SolarQuarter Magazine April 2018

Special Focus- Storage and Smart Solar Technologies

www.solarquarter.com

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Volume 08. l Issue 4

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April 2018

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Index

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India’s Most Read Solar Energy Magazine

To book your space in the upcoming issue, please contact: Vikas Khadtale / Vipul Gulati T: +91 + 8850567539 / 9920917193  E: bd@firstviewgroup.com

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Indian News

K

anoda Energy commissions rooftop solar on Raj Bhawan, Jammu Kanoda Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. (“Kanoda”), today announced the commissioning of its 83 kW solar rooftop plant on Raj Bhawan (Governor’s House), Jammu in the State of Jammu & Kashmir. The site was visited by Hon’able President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind, honorary dignitaries of the Govt. Press, vendor partners and employees of the Company.

As per the bid document, the companies with a net worth

Korea, Thailand and Saudi Arabia. Image: Hanwha

of Rs 80 crore and a turnover of Rs 200 crore are eligible

India has launched an anti-dumping investigation into

for bidding.

imports of EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) encapsulant

Central Bank of India had filed a petition with the New

material for solar modules from China, Malaysia, South

Delhi bench of National Company Law Tribunal under

Korea, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.

the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to recover the borrowing it had extended to Moser Baer Solar. Thereafter, in November last year, the tribunal had come out with an order for insolvency proceedings.

The action from the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) came in response to a petition filed by India-based integrated PV manufacturer Renewsys India, the renewable energy arm of conglomerate, Enpee Group.

uses modules explicitly manufactured in India. The 83 kW

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solar rooftop plant makes use of 252 nos. of 330 Wp PV

Opens a best in class digital power training institute to train

domestic producers, Vishakha Renewables and Allied

modules by Sova Solar and 1 no. of 50 kW inverter and

the workforce of the future for a greener and smarter grid

Glasses.

33 kW inverter, each by Sungrow. The plant is expected to

ABB today inaugurated an innovative microgrid solution at

The period of investigation is from 1 October 2016 to 30

The plant promotes the ‘Make in India’ movement and

generate average 1,36,120 units per year. The project was

BB commissions India’s first industrial solar microgrid

DGAD noted that Renewsys is the largest producer of EVA sheets in India and the petition was backed by two other

its Vadodora manufacturing facility in Gujarat, India. This

September 2017. However, the financial years 2014/15,

executed under the leadership of Mr. Sohel Patel, Technical

is the company’s largest facility in India, with over 3,000

2015/16 and 2016/17 will also be considered in order to

Director – Kanoda in a record time of 7 days with a strong

employees and among ABB’s biggest manufacturing hubs

analyse whether there has been injury to the domestic

support from Jammu & Kashmir Energy Development

in the world.

industry.

Agency (“JAKEDA”).

The microgrid is the first of its kind to be installed at a

Dr. Kinjal Jani, MD of Kanoda, said: “This one was a

manufacturing campus in India, and will harness the area’s

prestigious project and extremely time bound. We are

abundant solar energy supply to help the expanding

proud of the team pulling it off with such grace. We knew

factory meet its growing electricity needs, while lowering

we had a maximum of a week to execute this project

its carbon footprint.

New Delhi says matter is sub judice; probe carried out as

right from the design. We encountered challenges that constricted this short span of time even more. Being a Raj Bhawan, you have to acknowledge the constraints that may come with it. After all, it is a high profile project. But the team pulled it all off in time, with precision and grace.

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ndia probes dumping of EVA sheets for solar modules by 5 nations

We will keep delivering projects with uncompromising

India has initiated a probe into the alleged dumping of EVA

quality. Our commitment keeps us at par.”

sheets used in solar cell industry, imported from China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand.

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ndia’s safeguard measure on imported solar cells, modules needs more evidence

The

World

Trade

Organization

(WTO)

Safeguards

Committee Meeting held on April 23 conducted the first hearing into India’s safeguard measures on imported solar

The investigation on imports of ‘Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) sheets for solar modules’ is carried out by the Directorate General of Antidumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), which is an arm of the commerce ministry.

that safeguard measures should only be imposed under exceptional circumstances, particularly if the imports causing problems come predominantly from one source.

The EU said added that India’s injury analysis on imported solar cells is inconclusive and its causal analysis doubtful; and said that injury to other domestic producers must be assessed. It further outlined that India’s actions will create serious domestic shortages and even risk the environment.

Therefore, the government must take conclusive and responsible action.

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oser Baer Solar assets on block, bids close on May 26

The resolution professional for Moser Baer Solar has invited bids for assets of the renewable energy company that owes

per WTO rules The European Union and Japan have questioned the preliminary safeguard duties of 70 per cent on imported solar cells recommended by the Directorate General of Safeguards in India, adding to the on-going debate on the appropriateness of the duties.

“In a meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Safeguards Committee on Monday, the EU and Japan criticised the conduct of the investigations and the initial findings leading to the proposed safeguard duties on solar cells in India. New Delhi, however, stated that it follows

In the probe, the directorate would determine the

WTO rules and regulations on the imposition of safeguard

existence, degree and effect of the dumped products on

measures,” a Geneva-based trade official told BusinessLine.

the domestic industry.

PV cells and modules coming from China PR and Malaysia.

However, at the meeting, the European Union (EU) stated

S

olar cell imports: EU, Japan question safeguard duties recommended by India

F

inancial & Assorted Concessions: Sops for local production in new solar policy

In a move that could brighten the prospect for domestic solar equipment manufacturers, who are in the throes of fighting cheaper Chinese imports, the government is set to finalise a comprehensive solar manufacturing policy by the end of July. The policy will seek to incentivise local production of inputs (cells, ingots, wafers and polysilicons) to create a complete ecosystem for end-toend manufacturing of solar panels, people close to the

The EU alleged that India’s injury analysis on imported solar cells was inconclusive and its causal analysis doubtful.

It added that India’s actions would create serious domestic shortages and even risk the environment and urged the country from imposing any definitive measure.

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ndia’s first solar-powered island: Diu is setting an example for the rest of the country

It’s a hot afternoon in Diu. The sleepy island, with just over 50,000 people, is among the top 10 least populated districts in India. And it shows. The beaches are clean and

development told FE. Most of these products are currently

quiet. Waterfront promenades are deserted — so are the

imported. The policy proposes a direct financial support of

markets. Even booze shops, which get droves of weekend

more than Rs 11,000 crore and an indirect support by way

visitors from dry Gujarat next-door, are desolate on a

of assorted concessions.

Wednesday. But Diu is much more than that — it is India’s

According to the sources, the Ministry of New and

first solar-powered island.

Renewable energy (MNRE) has sought an additional

The secret lies in Fudam where a barren stretch of land

budgetary approval from the Ministry of Finance to

soon gives way to a silvery expanse. It is not the sea. It is

Among the lenders are Punjab National Bank (Rs 401.65

provide capital subsidy, interest subvention and funding

layer upon layer of solar panels glinting in the sunlight.

crore), State Bank of India (Rs 276.87 crore), Central Bank

for technology upgrade under an integrated solar

This is Diu’s 9 MW solar park, spread over 50 acres. The

of India (Rs 117.08 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 77.69

manufacturing policy.

solar park, built in two phases since 2016 and at a cost

Rs 2,244 crore to eight lenders as on March 8.

crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 223.02 crore), Exim Bank (Rs 228.20 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 69.24 crore) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 849.94 crore).

“Invitation for submitting resolution plan has been invited today with the last day for submission being after a month (May 26),” resolution professional Arvind Garg told DNA Money.

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of Rs 62.48 crore, is helping the district of Diu, part of the

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ndia launches anti-dumping investigation into imports of EVA sheets for PV modules

Daman & Diu Union territory, get on the green map of the

India has launched an anti-dumping investigation into

requirements.

country. From importing all the electricity it needed from Gujarat, Diu now generates power to meet all its day-time needs. Solar now meets close to 30% of its daily electricity

imports of EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) encapsulant material for solar modules from China, Malaysia, South

Solar Quarter • April 2018 6

CONSECUTIVE YEARS

2017

2016

2015

SBP Series

MT Series , DNS Series

ES Series

AC-coupled Retrofit

On-grid Inverters

Hybrid Inverter

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 7

International News

G

oodWe distinguished with TÜV Rheinland All Quality Matters Award for three consecutive years

MW may require up to 1 million yuan per year for cleaning

their infrastructure, lay the foundation for additional

maintenance. This has further inspired Znshine Solar to

energy-saving applications, and ultimately diversify their

increase its research and development momentum for

economies away from dependence on oil and gas.

GoodWe has been recognized as the winner of the “All

S

Quality Matters” award for its innovative energy storage inverter--SBP series. TÜV Rheinland, the great provider of technical services worldwide, presented the awards at the 2018 Solar Congress. GoodWe was also the winner of last 2 consecutive years’ awards of the same event with its ES, DNS and MT series inverters.

The “All Quality Matters “ Solar Congress and Award established by TUV Rheinland four years ago, has become a well-known brand and a barometer of trends in the PV industry. The annual “All Quality Matters” Award, with its objective and credible evaluation procedures and authoritative and neutral evaluation body, has become the top arena for competition among manufacturers of PV modules, inverters, energy storage system and components. Wining the “All Quality Matters” Award means that products are of an excellent quality. This year’s awards were presented to companies with excellent performance and significant contributions in different aspects of the PV industry.

Being the world’s first AC-coupled battery storage retrofit solution with UPS function for both single-phase and three-phase system, the GoodWe SBP series has received this year’s coveted trophy for 3 years running. Compatible with most brands of single phase on-grid inverters, GoodWE’s SBP series inverters manage the PV yield of a system allowing generated electricity to be directed within the home, fed to the grid or used to charge battery storage devices. These characteristics of inverters allow users to store surplus power and sell it back to the grid when it is needed while its UPS function decreases the automatic switchover time of less than 10 milliseconds.

With years of experience and significant investments, GoodWe can offer a comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions for residential, commercial and utility scale PV systems. Holding the innovation as its main motto GoodWe continues to focus on product quality and

graphene self-cleaning modules.

unFunder Announces Fundraising and Investing Results Showing Catalytic Capital and Energy Access Could Hold the Key for Investors Seeking Impact

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lsoEnergy Partners with Survey Digital for Sales, Installations, and Support in EMEA Region For AlsoEnergy, the top selling independent monitoring provider for commercial PV in North America, this

More than a billion people still live without access to

partnership is an opportunity to extend international

electricity, presenting a challenge to socioeconomic

coverage for sales and support.

development across low- and middle-income countries.

While distributed off-grid solar systems have been identified as a solution, a key barrier to wide-scale deployment is adequate financing. SunFunder was founded to develop viable investment structures and aggregate investor capital for solar assets in emerging economies.

Reporting on its latest efforts, SunFunder announced it has successfully leveraged early catalytic capital from Facebook, the DOEN Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation to unlock other investors and raise more than $62 million in debt funds. SunFunder has maintained 100 percent ontime debt servicing to investors to date since starting in 2012, demonstrating that the energy access sector is a viable investment opportunity for impact and institutional investors.

AlsoEnergy, a leading provider of monitoring and SCADA systems for solar PV, is announcing a partnership with Survey Digital, a company specializing in sales, installation & commissioning, and maintenance for solar inverters.

Survey Digital has been designated as a certified sales agent and service provider for AlsoEnergy in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

For AlsoEnergy, the top selling independent monitoring provider for commercial PV in North America, this partnership is an opportunity to extend international coverage for sales and support. AlsoEnergy has expanded international offerings over the past several years and the Survey Digital partnership will enable further market penetration in the EMEA region, providing localized sales and services for the AlsoEnergy product line. Survey Digital will also assume frontline support service for the existing AlsoEnergy install base in the EMEA region.

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carbon price in Canada could help cut emissions by 90 million tonnes by 2022 New analysis from the Canadian Government has claimed that setting a nationwide carbon price could help cut emissions while maintaining a strong economy.

The research, conducted by Environment and Climate Change Canada, found that making businesses pay a price for polluting could help reduce carbon emissions between 80-90 million tonnes by 2022; the equivalent of taking

N

RG Systems and Lasser Eólica Partner to Offer Lattice Tower Solutions in Europe, North Africa and Middle East

NRG Systems, which has been a major force in the wind resource assessment industry for over 35 years, is best known for its turnkey tubular tilt-up towers. However, as wind turbines continue to grow in scale, so does the demand for lattice tower systems, which excel at capturing

providing best in class with an in-house R&D team of 200

between 23 and 26 million cars off the road.

people, technical ability and an advanced quality control

Canada’s annual projected GDP growth of 2 percent would

tubular towers are not an option.

system.

also be unaffected by the carbon price; instead, it could

Thanks to NRG’s partnership with Lasser Eólica, the

help spur investments in the booming clean economy.

Z

hub height measurements greater than 80 meters, when

company is now able to offer complete lattice tower

nshine Solar Launches Graphene-coating PV Series to Accelerate Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement

The agency highlighted how four Canadian provinces

solutions to customers in regions where this method of

have already set some kind of pricing pollution and these

wind resource assessment is preferred. These systems

also had the strongest economic growth. The provinces,

include a Lasser Eólica-manufactured lattice tower as well

Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, have all

as NRG sensors and data logger. Lasser will provide project

decided to use the revenues to provide tax cuts, rebates

support from development through operation for lattice

Znshine Solar, the largest global photovoltaic (PV)

and clean growth investments. These innovations include

tower systems, as well as installation support for NRG

solutions supplier on China’s National Equities Exchange

retrofitting homes to make them more energy efficient and

tubular tower systems in Europe, North Africa, and the

and Quotations (NEEQ), held the launch of G12 evolution

electric or hydrogen public transport.

Middle East.

and double-glass graphene module.

