EQ Magazine May 2016 Edition by EQ Int'l Solar Media Group

Volume # 8 | Issue # 5 | May 2016 |

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CONTENT

VOLUME 8 Issue # 5

Battery Storage linked with Grid Tied Solar Power Will India be the Game Changer

22 Cabinet approves signing The Paris Agreement

Panasonic, AES to install energy storage project in Haryana

Total Corporate Funding In Solar Sector Drops To $2.8 Billion In Q1 2016, Reports Mercom Capital Group Solar power & the growth of solar inverters in India

The data and information presented in this magazine is provided for informational purpose only.neither EQ INTERNATINAL ,Its affiliates,Information providers nor content providers shall have any liability for investment decisions based up on or the results obtained from the information provided. Nothing contained in this magazine should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sale any securities. The facts and opinions stated in this magazine do not constitute an offer on the part of EQ International for the sale or purchase of any securities, nor any such offer intended or implied Restriction on use The material in this magazine is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. You may not modify,copy,reproduce,republish,post,transmit,or distribute any part of the magazine in any way.you may only use material for your personall,Non-Commercial use, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices.If you want to use material for any non-personel,non commercial purpose,you need written permission from EQ International.

Solar energy segment to remain a key driver for RE capacity addition, going forward; Record capacity addition in the RE segment during FY2016 led by wind & solar energy segments: ICRA

Implementation of UDAY in India

Saudi Arabia announces 9.5 GW renewable energy target under new “King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative”

NEXTracker Reaches Significant

Shri Piyush Goyal Releases Report of Technical Committee on Large Scale Integration of Renewable Energy

Milestone – Delivers Cumulative 3 GW of Its Advanced Solar Trackers Worldwide Two Andhra villages to run completely on solar power

DEWA Receives 5 bids for Phase III of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park Unleashing Private Investment In Rooftop Solar In India

ABB India And Welspun Energy Advance India’s Solar Power Ambition

Global Trends In Renewable Nergy Investment 2016

Trina Solar Launches Operations At Thailand Manufacturing Facility And Signs A US$143 Million Syndicated Financing Facilities Agreement

CO NTENT

Cover JA SOLAR, Holdings Co., Ltd. Is a leading global manufacturer of high-performance solar products. Our products are deployed in residential and commercial projects as well as in terrestrial photovoltaic power stations. JA Solar was founded in May 2005 and has been listed on NASDAQ since 2007. Since 2010 JA Solar has become a leading global manufacturer of solar cells. Besides its extensive experience in the global solar industry, JA Solar is taking advantage of its strength in PV-research and development in order to continue optimizing unique technologies in panel construction and cell production. For the benefit of our customers and their projects, JA Solar places great emphasis on the efficient interconnection of the single solar cells in the module as this guarantees outstanding performance and therefore also a high performance class for all modules. Many years of experience in the industry, being aware of research

and development as key to innovation, global customer service, continuity and stability â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all these features make JA Solar a competent and reliable partner for you and your projects. We assist our customers right from the beginning: starting with information and consulting via realizing projects to services and maintenance â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is what a long-lasting partnership is all about and it also forms the basis for a high level of customer satisfaction, which is our aim at JA Solar.

Eq News

OEM VS CM

08-26

62 Why Prefer OEM vs CM

SOLAR ENERGY

SOLAR INVERTERS

40 The solar industry waiting for a bright morning

Secrets of the Reliability of Smart PV Power Plant Solutions - approaching GCTC

PRODUCTS 76-81

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SOLAR INVERTER

Frost & Sullivan Recognizes TMEIC For Its Global Leadership In The Solar Inverters Market Based on its recent analysis of the solar inverter market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes TMEIC with the 2015 Global Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Award for revolutionizing photovoltaic (PV) utility-scale solar inverter solutions in terms of market reliability, efficiency and productivity.

he company’s visionary innovation, performance and customer impact have made it the market leader. TMEIC has a comprehensive and industry-leading portfolio of PV inverters. In 2015, it launched the largest capacity PV inverters on the market for outdoor applications. The Solar Ware2300 and Solar Ware2500 with rated capacities of 2.3 and 2.5 megawatts (MW), respectively, have a maximum voltage of 1,500 volts (V) on the direct current (DC) side. In January 2016, the company released a 1MW model for the China, Japan and India markets. Coupled with the already commercialized 1.667MW model for the US market and the 0.75MW model for the Japan market, these new products have significantly elevated the company’s leadership position.

The company’s excellence in analyzing emerging trends and developing actionable insights impact both its growth and that of the solar PV ecosystem value chain. For instance, TMEIC’s larger-capacity products give it first-mover advantage as the voltage of the DC circuit connecting solar panels in series slowly shift from 1,000V to 1,500V in North America and Europe, and from 600V to 1,000V in Japan. In fact, TMEIC’s dedication to identifying market gaps and developing solutions to meet the evolving needs of the end user means that its products are both ground breaking and ahead of its time. By leveraging its technology and innovation excellence, TMEIC continues to outpace competition. The highly efficient maximum power point tracker (MPPT) of TMEIC’s PV panels is one of its key strengths. All insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) used in its inverters leverage the 3-level conversion circuit and feature a voltage resistance of 1,200V, which allows MPPT even in the high-voltage range. By employing this unique topology, the company is able to deliver solutions that maximize power generation volume, while achieving robust efficiencies & compact sizes. TMEIC is the first company to incorporate a fan-less cooling technology in its PV inverters. Its advanced hybrid cooling system leverages natural air cooling to allow the inverter to run without a fan up to 50 percent load. TMEIC’s inverters are also equipped to handle salt erosion, which makes it ideal for deployment in oceanic regions, especially in remote islands. Impressively, these inverters can maintain maximum active power generation during the cloud-edge phenomenon that traditionally damages or shuts down inverter functioning. Further, TMEIC provides advanced control options through its main site controller (MSC). The ability to stop and restart operations and control the output and power factor remotely stabilizes the entire system by maintaining demand/ supply balance. 10

May 2016

“TMEIC’s high-quality, costeffective PV inverters deliver what is promised during the product’s life cycle: maximum overall power generation volume and minimum power generation costs. The value it offers customers is evident from the upsurge in orders, especially from repeat customers. During 2015, TMEIC’s regional sales in the US and India grew by an astounding 689 percent and 492 percent, respectively.” - Gautham Gnanajothi , Senior Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan

“The company has an excellent global production/supply strategy, where the basic product design is developed in Japan, while the final specifications are determined by the design division of each regional plant, “Exporting key devices such as IGBTs from its main factory in Japan helps TMEIC maintain the highest product quality while manufacturing costcompetitively in plants outside Japan.” Mr. Gautham added . For its excellence in the global market through its visionary innovations that provide the highest price/ performance value to clients, TMEIC is the worthy recipient of Frost & Sullivan’s 2015 Company of the Year Award in the solar inverter market. Each year, this award is presented to the company that has demonstrated excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration. Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for outstanding achievement in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research.

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SOLAR INVERTER

Huawei and SMA Lead GTM Research’s 2015 Global PV Inverter Rankings Huawei and SMA were the leading global vendors of solar photovoltaic inverters in 2015, according to preliminary findings from GTM Research’s upcoming report, The Global PV Inverter and MLPE Landscape.

he SMA relinquished its position atop the invertershipment rankings for the first time, despite increasing its global shipments by 44 percent. However, SMA strengthened its leadership position in the United States and held onto its strong position at the top of the global rankings when measured by revenue.The rapid rise of Huawei to its position as a global market leader can be attributed to its strong growth in the Chinese market. Overall, the market is becoming increasingly consolidated. The top 10 inverter vendors accounted for 75 percent of global shipments in 2015, up from 69 percent in 2014 and the highest since 2010 when the market was highly concentrated in continental Europe. The rankings reflect the makeup of the global market; the top nine positions on the list consist entirely of companies with strong utility offerings in major solar markets.

That does not mean there’s a lack of opportunity in the market, however. SolarEdge rose 10 spots in the global shipment rankings due to strong demand in the United States and Europe for its differentiated DC optimizer and inverter system. General Electric similarly rose 10 spots to No. 12 in the 2015 shipment rankings due to stout growth in shipments of its 1,500-volt inverters. GE was the first to introduce and deploy a 1,500volt product.

May 2016

“Huawei has upended the notion that string inverters would be used in place of central inverters in small (and progressively larger) utility projects. The company has committed to a portfolio made up solely of string inverters, employing the devices in some of the largest solar power plants in the world,”

- Mr. Scott Moskowitz, Analyst , GTM Research

The market is more balanced when viewed by revenue, with the top 10 vendors accounting for 62 percent of the overall market and including residential and commercial inverter players SolarEdge, Enphase, Omron, Tabuchi and Fronius.“No matter how you view the numbers, the market is growing increasingly concentrated among leading suppliers in major markets. These same vendors are taking advantaging of global supply chains and additionally supplying growth markets in Latin America, South Asia and the Middle East,”

According to GTM Research, nine inverter vendors have now announced 1,500-volt solutions.Full preliminary findings will be provided on an ongoing basis to participating data contributors and GTM Research subscribers. The full report will be released in the second quarter and will contain detailed product trends, company profiles and analysis, regional market shares, market pricing and forecasts, and global projections for the inverter market over the next five years.

