERI sai d, “The i mmedi ate cli mate acti on pathways that the world needs by 2030 cannot be deli vered by governments alone. Ahead of COP26, we are happy to collaborate wi th the Bri ti sh Hi gh Commi ssi on, Indi a to bri ng together a wi de ci rcle of stakeholders, to di scuss systemi c transformati ons wi thi n key Indi an sectors. Thi s seri es of hi gh-level di alogues wi ll encourage synergy and bui ld momentum i n Indi a on cli mate resi li ence, ecosystems management, electri c mobi li ty, and green fi nance. ” The COP 26 Webi nar Seri es i s bei ng convened by TERI, i n the run up to i ts annual global conference, the World Sustai nable Development Summi t, scheduled from Feb 10-12, 2021.

In li ne wi th themes of COP26 to be held i n November 2021, the webi nar seri es i s part of the UK’ s i nclusi ve approach to i ts COP26 Presi dency, to ensure all voi ces are heard and to test i deas for acti on. It wi ll delve i nto the acti on needed to keep the Pari s process on and how to engage stakeholders i n thi s cli mate acti on agenda and bui ld a clean and resi li ent recovery from COVID-19 challenges.

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NOVEMBER 2020

POLICY DEBRIEF CENTRAL: POLICY UPDATES TARGET TO INCREASE INSTALLED RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPACITY HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 450 GW BY 2030: PM Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered inaugural address at 4th India Energy Forum CERAWeek through a video conference. The theme of this edition is “India’s Energy Future in a world of Change”. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said India is full of energy and its energy future is bright and secure.

He elaborated that in spite of various challenges like fall in energy demand by almost one third, prevailing price instability, impacted investment decisions, projected contraction in global energy demand over the next few years, India was projected to emerge as a leading energy consumer and is projected to nearly double its energy consumption over the long term. The Prime Minister pointed that India is the third largest and the fastest growing aviation market in terms of domestic aviation and Indian carriers are projected to increase their fleet size from 600 to 1200 by 2024.

IREDA SIGNS MOU WITH MNRE, SETS KEY TARGETS FOR 2020-21 Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India setting key targets for the year 2020-21. The MOU was signed by Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, Secretary, MNRE and Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & Managing Director, IREDA in the presence of senior officials from MNRE & IREDA. Government of India has set a revenue target of Rs. 2,406 crore under ‘Excellent’ rating along with various performance-related parameters such as Operating Profit as percentage of Revenue from Operation, PAT as a percentage of Average Net worth, Loan disbursement, Overdue loan etc. IREDA as on 2nd November 2020, has financed more than 2700 renewable energy projects in India with cumulative loan disbursements to the tune of Rs. 57,000 crore, and has supported green power capacity addition of 17,259 MW in the country.

MNRE TO CONDUCT AI WORKSHOP ON CREATING PLANT EFFICIENCIES FOR SOLAR SYSTEM The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will conduct a 5 days workshop on big data analytics and data science (ML/AI) in creating plant efficiencies for the solar system,14 Dec to 18 Dec,2020. Program date: 14th december to 18th december & 15th february to 19th february.

Program schedule: 10:30 am to 12:00 noon & 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Batch size max of 100 participants for better interactions. This Program is focused towards solar industry data and takes into account the audience from technical /Non – technical backgrounds.

MNRE TO CONDUCT SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME ON DESIGN OF SOLAR PV SYSTEMS MNRE has recently issued information on Skill development programme on design of Solar pv systems (online mode). National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) is responsible for conducting this programme. It is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India established to facilitate the Research & Development, Testing, Certification, and Skill Development activities in the field of solar energy technologies.No. of Seats available is 50.

NOVEMBER 2020

POLICY DEBRIEF MNRE INCREASES SOLAR CAPACITY BY 30.8 GW UNDER KUSUM SCHEME The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, (MNRE) recently passed an order regarding administrative approval of Pradhan Mantri Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyaan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme for scaling-up and expansion of PM-KUSUM Scheme to achieve enhanced solar capacity of 30.8 GW by 2022 with revised central financial support of Rs. 34,035 Cr. The revised targets under the three components of the Scheme are as follows: (i) Component-A: 10,000 MW of decentralized ground mounted grid-connected solar power plants of individual plant size up to 2 MW (ii) Component-B: Installation of 20 lakh standalone solar powered agricultural pumps of individual capacity up to 7.5 HP (iii) Component-C: Solarization of 15 lakh gridconnected agricultural pumps of individual pump capacity up to 7.5 HP including through feeder level solarisation.

