Smart Energy Magazine Jan 2023 Edition

Changethefuture....

Editor

Santosh Khadtare santosh@supersmartenergy.com

AssociAtE Editor Anisha Ganguli

EditoriAL AdVisEr Pragya Sharma

EditoriAL coordinAtor Varsha

GrAphic dEsiGnEr D. Vaidya

AdVErtisinG & MArkEtinG

Head- Marketing & Business Development Sapna K sapna.smartenergy@gmail.com

chiEf ExEcutiVE officEr Rahul Raj Chandra

support tEAM Sunil Pawar Bharti Shetty

discLAiMEr

All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy and information in this magazine, opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the vies of the owner/ publisher and the editorial team. Genesis Info-Media shall not be liable for any consequences in the event such claims are found- not to be true

Printed, published and edited by Santosh Khadtare on behalf of Genesis Info-Media, published at 509, Pushp Plaza, above Snehanjali Showroom, Manvelpada Road, Virar Dist Thane and printed at M B Graphics, B 28, 3rd Floor Shri Ram Industrial Estate,Wadala West, Mumbai.

Words from the Editor

Dear Readers, Wishing you all a happy new year!

Happy to inform you all the we have completed a decade of serving the leaders and professionals from the solar and renewable energy industry with latest updates on news, policy, technology and products from the industry. As the industry has evolved and grown, so do we have also grown into a complete media company offering various platforms from print/ digital magazines, skill development/ training programs, events and webinars and now we are also active on social media and have launched podcast series under the Smart Energy banner. I am happy to inform you all that, we have not just evolved as Media Company but have also broadened our focus covering emerging industries like electric vehicles and green hydrogen industry. In addition to that our focus is also on the latest and emerging technologies like AI, IoT and big data that are now the backbone of any company that wants to lead and emerge as a formidable brand offering cutting edge technology products.

As we evolve and grow we look forward to you continued support so that we keep on churning relevant and latest content to keep you ahead in your career or business.

As always I encourage all the readers to keep the conversation going by writing to me on any industry relevant topic or any issue concerning the industry. You can also write to me on any information or any clarification on any topic that has been covered in the magazine. You can drop me a mail at santosh.smartenergy@gmail.com.

Looking forward to your mails.

Happy Reading!

IN CONVERSATION

Prakash R Soni

Founder, Chairman & Managing Director, Sai CabTech

EXPERT SPEAK

Himanshu Jadhav

CEO & Director, Jendamark India Pvt. ltd.

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Jinto Joseph

Head- Sales & Marketing, Credence Solar Panels Private Limited

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved National Green Hydrogen Mission. The initial outlay for the Mission will be Rs.19,744 crore, including an outlay of Rs.17,490 crore for the SIGHT programme, Rs.1,466 crore for pilot projects, Rs.400 crore for R&D, and Rs. 388 crore towards other Mission components. MNRE will formulate the scheme guidelines for implementation of the respective components.

The Mission will result in the following likely outcomes by 2030:

i Development of green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (Million Metric Tonne) per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW in the country

i Over Rs. Eight lakh crore in total investments

i Creation of over Six lakh jobs

i Cumulative reduction in fossil fuel imports over Rs. One lakh crore

i Abatement of nearly 50 MMT of annual greenhouse gas emissions

The Mission will have wide ranging benefits- creation of export opportunities for Green Hydrogen and its derivatives; Decarbonisation of industrial, mobility and energy sectors; reduction in dependence on imported fossil fuels and feedstock; development of indigenous manufacturing capabilities; creation of employment opportunities; and development of cuttingedge technologies. India’s Green Hydrogen production capacity is likely to reach at least 5 MMT per annum, with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW. The targets by 2030 are likely to bring in over

Rs. 8 lakh crore investments and create over 6 lakh jobs. Nearly 50 MMT per annum of CO2 emissions are expected to be averted by 2030.

The Mission will facilitate demand creation, production, utilization and export of Green Hydrogen. Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Programme (SIGHT), two distinct financial incentive mechanisms –targeting domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and production of Green Hydrogen – will be provided under the Mission. The Mission will also support pilot projects in emerging end-use sectors and production pathways. Regions capable of supporting large scale production and/or utilization of Hydrogen will be identified and developed as Green Hydrogen Hubs.

"The recent announcement of an initial capital outlay of US $2.4 billion under the green hydrogen mission is a right step in establishing India as a global hub for the production, utilization and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives. Green hydrogen is capital intensive and the private sector has been wary of investment in risky technologies. The government pumping money in the green hydrogen sector will boost investor confidence and attract large investments from both domestic as well as international capital."

pinion on the approval of national green hydrogen Mission by Vibhuti Garg, director- south Asia, iEEfA

An enabling policy framework will be developed to support establishment of Green Hydrogen ecosystem. A robust Standards and Regulations framework will be also developed. Further, a public-private partnership framework for R&D (Strategic Hydrogen Innovation Partnership – SHIP) will

be facilitated under the Mission; R&D projects will be goal-oriented, time bound, and suitably scaled up to develop globally competitive technologies. A coordinated skill development programme will also be undertaken under the Mission. All concerned Ministries, Departments, agencies and institutions

of the Central and State Governments will undertake focussed and coordinated steps to ensure successful achievement of the Mission objectives. Ministry of New & Renewable Energy will be responsible for overall coordination and implementation of the Mission 

president of india Lays the foundation stone for 1000 MW Bikaner solar power project

The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu she virtually inaugurated the Transmission System for Solar Energy Zones in Rajasthan and laid the foundation stone for 1000 MW Bikaner Solar Power Project of SJVN Limited.

The historic occasion was graced by Hon’ble Governor of Rajasthan Kalraj Mishra and Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot. This Project is being implemented by SJVN Limited through its wholly owned subsidiary SJVN Green Energy Limited (SGEL).

Nand Lal Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director, SJVN apprised that the project is being developed on 5000 Acres on outright purchased land near village Banderwala, district Bikaner of Rajasthan which is one of the highest solar yield areas of the country.

Development cost of the project is Rs 5492 Crores and Viability Gap Funding support of Rs. 44.72 lakh per megawatt for this Project is being done by IREDA. The project is scheduled to be commissioned by March 2024.

After commissioning this project will generate 2454.55 million units in first year and approximately 56838 MU would be generated on cumulative basis over a period of 25 years. The maximum usage charges have been fixed at Rs. 2.57 per unit, which will help in providing cheaper electricity to the consumers.

Sh. Sharma informed that it is a matter of great honor that the Foundation Stone of SJVN’s largest Solar Project has been laid by the Hon’ble President of India and commissioning of this Project would help in achieving Government of India’s Renewable target of 500 GW by 2030. Usage of domestically manufactured Solar

Photovoltaic Cells and modules shall give push to Make in India Drive. Besides adding valuable renewable energy to the Grid, the project would also lead to reduction in Carbon Emission of 27,85,077 tons.

He further stated that the project will generate direct and indirect employment to approximately 150-200 and 800-1000 persons respectively. This would also help in stimulating local economy, creating green jobs and overall development of the region.

SJVN has bagged this 1000 MW Bikaner Solar Power Project under Central Public Sector Undertaking Scheme Phase-II, Tranche-III (Government Producer Scheme) through competitive bidding.

The power generated by the project shall be for self-use or use by Government/Government entities, either directly or through Distribution Companies (DISCOMS) 

 The below image is a reference image and is not related to the Bikaner Solar Project

Are You Ready for Climate Correction Day Challenge?

So what will happen if the entire 1.3 billion population of India decides to wear noniron clothes for just one day a year?

The one-day-in-a-year without ironed clothes is part of what Prof. Solanki calls the Climate Correction Day Challenge (CCD Challenge).

Do you know how much of electricity is consumed in our daily activities like using a mixer grinder, using geyser for heating water for bath, using microwave to heat food etc and above all do you know how much of carbon is released when we use this devices during our regular use. This one question though seem to be irrelevant from a general user point of view, when we think it on a larger scale, it does make an impact. If you want to know how, then keep reading as we take you through the innovative approach that the Solar Man of India, Prof Solanki explains it in the easiest possible way with an an example of Iron that is used by millions for ironing clothes.

Ironing clothes is something that has become a daily habit of almost all of us because we are 'expected' to look neat and clean at work or school and college.

But is it really necessary to wear ironed clothes day in and day out throughout the year? We must start asking this question as earlier this year India faced an acute coal shortage that almost resulted in a power blackout in the country. India is still heavily dependent on coal to generate electricity, which among other things is also used to iron our clothes.

This is a challenge Chetan Singh Solanki, a Professor at IIT Bombay wants the entire country to take up.

How much electricity is used to iron clothes?

Prof. Solanki, also known as the Solar Man of India for his advocacy for renewable energy says this will make a huge difference, both in terms of saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.

Electric clothes iron is normally rated between 500 watts to 2000 watts. A 2000-watt electric iron running for 15 minutes every day will consume around 0.5 kWh of electricity in a day, and 15 kWh of electricity in a month.

"Since the clothes are worn in pairs, it is two pieces of clothes that one person will be ironing for a day. It takes 5-7 minutes to iron one piece. This will result in the equivalent of 200 grams of CO2 emission. In other words, the entire country will be emitting 250 million grams of CO2 a day just to iron their clothes," Prof. Solanki said.

"The majority of the electricity in India comes from coal. It is estimated that one unit of electricity results in one kg of CO2 emission. So if we all decide not to iron our clothes for one day, we can save 250 million units of electricity," he added.

Climate correction Day Challenge

As part of this initiative, Prof. Solanki's Energy Swaraj Foundation will be issuing monthly challenges to the general public to create awareness about how they can play small, but vital roles in preventing climate change.

"The whole idea is that we all contribute to climate change, every day. But we do climate correction only once in a year on Earth day or environment day. We wanted to do something to bring sensitivity to people. That is how we came up with this Climate Correction Day Challenge. on the first Wednesday of every month, there will be a new challenge, which will be simple and doable," Prof Solanki explained.

Why small steps are important

According to him, while it is important to take drastic, policy-level steps to prevent climate change it is also important to make grassroots-level changes.

"When we talk about actions to stop climate change it is usually around Paris Agreement, COP, reduction of carbon emission etc. But it is also important that individuals become aware and change their habits. We are appealing to everyone 'take challenge and change, because the climate has already changed'," he said.

Prof Solanki who is on an 11-yearlong journey across India to create awareness about climate change is also taking the message of the climate correction day challenge to schools, colleges, and other public forums where he is invited to speak 

India’s per capita electricity consumption was 1255 kWh in 202122, which is around one-third of the global average of per capita electricity consumption. The Government of India, through Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), has implemented schemes that help in increasing energy efficiency, such as Standards and Label (S&L) Programme, Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA), Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), Building Energy Efficiency, Agriculture and Municipal Demand Side Management.

As per the the Generation Expansion Planning studies carried out by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for 2029-30, the share of non-fossil fuel based generation capacity in the total installed capacity of the Country is likely to increase from around 42% as on Oct, 2022 to more than 64% by 2029-30. This would reduce the

dependence on fossil fuel in electricity generation and promote alternative sources of power like solar and wind. Further, the following steps have been taken to promote renewable power in the country:

i. Permitting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 percent under the automatic route.

ii. Waiver of Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) charges for inter-State sale of solar and wind power for projects to be commissioned by 30th June 2025.

iii. Declaration of a trajectory for Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) up to the year 2029-30.

iv. Setting up of Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Parks to provide land and transmission to RE developers for installation of RE projects at large scale.

v. Schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha

evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PMKUSUM), Solar Rooftop Phase II, 12000 Mega Watt (MW) Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) Scheme Phase II, etc.

vi. Laying of new transmission lines and creating new sub-station capacity under the Green Energy Corridor Scheme for evacuation of renewable power. vii. Standard Bidding Guidelines for tariff based competitive bidding process for procurement of Power from Grid Connected Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Wind Projects.

viii. Notification of Promoting Renewable Energy through Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022.

ix. Launch of Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) to facilitate sale of Renewable Energy Power through exchanges 

In a bid to help India achieve its power generation capacity through cleaner, renewable energy sources, the World Bank, the government of India and Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) have signed agreements to provide loans worth $200 million in the form of International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loan, Clean Technology Fund (CTF) loan and CTF grant.

The IBRD loan, which is worth $150 million, has a grace period of five years and a maturity of 25 years, the CTF loan, which is worth $28 million, has a grace period of 10 years and a maturity of 40 years, and CTF grant is worth $22 million.

The agreement underscores India’s commitment to achieving 500 giga-watts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030 to address the challenges of climate change.

The project aims to address constraints in commercial investments in the renewable energy sector by increasing the confidence of the various stakeholders. The project will also help SECI increase market uptake by addressing the barriers to deploying new technologies at scale. Under this, the first solar subproject is being constructed by battery energy solar systems (BESS) in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh, whereas the second sub-project, which will have floating solar panels is ongoing at the Getalsud reser-

voir of Jharkhand.

India currently has an installed capacity of more than 409 gigawatt (GW), of which the renewable energy (non-hydro) share is almost 29% (119.5 GW). The project will accelerate India’s progress towards sustainable universal electricity access, which is a key milestone for achieving inclusive economic development objectives.

The project will also support SECI with human resource and business planning, project monitoring, procurement, financial and contract management, environmental and social safeguards, and financial management, among others 

share of non-fossil fuel based generation capacity to increase more than 64% by 2029-30

World Bank to provide $200 mn worth loans to india for renewable energy projects

Waaree to expand its module manufacturing capacity to 12 GW By March 2023

JSolar equipment maker Waaree has announced that it will ramp up its module manufacturing capacity to 12 GW by March 2023 from the existing nine GW. Waaree, currently has a 9 GW module manufacturing facility operational. Further, the company is setting up additional module manufacturing capacity, which will take its module manufacturing capacity to 12 GW for a 650-watt module by March 2023, the company statement added.

This will be the largest module manufacturing capacity in the

world outside China, it added.

Waaree is the lone manufacturer in India approved by ALMM (Approved List of Models and Manufacturers) to ship high-wattage panels— 650WP along with 600WP and 540WP—from its manufacturing facilities in Surat, Chikhli, Tumb and Nandigram.

“2022 was a very eventful year

for Solar Manufacturing, the country took more than 15 years to reach a module manufacturing capacity of 10 GW and in less than one year in 2022, the county has established over 30 GWs and is marching towards reaching 100 GW," Hitesh Doshi, Chairman and Managing Director of Waaree Energies, said.

Waaree Energies Ltd is India's leading Solar PV Module manufacturer. In addition, it provides EPC services, project development, rooftop solutions, and solar water pumps and is an independent power producer

Risen Energy gets BIS certification for its titAn series of ultra-high-power pV modules

Risen Energy Co., Ltd., a global leading manufacturer of high-performance solar photovoltaic products, has recently been granted BIS certification for its TITAN 132 series of ultra-high-power PV modules, with subsequent opportunities for end users to substantially lower their LCOE.

BIS is the National Standard Body of India established under the BIS Act 2016 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods. BIS Certification issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) ensures the quality, safety and reliability of products in accordance with Indian Standards (IS).

Building on its early lead on obtaining the BIS certification in 2018, Risen Energy has provided solutions to local IPP, developers, EPC companies and investors. The addition of TITAN 132 series to

the part of BIS portfolio creates further potential and penetration for solar PV on Indian market.

Commenting on the achievement, B.Veerraju Chaudary, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer (CSMO) of Risen Energy said, "Risen Energy is committed to the research and development and mass production of high-efficiency PV modules. Obtaining BIS certification for its Ultra-high-Power Bifacial and Monofacial PV Modules of TITAN 132 series represents a major milestone for us, and we look forward to providing customers in India with high-performance products and best in class services as well as further promoting the development and application of renewable energy in the country."

Risen Energy have been focusing on powering the world with superior quality and cost-effective PV module products more than two decades. The Titan series

products, with more power generation and higher efficiency, have received strong market recognition globally since launching. The adoption of pioneering technologies such as multi-grid, non-destructive sectioning, halfcut packaging and high-density encapsulation, etc., allows the TITAN 132 series to have superlative performance whilst reducing the system balance costs in today’s' fiscally challenged arena. High performance with a power coverage of up to 670Wp, has made the TITAN series a star performer in any measure or metric. Furthermore, the diversified and flexible design of the TITAN series can be customized for solutions in various industrial, commercial and utility-scale projects 

Welspun india acquires 26% stake in clean Max thanos

Welspun India announced that it has entered into an arrangement for supply of renewable energy under captive structure from Clean Max Thanos (CTPL).

As part of the deal Welspun has subscribed to 26% equity share capital of CTPL by paying Rs.3.80 Cr while the remaining 7$% shareholding of CTPL is held by Cleanmax Group.

As per the deal CTPL will set up a renewable energy project under Hybrid Policy of the Government of Gujarat and the company's Vapi factory will acquire renewable energy from the proposed

project of CTPL.

Welspun India said that the implementation of renewable energy project in the state of Gujarat as a captive unit for supply of renewable energy to the company's Vapi factory. CTPL is expected to commence supply of renewable energy to the firm's Vapi factory by 31 March 2023.

The indicative time period for completion of the acquisition is 31 December 2022.

CTPL is a special purpose vehicle formed for this project. It is

engaged in business of generation and supply of Renewable Energy.

CleanMax is Asia's leading renewable energy company in the C&I (commercial and industrial) sector with 1GW of operating renewable assets. It pioneered the ‘Energy Sale' model for rooftop solar in India in 2011 and focusing on the vision of being the sustainability partner of choice for corporate. CleanMax is already working with more than 350 corporate for their renewable energy requirements 

Amara

raja power systems

selects nextracker to supply solar trackers for ntpc's 306 MWp nokh power plant

Nextracker, the leading global provider of intelligent solar tracker and software solutions, announced the signing of a master supply agreement (MSA) with Amara Raja Power Systems Limited to deliver its award-winning solar trackers for NTPC Limited's Nokh Solar Project – soon to be one of India's largest solar parks. Amara Raja is executing this 306-megawatt peak (MWp) project, as a ground-mounted utility-scale power plant spread over 1,850 hectares (approximately the equivalent of 3,500 contiguous football fields) in the state of Rajasthan.