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SOLAR INVERTER

Sungrow Received Running Certificates From IBC Solar India For Two Projects Sungrow, one of world’s leading PV inverter manufacturers, announces the receipt of running certificates from IBC Solar India for two projects. The first is a 5.5 megawatts string inverter project, whilst the second is a 11.68 megawatts central containersolution project.

he 5.5 megawatts string inverter project, is located in Bhadla, District of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. It utilizes Sungrow’s string inverter ground space system. The environment benefits that will be generated from this solar system are significant. In addition to above, these plants will help in reduction of transmission losses in the system. The 11.68 megawatts project, located in Pokhran, Rajasthan, India, uses the SG1000TS central inverter ground space system. Palimarwar Solar Project Private Limited, part of the LNB Group, is the owner of this project, and was focused on having a plug and play solution. Sungrow was able to provide the SG1000TS system within this cooperation.

LNB Renewables which mainly develops solar farms and invests in wind energy assets.

“The Indian market is increasingly important to Sungrow, particularly as there are supportive policies from the Indian government; Having opened an office in India last year, we are very committed to this country and look forward to long term success here. We were persuaded to try this system and have found it to be an excellent product. Sungrow’s string inverter ground space system is the best we have used and the offer is very competitive. Another major attraction for us was the fact that Sungrow is a global brand.” - Professor Cao Renxian, CEO of Sungrow

“With the power generation of 6500 kilowatt-hour per day per inverter, the return on investment of this project is higher than we expected. Since the completion of construction in April.2015, it has kept running stably from the first day of operation.” - Mr.Rohan Jhawar,

CEO of LNB Renewables

Huawei And Sunseap Seeking Strategic Cooperation

he two companies signed the agreement last Friday in Bangkok, Thailand, to establish a strategic cooperation between one another for the Southeast Asia market. Thailand was a fitting location for the signing, as it is one of the countries in the region that is becoming a hotspot for the solar industry. As part of the agreement, Huawei will supply at least 300 MW of inverters to Sunseap over the next three years for its projects in Southeast Asia. It also outlined a possible role for Huawei’s FusionSolar Smart PV solution, which has been developed by Huawei as part of its inverter and information communication technology (ICT) to achieve higher yields, smart operation and maintenance (O&M), and safer management of the PV plant. A Huawei insider disclosed to pv magazine that the thriving PV market in Southeast Asia is becoming a very important market for Huawei. He added that the company will inject more of its resources into the Southeast Asian market to support its future business in the region.

Sunseap has not revealed how many PV projects the company is in the process of acquiring in the region, or where they will be located, however, it does have an aggressive expansion plan that includes projects in Thailand, Philippines and Singapore. The company said during the signing ceremony that it believes the cooperation will be a win-win for Sunseap, for Huawei, and for the customers of both companies. Sunseap was founded in Singapore in 2011, and has shown an impressive growth trajectory, now the largest provider of clean energy in the country. Its business is focused on blending the latest PV technology, products and services with the company’s own expertise to provide its customers with affordable clean energy. Huawei, China’s largest ICT enterprise entered the PV inverter market in 2011 and has since become one of the most important inverter manufacturers. In recently released research reports by GTM, Huawei ranked number one for inverter shipments in 2015. Source: PV MAGAZINE

Leading Chinese inverter manufacturer and O&M system supplier Huawei signed an agreement with Singapore’s largest clean energy provider Sunseap to embark on a strategic cooperation for the Southeast Asian market.

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May 2016

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SOLAR INVERTER

REFU Elektronik Strengthens Its PV Business With Refusol Brand

REFU Elektronik GmbH has resumed world-wide production, sale and development of its string inverters with multiple award-winning UltraEta® technology, under its own brand name, REFUsol.

“REFU Elektronik has increased investment in development for its PV string inverter business segment, and restructured its sales world-wide, to enable it to create a global presence in the growth market for photovoltaics, for which the REFUsol products are designed”

the PRETTL company group, explaining the REFUsol product line’s positioning in REFU Elektronik’s brands portfolio. The company already focusses its efforts on sustainable energy and mobility solutions, and hybridisation, through its REFUenergy and REFUdrive divisions.

- Mr.Norbert Frings

Divisional head PRETTL

REFUsol Product Range: The current REFUsol product range includes string inverters in the performance classes 8 to 46 kW. The performance-optimised 23K and 46K MV variants, for feed-in with an enhanced AC-voltage of 460 V, continue to be available. “Alongside producing our existing solutions, we will also drive forward the development of new products, to ensure we remain true to REFU’s innovative outlook”, added Frings. “In

May 2016

future, some Production and Logistics functions will still be performed in cooperation by different parts of the PRETTL company group, as before.” Alongside the tried and tested REFUsol solar inverters, other products for mobile and stationary hybridisation, and for decentral, sustainable energy supply and storage, are available under the REFUenergy and REFUdrive brand names.

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ROOFTOP OffGRID

Major Highlights : Two Andhra villages to run completely on solar power In a first of its kind of green development initiative, two Andhra villages – Toorputallu and Pedhamyanavanilanka – will be electrified completely on solar power from this year.

2 MW solar power plant will be developed by a private entity and the power generated by the plant will be bought by Andhra Pradesh discom APEPDCL. As per the proposal, the district administration has earmarked the required land and APEPDCL has consented to buy power from the developer. The solar plant will be completed by August 2016. The plant would also generate substantial income for the village – 60 paise per unit.The SAGY was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is an ambitious village development project under which each Member of Parliament will take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in three villages by 2019.

”Pedhamyanavanilanka & Toorputallu (Andhra). Serving PM Shri @narendra modis call for use of solar power,”

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hese opted t e d a s a h er th She ges und two villa adarsh Gram A Sansad GY). A S ( a Yojn

“These will be the first two villages in the country to be run 100 per cent on solar power.” - Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister

May 2016

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CSR

Panasonic Has Now Donated More Than 50,000 Solar Lanterns Under Its “100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project” Panasonic Corporation’s “100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project” has passed its halfway mark with the cumulative number of solar lanterns donated exceeding 50,000 on March 10, 2016. This project began in February 2013 with a donation of 3,000 units to Myanmar, followed by donations to other areas in Asia and Africa without access to electricity.

he number of solar lanterns donated was 10,000 for 3 countries in FY2013, 14,114 for 10 countries in FY2014 and 20,364 for 11 countries in FY2015. And in FY2016, Panasonic continued to donate solar lanterns, and on March 10, 2016, 702 units were donated to Yen Bai province in Vietnam. With this, the sum total of solar lanterns donated exceeded 50,000. After this, in midMarch 2016, Panasonic donated 2,400 units to Cambodia and 760 units to Bangladesh. Furthermore, donations to Indonesia, India, and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be made by the end of March 2016, bringing the sum total to more than 60,000 units. The “100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project” is one of Panasonic’s corporate citizenship activities (social contribution activities) that utilize “products” it manufactures. More than 1.2 billion people* worldwide still live without access to electricity. Lack of electric lighting severely impacts health, education, income-generation and safety at night-

May 2016

time. Panasonic hopes to help alleviate the social challenges people in developing and emerging countries living off-grid are facing, and to bring positive change to their lives by donating small lighting devices powered by solar energy. Panasonic has also donated solar lanterns to give relief to communities stricken by large-scale natural disasters or by epidemics.

Panasonic aims to donate 100,000 solar lanterns under this project by 2018, the 100th anniversary of the company’s founding. In principle, recipients are non-profit, non-governmental, humanitarian and international organizations. So far, 80 organizations in 16 countries have received these solar lanterns.Reports from these organizations have indicated that these solar lanterns have been put to effective use for various activities including children’s studies, literacy education for adults, safer child delivery and medical treatment, and income-generation, and have helped improve the quality of life of people living in rural, off-grid areas. Panasonic will further accelerate its efforts under the 100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project so that it may successfully donate 100,000 units by 2018, its 100th anniversary, and strengthen efforts to contribute to the achievement of “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” adopted by world leaders at the United Nations in September 2015.

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CSR

Waaree Solar Module to power innovative Electric Solar Vehicle developed by Engineering students In its constant endeavour to support young engineering minds having passion and innovation, Waaree Energies Ltd. has sponsored the making of Electric Solar Vehicle by the VJTI RACING – the collegiate club of VJTI College, Mumbai. The club has been constantly participating in events involving manufacturing of ATV’s and formulatype cars.

he main idea was to make a vehicle that is feasible to manufacture on an industrial scale and also economically viable for all sections of society, a technology that provides an efficient way of transportation using renewable source of energy. The car uses seamless pipe chassis which makes it easier to manufacture. It has a compact design and provides high manoeuvrability & short turning radius. The car is driven by 2KW BLDC motor along with well-engineered power transmission which helps in achieving high speeds with low consumption of power. The area and positioning of solar

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panels is chosen with utmost optimization so that all energy requirements are met. The car uses Li-ion batteries by virtue of their less charging time, increased output and at the same time reducing the overall weight. Apart from the above mentioned features, safety of the car is also given paramount importance. The car is equipped with dual braking system which are fool proof and reduces probability of failures. It also consists of an over-travel switch to reduce damage due to panic braking. A major innovation is the distress caller for driver safety. Other innovations include regenerative circuits to maximize power usage.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Jignesh Rathod – SBU head at Waaree Energies Ltd. commented that ‘the car design is pioneering in the field of technology, optimization & sustainability. We hope our small contribution for this venture turns out to be fruitful & the vehicle attains the outreach it is destined to reach’.