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C

Ordinary module glass(Left one) VS Znshine graphene-

Smart grid infrastructure development is accelerating in

Clenergy’s self-developed EzTracker-M2 Solar Tracker beat

the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, showing

all the competitors in a bid in Thailand, winning a big order

strong potential in the near-to-medium term. In the Gulf

of 5 MW for Clenergy.

era - Znshine Graphene Series Unveiling in Beijing, China and officially introduced the G12 graphene series 12-busbar graphene module, 5-busbar graphene module

coating glass(Right one) (Water sprayed under the same dust pollution, graphene-coating glass’s “self-cleaning” ability is significantly stronger) According to reports, the application of graphene film layer not only increases the light transmission performance of the glass itself, but also the Graphene-coating modules have an attractive investment return due to their superb hydrophilicity. At present, solar PV utilities are using regular manual cleaning methods to clean the surface of photovoltaic panels. This type of cleaning method is difficult to unify the operating specifications, and it is likely to cause problems such as cracking of the PV cell and residual water stains on the surface of the module.

The high labor cost increases the operational burden. In terms of cleaning costs, according to industry estimates, a photovoltaic power plant with an installed capacity of 50

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iddle East & North Africa Smart Grid Market 2018-2027

states, high incomes, high electricity consumption, and small populations are driving smart meter deployments.

Elsewhere in the region, the prevalence of high nontechnical losses and poor energy efficiency are creating positive smart grid business cases. Also, extensive solar power development and grid interconnections across the MENA region are requiring rapid grid modernization.

Smart grid investment in the MENA region will largely be a state-driven process, owing to government control of nearly all power sector activity. This creates both opportunities and challenges. Gulf governments have ample cash on hand and exhibit a strong desire to modernize their countries and their economies. Smart grid deployments offer these countries an excellent opportunity to modernize

lenergy wins bid for 5 MW solar tracker in Thailand

Featured with design of precision and premium quality, Clenergy’s self-developed EzTracker-M2 Solar Tracker beat all the competitors in a bid in Thailand, winning a big order of 5 MW for Clenergy. For the 1st quarter of 2018, Clenergy has achieved a total sale of 11 MW Solar Tracker in Thailand.

This order is for a project located in Thailand’s northeast area—Udon Thaini. The climate there is dry and hot, which promises abundant solar resource. To provide the best solution that is with high quality ground mount and high cost efficiency, Clenergy has studied all the aspects of this project and eventually chosen EzTracker-M2 to be used for this project.

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Solar SolarQuarter Quarter• •March April 2018 9

In Conversation “An exercise was conducted by CEA which yielded about Rs. 1 per unit as the additional financial implication� improvements in terms of policy to overcome them?

Mr. Pankaj Batra Member (Planning), Central Electricity Authority

The challenge faced by utilities are generic in nature, as most of the States Utilities are incurring financial losses, which inhibits them in developing the transmission and distribution system fully. In this respect, the Central Government has taken a number of measures through Saubhagya Scheme, to provide last mile connectivity. The Government of India has also, through the UDAY Scheme, incentivised State Utilities to improve their operational financial performance. The IPDS and DDUGJY Schemes

Views on the progress of Solar Energy Sector in India. Will India be able to achieve the set target?

The solar energy sector in India is expanding rapidly. Since the time solar power is being set up through competitive bidding, prices have been falling sharply with each passing year. From rate of about Rs.11 per unit they have dropped to as low as Rs.2.44 per unit in Bhadla, MP. If we consider the pure cost of energy, it is cheaper than any other form of energy, including pit head based coal power plants.

of Government of India, help distribution utilities in improving their urban and rural infrastructure respectively, by provision of some funds.

Tracing the technological progress of Energy storage in India, could the next big technological revolution be in the storage of solar energy? (A brief note on the Indian Storage Industry)

However, there is a financial implication in addition to

In order to balance the variations of active power

the pure cost of solar power, in the sense that stand-by

generation from intermittent type of Renewable Energy

generation has to be kept, to take care of the period when

sources of energy like wind and solar power, balancing

solar power is not available after sun set. There is also a

power needs to be available for frequency stability in the

financial implication, when clouds pass by and cause rapid

Grid. This can either be done by easily varying generation

fluctuations of solar power, which, in turn, causes deviation

sources, like hydro and gas-based generation, or by energy

from schedule beyond the limits of CERC in the Deviation

storage devices. Energy storage devices which have been

Settlement Mechanism, causing penalties. Moreover, the

existing since long time in India, are hydro power plants

transmission and distribution system is not fully utilised

with storage or pondage capabilities. These plants store

and the cost of the concerned transmission system for

water in the form of energy, to be used, as and when

evacuation of this power has to be borne by a lesser

required. In addition, pumped storage plants have been

number of electricity units generated from solar power.

existing in India since over two decades. New pumped

An exercise was conducted by CEA which yielded about Rs. 1 per unit as the additional financial implication. Even after accounting for this additional financial implication, it still turns out that power from solar power would be cheaper than the cost of energy from pit head based coal power plants, considering the levelized cost of electricity.

I, therefore, feel that for additional power requirements, States would like to go for solar power and, India will be able to achieve the set targets.

How is CEA supporting the growth of solar energy sector in India?

CEA conducts a number of studies to study integration of variable renewable energy generation from intermittent sources of energy like solar and wind power to the Grid.

The CEA had also calculated the financial implications in respect of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, the two States with the maximum renewable energy, and found that the financial implication of this variability was about Rs. 1 per unit, at about 30% renewable penetration. In addition, CEA has also recommended demand response, including reliable supply power and interruptible supply power, and measures for optimising transmission and distribution assets, with the use of energy storage devices, as well as flexible AC transmission system devices and phase shifting transformers.

Smart meters will help provide demand

response, to tackle the variability of solar and wind power.

What are the challenges faced by the utilities in India and what

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storage plants are also coming up, like the 1000 MW plant at Tehri in Uttarakhand and 1000 MW plant in Turga in West Bengal. These can use excess energy from the Grid to pump up water to the upper reservoir and use this water for generating energy at times of deficit in Grid. The latest energy storage devices, which are very fast developing,

CEA conducts a number of studies to study integration of variable renewable energy generation from intermittent sources of energy like solar and wind power to the Grid.

The CEA had also calculated the financial implications in respect of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, the two States with the maximum renewable energy, and found that the financial implication of this variability was about Rs. 1 per unit, at about 30% renewable penetration.

New pumped storage plants are also coming up, like the 1000 MW plant at Tehri in Uttarakhand and 1000 MW plant in Turga in West Bengal.

are the electrochemical types, namely, batteries. There are various types of batteries in the market, but the one which is fast becoming very popular are the Lithium ion batteries.

Prices of these batteries have dropped by 70% from 2010 to 2017, and continue to be dropping. In a recent bid in Philippines, Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings bid for solar PV + battery, for supply of 24x7 power, at Indian equivalent of Rs.3.71 per unit, which is cheaper than the cheapest generation available in India at present i.e. power from pit-head based coal power plant. If this is the shape of things to come, there is no doubt that electro-chemical storage will revolutionise the power sector. If this trend of price drop continues, then in the next 50 to 60 years, solar power plus battery alone would be able to supply the complete power, globally.

How competitive bidding has impacted the growth of the solar sector?

Competitive bidding has lowered the tariff of solar power rapidly. This has helped increase the demand for solar power to a large extent. Many States are going in for solar power on a large scale. Telangana has also started supply of power for agriculture during the day time, when higher amount of solar power is available.

Competitive bidding has lowered the tariff of solar power rapidly. This has helped increase the demand for solar power to a large extent. Many States are going in for solar power on a large scale. Telangana has also started supply of power for agriculture during the day time, when higher amount of solar power is available.

Solar Quarter • April 2018 10

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 11

In Conversation “ICL, Invested more than 30.0 crores for developing these technologies”

Mr. Paramjeet Singh Director ( Engg & Mrkt ) International Coil Ltd.

Since, ICL is known for launching Innovative solutions to

scale on Innovation and to harvest the outputs which were

the end users, accordingly ICL recently cracked the code of

sown by our preachers. So it is our moral responsibility for

capital cost of installing Solar Power plant in ponds, lakes.

providing the solutions, not only within our country, but

The cost works out to be almost similar as ground mounted

to the entire world. Fortunately the environment going on

Solar Power Plant, resulting into enormous advantages over

in the county is the most appropriate for implementing

ground mounted Solar Plants. ICL recently won India 1st

Innovative solutions.

order of 5.0 MW Floating Solar Power Plant for WBPDCL. This technology is launched along with strategic alliance with Ciel & Terre, France.

Let’s begin with a glimpse of your company’s presence and offerings in India?

International Coil Ltd (ICL) is well known company in the field of providing highly energy efficient solutions in the field of Heat Transfer, Cold Storages, carbon capture, Non electric Air-Conditioning and Renewable Energy solutions.

ICL, supplied No Water cooling solutions to power generation for more than 30,000 MW. Cold storages, resulting into millions of tons of food preservation.

What have been some of the recent developments at your organisation?

During last 3 years ICL, did extensive research into development of Renewable Energy solutions by forming Joint Ventures with Natural Power Concept USA, for Pitre Auger Turbine (PAT), harnessing power from flowing water in rivers and canals. This project is encouraged by Honourable Chief minister of Haryana state, for capturing power from flowing water, due to large canal network in Haryana, and many other state governments following the same.

ICL also formed Joint venture with Regreen Technologies USA, for the most practical and efficient solution of converting Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to Fuel, providing solution to the most complex problem of MSW in our country. Many contracts have already been signed for the implementation of these projects, taking operational shape in the year 2018.

What are your growth plans for the Indian market? What are the milestones you wish to achieve by the end of this fiscal?

ICL’s, year 2018 starts with good amount of projects in hand of the present technologies and 250 MW Solar Power Projects are in the pipe line to be conducted in this year, both on EPC & PPA mode. Many International organisations are approaching us with attractive funding options for execution of such projects on the long run. Our target is to exceed Rs. 500.0 crore top line figure for the current year, followed by CAGR of 40 % till next 5 years.

What have been the latest trends in demand for your products & services in India? Where do you see the next demand growth coming from? waste to Air-Conditioning especially world’s largest project for Cyber City gurgaon, operating with gas based power plant, expansion of such projects was standstill during last few years due to non availability of gas at reasonable rates.

Since, now gas is available in abundance, accordingly such projects are multiplying at a very fast pace. ICL evolves as most eligible company in the industry for such Combined Heat & Power (CHP) projects.

Simultaneously, due to drastic tenfold increase in demand of Renewable solution, ICL has diversified on a larger way towards the alternative energy solutions. And to take active participation is growth pattern of our country with vision US$ 5.0 Trillion economy 2025. This meticulous trend places our country on the fastest growing country in the

these technologies, process of adding many IP rights

Innovative solutions.

and technology patents to working conditions in Indian

Rate of fuel derived from MSW & Bio Mass. Results are encouraging and same shall be made available in the market soon.

Solutions developed are large benefits to Indian Industry for effectively converting Bio mass such as Rice Straws, wheat straws, Cotton stalks, corn cobs etc, to convert the same to Green coal, drastically increasing the Energy Density and average calorific value of 24 MJ/Kg. This shall replace coal usage in thermal power plants, reduce Sulphur emissions, freedom from import of fuel, resulting into larger savings.

Anything else you would like to add for our readers.

for Cyber City gurgaon, operating with gas based power plant, expansion of such projects was

years due to non availability of gas at reasonable rates.

ICL also working in strategic alliance with University of Utah (UV), with Dr. Sheldon Hansen for development of technology “Hit mix” to drastically enhance the Heat Rate of fuel derived from MSW & Bio Mass. Results are encouraging and same shall

market soon.

on its pace.

Since inception of civilization, India had been country full of Research, Innovation, modernisation and knowledgeable.

Even, people in west have so high recognition & respect towards our Bhartiya Vedas.

St to mention : Today whole world realised, that 1 Hour of sunlight can give energy to entire earth for 1 year. Yet, Indian mythology & tradition of “Surya Namaskar” exists since eras.

So, It’s everlasting moment of celebration for us to clean environment.

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world’s largest project

Yes, it’s quite evident that era of Indian growth gets back

Namaskar our natural resources and to enjoy energy in

Tell us a bit about the recent technology advancements in your sector?

Conditioning especially

be made available in the

environment.

technology “Hit mix” to drastically enhance the Heat

projects on waste to Air-

After successfully commissioning of many projects on

world, encouraging business houses to work more on

Utah (UV), with Dr. Sheldon Hansen for development of

commissioning of many

standstill during last few

ICL, Invested more than 30.0 crores for developing

ICL also working in strategic alliance with University of

After successfully

Further, Indian recognition have gained tremendous

Indian recognition have gained tremendous respect worldwide, especially during ongoing 21st century, this encourages us to enhance our position on global scale on Innovation

respect worldwide, especially during ongoing 21st century, this encourages us to enhance our position on global

Solar Quarter • April 2018 12

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 13

In Conversation “goals of SolarMaxx revolve around the vision of a sustainable world”

Mr. Saurabh

large utility scale and rooftop projects. Which of these areas do you find more attractive and why?

Bhandari

Solar sector has become extremely competitive in India

Founder & CEO,

due to the fact that it has attracted enormous attention

SolarMaxx

from the Govt., investors, entrepreneurs and consumers.

We are essentially a manufacturer and then an EPC services provider. Even though both the verticals operate independently, we do leverage synergies. It is difficult to pick out one out of the two as favourite as both require

Let’s begin with a glimpse of your company’s offerings and presence in India?

equal amount of focus. We use SolarMaxx modules in our EPC projects as we are confident of our own quality and performance. This also ensures that we continuously focus on improving our product output. Using our own

SolarMaxx, established in 2008, is a manufacturer and

manufactured modules in our projects gives us the comfort

supplier of Solar PV Modules and Solar Water Heating

of offering long terms product warranties and generation

and is a proud leader in its regional market of Rajasthan.

guarantees. This acts as an added advantage to our clients

Our primary focus is to produce quality product whether

as they receive maximum support at reasonable price.

it is Solar PV or Solar Water Heating. Needless to say our products conform to global IEC standards and are proven to withstand the varied climatic condition of the Indian market that remains our primary focus market too.

We also introduced Integrated Solar Street Lights that are completely made in India. These lights are equipped with latest Lithium Ion batteries and MPPT charging mechanism and have generated quite an interest in the domestic market. With increased focus on automation of our manufacturing processes, we have been able to offer our products promptly not only to cater the needs of the consumers in Rajasthan but we have also taken keen interest in spreading our wings in neighbouring states.

Our EPC vertical has completed rooftop projects in Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim in the past few months.