The announcement follows the upward trend for the deployment of solar trackers combined with bifacial module technology in India due to falling module prices and increased tracker design efficiencies. Nextracker's optimized bifacial tracker design has been proven to increase energy yield as validated by third party test laboratories in this seminal bifacial and solar tracker white paper.

"In line with the government's vision to bring more renewables

into the energy mix, we are delighted to collaborate with Nextracker, the global leader in solar tracker technology, on the landmark Nokh solar project," stated Dwarakanadha Reddy, Business Head Projects Division, Amara Raja Power Systems. "We are proud to offer this advanced technology to NTPC, and Nextracker is the right local partner to help us achieve lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE) over the lifetime of the plant due to its bifacial optimized design."

"We are grateful for this opportunity to partner with Amara Raja and India's largest power public sector utility, NTPC Limited," said Dan Shugar, Nextracker founder and CEO. With a gigawatt of our high performing solar tracker systems operating on 24 projects across India and close to 200 local staff to support design and engineering, local content and manufacturing, sales and aftermarket services, Nextracker is committed to delivering high performing

systems to our customers and supporting India's goal to ensure that 50 per cent of the country's energy requirement comes from renewable resources."

NTPC has increased its renewable energy investments in recent years and aims to achieve over 60 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2032 accounting for 50% of its overall generation capacity. With the first shipments to arrive in Q1 of 2023, the project is expected to be operational by October 2023. Rajasthan has the highest installed renewable energy capacity (19.5 GW) among Indian states, having recently achieved its 14 GW target for 2022 in December 2021 

Arctech to supply 2.8 GW skyline ii solar tracking solution in india

IArctech, the world's leading tracking, racking, and BIPV solutions provider, has inked the deal to supply 2.8 GW of SkyLine II single-axis solar trackers for the solar project with a total capacity of 15GW in Khavda of Gujarat district, India. The project is expected to be connected to the grid in the third quarter of 2023, which is expected to be the largest operational solar site in the country.

Since entering the Indian market in 2015, Arctech has supplied 7GW solar tracking, and racking solutions to the Indian region, marking the company's unquestionable leading position in the region. According to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, Arctech holds the No. 1 position for solar trackers in India in 2020 and a 45 percent market share in 2021.

SkyLine II is a flagship product with a peculiar edge in the Indian market. The first 1P (one-inportrait) tracker designed with a pentagonal torque tube and synchronous multi-point drive mechanism enables a new possibility of designing the plant using trackers with identical pile configurations, overcoming

the uncertainty faced in the early stage of plant design and construction.

The synchronous multi-point drive mechanism technology rigidifies the tracker to the point of enabling 0 degree wind stow mode, hence reducing the difference of wind pressure and post loads between the exterior and interior of the PV plant. By doing so, Skyline II enables a new possibility of designing the plant using trackers with identical pile configurations, overcoming the uncertainty faced in the early stage of plant design and construction. There are no other ways for traditional trackers to achieve the same outcome and solve the problem without dismantling and replacing all trackers in the affected areas.

PV manufacturing is expanding rapidly in India. The country will remain one of the world's largest PV markets in the coming years, and it is keen to free itself from dependence on imported solar

goods. In August 2022, Arctech celebrated the inauguration of its first joint venture manufacturing base, Jash Energy in Mundra, India. The manufacturing base with a 3 GW annual capacity is the first manufacturing base dedicated to solar trackers in the country, allowing producing all major components for its solar tracker products.

With its long-lasting dedication to deepening the market penetration in India, the official launch of the factory shows that the company is now capable of encompassing the full lifecycle of tracker systems including structural, mechanical, and electrical design as well as construction, operation, and maintenance in the country ■

EiL secured assignment for providing owner’s Engineer services for polysilicon and Monosilane project from M/s Mundra solar technology Limited

Engineers India Limited (EIL) has secured an assignment for providing Owner’s Engineer Services for 30,000 MTPA Polysilicon and 500 MTPA Monosilane Project from M/s Mundra Solar Technology Limited (a group company of M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd). Polysilicon is one of niche products and is the primary component for manufacturing Photovoltaic panels. This

is big boost to the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative of the Govt. of India having potential to expand the indigenous manufacturing of Polysilicon. These key components are mostly being imported by the country at present.

Commenting on this new assignment, Ms. Vartika Shukla, CMD,

EIL said “Aligned with the vision of Government of India on energy security and production-linked incentives (PLI) which sets Government’s priority, it’s a strategic assignment for EIL, foraying in diversified sectors for business growth continuing to offer sustainable solutions” 

Adani Green Wins sustainability 4.0 Award

conferred Jointly By frost & sullivan and

Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), the world’s largest solar power developer and the renewable energy arm of the diversified Adani portfolio companies, has won the ‘Leaders Award’ at the Sustainability 4.0 Award 2022, jointly convened by Frost & Sullivan and The Energy & Research Institute (TERI). AGEL emerged as ‘Sustainability Front Runners’ under the ‘Mega large business’ category in the service sector.

“We remain committed to ESG goals, and this award validates our tireless efforts to be an indispensable part of being resilient, proactive, and progressive with changing times”, said Santosh Kumar Singh, Chief Sustainability Officer, AGEL, “The Sustainability 4.0 Award recognizes the Group’s positive transformation led by embracing sustainability as a collective journey for the betterment of people and the planet. The evaluations and recognition from such prestigious organisations reinforce our resolve to put in place a robust system to integrate sustainability in all busi-

ness processes.”

The 13th edition of the prestigious legacy was organised by Frost & Sullivan, which has over 50 years of experience partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses, and the investment community across six continents, and TERI. The aim of this award is to recognize the most impactful companies that promote sustainability and are actively working toward the betterment of the environment. It highlights the importance of connecting an organization's strategy, governance, and financial performance to the social, environmental, and economic context in which it operates, allowing businesses to make long-term decisions that ensure stakeholder value.

AGEL’s dynamic approach towards sustainability can be seen in its operations and CSR initiatives. All operating sites of AGEL are single-use plastic free and it recently has been certified for Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWL) for 100% of its operating

tEri

capacity for FY22. AGEL is also a signatory to the India Business and Biodiversity Initiative and is committed to conduct business with ‘No Net Loss’ to biodiversity. AGEL has avoided a cumulative of 23.6 million tons of CO2 emissions till now by generating and supplying renewable energy. In yet another step to enable India's dual objective to accelerate the renewable energy footprint as well as promote domestic manufacturing under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ programme, AGEL signed the world's largest-ever green power purchase agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to supply 4.67 GW of green power. The company continues to support the lives of people around their operations, impacting over 3.7 million people directly and indirectly. AGEL's positive initiatives have resulted in visible transformation in its operations over the years, and this Sustainability 4.0 Award will further encourage the company to pursue its sustainability vision ■

Growatt enters into strategic alliance with

Global solar inverter supplier

Growatt has entered into a strategic alliance and partnership with GREW Renewables, an Ahmedabad-based Chiripal Group company, for the latter’s upcoming C&I and utility-scale solar projects.

Growatt said in a statement that “we are continuously propelling the solar mission and clean energy transition of India by strengthening collaboration with EPC companies like GREW.”

Commenting on the partnership, Atul Kamathi, Vice President at GREW Renewables Private Lim-

GrEW renewables

ited, said “we have felt elated to work with a trusted brand “Growatt”, one of the leading inverter companies in India. Their innocuous supplies of the inverters for our solar EPC projects were commendable, and we look forward to having such business relationship for our upcoming projects.”

“We have supplied our powerful MAX 125KTL3-X LV inverters for their 10 MWp C&I projects in Gujarat (India), and we are excited to leverage our strength in string inverter and service support to join hands and facilitate their EPC targets of 200 MWp for 2023,”

commented Rucas Wang, Head of APAC at Growatt.

“To ensure the ultimate safety of the APX HV battery system, we apply five levels of comprehensive protection in the product,” commented Lisa Zhang, Growatt vice president of marketing. “Protection includes an active Battery Management System (BMS) for each cell, a pack-level energy optimizer and built-in aerosol fire protection for each module, an arcfault circuit interrupter (AFCI) and a replaceable fuse for the whole system.” 

NTH to offer EV battery testing at Mumbai & Kolkata centres from next fiscal

Anticipating a rise in demand for electric vehicles (EV), the government's National Testing House (NTH) on Monday said it will offer testing services for EV batteries and charging systems at its Mumbai and Kolkata centres from the next fiscal.

Currently, the Manesar-based International Centre for Automotive Technology and the Punebased Automatic Research Association of India (ARAI) are the two agencies in the country providing testing services for EVs and their batteries.

"Electronic vehicles are going to add to our daily lives. In order to have sufficient testing facilities, we are making our labs futureready as the demand is going to increase," said Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary in the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

The National Testing House (NTH) is preparing to offer testing services for EV batteries and charging systems at its Kol-

kata headquarters and Mumbai regional centre from the next fiscal, she told reporters.

The NTH Mumbai and Kolkata centres were chosen because the maximum number of EV makers are located in Pune/Mumbai, while the maximum number of manufacturers of EV batteries are present in Kolkata, NTH Director General Alok Kumar Srivastava said.

Testing begins at the manufacturing level, Srivastava said and added good quality products can be made if testing labs are located near the manufacturing units. Imported equipment used in EV making can also be tested at these two NTH centres.

Already, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has come out with performance standards for EV batteries in order to ensure the safety of consumers.

NTH, set up in 1912, is one of the largest multidisciplinary testing labs of the central government

which caters to quality testing needs in different disciplines.

NTH is registered in the Government e-Market (GeM) as a service provider in the category "Testing and Calibration Service" to meet the testing needs of all government departments, CABs, and PSUs, etc.

NTH has introduced a fully digital Laboratory Management Information System(LIMS). Now, consumers can get their product samples tested from any part of the country by sending samples through courier, booking the required tests online, submitting payment online and get the test results online, even by using mobile phone. By using sample tracking, they may also monitor the testing time and position of their samples.

Besides Mumbai, its other centres are located in Chennai Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and the satellite centre at Varanasi ■

The market leader in India’s growing EV industry, Tata Motors, has signed an MoU with Everest Fleet Private Limited for the delivery of 5000 XPRES-T EVs. Tata is moving to accelerated the transition to sustainable transportation in India by manufacturing affordable electric vehicles. Tata has already handed over the first 100 cars to Everest Fleet Private Limited as part of the celebrations of the landmark deal.

Over the past 10 years or so, a lot of new energy vehicle startups, and also legacy OEMs, have followed the same formula of starting with top of the range ($70,000+) electric vehi-

cles and then move slowly to develop lower priced versions. The majority of car buyers can’t afford those kinds of vehicles. The good news is that truly affordable electric vehicles that meet most people’s needs are finally starting to arrive now in some markets around the world.

Tata Motors has been revolutionizing the Indian automotive

market with its pioneering efforts and is leading the e-mobility wave in India with a commanding market share of 87% in FY’22 and over 50,000 Tata EVs rolled out from the plant to date in the personal and fleet segment ■

tata Motors delivers the first 100 EVs to Everest fleet in india as part of 5,000 EV deal

Electric charging Made Easy with Go Ec

In the last few years, a large number of people have realized the importance of using electric vehicles or EVs. These vehicles are powered by electrical energy and therefore, environmentfriendly. From scooters to fourwheelers, a large number of vehicles today run on electricity. However, there is a particular reason why a section of commuters still prefers fuel-driven vehicles over ones that run on electricity.

Electric vehicles, when charged fully, can cover a certain distance. The lack of proper infrastructure for electric vehicle charging stations has made it quite difficult for electric vehicle owners to cover long distances. That is where a company like GO EC comes into the picture. With an aim to make electric vehicles the most preferred mode of transport in India, the company, which believes in creating sustainable products, has taken up the onus to install charging stations for electric vehicles in every nook and corner of the country.

Elaborating on this vision, A.P Jafar, founder and chief managing director of GO EC, says, “We are fully committed to our vision to make the usage of electric vehicles accessible for every Indian. The sight of a charging station in their neighbourhood gives people the confidence to invest in electric vehicles. A step like this would play an important role in resolving many of the environment-based challenges we are dealing with. Once electric vehicles become the norm, and not the alternative they are today, our planet will become a much more livable space to be in. Our products are equipped with the latest EV charging technology that caters to vehicles of all forms and sizes.”

GO EC has a large team comprising of individuals who strongly

believe in the fact that electric vehicles is that segment that will be the first choice of commuters in the next few years. In a very short span of time, the company has managed to install charging stations at several locations. The growth in the number of EV users in these areas serves as a testimony to the fact that their endeavours have been successful and met with a very positive response from the commuters. Recently, GO EC created history by building the world’s first waste-to-energy charging station in Haji Ali in Mumbai.

“Till now, we have set up 173 EV charging stations in different parts of the country. There was a huge market gap which we are determined to fill. Most people in India, who owned electric vehicles, wanted more number of charging stations to be around but nobody was taking an initiative in this direction. We recognized this demand and started working proactively towards fulfilling it. Doing this was all the more fun as it aligned with our commitment towards creating innovations that contribute towards nurturing the environment we live in”, says P.G Ramnath, CEO and Executive Director at GO EC.

GO EC is not just offering personal EV charging solutions. Apart from providing charging solutions for the electric vehicles you use in personal capacity, it also caters to commercial workplaces and provides charging stations for employees, workers and visitors. It also offers charging solutions for fleets and those who run or manage electric

vehicles as a part of a transport business.

Talking about the growing popularity of electric vehicles, Zara Elizabeth, director at GO EC, says, “The growth of the electric vehicle industry coincides with the increasing awareness around our environment. In the 2000s, environmental education was made a part of one’s curriculum. As those students grew up, they realized the importance of using electric vehicles. Apart from being environment-friendly, electric vehicles also help you save up on a great amount of money on a regular basis. Maintaining them, too, is a very convenient process.”

In the Electric Vehicle (EV) space, GO EC has been no less than a change maker. While many companies were manufacturing electric vehicles, nobody had taken the initiative to make the process of using these vehicles more convenient and accessible. From the biggest of cities to the smallest of towns, GO EC is installing charging stations everywhere in India. The company has been at the forefront of a change-making process that will revolutionize the electric vehicle industry in a big way ■

hygge Energy aims to disrupt EV charging ecosystem in india

It is considered that the lack of an adequate sustainable charging ecosystem is one of the biggest hindrances that’s putting a brake on faster adoption of electric vehicles. But setting up a charging ecosystem is capitalintensive and the payback could be long-term. Canadian start-up Hygge Energy aims to solve both these challenges in a sustainable manner.

As part of its ambition to solve the challenge, Hygge Energy has partnered with Indian Oil Corporation and is running a pilot program to explore the potential use of solar-powered EV fast charging stations.

Prateek Saxena, CEO, Hygge Energy highlighted, “Hygge Energy has carved out a space for itself as a young and innovative technology company. We are utilising revolutionary technology to create a renewable energy and carbon trading marketplace that will help nations around the world meet their net-zero targets as per COP26, while encouraging a culture of sharing and giving back to the community.”

Saxena said the Indian Oil project gave insight into several challenges faced by the Indian EV charging business. Firstly, the electrical grid is not resilient enough to allow EV charging.

When EV chargers are set up, the grid infrastructure requires costly and time-consuming upgrades. This results in increased transformer size causing higher sanctioned load and electricity bills as well.

The load factor on the grid is also too high; as demand peaks for EV charging, the grid would not have the capacity to support it since EV charging is going to add 50 percent to the peak demand. The grid energy mix is not renewables-centric, and hence neither is the EV charging source.

“Our solution proved that a rooftop solar-powered fuel station can not only reduce its electricity bill by 80 percent but also provide 8 hours of EV charging without using any electricity from the grid,” he added.

According to Saxena, their solution turned out to be a tremendous opportunity for carbon trading, “for companies like Indian Oil to generate carbon credits. In fact, when we were scaling, we saw a $5-6 billion (Rs 41,235 crore to Rs 49,482 crore) carbon trading opportunity for Indian Oil.”

As part of its expansion plans, Hygge Energy is going supplier agnostic by working with all leading Tier 1 EV charger manufactur-

ers. The company’s software gets integrated with the EV chargers.

“We have also developed the Hygge Box, a plug-and-play device embedded with our patented technology. The Hygge Box connects renewable energy sources to these EV chargers. This instantly results in the creation of a smart EV charging station, not only enabling franchises and aggregators to take advantage of carbon credits but also helping drive traffic to the station with the help of a feature that is unique to the Hygge Platform: the facility to reserve EV chargers in advance. We are scouting for partners to manufacture the Hygge Box in India and are actively in discussions with large Japanese companies,” shares Saxena ■

Electric to enter the commercial EV space

IOla Electric is planning to enter the commercial vehicle space and by doing so will take on automotive giants, Tata Motors and Mahindra&Mahindra,

Ola Electric, its decision to enter the three-wheeler segment was partly prompted by its plans to go for massive electrification drive in its ride-sharing electrification drive. The company is

already a big player in the threewheeler ride-sharing business and it plans to build the electric auto-rickshaws according to the requirements of Ola drivers.

On the other hand, the Tata Ace EV has been on extended trial runs with its fleet owners. The manufacturer is also developing the charging ecosystem on their premises.

The Ola senior official further stated how there is a substantial market in the eSCVs and eLCVs, that offer attractive margins. Several of the ICE products available are unattractive, as per the official. Ola Electric will be re-engineering the product and coming up with a design-balancing cost with value ■

punjab invites Bids for 10 MW of rooftop solar systems on Government Buildings:

The Punjab Energy Development Agency has invited bids to install and commission 10MW of gridconnected rooftop solar systems with net metering facility on government buildings across the state under the renewable energy service company (RESCO) model. The last date to submit the bids online is Jan 30, 2023. Bids will be opened the following day.

sJVn Green invites bids for 125MW solar projects in Bihar:

SJVN Green Energy a wholly owned subsidiary of SJVN has invited bids to commission a 125 MW gridconnected solar power project in Jamui, Bihar. The selected developer must complet ehte project within 465 days and provide three years of comprehensive operation and maintenance service The last day to submit bids is Jan 17, 2022. Bids will be opened on the same day.

sEci invites rfs for 1200 MW Wind- s olar h ybrid p ower projects in india:

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has invited a Rfs for 12ooMW ISTS connected wind-solar hybrid power projects with assured peal power supply in India (Tranche-VI). Connectivity and long-term open access is in the scope of the hybrid power developer. Online bid submission end date is Jan 12,2023 and Jan 16,2023 for offline submission. The bids will open on Jan 17,2023..

rajasthan invites Bids for 810 MW of solar porjects: Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (RVUNL) has issued tender to select solar project developers to set up810 MW of state transmission utility connected solar

power projects on a build-ownoperate basis in RVUNL’s ultra mega solar park in Bikaner. The last day to submit the bids is Feb 22, 2023. Bids will be opened on Feb 24, 2023.