POWER MINISTRY MANDATES ALL DISCOMS TO COMPLY ENERGY CONSERVATION ACT The Ministry of Power, Government of India issued notification S.O. 3445 (E) dated 28th September, 2020 to cover all the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) under the preview of the EC Act. As per the notification, which was formulated in consultation with Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) “All entities having issued distribution license by State/Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission under the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003)” are notified as Designated Consumers (DCs).

MNRE ISSUES SUMMARY OF OCTOBER 2020 The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has recently issued a monthly summary for the Cabinet for the month of October 2020. Some important events and developments that took place during the month are as follows: A total of 406.22 MW of Renewable Energy (RE) capacity was added during the month, taking the cumulative installed RE capacity to 89.63 GW as on October 31, 2020.

This includes 38.26 GW of Wind capacity, 36.32 GW of Solar capacity, 10.31 GW of Bio-power and 4.74 GW of Small Hydro capacity.

UNION CABINET APPROVES NATIONAL PROGRAM ON ACC BATTERY STORAGE; INVITES COMMENTS BY 14TH DECEMBER

MNRE ISSUES CONCEPT NOTE TO DEVELOP WIND AND WIND-SOLAR HYBRID PARKS The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently issued Concept Note on Development of Wind Parks/ Wind-Solar Hybrid Park.Ministry has also invited suggestions and comments by stakeholders by 28-112020. To speed up the installation of wind power projects, the scheme for “Development of Wind Parks/ Wind-Solar Hybrid Park” is proposed.

The Park will be a concentrated zone of development of Wind/ WindSolar Hybrid power projects and will provide an area that is well characterized, with proper infrastructure including evacuation facilities in place and where the risk of the projects can be minimized. Wind Energy Park will provide a plug and play solution (availability of land, transmission, necessary infrastructure and necessary approvals) to the investors for installing wind/ wind-solar power projects.

MNRE ISSUES AMENDMENT FOR KUSUM SCHEME The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued amendments in the implementation Guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyaan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme.

Amendments are as follows: For Component-A, Besides barren, fallow and agricultural land, solar power plants can also be installed on pasturelands and marshlands of farmers. To support small farmers, the solar power projects smaller than 500 kW may be allowed by States based on techno-commercial feasibility.

Union cabinet has recently accorded its in-principle approval for the “National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Storage” ACCProgramme).Regarding the same NITI Aayog has published (NITI Website) the first draft of the Model Bid Documents to initiate Stakeholders Consultation.All stakeholders are instructed to provide their written comments by or before 14 th December, 2020. The comments are to be sent in the enclosed format, in electronic and editable form. Stakeholder’s meet is scheduled at NITI Aayog, New Delhi on 18th December, 2020 at 11:00am through virtual mode and details will be shared separately. All those interested in attending the meet should send a line of confirmation latest by 16 th December 2020 by email.

INDIA’S INSTALLED RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPACITY INCREASED BY TWO AND HALF TIMES IN LAST SIX YEARS: PM Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-Invest 2020) through video conferencing. The summit is organized by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The theme for RE-Invest 2020 is ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’. The Prime Minister expressed happiness that India’s annual renewable energy capacity addition has been exceeding that of coal based thermal power since 2017.

For Component-B, MNRE will retain 33% of eligible service charges for nation-wide Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities. MNRE may release 50% of eligible service charges for the sanctioned quantity to State Implementation Agencies after placement of LoA for preparatory activities. For Component-C, For grid connected pumps used by Water User Associations (WUA)/Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO)/Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS) or for cluster based irrigation system, the CFA will be allowed for solarisation of pump capacity higher than 7.5 HP considering upto 5 HP capacity for each individual in the group.