May 2016

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SOLAR PV MANUFACTURING

Trina Solar Launches Operations At Thailand Manufacturing Facility And Signs A US$143 Million Syndicated Financing Facilities Agreement Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) (“Trina Solar” or the “Company”), a global leader in photovoltaic (“PV”) modules, solutions, and services, today announced the official launch of operations at its new manufacturing facility in Thailand. The Company also announced that it has signed a financing facilities agreement for an aggregate amount of approximately US$143 million with a consortium of banks led by The Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited (SCB), one of the top three domestic banks in Thailand.

he manufacturing facility, located in Rayong, Thailand, has entered production using Trina Solar’s “Honey” state of the art high-efficiency assembly line method. Annualized production capacity for modules at the facility is 500 MW, and could be further ramped up to over 600 MW depending on overseas market demand. Annualized production capacity for cells is 700 MW. So far, the facility has achieved every milestone on schedule, from groundbreaking to production to serving the Company’s overseas markets, which is expected to occur by the end of March. To finance the capital expenditure of the new production facility, Trina Solar has signed a syndicated loan agreement for a total of US$100 million with SCB and China Minsheng Banking Corporation Ltd. (CMBC), maturing in June 2020. In addition, according to the agreement, the Company has been granted a line of credit by SCB for THB 1.53 billion (approximately US$43 million), which will be used for working capital.

”We are pleased to announce the official launch of our new facility in Thailand as scheduled. The investment in Thailand fits our strategy of prudent capacity expansion in select overseas markets to deliver industry leading products to customers in the US and Europe in particular as we strive to increase the profitability of the company, The US$143 million in financing agreement in support of our Thai operations is a great vote of confidence from both SCB and CMBC in our brand and our overseas expansion strategy. We look forward to cooperating further with these two first tier banks in our other strategic initiatives. This and other major Trina Solar’s projects in the pan-Asia region also align the Company with the Chinese government’s key strategic initiative, ‘One Belt, One Road,’ connecting Asian economies for their mutual benefit. We are also pleased to help further advance the development of clean energy in more countries around the world.” - Mr. Jifan Gao, Chairman and CEO Trina Solar

May 2016

The US$100 million syndicated loan that CMBC and SCB extended to Trina Solar marks a starting point for the cooperation between the two banks and the world’s number one solar module manufacturer. The project not only shows our readiness to provide strong financial support for Chinese enterprises as they ‘go out’ and invest overseas, but it should also raise the confidence of overseas financial institutions in terms of the investment potential of Chinese companies.

“We are fully committed to supporting inbound investment from China and we are honored to work with the world’s number one solar module manufacturer, Trina Solar, with its important investment in Thailand. This is our first solar financing project and we partnered with Trina Solar because of its solid growth history, vast growth potential, strong financial position, and highly professional team. We believe that the effort will not only help boost Thailand’s economy and create job opportunities, but will also align well with the Thai government’s policy and our bank’s strategy of promoting clean energy. We look forward to more cooperation with Trina Solar in the future.” -Mr. Arthid Nanthawithaya, CEO & Dp. Chairman SCB,

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SOLAR PV MANUFACTURING

RenewSys To Increase Solar Module Production Capacity To 280 MW Enpee Group’s RenewSys India Pvt Ltd is increasing its photovoltaic modules production capacity significantly to meet the rapidly developing demand from its OEM customers within and outside India.

enewSys has ordered matrix cell assembly system and JT Series module lamination technologies from Meyer Burger, Switzerland adding 100 MW to RenewSys’ existing capacity. The automated module line, equipped to handle 3, 4 and 5 busbar cells will be up and running by Q3 this year. It is being installed at the 50 acre Hyderabad factory RenewSys purchased in 2015 from the lenders of Solar Semiconductors. The Hyderabad fab also houses cell making, whose expansion before the year end with an European 100 MW poly crystalline cell line had been announced earlier. The company plans to ramp up solar module production capacity to 280 MW by ordering a second 100 MW line from Meyer Burger before the end of the year.

RenewSys is India’s only integrated manufacturer of EVA encapsulants, backsheets, solar cells and modules. The direct sales by RenewSys is supplemented by the Group’s offices in Nigeria, South Africa, UAE and the UK and representatives in various countries including Europe, Far East & the USA.

Branch Connector

Cable Connector

Elcom International Pvt. Ltd. is a reputed manufacturer of Electro-Mechnical & Electronics components in India since 1981. We are India’s ﬁrst Indigenous manufacturer of Solar PV connectors and trusted for high quality products.

Module Junction Box

Salient features of Elcom Solar Products are: • TUV approved as per EN 50521-2008 standard • Degree of protection IP-68 • Lower contact resistance ≤0.35 mΩ • Pure grade copper terminals with silver plating • Engineering plastic, UV compliance and ﬂame resistant • In-house test lab, wire harness process approved for UL/ULZPFW2

Wired Branch Connector

ELCOM INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD. HQ : 20 Prabhadevi Ind. Estate, 408 Veer Savarkar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400 025, India. Factory : Plot no E 4, 5 star MIDC Kagal Hatkanangale, Kolhapur, 416216 Maharashtra, India

For More Details Contact: Tel: +91 22 66114444 Email : elcom.mail@elcom-in.com Website: www.elcom-in.com

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Connected more than 750 MW in India and counting!

May 2016

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INDIA

ABB India And Welspun Energy Advance India’s Solar Power Ambition ABB in India and Welspun Energy, have together installed about 700 MW of solar photovoltaic projects across several states in India like Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This includes a key project of 52 MW for Maharashtra State Generation Company at Baramati, which was the first ever PPP (public-private partnership) project in the industry, in the country.

he order intake came to € 96.3 million overall in the year under review (previous year: € 60.6 million), which was above the previous year’s level once again. In particular orders in the Solar segment at the beginning of the business year 2015 led to a rise in a year-over-year comparison. The order backlog as of December 31, 2015 remained at € 26.6 million (previous year: € 14.0 million). The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to € -34.5 million (previous year: € -49.1 million). Excluding the write-offs and restructuring charges an EBIT in the amount of € -18.2 million (previous year: € -27.8 million) was realized. The financial result was negative at € -8.8 million (previous year: € -2.6 million). The net result in the business year 2015 amounted to € -43.4 million (previous year: € -51.6 million). Excluding the write-off and restructuring charges an adjusted net result in the amount of € -27.1 million (previous year: € -30.3 million) was realized. The write-off and restructuring charges mainly include the revaluation of the business activities in the Optical Disc segment (€ 9.2 million). In this connection, in particular expenses reflected the adjustments of inventories. Furthermore, legal and advisory expenses in connection with the restructuring of the bond as well as expenses in connection with the extraordinary write-offs of capitalized development expenses were incurred.

ABB pioneered manufacturing of solar inverters in India and has quickly become the market leader in an industry that is poised for immense growth in the short term. Photovoltaic generated power steadily approaching grid parity in many countries and will change the energy mix in the long term. ABB central inverters range from 100 kW to 2,000 kW and are optimized for cost-efficient multi-megawatt power plants. They improve reliability, efficiency and are easy to install. Barring photovoltaic cells, ABB solutions span the entire energy value chain – be it generation, conversion, stabilization and integration. ABB has also introduced the latest 1500 VDC technology for solar inverters which helps to reduce overall CAPEX and OPEX for solar PV installations.

“By setting up large scale solar capacities across the country we are supporting India’s developmental needs through clean energy. This is essential if we want to power our industries sustainably and meet our renewable energy targets. We chose ABB as a bankable partner owing to its leadership in inverter technology, strong local presence and a robust service network which has helped us to synchronize our plants in a very short time, whilst meeting our robust quality standards, ABB offers quality, reliability, efficiency and a well entrenched network, all of which are critical to minimizing the long-term risks of solar installations.”

- Mr. Vineet Mittal, Vice Chairman Welspun Renewables “We look forward to a continuing collaboration with forward looking customers such as Welspun Energy, who are the pioneers in the clean energy space in the country. We are privileged to be associated with this key customer,” India and solar power are core focus areas in ABB’s globa next level strategy. Our expertise and attention to developing local engineering competence positions us well to partner India through Welspun Energy in its growth ambitions. We look forward to contributing to initiatives such as Make in India, power to all and 100 GW of solar power by 2022.”