MsEdcL invites bids for procurement of 450MW solar power

MSEDCL has invited bids to procure 450 MW of power from solar projects to be developed in Maharashtra. The last date to submit the bids online is Jan 30, 2023. Bids will be opened on the same day. MSEDCL has set a ceiling tariff of Rs.32.0/ kWh.

sEci invites bids to install 666250 off grid solar water pumps across india:

New Delhi based Urja Global has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Andhra Pradesh for development of an integrated plant for electric vehicles and Lithium-ion batteries including skilling in the state. The plant will be set up at an investment of Rs 200 crore.

APM Terminals offers logistics for solar energy in india’s hinterland

The solar energy corporation of India is inviting bids to commission 666250 off-grid solar water pumps with a capacity of 1-10 hp in select states across India under Component- B of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) program. Selected vendors are required to install solar pumps within 120 days of receiving the notice to proceed in general category states, and within 150 days in special category and hilly states, union territories and islands. The last day to submit the bids is Feb 28, 2023. The bids will open in March 3, 2023..

B h EL f loats o &M tender for a 5MW solar project in haridwar:

BHEL has invited bids for the O&M of 5MW solar power projects at its heavy electrical equipment plant in Hardiwar, Uttarakhand. The last date to submit the bids is Jan 6, 2023. Bids will be opened on the same day.

ntpc invites Bids to supply power transformer for 4750 MW khavda solar park in Gujarat:

NTPC Renewable Energy Limited (NTPC REL) invites online bids from eligible bidders on Single Stage Two Envelope (i.e. EnvelopeI: Techno-Commercial Bid and Envelope-II: Price Bid) for POWER TRANSFORMER SUPPLY PACKAGEII (SOUTH BLOCK) UNDER DEVELOPMENT OF 4750MW SOLAR PARK AT KHAVDA, GUJARAT

Ministry of defence floats 1.210 MW solar tender in uttar pradesh:

Ministry of Defence has floated a tender for the supply of a 1.210 MW solar power PV plant in various establishments of HAL in Uttar Pradesh under the RESCO model. The last date for submitting the online bid is January 03, 2023, till 06:00 pm and the bid will be opened on the same day, at 06:30 pm.

public sector undertaking troop comforts has invited bids for the implementation of 1.21 MW grid-connected rooftop and ground-mounted solar projects at various locations of Hindustan Aeronautics in Uttar Pradesh under the RESCO model. The last date to submit the bids is Jan 3, 2022. Bids will open the same day ■

Though a regular yearly event, budget 2023-24 has gian importance as it comes at crucial times when the global economies are facing uncertainties due to war, inflation, supply chain disruptions and deteriorating climate conditions.

As the Finance Minister Shrimati Nirmala Sitharaman kicked off pre-budget consultations and meetings with different industry bodies, representatives and experts on their suggestions and expectations from the 2023 budget, various associations and representatives have met the Finance Minsiter with their suggestions and expectations from the budget 2023.

The bare minimum the industry is looking forward to from the budget is maintaining growth momentum and reining in inflation.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry FICCI, in a pre-budget memorandum says, “The recovery of the global economy following the pandemic-induced shocks was halted in the wake of the Russian

invasion of Ukraine, posing headwinds to the growth prospects and fuelling global inflationary pressures. Several shocks have battered the global economy, which was already weakened by the pandemic.”

While industry bodies like PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has suggested 5-pronged strategy to revitalize private investments. The 5 pronged strategy suggested by PDH Chamber focuses on 1. Enhance consumption 2. Increase capacity utilization 3. Create employment 4. Enhance quality of social infrastructure 5. Strengthen economic growth

Several industry experts have voiced their concerns in favour of including petrol and diesel under the ambit of Goods and Services Taxt (GST). Though decision regarding this is taken by the GST council, the industry is expecting recommendation by the Finance Minister in the Budget 2023 announcement.

“Until the time petroleum products are brought within GST net, suitable amendment in the excise laws be made to allow credit of GST paid on inputs/input services and

capital goods against payment of excise duty to the manufacturers of petroleum products,” said FICCI in the pre-budget memorandum.

In this article we take a look at the expectation of the energy industry from Budget 2023-23.

Solar & RE Industry Demands

In 2022, the government aggressively pushed the production of renewable energy, manufacturing of solar equipment, and energy storage facility to achieve its 500 GW renewable energy generation target by 2030. Currently the clean energy capacity of the country is 173 GW and projects of 80 GW capacities are under construction. The industry expect the upcoming budget to introduce a number of initiatives, taking into account the importance of renewables in India's energy security.

Debasish Mishra, Partner & Leader - Energy, resources and industrials, Deloitte India hopes that the government provides a beneficial tax treatment for income from sale of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). While asserting that RECs are similar to carbon credits, he explains, “At present, the Act includes beneficial

provisions (i.e., Section 115BBG) in relation to income from transfer of carbon credits. However, there are no similar provisions with respect to RECs. This creates confusion for taxpayers and litigation with the tax department. Therefore, the concessional or NIL tax, similar to Section 115BBG, should be proposed with respect to income earned from the sale/transfer of RECs.”

Another hope of the industry from this Budget 2023 is inclusion of the power sector and railway or airport redevelopment under Section 35AD as specified business.

With regards to the promotion of renewable energy the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry recommends to have incentives to promote renewable energy and to create a market for decarbonisation.

Many of the industry leaders and experts from the sector have voiced their concerns regarding the tariff issue and have suggested that the governemtn must announce a National level fixed implementable tariff policy as it is associated with the profits across supply chain of power generators and their encouragement.

On the EV Front:

Electric two-wheeler (E2W) adoption is growing at a fast pace, and India is poised to be one of the world's largest two-wheeler markets. In November 2022, a total of 18,47,208 two-wheelers were retailed across India, 76,438 of which (4.1 percent) were E2Ws.

The emerging and fast growing EV industry has its own set of challenges and the industry is looking forward to the Budget 2023 to address this.

One of the major demands of the EV industry is uniform GST of 5% on all EV spare parts.

The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) has said the momentum in the electric vehicle industry has been building positively with an

increase in demand for EVs and has demanded levying a uniform 5 per cent GST for all EV spare parts.

The other major demand that is coming from the EV industry is for extension of FAME scope and validity as the country is on the ambitious growth part and target sets by the government.

According to SMEV’s pre-budget expectations, India should be ready to transition to e-mobility in trucks and heavy commercial vehicles in 3-4 years. SEMV suggested increasing the scope of FAME to include commercial vehicles on a project-mode basis.

There is also demand from a section of the industry to incentivise retrofitting petrol and diesel-run cars with electric kits to accelerate EV adoption.

According to Sachidanand Updadhyay, MD and CEO, of Lord's Mark Industries,”there is an urgent need to build awareness about the vehicle scrappage policy to encourage the phasing out of end-of-life vehicles and drive EV sales”.

Increased focus on commercial vehicles, uniformity in EV charging guidelines, easy and lower rate for EV financing and support to battery manufacturing are some of the other demands that leaders have mentioned in their conversation with Smart Energy Magazine.

“Instead of subsidies, we need lower interest rates for EV financing and standardised residual battery value calculation”, said Inderveer Singh, Founder, and CEO, EVage, a commercial EV startup.

The Emerging Green Hydrogen Industry

The green hydrogen energy industry has received a major boost from the governemnt with the approval of the National Green Hydrogen Mission with initial outlay for the Mission of Rs.19,744 crore, including an outlay of Rs.17,490 crore for the SIGHT programme, Rs.1,466 crore for pilot projects, Rs.400 crore for

R&D, and Rs. 388 crore towards other Mission components.

Speaking to Smart Energy Magazine, Vibhuti Garg, Director - South Asia at Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analyis put forwat the demand more capiatl outlay and concessional duties and taxes for import of electrolyser.

"In the upcoming budget the goverenment should further allocate more capital under the produciton link incentive scheme for the domestic manufacturing of electrolysers. Also, we feel that untill the domestic manufactuirng of electrolyser increases there shoudl be some concessional duties and taxes for imports in the next few years.", Said Vibhuti Garg .

Additionally, few industry bodies have demanded that Import duty on electrolyzers should be brought to nil.

“This single step will attract huge investment in Green Hydrogen and make India an export hub by 2030. There is no revenue loss incurred in doing this, as Green Hydrogen is not being produced in the country to date”, Says the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in its memorandum.

With a load of expectations, it would be interesting to see how the Finance Minsiter deliveries on the vision and mission of the Prime Minister to make India the global hub for solar manufacturing and EV industry.

Editor’s Take: This will be the last budget of the current government as the general elections to the Lok sabha are scheduled in the year 2024. It would be interesting to see how the FM balances the expectations of the industry and delivers on the growth front and at the same time delivers a budget that stands the government on strong footing as it faces the voters next year 

panasonic introduces new solar panels With More power in smaller size

At RE+ 2022, Panasonic Eco Systems North America, a Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, has unveiled two new lines of allblack compact EverVolt solar modules, developed with performance, accessibility, flexibility and pleasing aesthetics in mind. The new 430W/420W HK Black Series panels, with half-cut cells and heterojunction technology with gapless connections, offer the most powerful modules in the company’s portfolio. Adding to Panasonic’s suite of modules made with Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact (PERC) technology, the new 400W/390W VK Black Series modules provide eco-conscious homeowners with a greater range of solar options at a more accessible price point.

The 430W and 420W EverVolt HK

Black Series modules have efficiency ratings of 22.2% and 21.7%, respectively, allowing homeowners to utilize high levels of power production while using less roof space. Homeowners can benefit from greater energy production throughout the day, including on the hottest days in the warmest climates, due to the modules’ industry-leading temperature coefficient of 0.26%/°C. With one of the industry’s lowest annual degradation rates, the Panasonic panels are expected to provide power output of at least 92% in the 25th year after installation.

Both new models are covered under Panasonic’s EverVolt AllGuard All System Warranty when purchased with EverVolt ESS 2.0, which covers solar panels and battery storage when bundled together. Both module series will be available Spring 2023. EverVolt ESS 2.0 will begin shipping in January 2023 

Growatt unveils new inverters for residential off-grid PV systems

Growatt has unveiled its new SPF 6000 ES Plus inverters for residen-

tial off-grid solar power systems. “The inverter’s string input current reaches up to 16A, making it compatible with 500W+ large power PV modules,” the manufacturer said. “The inverter includes dual MPP trackers for houses with multiple rooftop areas, supporting panel installation at different orientations and higher energy generation.”

The 6 kW inverters have an efficiency rating of 93% and 12,000 VA of surge power. They also feature input voltage of up to 500 V and 8 kW of PV input power.

The inverters are housed in IP20

enclosures and measure 460 mm x 395 mm x 132 mm. They weigh 15.5 kg. Their operating ambient temperature ranges from 0 C to 50 C, with an integrated automatic transfer switch (ATS) and two AC terminals for power input.

“In terms of performance and reliability, the new product has a power factor of 1.0 that allows the

system to draw a power output of 6kW for the loads and 2kW for charging the battery when solar energy is sufficient,” said the Chinese inverter maker. “Also, by adding the dust-proof design, it prevents faults caused by excessive dust and improves product reliability, making maintenance easier while extending its opera-

tional lifespan.”

In April Growatt announced the Infinity 1500, a portable power station for off-grid applications. And a year ago the company launched the AXE LV, a residential, cobaltfree lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery for off-grid applications 

soleos launches solar panel product with unique features and robust performance

highest quality solar power plants with the highest performance 

Soleos, one of the world's leading EPC service providers, has recently introduced its unrivalled solar panel- ANTARES BI 144. Recognizing the latest advancements and development in the energy sector, the company launched its sought-after solar panel module.

The recently-launched product offers increased efficiency to optimize space and lower overall system costs. This 182 and 212 mm cell ultra-high power module falls in the mono-crystalline silicon category and features the latest PERC Solar cells with high transmission energy.

The solar panel project ANTARES BI 144 provides top-level energy output of 21.5 per cent. It withstands wind loads up to 2.4 kPa

and snow loads up to 5.5 kPa. In addition, the solar panel product ANTARES BI 144 has high radiation transmission capacity and tends to be proof against the adverse effects of sunlight.

The newly launched solar panel project also features a bifacial solar panel with dual glass technology, aiming to intensify the output up 10-15 per cent from the capacity of 400 watts to 700 watts, with a 70 per cent bifacially factor. This solar panel maximizes the kWh output per unit area and boasts German technology manufacturing facility.

Headquartered in India, Soleos now successfully operates in countries like the UK, UAE, Germany, and Africa. The firm has made a dominant position in the modular solution industry with the

Talking about the launch of the solar panel project, the company's Founder and Director said, "We are extremely delighted to announce the new solar panel project ANTARES BI 144. With the introduction of our newly launched project, we have ensured to offer exceptional technical specifications and unique features to our clientele. From offering fresh designs, and top-level energy output to excellent generation performance backed by financial guarantees, and much more, we are aiming to provide our clients with the best kind of solar energy solutions. So, if you are looking forward to new-age technology and revolutionary experience, you are in the right place"

sunbond unveils 550 W Mono pErc modules

India-based Sunbond Energy has unveiled a new line of monocrystalline PERC modules. Its Pacific series has power outputs ranging from 520 W to 550 W and efficiencies of 19.83% to 21.23%.

The modules are built with 144 half-cut M10 cells and 10 busbars. The open-circuit voltage ranges from 49.15 V to 49.45 V, and the shortcircuit current is 13.35 A to 13.90 A.

The modules measure 2,300 mm x 1,140 mm x 40 mm and weigh 28.5 kg. They feature IP67/68 junction box, an anodized aluminum frame with a twin wall profile, trilayer backsheet, low-shrinkage PID-resistant ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulation, and high transmittance anti-reflective glass. The maximum system voltage is 1,500 V DC. The temperature coefficient is -0.39% per degree Celsius 

new microinverter for solar water pump applications

Ontario-based inverter manufacturer Sparq has developed a new three-phase microinverter for solar water pump applications. According to the company official, “It can work with any type of water pump, both onand off-grid, and doesn’t require an additional inverter to drive the pump motor.”

The three-phase Quad microinverter is compatible with up to four 550 W PV modules and has an operating voltage range between 315 V and 450 V. It measures 41 mm x 217 mm x 300 mm and weighs 4 kg. The inverter features a peak efficiency of 97.5% and a nominal MPPT efficiency of 99.8%.

The maximum continuous output power is 2 kW. The

inverter also features cooling systems based on natural convection and comes with a 12-year warranty extendable to 25 years, said the manufacturer.

The Quad is currently undergoing regulatory certification and limited field trials in India.

“We have successfully completed product trials in several agriculture farms in India proving the ruggedness and key performance of the inverter,” said Sparq’s India manager, Salil Gupta.

Sparq said that multipurpose inverters can help farmers to run water pumps and irrigate their farms. They can also earn extra revenue by selling electricity to the grid when their pumps are not in use. The company expects to commercialize the inverters in the first quarter of 2023 

BLuEtti to showcase its Latest Ep900 home power Backup system

also hit the stage. A month earlier, it raised USD$11 million from over 4,000 backers on Indiegogo, another record in BLUETTI's history. Now, the combo is on hot sale in Australia.

The 16-outlet solar generator pumps out 5kW pure sine wave power and can be charged via 8kW AC+ Solar dual input.

The AC500 can handle anything from home blackouts to outdoor camping when teamed with one to six B300S LFP batteries for a maximum capacity of 18,432Wh.

BLUETTI has decided to showcase its new model EP900 and other power backup products at the upcoming CES 2023.

It claims to redefine home energy at Las Vegas Convention Center, January 5-8, 2023.

The EP900 & B500 features a 9kW inverter and expandable capacity that starts at 9kWh with a single B500 LFP battery and ends at 79kWh when paired with 16 batteries.

The system can be integrated directly into any solar system, allowing for 9kW max solar input. Besides its peak-load shifting mode to reduce electric bills, it also acts as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that switches instantly to battery power in 10ms after the grid power fails.

Easy installation (no wall mounting needed) and flexibility make it a comparable or even better alternative to the Tesla Powerwall. The stellar combo of the year will

BLUETTI has a diverse product range that can be classified by size, usage, or design. It has a lineup of portable generators called the EB series, such as the popular EB3A.

The AC200MAX, AC200P and EP500, EP500Pro make up the best all-in-one power giant collection. Options for power stations are growing in number as BLUETTI's R&D team continues to roll out products based on customer demand 

‘Alpha pure-r’ solar panel from rEc

REC Group, an international pioneering solar energy company headquartered in Norway, and its new parent company, Reliance Industries Limited, showcased it’s latest innovations, including the new Alpha Pure-R premium solar panel, which was unveiled at Intersolar Europe in May. REC CEO Jan Enno Bicker outlines the highlights: “The REC Alpha Pure-R hits the sweet spot in terms of its power output, size, weight, and handling. With its high-power density innovations, the new panel follows the lead-free and RoHS compliant REC Alpha Pure Series. We are proud to report that the REC

Alpha Pure won the prestigious Intersolar Award 2022 – so the new REC Alpha Pure-R builds on a great heritage!” Featuring heterojunction (HJT) cells in the large G12 format in a patented panel design, the REC Alpha Pure-R delivers power output of up to 430 Wp, while keeping the module under two square meters in area. This makes the new product ideal for residential installations where space is limited.

The REC Alpha Pure-R goes into production in August 2022 at REC’s new production lines in Singapore, where REC is doubling its Alpha

HJT product line capacity from 600 MW to 1.2 GW. As India’s largest private company with revenues of USD 104.6 billion, Reliance is building on over 5,000 acres a new Solar Giga factory, the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, in Jamnagar, India. It will be one of the largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facility in the world, and will embrace high-power solar panels based on advanced technology, storage, electrolyser, e-mobility, R&D and basic raw materials 

radius synergies launches electric vehicle charging dock

Radius Synergies International Pvt Ltd (Radius Synergies), a company in the IoT and M2M space, has announced its ambitious foray into the fast-growing EV segment. Radius Synergies has launched Electric Vehicle Charging Dock (EVCD), a 360-degree solution for EV Charging and revenue management.