NOVEMBER 2020

POLICY DEBRIEF NTPC PLANS TO ACHIEVE 1 LAKH MW BY 2025

PM MODI INAUGURATES 3RD GLOBAL REINVEST 2020 ON 26 NOVEMBER 2020

“NTPC is shaping up well for the future with its diversification plans and as a responsible corporate, NTPC is committed towards environment and the fast growing capacity addition in the renewable portfolio is testimony to the commitment”, said R K Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, New and Renewable Energy and Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the virtual 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-INVEST 2020), on 26 November 2020. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK & President COP-26; and the Minister of Energy, Utilities and Climate, Denmark will attend and speak in the inaugural session. It will also send signals to the global renewable community about India’s commitment to the development and scaling up of renewable energy to meet its energy requirements in a sustainable manner.

INDIA GETS 4500 CRORE INCENTIVE PLAN TO BOOST SOLAR MANUFACTURING The central government has approved a ‘production-linked incentive’ (PLI) plan in ten critical sectors to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities and exports under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. The PLI scheme will be implemented by the concerned ministries/departments and will be within the overall financial limits prescribed. The final proposals of PLI for individual sectors will be appraised by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) and approved by the Cabinet. Savings, if any, from one PLI scheme of an approved sector can be utilized to fund that of another approved sector by the Empowered Group of Secretaries. Any new sector for PLI will require fresh approval of the Cabinet.

STATE: POLICY UPDATES ANDHRA SETS 30 YEAR PPA FOR 10 GW OF SOLAR PROJECTS SUPPLYING POWER TO FARMERS The Government of Andhra Pradesh has approved proposals suggested by the Andhra Pradesh Green Energy Corporation Limited (APGECL) to develop 10 GW of solar power capacity in the state to supply 9 hours of daytime free power to the agriculture sector.

APGECL also proposed that Under the ‘change in law’ clause, the actual basic customs duty (BCD) and safeguard duty should be passed through tariff adjustment at ₹ 0.0055/kWh for every ₹ 100000 /MW. Also the tenure of the power purchase agreement (PPA) will be 30 years instead of 25 years, as the increase of the PPA tenure is expected to lower tariffs in the bidding process.

AHEAD OF 45TH YEARS OF COMPLETION, NTPC SAYS FULLY GEARED TO STEER TRANSFORMATION IN INDIA’S POWER SECTOR NTPC Ltd, the PSU under Ministry of Power, has reiterated its commitment to nation building and energizing India ahead of its Raising Day. India’s largest power producer, which commenced its purposeful journey on November 7, 1975 and has made a stellar contribution in lighting every nook and corner of the country, is fully geared to steer the next phase of growth and transformation in India’s power sector that offers immense opportunities.

EARNEST MONEY DEPOSIT & PERFORMANCE SECURITY WILL BE RELAXED FOR GOVT TENDERS: NIRMALA SITHARAMAN Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced support for construction and infrastructure, she stated that Earnest Money Deposit (EMO) and performance security requirements will be relaxed for government tenders. Performance security on contracts will be reduced to 3 percent instead of 5 to 10 percent. This would be extended to ongoing contracts which are free of disputes. It would also be extended to public sector enterprises, she said, adding states will also be encouraged to adopt the same. Earnest money deposit (EMD) will not be required for tenders and will be replaced by bid security declaration.

SECI AND OREDA COME TOGETHER TO DEVELOP AGRO-PHOTOVOLTAIC PROJECTS IN ODISHA The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Odisha to develop Agro-Photovoltaic projects in the state. The signing of the MoU was announced on Twitter by SECI. SECI will develop the grid-tied agro-photovoltaic projects in the coastal state in collaboration with the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA), According to the MoU, SECI stated that the agricultural land would be taken up under the ‘Annual Lease Model’ from interested farmers. The government will directly execute the lease deed for a period of 25 years with the farmers without involving any brokers, SECI added. This will directly benefit farmers as they can carry on farming activities on the leased agricultural land while earning a determined lease amount of Rs 20,000/acre annually from the government SECI informed.

NOVEMBER 2020

POLICY DEBRIEF STATE : REGULATORY UPDATES RERC RECEIVES PETITION BY DISCOMS FOR WAIVER OF FIXED CHARGES Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) recently issued order on non compliance of the provisions of the tariff order and general condition of supply issued by Discoms for waiver of fixed charges. As regards non compliance of the provisions of TCOS, Commission directs that provisions of TCOS should be strictly followed by the Discoms. If any particular consumer has specific grievance regarding non compliance of TCOS then appropriate grievance redressal mechanism should be invoked by him and the procedure for grievance redressal should be followed. The Discoms should ensure strict compliance of Regulations/ TCOS at sub division level. Twelve Discoms filed a petition against Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. and Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. Commission concluded that the Petitions along with other connected applications are disposed of with no order as to cost.