- Mr. Sanjeev Sharma, M.D. ABB India

May 2016

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INDIA

USAID and ADB Sign MOU to Develop Solar Parks The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate $848 million (Rs. 5,681 crore) in funding to develop solar parks across India. The agreement was signed by Jonathan Addleton, Mission Director, USAID/India and M. Teresa Kho, Country Director, India Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank.

hrough the agreement, USAID will align the technical resources of two of its programs to support ADB’s investments in the development of solar parks and renewable energy transmission infrastructure in states at the forefront of India’s efforts to promote clean energy. The collaboration will initially focus on the state of Rajasthan.The cooperation will design and develop public-private partnership models as well as study options for managing grid reliability. In particular, USAID technical activities will help place investments of $348 million (Rs. 2,331 crore) by ADB for transmission infrastructure for renewable energy deployment in western Rajasthan. USAID will also work with ADB across India with an additional $500 million (Rs. 3,350 crore) of investment in the design and development of solar parks.

The Government of India’s target for renewable energy is 175 Gigawatts of installed capacity by 2022. In support of this, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched a solar parks scheme to attract investment from project developers by reducing risks, streamlining the permitting process, bringing down cost through economies of scale, and modernizing infrastructure to allow easier integration of renewable energy into the grid. MNRE plans to establish 25 solar parks with a combined capacity of 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2020. This agreement between USAID and ADB will help finance the development of solar parks in support of the Government of India’s renewable energy targets.

W4-350 SNEC,shanghai, 24-26TH,MAY,2016 www.EQMagPro.com

May 2016

Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co.,Ltd. www.jolywood.cn

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INDIA

BHEL Bags EPC Order For 50 MW Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant

Against stiff domestic competitive bidding, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has bagged a prestigious order for setting up a 50 MW Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) Power Plant on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis. Valued at Rs.282 Crore,

the order for setting up the Solar Power Plant at Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, has been placed on BHEL by NTPC Limited. The project is scheduled for completion in twelve months. Earlier in the year, BHEL had bagged another EPC order from NTPC under domestic competitive bidding for setting up a 50 MW Solar Power Plant at Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, which is currently under execution. BHEL manufactures solar cells and modules at its Electronics Division unit in Bengaluru, while space-grade solar panels using high efficiency cells and space-grade Battery panels are manufactured at its Electronic Systems Division, also in Bengaluru. BHEL is one of the few companies whose solar business is backed by a dedicated R&D team at the company’s Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell Plant (ASSCP) in Gurgaon. BHEL offers EPC solutions for both off-grid and grid-interactive solar PV power plants and has set up Solar Plants in various locations in India totaling to about 200 MW including the Lakshadweep Islands for island electrification.

Cost Of Solar Energy Is Less Than That Of Conventional Energy ; Makes A Strong Plea For Adopting Solar In Rural Areas Shri Piyush Goyal Minister of State (IC) for Power ,Coal and New & Renewable Energy has said that energy is important part of our ecosystem and the setting up of a multilateral Agency of International Solar Alliance is a demonstration of our concern for issues of climate change. peaking at a lecture organized by Mahratta Chamber of Commerce and the Pune International Centre he On the ambitious program of replacing 770 million said US obstruction and pressures would not be acincandescent bulbs by LED bulbs, the Minister ceptable to India. The traditional ethos of conservasaid till date more than 9 crore bulbs had been tion makes India a natural country to lead the world replaced and the company EESL(Energy Efficiency efforts in the area of climate change. Criticizing the Services Ltd) is doing a phenomenal job replacing US claims on clean energy , Shri Goyal said US has 7 lakh bulbs per day. contributed zilch towards it. Arguing that India’s Solar This will result in a saving of 100 billion units energy generation program as one of the largest in every year and the consumer bills would the world, he said the world has tremendous potencome down cumulatively by Rs 40,000 crore tial to save energy. Shri Goyal said he convinced the and the Co2 emission will be down by 60 milsolar energy producers not to press for anti-dumping lion tons/year. measures as that would have done more damage and the country would have been able to target any of its targets in the field of solar generation. Making India produces hardly 2.5 percent of greenhouse a strong plea to industries for adopting solar in rural gases but despite that the US is doing little to and urban areas in Pune, Shri Goyal said that the mitigate effects of climate change. He said we are cost of solar is cheaper than conventional energy taking steps not because of pressure from them based on fossil fuels and the tariff remains same for but because of our consciousness in recognizing 25 years and its based on natural resources over the value of the universe. which no external agency has control.

May 2016

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FEATURED

Cabinet approves signing The Paris Agreement

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi recently gave its approval for signing the Paris Agreement adopted at the 21st Conference of Parties held in Paris in December 2015.

inister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar, will sign the agreement on behalf of India on 22 April 2016 at the high level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon. a) The Paris Agreement acknowledges the development imperatives of developing countries. The Agreement recognizes the developing countries’ right to development and their efforts to harmonize development with environment, while protecting the interests of the most vulnerable.

May 2016

b) The Paris Agreement recognizes the importance of sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption with developed countries taking the lead, and notes the importance of ‘climate justice’ in its preamble.

The Paris Agreement on climate change is a milestone in global climate cooperation. It is meant to enhance the implementation of the Convention and recognizes the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances. The salient features of the Paris Agreement are as follows:

c) The Agreement seeks to enhance the ‘implementation of the Convention’ whilst reflecting the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances.

d) The objective of the Agreement further ensures that it is not mitigation-centric and includes other important elements such as adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology, capacity building and transparency of action and support.

e) Pre-2020 actions are also part of the decisions. The developed country parties are urged to scale up their level of financial support with a complete road map to achieve the goal of jointly providing US $ 100 billion by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation by significantly increasing adaptation finance from current levels and to further provide appropriate technology and capacity building support.

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FEATURED “Our decision to initiate a court-supervised restructuring was a difficult but important step to address our immediate liquidity issues, The court process will allow us to right-size our balance sheet and reduce our debt, providing the opportunity to support the business going forward while focusing on our core strengths. It also will facilitate our continued work towards transforming the Company into a more streamlined and efficient operator, shedding non-core assets as well as taking other steps to help us get the most value out of our technological and intellectual property. As a result of this process, we expect that SunEdison will be in an even better position over the long term to utilize our capabilities in the renewable energy sector in service of our customers, business partners, and employees.”

SunEdison Undertakes Chapter 11 Reorganization SunEdison, Inc. recently announced that it has commenced a process to restructure its balance sheet and position the Company for the future. To facilitate this restructuring, SunEdison and certain of its domestic and international subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. SunEdison’s publicly-traded yieldcos, TerraForm Power (NASDAQ: TERP) and TerraForm Global (NASDAQ: GLBL), are not part of the filing.

unEdison has secured commitments for new capital totaling up to $300 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from a consortium of first and second lien lenders. Subject to Court approval, these financial resources will be made available to the Company to support its continuing business operations, minimize disruption to its worldwide projects and partnerships, and make necessary operational changes. The new financing will support day-to-day operations during the

- Mr. Ahmad Chatila, CEO SunEdison

unEdison has made customary filings, including first day motions, with the Court, which, if granted, will help ensure a smooth transition into chapter 11 without business disruption. The motions are expected to be addressed by the Court promptly following the filing, and include, among other things, a request for approval of the debtor-in-possession financing, as well as requests for authority to make wage and salary payments, continue various benefits for employees, honor certain customer programs, and other relief in order to continue the day-to-day operations of SunEdison. Additional information on the restructuring can be found at www.restructuringupdates.com or by calling the Company’s toll-free restructuring information line at (855) 388-4575 (or, if you are calling from outside the U.S. or Canada, at +1 (646) 795-6966). Information about the claims process will also be available at https://cases.primeclerk. com/sunedison. SunEdison has hired Rothschild Inc. and McKinsey Recovery & Transformation Services U.S., LLC as advisors in connection with the Company’s restructuring. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is acting as its legal advisor.

reorganization, including:

Proceeding with work on ongoing projects, both in the U.S. and elsewhere; Paying wages and benefits for employees; Continuing to provide services to customers; Paying vendors and suppliers in the ordinary course for goods and services provided on or after the date of the chapter 11 filing; and Complying with all regulatory obligations.

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May 2016

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FEATURED

Major Highlights :

Shri Piyush Goyal’s Engagements in New York.

Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy is currently visiting U.S.A. (from 20 to 22April) to participate in the launch of programmes under International Solar Alliance today at the United Nations, New York.

he Minister is accompanied by an official delegation which included Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy and Joint Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. On 21st April, the Minister met with Mr. Stephen Schwarzian, Chairman, CEO & CoFounder, Blackstone Group over lunch and discussed investment opportunities in India and the transparent policy regime that the Government under Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has ushered in. Shri Goyal also held meet ings with Mr. Jack Kutner, CEO Big Belly, Mr. Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance, Office of the Governor of New York, Mr. Saurabh Agarwal of Warburg Pincus and Mr. Alfred Griffin, President of the New York Green Bank. The Minister also addressed a meeting of large number of American investors and developers in the field of Renewable Energy which was jointly organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and USIndia Business Council (USIBC) in the evening. Earlier the Minister had held interactions with print and electronic media at the Consulate General of India, New York. In his forward looking discussions with the business dignitaries, Shri Goyal highlighted the achievements of the Government and said the Government is committed to implement 26

May 2016

the promises made by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He briefed about various steps undertaken by the Government to improve energy access, rapid scale up of renewable energy, enhancing grid reliability, integration of renewable in the grid and the massive opportunity presented by the untapped demand in the Indian market. The Minister outlined the steps being taken to improve the contractual/counter-party risk framework which is critical to all investors and about initiatives such as greening the grid, National Solar Mission, LED programme for enhancing energy efficiency. Speaking on Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY), the Minister stressed upon the steps being taken to bring a drastic change in India’s power sector that can take India to double digit growth trajectory in the economy. He also mentioned that India already has surplus power and demand stimulation through UDAY coupled with the growth in the Indian economy will quadruple electricity consumption by 2030. Shri Goyal also stressed that the Government is taking necessary actions to sustain the current economic growth of India and continue with major initiatives that are taken by the Government to make it more business friendly. He also expressed hope that given the prediction of good monsoon this year, the country may see double digit growth by end of 2016-17 financial year itself. He also highlighted the need of India to have low cost, long tenor finance for his ambitious renewable energy scale of and requested the investors to look at India as an option for investment. He urged investors to take advantage of three Ds – democracy, demography and demand – which India provided.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES ENERGY STORAGE

& ” This association further establishes our commitment and capabilities to providing smart energy storage solutions. Set to transform the energy storage landscape, Panasonic India looks forward to this association, which will help offer grid stability and improved ancillary services.” Mr. Manish Sharma, President & CEO and Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic, AES to install energy

storage project in Haryana

Panasonic along with US-based sustainable energy provider AES would install a joint project of 10 MW energy storage array at Jhajjar, Haryana. Both the firms have entered into an agreement to set up a battery-based energy storage project at Panasonics Techno park manufacturing facility at Jhajjar, said a joint statement by Panasonic India and AES India.

his is Indias first large-scale battery-based energy storage project, it added.The joint project would provide reliability and back-up to the manufacturing facility, while demonstrating grid stability and renewable integration services in the region. This is the first commercial energy storage project with AES and the companies are working on a roadmap to expand the scope of the partnership to meet the growing needs of the global market,” the statement said.

AES Corporation is a Fortune 200 global power company and provides affordable, sustainable energy to

COUNTRIES

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“We are excited to bring Advancion, the most proven energy storage system available globally, to India. AES operates 116 MW of energy storage projects around the globe and this project would signify its entry into commercial and industrial energy storage market.Panasonic will be supplying Advancion Certified batteries for this initial project.” - Mr. Marty Crotty, President of AES Strategic Business Unit in Asia,

May 2016

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INDIA

Fortum Wins Bid For 100 MW Solar Power Park In A Reverse Auction In Karnataka, India, With A Fixed Tariff For 25 Years

Fortum has won bid in the reverse auction process conducted by NTPC on 12th April 2016 for the selection of 500 megawatt (MW) grid connected solar PV projects under Batch II Tranche I of JNNSM phase II. Fortum secured 100 MW in this bid. The solar power plant will be built in Pavagada Solar Park in Tumkur District Karnataka in India with a fixed tariff of 4.79 INR/kWh for 25 years. “We are excited to become a successful bidder in the reverse auction process. Solar has always been a focus area for Fortum in India. The country provides a good platform for Fortum to further develop its business in solar also elsewhere. Fortum seeks to allocate of its planned growth capital in the range of EUR 200 – 400 million in solar projects in India” - Mr. Sanjay Aggarwal, M.D. Fortum India

Fortum currently has 15 megawatts of solar capacity in India. In January 2016, Fortum won a reverse auction for a 70 MW project with a fixed tariff for 25 years.

Fortum To Invest Up To 400 MN Euros In India’s Solar Projects Finnish utility firm Fortum today said it will invest 200-400 million euros in solar power projects India. India offers “one of the best solar resources and a sound government support for the development of solar sector. The country provides a good platform for Fortum to further develop its business in solar also elsewhere,” the company said in a statement. The government plans to jack up solar power generation capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2022, up from 5.25 GW’s currently.

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ndia gets more than 300 days of sunshine a year across the seventh-largest land area in the world. Fortum has 15 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity in India. In January this year, it won a reverse auction for a 70 MW project with a fixed tariff for 25 years. In addition, Fortum today “decided to bid for additional 100 MWs in India, with a fixed tariff

May 2016

for 25 years,” the statement said. “Some large-scale greenfield development will be targeted to enable economies of scale.” In addition, the company will consider seeking “possible partnerships or other forms of cooperation, which would on long-term create a more asset-light structure.” “Fortum seeks to allocate of its planned growth capital in the range of 200-400 million euros in solar projects in India,” the statement said. Companies win solar projects if they offer to supply electricity at the lowest tariff in competitive auctions. The last auction in January saw rates reach an historic low of Rs 4.34 per kilowatt-hour (or unit). Besides Fortum, other foreign firms investing in solar power projects in India include SunEdison Inc of US, Canada’s SkyPower Ltd, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and a local unit of France’s Solairedirect SA. Projects in India are to be selected from various central, state and public sectors undertaking (PSU) schemes, which would guarantee a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA), taking into account Fortum’s Group financial targets. The company said its solar strategy targets a wider geographic scope than its current business portfolio. “With technologies rapidly maturing, utility competences are becoming increasingly important in solar business, and expansion in solar fits very well Fortum’s vision to be the forerunner in clean energy. Overall, Fortum is targeting a gigawatt-scale wind and solar portfolio,” the statement added.

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Research & analysis

Total Corporate Funding In Solar Sector Drops To $2.8 Billion In Q1 2016, Reports Mercom Capital Group Mercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector in the first quarter of 2016.

otal corporate funding, including venture capital funding, public market and debt financing, into the solar sector in Q1 2016 dropped to $2.8 billion compared to $6.9 billion in Q4 2015, a decline of about 59 percent quarter-overquarter (QoQ). Year-over-year, total corporate funding was down compared to $6.4 billion in 64 deals in Q1 2015.

“It’s a tough environment out there, Solar public companies in general have had a difficult time raising capital at depressed market valuations. Yieldcos, which accounted for significant financial activity in the debt and public markets last year, have faded this quarter. On the bright side, VC funding held up well, securitization deal activity picked up and residential/commercial funds raised a billion dollars in Q1.” -RAJ PRABHU , CEO, Mercom Capital Group

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Global VC funding for the solar sector came in at $406 million in 23 deals compared to $457 million raised in 17 deals in Q4 2015. Year-overyear, VC funding was up compared to Q1 2015 when $195 million went into 27 deals.

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Most of the funding in the first quarter of this year went to solar downstream companies with $333 million in eight deals. The $300 million raise by Sunnova Energy accounted for most of the total.

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The next largest deal was TenKsolar with a $25 million raise. PosiGen raised $20 million and Mercatus brought in $11.7 million. Completing the Top 5 was NexWafe (a spinoff of Fraunhofer) which raised $6.7 million. A total of 20 VC investors participated in Q1 2016.

»»

Public market financing activity fell of the cliff in the first quarter this year with only $94 million raised in four deals compared to $605 million in eight deals last quarter and $1.3 billion in 10 deals in Q1 2015. There were no IPOs this quarter, compared to three in Q4 2015.

May 2016

Research & analysis

nnounced debt financing also fell sharply this quarter with just over $2.3 billion in 19 deals. By comparison, in Q4 2015 $5.8 billion was raised in 27 deals and Q1 2015 $4.9 billion was raised in 25 deals.Securitization deals continued to gain momentum, with $387 million in three deals in the first quarter of 2016 alone. Securitization deals in solar have now surpassed $1 billion globally.The Top 5 large-scale project funding deals included the $250 million secured by ReNew Power Ventures for 400 MW of new solar projects across India. Recurrent Energy raised $180 million for the 75 MW Astoria 2 solar power project located in Kern County, California. Samsung Renewable Energy and Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure secured $136 million for their 50 MW Southgate solar project located in Ontario, Canada. The Marguerite Fund brought in $120 million to fund its 36 MW Toul project in Lorraine, France. Rounding out the Top 5, SunPower secured a $115.5 million loan for its 54 MW Rosamond I solar project located in Kern County, California.

May 2016

unding continued to pour into residential and commercial solar funds for lease/PPAs, with $1 billion in six deals announced in Q1 2016 compared to the $650 million in three deals in Q4 2015. Since 2009, approximately $18 billion has gone into residential and commercial funds.There were 14 solar M&A transactions this quarter compared to 13 transactions in Q4 2015. Nine of the M&A transactions in Q1 2016 involved solar downstream companies. Project acquisition activity held steady this quarter with 50 transactions; about 2.4 GW of solar projects were acquired this quarter. In comparison, there were 52 transactions in Q4 2015, with roughly 3.3 GW of solar projects acquired, and 44 transactions totaling 2 GW in Q1 2015. Project acquisitions by yieldcos dropped to 234 MW in Q1 compared to 483 MW last quarter. This quarter’s largest project acquisition by dollar amount was the $227 million acquisition of the 132 MW Alamo 7 solar project in Texas by ConEdison Development, from OCI (a Korean chemical company). Bluefield Solar Income Fund acquired a portfolio of six solar PV projects totaling 104.5 MW for $189 million from Primrose Solar Management. Kong Sun Holdings made six project acquisitions this quarter. The largest of these was the $136 million acquisition of Dingbian Ang’Li Photovoltaic Technology for its 100 MW solar project located in Shaanxi Province, China. Masdar acquired Shams-1, a 100 MW solar thermal project in Abu Dhabi, from Abengoa for $110 million. BCPG Company (a subsidiary of Bangchak Petroleum) acquired SunEdison’s portfolio of Japanese solar assets totaling 198 MW for $81 million.