A DIY plug-n-play device with unmatched features, capable of charging any e-mobility vehicle, EVCD is a web and app-based solution that details out the charger location on Google Map. Powered by Xenius, the EVCD is also integrated with all modes of online payments. Xenius Smart Solutions is one of the prestigious brands of Radius Synergies that can capture the data, analyse it, and automate decision making in real time.

HS Singh Managing Director, Radius Synergies International

Private Lim ited said, “Reiterating our com mitment

ity, we are pleased to launch Electric Vehicle Charging Dock that promises dual convenience for EV operators. Looking at the fast-growing demand in this segment, we intend to leverage our capability to further introduce unmatched quality new products and innovations in this segment.”

Lack of sufficient charging infrastructure is one of the formidable challenges impeding the growth of the e-mobility sector in India. Committed to help realise the vision of making India a 100% Electric Vehicle nation, Radius Synergies aims to dominate the country’s EV Charging market with its exclusive product portfolio. The company looks forward to fulfil the expectations of the EV segment consumers who want top end performance at affordable pricing. The company has successfully installed the EVCD at known projects such as La Lagune, Gurgaon, ATS Paradiso, ABC Noida, Omaxe New Heights, Prateek Edifice and Lotus Herbals at Greater Noida 

trucknetic introduces 'EVolev' as India's first platform for EV Truck

Trucknetic, a Delhi-based online transport and logistics start-up, has launched ‘EVolev’ platform for electric trucks. According to the company, this new platform aims at accelerating mass adoption of EVs in India. With the launch of EVolev, the company is aiming at bringing the entire EV ecosystem on a single platform and reducing the carbon footprint in the country.

‘EVolev’ is pronounced as ‘evolve’ and the company says it signifies the evolution of the Indian transportation industry to the new-age electric vehicles that are an alter-

for ‘online electric vehicle’ that gestures to the Electric Vehicles as a service (EV-aas) platform that the start-up is building.

Commenting on the announcement, Arham Partap Jain, Founder, Trucknetic, said, “Businesses such as e-commerce, and logistics firms which depend a lot on vehicular transportation, are best placed to

be early adopters and marketshapers in the electric vehicle space. Our company sees tremendous potential for electric freight mobility to build a green and robust supply chain for the future.”

He further added, “Going fully electric in this manner is one step in transitioning mobility systems to adapt to climate-friendly technology and operations that will not only future-proof the business but also drastically reduce transport-related carbon emissions.” 

Quench tallboy 180 kW to 240 kW EV rapid charger

The all new Quench Tallboy, a 180kW to 240KW Electric Vehicle (EV) hypercharge offers one of the fastest charging experiences in India. Specifically designed for the toughest conditions in the world, the new Quench “Tallboy” series has a myriad of features to improve efficiency, ergonomics, and reliability.

The Quench Tallboy is designed on a modular architecture which means that it can be upgraded from its base 180kW to a max 240kW, essentially giving a rapid charge from 0 to 80% in less than 20 minutes, fulfilling the needs of

a wide spectrum of premium EV owners who want either a speedy charge or a quick boost while stopping for a quick cup of coffee. The charger is also ideal for city electric bus fleet charging.

The Tallboy supports CCS2, CCS1 & CHAdeMO charging standards and also features some unique features like retractable cable, handicap accessible user interface, LED ticker, and many more.

BuiLt for sAfEty:

The Quench is built on the design philosophy of 4 fries, what are the 4 fries you ask?

i The Car should not fry the charger

i The charger and the car should not fry the human

i The Charger should not fry the car

i The Charger should not fry the grid

spEcificAtion

i Seamlessly upgrade your Quench for faster charging & higher capacity

i DC 180kW: CCS

i RFID Reader

i Communication module for OCPP connection

i Ethernet or 3G/4G connection

i Slim & compact design

i Reduced Installation cost

i Increased Reliability

i Durable UV resistant exterior

i Low maintenance* upgradeable up to 120kW

Quench is powered by German technology, specifically designed for the most difficult conditions on earth. Quench chargers are designed by a group of power electronics specialists who have specialized in battery manufacturing and testing equipment for over 50 years and has been tested to withstand the harsh conditions of both the deserts of Saudi Arabia and the ultra-cold climates of Scandinavia. The company’s battery testing, charging and lab equipment have been supporting customers in over 75 countries.

Quench is a part of the 115-yearold Ador Group, which has a joint venture entitled ‘Ador Digatron’ between Ador, India, and Digatron, Germany. Ador Digatron is a technology house that provides deep industrial power electronics design, software & technical knowledge for quality battery formation rectifiers, battery testing equipment, battery charging technologies, and numerous customized battery charging solutions including Electric Vehicle DC hyper chargers 

Apn solar expands its line of products with the launch of the Apn Electrical Vehicle charger

Alternative Power Network or APN Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd., one of the pioneers in the field of the Indian solar industry, augments its list of products by launching its Electrical Vehicle charger. In addition to its newly launched electrical vehicle charger, some of the brand's well-known products include On Grid Solar, Off

Grid Solar Systems, Hybrid Solar Systems, Solar Water Pumps, Solar Lights, and Solar Water Heater.

Sharing his thoughts on the product launch, CTO and cofounder of APN, Mr Prafrancis Nadar , said, "APN is a company that is completely focused on green energy, and from the same, we ensure that our business part-

ners should get the best earning on all the orders they get. To initiate more, APN has launched Electric Vehicle Charger under this platform so that our business partners can expand their wings further so that together we can reach our target of 1 GW installations in the coming 2 years." 

fuel cell generator!

excellent service to our customers, “says Stéphane Jardin, Chief Commercial Officer, EODev.

The fuel cell generator is manufactured by EODev outside Paris and the “heart” of the generator is a Toyota fuel cell, the same technology that powers Toyota’s hydrogen car Mirai. The agreement follows a first successful collaboration including the GEH2® between Nilsson Energy and Toyota Sweden earlier this year.

"The fuel cell generator that converts green hydrogen into electrical energy is a good example of how the technology from the Toyota Mirai can be used in interesting new contexts. Thanks to Nilsson Energy, the technology is now available in Sweden, which I see as an interesting and useful development," says Christian Norberg, CEO of Toyota Sweden AB.

Nilsson Energy has signed a distribution agreement with the French company EODev (Energy Observer Developments) to sell GEH2® fuel cell power generators on the Nordic market. The portable fuel cell generator provides unique opportunities wherever zero emission energy is needed.

Nilsson Energy is a system integrator that develops, designs, installs and services decentralized energy systems with green hydrogen as an energy carrier. A fuel cell generator is a welcome addition to its existing product portfolio consisting of industrial applications, construction and property applications as well as applications for infrastructure in strategically important areas.

"The fuel cell generator is absolutely "state of the art" and we see enormous potential in being able to offer zero emission electricity wherever it is needed. In addition, we can supply it with hydrogen and either sell, lease or to let, which further facilitates handling for our customers," says Pontus Lundgren, CEO of Nilsson Energy.

With the opportunity to sell portable fuel cell generators, Nilsson Energy takes the next step towards being a leading integrator of decentralized hydrogen systems. Systems that will be vital in the transition to a robust and secure society with access to renewable energy.

“Sweden is a particularly promising country for the deployment of our zero emission power solutions and we are very pleased to welcome Nilsson Energy to our distribution network. We have found in Nilsson Energy a serious partner with a strong expertise in the field of hydrogen and a highly motivated team that shares our commitment to provide an

BAck-up poWEr And ELEctricity suppLy WhErE thErE is no ELEctricity Grid

The generator can be applied to a wide range of different needs, ranging from where fossil-free electricity is needed without burdening the regular electricity grid, or where there is simply no power available to take from the fixed electricity grid. The generator can also secure back-up power for community-critical operations or be part of increased preparedness where, for example, an increasingly electrified vehicle fleet is without the necessary supply.

sAy GoodByE to thE diEsEL GEnErAtor

With the fuel cell generator, the need for diesel and other fossil-powered generators is reduced. It is perfect for construction sites, road works, agriculture or at larger events and concerts where there is a need for electricity and heat. As the generator is mobile and easy to handle, it can be moved to the next project or event, depending on the need. There are many areas of use for the generator, which can also be set up indoors in a ventilated environment. Getting generators out in, for example, heavily loaded urban environments can have a big positive impact

Charge electric vehicles and boats where the power grid is not sufficient The product series that Nilsson Energy is now bringing to the market is also available in a marine application, which will facilitate the transition to electrification in the boating industry. By connecting to a mobile charging station, it is also possible to charge cars where there is no possibility today 

Nilsson Energy first to offer a zero-emission portable

Scientists have fabricated improved low cost heavy rare earth-free high Nd-Fe-B magnets, which are in high demand for Electric Vehicles and can make them more affordable.

More than 90% of EVs use brushless DC (BLDC) motors made up of rare earth Neodymium Iron Boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnets. Since its discovery by Sagawa in 1984, the Nd-Fe-B magnet has been one of the most sought-after permanent magnetic materials for many applications due to its exceptional combination of magnetic properties.

Nd-Fe-B magnets used in EVs operate at high temperatures of 150 – 200oC and need to exhibit high resistance to demagnetization, a capability that pure Nd-Fe-B magnets do not have. Hence Dysprosium (Dy) metal is added as an alloy to improve the resistance to demagnetization. World over, researchers are trying to enhance coercivity (resistance to demag-

netisation) of Nd-Fe-B magnets without the addition of costly Dy. A strategy adopted by the research community to enhance coercivity is to enrich the region between the grains of the Nd-Fe-B magnet with “non-magnetic” elements through suitable heat treatments (grain boundary diffusion).

Recently, scientists from the Centre for Automotive Energy Materials at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous Research and Development Centre of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, have enhanced the coercivity of Niobium (Nb)-containing Nd-Fe-B melt-spun ribbon by grain boundary diffusion process (GBDP) using a low melting point alloy of Nd70Cu30 which acts as the source for the “nonmagnetic” element. They have reported restricted grain growth during grain boundary diffusion due to the precipitation of Nb, which facilitates the enrichment of

Copper (Cu) at the grain boundaries aiding the increased resistance to demagnetization of Nd-FeB powders. The coercivity value of 1 T at 150oC critical for automotive applications achieved in this research published in Materials Research Letter could be a useful strategy to develop magnets without Dy for EV applications.

ARCI has ventured into setting up of pilot plant for manufacturing of near net shaped Nd-Fe-B magnets through a major project funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission of the Government of India, and the above strategy will be explored for the magnets manufactured in the pilot plant.

The new strategy could also be used for commercial production of Nd-Fe-B magnets in India, reducing imports that meet the major requirements of the automotive sector 

Researchers at IIT Kanpur have developed organic solar cell devices consisting of a blend of organic polymer PTB7 as a donor and PCBM as an acceptor. The devices were fabricated on opaque steel substrates with a MoO3/Au/MoO3 top electrode. The research carried out at the laboratory of Prof. Ashish Garg at IIT Kanpur demonstrated the integration of multi-layered electrodes of configuration MoO3/Au/MoO3 with the organic solar cells. It was published in the journal ‘Energy Technology’. These electrodes offer higher optical transmission

as compared to only metallic electrodes. The devices with multilayer electrodes showed a clear improvement in the photovoltaic performance by 1.5 times, as compared with those obtained with single-layer top metal electrodes of gold.

The materials and device fabrication of perovskite and organic solar cells took place in the Class 10000 clean room facility at IIT Kanpur, which was supported by funding from DST under the DSTRCUK APEX project. The facility can carry out the complete fabrication of organic and perovs-

kite solar cells. It consists of two interconnected 4-port glove boxes maintained under a nitrogen gas environment, has the capacity for handling chemicals that are sensitive to atmospheric components, mainly moisture and oxygen, and has a vacuum annealing chamber. The glove box is integrated with a spin coater, a solar simulator, a thermal annealing setup, and a high-vacuum multi-channel thermal evaporator 

indian scientists fabricate rare earth-free magnets that can reduce the cost of an EV

organic solar cells can convert a steel roof into an energy-producing device

begin with, can you take us through your evolving and inspiring entrepreneurial journey with sai cabtech p. Limited? the challenges you faced and how did you overcome those challenges?

Well; after giving almost 20 years to the various corporate sectors in India and Europe, I have started SAICAB as a complete Trunkey solutions provider in the field of the renewable energy sector with the mindset to explore green energy concepts and to reduce carbon footprints.

To turn from the position of successful CEO with corporate over more than a decade, it was quite challenging to begin a new journey as an entrepreneur. I have faced many problems, like making good teams, arranging funds, compet-



Prakash R Soni Founder, Chairman & Managing Director, Sai CabTech Private Limited

ing technically and financially qualified in various tenders etc. on behalf of new venture.

t oday s ai c ab t ech is a renowned name in solar industry; can you share with our listeners a little bit about your team, your expertise and the products and services that your company offer?

We have a very good team of technocrats with in-house system design, Installation and commissioning of the projects at the site and after-sale services including Operation and Maintenance. Our USP is designing profitable models considering the state and central govt policies and tariff guidelines of the Electricity regulatory commission of the various states. We

are doing EPC of solar power projects, wind power projects, and EV charging Stations. We are also a consultant for Big MW-scale solar power projects, EV stations and Green Hydrogen projects.

solar, which are the verticals that currently contribute the most to the growth of your business? Going forward which vertical is likely to grow faster and contribute the most to the growth of your company?

Of course, it is the Rooftop solar sector. Ghar Ghar, Har Ghar solar is our move to reach green energy at the doorstep of each individual

Q.to

Q.

Q.Within

Q.What are your views on the current status of the solar

We entered the renewable energy sector with the mindset to reduce carbon footprint and to create job and business opportunities in this sector

industry in india? Which policies of the government are supportive and which ones do you feel needs improvement/ changes?

As of date, India ranks 4th in Solar PV deployment across the Global. The total installed capacity in India has crossed 62 GW. The government of India is very much supportive. It is providing Central Financial Assistance in the form of a subsidy of 30% on the cost of installation of a solar power plant (up to Rs 1.05 Cr/MW). However, in the state of North East, like Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Andaman & Nikobar Island it goes up to 50% subsidy.

Further, the MNRE has extended subsidies for the residential rooftop sector 40% upto 3 Kw and 20% over 3Kw to 10Kw for small projects up to 10 KW capacity.

One of the things I have come across is that the government is thinking of introducing a Gross metering policy which, if implemented, will be counterproductive and demotivate the investors.

We are the designer of various type of electrical, telecom and hybrid cables and conductors.

We have the expertise to design various type of Hybrid cables used for special applications in DRDO, Submarine and other government sectors.

We are a government-approved electrical contractor and system designer for 66 KV class and above. Designer of Various types of electrical Transformers and electrical panels and electrical project executor up to 66KV class. EV- charging station designer and installer.

SaiCAB was started with the vision to contribute to a Green world. Being expertise in various types of cable manufacturing sectors, we have entered into the renewable energy sector with the mindset to reduce the carbon footprint by creating awareness and jobs in this sector globally.

rooftop solar sector is lagging behind, what according to you are the challenges for the sector and your view on the extension of timeline by MnrE for phase ii of the solar rooftop program till 31st March 2026?

i Lack of consumer awareness, i Inconsistent policy frameworks both at the centre and state government.

i Absence of non-recourse financing.

i Policy uncertainty and regulatory pushbacks have been major factors of limited growth.

Looking on these facts, the extension phase II of the soalr rooftop program till 31st March 2026 is a correct step.

from solar, s ai cabtech also deals into the power sector; can you shade light on the power sector portfolio of your company?

Q.s ai c ab t ech has been bestowed with various honours and awards, to what do you attribute your success to?

We started our solar business in the year 2015 and within 3 years we have been awarded as the Best Brand in Solar Energy by hands of the Honourable Energy minister of Gujarat Shri Sourabh Bhai Patel.

In the year 2021, we were awarded PRIDE of Nation for best leadership in the renewable energy by hands of Honourable Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijaybhai Rupani Ji during 2021.

In 2022, We got awarded with PRIDE OF GUJARAT by the hands of Shri Bhupendrabahi Patel, Honourable current CM of Gujarat for the successful execution of 18 Solar power Hybrid projects at remote locations of mountains at Kohima in Nagaland. This project was funded by the World Bank. We are the only company from Gujarat to complete the projects on time under the challenging conditions of COVID and the geographical structure of the site.

Q.Going

forward, how do you see sai cabtech contributing to the growth of solar sector in india?

To contribute to the growth of the solar sector, we have decided to reach every village/ town/ city door-to-door to create awareness about solar energy and to create job and business opportunities in this sector. We have decided to open a minimum of 1000 franchisees by end of DEC 2023 in PAN INDIA. Further, we will continue to increase it year after year to expend our green energy network globally 

Q.the

Q.Apart

Mr Prakash Soni receiving the Best Hybrid Solar Power Plant Award by the hands of the Honourable CM of Gujarat Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel

FOR A

Huawei held the Top 10 Trends of Smart PV (photovoltaic) conference, with the theme of ''Accelerating Solar as a Major Energy Source''. At the conference, Chen Guoguang, President of Huawei Smart PV+ESS Business, shared Huawei's insights on the 10 trends of Smart PV from the perspectives of multi-scenario collaboration, digital transformation, and enhanced safety.

As the proportion of renewable energy keeps increasing, the PV industry acquired a booming growth, yet, the industry still faces many challenges, including how to continue reducing the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), how to improve the O&M efficiency, how to maintain power grid stability as more renewable energy are feeding in, and how to ensure end-to-end system safety.

"Amid the rapid growth of the PV industry, these challenges also bring opportunities." said Chen Guoguang. As a forward-looking enterprise, Huawei is keen to sharing our insights and thinking with our partners, as well as organizations and individuals who are

interested in green and sustainable development.