Quality, Costs and Performance are key concerns for Indian consumers and EPC companies.

How would you like to address these issues for your offerings in India?

We are increasingly looking at automation in our production processes to avoid human intervention as much as possible. This has definitely led to increased “quality” output of modules. Not only is the wastage reduced but also the consistency has increased. This has also led to slight reduction in cost which has made us more competitive. We have always focused on efficiency and are increasingly producting higher wattage modules that helps in overall reduction of cost at a project level. With use of high quality certified raw material, especially PID resistant cells, our performance is guaranteed for 25 years as per the industry norms. We believe price, performance and prompt delivery are our strengths.

What differentiates your company’s offerings from your peers?

Can you talk about your plans to scale up your manufacturing capacity? Are your plans being influenced by the potential for safeguard and anti-dumping duties?

Our plans are fairly independent of the currently discussed safeguard and anti dumping duties. India has a huge potential for Solar power both at smaller rooftop as well as large multi utility scale levels. Govt. plans to install 100GW of Solar Power by 2022 and with their focus on Make in India, we are bullish of this opportunity of scaling up as a solar panel manufacturer in India. We intend to double our production capacity this year and are also looking at setting up another manufacturing facility within India but at a different location to get closer to consumers.

While we plan to increase our manufacturing base, we are also equally focused on expanding our services from playing the role of an EPC provider to becoming a project developer and an investor ourselves.

What are your thoughts of the future of rooftop solar in India?

What are your plans there?

Govt. of India has set a solar installation target of 100GW by the year 2022. 40GW out of this 100GW is planned for rooftops. I believe Rooftop Solar is an excellent solution for India’s power problems. Rooftop Solar in India is bound to grow at a high rate especially with increased awareness of the associated benefits. Businesses and institutions have understood the economics of Solar rooftop and have started to deploy solar panels on their factory sheds and office roofs. Subsidies have helped making rooftop solar attractive to residential users. It is to be seen how they may react once the subsidies are over, but the overall scenario looks exciting.

There are some obvious challenges. DISCOMS are not particularly in favour of implementing or continuing net metering scheme as they directly affect their revenue.

We focus on sourcing of extremely high quality raw

RESCO model especially in the private sector is still

material from some of the most renowned brands globally.

considered risky.

We operate as a boutique production house with strong

As a module manufacturer, we are aggressively looking

focus on quality. Our relatively smaller size helps us keep our cost overheads low without compromising on the quality of our product. With increased automation in production, we keep our product offering consistent which is very important for our clients that are mostly renowned EPC companies and developers.

You are an integrated company with verticals in module manufacturing as well as EPC for w w w . s o l a r q u a r t e r . c o m

at supplying our modules to EPC companies for rooftop installations. At the same time we are actively looking at expanding our EPC business across India with a strong

IEC certifications. For the satisfaction of Indian consumers, we have also got our modules tested at the MNRE approved test centre in India.

Besides getting and renewing these certifications on a regular basis, we stringently control each stage of our manufacturing process to prevent production of a sub-standard or low quality module. Manufacturing of SolarMaxx solar PV modules is done in a dust free, air conditioned environment to avoid any foreign particle to enter the production cycle. Our raw material is sourced from reputed and globally renowned suppliers. Each of the raw material is IEC/UL certified from reputed agencies.

Besides checking their certification, we test each and every raw material in house before taking them into the process.

Our in house testing facility helps us segregate and thereby reject any defective or low quality input to ensure each module is of optimum quality. Each module that we produce is visually, technically and electrically tested, plus sorted and packed.

You have been in the Indian market for nearly a decade.

How did you conceive the idea of SolarMaxx?

SolarMaxx was registered as a brand in 2008. A small idea from a milk vendor led to the founding of this current solar venture, SolarMaxx. The goals of SolarMaxx revolve around the vision of a sustainable world.

SolarMaxx indulged in import and distribution of Solar lamps for the rural India before diversifying into manufacturing of Solar PV Panels, Solar Water Heating and related Solar Energy equipment. SolarMaxx played the role of a pioneer by taking Solar to the residential sector in 2008-09 when Solar was perceived as a very expensive and rather an experimental commodity. Having successfully launched residential Solar solutions in the early stages of SolarMaxx, we simultaneously introduced commercial and institutional solutions. By 2012-13, we were the leading Solar brand in Rajasthan with reasonable presence in neighbouring states.

It was only in late 2014 that we decided to commence manufacturing of Solar PV Modules and our manufacturing facility was set up in record time of less than 6 months.

Today, as stated earlier, SolarMaxx solar modules are amongst the most popular modules in our regional market with all required certifications and approvals.

Our EPC vertical has completed several small to large rooftop projects, utility scale MW projects and a number of off-grid projects across North India.

What role do you think SolarMaxx can play in emerging trend of EV in India?

As a starter, SolarMaxx solar panels were amongst the very first to be used to develop a prototype solar car by one of the leading private universities in India.

Electric vehicles is the future of transportation. Whether it is India or anywhere else in the world, EVs will tremendously help in not only controlling but also reducing carbon emissions.

We already have experience of integration of Li-Ion batteries with solar. One of the most important challenges in the EV segment is to have reliable power at charging stations, some of which may as well be located at remote areas especially on highways. Solar is possibly the best option to power these stations. Not only is Solar easy to install and maintain, it may in fact prove to be cheaper than to draw transmission infrastructure to these stations. With

focus on rooftop installations.

our experience with Li-Ion batteries, we believe we will be

As a module manufacturer, how do you ensure the quality checks?

may raise in the near future.

able to answer questions that this new emerging sector

SolarMaxx Solar PV Modules are TUV certified from a globally recognized agency. Our modules have gone through a series of stringent tests to receive the necessary

Solar Quarter • April 2018 14

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 15

In Conversation “challenging times ahead, but at the same time lots of new bids are coming up”

Mr. Donald Leo Managing Director Jinko Solar

The government has come up with a roadmap to complete all solar auction processes by 2020, to achieve the target of having 100 GW solar by 2022. Do you think this is a practical approach?

This is a good way to give bright outlook to the industry. The developers, investors, EPC contractors and Manufacturers all can plan their future growth in time bound manner. This is helpful in achieving overall Mission target as well as in reducing tariffs.

What, according to you, are the main reasons behind the recent phenomenon of solar tenders getting cancelled/postponed?

DISCOMs to go for cheaper purchase of renewable power.

Do the proposed safeguard (and anti-dumping) duties pose any threat to the overall solar sector? Is the domestic manufacturing capacities sufficient to support the massive capacity addition program?

Govt. has to look into the off-takers interest as eventually

Govt has to run its Solar program keeping several factors

There are several reasons behind this phenomenon. But there are a few main reasons. Firstly, there is pressure from

the money is coming from them. Secondly, with the ongoing anti-dumping and safeguard duty issues, developers are not forthcoming with full interest in bids participation.

Furthermore, due to issues in land aggregating some state nodal agencies have not cleared Solar Park bids. Overall, situation is going to improve soon as Ministry has taken a favourable view of all these issues and likely to issue clarity.

is leading to slowdown in tender roll out and overall the sector may lose its traction if this is not check urgently.

Are ultra-low tariffs quoted in the recent auctions viable to run the projects sustainably, or can they jeopardise the overall power sector? (Especially since project costs are heavily dependent on fluctuating prices of imported component?

Recently some bidders had assumed very low equipment prices and won low tariff bids. Now, due to stable equipment prices, these tariffs are looking non-sustainable. Due to fluctuating prices, one has to take cautious approach. It is also expected from a long sustainable Solar developer to be quality conscious and install reliable products.

Any other comment/s you want to add?

in mind. On one hand constantly falling tariffs are making

There are challenging times ahead, but at the same time

strong pitch in favour of globally manufactured equipment.

lots of new bids are coming up. There is ample MW

On the other hand this is leading to reduction in market

available for all to grab from these bids. Hence, one has

share of local manufactures. There is also an issue with

to take necessary steps to improve the quality of assets

Financially Stressed DISCOMs, which are not willing to

along with optimizing installation costs. So, the focus

buy costlier power as a result of high input cost due to

should be on installing quality equipment, which will help

domestically made products. As said above, lack of clarity

in achieving overall low LCOE.

“target to reach an asset base of 3.5 GW by the end of FY 2022”

Mr. Raghunath Mahapatra

Energies and it will remain that way. Compliances with

investors will be a dominant factor considering that a large

multiple covenants, explicit or implied, are important for

part of the investment in solar sector is debt.

a plant. We select, design, build our plants so that they

We are cognizant and appreciative of the fact that the

perform at the best possible manner consistently.

intention of government and policy makers are progressive

Falling bid tariff is a function of multiple factors viz.

and there is a consistent effort to create the right

Head - Solar Grid

structural i.e. location, input cost etc., capital efficiency and

environment for development of the sector.

Business,

dynamics of policy and market. As a leading developer in

Hero Future Energies

Indian solar space we use our experience, expertise and specific basis. It is a continuous exercise and we exercise

What are the milestones you wish to achieve in next few coming years?

prudency and efficient risk management for this purpose.

We have a target to reach an asset base of 3.5 GW by the

track record to decide our investment strategy on a project

end of FY 2022. This capacity will be a combination of the

Let’s start with the recent developments at Hero Future Energies in last one year.

Which factors do you believe will guide solar energy investments this year?

The year 2017-18 has been highly significant for our

Given that the tariffs are falling and the off-takers are

growth. We have had consistent growth in all our

expecting the tariff to remain low, the investments will be

operating segments viz. solar (ground mounted and

attracted by projects that have a combination of factors

rooftop) and wind. We have ~ 1.2 GW operating capacity

viz. locations with good radiation, stable and encouraging

with approximately 50% of that commissioned in last one

policy regime, better ‘ease of doing business’ environment,

year. Additionally, we have added capacity inorganically.

better payment security mechanism, reduced duration

We commissioned the solar-wind hybrid plant, which is a

spent in land acquisition and other permits and clearances

first in India.

among other aspects.

We won a large capacity solar of 300MW and 75MW

The challenges that the industry is facing in terms of

wind capacity through bidding route which we shall be

land acquisition, conversion of land for non-agricultural

commissioning in the current year. We have established

use, right of way issues need to be addressed. Some of

our global presence by opening our manned offices in

the structural ameliorations are being attempted through

Singapore and London to focus on market in Asia, Middle

creating solar parks to reduce the risk.

East, Africa and Europe. We expect to continue our growth

As an example, the success of Rewa project was due to

and Europe. Our targets mentioned above include,

in the coming years.

the combination of off-taker credibility, availability of land

outside India, 400MW by FY 2019 and 1GW by FY

and also the innovative payment security mechanism put

2021. We have established our presence in London and

in place. Stable policy regime is one of pre-requisites of

Singapore at nodal centers to achieve this.

Project performance is becoming an increasingly important factor for project developers. How do you cope up with the falling bids and produce the power at low rates?

ÂÂ Solar (ground mounted and rooftop) and wind, the mix of which will be determined by different factors impacting the sector including policy framework, financial viability etc. ÂÂ We have the distinction of having the first Solar-Wind hybrid plant India which was inaugurated in April 2018.

This is a significant milestone not only for Hero Future Energies, but for the renewable energy sector in India as it helps in better generation forecasting and hence the scheduling leading to better grid management. ÂÂ We intend to achieve integration of storage into our hybrid model to achieve a robust and scalable renewable energy regime. ÂÂ Geographically we aim to be present in multiple countries, other than India, in Asia, Middle East, Africa

sustained investment. Last year witnessed uncertainties in taxes and duties regimes, as witnessed from the investigations for anti dumping duty, safeguard duty, classification of modules, impact of GST. The risk perception of investors and developers was heightened due to these

The operating performance of the constructed plants has

events and the investments will be better guided by

always been an important factor for us at Hero Future

avoiding them. The comfort and confidence of lenders and

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following.

Solar Quarter • April 2018 16

F E AT U R E S Positive Power Tolerance up to 3Wp 4 BB / 5 BB High Efficiency Cell 100% EL tested Pre & Post Lamination PID Resistant Excellent Energy Generation in Weak light Member of

CONTACT US HEAD OFF. : G-25, City Centre, S.C.Road, Jaipur - 302001, Rajasthan, India 0141- 4019103, 4029103 DELHI OFF. : 502-A, Arunachal Building, Barakhamba Road, Connaught Place, New Delhi-110001 011- 43723333 WORKS : 25 KM Milestone, Jaipur-Delhi Bypass, Near Daulatpura Toll Tax, Vill - Bagwara, Jaipur-303805 9116122135 / 9116122136

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

www.insolationenergy.in

info@insolationenergy.in

Solar Quarter • April 2018 17

In Conversation “We offer our latest hydrelio solution to cater indian floating aspirations” since then the company has created 9 subsidiaries over a

Mr. Stéphane

countries till date and constantly recognised as the global

What are your growth plans for the Indian market? What are the milestones you wish to achieve by the end of this fiscal?

Prouvost

leader in the solar industry with 300+ MW installations

We believe that India will be the biggest market for floating

period.

Record grid connections for more than 100 projects in 23

CEO Ciel & Terre India

completed worldwide.

solar worldwide and therefore we are investing in new

We emphasis our growth with implementing impeccable

assets to provide our latest designs in a large scale.

technical innovations achieved through our continual R&D

We expect to book order between 100MWp and 200MWp

programs, accredited & validated by leading research institutions & labs.

by the end of 2018, and 200MWp to 500MWp in 2019.

In the past seven years, Ciel et Terre started to provide

What have been the latest trends in demand for your products & services in India? Where do you see the next demand growth coming from?

We are forming subsidiary as Ciel et Terre India based out

floating solar structure in an industrial scale, before it was only ground mount raking system installed on drums.

Our new Hydrelio Design adaptation & our competitive

at Bangalore with local talent to support.

We offer our latest Hydrelio solution to cater Indian

We are using latest technics of blow molding to produce

realizations in India.

floating aspirations and we have fantastic plan for

best quality in utility scale with patent technology as benchmark for immaculate innovation.