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Research & analysis

Led By China, The United States And Japan, Global Solar Installations To Reach Approximately 66.7 Gw, Reports Mercom Capital Group

ercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, forecasts global solar installations to reach 66.7 GW with China, the United States, Japan and India to make up the top four solar markets this year.“Solar installations are forecasted to grow year-over-year globally despite recent headwinds in the sector with solar stocks, yieldcos, bankruptcies and the negative perception surrounding solar public companies. Solar has grown from just 2.6 GW in 2007 to a forecasted 66.7 GW in 2016 showing impressive resiliency along the way as it becomes one of the fastest growing new generation sources around the world,” commented Raj Prabhu, CEO and Co-Founder of Mercom Capital Group. China installed 15.1 GW of solar in 2015, retaining its top spot as the largest solar installer in the world. Mercom forecasts China to install 18.5 GW in 2016. The additional 5.3 GW installation

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quota combined with the expected rush to meet FiT deadlines in the first half of the year should help China exceed 2015 installation numbers. China’s Q1 2016 installation figures of 7.14 GW confirm that it is off to a fast start. China recently reduced the FiT by up to 11 percent based on regions. To address the subsidy payment issues and raise additional revenue, the renewable energy surcharge has been increased by 27 percent, and an on-grid power tariff for commercial and industrial customers has been reduced to tackle shortages in the renewable energy fund. To address curtailment issues, the government has proposed a policy of guaranteed purchase of renewable power which it plans to implement gradually. The unexpected extension of the U.S. Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in December last year has completely changed the dynamics of the U.S. solar market. Mercom forecasts a conservative 13.5 GW

of solar installations in 2016 as vendors are indicating a slower first quarter – at least in terms of new projects – as developers are taking their time to line up suppliers and negotiate contracts. This of course may change in the second half of the year.Japan is expected to install around 10.5 GW of solar this year. Its current solar installation goal is 28 GW by 2020. Japan cut the feed-in tariff in March of 2016 by 11 percent. While the country started off with an overly generous FiT in 2012 of ¥42 (~$0.387)/kWh, it is now down to ¥24 (~$0.221)/kWh. Japan continues to struggle with grid connection, curtailment issues, and an undeveloped pipeline. Of the approved pipeline, only about 15 percent has been installed. Japan is also looking to implement solar auctions in order to cut subsidy costs. India is expected to install over 4 GW in 2016 which will bring it to the fourth spot globally. India currently has a pipeline of over 21 GW under development and in pending auctions as the country targets its installation goal of 100 GW by 2022. Aggressive bidding in its recent auctions has caused some concerns to the viability of these projects due to unrealistic low bids.Proliferation of solar auctions around the world is an important development over the last 12 months with subsidy costs from solar becoming an issue in many countries. Germany completed three auctions in 2015, the U.K. and Japan are looking at a similar model, France is conducting solar auctions, and China is also contemplating auctions. India and South African solar policies are primarily based on auctions while Brazil and Mexico are also largely auctionbased.

May 2016

Middle east Saudi Arabia announces 9.5 GW renewable energy target under new

“King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative”

BY Dr. moritz borgmann, patner, apricum- - - cleantech advisory

As part of a wide-ranging economic and social policy vision for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, announced the first cornerstones today for the deployment of renewable energy in the country.

May 2016

he “Saudi Arabia Vision 2030” paper states an “initial” target of 9.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy. While no timeline has been set, it is safe to assume that this target applies for 2030 in the most conservative scenario, possibly even before. No specific quotas for solar and wind are mentioned. The policy paper also speaks of localizing manufacturing and R&D in renewable energy.The program will be implemented under the umbrella of a new “King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative”. Legal and regulatory frameworks for the deployment of renewable energy and the involvement of the private sector are to be put in place.This announcement marks the first official statement from the Saudi government on renewable energy after the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE), founded by the late King Abdullah in 2010, famously announced ambitious renewable-energy plans in 2012.

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hese activities cumulated in a detailed whitepaper for the tendering of renewable-energy plants in 2013, which was never followed up on with an actual program. The death of King Abdullah in early 2015 cast further shadows on the organization bearing his name. The new vision paper likely means that K.A.CARE will be finally sidelined as the King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative is rolled out, although the new initiative does not appear dissimilar in spirit to the earlier one. The planned R&D activities would build on existing programs at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), which have been undertaking renewable energy R&D for several years.It is noteworthy that the vision paper does not talk about nuclear energy for the Kingdom at all, contrary to earlier plans to build 17 GW of nuclear reactors.

The paper also hints at encouraging distributed renewable energy deployment encouraged through “the gradual liberalization of the fuels market”. If fuel and electricity subsidies continue to be reduced, there will be a strong case for distributed solar energy in Saudi Arabia. A first step into this direction has already been taken with the steep increase in electricity tariffs at the beginning of 2016.

Further details are scant at this time, and it remains to be seen what specific policy details for renewable energy will be announced and how they will be implemented. Given the broad scope of Vision 2030, the implementation of a renewable energy program will be a formidable challenge as the overall Vision 2030 strategy will certainly preoccupy all levels of Saudi Arabia’s administration for the years to come. In any case, a 9.5 GW target makes Saudi Arabia a sizable market in the renewable energy industry. If the country deploys new power plants at a constant rate through 2030, that implies an average of about 700 MW of new renewable energy capacity per year to be built in Saudi Arabia. Also, Apricum expects a renewed interest in manufacturing of components for renewable energy in Saudi Arabia, if and when a sustained local demand becomes visible. Source: Apricum – The Cleantech Advisory

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May 2016

Middle east

DEWA Receives 5 bids for Phase III of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has received 5 bids from international organisations for the third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The lowest recorded bid at the opening of the envelopes was US 2.99 cents per kilowatt hour. The next step in the bidding process will review the technical and commercial aspects of the bids to select the best one. - HE Saeed Mohammed AlTayer, MD & CEO of DEWA

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May 2016

EWA had released a request for the Expression of Interest (EOI) for the 800MW third phase of the solar park on 8 September 2015 and received 95 EOI responses from international solar organisations between 8-29 September 2015. DEWA requested companies submit their requests for qualification before November 2015. This was followed by a Request for Proposals (RFP) to qualified bidders on 28 December 2015. “DEWA is able to keep up with developments in energy and has demonstrated its flexibility to do so. This is based on its success in implementing the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which has targets to provide 7% of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy sources by 2020. This target will increase to 25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050,” said Al Tayer.

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Middle east

“This strategy includes initiatives such as the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the largest single-site project to generate electricity from solar energy in the world, with a planned capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030, and total investment of USD13.6 billion (AED 50 billion) to save approximately 6.5 million tonnes per annum in emissions.”

“The wide participation in this vital sector reflects the trust and interest of international investors to invest in mega energy projects with Dubai Government. DEWA is leading by example in performance, efficiency, productivity, and excellence, in providing electricity and water services at the highest international levels of reliability and availability,” - Concluded Mr. Mohammed AlTayer

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May 2016

POLiCY & Regulation

Shri Piyush Goyal Releases Report of Technical Committee on Large Scale Integration of Renewable Energy Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy released Report of the Technical Committee on Large Scale Integration of Renewable Energy, Need for Balancing, Deviation Settlement Mechanism (DSM) and associated issues here today. Shri Goyal also launched Ancillary Services Operations in India.

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peaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said that this is going to be a game changing report which will set up unparallel benchmarks in the world. The Minister assured to diligently work on recommendations of the report. Taking about the grid management, he said that now his team will take up ‘one nation, one grid, one price 24X7’ on mission mode. Shri Goyal explained his action plan for international support by informing that India will provide free of cost technical support for strengthening of grid systems of the neighbouring SAARC countries and under developed countries in other part of the world. Shri Pradeep Kumar Pujari, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Shri Upendra Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Shri Devendra Choudhary , Secretary DAPRG , Dr, Pramod Deo, Chairperson, CERC and other senior officials of CERC, POSCO, CEA, PGCIL etc were also present at the event.

India has set an ambitious target of achieving 175 GW of renewable generation capacity. In order to integrate such high penetration of renewable energy and address the concerns of the stakeholders in renewable energy, a high level Technical Committee was constituted with members from Ministry of Power, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), Central Electricity Authority (CEA), renewable rich states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Power Utilities like PGCIL, Power System operation Corporation Ltd. (POSOCO), NTPC, State Generating companies and Private generating companies and Institutions like India Meteorological department (IMD), National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), GIZ, Ernst & Young (E&Y), etc.