TREnD 1: PV+ESS GEnERATOR

As more renewable energy is feeding into power grids, various complex technical problems arise in terms of system stability, power balance, and power quality. Therefore, a new control mode is needed to increase active/reactive power control and response capability, and

actively mitigate frequency and voltage fluctuations. With the integration of PV and ESS as well as the Grid Forming technology, we can build 'Smart PV+ESS Generators' that use voltage source control instead of current source control,

provides strong inertia support, transient voltage stabilization, and fault ride-through capabilities. This will transform PV from grid following to grid forming, helping increase PV feed-in.

A milestone in practice of these technologies was the Red Sea project in Saudi Arabia, which Huawei provided a complete set of solution including smart PV controller, lithium battery energy storage system (BESS) as one of the major partners. This project uses 400 MW PV and 1.3 GWh ESS to support the power grid which replaces traditional diesel generators and provides clean and stable power for 1 million people, building the world's first city powered by 100% renewable energy.

TREnD 2: HIGH DEnSITy AnD RElIABIlITy

High power and reliability of equipment in PV plants will be the trend. Take PV inverters as an example, nowadays, the DC voltage of inverters is increased from 1100 V to 1500 V. With the application of new materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), as well as the full integration of digital, power electronics, and thermal management technologies, it is estimated that the power density of inverters will increase by about 50% in the next five years, and the high reliability can be maintained.

The 2.2 GW PV plant in Qinghai,

China is 3100 m above sea level and has 9216 Huawei Smart PV Controllers (inverters) running stably in this harsh environment. The total availability hours of Huawei inverters exceed 20 million hours, and the availability reaches 99.999%.

T RE n D 3: M OD ul E - lEVE l POwER ElECTROnICS (MlPE)

Driven by industry policies and technology advancement, distributed PV has witnessed vigorous development in recent years. We are facing challenges such as how to improve the utilization of rooftop resources, ensure high energy yield, and how to ensure the PV+ESS system safety. Therefore, more refined management is a must.

In a PV system, module-level power electronics (MLPE) refer to power electronic equipment that can perform refined control on one or more PV modules, including micro inverters, power optimizers, and disconnectors. MLPE brings unique values such as module-level power generation, monitoring, and safe shutdown. As PV systems are becoming safer and more intelligent, the penetration

rate of MLPE in the distributed PV market is expected to reach 20% to 30% by 2027.

TRE n D 4: S TRI n G En ERGy STORAGE

Compared with traditional centralized ESS solutions, the Smart String ESS solution adopts a distributed architecture and modular design. It uses innovative technologies and digital intelligent management to optimize energy at the battery pack level and control energy at the rack level. This results in more discharge energy, optimal investment, simple O&M, as well as safety and reliability throughout the lifecycle of the ESS.

In 2022, in the 200 MW/200 MWh ESS project in Singapore for the purpose of frequency regulation and spinning reserve, the largest BESS project in Southeast Asia, the Smart String ESS implements refined charge and discharge management to achieve constant

power output for a longer time and ensure frequency regulation benefits. In addition, the automatic SOC calibration function at the battery pack level reduces labor costs and greatly improves O&M efficiency.

TREnD 5: CEll-lEVEl REFInED MAnAGEMEnT

Similar to PV systems shifting towards MLPE, lithium BESSs are set to develop towards smaller management level. Only refined management at battery cell level can better cope with the efficiency and safety problems. Currently, the traditional battery management system (BMS) can only summarize and analyze limited data, and it is almost impossible to detect faults and generate warnings in the early stage. Therefore, BMS needs to be more sensitive, intelligent, and even predictive. This depends on the collection, computing, and processing of a large amount of data, and AI technologies to find the optimal operating mode and make forecasts.

T RE n D 6: PV+ESS+G RID InTEGRATIOn

On the power generation side, we see more and more practices of building clean energy bases of PV+ESS that supply electricity to load centers through UHV power transmission lines. On the power consumption side, virtual power plants (VPPs) become increasingly popular in many countries. VPPs combine massive distributed PV systems, ESSs, and controllable

loads, and implement flexible scheduling to power generation units and storage units to achieve peak shaving etc.

Therefore, building a stable energy system that integrates the PV+ESS+Grid to support PV power

thru multiple technologies including 5G, AI, and cloud technologies, which will come into practice in more countries.

TREnD

7: uPGRADED SAFETy

supply and feed-in to grid will become a key measure to ensure energy security. We can integrate digital, power electronics, and energy storage technologies to achieve multi-energy complementation. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) can intelligently manage, operate, and trade power of massive distributed PV+ESS systems

Safety is the cornerstone of the PV & ESS industry development. This requires us to systematically consider all scenarios and links and fully integrate power electronics, electrochemical, thermal management, and digital technologies to upgrade system safety. In a PV plant, faults caused by the DC side account for more than 70% of all faults. Therefore, the inverter needs to support smart string disconnection and automatic connector detection. In distributed PV scenario, the AFCI (Arc Fault Circuit Breaker) function will become a standard configuration, and the modulelevel rapid shutdown function will ensure the safety of maintenance personnel and firefighters. In ESS scenario, multiple technologies, such as power electronics, cloud, and AI, need to be used to implement refined management of ESS from battery cells to whole system. The traditional protection mode based on passive response and physical isolation is changed to active automatic protection, implementing multi-dimensional safety design from hardware to software and from structure to algorithm.

T RE n D 8: S EC u RIT y A n D TRuSTwORTHInESS

In addition to bringing benefits,

PV systems also have various risks, including equipment safety and information security. Equipment safety risks mainly refer to the shutdown caused by faults. Information security risks refer to external network attacks. To cope with these challenges and threats, enterprises and organizations need to establish a complete set of "security and trustworthiness" management mechanisms, including the reliability, availability, security, and resilience of systems and devices. We also need to implement protection for personal and environmental safety as well as data privacy.

TREnD 9: DIGITAlIzATIOn

Conventional PV plants have a large amount of equipment and lack information collection and reporting channels. Most of the equipment cannot 'communicate' with each other which is very difficult to implement refined management.

With the introduction of advanced digital technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, sensing technologies, and big data, PV plants can send and receive information, using "bits" (information flows) to manage "watts" (energy flows). The entire link of generation-transmission-storage-distribution-consumption is visible, manageable, and controllable.

TREnD 10: AI APPlICATIOn

As the energy industry moves

towards an era of data, how to better collect, utilize, and maximize the value of data has become one of the top concerns of the entire industry.

AI technologies can be widely applied to renewable energy fields, and play an indispensable role in the entire lifecycle of PV+ESS, including manufacturing, construction, O&M, optimization, and operation. The convergence of AI and technologies such as cloud computing and big data is deepening, and the tool chain focusing on data processing, model training, deployment and operation, and safety monitoring will be enriched. In the renewable energy field, AI, like power electronics and digital technologies, will drive profound industry transformation.

At the end, Chen Guoguang remarked that the converged

applications of 5G, cloud, and AI are shaping a world where all things can sense, all things are connected, and all things are intelligent. It is coming faster than we think. Huawei identifies the top 10 trends of the PV industry and describes a green and intelligent world in the near future. We hope that people from all walks of life can join hands to achieve the goals of carbon neutrality and build a greener, better future.

Huawei offers leading Smart PV solutions harnessing more than 30 years of expertise in digital information technology.

By integrating AI and Cloud, Huawei further incorporates many latest ICT technologies with PV for optimal power generation, thus making the solar power plant to be Highly Efficient, Safe & Reliable with Smart O&M and Grid Supporting capabilities and builds the foundation for solar to become the main energy source.For solar energy users, Huawei launched advanced solution for C&I and residential customers based on the‘Optimal Electricity Cost and Active Safety’ concept. By improving the utilization of solar power, Huawei has helped to power millions of residents and hundreds of industries globally. Huawei will continue to innovate and enable renewable energy to empower each individual, home, and organization 

Diversification is one of the key strategies for reducing supply chain risks, the one faced due to fires in some Chinese manufacturing units, COVID 19 outbreak or the ongoing war between Russia & Ukraine. In this article the editorial team at Smart Energy Magazine assesses the opportunities and

challenges of developing solar PV supply chains in terms of job creation, investment requirements, manufacturing costs, emissions and recycling. Finally, the article summarises policy approaches and recommendations for creating a globally competitive domestic manufacturing industry.

Solar PV is a crucial pillar of clean energy transitions worldwide, underpinning efforts to reach international energy and climate goals. Over the last decade, the amount of solar PV deployed around the world has increased massively while its costs have declined drastically. Putting the world on a path to reaching net zero emissions requires solar PV to expand globally on an even greater scale, raising concerns about security of manufacturing supply for achieving such rapid growth rates – but also offering new opportunities for diversification.

thE currEnt stAtus of GLoBAL pV suppLy chAin

A major geographical shift has occurred in solar PV manufacturing capacity and production over the last decade. China has strengthened its leading position as a manufacturer of wafers, cells and modules between 2010 and 2021, while its share of global polysilicon production capacity almost tripled. Today, the country’s share in all manufacturing stages exceeds 80%, more than double its 36% share in global PV deployment.

For wafers, China has very little competition, while for cells and modules Southeast Asia has considerable manufacturing capacity, mostly in Viet Nam, Malaysia and

Thailand. For polysilicon, Germany continues to be a major supplier for the c-Si PV modules industry, while the United States and Japan possess significant capacity but focus their production on semiconductor-grade products. Considering manufacturing plants under construction and planned, China’s dominance in solar PV manufacturing is expected to persist or even expand in the short term.

Although countries in North America and Europe have significant module-manufacturing capability, they depend almost entirely on China and Southeast Asia for solar cells, except for manufacturing capacity linked to thin-film technology, which relies less on the Chinese supply chain. In addition, China is also the main manufacturer of module components including glass, EVA, backsheet and junction box.

Low solar cell prices, the possibility of sourcing several panel components locally (frame, glass, wiring and packaging), trade restrictions and government support have encouraged many companies around the world to invest in module assembly lines. Accordingly, 38 countries had module assembly capabilities in 2021, by far the highest of all steps of the PV manufacturing process. In many cases, however, investments were relatively small or stopped at the pilot stage, with just 19 countries having assembly capacity of at least 1 GW.

Companies in several countries

and regions are contemplating significant expansions to their manufacturing capacity in upcoming years, notably in India, Viet Nam, Thailand, the United States and the European Union. However, with over 300 GW of new assembly plants under consideration in China, its market share is expected to remain high in the medium term. Given ongoing and planned investments in manufacturing capacity, in addition to innovation and further potential for efficiency gains, crystalline silicon technology is expected to dominate the solar PV market for many years to come.

Taking together polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules, the total value of PV-related trade reached USD 40 billion in 2021 – an increase of over 70% from 2020. International solar PV trade volumes depend strongly on China’s domestic demand because the country is both the largest producer and consumer of polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules. Furthermore, in the last five years it has been the main importer of PV-grade polysilicon, mainly from Germany, Malaysia and Japan, as its domestic production has fallen short of local demand for wafer production.

In 2017-2021, Southeast Asian module manufacturers were responsible for onethird of global PV module exports, directed mostly towards the United States and the European Union, where Chinese modules were subject to

various trade restrictions. The rest of the market was dominated by China, with its shares in India and Brazil exceeding 90%.

When it comes to PV equipment manufacturing, the market have changed dramatically over the past decade, with leadership shifting from Europe, the United States and Japan to China. Driven by the exponential expansion of global demand, the total number of firms entering the PV equipment manufacturing market surged 150% during 2007-2020 to almost 1 900, with the number of Chinese firms almost quadrupling during this period to more than 700 (RTS, 2021). Today, all top ten equipment manufacturers are in China and claim over 45% of the global market share.

soLAr pV suppLy chAin VuLnErABiLitiEs:

Concentration along the PV supply chain at the jurisdictional, geographical, plant and company level make the supply chain vulnerable to single incidents, whether they be a country’s individual policy choices, a natural disaster, a war, a pandemic, technical failures or individual company decisions. Historically, all these risks have materialised, leading to higher prices and likely slowing the pace of solar PV deployment.

For instance, a 2020 explosion at a polysilicon facility in China put 8% of global polysilicon produc-

tion capacity out of operation. This is the largest of four polysilicon plant closures in 2020 resulting from flooding and technical issues. While each incident occurred at a different time, together they led to an estimated 4% decline in annual production in an alreadytight polysilicon market, contributing to the near tripling of prices between 2020 and 2021. In 2021, silicon and wafer production in China were also curtailed when regulators required producers to cut production as part of energysaving measures. As of early July 2022, a fire at polysilicon facility in Xinjiang and the ensuing maintenance requirements reduced global production by 0.5%. Even this comparatively small disruption contributed to price increases.

Concentrating production within a single geographical region or country also exposes the supply chain to risks from changes in diplomatic relations among countries as well as alterations in domestic policies and infrastructure. For instance, shipping times from China to US and European ports increased from around 40 days to more than 100 following the Covid19 outbreak. Overall, polysilicon, wafer, cell and module production capacities are all becoming more concentrated, leaving the supply chain more vulnerable to risks.

The production capacity of solar PV supply chain segments is also concentrated at the company level, introducing vulnerabilities to another set of risks. Concentrating

production capacity among just a few companies introduces the risk of having a small set of companies working together to increase profits at the cost of higher consumer prices and quicker dissemination. This situation can lead to collusion, price fixing, dumping and other behaviours that reduce competition and ultimately boost prices and retard deployment.

Wafer production capacity is considered moderately concentrated. Polysilicon market shares are more distributed among the top five companies, so production is less at risk of competitiveness impacts than that of wafers. Meanwhile, cell and module manufacturing capacity is more distributed than that of polysilicon and wafers, implying fewer competitiveness risks.

High company concentration in the solar PV supply chain makes the financial health of large companies key to the sector’s longterm sustainability, especially considering the formidable investments and expansions needed by 2030.

Poorly designed and implemented trade policies, and uncertainty around them, can lead to price increases, delayed investment and slow solar PV deployment. As trade is critical to provide the diverse materials needed to make solar panels and deliver them to final markets, supply chains are vulnerable to trade policy risks.

suppLy chAin diVErsificAtion: chALLEnGEs & opportunitiEs

Supply chain disruptions during the Covid-19 crisis, record raw material prices and the Russian Federation’s (hereafter, “Russia”) invasion of Ukraine have raised numerous questions concerning

the high dependency of many countries on imports of energy, raw materials and manufacturing goods that are key to their supply security. The solar PV supply chain is one of the most geographically concentrated supply chains globally, as China dominates raw material mining and refining and manufactures over 90% of critical inputs such as polysilicon, ingots

and wafers. Key countries and regions with ambitious decarbonisation targets (including the United States, Europe and India) are therefore considering or already implementing policies to attract investment to localise manufacturing in multiple solar PV supply chain segments.

Diversification of the solar PV

supply chain has both costs and economic benefits countries need to assess when designing and implementing policies. To assess these, countries should consider multiple factors such as job creation, investment requirements, electricity prices, CO2 emissions, manufacturing costs and, finally, recycling.

co2 EMission & ELEctricity pricEs:

A more geographically diversified solar PV supply chain could offer opportunities to reduce manufacturing emissions if new facilities are built in places with access to electricity that is less carbon-intensive than where current production is. At present, manufacturing modules generates far more emissions than transporting them to demand centres does. In fact, the single largest source of solar PV industry emissions is indirect emissions from electricity consumed in manufacturing. In 2021, the electricity used to produce solar panels was responsible for 89% of PV industry emissions globally, compared with just over 8% from direct consumption of fossil fuels and over 3% from transport. Thus, ambitious electricity decarbonisation goals in many countries will help reduce overall global solar PV manufacturing emissions.

However, domestic solar PV manufacturing is not always less carbon-intensive than importing from China. For example, at today’s power mixes, producing the entire supply chain in India or Australia would generate more manufac-

turing emissions than importing the finished modules from China. India’s solar PV ambitions for both demand and supply, supported by concrete policies, are critical for solar PV supply chain diversification and resiliency. In the short term, however, manufacturing the entire solar PV supply chain in India would be almost 15% more emissions-intensive than in China. Therefore, a compromise between total or partial self-sufficiency and lower emissions will need to be reached while high-emissionsintensity countries work towards decarbonising their domestic power generation.

Among all supply chain segments, the largest scope for reducing manufacturing emissions intensity through diversification is in polysilicon and wafers. However, maintaining competitiveness in these segments will also require that manufacturers have access to electricity at costs comparable with or lower than today’s global averages. For instance, the average price of industrial electricity is close to USD 90/MWh for polysilicon and wafer production. In India, new polysilicon or wafer production may be more economically challenging than in other countries in the region due to higher industrial electricity prices (USD 100/MWh). While industrial electricity prices in China are in the range of USD 60-80/MWh excluding subsidies, which enables cost-competitive manufacturing in many provinces. inVEstMEnt cost:

High investment costs for polysilicon and wafer manufacturing challenge the business case for projects outside of China.

The amount of initial capital needed to establish a solar PV manufacturing facility varies significantly by country/region, type of equipment used, and costs associated with land, construction and financing. A manufacturing facility’s size has a direct impact on the economies of scale that can be realised, affecting investment per megawatt. According to recently commissioned plant and equipment price data, polysilicon plants and ingot and wafer factories are significantly more CAPEX-heavy than cell- and module-manufacturing facilities. In addition, because of the considerable infrastructure investments needed (USD 200-400 million), Greenfield polysilicon plants are not usually bankable for capacities of less than 10 000 Mt (around 3 GW).

For polysilicon, ingot and wafer manufacturing, benefitting from economies of scale is crucial to realise lower per-megawatt investment costs. Recent Greenfield polysilicon plants in China range in size from 40 000 Mt to 100 000 Mt, almost tripling historical averages.

Investment costs in the United States, the European Union and India are three to four times higher per megawatt than in China and ASEAN countries for polysilicon, ingot and wafer production. Longer construction and development timelines, considerable labour and material costs, the

higher cost of capital, a lack of economies of scale and a dearth of knowhow in developing megascale PV manufacturing facilities remain key reasons for higher costs. For instance, experience in developing large-scale ingot and wafer manufacturing facilities is very limited outside of China, as the country holds over 95% of the market share.

MAnufActurinG cost:

Manufacturing cost parity across regions and countries is critical for solar PV supply chain diversification. While cost differentials dictate whether a country’s solar PV products are cost-competitive, they are also critical for policymakers to design policies that effectively support the solar PV sector, including manufacturing plants. Solar PV production costs currently vary widely across both components and locations.