In fact, we are in contact with large industries for long

Indian subcontinent which include Investment in local manufacturing to provide the most competitive rate on

We are always customer friendly and our prima focus is

two months. What is new is utility scale demand as SECI

the market.

always on improvisation with quality even it is a Himalayan

150MWp tender and 1000MWp EOI from Maharashtra

Currently we are engaged with 2 projects totalising 10MWp,

task for my engineering division.

exciting us.

should be delivered within the fiscal year and a 30 MWp

We now have the best optimum design to accommodate

Obviously, this is coming with the significant reduction

should be signed within two months, all captive projects

any complicated water surface in terms of size, nature,

of cost we provide without compromising quality and

and perhaps going to act as a key floating technology

deepness, roughness.

longevity of the solution.

Let’s begin with a glimpse of your company’s presence and offerings in India.

provider for the upcoming big tenders.

What have been some of the recent developments at your organisation?

Tell us a bit about the recent technology advancements in your sector.

solution is paving the way for very serious project

and we will start the delivery of the first 5MWp project in

Another remarkable progress we made over the years, on the customization aspect. As per customer requirement, it is very much possible now to adopt to any design to cater the client requirement & to endure technical and financial balance with our latest Hydrelio design.

Ciel et Terre started its activities in France 11 years ago and

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 18

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 19

asia’s top 50 developers

Alexander Lenz

Andrés Gluski

Andy Kinsella

Anton Milner

CEO

President & CEO

Group Chief Executive

Chairman

CEO

Conergy

AES Corporation

Mainstream Renewable Power

nv vogt

Enel Green Power

ASSAAD RAZZOUK

Atty. Gladys N. Nalda

BENOIT GALLAND

Brian Caffyn

DAVID CORCHIA

CEO

President & CEO

Chief Executive Officer

CO Founder & CEO

CEO

Sindicatum Sustainable Resources

MRC Allied

Akuo Energy

UPC Renewables

Total Eren

Dr. Ir. Ahmad Jaafar Abd Hamid

Dr. Wandee K. Juljarern

FLORIAN BENNHOLD

Chief Executive Officer

CEO AND DIRECTOR

Solar Power Company Limited

Symbior Solar

Jayant Parimal

Dennis She

Dr. habil Ngo Dang Luu

President & Chief Executive Officer

CEO

ET Solar Energy Corporation

Anh Minh Solar Global

MD

Antonio Cammisecra

Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB)

Franck Constant

Frank PHUAN

Frank Thiel

GIAN ODDONE MERLI

Founder and CEO

CEO & Executive Director

Managing Director

CHAIRMAN

CEO

Constant Energy

Sunseap

Quezon Power

Limes Renewable Energy

Adani Renewables

John Eric Francia

Kijja Sripatthangkura

Kiran Jethwa

Leandro Leviste

Lionel Steinitz

Chief Executive Officer

CEO

CEO

President and Chief Executive Officer

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

AC Energy

Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Company Limited

Fumase

Solar Philippines

LYS Energy Group

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 20

asia’s top 50 developers

MARTIN HERMANN

Mason Wallick

Michael Class

Michael Garland

CEO and Founder

Managing Director

CEO

President & CEO

CEO

8minutenergy Renewables

Infunde Development

Juwi Renewable Energies Ltd

Pattern Energy

Equis Energy

Olivier Duguet

Paddy Padmanathan

Paul Maguire

Prapharat Tangkawattana

Qian Zhimin

CEO

President & CEO

CEO

CEO

Chairman

The Blue Circle

ACWA Power

Engie

NORTIS Group

State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC)

RUTH YU-OWEN

Sunil Gupta

Tetchi Capellan

Tienyu Sieh

Tom Peebles

President & CEO

Managing Director & CEO

Sembcorp Green Infra

President & CEO

CEO

CEO

Sun Asia Energy

Blue Sky Energy Efficiency Co., Ltd

Solenergy

Udo Möhrstedt

Van Ha Do

ZHU Yufeng

Mark Hogan

John Cole

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

Chairman

Managing Shareholder

CEO and Founder

IBC Solar

Clean Energy JSC

GCL New Energy

WIRSOL Energy Power

Edify Energy

Rahul Shah

Amir Hisham Hashim

Dr Zahrul Faizi Hussien

Andreas Mustad

Tetsuo Yamashita

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer

Chairman and CEO

Tata Power Renewable Energy

UiTM Solar Power

Ranhill Power Division

Sonnedix

Japan Asia Group Limited

Philcarbon

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Nitin Apte

Solar Quarter • April 2018 21

Industry Insights Introduction to Floating PV plant Renewable energy sources are of prime importance as

increase can be attributed to the reduced operating

3) Alternate source of energy at Dams: Dam based

they would power our future. Solar energy power plant

temperature of solar modules resulting from natural

reservoir can utilize their water bodies to install floating

which utilises the sun’s energy needs adequate space for

cooling from water. Additionally, these systems if

PV system. Such system may help boost the usage of

installation. It is a well-known fact that out of the 510

installed in huge water bodies may have less settled

solar energy during day time. The water saved during

million Km2 surface area of earth, a mere (appx.) 29% is

dust on them resulting in increased energy output from

day time may be utilized during night time to generate

covered with land. Additionally (at some locations) the

plant. An increase in energy of around 10% to 12%

more power reducing dependence on fossil fuel based

land may be of importance and it may not be feasible to

from such system may be realized.

plants. Additionally, the Ministry of Power had already

dedicate (some) space for solar energy power plant. In a country where cities are dense and agricultural land is limited, installing solar power plant (which require huge swathes of land) may not be viable. This is where floating

indicated in its (draft) National Tariff Plan (released in

2) Savings of water: Water from water bodies is lost in

2016) that it may implement Renewable Generation

form of vapour. Installing floating PV plant reduces the

Obligation (RGO). While the policy is still in draft state,

water loss due to evaporation. Additionally, cleaning a typical solar power plant require huge amount of

utilizing floating PV may fulfil the generators RGO.

water. CEEW estimates that around 7,000 ~ 20,000

The concept of floating PV is not new to the world. There are

litres of water per MW is required in cleaning of plant.

various countries in the world like, Australia, China, Japan,

A cleaning cycle in power plant may happen more than

UK, etc. which have already installed floating PV plants.

The basic components of floating PV system are mentioned

once a week. Such huge quantities of water may be

India which has adequate water bodies has also tried and

below:

saved if floating PV system is used. The cleaning water

implemented floating PV projects. Recently, India’s largest

1) Floating structure: Also known as Pontoon, the floating

used in floating PV system goes into the water body

floating solar PV plant standing at capacity of 500 kW was

again which can be reused leading to savings in water

completed in Kerala. It could withstand the variations in

and its associated cost.

water level of 21 meters between summer and monsoon.

PV power plant can come to our rescue. Floating PV power plant as the name suggests are floating bodies of solar PV plants on water (Figure 1).

structure is a sturdy structure which easily holds the solar panel. It also has enough buoyancy to stay afloat on water while supporting the heavy load.

2) Mooring system: The floating structure is held securely with a permanent structure known as mooring. This halts the free movement of the floating structure in water. The floating structure can be fixed with reference to a point on bottom of waterway eliminating the need to connect to the floating structure to the shore. This can be done with help of anchor mooring.

3) Under water Cabling: This form as an important link between the grid and the solar panels. Due to its usage under water, the cabling may be designed to be shock and/or leakage proof. A typical technical diagram of floating PV system is shown in the figure below: The floating PV system has the following advantages over the ground/ roof mounted solar systems 1) Increased output from system: Various studies have been carried out to understand the output of floating PV system. These studies confirm that there has been an increase in energy generation from such plants. This

Figure 2: Technical details for floating PV system (Source: Google Images)

The country seems to have realized the potential of floating PV system and further capacity addition in same technology can be expected soon.

Weight balancing is one of the important factors in floating PV plants and any reduction in the weight would result in significant savings. In our last blog, we informed you about performance of our Merlin modules. These modules are flexible and come at a reduced weight (when compared to the frame based solar modules). Such modules may be a perfect match for this application. Additionally all our modules are tested stringently and are certified by various international bodies for maximum on field performance.

We encourage the use of our modules on both the existing as well as such innovative ideas.

Let us all pledge to make solar energy the primary source of energy in the near future.

Mr. Sunil Rathi Director Sales & Marketing Waaree Energies ltd Figure 1: Recently installed floating PV power plant in Kerala (Source: PVTECH)

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 22

Eco-Conscious design

Fully Customizable

Very Reliable

Easy to Maintain

WAAREE ENERGIES LIMITED 602, Western Edge-I, Off. Western Express Highway, Borivali (E), Mumbai - 400066, Maharashtra, India

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 23

Industry Insights Why India needs an Energy Storage Mission?

175 GW of renewables is a tall target but India seems to be

could be the most effective integration strategy. Allowing

fact is that a single storage capacity can provide multiple

well on its way to achieve that. There is definitely a revival

participation of retail sector to offer demand variations

services. The advent of ancillary services market has

of investor interest and improvement in deployment

based on price signals could be a very potent way to ‘up-

helped in unlocking part ‘value’ of storage technologies

capabilities in wind and solar sector. Although there are

patch’ demand. New grid interactive mechanisms like V2G

but a comprehensive assessment of economic benefits of

still road blocks in the form of policy vacuum, regulatory

and behind-the meter storage systems can play a key

storage is still not done.

oversight (and overreach!!) and coordination challenges

role in this transition. However, this is an untested area

but nothing that cannot be remedied.

and will require immense grid augmentation and a lot of

On the technology side though, there are still unanswered

investment in the last-mile infrastructure.

It is imperative that power planners and policy makers understand the range of system benefits from storage and also acknowledge the lack of accurate ‘valuation’ of energy

questions about the integration of this capacity in the grid.

In contrast to all these measures, which would require

storage services. At the same time, it is also necessary

We are relying on discrete strategies and expecting that

multiple

investments,

to come out of this mind-set that energy storage is only

four levels of system initiatives will support the integration

adoption of energy storage is a measure that can make

required for renewables integration. Energy storage can, of

over time.

the whole integration problem much more manageable

course, help renewables greatly but it can as well provide

The first level is RE forecasting. RE forecasting can provide

and simpler to solve.

a multitude of grid services even in a conventional power

dispatch visibility to the grid operators helping them to

Unfortunately, the awareness about energy storage

balance supply and demand more effectively. However,

technologies is still very limited among policymakers and

the fact remains that forecasting is still far from a perfect

regulators. Most of them are only aware of three main

science and our experience with wind forecasting has not

technologies: pumped hydro, compressed air storage and

been very encouraging. Also forecasting does not really

batteries (lead acid and Lithium ion). In the last decade, the

solve the variability problem if the diurnal generation

research and development efforts in energy storage have

variations are very high, as is the case with wind in many

really started yielding fruit and we now have many other

locations.

technologies, including new battery configurations that are

The second layer of security is the enhanced connectivity

innovative and can make a difference. A few technologies

proposed under the green corridor project. Preliminary

that seem promising: Liquid air storage, by Highview Power;

simulation studies suggest that the proposed corridor

Customized Pumped Hydro, by Gravity Power; Copper Zinc

would help in better evacuation and balancing. However,

batter, Cumulus Energy; Flow Batteries, REDT; Power to Gas,

the fact remains that even in a very complex interconnected

ITM Power, Behind the meter, Powerwall.

system there will be an upper limit of RE penetration that

But even more important, the biggest advantage of energy

can be supported. In effect, enhanced connectivity does help but it does not provide an assurance of grid stability and load matching at all times under all circumstances.

Also, the system risk increases because we are dealing with asynchronous generation technologies that are not natural system allies in the time of grid distress.

agencies/actors

and

huge

storage technologies is their versatility of operation. Their ability to work as a generator, consumer and system manager makes them suitable for nearly all power system operation functions. They can provide nearly the complete range of power regulation services across different network locations for time scales ranging from milliseconds to

The third layer of security is to work conventional and

days/months. Figure 1 above shows the range of services

base load plants in flexible mode. While this would help in

that Energy Storage can offer.

balancing generation variation dynamically, this approach is limited by two factors: surplus capacity availability in low RE generation period and ramping capability (technical ramp rate and the effects of ramping on economic costs).

The fourth layer would be dynamic demand response. This

system. Interestingly, in Figure 1 above, except for the range of services in the red boxes, all the other services are NOT related to renewable energy integration and signify the range of system benefits that energy storage technologies can offer to the grid in general.

It is in this context that the policy makers really need to look at energy storage as a game-changing technology and start working on an intent document (reviving National Energy Storage Mission) and creating enabling policies to support energy storage with a view to future grid requirements.

New grid interactive mechanisms like V2G and behind-the meter storage systems can play a key role in this transition.

Interestingly, this versatility of energy storage technologies has made it very difficult to work out the economic costs of its benefits. Nearly all past workings on the economic

Mr. Suuhas Tenddulkar

costs of storage have used simplistic models and have

Consultant - Renewable Energy, Sustainability and

mostly monetized only one service at a time whereas the

Climate Change

Figure 1 Range of services that energy storage can support (Reference: DOE and EPRI 2013, Electricity Storage Handbook in Collaboration with NRECA, Sandia National Laboratories)

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 24

Tech Insights Thermography for Predictive Maintenance Solar energy is one of the cleanest forms of energy. With

can usually be found either in defective bypass diodes,

increase in power demand and subsidies available from

in internal short-circuit.

local governments, countries like India are opting more for

ÂÂ Shadowing and cracks in cells show up as hot patches in

solar energy; Availability of sun shine and vast land area is

the thermal image.

an added advantage. With this the number of challenges

ÂÂ The temperature rise of a cell or part of a cell indicates a

in operation and maintenance services has also increased.

defective cell or shadowing.