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POLiCY & Regulation

he committee had extensive deliberations and has recommended several actions, such as bringing flexibility in the conventional generation, frequency control, generation reserves, ancillary services, forecasting, scheduling, deviation settlement mechanism, balancing requirement, data telemetry and communication, Renewable Energy Management Centres (REMCs), Transmission system augmentation and strengthening as well as certain compliance actions at renewable generation front. The Committee has put forth a 15 point Action Plan for facilitating large scale integration of renewables in the country, in a secure and reliable manner. Some of the actions have been completed with active support of CERC, State Energy Regulatory Commission (SERC), NIWE and other stake holders. Regulatory Framework for Intra-State Settlement and Imbalance Handling has already been implemented in 5 states. For Model Regulations for Regulatory Framework for Forecasting, Scheduling and Imbalance Settlement for Renewable Energy (RE) generators have been published in Nov. 2015 and Draft regulations have already been floated by 6 States. Other States are in the process of formulation. Regulatory Framework for Reserves at inter-state level have been issued in Oct. 2015. Ministry of Power (MOP), MNRE, GIZ, POSOCO and States are working together to prepare the DPR for implementation of Renewable Energy Management Centres (REMCs). DPR for Southern States and Southern Regional Load Despatch Centre (SRLDC) is under finalisation and combined NIT would be floated soon. CEA as Planners would specify Technical Standards and Protection Requirements for Renewables. Focus has also been given on Capacity Building of State Load Despatch Centres (SLDCs) particularly in RE Rich States. Report also talks about the Newer Technologies say Micro-Grids, Demand Response, Prosumers, Electricity Storage, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles etc. Thus all the recommendations aim at making the grid secure and reliable even with large scale integration of renewables. In an electricity grid, the basic services are power generation, energy supply and power delivery from the producer to the consumer. Some system support services such as frequency and voltage control are required for secure & reliable grid operation. These support services are known as ‘Ancillary Services’ and are basically procured and pressed into service by the System Operator. Amendment to the Tariff policy has also been notified, which mandates implementation of Ancillary Services. The Regulatory framework for implementation of Ancillary Services Operations has been notified by CERC. National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) operated by POSOCO has been designated as Nodal agency for implementation of

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Ancillary Services. Ancillary Services is being implemented for the first time in the country and would help in better grid management even with large scale renewable generation addition in the grid. The initiative undertaken by the committee would not only lead to smooth and secure grid operation with large scale integration of renewable but is also environment friendly and would help in fulfilling our commitment to green and clean environment. It would reduce the carbon foot print and help in meeting our commitment towards reduction in carbon emission.

May 2016

Balance of system

NEXTracker Reaches Significant Milestone – Delivers Cumulative 3 GW of Its Advanced Solar Trackers Worldwide NEXTracker, Inc., a Flex company, a leader in photovoltaic systems, announces a significant milestone with cumulative delivery of over three gigawatts (3 GW) of solar trackers to project locations around the world. In addition to a significant presence in the Americas, the Company is serving customers in emerging solar markets including India, China, Australia, & the Middle East. “We’re focused on our mission of helping solar become the largest source of energy, by advancing the power plant of the future. This year marks a turning point for the industry. Solar is now the lowest cost power solution in key markets, and its cost effectiveness, combined with global clean energy priorities, is fueling record demand. Our products were created to deliver the most competitive solar power by minimizing all costs (capital, installation, and operations) – while generating more energy. And our team is comprised of world class industry executives to focus on each customer – to ensure every project meets or exceeds our customers’ goals.”

- Dan Shugar, CEO NEXTracker

X Horizon is a leading solution for distributed generation and utility-scale solar power systems, with over 100 MW per week of current shipments. With independent rows and high slope tolerance, fewer foundations and assembly points, geotechnical risk is minimized while project construction schedules are accelerated. NX Horizon’s self-grounding and self-powered technology provides valuable savings in labor and materials, while its 120-degree rotational range

“3 GW’s of trackers delivered is a tremendous accomplishment. We’re proud to have been one of NEXTracker’s first customers. And we have been impressed by the way they have evolved tracker technology; we’re working together on several new projects. - John Curcio, Chief Commercial Officer at Cupertino Electric, Inc.

May 2016

enables PV systems to take full advantage of high irradiance regions. NX Horizon’s key mechanical and electrical components have generous 40” clearances above the ground, minimizing dirt, flooding, snow, and vegetation concerns. Every NX Horizon row is monitored to ensure solar panels are positioned for maximum energy production. NX Horizon is ETL certified to UL 3703 standards. NX Horizon is available for systems at 600V, 1000V, and 1500V.

We congratulate NEXTracker on its impressive 3 GW installation milestone. Pacific Power fielded a project using NEXTracker’s David Dwelle, pioneering 80 module President row systems, and it’s , Pacific performed flawlessly.” Power

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energy STORAGE

Battery Storage linked with Grid Tied Solar Power

Will India be the

Game Changer BY: A. Nathany, Director, LSI Financial Services

India is eyeing an aggressive renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022. The total installed renewable energy capacity for FY2016-17 as of January 2016 stood at 28GW, almost 22% of the target. Solar capacity addition during this period has crossed a mammoth milestone of 5GW and set to reach 9 GW by end of FY2015-16. As the Government ramps up capacities, the next step to sustain growth in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second largest solar market comes from unexpected quarters.

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orld over battery storage is re-emerging as the trend to push the solar growth story to the next level. When India stepped up solar capacity addition at an unprecedented level, it had neither foreseen nor planned that stepping up power generation from renewable energy, would also enable it to initiate technological advancement in an area that would take the solar industry to the next level in the growth story. India,without doubt is the right candidate for enabling energy storage linked technologies, with its power sector riddled with evacuation problems. Studies by the US Western Electricity Coordinating Council have revealed that finding better ways to store energy could cut total transmission and distribution losses by about 18% and boost the efficiency of electricity use by up to 11%.

May 2016

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energy STORAGE

The Who's Doing What of Solar Battery storage •

•

Gemasolar, the 19.9 MW project with a 140 meter solar tower, the world’s first commercial-scale solar tower and storage facility, in southern Spain, first began producing electricity in May 2011. Gemasolar was the first solar plant in the world to operate non-stop for 24 hours, and in June-July 2012 it set a record of 36 days of providing non-stop power. The 110MW Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant, a CSP project located near Tonopah in the Central Nevada Desert, around 300kms north of Las Vegas, is the largest solar power tower plant with fully integrated energy storage. The US$1 billion project was developed by the Santa Monica-based SolarReserve and features the company’s molten salt power tower technology with fully integrated energy storage.

•

SolarReserveis now targeting its second solar power cum storage venture at Australia. The company now has proposed to build an 110 MW plant – with eight hours storage, to be located at the north of Port August a in South Australia, and had submitted the plan to the State Government’s tender for low-carbon energy. Tesla is using Panasonic’s lithium-ion batteries for its cars and is building a huge US$5billion battery factory in Nevada to meet anticipated demand for cars and the grid energy storage systems. Tesla plans to charge $250 per kilowatt hour for the batteries in the large system it has designed for business and utility customers and $500 per kilowatt hour for a system that includes the electronics and software to operate it. The company expects to lower that system price to

$300 per kilowatt hour when its new battery factory runs at full capacity by 2020. •

Tesla Energy batteries will be used for a SolarCity 12 MW solar farm and energy storage system for Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) in Kaua’i, Hawaii. The Tesla Energy batteries will supply a 52 MWh utility-scale energy storage system in order to help KIUC meet evening peak demand, which typically occurs between 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm.

•

According to a study by IHS Global, as of December 2015, grid-connected systems with batter y back-up accounted for only 9% of the revenue from solar PV plus energy storage. But by 2018, these systems are projected to increase and drive 28% of solar storage revenue.

Figure 1: PV Installations versus PV plus Energy Storage Uptake (MW), 2012-2018 (F)

Source: IHS Global 40

May 2016

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energy STORAGE

ith batteries now cheaper and solar penetration growing, battery storage has shot back into the limelight and Germany, the US, Japan and, leading solar players worldwide are beginning to look at advanced energy storage technologies as the obvious link to sustain growth in the solar sector. Though advanced energy storage technologies are still in infant stages in the Indian market, a leap from infancy to a level on par with more advanced players is purely plausible on account of the vastly developing market potential owing to India’s massive solar leap. An estimate by the India Energy Storage Alliance suggests a potential of 15 to 20 GW by 2020 for the Indian market for energy storage technologies, primarily stemming from renewable energy, telecom towers and grid ancillary services.