Based on modelled assumptions for each supply chain segment, the total cost of producing modules in key countries and regions varies from USD 0.24/W in China to USD 0.33/W in Europe, excluding profit margins, taxes

and transport fees.

Relatively low energy and investment costs (which lead to lower depreciation costs) and inexpensive labour make China the most cost-competitive location to manufacture all components of the solar PV supply chain.

Large variations in energy, labour and depreciation inputs (due to relatively high investment costs) make PV manufacturing 9% costlier in India and around 20-35% more expensive in the United States, Europe and Korea.

Thus, diversifying solar PV manufacturing will depend on the ability of nascent and new markets to match the cost efficiencies evident in China. For instance, realising economies of scale and integrating plants and processes can reduce variable costs to increase competitivity.

JoB crEAtion:

Job creation is one of the main arguments for expanding domestic manufacturing of any product, as many governments consider manufacturing jobs to be sustainable. Thus, given solar PV’s critical

role in the energy transition and its job creation potential, it is a key industry for the global expansion of manufacturing jobs.

For policymakers, the job intensity of various solar PV supply chain segments can be an important factor, especially when designing incentives to support the manufacturing sector. For instance, according to estimate that producing 1 GW of c-Si solar module capacity per year could create as many as 1 300 full-time manufacturing jobs, covering polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, modules and other materials such as glass, backsheet and EVA. The most job-intensive segments along the PV supply chain are module production (requiring 600900 jobs) and cell manufacturing (450-650 jobs).

PV manufacturing requires a diversity of workers, including production engineers, material handlers and assemblers. Due to the current geographical concentration of the solar PV supply chain, the majority of skilled personnel is based in China and Southeast Asia, so diversification will require

 Quality Inspection of Solar Laminate // Image Courtesy: SolarWorld USA

a concerted effort to train new employees. Thus, any strategy to increase PV manufacturing capacity must include a workforce training component. While governments and employers have already introduced training programmes for new employees, training must be co-ordinated and scaled up to provide the amount of labour needed to secure investment in local manufacturing facilities. There is not currently enough trained labour for PV manufacturing, especially in small or emerging manufacturing markets, given the low amount of job opportunities available.

rEcycLinG:

Solar PV modules currently have an estimated average service lifetime of 25-30 years, after which time their performance can deteriorate and they can be subject to failures. Considering historical capacity additions, we estimate that the global cumulative flow of decommissioned solar PV capacity will reach around 7 GW by 2030 and could increase to over 200 GW by 2040. This represents 400-600 kt of embodied materials cumulatively by 2030 and 11-15 Mt by 2040. As setting up effective policy frameworks and value chains can take time, it is crucial that governments, industries and other

stakeholders prepare now to manage the future surge of solar PV waste from a systemic, circular-economy perspective.

Managing end-of-life (EoL) flows of solar PV equipment is an environmental challenge. In addition to contradicting circularity principles, putting PV panels in landfills can cause environmental pollution and health issues due to the presence of hazardous materials such as lead. In this context, the benefits of recycling are manifold: it provides not only an alternative to land filling, but also the pportunity to recover valuable elements and secure a reliable secondary source of raw materials for the PV industry and other sectors.

Furthermore, because it provides a domestic supply alternative, recycling can alleviate energy security concerns for countries heavily dependent on imports. It also helps avoid negative environmental, social and health impacts associated with raw-material mining, and can reduce the energy and environmental footprint of solar PV. Moreover, recondition-

ing and recycling can generate employment opportunities and support local economic activity.

Last but not least, in addition to recycling, circular approaches aimed at improving solar PV designs for reuse, enhancing product longevity and developing remanufacturing will be pivotal to diversify the solar PV supply chain and shrink its environmental footprint.

concLusion:

A country’s policy and macroeconomic environment is critical to attract investment in manufacturing facilities for any industry. For solar PV, governments worldwide have implemented multiple policies and incentive schemes, with varying success. In simple terms, solar PV manufacturing policies can provide direct support to man-

Reference: IEA Special Report on PV Solar Global Supply Chain

ufacturing investors, or they can indirectly stimulate investments by creating an attractive investment environment. Support policies can be applied on the supply side (upstream) or the demand side (downstream), through four possible combinations described below.

dirEct:

i Manufacturing tax credits for one or multiple solar PV supply chain segment manufacturing facilities.

i Grants for one or multiple solar PV supply chain segment manufacturing facilities, including to cover land and infrastructure costs.

i Low-cost financing for greenfield solar PV manufacturing facilities, or for their expansion or operation.

i Lower energy prices for energyintensive PV manufacturing facilities.

i Lower income tax rates for solar

PV manufacturing companies.

i Lower import tariffs and VAT rates for imported manufacturing equipment.

i Government funds to reduce labour costs through lower charges.

i Incentives for to exported goods manufactured domestically.

i Local-content requirements for domestically manufactured equipment attached to policies to stimulate solar PV demand.

i Solar PV power plant auctions/ tenders linked to commissioning new manufacturing facilities.

indirEct:

i Import tariffs or trade duties to raise the cost of imported solar PV equipment and related products.

i Import bans on solar PV products not meeting certain sustainability standards or regulations, to set standards for imported PV equipment.

i Border CO2 tax adjustment for imported solar PV products.

i Carbon footprint standard for modules in tenders.

i R&D and innovation funds, or funds for academics and the private sector to develop solar PV technologies.

i Tax incentives to employ highly skilled labour for R&D.

i National or sub-national funds to educate skilled labour for solar PV manufacturing.

i Government investment to upgrade infrastructure, including for logistics, waste management and power, including industrial clusters.

i Policies to stimulate domestic solar PV demand (tax credits, FITs, auctions).

i Local-content premiums for domestically manufactured equipment attached to policies to stimulate solar PV demand.

i Low-cost financing for domestically manufactured equipment attached to policies to stimulate solar PV demand 

We live in a continually developing world. Technological advancements have brought everything to the tip of our fingers, our methods and routines have refined but life still remains the same for one community. The magnificent sea hullers, the rowing and constant tiding of those who bring the sea to life. The fishermen! All across the shores of India, fishermen live a life of constant turmoil. They are exposed to the raging heat and polluting gases emitted by the boats they use; they have to withstand the continuous pulsating and treacherous vibrations of the boat and are still at the mercy of the mighty seas, hoping it gives them back something to take home.

To put an end to this suffering

and pen the story for a more sustainable future, last year Navalt came up with an innovation to gift them a boon that would change the course of their lives forever –The mighty Srav. A solar electric catamaran sea-going fishing vessel designed to revolutionize the fishing industry and to upgrade the life of those who are a part of the fishing community. Powered and mechanized by the sun, the Srav is the world’s first solar electric fishing vessel, the winner of the 2022 Gustave Trouve award in the best electric workboat category.

Approximately 100 million marine animals die each year due to water pollution. The harmful gases, carbon dioxide, and spillages emitted from fishing boats pose a great threat to the sea and its living beings. If fishing vessels

were their own country, they would be the ‘6th largest’ carbon dioxide contributing country in this world. Apart from creating a negative impact on wildlife, the boats also cause a lot of noise pollution, motor discharge, emittance of toxins, and navigational hazards. The animals that cruise through the sea borders are also highly affected by the pollution that is caused by motor boats. The excessive nutrients that are emitted into the water increases the growth of toxic algae and exotic plants, causing deep sea corals to die and sea turtles and mammals to develop an oily coating on their shells. Humans who consume the fishes can develop congenital disabilities resulting in slow development, immune suppression and reproductive problems. All of

A story about the solar electric catamaran sea-going fishing vessel designed to revolutionize the fishing industry

these are problems induced by the functioning of boats which emit diesel and other harmful fuels into the water.

To revolutionise the fishing industry and introduce a greener solution for the community, Navalt introduced the Srav in 2022. Srav aims to completely wipe out the emission of any fuels into the water, switching to an absolute greener solution. Powered by the sun, this solar electric fishing vessel requires no fuel to operate hence avoiding any carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The fishermen who are exposed to the constantly burning fuel complain about the foul odour that they have to tolerate on a daily basis, and when it comes to Srav there is no such thing as fuel odour as it runs solely on a solar powered battery. While a petrol or kerosene boat would emit close to 9 tonnes of CO2 every year the Srav wouldn’t be emitting any harmful gases into the atmosphere or causing any pollution. The yearly

fuel import savings tend to have a great impact on the future. The decrease in amount of carbon dioxide is nearly close to that absorbed by 2 crore trees every year.

While fishes are categorized as hearing specialists and they use sound to communicate both actively and passively in the environment. The underwater noises caused by boats interfere with the basic motor functions of these marine mammals, impairing their sense of hearing, eliciting aggressive reactions or causing psychological stress. The aquatic life will always remain vulnerable to hearing loss when they are exposed to such intense vibration and they also require time to fully recover from this exposure. Srav is the ultimate solution to this problem as it’s silent motor and vibration free design yields an excellent noise free performance.

With a capacity to accommodate 3 crew members, a speed of 8 knots and 70 km range the Srav uses marine grade LFP batteries and solar panels to charge them. While the Srav definitely helps to fish in a more efficient and smooth manner, the biggest catch is the fact that the fuel expenses are completely nullified, with an even greater amount of decrease in the daily operational expenses. Instead of choosing to invest in a single petrol boat, opting for four Srav’s with the same investment would generate an even greater revenue in comparison. This catamaran designed for fishing is an architecture marvel as it embodies the literal translation of the Malayalam word Srav which means ‘Shark’. The boat, like the shark has a perfectly shaped gliding body, fins and teeth to help it transition through the water in a smooth manner. The sharks are known to be an ocean’s top predators, and the Srav embodying this marine animal is a more environment friendly option for all the fishermen communities in India.

In the impending future if the

Indian government decides to completely switch to solar electric fishing vessels it will be able to save nearly 31,0000 crores on fuel imports. Replacing the present fuel boats are replaced with solar electric counterparts is also another option. While this will help reduce purchase of fuel altogether helping save a lot of money, it also paves the way to a greener and better tomorrow.

The mastermind behind this genius innovation, Navalt – is an eco-marine technology company that specializes in the manufacturing of solar electric vessels. At Navalt, we have always pushed the boundaries when it comes to designing extraordinary vessels. They have over 21 years of experience, and their boats have safely and successfully transported close to 2 million people. Keeping in mind the motto of creating ‘cleaner and quieter’ oceans, they have risen to become India’s only indigenous, electric propulsion system builder and constantly continue to push to become the world’s best solar electric vessel builders for private or public transport. Our Marine data science division named Oceanix, harnesses the best of fishing industry expertise and combines it with data analytics to provide, data driven decision – making opportunities for ship owners. As of today, this company with a greener and cleaner solution in mind has over 1500 shipping vessels in our platform for the largest shipping companies worldwide and is pushing the boundaries when it comes to electrifying the ocean! 

This article is contributed by Navalt Solar & Electric Boats Pvt. Ltd., a Kochi based company specialising in manufacturing of solar electric vessels. Navalt’s flagship solar electric ferry, ‘Aditya’, is recognised as the world’s best.



CEO & Director, Jendamark

date and I am quite thankful for all those individuals who have shaped where I am today.

rom leading and growing the company to creating a brand identity for an unknown company, how would you sum up your journey at Jendamark? Jendamark was an unknown company in India but globally it was quite well know and established brand providing automation solutions worldwide from South Africa to Europe, US and rest of the world. It was only in India that it was a bit of unknown company.

My discovery with Jendamark started when I visited South Africa in 2010, that's when i came across

We are not here to just get bigger, but we want to get better and while getting better we also want to get bolder

From Jendamark's perspective, we are a very vocal-for-local company"

this wonderful guys from Jendamark in South Africa who where very open, honest, transparent, hardworking, which resonant with my way of working and thinking as well was. That's how my association grew with Jendamark and for almost six years we were working together. But, I was part of volkswagen then.

In terms of summing up my journey with Jendamark so far, it's been extremely exhilarating, hustling, purposeful and more importantly I think it has given me an opportunity to broaden my meaning and definition of life and what I would like to do in life in general. Of course, we all are tech companies provinding technical solutions but on a higher level we are getting a lot of purpose and I feel I have found a purpose in lot of things which I am doing with Jendamark. There were some lessons, there are always ups and downs but overall the purpose and the intent has been really amazing to work in Jendamark.

Q.Jendmark is recognised as a pioneer of industry 4.0 revolution in india, can you brief our listeners about the different products and solutions that you offer and the different industries you cater to?

We are known as the pioneer of the industry 4.0 revolution in India primarily because of our approach to industry 4.0 in general. We have what we proudly claim is a humancentric approach in Industry 4.0, which is what is a distinguishing factor between the solutions offered by Jendamark and by the other players in India.

We are a country with an evergrowing population, and our dynamic and socioeconomic problems are all revolving around the human capital that we have. As much as we feel and we would like to have automation as a mainstay, we cannot and should not oversight the power of individual humans and what it brings to the table. That's why we have devel-



oped a suite of products under the brand name ODIN which are enabling, energizing and increasing the efficiency of humans involved in the manufacturing sector to start with.

We are open to any industry. Primarily we are focusing on the automotive sector, but to be honest the manufacturing sector at large be it the pharmaceutical sector, white goods, bottling plants or anything which involves manufacturing, our product suite of ODIN is well received in all these industries.

challenges which come up with an emerging sector like EV. To address these challenges, we have come up with various financing models like software on license model, we also have the option of leasing the line and equipment. These kinds of licensing and leasing models allow a bootstrap company to have low costs in the initial phase. What we have realised is that these companies are innovative companies that have developed good products but the initial investment is a bit of an issue for them. These licensing and leasing models allow them to focus on their main stay which is R&D and product and not worry about financing. As the product grows, as the volume comes in automatically the sales will result in better finances. That is our contribution to these bootstrap companies.

Q.As

i understand, Jendamark’s primary business comes from the automotive sector, how is Jendamark catering to the needs of the emerging sector like EV?

Innovation is the only way in which we can provide solutions for an emerging sector like EV and ESS. We have provided battery pack lines, motor lines, inverter lines, e transmission etc to many customers over the last 3 to 4 years. We have realised the challenges the emerging EV sector faces and that providing only automation solutions or equipment is not going to solve their challenges.

There is a range of variables, some companies want a low-cost, lowvolume solution. While, Some companies want high-volume, highly complex solutions. What we have kept consistent across the entire range is our process security for making this product for our customers and this process security is one of the key factors and differentiators in our offerings.

We also understand the financial

From our experience internationally and locally and our expertise in setting up factories, we are happy to consult any company in EV specifically on how to go about setting up an EV factory. So, it is not all about just providing assembly lines and machines. It’s solving the financial issue, and consulting them on setting up EV factories and that is what we are focusing on as a wholesome solutions provider to our customers. .

The EV sector is here to stay and grow. What we are experiencing is a big transition. In a span of 20 to 25 years, even fuel prices have gone up by six times which is an indicator that it is not going to slow down. Apart from that, the pollution factor which the IC vehicle brings in also needs to be

Q.We are seeing a lot of policy support, push and customer preference towards adoption of EVs, how do you see the EV sector in india and going forward what are the opportunities in the EV sector that you at Jendamark are getting ready for?

We always hassle and thrive in situations that are challenging"

addressed. What we need to work on is creating renewable energy to power EVs.

From Jendamark's perspective, we are a very vocal-for-local company. We are focusing on Innovation and R&D and we have a dedicated R&D department globally working on making innovative solutions which are otherwise imported from Europe, the US or China. We are working on making innovative local SPMs catering to the EV industry. Another topic that we are working on is lowering the lead time to delivery. Because time to market in EV is key to success. There is a lot of challenges involved in lowering the lead time due to the uncertain supply of electronic goods because of semiconductor and chip shortage issue. But, we are trying different solutions to enable us to cater to that challenge and solve it successfully for our customers.

will remain and the rest will perish.

From an assembly point of view, securing a good supply chain and more importantly having state of art assembly line solutions to assemble the product in the right way is essential. Many solutions are coming from other countries that are not sustainable. You have to look at a sustainable manufacturing assembly line solutions provider who can support you over the next decade or so.

soluton to Hero Yamaha Motor Corp.

Q.shareyour experience of working with hero yamaha c orp where Jendamark has delivered high volume E-cycle assembly line for the company? What were the challenges in delivering this project and how did you overcome the challenges?

Q

.How would you define success for yourself and your company? Where do you see Jendamark in the next 5 to 10 year?

Six years back when I joined Jendamark if someone told me that this is where we would be in Dec 2022, I would have not believed him or her. We are an evolving company even now. We think like a startup and work like a startup. This comes from the DNA of the company which always hassles. We always hassle and thrive in situations that are challenging. We venture into the area where most people do not venture because the risk is too high. But, where there is a high risk that's where the opportunities lie as well.

Q.in

addition to manufacturing of EVs, we see a lot of opportunities that are coming up in the stationary and EV battery business, what would you advise to the entrepreneurs that are looking to enter into or traditional led-acid battery manufacturers diversifying into lithium-ion battery manufacturing/ assembly business?

It is a good opportunity for sure, but be cautious about your product. I think engineering & R&D is a key ingredient which is going to be the only way forward and only those companies who have a focus on developing their own product will be sustainable in the market in the coming years. Companies who are looking for quick turnaround, importing and selling stuff in India already are seeing problems because the government has tightened a few measures. The new policies coming from the government to make EV safer with the AIS 156 and its amendments. All of this only means that the companies that have sustainable, strong products

It was a very exciting six months project. It was a record even for us to deliver a high-volume e-motor line for the Hero Yamaha JV. The challenge was with parallel product development. The product was getting developed and at the same time, we were developing the line that too is delivered in the shortest time. The deadlines were strict and straight. We had to have the plant opening along with our line and the component being made on our line on 15th Dec 2022. We had a very clear directive of what we wanted to do. The team put together by Jendamark was fantastic team, we choose guys who loved and thrived in these challenges. That's what differentiates Jendamark from the people aspect as well. We also got fantastic support from Hero Motors and Hero Yamaha team working with us on our floor. They were more like our partners working with us, staying with us, sleeping on the floor with us and delivering together a very successful project for their company and us as well. Our partners and suppliers also stood up to the challenge to ensure that we get what we want in time. Overall it was a very good team effort from everyone to deliver a world-class

In terms of success, we are not here to just get bigger, but we want to get better and while getting better we also want to get bolder. Getting bigger, better and bolder is what success is for me and is a continuous process. As we grow bigger, we will get better, we will get bolder and that for me will be an ultimate definition of a successful journey in this process 

Lithium-ion Cell Selection for Battery Pack Assembly

Authored By: Rahul Bollini, Independent li-ion Battery Consultant

ALithium-ion battery pack consists of various Lithium-ion cells connected in series and parallel to achieve the required voltage and ampere-hour respectively.