One such challenge is optimal performance of each Photovoltaic module (and other related equipments) for

Thermal images obtained under load, no-load, and short-

failure free operation, optimal generation and high returns

circuit conditions should be taken for analytical comparison.

on investment. To monitor the performance of each PV

A comparison of thermal images of the front and rear faces

module at a lower maintenance cost is becoming more difficult. Hence, we need a holistic and evidence-based

of the module might also give valuable information. The

Fig.01 Cell heating abnormally

further analysis is performed on software tool provided

approach to do predictive maintenance, and one such

along with the data obtained and is compared with the

feasible solution is thermography.

data sheet of the module. The module can be observed

The selection of thermal imaging is purely our choice. We

on hourly basis for two to three days if needed and then

can use a hand held Thermal Imaging camera for better

conclusion is drawn.

detailing or a UAV/Drone for larger imaging, depending on

The thermographic inspection of PV modules usually

level of analysis we need to do. All PV module have a glass

indicates potential defects at the cell and module level

front surface. Thermal measurement of glass surface is not

or electrical interconnection issues. The inspections can

easy due to its thermal emissivity. Glass has a property of

be carried out when Solar Power plant is in operating

reflecting the temperature of things around it. To avoid

condition and do not require a system shut down.

measurement error, we need to position the thermal imager between 5˚ to 60˚ (keeping 0˚ as perpendicular) which comes best by practice (initially trial and error will help).

Fig.02 Insulated cable abnormality inside an Inverter

Thermal imaging cameras are primarily used for capturing abnormalities in the form of heat and does not detect

After recording the warmer area will be clearly visible; if we

faults. It records data which we must carry out analysis

observe a certain or entire part of a solar panel to be hotter

for further conclusions. Classification and assessment

than its neighbor, it indicates an anomaly. Depending on

of the abnormality, if any detected, requires a sound

the shape and location, they indicate various problems

understanding of solar technology, knowledge of the

held device is best. For correct and informative thermal

such as:

inspected system and additional electrical measurements.

recording, shadowing and reflections must be prevented.

ÂÂ If an entire module is warmer than usual that might

The emissivity for any type of Solar PV module can be set to 0.95 and reflected temperature to 20˚C in the device for optimal thermal recording. The distance of measurement must be set manually, one or two meters for a hand-

One more way to get better results from thermography is to perform inspection on rear of the module as well, hence avoiding most of the interfering factors.

indicate interconnection problem ÂÂ If individual cells or strings of cells are showing up as a hot spot or a warm patchwork pattern, then the cause

Documentation is a must and should contain all inspection conditions, additional measurements, and other relevant data. This will help to maintain the solar panel functionality and to extend their lifetime.

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+91 80235 68018 Solar Solar Quarter Quarter • April • April 2018 2018 2525

Tech Insights Smart Grids Give Way to a Stable Indian Energy Network What Are the Current Challenges for the Indian Energy Network?

Possible Applications in the Indian Market

For decades, India has faced challenges in energy grid

The planning commission of India has stressed the need

stability. Year after year, there have been severe reports

for developing domestic energy supply by integrating

of blackouts and brownouts, and while the population

renewable energy resources in urban and rural areas. Even

in India is growing, energy consumption is continuing to

more so, according to the Integrated Energy Policy Report

increase. In order to curb current and future issues there is

(IEPR) (2007) total renewable energy may account for

a need to develop and implement innovative technologies.

11-13% of India’s energy mix by the year 2032. The IEPR

Energy from photovoltaic panels, wind power, biomass, and

highlights that the distributed nature of renewable energy

hydroelectric power have to be integrated into smart grids

sources can provide many socio-economic benefits for the

in order to prevent the hazards of blackouts. Although,

country.

recently India has seen rapid developments of new energy

So far, numerous smart grids have been developed in

networks, there are still many questions about the future

India. For instance, in Assam a smart grid powered by

integration of renewable energy and smart grids. When

solar panels is being tested. The grid stretches over three

will the market be ready? Who is willing to invest? What is

subdivisions, connecting more than 15,000 consumers. In

the bankability, and how will it be regulated? But, beside

Himachal Pradesh a grid has been established that covers

the technical feasibility, there are also many institutional

an industrial area serving more than 1,200 consumers. The

and social aspects to consider.

POWERGRID company, responsible for the project, has

To understand what innovative measures have to be taken,

achieved installation of 875 Single Phase and 161 Three

current areas of ongoing research include: communication

Phase Meters that are being monitored for further analysis.

and networks, wireless sensor and camera observation

According to Green Tech Media analyst Saadeh “The market

networks, signal processing and autonomous robot

for VPP and the technology is very promising and make

systems, electronics and smart networks.

more economic sense in areas with high concentration

Furthermore, due to India’s vast geography and various

of wind and solar power.” Virtual Power Plants on their

climates, utilities and components of smart grids need to work under an array of climate-related circumstances.

Even more so, remote locations that are not yet connected

A smart grid is an electricity supply network system where output from renewable energy is synchronised with Electrical Storage and Distribution Systems.

The utilities that are connected to the smart grid use digital communication technology to detect and react to local changes in energy usage.

own can manage thousands of independent, periodical renewable energy systems. The logistical challenge lies in aligning the distribution of utilities so the power derived

A Virtual Power Plant

to the central power grid are numerous in India. In order

from these sources do not flood the grid all at once.

has a central IT control

for these isolated communities to develop, stable energy

The VPP will ensure that the flow of electricity is monitored

output is a necessity.

both locally and centrally so that power outages are

system, where renewable

What Is a Smart Grid and What Is a Virtual Power Plant?

prevented. Power companies therefore have a greater incentive to tap into technologies that help reduce the current problem of power outages by installing innovative

A smart grid is an electricity supply network system

solution which can be build on the notion of smart grids.

where output from renewable energy is synchronised with

As Sadeeh mentions, “a distributed grid with a high

Electrical Storage and Distribution Systems. The utilities that

penetration of renewable energy needs some sort of

are connected to the smart grid use digital communication

flexibility; virtual power plants offer that.” Especially those

technology to detect and react to local changes in energy

areas that are remote and not yet supplied by a reliable

usage. All information is stored in a centralized location

energy source might profit to the largest extent from the

which can be accessed from a local digital source. A smart

development of an autonomous energy system.

grid makes it possible to align demand and supply of energy consumption for residential housing, buildings, factories, and transportation systems.

The ideal smart grid consist of a network that connects residential areas, business parks, smart vehicles, and factory sides with energy supply from renewables, such

A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is the software that enables

as biomass and hydro power. Although, not many areas in

a smart grid to function efficiently, and creates an

the world have such an extensive energy mix, this doesn’t

opportunity to monetize surplus energy. The challenge is

mean a sustainable electrical supply can not be achieved

to aggregate several distributed energy resources (DERs)

by connecting a house to a wind turbine and a battery.

and display them virtually on an online platform where

The idea of a smart grid, however, is to connect all energy

people’s production and consumption of renewable

sources to a centralized location and dispatch energy

energy are stored in a cloud-based data control center.

according to the principal of the Virtual Power Plant.

The data centers use various communication channels and

Thereby, regulating the amount of electricity in the grid

Internet of things (IoT) sensors to gather data. Based on

and the amount being distributed at any given time, and

the balance of local supply and demand, the surplus of

ensuring the stability of the entire energy network.

energy can be sold on the wholesale market.

participating local energy systems to a central remote control unit, a data transfer is established.

The hub is then able to monitor, forecast, and dispatch the connected units in accordance with input and output levels

in the grid

where renewable energy resources are connected to the

and the amount being

central IT hub. By connecting all participating local energy

distributed at any given

systems to a central remote control unit, a data transfer is established. The hub is then able to monitor, forecast, and

time,

dispatch the connected units in accordance with input and output levels.

and ensuring the stability

Furthermore, an integrated VPP and smart grid aims to

of the entire energy

consolidate numerous energy resources and improve the efficiency of energy distribution and usage. Additionally, by

network

connecting households and companies that have surplus

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IT hub. By connecting all

electricity

A Virtual Power Plant has a central IT control system,

energy supply with energy from conventional resources.

connected to the central

regulating the amount of

How Does a Virtual Power Plant Work?

energy output, the VPP is able to balance the sustainable

energy resources are

Mr. Michiel Veneklaas, Greenmatch, UK

Solar Quarter • April 2018 26

Company Feature Our modules are tested and approved by reputed international & national laboratories Insolation Energy a state of the art manufacturing facility specializing in manufacturing of high efficiency PV Module located in Jaipur. We develop India’s best utility scale solar PV Module. Insolation Energy has been formed by the combined efforts of senior industrialists Mr. Manish Gupta and Mr. Vikas Jain having experience of more than

Business Goals, Objectives & Strategies: We are in process of enhancing our production capacity and very soon our production capacity will be doubled. We are also planning joint ventures with some developers to bid the projects jointly and start a dedicated production

b Quality Policy of The Company: Our Company is certified for ISO 9001: 2015 for Quality Management System. Our modules are tested and approved by the reputed international & national laboratories. Our modules are certified for.

line for projects.

ÂÂ IEC 61215:2015 -2nd Edition

We have also started focussing on exports and have

ÂÂ IEC 61730-Ed.1 and IEC 61730-Ed.2

Power Producer Business etc. Insolation Energy is having

identified few overseas markets where we will be launching

ÂÂ IEC : 61701

Rajasthan’s first fully automatic plant with 60 MW of annual

our modules shortly. We are participating in international trade shows and also exploring tie ups with overseas

ÂÂ PID Testing IEC TS 62804-1

manufacturing capacity. We strive to provide one of the best solutions for sustainable solar electric power. Our aim

players to go global.

20 years in various sectors like Steel, Industrial Solutions, Real Estates, health & fitness and Independent Solar

is to provide clean and green electricity at affordable price to one and all

Business Concept a At Insolation Energy we manufacture highly efficient

Vision Statement: To manufacture Solar PV Modules with high quality, long lasting, reliable and prudent practices under “Make in India” Campaign. Strive & leverage the solar energy technology for greener, sustainable and better future.

MISSION STATEMENT: We at Insolation Energy aim to achieve the goal of clean, environmental friendly, cost effective and easily available energy to each and every citizen of the country. Our aim is to provide clean and green electricity at affordable price to one and all. We provide flexible & customized high-tech PV solutions and reliable support to fit your specific needs

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c We have more than 30 in-house quality tests for quality assurance. The prominent ones are : ÂÂ Pre lamination inline EL tester

Mono/Multi modules in 72/60/36 cells with A grade

ÂÂ Post lamination inline EL tester

quality raw material. Our products are certified by IEC,

ÂÂ Inline Testing- Hipot ,Sun Simulator Post EL

MNRE, UL, TUV.

ÂÂ MNRE Approved

Some of the salient features of our modules are ÂÂ Positive Power Sorting, 0 to +3 Watt. ÂÂ UV anti-glare Resistance and All Weather Load Resistance Glass.

ÂÂ Inline automatic visual inspection ÂÂ Wet leakage current test

Team & Management

ÂÂ 25 year Linear Performance Warranty.

The company promoters are qualified engineers with

ÂÂ Higher Reliability.

more than 20 years of experience across various fields. The

ÂÂ Best Quality Raw Material.

company is run by highly qualified professionals with rich

ÂÂ Manufactured on Fully Automatic Production Line.

expertise in solar field.

ÂÂ Comprehensive Product Range. ÂÂ PID Free Module Round 3 as per MNRE . ÂÂ 5BB Cell, Improved Module Efficiency and Power. ÂÂ Improved Low Light Irradiance Performance . ÂÂ Compact Design, Efficient Shipping, Easy Handling. ÂÂ Manufacturing facility from 40 Wp to 350 Wp .

Customers & Projects Our modules have been well accepted & appreciated across various customer segments like retail/ rooftop/ utility scale.

Some of our clients include reputed Developers/System Integrators/EPC Players & OEM players.

Solar Solar Quarter Quarter • April • April 2018 2018 2727

Company Feature Solis InvertErs - a preferred vendor for major worldwide EPC companies Ginlong (Ningbo) Technologies Co. Ltd. is one of the

Ginlong, World leaders in the fast growing Solar market

worldwide EPC companies such as Lightsource, REI,

oldest Inverter manufacturing company with the Brand

offer wide range of bankable and reliable string inverters,

EuroSolar, Jinko Solar, Trina Solar, JA Solar etc. In India, in

Name “SOLIS” featuring world class State-of-the-art

battery-backup hybrid inverters and intelligent data

short span of time, we have finalized deals with Renew

manufacturing facility at its headquarters in Zhejiang,

monitoring solutions, selling under the Ginlong Solis

Power, Agrawal Renewables, Soleos Solar, Sunsource, Refex

China. With more than 600 employees

brand, for residential, commercial and utility-scale solar

energy etc.

Started in 2003 as R&D Company by our founder Mr.

installations

We have installed a SOLIS Brand Inverter at one of the

Jimmy Wang in an UK University Complex ventured into

Solis Invertors have been a preferred vendor for major

wonders of the World – Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Glimpse of some SOLIS project - Residential project

a full-fledged company in 2005 with high quality BOM – a first of its kind for String Inverters Ginlong Technologies has grown to be a highly specialized company focused on research, development, design and manufacturing of very high quality small-scale PV inverters. This growth was primarily driven by a team of dedicated engineers brought together by the company founder, Yiming (Jimmy) Wang to apply their international experience and skills to innovative renewable energy products. The Ginlong R&D leadership includes several Ph.D. holders that direct a team of skilled and experienced product and manufacturing engineers who develop solutions for client’s R&D and production issues. Some of these innovative solutions have resulted in new Ginlong patents that support the product line and innovative designs Ginlong introduced and further developed advanced manufacturing

technologies

for

their

production

processes including; Surface Mount Technology (SMT), Wave Soldering (WS), conformal coating of boards that are manufactured by Ginlong, state of the art production management and quality assurance systems. All these tools and procedures support Ginlong’s consistent delivery of high quality, reliable, durable products that maintain high productivity even in the most challenging environments.

We offer single phase inverter in the range from 1KW - 5KW and three phase inverter from 6k- 60K with IP65 rated as “dust tight” and protected against water projected from a nozzle Certification. We also supply HV range of Inverters from 36KW – 60KW designed especially for Ground Mount Application.

SOLIS is one of the few manufacturers worldwide to supply 4MPPT Inverters ranging from 20KW onwards offering the benefit of more generation. We are the first Chinese company to achieve UL1741 certification in 2009 and second company to achieve UK G83 and AS 4777/ AS 3100 Certification in 2006 and 2009 respectively which implies the quality of inverters supplied by us. We are also ISO 9001:2008 and Iso14001:2004 certified company.