CERC INVITES PROPOSAL FROM CONSULTANTS FOR DETAILED STUDY OF SOLAR PV PROJECTS The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has decided to engage a consulting agency to conduct a detailed study on Solar thermal and Solar PV projects. Objective of the Study is to analyze the useful life and capacity utilization factor (CUF) of Solar Thermal and Solar PV technologies.The last day for submission of the proposal and seeking any clarification is15 December, 2020 upto 17.00 hrs. Scope of work includes Study, analyse and suggest the useful life for solar thermal power projects based on international and national experience for life cycle analysis. The study must cover the type of technologies such as ‘Parabolic trough’, ‘Power Tower’, Linear Fresnel or any other technology adopted by solar thermal developers in India and globally.

RERC PASSES FINAL ORDER ON REGULATIONS OF TARIFF DETERMINATION FROM RE SOURCES Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) recently In the matter of Memo on Statement of objects & reasons and consideration of Comments/ Suggestions, received from various stakeholder for Tariff Determination from Renewable Energy Sources Regulations, 2020. The Commission accepts the suggestions from the stakeholders that clarity is required about the method applicable for determination of Average Annual Demand. RIL requested to dissociate the relation between Average Annual Demand and ‘Maximum Permissible renewable energy capacity’ specified for captive generating plants.Therefore, the Commission has decided to revisit the proposed definition of Average Annual Demand from these Regulations.

TAMILNADU ISSUES APPC RATE FOR FY 2020-21 Tamilnadu Electricity regulatory commission (TNERC) recently passed a notification that the average power purchase cost (APPC) for the financial year 2020-21 as INR 4.37/unit. TNERC has also passed an order that the power purchase cost payable by TANGEDCO to NCES generators is INR 4.37/unit or 75% of the preferential tariff fixed by the Commission to that category / sub category of NCES generators.

TNERC has increased the APPC cost by INR 0.3/unit for FY 2020-21 as compared to INR 4.097/kWh in FY 2019-20

TELANGANA FINALIZES DEMAND-SIDE MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION LICENSEES The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) has recently released the final regulations for the demand-side management (DSM) initiatives of distribution licensees (DISCOMS).It is designed to encourage consumers to change their electricity consumption patterns and level of electricity demand which aims to help consumers use electricity more efficiently. DISCOMs can also plan their costs and ways of recovering it through tariffs or any other method. TSERC would establish DSM targets for each DISCOM in the state based on the percentage reductions in load growth, savings in kW, kWh, and savings as a percent of total resources to meet the load, according to the framework.DSM is anticipated to help grid operators improve the power grid’s efficiency and stability by flattening the electricity load curve.

MERC APPROVES COMPENSATION OF SAFEGUARD DUTY UNDER CHANGE IN LAW Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) recently passed an order on approval of “Change in Law” and mechanism for grant of an appropriate adjustment/ compensation to offset financial/ commercial impact of change in law events on account of imposition of safeguard duty on solar cells/modules. The Commission after analysing passed an order stating that the Petitioners are eligible for claiming compensation on account of imposition of Safeguard Duty (including additional GST) under Change in Law provisions of PPA for their individual total capacity of 13.68 MW of Solar module/panel post commissioning of the project. It further added that they must provide undertaking that all modules installed at all project sites for supplying power to MSEDCL have been imported from the Country/ies which are subjected to Safeguard Duty.

UTTAR PRADESH REGULATOR ACCEPTS DELAY IN IMPLEMENTING FORECASTING RULES DUE TO COVID-19 The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) has issued an order accepting delays by the state load dispatch center (SLDC) in implementing its procedures for forecasting, scheduling, and deviation settlement due to the difficulties caused by the Covid 19. The Commission has asked the SLDC State Load Despatch Centre to enforce the regulations from 14-10-2020. In case of errors are regulated through deviation settlement mechanisms the forecasting and scheduling of RE power and compensation to be paid to electricity grid infrastructure providers.

NOVEMBER 2020

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