Lithium-ion batteries in EV (electric vehicles):

Three most popular Lithium-ion cell chemistries in the market are LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate), NMC (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) and NCA (Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminium Oxide).

LFP cell chemistry is safer, cheaper and has higher cycle life compared to NMC and NCA cell chemistries. But the downside of LFP is that its high stability makes it heavier (low gravimetric energy density in Wh/Kg) and bulkier (low volumetric energy density in Wh/L) compared to NMC and NCA cell chemistries. Hence, it is a common understanding that if LFP cells fit in a given dimension to achieve the required voltage and ampere-hour, it is highly preferred for its high value proposition. Hence, LFP is very popular in low range EVs. LFP cells using graphite anode max out at close to 180Wh/Kg and 400Wh/L. LFP cells can easily perform beyond 60°C but they tend to have a hard time charging below 0°C.

If LFP cells do not fit in a given dimension of a battery pack to achieve the required voltage and ampere-hour, NMC cells are preferred. Its gravimetric energy density and volumetric energy density are balanced, meaning it is better than LFP but tends to be lower than NCA. NMC experiences thermal runaway at an earlier temperature than LFP. NMC is preferred in high range vehicles. There are various compositions of NMC such as 111, 442, 532, 622 and 811. These days 532 and above variants are available for use in EVs. The higher the nickel content (if the first digit of the variant number is higher), the gravimetric energy density and volumetric energy density increases but it reduces the stability of the cell and leads to lower safety, lower cycle life, lower rate of charge and discharge. NMC cells are not recommended to operate above 60°C but can charge up to some extent below 0°C.

If NMC cells do not fit in a given dimension of a battery pack to achieve the required voltage and ampere-hour, NCA cells are preferred. Its gravimetric energy density and volumetric energy density is higher compared to LFP and NMC. Tesla popularised

NCA cells by use in all its previous EV models. But in recent days, Tesla EVs has shifted to LFP cells in lower range vehicle in some markets (hotter countries). cells using silicon graphite anode achieve more than 250Wh/Kg and 700Wh/L. NCA experiences the earliest thermal runaway compared to LFP and NMC. Moreover, the heat released in terms of Joules per gram is also higher than LFP and NMC. NCA cells are to be handled with good thermal management in a battery pack.

Lithium-ion batteries in Ess (energy storage system):

LFP cell chemistry is the most preferred choice since there is no space or weight restriction in most ESS applications. These applications charge and discharge the battery slowly compared to EVs and do not experience frequent pulse current which can reduce cycle life, as is the case in EVs where peak pulse charge current is experienced during regenerative braking and peak pulse discharge current is experienced during acceleration.

LFP cells are highly suitable for the high life required in BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) and hence LFP cells have the maximum market share in the BESS market segment. I have personally designed close to 3.8MWh capacity in a 20 feet high cube container using 280Ah LFP prismatic cells. It is a 1500V DC system architecture 

About the Author:

Rahul Bollini has 8 years of expertise in Lithium-ion cell manufacturing, testing and validation. He has a very good understanding about the characteristics of various types of Lithium-ion cells. He regularly assists Lithium-ion battery pack companies to help understand the characteristics of Lithiumion cells. He can be reached at bollinienergy@gmail.com

Jinto Joseph Head- Sales &

Marketing, Credence Solar Panels Private Limited Q.Moving on, tell us more about your association with credence solar as a headMarketing and Business development, how are you driving the core business at credence solar and helping the company achieve its mission of building a sustainable future?

It is almost six months that I have been associated with Credence Solar and Credence as an organisation has got well-focused motto to provide the best quality and technology-competitive products. Since our products and offerings are ment for higher projects and we do have major corporate accounts focused on, like big projects, where we are concentrating on our higher efficiency and higher rating modules,

developing the market with our new associates and adding dayby-day is giving us better mileage. The difference in the product we offer has given us market penetration and acceptance. As a new organisation getting its first balance sheet in 2023 FY, we are almost touching 100Cr. It is one of the best achievements for any organisation that has started in the PV module and is booking in its first year.

Q.it's great to know from you that credence solar is touching 100 cr in terms of sales within six months of its product launch. Moving on to my next question, What are the different modules manufactured by Credence Solar and what differentiates the products from the already existing products in the market?

It is a nice opportunity for us to explain our offering. When we were starting our manufacturing plant, there were a lot of technologies existing in the market. So, there was confusion for us to come up with the right product. There was a lot of R&D that we did to select the right technology. Where we landed was at the biggest cell size that was existing, that was coming up to the industry. So, we selected to go with M12 size and 12 BB technology. We are the first manufacturers from India to start offering 12 BB concept of modules and the first manufacturer to set up a plant competent to that particular technology. Our offering in this particular technology starts from 540W to 650W, which includes both Monfacial and Bifacial modules. I would like to add here that, there is no one in the industry today offering the products that we have introduced.

There is a major push we are getting in the market, the customers are accepting the technological improvements and today when we look at the entire market, this technology stands at 50% of the market share and is expected to reach almost 70% to 80% in 2023.



Even we are planning to increase our manufacturing capacity from the current 200MW to another 600MW so we are going to be in the 600MW club by March/ April 2023

As I have already mentioned, we are the first manufacturer to start with and slowly the trend is following us to shift the change in technology according to our choice. Moreover, with higher size modules, we have engineered the product in such a way that the product is not going to have failure. As a precaution, we are giving additional back support like a back rail on the backside of the module to avoid bending the glasses in the future and even our BoM of the product is selected such that the module will have less degradation and higher life. Even our glass-toglass products have good front side and backside support irrespective of having a back sheet. We believe that the product that we have introduced in the market is the best in quality and standard that will be accepted by the industry.

Q.Definitely such an impressive product portfolio will need a state-of-art manufacturing facility, can you tell us more about the module manufacturing facility at credence solar? Sure, the manufacturing plant that we have set up in 2021 still stands as the latest manufacturing line as of date.

I would like to add one more point, at the Intersolar 2022 exhibition that happened at Gandhinagar in Gujarat, we launched our new concept of modules into TOPCon category and again we lead there

as the first manufacturer to showcase TOPCon modules in M12 family.

Coming to our manufacturing facility is compatible with M10, M12 wafers and whatever upgraded technology development that is happening in the industry like TOPCon etc.

Starting from NDC cutter to packaging our line is fully automated, which includes auto bussing, auto taping and the laminator that we have is the biggest laminator as of date in India that any Indian manufacturer is having. The NDC cutter with us allows cutting of the cells having zero micro-cracks and we are the first one to bring that particular machine to India. To manufacture a bifacial glass-toglass module we have a double glass loader that is accelerating the speed of manufacturing capacity. Even we are planning to increase our manufacturing capacity from the current 200MW to another 600MW so we are going to be in the 600MW club by March/ April 2023. So, the expansion activities are going on.

This is all about our new manufacturing line and our facility located on 18 acres of land at Rajkot in Gujarat has all sorts of infrastructure for future expansion that we plan for. Our management has got a clear vision to expand it to the next capacity that we can achieve along with the cell manufacturing plant that we are thinking about depending on the market trends and demand that is going to happen.

Q.Good to learn from you Joseph about the state-ofart manufacturing facility at credence solar and also that the company is planning to expand its manufacturing facility from the current 200MW to 600MW in 2023, so moving on, the market is witnessing lot of interest in Bifacila pV Mod-

Industry Insights

ules, can you shed more light on the Quasar-Bi line of bifacial pV modules manufactured by credence solar?

The Quasar-Bi stands for Bifacial modules and Bifacial means that it can produce electricity from the front side and backside. So the construction is such that between two glasses the cells are sandwiched. With our 12 BB cell technology Quasar-Bi series of modules, the customer can get up to 20% extra generation.

We have already supplied close to 10MW of Bifacial modules of 650Wp and our module construction is something different, unlike other manufacturers we are offering glass-to-glass. The encapsulant that we are using and certified BoM is with BoE based encapsulant by which the product will have a better life, and less degradation.

Our bifacial product comes with 25 years of performance warranty. Being a glass-to-glass product, we are confident that the product will have better performance life, product life.

We always say to our industry, and to our customers that when we think about a project or think about bifacial whatever gain that you are going to get from the backside is an additional gain over and above the generation that you are getting from the front side. The Bifacial trend is going to be the next era of products, we always happy that we could come up with the biggest bifacial modules that anyone manufacturing in India from our Quasi-Bi series.

Q.share the experience of working on the first project of 500kW where the credence modules are used? What were the challenges and how did credence solar overcome the challenges?

500KW was our first project where we supplied our Monofacial modules. After this 500KW project, we have supplied 4MW with QuasarBi series that I have already discussed. Another 3MW and 1.2 MW

are also already over.

For the 500KW we have supplied our 65OW modules and the project is commissioned and the plant is running successfully where we have witnessed the generation of close to 6 units, on peak days, and on an average of 4.75 units generation from the day of commissioning the project.

There were a few challenges when we introduced this product. While the module technology was upgrading the equivalent inverter technology was not up to meet the module requirements. So there were challenges for us to find the best inverter to suggest to our customer. But now the inverter technology has come up to meet the high current requirement and today there are up to 9 manufacturers that are supplying high current inverters. So the major challenge that we faced during that time was that the inverter technology was not scaling at the speed that the module technology was evolving.

Q.Moving on to the overall market scenario, What are your views on the current status of Module manufacturing in india? What steps can lead india to become the solar manufacturing hub of the world?

The major issue the industry, and am not speaking just about module manufacturers as we are also included when we talk about the solar industry, is facing is that we lack a lot of good policies. Of course, the government today is coming up with a lot of policies and these policies are the major backbone of the industry to grow. Being a module manufacturer, the problem we face is with the availability of raw materials. For each and everything we are dependent on China. The government has to scale up a few policies as such we should have our infrastructure to manufacture all products. There is a lot of investment coming to our country, just that the government has to frame the policies

accordingly so that the investors can think about investing in the country that will make us self-sufficient to meet our requirements.

Q.finally, many of our listeners want to know, by when can we expect the credence solar modules to get listed in ALMM?

Being an Indian module manufacturer and having BIS certification, it is 100% clear that we will have ALMM. For the last three months, the ALMM list has not updated by the department, there may be some sort of issues that the department might have had and we are expecting that by the first week or second week of January 2023 that updated list will come up. Our formalities concerning ALMM are completed two months back and there are a lot of manufacturers today waiting for the ALMM list o come. So, it is just a matter of time before the government publishes the list or else from our side all the activities for the listing of our product in the ALMM list is over 

Importance of Battery Management System(BMS) in LiFePO4 Battery

Authored By: Shridhar Pandey, Managing Director, Elecorev Energy

Lithium iron phosphate batteries come in a single package with a lot of power and value. This chemistry of lithium offers superior performance. But all reputed commercial batteries which include another vital component along with Lithium phosphate batteries i.e. carefully planned and designed Battery Management system (BMS). A cautiously designed Battery management system (BMS) protects, increase lifetime, monitor, balance and communicate with different modules which ensures safe operation over a wide range of conditions.

At Elecorev, all our lithium iron phosphate batteries come along with BMS integrated inside or outside. Let’s have a closer look at how Elecorev battery management system (BMS) optimizes the life of lithium iron phosphate batteries.

oVEr And undEr VoLtAGE

Lithium iron phosphate cells are operated safely over the range of voltages ranging typically from 2.0V to 4.2V. Lithium Phosphate cells are more tolerant compared with other lithium chemistries. But significant overvoltage for an extended period at the time of charging can cause plating of metallic lithium on the anode of the battery, which can permanently degrade the life of a battery’s performance. Meanwhile, oxidation may happen on the cathode material and the cell becomes less stable and can produce CO2, which may lead to building pressure in the cell. All Elecorev Battery management sys-

tems limit the maximum voltage of the battery and the cell.

Under voltage in the course of battery, discharge is also a concern because discharging LiFePO4 cells below 2.0V may lead to a breakdown of the electrode materials. Lithium Phosphate battery recommends minimum operational voltage. The BMS disconnects the battery if its voltage goes below 2.0V.

oVEr currEnt And short circuit protEction

Each battery is designated with the maximum specified current of its smooth and safe operations. When the load is connected to the battery, which is drawing a higher current than the designated currents, it can result in overheating of the battery. So it very important to keep the drawing current below the maximum specifications. The BMS of the battery again acts a backstop against overcurrent conditions and disconnects the battery from its operations.

The BMS disconnects the battery from the circuit if the draws the higher current. The short circuit in the battery is the most serious form of overcurrent conditions. The short circuit generally happens because of accidental connection of its terminals to the piece of metal. The BMS quickly detects the short-circuit currents and drawing of massive currents overheats the battery and creates the catastrophic damage to the battery.

oVEr tEMpErAturE

Unlike other chemistries of the

battery such as Lead acid or lithium cobalt oxide batteries, Lithium iron phosphate batteries operates at coherently and safely at temperatures up to 600C or more. But at higher operating and storage temperatures the electrode material begins to degrade. The BMS of the battery consists of thermistors, which actively monitor the temperature of the battery during operation, and it will disconnect the battery over the specified temperature.

cELL iMBALAncE

Lithium iron phosphate batteries find major differences from easily available lead-acid batteries when it leads to balance the voltage in each individual cells during charging. Because of minor differences in operating or manufacturing conditions each cell of the battery charges at the different rate. Meanwhile in lead acid battery, if the one cell of the battery charges at a faster rate and reaches to its full voltage, the typically other cells which are charging slowly can be accompanied and self-balancing will happen and others cells will also get fully charged.

But in the case of Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, when a cell is fully charged the voltage of the cell begins to rise further which will lead to damage in the electrode. The entire charge of the battery will stop when only one cell is fully charged state and remaining cells will not reach full charge and the battery will operate at low peak capacity. An Elecorev BMS ensures that each cell charges fully and safely before the entire process of charging is complete 

Policy

Review of the Draft Delhi Solar Policy 2022

The Delhi Solar Policy 2016 set the foundation for solar adoption in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. The policy enabled a deployment of over 230 MW of rooftop solar within Delhi and close to 960 megawatts of utility scale solar till date which meets 9% of Delhi’s existing annual electricity demand. However, roof top solar adoption in the state has been challenging as consumers face capital and space constraints as well as procedural hurdles.

The vision of Delhi Solar Policy 2022 is to make solar energy accessible and affordable for all consumers in Delhi by creating targeted incentives and promoting innovative models for solar adoption, and at the same time creation of green jobs in the NCT of Delhi. Meeting the commitments under Delhi Solar Policy 2022 shall ensure that, for the first time in Delhi’s history, Delhi’s installed solar capacity shall be greater than its

installed thermal generation capacity.

Target Capacity:

The policy will be operational for a period of three years from the date of notification. The policy envisages achieving 6000 MW of installed solar capacity which shall include 750 MW of rooftop solar within the State and 5250 MW of utility scale solar from outside the State. The policy aims to meet 25% of the annual electricity demand of Delhi through solar energy.

Driving Solar Adoption:

The rooftop solar consumers in Delhi have faced a lot of challenges due to space constraints, limited awareness and policy complications. The draft policy addresses these challenges with provisions for all consumer categories namely residential, government, industrial and commercial.

For consumers facing space constraints the policy recommends Group Net Metering (GNM) and Community Solar models.

Group net Metering: Under the Group Net Metering model consumers with multiple buildings and service connections, facing constrained roof space in one property can benefit from any excess solar energy generated on any other property, provided these connections are in the same DISCOM territory.

Community Solar: Under Community Solar Model consumers who do not have a suitable roof for installing a solar system (e.g. residential consumers who live in apartments, consumers with small or shaded rooftops) can become a beneficial owners of a part of a larger solar system through the facility of ‘Community Solar’. The energy produced by a collectively owned solar system will be fed into the grid through an energy meter and the exported energy as recorded by that meter will be pro-rata credited in the electricity bill of each participating consumer on the basis of ownership share.

Peer to Peer Trading: For consumers planning to go solar

or have already installed solar system, the policy provides an opportunity by allowing them to sell their excess electricity generation from their rooftops in real time via a P2P energy trading platform. The platform will serve as an online marketplace and will enable the buying and selling of rooftop solar PV energy between two or more grid connected parties in the same DISCOM area.

Models for Consumers with Capital Constraints:

In order to overcome the limitations of the RESCO model, the draft policy for the first time has introduced Hybrid RESCO model to ensure large-scale adoption of solar systems by consumers facing capital constraints.

The hybrid model aims to combine the net-metering agreement between the consumer and DISCOM with a PPA agreement between a RESCO developer and the DISCOM. Under this model, the RESCO developer gets paid directly by the DISCOM via the PPA. The DISCOM, in turn, bills the consumer for solar power consumed at the PPA rate, as part of a single unified bill for energy consumed. The PPA tariffs for hybrid RESCO shall be discovered through a competitive bid process, and shall be approved by DERC.

The hybrid RESCO model is available in addition to the conventional RESCO model.

Economic Incentives for Consumers:

In order to promote adoption of rooftop solar, the policy extends the capital subsidy provided by MNRE of 40% for residential systems up to 3 kW and 20% for residential systems above 3 kW and up to 10kW and Capital subsidy by MNRE of 20% for group housing societies and residential welfare associations with systems up to 500kW. In addition to extending the MNRE Subsidy the policy provides additional benefits of generation-based incentives,

net metering, roll -over of excess energy units exported, after net metering, into subsequent billing cycles for up to 12 months, additional income through endof-year net metering credits to all the consumers.

Recognizing the need for residential consumers to have continued access to their roofs, GNCTD will provide a subsidy for raised mounting structures at the rate of Rs 2,000 per kW upto a maximum of Rs. 10,000 per consumer. Raised structures which have a minimum ground clearance of greater than 6 feet will qualify for this subsidy. The subsidy will be passed through their first electricity bill post commissioning of the RTS system.