Ginlong inverters are fully tested and certified to meet

Commercial project

regional requirements in the countries where they are distributed. Although Ginlong Technologies has become one of the world’s most competitive manufacturers of PV inverters and maintains a strong investment in R&D and continual improvements in production methods, customer service remains a primary focus and a key to the company’s success. By establishing local after-sales and technical support canters around the globe, Ginlong has been able to provide its customers with real time support to resolve any query that may be presented. The company has representatives across the globe with sales and customer service technical support in Europe, United States, Australia and India. We have a team of 600 employees to catering to our international business with shipments to exceed 6GW. Established in 1st September 2017, Ginlong India Office comprising of Sales and Service team to cater to the customers in India. Headquartered in Mumbai, we have sales team stationed at Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and Service team at Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur and Bangalore. We also have a service stock point in Mumbai for warranty replacement With an Installation base of more than 100MW in India through our Channel partner since its inception in 2016, Ground mount plant

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 28

Company Feature SOFARSOLAR inverters have been installed in more than 20 countries with currently 9 own subsidiaries up other three offices in three different cities to provide

SOFARSOLAR is one of the subsidiaries of the SOFAR

Inverter Types:

Group which is No.1 in the GPS industry. The SOFAR

On-grid inverters, AC Retrofitting inverters and hybrid

Group has been devoting itself to the communications and renewable energy fields since 2007 and decided to enter

inverters.

service to all customers in India.

Customers & Projects

the PV industry in 2012, established SOFARSOLAR which

Market sectors:

We have several distributors in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil

specializes in R&D, production, sales and service of on-grid

Domestic sales department and overseas sales department.

Nadu and Rajasthan. We are also contacting some big EPC

inverters ranging from 1kW to 70kW. SOFARSOLAR, with around 400 employees, is equipped with a very strong R&D team and the major engineers have more than 10 years’ experience in the PV industry.

We have successfully improved many areas of technology in both software and hardware which had not been solved by other popular brands in the recent past.

Now SOFARSOLAR inverters have been installed in more than 20 countries with currently 9 own subsidiaries.

companies.

Business Goals & Objectives: We plan to be in the top 5 string inverter manufacturers of the world and to get 8-10% of the string inverter market.

Business Strategy: In 2018 and 2019, we are focusing on power storage solutions. For example, three phase AC Retrofitting inverters, three phase hybrid inverters, etc. Our target of annual sales is 300 million dollars in 2018.

Products & Services:

VISION STATEMENT: We plan to be in the top 5 string inverter manufacturers of the world.

MISSION STATEMENT:

1. On-gird inverters:

1-70kW

2. AC Retrofitting:

3kW

3. Hybrid inverters:

3-6kW

Pre-sales, on-sales and after-sales services in India.

We are now in the top 5 string inverter manufacturers in China. We are cooperating with top EPC companies in

Business Competitiveness

domestic market in China. We also have big distributors

Good quality inverters with competitive prices.

in Australia, UK, and European countries.

We have sold around 3.5GW on-give inverters around the world. That is 350,000 units.

Service Pledge We have an office in Ahmedabad, and we plan to set Organisation Structure

We build Quality We offer Quality www.sofar.com

Advancing Inverter Technology to a New Level

King’s return

SOFAR

50-70KW Designed for commercial projects and utility projects

Smart Monitoring 7 Years Warranty Local Service

Just contact with us Tel: +91 99983 90936 Eamil: info@sofarsolar.com Office: No. 1108A, SAKAR 9, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad-380009, Gujarat, India

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Solar Solar Quarter Quarter • April • April 2018 2018 2929

Company Feature ‘ELMEX’ - Pioneer in Electrical Wire Termination Technology in India Founded in 1963, Elmex is one of India’s leading

leveraging its core competence of designing and

manufacturers of Terminal Blocks, and a pioneer in the

manufacturing electromechanical products. With an

Electrical Wire Termination Technology. Founder-Chairman

approach of:

J D Ray’s vision to develop indigenous technology led to

ÂÂ Converging Innovations

the conception of India’s first manufacturing facility for Din Rail Mounted Terminal Blocks. Since then, Elmex has been continuously reinventing technology, bringing innovations to the industry, and developing breakthrough products and solutions.

ÂÂ Enhancing the efficiency of existing products introducing innovation ÂÂ Transferring technological best practices across product categories ÂÂ Expanding Solutions ÂÂ Pioneering new products for new applications

Vision Statement To be a trusted brand in low voltage market by providing solutions for control and protection applications.

ÂÂ Cascading the existing manufacturing proficiency to widen business segments ÂÂ Converging Relationships ÂÂ Building on the existing base of dealers and network of dedicated resident engineers

Elmex looks at diversification of products and solutions by way of leveraging its core competence of designing and manufacturing electromechanical products.

ÂÂ Partnering with client organizations to provide

Mission Statement To leverage the trusted brand for enhancing customer satisfaction through: ÂÂ Product – To design, manufacture and deliver the products of global standards ÂÂ Process – To adopt, develop and implement reliable & state-of-the-art manufacturing processes ÂÂ People – To develop mutual trust and integrity by respecting human values

comprehensive solutions ÂÂ Expanding Footprints ÂÂ Widening the client base by catering to newer sectors and geographies ÂÂ Leveraging technical and economic competitiveness for quality and timely delivery

Team & Management Elmex is a family own private limited company. Our current Managing Director Mr. Vipul Ray is a second generation business owner and our founder Mr. J D Ray is the Chairman of the company. The company is managed by a

Manufacturing Excellence Elmex understands that to produce new-age products, new-age equipments and technology are needed and so

team of professionals with vast experience in the industry and the Top management team of elmex has been with the

Product Solutions

infrastructure. Today, it is equipped with state-of-the-art

Elmex is a global supplier of Terminal Blocks for Low

machinery for tooling and manufacturing such as CNC

Voltage Control & Power Termination Applications,

Wire Cut machines, CNC EDM Drill, Micro Processor based

Special Application Switches for LV, MV & HV Switchgear

Automatic Injection Molding Machines, Ultrasonic Welding

Equipment, Current Transformers for LV Applications,

and Wave-Soldering Machines, Computerized Multi-

Measurement & Protection, Interface Relay & Slim Relay

forming Machine, Pitch-Control Auto-Tapping and Internal

Modules and Solar Products. It provides solutions to

Thread Rolling Machine etc.

sectors such as Railways, Telecommunication, Oil & Gas, Real Estate, Solar Plants, Power Plants and many more.

Apart from being a market leader in electrical wire

Solutions for Solar Photovoltaic

termination technology, Elmex is trusted globally for its

With its unwavering commitment towards technology,

effective solutions and innovations across industries.

Elmex has developed a comprehensive range of quality

Elmex’s manufacturing plants are ISO 9001:2008 and ISO

products and reliable solutions for the Solar PV Industry

14001:2015 certified. Operations are supported by fully

such as PV Junction Boxes (2-Rail, 3-Rail & 4-Rail), PV

computerized design and development of products with

Connectors suitable for 1000 VDC & 1500 VDC (Straight,

an in-house testing laboratory for conducting the tests

Branch, Panel), PV Straight Inline fuse Connectors, PV

as per international specifications with a certified Quality

Wire Harnesses with connectors, DC Fuse Holder suitable

Management System.

for 1000 VDC & 1500 VDC and PV accessories which

Business Goals & Objectives Elmex strives to achieve excellence in its domain, and our goal is to design and develop reliable products for electrical connectivity and control automation. Elmex truly understands the critical aspect of safety and reliability required for such applications and has implemented vigorous quality systems including 6 Sigma and Statistical

are used as balance of system components (BoS) in PV power generating strings and to transfer DC Energy from PV module to final output. All the Solar PV Products are indigenously designed using high quality raw materials and manufactured in our state-of-the-art production facilities backed with in-house testing laboratory and carry international certifications for quality.

Process control to achieve objects of zero defects. Elmex

Customers

has set specific goals for introducing new products for

Elmex customer base includes national and internal giants

upcoming sectors such as Solar Sector, Transportation and

such as ABB, Schneider, Siemens, GE, Honeywell, Rockwell,

Industrial Automation.

Bombardier, BHEL, L&T and Yokogawa. In the solar sector

Business Strategy Elmex believes in organic growth and has adopted the approach of vertical integration. Elmex looks at diversification of products and solutions by way of

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to produce new-age products, new-age equipments and technology are needed and so over the years, Elmex has been continuously updating its infrastructure.

organization for more than 15 years.

over the years, Elmex has been continuously updating its

Quality Assurance

Elmex understands that

elmex has executed projects like NTPC, APGENCO, Adani Green Energy, etc. with Vikram Solar, Lanco Energy, KEC international, etc. and its products find application in mission critical application including Nuclear and Oil and

Elmex customer base includes national and internal giants such as ABB, Schneider, Siemens, GE, Honeywell, Rockwell, Bombardier, BHEL, L&T and Yokogawa.

In the solar sector elmex has executed projects like NTPC, APGENCO, Adani Green Energy, etc. with Vikram Solar, Lanco Energy, KEC international, etc. and its products find application in mission critical application including Nuclear and Oil and gas fields.

gas fields.

Solar Quarter • April 2018 30

Company Feature Saatvik’s mission is to lead the global transition to renewable energy in India Saatvik is a new age solar technology company, involved in the manufacturing of high quality solar modules with an annual capacity of 200 MW. Since its inception in 2016, Saatvik has successfully delivered more than 75 MW solar modules. Apart from manufacturing, Saatvik has also forayed into Solar EPC services, making it an integrated solar company.

Strategy Saatvik’s mission is to lead the global transition to renewable energy in India. Our part to play in that transition is to deliver cost effective utility scale solar energy solutions to customers and governments through the set of cohesive company principles. These principles are the foundation of everything we do at Saatvik.

Integrity. Safety. Innovation.

Sustainability. Teamwork.

Strategy. Respect.

At Saatvik Green Energy, we actively support the global effort to energise the world through alternate and greener sources of energy, by manufacturing and distributing world class solar photovoltaic modules, globally. We seek to attain and establish our position as the most reputed, customer centric, significant solar module provider to Solar Industry.

Saatvik wants to be a one stop solution for solar technology and services, and it is moving towards the ambitious goal, step by step. 2018 will see Saatvik expand from 200MW to 500MW annually, as it has made a mark as a rising star in solar module manufacturing. Saatvik wants to further move

Business Concept

Customers & Projects

The current product portfolio includes solar modules

Saatvik has been able to make a good portfolio of

of all ranges starting from 40Wp up to 350Wp in both

customers already, including India’s leading IPPs and

4BB and 5BB. Saatvik uses both poly-crystalline and

solar developers, apart from regional and national EPC

mono-crystalline cells to assemble these solar modules,

companies. Saatvik solar modules have been successfully

coupled with multiple rounds of testing during and after

installed at various government buildings, government

the manufacturing process, ensuring the highest quality

utilities, railway stations, hotels and universities, such as

product for its esteemed customers. All module ranges

Delhi Jal Board, DMRC, Western Railways, Ambala Airforce

have been certified to highest global quality standards,

Station etc.

through a global certification body, TUV Rheinland.

Saatvik’s constant strive towards quality, delivery and

Not only does Saatvik comply with ISO, but it has also

commitment has made its products lucrative to many

implemented SAP H4 HANA which helps in automating

clients, and will continue to do so in future.

a lot of manual processes, for superior records and quality implementation. If your people and processes are sorted, precision comes naturally, and we are a very quality conscious company, hence precision plays a very important role. To assist our people and processes, we have all necessary quality control/inspection equipment both in-line and in the laboratory, to ensure precision in our production for highest quality products.

Team & Management Saatvik Green Energy is a recently founded company of a group involved in the edible oil and oleochemical business with combined turnover of $150 million.

Saatvik, being a young company, managed by people in 20’s and early 30’s has very dynamical horizontal organizational structure. Saatvik believes in smaller team and greater efficiency. This way, every person working for Saatvik feels a sense of ownership.

At Saatvik Green Energy, we actively support the global effort to energise the world through alternate and greener sources of energy, by manufacturing and distributing world class solar photovoltaic modules, globally

towards its goal by providing turnkey solar EPC services.

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Solar Solar Quarter Quarter • April • April 2018 2018 3131

Product Feature The Most Efficient and Adaptable Inverter and Solution Design for Bifacial Modules Generally, a physical model needs to be set up for

Energy yield gain (compared with standard PV modules):

Case 4: Lianghuai floating PV plant

evaluating the energy yield of bifacial modules. Research

10.5%

personnel from National Renewable Energy Laboratory

COD: December 2017

Case 2: Golmud bifacial module plant

Capacity: 10 MW

COD: gradually connected to the grid since August 2017

Inverter: Huawei SUN2000-50KTL-C1

conducted a lot of research. They focus on the ray-tracing

Capacity: 60 MW of horizontal single axis trackers

PV module: 285 W PV module

and view-factor models which can accurately describe the

Inverter: Huawei SUN2000-50KTL-C1

Application scenario: white floats on the water surface

PV module: 345 W and 350 W PV modules

Energy yield gain (compared with standard PV modules):

displayed, algorithms are complex and computing is time-

Application scenario: desert

15%

consuming, which does not meet the actual requirements

Energy yield gain (compared with standard PV modules):

of engineering applications. Huawei has simplified and

13%

(NREL), Sandia National Laboratories, and Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Germany have

gain of the bifacial module from the rear. The two models are based on 3D modeling. Although more details can be

optimized the two models, and launched an industryleading intelligent design tool for bifacial module systems based on the 2D physical model (as shown in Figure

Summary The bifacial module has started a new round of technology

Case 3: Xintai solar-agricultural project

replacement. The application of new technologies requires

COD: November 2017

the development of other new technologies, such as the

2-4). The tool can find the balance point between the

Capacity: 100 MW of single axis trackers

higher inverter input current, finer MPPT granularity, more

calculation speed and design details, and accurately and

Inverter: Huawei SUN2000-50KTL-C1

accurate MPPT algorithms, and smarter design tools for

quickly calculate the optimal configuration of the bifacial module system.

The intelligent design tool for bifacial module systems integrates

full-scenario,

adaptive,

and

self-learning

intelligent control algorithms to accurately output the

bifacial module plants. Based on the preceding analysis,

PV module: 310 W PV module

we are proud to be the provider of the most adaptive PV

Application scenario: solar-agricultural scenario

inverter and solution design in the industry.

Energy yield gain (compared with standard PV modules): 22%

optimal design solution. This increases the energy yield by more than 3% compared with solutions provided by other standard design methods. Currently, this tool is the only accurate design tool for bifacial module plants in the industry and has been verified by a large amount of data.

In addition, the complexity of the I-V curve of the bifacial

Table 1: Comparison of solutions for bifacial module scenarios Comparison Item of bifacial modules Matching Different Solutions Increase of the inverter input DC

Smart PV Solution

Good

Poor

Excellent

Inverter MPPT granularity

Inverter fuse fault

Hundreds of strings form Multiple (more than one MPPT circuit. two) strings form one MPPT circuit.

Poor Poor

and maintenance (O&M). Huawei’s latest Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis function 2.0 uses a new intelligent string diagnosis algorithm. Based on big data analysis and AI

Traditional String Solution

The number of combiner The MPPT input current The MPPT input current is increased. boxes is reduced. is not increased.

Poor Good Excellent

module makes the intelligent diagnosis of string faults easy to misjudge, which causes inconvenience to operation

Traditional Centralized Solution

and output feature curves of various PV modules and

Poor

None

Most efficient algorithm in the industry. The algorithm is intelligently optimized based on the complex and multi-peak I-V curve of bifacial modules.

Excellent

Bifacial module analysis None tool

None

Currently, the industry’s unique intelligent selflearning and adaptive design tool for bifacial modules is used in various complex scenarios.

Excellent

Summary

Available

Based on big data analysis and AI algorithms, the smart I-V curve 2.0 is the optimal choice for O&M of bifacial module plants.

Best choice for bifacial modules

Inverter MPPT algorithm

Poor

automatically filter out the noise that causes misjudgment.

It supports bifacial modules and is the best choice for O&M of bifacial module plants.

To sum this up, we compared the Smart PV Solution with

Bifacial module solution design

None

the current mainstream inverter solutions, as described in the following table 1.

Application Cases of Bifacial Modules and Optimal Inverters

Excellent Two strings form one MPPT circuit and there is no fuse.

Excellent

algorithms, it can automatically learn and evolve. Based on the built-in database, it can quickly master the input

Two strings form one MPPT circuit.

Not recommended

Huawei inverters have the following features: ÂÂ Higher input current and highest efficiency ÂÂ Finer MPPT Granularity ÂÂ Highly adaptive, the most accurate and efficient MPPT ÂÂ Secure and reliable protection design ÂÂ Unique, accurate and the most refined design tool for bifacial module plants in the industry These five smart tools make Huawei inverters the best match for bifacial modules.

In fact, the solutions composed of Huawei inverters and

Gonghe Bifacial module plant

bifacial modules have been widely applied to bifacial module plants in various scenarios. The following table 2 lists some cases.

Case 1: Gonghe Bifacial module plant COD: June 2016 Capacity: 1 MW of fixed mounts and 1.3 MW of horizontal single axis trackers Inverter: Huawei SUN2000-50KTL-C1 PV module: 360 W HIT bifacial module Application scenario: grassland and sand

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Golmud bifacial module plant

Solar Quarter • April 2018 32

Product Feature

2D model of a bifacial module whose rear receives radiation

Table 2: Cases of Huawei string inverters used in bifacial module plants Location Gonghe

Xintai

Capacity 1 MW 1.3 MW 20 MW 20 MW 10 MW 10 MW 30 MW 30–40 MW 100 MW

Lianghuai

8–10 MW

Golmud

Datong

Scenario Gobi

Grid-connection Time June 2016

PV Module Type HIT

PV Module Power 360

Yellow sand

August 2017

Grassland

June 2017

Solaragricultural Water surface

December 2017

P-type N-type P-type P-type N-type N-type N-type

350 350 350 345 310 310 310

November 2017

N-type

290

Mount Type Fixed mount Horizontal single axis Horizontal single axis

Inverter SUN2000-50KTL-C1

Energy Yield Gain 10.5%

SUN2000-50KTL-C1

13%

Fixed mount

SUN2000-50KTL-C1

5%

Horizontal single axis

SUN2000-50KTL-C1

22%

Fixed mount

SUN2000-50KTL-C1

15%

the solutions composed of Huawei inverters and bifacial modules have been widely applied to bifacial module plants in various scenarios Xintai solar-agricultural project

Lianghuai floating PV plant

All-IN-ONE On-grid solar system that you can install all by yourself * SOL AR PV MODULE SOL AR INVERTER WITH WIFI MONITORING INSTALL ATION GUIDE DCDB/ACDB with JUNCTION-BOX AC/DC CABLES EARTHING PROTECTION BI-DIRECTIONAL ME TER MOUNTING STRUCTURE (OPTIONAL)

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Solar Solar Quarter Quarter • April • April 2018 2018 3333

Product Feature ”Sungrow’s SG3125HV is designed for easy operation and maintenance” Overview

efficient modulation algorithm and latest magnetic and

is located on the front door, all of the inverter running

switching devices, the SG3125HV provides an extraordinary

information and settings can be viewed and changed on

efficiency performance, bringing more energy yield and

this touch screen, which is easy for site operation. All of

further increasing project ROI. The maximum efficiency

the components inside the inverter are front accessible,

of SG3125HV can reach 99% and Euro efficiency 98.7%.

which is easy for maintenance. Specially, the SG3125HV

Sungrow has been focused on the inverter development

use Sungrow patented air filter design, which is effectively

and manufacturing for over 20 years, the accumulated

resist the dust going into the inverter, and the filter is

experience has equipped Sungrow inverter with an

easy to be maintenance without any tool. The inverter is

excellent reliability performance. In addition to that, the

easily to be integrated to the SKID, Sungrow provide the

SG3125HV is developed with SUNGROW latest advanced

installation accessories for customer convenience which

platform and tested with Sungrow world leading testing

will bring more values and reduce the initial cost. All of the

center.

interface/plate for installation is designed to be removable

plant.

Wide operating temperature range

and easy to be punched, which will be convenient for

Features

temperature ranges available in the industry, with full

The solar industry is revolving very fast. For the utility scale plant, it faces many challenges. For example, the declining PPA, the pressure of investment costs and the more stringent demand. The new standards require the inverter either to have a wide range ride through capability or special grid support function, those new requirements and standard set a high threshold for the inverter. To follow the market tide, SUNGROW released its grid support utilityinteractive inverter SG3125HV.

With the application of

SG3125HV, the solar plant will have no risk to interact with the utility and it brings much more benefit for the solar

Sungrow’s SG3125HV has one of the widest operating

customer to install the conduit and connect the cables, all of those design lead to less site work and in hence reduce

power available from -30°C to 50°C and operation in

the installation cost.

power de-rate mode available up to 60°C. The speed

Flexible in 6.25MW or 12.5MW block

controlled fans are used for SG3125HV to minimize

SG3125HV is flexible in 6.25MW or 12.5MW. 6.25MW

internal temperature rise, which will lead to a reliable operation,

long

lifetime,

low

power

consumption.

The SG3125HV is rated for 3437KW at ambient temperatures up to 45°C and it is rated to 3125KW up to 50°C. Comparing to most of the inverter start derating after 25°C, SUNGROW SG3125HV will bring more yields for customers, especially when deployed in high temperature area.

solution uses two SG3125HV inverters to access three winding transformer. It can save initial transformer, cable and MV switchgear investment. 50MW plant just needs 8 block.

Excellent grid support function SG3125HV has an advanced voltage and frequency ride through capability. The high voltage ride through is up to

Fig-1: SG3125HV Appearance

The SG3125HV is designed with a 10 feet enclosure and effective cooling system. Based on SUNGROW’s advanced development platform, SG3125HV has an excellent reliability performance and high efficiency. Moreover, the inverter is designed for easy skid integration, convenient for site installation and ultimately reducing the site work and cost. With the application of SG3125HV, the plant construction will move faster and it will finally bring customer a higher ROI.

Fig-4: 6.25MW Solution Design

Fig-2: SG3125HV temperature performance curve

High integration less initial cost Sungrow’s SG3125HV is highly integrated and cut initial investment and installation cost for customers. The

Technical Specifications

SG3125HV has integrated the re-combiner into the DC side cabinet, so this extra cost can be saved. Sungrow

Max DC input voltage

1500VDC

Max output power MPPT range

875VDC to 1300VDC

Max DC input current

4178A

tracker motors, control box, communication box, etc. The

MPPTs

Single

plant will not need extra power supply panels, transformers

DC inputs

21(optional: 24 negative grounding or floating; 28 negative grounding)

and boxes for the tracker, etc. This will save the space for

AC output power at PF=1

3593 kVA@ 25˚C / 3437 kVA@ 45˚C / 3125 kVA@ 50˚C

the initial investment will be further reduced.

AC output power at PF=0.9

3234 kW@ 25˚C / 3093 kW@ 45˚C / 2813 kW@ 50˚C

Advanced mechanical design The SG3125HV adopts the 10 feet container as the

Fig-4: 6.25MW Solution Design

AC output voltage (nominal)

600VAC

enclosure to reduce the shipping cost.

Max AC output current

3458A

Max efficiency

99%

Euro. efficiency

98.7%

DC input protection

Load switch + fuse

AC output protection

SG3125HV has integrated the power supply panels including 480Vac and 120Vac, which can be used for the

the SKID integration and site installation efforts, meaning

The 3 inverter

1.4 Un and It can compensate reactive power during LVRT.

units inside the enclosure share the same DC input as the

With the application of Sungrow SG3125HV, the customer

below diagram shows, those 3 inverter units are working in

will enjoy the high availability and get satisfied with the

parallel, if one of the unit fails, the other unit can still keep

flexibility. The inverter also has a good reactive power

running.

capability and it can inject active power with power factor

Circuit breaker

Sungrow’s SG3125HV is designed for easy operation

0.8. Moreover, the inverter can supply reactive power

AC output configuration

Three phases

and maintenance. This unit has a touch screen which

Operating temperature Range

-35°C to +60°C( Derating above +50°C)

Communication

Standard: RS485, Ethernet; Optional: optical fiber

DC/AC SPD

Type I+II / Type II

scale PV plant, with the application of this containerized

Night Var

YES

inverter, the total system cost will be reduced due to saved

Branch Current Monitoring

YES

integration cost, installation cost, O&M cost, and lower

Insulation monitoring

YES

to the grid at night to support the grid, this will reduce investment on SVG equipment.

Summary SG3125HV is designed to bring a high ROI for utility

initial cost. Moreover, this grid support utility-interactive inverter brings more reliability to the utility and will further reduce the grid interconnection risk. We can expect that

High efficiency and reliability

Sungrow SG3125HV will bring much more benefit for the

Sungrow’s SG3125HV was designed to have a power

solar industry.

converter platform that was more efficient than previous generations of products. Utilizing 3-level converter bridge, Fig-3: SG3125HV Single Line Diagram

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Solar Quarter • April 2018 34

Product Feature ”Our overall Solar portfolio has crossed 1.6 GW of cumulative capacity” Avant-Garde Engineers and Consultants (P) Limited is one of the leading Consultancy and Detailed Engineering Service providers in India with more than 28 Years of Experience in the Power Sector.

We incepted in 1990 by four technocrats from M/s. BHEL. We have group of well experienced professionals in all disciplines Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, Project Management, Financial experts, and Field service engineers of more than 200 professionals.

We have highly qualified Engineers and Designers team with specialization in Technology selection, Design & Detailed Engineering, Layout optimization, Loss minimization, Quality Control, Project management. We engage the latest software tools viz., PVSyst, Meteonorm, SolarGIS, ETAP, Sunshot, SketchUP, STAAD Pro,

Tekla,

AutoCAD

for

our engineering solutions.

The

technical

team

has

worked for variety of clients globally and has developed quality

consciousness

in

our Engineering and has worked to the requirements of National and International Standards by working on projects in countries like USA, South

Africa,

Philippines,

UAE,

Malaysia,

Thailand,

Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The

services

we

provide

include site study, Energy Yield Analysis, Layout engineering, DPR, procurement assistance - technical specification & offer

evaluation,

Owner’s

review engineering / Design and

detailed

engineering,

Site supervision, review of O&M & HSE practices, Site due-diligence studies, etc., Our overall Solar portfolio has

crossed

1.6

GW

of

cumulative capacity on which about 1 GW of projects are already commissioned and in operation globally. Apart from Solar, we are into WtE, Cogen,

CPP,

IPP,

WHRB,

Sugar, Distillery, Slop Cogen, Boiler designing, third-party inspection services.

Featured Product: a.

Products

/

Services:

Detailed Engineering & Consultancy Services b. Technology Specifications : Professionally qualified & experienced engineers team c. T e c h n o l o g y Advancements : Exposure to

Indian

/

British

/

American Standards d. Targeted/ Customer

Benefitted Segment

:

Developers & EPCs e.

Price/

Cost

Range

(Optional) : Nominal

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Solar Solar Quarter Quarter • April • April 2018 2018 3535

Industry Perspective

Storage and Smart Solar Technologies

T

racing the technological progress of Energy storage in India, could the next big technological revolution be in the storage of solar energy?

production to cater to Grid, Off-Grid applications especially

Solar PV rates are all time low. Today we are looking at increasing multiple folds every passing year. After such

W

large scale deployment of PV and Wind farms, it’s only

Biggest challenge we face is that we still are in the phase

logical and matter of time that

‘storage-revolution’ is

of educating people as Renewable energy in it self in a

going to take the industry by storm. I feel lowering our

new concept and Energy storage, types of storage solution

dependency on fossil fuel and moving towards renewable

available, its life span etc. its all a new concept for people from

energy and storage per say is the only way forward which

even within the Industry. Our govt. is trying to encourage

will help reduce our carbon footprint and slow down the

people to use and implement such energy storage

global warming which is increasing at alarming rate.

solutions, however, still in the process of formulating rules

H

& regulation and guidelines to offer and implement such

over 300 GW of Solar PV installed in the world which in

ow are you gearing up for this technological revolution?

the MW Class systems to curb the problem people faced by people in terms of power-outage and general load shedding which is still prominent in many parts of our country.

hat are the challenges that the sector is fronting?

storage options. It would be great if our govt. offers any rebate which would encourage people to come forward

We at VRB Energy are already underway and are setting

and adopt storage which undoubtedly is the ‘talk of the

up new facility in Indian and second one in China. We have

town’ within New and Renewable Energy sector. I am sure

been overwhelmed by the response we received from

people will come around soon and there is no doubt there

within India and other countries like Australia and UAE.

is big future for Every Storage in India and rest of the world.