Streamlined Procedures and Access to Information:

In order to streamline the procedures and access to information GNCTD will create a new state solar portal which will act as a single window for consumers willing to adopt solar. The portal will provide information on the end-to-end process of installing solar panels. All new net metering applications across all DISCOMs in Delhi will be made through the new portal. Consumers interested in adopting solar via the CAPEX model (where consumer pays for RTS system upfront) can use the state solar portal as a single window for the deployment of RTS systems by technically qualified developers who will be registered on the portal.

In addition to the host of benefits as mentioned above, the policy also mandates existing government buildings and all new residential, commercial, government to install RTS system. The policy also encourages deployment of solar on agriculture land via different models, encourages energy storage and provides exemptions from taxes and duties on generation from RTS for self consumption or supplied to the grid.

The Policy also encourages

creation of a secondary market for components of rooftop solar PV system to benefit the solar ecosystem in Delhi. The Policy also endeavours to create an ecosystem for recycling components of solar PV system at the end of their useful life to prevent negative environmental externalities.

Out of State Solar Procurement

The policy empowers GNCTD to work with DISCOMS and other stakeholders such as SECI to ensure timely planning and execution of utility scale solar generation projects outside the NCT of Delhi so as to meet the increasing energy needs of Delhi through solar energy instead of long-term PPAs based on conventional fossil fuel energy.

Delhi Solar Cell

With an aim to facilitate, coordinate, and monitor day to day implementation of the solar energy policy in Delhi, the policy will establish a dedicated ‘Solar Cell’ within the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Management framework.

The Delhi Solar Cell will lead in launching the Solar Energy Policy to the public; undertake the process for allotment of solar power capacities under various schemes of State and Central Government and Facilitate development of solar projects.

Editors take on the Delhi Solar Policy 2022

Overall we find the policy to be very encouraging and innovative. The draft policy has addressed many of the challenges and ground difficulties faced by consumer in adoption of rooftop solar. The peerto-peer trading and out of state procurement of solar is a path breaking approach that the Delhi government has taken. Going forward we see many states incorporating some of the features of the policy in their states 

In a remarkable historic move, the amended Energy Conservation Act 2022 has been passed by the Upper House of the Parliament – Rajya Sabha as the country continues to aggressively progress towards enabling strong climate action.

The EC Act 2022 will help the India’s transition into a low carbon economy, meeting the development goals without burdening the atmosphere.

thE EnErGy consErVAtion Act

The Government of India first enacted the Energy Conservation Act in 2001 with an aim to redeem the country’s potentials for energy saving and conservation which has the capability to create an equivalent capacity of a minimum of 25000 MW.

The Act provides the legal framework, institutional arrangement and a regulatory mechanism

at the Central and State level for the efficient use of energy and its conservation. Under this Act, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) was established in March 2002 for the implementation of policies and programmes with the primary objective of reducing the energy intensity in the Indian economy through energy conservation activities.

The amendment to this Act that has now been cleared by the Upper House warrants a firm thrust on the improvement of energy efficiency while generating new capacities. It will aim for further lowering the energy intensity of our economy. The amends will also boost the adoption of clean technologies in various sectors of economy with a strong focus on bio energy and the promotion of clean energy sources like green hydrogen as an alternate to the existing fossil fuels used by industries currently. This will also drive increased adoption of green tech-

nologies like green building and other green advancements.

The proposed amendments will also facilitate the development of carbon market in India with its regulation on the minimum consumption of energy which will in turn help in the reduction of fossil fuel based energy consumption and carbon emission into the atmosphere. The additional incentives in the form of carbon credits against deployment of clean technologies will result in the proliferation of the carbon credit industry with more players, leading to increased climate actions.

Some of the strategic developments that the Act will enable include:

1. Empower India to achieve its nDC targets: Even though the percapita emissions in the country are substantially low, India continues to be the third largest GHG (greenhouse gases) emitter in the world. Given that the Act focuses on con-

structive measures for emission reduction, it will help ensure an enhanced conducive platform for the development of strategic interventions for combatting climate change. As stringent measures are adopted, companies in India will increasingly adopt carbon reduction strategies, enabling the country to progress faster towards achieving its NDC goals.

2. Development of a strong n ational ETS in India: The amended EC Act 2022 will India to increasingly strive towards its net-zero commitment of 2070 with the development of a robust domestic ETS which will further enable the implementation of NDCs in a timely manner. It will also facilitate the development of India’s carbon market that will in turn enable the country to transition into a low carbon economy. The current trading schemes in India – Energy Saving Certificates (ESCerts) and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) will be merged into one single commodity that will be called Carbon Credits Certificate (CCC) and will operate under Cap & Trade system under the National ETS. With the implementation of the National ETS, the domestic carbon credits market will enable the development higher quality sources of carbon credits, benefitting both buyers and sellers and ultimately, supporting progress toward a lowcarbon future. In conjunction with the International Carbon Markets, India’s domestic market can play a key role in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and enabling the larger goal for rehabilitating the entire planet.

3. India’s carbon market poised for growth: India is well poised to reap the benefits of global carbon market by leveraging its decarbonizations into credible offsets generations, which will help in enhancing the country’s share of international green finance.

(i) Provisioning of the Carbon Trading Scheme under the EC Act 2022. All past non-carbon deriva-

tives - REC and ESCert (PAT) will be merged in the proposed Carbon Trading scheme, and will be converted into fungible ‘Carbon Credit Certificate (CCC)’

(ii) A new ‘Registered Entity’ –National Carbon Registry, under Central Government or a Agency authorized by Central Government, been proposed – for registering new projects with maintained MVR protocols in line with international registry systems at UN / VCM

(iii) ‘Designated Consumers’ under PAT and any other consumers as being considered appropriate will be part of the scheme – Obligated entity, will be allowed to sell & purchase of CCC

(iv) Any other entity (Non-obligated entity) can participate in the scheme as Purchaser

(v) National Carbon Registry under BEE [at present] / Carbon Regulatory Commission [in future], will be formulated and linked to Centralized Accounting and Reporting Platform (CARP) of Article 6 Supervisory body of UNFCCC. It will have provisioned to record all ITMOs, 6.4ERs, and VCM Projects activities and also host / with parallel linkages with Apex Committee for Implementation of Paris Agreement (AIPA) acting as Host Country Approvals (HCA) / Country Approval (Corresponding Adjustment) for all project including VCMs (optional).

(vi) The operational modalities should be defined keeping in real time transaction and interface IoT technology of the CARP of UNFCCC

(vii) Quality Check and OMV procedure should be standardized in line with international practice for universal acceptance

4. India’s Voluntary Carbon Market will witness a revolution: With the National ETS, India’s voluntary market will witness a surge in growth, which will be further enhanced as COP27 has substantially provisioned for Non-party (corporate) led initiatives to take

the center stage of global decarbonizations. The renewed focus towards controlling GHG emissions and moving towards carbon neutrality, with specific milestone / targets is expected to encourage an increased private sector participation in combating climate change. These commitments of India Inc towards carbon neutrality would drive the demand for voluntary carbon credits in India in the years to come. The annual demand for voluntary carbon credit in India is expected to touch 500+ million units by 2030.

Within the carbon credit market, the voluntary credits have relatively more importance amongst others for multiple reasons including the fact that voluntary credits enable direct private financing for mitigation projects enabling them to takeoff and scale faster. These projects in turn enable the rehabilitation of the planet through biodiversity restoration, nature protection and pollution prevention, that helps build a safer environment for improved quality of life and also boosts the economy with job creation and income generation.

5. India Inc will increasingly adopt climate action measures: Currently most companies working on climate change have been majorly voluntary in nature and has been a result of either stakeholder or ESG pressure or a purely voluntary step to reduce their carbon footprint / emission in a bid to contribute to larger climate action goals. Indian companies are pursuing these goals currently through either one of three modes - carbon neutrality, Renewable (RE 100) and Science Based Targets (SBT). With the development of a well- structured market, India Inc companies will be increasingly sensitized on climate change and will adopt greater strategies to reduce their emissions, contribution to the larger country goals.

6. Phasing down coal: An incentivized mechanism for the greater

adoption of renewable energy alternatives will enable India to make greater progress for a massive transformation of its energy systems, especially with the new ETA (by US) mechanism been mobilized to provide financial supports to emerging economies like India, through Voluntary carbon market, which is futuristic and also enables strong compliances for achieving global climate change goals. While coal may continue to be mainstay in India’s power sector, and expected to contribute 50% of the power supply (in energy terms) even during the mid of the century, the country will now be able to aggressively stride to a future that ensures an increasingly efficient use of coal for the reduction of GHG emissions. These reforms will together enable India to not only maintain its rapid expansion of renewable energy to provide clean, low-cost power to its people but would also significantly contribute to the

world offset targets that can help achieve the aggressive target of capping global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius.

rEcoMMEndAtions for A roBust nAtionAL Ets

Govt. can implement some important measures to establish a transparent and vibrant carbon market, which will help provide indexing facility that can be leveraged for green / carbon finance instruments, facilitating India’s carbon neutral growth path and help in attaining its NDC goal.

1. Respective line ministries, which may include MOEFCC, MoP, MoF, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, et al, to effectively form the national policy for formation of National carbon market, making it effective beyond energy production and usages sectors, e.g. forestry, agriculture, animal husbandry etc.

2. Regulation to be brought in on urgent basis to formulate the rules for operation of such carbon market. The market should be effectively sink with National Carbon Registry

3. Effective level playing field to support private sector participation in origination of carbon emission reductions (projects) and country endorsement to participate in International Voluntary Carbon trading, bringing the requisite FDIs in India

4. In recent future, with the advent of operational modalities under Article 6 Supervisory Body of UNFCCC and it’s administered International Carbon Registry, the Indian National Carbon Registry should effectively be linked on real-time basis with International Carbon Registry [Centralized Accounting and Reporting Platform (CARP) of UNFCCC] 

Year

2023,

A crucial Milestone in India’s Energy Transition Journey

ith an oil price shock threatening to derail economies globally, the focus has shifted to renewable energy with over USD 25 billion or Rs 2 lakh crore investment planned in India for using sunlight, water and air to produce energy. Oil and gas prices shooting through the roof in 2022 in the aftermath of Russia’s war in Ukraine sent governments in import-dependent nations like India scrambling for options.

Not just imports but a shift to renewables is also seen as a way to cut carbon footprint and meet net-zero targets. And so the government in 2022 aggressively pushed for the adoption of elec-

Wtric vehicles, the production of green hydrogen, manufacturing of solar equipment and energy storage in pursuit of its ambitious 500 GW renewable capacity target by 2030.

India would have to add at least 25GW of renewable energy capacity per annum for eight years continuously to achieve the 500 GW target by 2030.

At present, India has around 173GW of non-fossil fuel based clean energy capacity which includes about 62GW of solar, 42GW of wind energy, 10GW of biomass power, about five GW of small hydro, 47 GW of large hydro and seven GW of nuclear power capacity.

Union power and new & renew-

able energy minister R K Singh stated that the investment in the renewable energy sector could be around USD 25 billion in 2023.

Elaborating further he said, “We have to achieve a 500 GW target (of clean energy by 2030). Currently, we have a capacity of 173 GW (including large hydro and nuclear power). Capacity under construction is around 80 GW. It takes it to 250 GW. So we have to do another 200 GW by 2030.” He explained further that India needs to add about 25 GW of renewable energy capacity per annum for the next eight years, which would require an investment of Rs 1,25,000 crore or USD 15 billion to 16 billion factoring in Rs 5 crore requirement per MW of capacity addition.

Singh further said: “We are also doing (solar) manufacturing, which will also attract investment. Currently, a capacity worth Rs 8,780 crore is under construction. It includes polysilicon and module. We are bringing the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme worth Rs 19,500 crore, under which around 40GW capacity will be developed. We are also doing offshore wind of 4GW, which will also fetch billions of dollars.” The government is also focussing on green hydrogen with its National Mission on Green Hydrogen. The bids are expected for the manufacturing of electrolysers next year. That would also bring investment in the clean energy sector.

In a separate communication, Solar Power Developer Association (SPDA) has suggested, “Green ammonia and green hydrogen production should be included under infrastructure sector definition, then, investment in these sectors also can be made through FVCI (Foreign Venture Capital Investor) route. This will give more flexibility to foreign investors and attract investment.” In 2022, the government provided an additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme ‘National Programme on High-Efficiency Solar PV Modules’. The bids are already issued this year and would be allocated in 2023.

In 2021, the government introduced the PLI with an outlay of Rs 4,500 crore to support and promote the manufacturing of highefficiency solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.

These include the upstage vertical components like cells, wafers, ingots and polysilicon. The initiative is expected to reduce import dependence in the solar PV sector.

Gyanesh Chaudhary, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Vikram Solar said, “Investment in India’s renewable energy sector grew more than 125 per cent YoY (Year on Year) to touch a record

USD 14.5 billion in FY22. India has already crossed 11 GW capacity installation in the first 9 months of the year (2022-23).” He listed some of the challenges including continued solar import (80-90 per cent still imported, worth USD 3.2 billion in FY22) and expensive raw materials (50 per cent price rise in domestic panels).

He stated that the hike in shipping costs adds to module and overall project cost.

Besides, Indian rupee falling against USD will lead to exchange rate variations between bidding and finalisation of projects, he added.

He also pointed toward the lack of flexible financing solutions and lack of tax exemptions and subsidy availability for R&D (in renewable energy) “Although the challenges are there, the growth story presents a compelling argument for domestic manufacturers like Vikram Solar to focus on innovation and capacity expansion,” he added.

The government is also focussing on harnessing the potential of setting up large hydropower projects in the country. Large hydro has already been given renewable energy status like small hydro which has a capacity of up to 25MW.

Earlier this month, the government waived off ISTS (Inter-State Transmission System) or wheeling charges on the transmission of electricity generated from new hydro power projects for 18 years from the date of commissioning.

Hydro power projects, being clean, green and sustainable will be of paramount importance in India’s clean energy transition journey. They are also essential for the integration of solar and wind power, which are intermittent in nature.

In acknowledgment of the inherent qualities of hydro power, the government of India declared hydro power projects as a renew-

able source of power in March 2019. However, waiver of interstate transmission charges provided to solar and wind projects had not been extended to hydro power projects.

In order to remove this discrepancy and to provide a level-playing field to hydro projects, the government has now decided to extend the waiver of ISTS charges on the transmission of power from new hydropower projects, for which construction work is awarded and PPA (power purchase agreement) is signed on or before June 30, 2025.

The government has also planned an investment of over USD 30 billion or Rs 2.44 lakh crore for creating a robust transmission system commensurate with its target of achieving 500 GW of clean energy by 2030.

A high-level committee prepared a detailed plan titled ‘Transmission System for Integration of over 500 GW RE Capacity by 2030’ in consultation with states and other stakeholders.

The plan is a major step towards achieving the goal of integrating 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based capacity by 2030 by providing a broad plan of the required transmission system for having 537 GW of Renewable Energy capacity by 2030.

The planned additional transmission systems required for having 500 GW of non-fossil fuel include 8,120 ckm (circuit kilometer) of high voltage direct current transmission corridors (+800 kV and +350 kV), 25,960 ckm of 765 kV ac lines, 15,758 ckm of 400 kV lines and 1,052 ckm of 220 kV cable at an estimated cost of Rs 2.44 lakh crore 

Announcing India Smart Utility Week 2023

India is spearheading an ambitious mission on energy transition and is the only major economies that exceeded the targets under the Paris Agreement by end of 2020. India has now set a new target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030; and working on innovative policies and programs for holistic transformation to decarbonize the energy, transport, manufacturing and other sectors.

Since inception in 2011, India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) has been spearheading the movement towards digitalization of utilities in India. Highly disruptive black swan events like Covid-19 presented never before opportunities for innovation and transformation with profound implications in the long term. In the aftermath of Covid-19, digital platforms have become the coveted assets for utilities in their business continuity and resiliency. Government of India has launched a new program that mandates smart meters for all the 250 million+ electricity customers in the country. This is going to create data driven smart utilities which will open up new business opportunities for organizations providing tools and services to host and manage the humungous amounts of data utilities are expected to generate in the near future. Utilities in India

have embarked on the digitalization drive and embracing emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Robotics, Blockchain etc.

ISGF has been organising its flagship annual event, India Smart Utility Week (ISUW) since 2015 and it is considered as one of the top five international events on Smart Grids, Electric Mobility and Smart Cities. All the previous editions of ISUW (initially known as India Smart Grid Week – ISGW) were huge success that attracted the attention and participation of the whose-who amongst topnotch thinkers and utility leaders from around the globe. Technology Companies, Regulators, Policy Makers, Government Officials and Senior Officials from Electricity, Water and Gas Utilities from 50+ countries participated every year in the past editions of ISUW. Due to COVID-19, ISUW 2021 and ISUW 2022 were conducted on a 3D virtual platform. ISUW 2021 was attended by over 2700 delegates and addressed by 457 Speakers from 49 Countries. ISUW 2022 was attended by over 2744 delegates and addressed by 396 Speakers from 61 Countries.

9 TH E DITIO n OF In DIA SMART uTIlITy wEEk (ISuw 2023) FROM 28 FEB – 04 MARCH 2023 In nEw DElHI

The 9th edition ISUW 2023 is scheduled from 28 Feb – 04 March 2023 in New Delhi, India as an International Conference and Exhibition on Smart Energy and Smart Mobility. ISUW 2023 will include plenaries, interactive workshops, keynotes, technical sessions, technical paper presentations, tutorials and technical tours. Bi-lateral Smart Grid workshop with EU, USA, Germany and Sweden are also being planned. Seventh edition of ISGF Innovation Awards will be organised as part of ISUW 2023 on 03 March 2023.

For Partnership, Exhibition and Participation queries, please write to us at isuw@isuw.in. For more details ISuw 2023, kindly visit www.isuw.in.

The India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) is a Think-Tank of global repute on Smart Energy, Electric Mobility and Smart Cities. ISGF, established as a Public Private Partnership initiative of Government of India in 2011, is spearheading the mission to accelerate electric grid modernization and energy transition in India. ISGF is registered as a Not for Profit Society under Indian Societies Act and have its registered office at CBIP Building, Malcha Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021 