Mr. Chintan Bhalla, Director, Business Development Puneng Energy

Thus, we are left with no other choice than to ramp up our

T

racing the technological progress of Energy storage in India, could the next big technological revolution be in the storage of solar energy?

become the ultimate pathway towards achieving the goal of

When the sun doesn’t shine? The world we live in operates

The three-dimensional, porous structures enable several

24/7, battery storage technologies are emerging as a critical part of the solution to increase access to electricity in conjunction with solar PV in solar home systems, as well as providing stability services to mini-grids, improving the power quality and increasing the potential share of variable renewables in such remote grids. XNRGI is on the cusp of one of the fastest, deepest, most consequential disruptions of energy storage in history. The lithium battery technology is at the crossroads. The fundamental limitations and outdated electrode manufacturing methods have considerably slowed down the progress. The expected improvements in performance have not happened and the hope for breakthroughs towards new active materials is not likely. A battery is considered the weakest link in many flourishing applications such as electrical vehicles and other mobile applications; and the obstacle towards widespread proliferation of groundbreaking devices. And while the battery industry stagnates, the next 4th industrial revolution will not wait, and it desperately demands a better, lighter, and cheaper portable power source that scales across ever increasing energy storage needs from transport, consumer electronics to the grid. The electrical vehicle application in particular is on a high trajectory

superior battery performance in a scalable manufacturing form to meet the demands of an ever-growing energy storage market in batteries. This is a novel approach for constructing electrodes and manufacturing batteries. times better energies, larger number of cycles, elimination of the safety problems, and lower cost. The concept is based not on some exotic or mysterious new material, but on the well-known silicon, used in computer chips and driving or controlling practically everything in modern life. For batteries, silicon is used in form of porous wafers – the three-dimensional porous structure that enables improvements in every battery property. We have taken the idea of simultaneously improving all fundamental prosperities of batteries by using a porous conductive substrate in silicon and demonstrated the exceptional performance that is 3 to 6 times that of traditional batteries.

The semiconductor industry has been a dominant driving force behind modern technology advancement for the last five decades. If one needs to point to a single reason for this dominance, without a doubt, that would be a permanent evolution in manufacturing and semiconductor industry’s ability to innovate again and again with high volume manufacturing and achieve double win - low cost and improved performance.

W

hat are the challenges that the sector is fronting?

towards completely taking over the vehicle industry, but

High Capital Cost to Manufacture, Safety, Energy

it needs a battery that will match the demand. Present

Performance Density, Installation and Integration, Efficiency,

battery technology is not capable of manufacturing scale

Scalability, Flexibility, Cycle Life, but most importantly Cost.

to meet the demands of the application in terms of energy

Cost is key driver for all storage applications. Low cost

density, cycle life, safety or cost.

batteries will enable 27/7 clean energy for solar.

“India’s total demand for energy will more than double

The complexity of combinations possible between different

by 2030, while electricity demand will almost triple

anodes and cathodes in lithium battery systems makes it

This assumes sufficient uptake to double the share of

difficult to discuss the shortcomings of various batteries

renewables in the global energy mix in less than a decade

in general terms. But, we’ll try to point to main sources of

and a half. With growing demand for electricity storage

problems that affect the performance or safety of these

from stationary and mobile applications, the total stock of

batteries. First, we define the performance as a totality of

electricity storage capacity will need to grow more than

the following main battery characteristics*:

150%, from an estimated 4.67 terawatt-hours (TWh) in

1. Energy density:

2017 to 12 TWh or more by 2030.”

IRENA 2017 Energy Storage Report

H

ow are you gearing up for this technological revolution?

the amount of energy stored per

volume or weight.

2. Power density: the ability to deliver current per volume or weight. The ability to accept current is related to charging time.

3. Cycle life: number of cycles that a battery can deliver a

The XNRGI (exponential energy) battery technology

useful capacity, typically 80% of the nominal or starting

concept is based on a porous silicon substrate that will

capacity.

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Dr. Chris D’couto CEO XNRGI NEAH Power Systems India Pvt. Ltd. 4. Safety: the ability to reduce the probability of a catastrophic battery failure with violent outcome such as fire or explosion.

5. Manufacturing:

cost,

capacity

and

time

to

implementation.

XNRGI battery electrode technology is a perfectly scalable platform model. Flexible, Tunable, Low Cost, Safe, High Volume Manufacturing Model. The based unit or size produced is a 200 mm wafer. For applications that require larger power, full wafer electrodes can be assembled into stacks, while for smaller electrodes wafers would be cut (or diced) into any size required.

With every aspect of performance improved, the XNRGI battery concept is easily the most important battery innovation in the recent history of lithium batteries. By merging the battery industry with the silicon processing industry, the technology has the potential to harness numerous performance improvement pathways and provide a battery that will keep improving. The structure of porous silicon is extremely versatile and provides a platform, which can be continuously improved with other innovations from the battery field or semiconductor field.

This is not a stagnant or limited concept; on the contrary the possibilities are almost endless towards further improvements.

Solar Quarter • April 2018 36

Industry Perspective

Storage and Smart Solar Technologies MiniGrid and some of EV’s (Electric Vehicles) applications

have been recovered.

(2/3/W only) though the mass is yet to come. There are

H

mainly 3 components in Lithium Battery – Lithium Cells, BMS and Balance of Plant (Such as bus bars, switchgear, Sensors, packaging etc). Lithium cells are not manufactured now in India as the current volume does not justify the investments. Many companies have developed their BMS and making battery packs with imported cells. BHEL is reportedly planning to setup Lithium Cells manufacturing line in India using ISRO technology of Lithium Cells. It will be a good initiative and wish it success.

Indeed, Energy Storage System (ESS) is going to be the next big market using Solar Energy. Current cost of ESS is high, thus it can be economically used only for improving quality of Power such as frequency regulation, peak load shifting etc and not for supplying power during non solar

Mr. Anil Chutani Vice President, ACME

T

racing the technological progress of Energy storage in India, could the next big technological revolution be in the storage of solar energy?

hours. However, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has forecasted rapid decline in Lithium battery cost and by 2025 the same is expected to decrease to $73/kwh from the current $250/kwh. In parallel solar power tariff, considering technological innovations, is likely to reach below Rs 2/Kwh.

ow are you gearing up for this technological revolution?

ACME has been exploring various storage technologies since the last few years. We have strong R&D team and have developed in house BMS (Battery Management System) for stationary and EV Batteries. We have in house Lithium battery pack test and validation setup. Besides, we have also setup Lithium Battery pack assembly line in our Rudrapur factory with annual capacity of 350MWH. Currently we have developed Lithium Battery Packs and solutions for Stationary and EV (2/3W) applications. The plan is to expand the annual capacity to 2 – 3 GWH in next couple of years.

W

hat are the challenges that the sector is fronting?

The biggest challenge is the current lack of demand. We believe Grid Scale Storage and Electric Vehicle can be, inter alia, big market for ESS and government can play very important role in creating demand through market driven policies. Government should include ESS in the upcoming

At $73/kwh cost of battery and Rs2/kwh as solar tariff, the

solar tenders and make it mandatory for every solar power

resultant storage power tariff would be below Rs 3/kwh.

plant. This will help Solar IPPs in reducing penalties. As the

Low power tariff will create big market for ESS. We see this

cost of storage and solar power get reduced as expected,

imminently happening within 5-6 years.

every solar plant will necessarily set up ESS for grid

Lead Acid that is slated to grow very fast in the coming

After use in Electric Vehicles, Lithium battery can be used

balancing and supplying power during non – solar hours.

years. Currently, these are being deployed for various

for storage application and power supply. The cost of such

applications such as Home lighting Solutions, Microgrid/

power would further get reduced as cost of battery would

Lithium Battery is the new storage technology after

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This will be the biggest contributor for reduction of Carbon Emission.

Solar Solar Quarter Quarter • April • April 2018 2018 3737

Industry Insights Why energy storage now looks like solar in 2000?

That is the optimistic view, but I think there is something to

234 MW were added in the first quarter of this year. Again,

it. And if that is right, storage will not only move from niche

solar showed a similar trajectory, starting from a tiny base,

to mainstream, but could also be the final push to up-end

then picking up momentum as costs fell.

the current power system.

Most research on energy storage technologies is taking

Consider: Solar costs have fallen 6 percent to 8 percent a

place in developed countries, which makes sense as

year since 2000, meaning that the cost of solar was almost

they have the resources and expertise. And there is a

triple then what it is now, due to greater technological

lot going on. The US Argonne National Laboratory is, in

efficiency (turning the sun into actual power) and lower

its own terms, “working in overdrive” to develop battery

material costs. And the trend is actually accelerating, with

systems both for electric cars (an effort well reported in

costs falling 60 percent since 2008.

No wonder, then,

Steve Levine’s book, The Powerhouse) and for the grid.

that in both the United States and globally, the use of

The goal of Argonne’s Joint Center for Energy Storage

solar is rising sharply. In 2016, the United States installed

Research (see image above) is to develop batteries that

9.5 gigawatts of utility-scale installations (meaning big

store five times as much energy, at one fifth the cost, in

projects, not panels on rooftops), more than any other

the next 5 years. Many other countries are also hard at

single source. (One gigawatt can power about 700,000

work, including companies and labs in Brazil, Britain,

homes.) That was triple the figure for 2015, and more

Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Russia,

than the previous 3 years combined. In short, the market

Singapore, and South Korea. Aside from battery initiatives,

has spoken. As prices have fallen, consumers have proved

ultra-long duration storage projects and technologies may

more and more willing to buy and use solar.

yet achieve lower costs and better performance, such as

What does this mini-history have to do with storage? Like solar in the 1990s, there is a lot of enthusiasm for storage among energy, green, and tech wonks. To put it simply, energy storage is the ability to absorb power, hold it, and then release it on demand. To be widely used, 2 to 4

the EU 90 million euro grant to a compressed air energy storage project in wind-saturated Ireland, hydrogen storage in England, and pumped hydroelectric storage in an abandoned coal mines in Germany. It is hard to believe that this code won’t be cracked.

hours duration is necessary, and of course, the longer the

Cheap solar is already proving a challenge to

better. At the moment, renewables like wind and solar can

in some markets, and cheap storage could complicate

only be dispatched when the wind is blowing or the sun

matters. In broad terms, the broad use of energy storage

shining. If solar energy generated in the heat of day could

could mean customers staying with the grid for reliability,

be stored in, say, a battery, and then released that night (or

but generating almost all their own energy. That is a

the next day), the potential of renewables would be greatly

business model that makes utility executives shudder. As

expanded.

McKinsey put it, “Utilities must start now to understand

As my McKinsey colleagues noted in their work on the subject, there are other advantages to storage. It can smooth the flow of power; provide backup service to electricity

utilities

Most research on energy storage technologies is taking place in developed countries, which makes sense as they have the resources and expertise.

And there is a lot going on.

The US Argonne National Laboratory is, in its own terms, “working in overdrive” to develop battery systems both for electric cars (an effort well reported in Steve Levine’s book, The Powerhouse) and for the grid.

how low-cost storage is changing the future. In effect, utilities need to disrupt themselves—or others will do it for them.”

systems; increase the utilization of power-generation or

The more intriguing and powerful (so to speak) possibilities

transmission and distribution assets; and help to smooth

could be in areas that have never known the luxury of

out the costs, because the cost of generating power is

flipping a switch. More than a billion people have no

different at different times of day. Indeed, my McKinsey

electricity—about half of them in Africa—and for billions

colleagues think that at first, the demand for storage will

more, power is only available a few hours a day. Used in

not be from renewables, but from such ancillary services.

conjunction with site-specific solar installations, storage

And that’s a good thing—the more useful storage is, the

could help fill the gap. The analogy here might be to the

better its prospects, as there are more reasons to invest

mobile phone, which made communications available

and innovate and more ways to make money from it. “The

to areas that had never seen a land line; users simply

game-changing nature of energy storage is its ability to

leapfrogged over the 20th century technology.

could be in areas that have

To the extent that happens in terms of storage, that would

never known the luxury of

balance power supply and demand instantaneously,” concludes the Energy Information Administration, “which makes power networks more resilient, efficient, and cleaner than ever before.”

also be happy news in terms of climate. India, for example, has been ramping up investment in coal, citing the need to get power to the people and to fuel economic growth. If

Those are the advantages. The disadvantage comes down

costs were to come down, renewables-plus-storage could

to one word: Money. Right now, storage is too expensive

provide a cleaner alternative—an option that is already

to bother with much ( just like solar in 2000). But the

gaining traction, with pilots in the works in several Indian

economics are improving rapidly. Battery-pack costs could

states. South Africa is also experimenting with storage, and

be as little as $200 per kilowatt hour in 2020, half the level

China has more than 100 projects going, and is growing

of 2016, and less than $160 by 2025, according to McKinsey

fast.

estimates. As the technology matures, McKinsey thinks the global storage market could reach 1,000 gigawatts in the next 20 years. And many leading solar companies are working to integrate storage into future development.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has a slightly different set of assumptions (its cost estimates are higher, but sees steeper declines). Even so, it sees storage systems in Texas breaking even around 2025.

Energy storage is so tiny at the moment, however, that it can barely be categorized as boutique. At the end of 2016, there was 540 MW of batteries in the US market—not much

The emergence of storage as a routine technology cannot be assumed, but the prospects are more promising than ever.

Another implication is that regardless of what

happens in terms of international agreements like the Paris climate accords, the emergence of cheap technology will play an important and possible definitive role in decarbonizing the global energy. First, second, and last, though, the economics have to be right.

Mr. Scott Nyquist Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

The more intriguing and powerful (so to speak) possibilities

flipping a switch.

More than a billion people have no electricity—about half of them in Africa— and for billions more, power is only available a few hours a day.

Used in conjunction with site-specific solar installations, storage could help fill the gap.

in the context of a total US generation capacity of more than a million megawatts. Still, there is momentum—another

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