The game changing SECI solar tender with a storage clause

India has recently taken that crucial step that could prove a game-changer in the solar arena, and use energy storage technologies to catapult the Indian solar market to the next stage in the growth trajectory. The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has floated its first hybrid tender, in which every bidder will have to include a small storage system alongside its solar plant, adding up to a total of 100 MW installed storage capacity. According to

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Ashvini Kumar, MD of SECI, “Mechanisms for forecasting how much renewable power will be available each day (and informing the grid in advance) are being put in place. Developers will have to work out how much deviation is there and how much it will be reduced by battery storage. You have to go beyond the present stage of technology. This tender may trigger many more similar ones in future.” SECI naturally expects higher prices to be quoted for this type of tender contrary to the recent trend of falling solar bids and the bidders will also be eligible under this scheme for Viability Gap Funding (VGF). Expectations are that consumers too might have to bear higher costs currently. However, in the long run storage costs will decline in a similar manner to how component costs fell in a record breaking manner over 2015. There is an element of skepticism among analysts whether solar companies could directly leverage the value of distributed storage as solar power installers and service providers may not be internally equipped to handle the complexities of storage regulation. However, with international companies, such as Sun Power, invested in battery storage technologies and others such as top executives of companies like Sun Edison on the board of battery manufacturing companies that might bid in such tenders, could help in taking this model to a successful finish. At LSI Financial Services, we believe that transfer of technologies and market competition could act as a leveler and enable grid related energy storage market to achieve newer heights.

May 2016

SOLAR ENRGY

The solar industry waiting for a

bright morning BY: AMAL NAYAK Sales & Marketing Head Sova Solar Limited

The history of harnessing solar energy goes back to the 7th century BC when man had learnt to make fire by concentrating the solar energy through a magnifying glass. But if the world is going crazy only now, about harnessing the most powerful energy source to generate electricity, it should be kept in mind that the discovery of photovoltaic goes back to 1839.

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May 2016

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SOLAR ENRGY

dmund Becquerel, a French scientist who was just 19 years of age at that time had discovered that there is a creation of voltage when a material is exposed to light. Little did he have an idea that his discovery would lay foundation to the harnessing of solar energy in future, which is well the present times. Man, until the time when global warming is soaring high and the environment is dying, never imparted importance to the harnessing of the solar energy for generating power. Evolution of the Homo sapiens has led to the development of technology, the simplest source of energy which could be used, was put to the back of the shelf. The raw power thus was forgotten and man concentrated on the fossil fuels that imprinted the earth with layers of carbon that kept on degrading the nature. As history states, it is only when there is no alternative does man find an alternate method to survive. When the world is standing together to fight the exhausted environmental conditions, India has taken the lead to form an alliance internationally which will fight to look after the adverse effects on the environment and try to make the world a better place to live in environmentally. India having an excellent geographic position, and an average sunlight of 2500 hours of sunlight per year has a virtuous potential in terms of renewable energy production for daily consumption. The renewable energy contributes to less than 13% of India’s power generation capacity and the country still faces major power blocks all over the year. To match the footsteps of the Shri NarendraModi the country’s solar industry has been gearing up to set the energy revolution in motion to suffice the shortage of power, but has been facing a few bottlenecks that is harming the steady growth for fulfilling the 100 GW dream of the country. The push to the solar industry shall be possible by clearing the below mentioned blockages.

TARIFF

everse bidding mechanism adopted by the Government as a means of price discovery is forcing bidders to take ultimate risks to fill pockets with maximum orders, but the risk is triggering degradation of the project as the cost of raw materials do not come down with the lower bids. This will affect the quality, efficiency and bankability of the Solar Cells, Modules and Projects. The low tariffs are surely helping the industry bringing in more players in the market, but in lowering the price of the overall project. On the other hand it will hinder the quality of the projects as the low bid is not ensuring the decrease in cost of raw materials needed to make the project a successful one. There should be a fixed quality benchmark for products used in the solar power projects to stop the entry of cheap quality imports which will ensure the long term sustainability of the power plant.

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The renewable energy contributes to -

13%

of India’s power generation capacity and the country still faces major power blocks all over the year.

May 2016

SOLAR ENRGY

Building up of investor's confidence

nvestments can only be guaranteed when the investors are confident about their investment. The equity IRR has decreased to 12% - 14% from 18% - 20%. The gradual decrease in the tariff will further lower the internal rate of return. Thus controlling the tariff will ensure that more investments pour in that will help the sector in the country to grow. The dropping price is also a mismatch to the capital investment thus a hindrance for new investors to pour in money with assurance of high returns.

Lack of enforcement of Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO)

The RPO is enforced so that a company and the nation as a whole is respects and contributes to the generation of electricity from renewable energy source. The RPO policy, devised under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), targeted to produce 5% green electricity in 2009, 7% in 2012 and 15% by 2020. The state has been trying to enforce RPO with the compulsion of installing Solar as a source of energy that will bring in a positive dash of energy to the sector. The enforcement will guarantee a percentage generation of electricity from solar energy and thus the carbon footprint can be decreased. This will not only benefit the industry but the environment as a whole.

Lack of Single window approvals

t is often seen that the process of approval for any government project takes longer than the actual implementation of the project, the government has to generate single window clearance for land allocation, licencing, certificates and other clearances that are needed for an investor to set up the solar power plant. Often investors bifurcate due to the lengthy process of approval of the projects which is harming the industry in both capacity building in manufacturing & building up the installed capacity of the country that is making the 100 GW dream a castle in the clouds.

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May 2016

Prompt and fast Land allotment, conversion for setting up solar power plant

he availability of land for a large scale or small scale project has been a major problem in the country. It would be best if the land allocation for the solar power projects or any other renewable power projects can be handled with priority and the process is simplified. This will help setting up of more renewable power plants and thus help in reaching the ultimate goal.

Lack of policies

olicies are an important factor for setting up and growth of an industry. So is the case for the solar industry, at this point of time the industry has less or no policies that can help in the steady growth of the industry. In some cases even if policies are in place there is no force that will help in the implementation of these policies. The policies are thus the strings that will bind the solar story of the country.

No incentives provided for solar power projects

he initial cost of setting up of a power plant is usually very high, although it gives a good return in future, the height of expenditure at the beginning are barring many investors from investing in the solar power plants. With a high cost of capital and high cost of raw materials the industry seeks incentives from the government so that it can function properly and bring down the overall cost of installing a solar power plant.

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SOLAR ENRGY

Boost to manufacturing for capacity building

he country surely needs to boost the capacity building initiative so that the domestic market can make raw materials available for solar power plants and help in bringing down the total cost of investment in the solar power plants. Less availability of raw materials force the EPC contractors to import the materials and thus increase in capital investment.

Recently, India imposed local content requirements for solar cells and solar modules, and also struck down incentive policies such as subsidies provided for domestic solar companies to manufacture cells and solar modules. This measure has brought trouble for the industry as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has said that India has violated the global trade rules by imposing the local content requirement as it is barring free trade in the country by limiting the percentage of use of other products in a particular power plant, although a positive approach to boost the domestic manufacturers in the solar industry, it could bring trouble for the country very soon.

lthough it has been seen that the global emissions of greenhouse gasses have fell despite the growth of economy in 2015, India still needs to deal with smaller problems to make the big dream come true. Some of the smaller humps in the road include granting priority access for interconnection with the grid for solar energy, Ease of access to project financing for solar energy projects, Widespread scaling up of both decentralized and centralized solar energy production, Mandating rapid use of small scale solar photovoltaic systems, solar lighting systems and commercial solar power plants in order to drive down cost and encourage domestic solar manufacturing, Introduction of better feed in tariff combined with incentive such as emission trading, REC Mechanism. Creating an innovative legal structure for taxation, and bringing together both public and private support is also an integral part in shaping up of the solar success story of India.

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May 2016

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SOLAR INVERTERS

T Solar power and the growth of solar inverters in India India’s power requirement is expected to grow by more than 5% over the next decade, while supply is projected to fall short by 3.6%. Conventional energy sources are not sufficient to match the ever increasing demand of growing population of the country. Rate of domestic coal production has been comparatively low forcing government to import expensive coal adding to pressure. Also there are severe environment and sustainability challenges due to emissions.

By: Anurag Garg Vice President, Solar Business Schneider Electric India

May 2016

he immediate need of the hour is to look for alternate means of energy which is clean, eco friendly, cost effective and sustainable. In the wake of such a situation, solar power has emerged as the one stop solution to all these challenges. With abundant sunshine across the country throughout the year, India is considered ideal for generation of solar energy. According to government reports, solar installations in the country are set to register near 100 per cent year-on-year growth from 1500 MW installed in 2015 to 4-5 Gigawatt (GW) capacity this year. Solar sector has witnessed an unprecedented growth in the last two years owing to government’s decision to boost solar power generation in the country. The central government has pledged to set up renewable capacity of 175 GW over the next seven years. Since conventional sources are not sufficient to accomplish the needs and have their own challenges, focus is shifting to renewable, particularly solar.

India’s solar market could be worth billions of dollars over the next decade. In line with the Centre’s aim to boost renewable energy generation, India is likely to see its solar power capacity go up by 4-5 GW in 201617, with a target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 according to a report by Mercom Capital Group.

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SOLAR INVERTERS

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE SECTOR

he situation today is very different from the one that existed two decades back. Solar energy makers and marketers have cost effective and durable technology which has made a big difference. The clean energy cess levied in the budget is an opportunity as it will make coal energy costlier and give a push to clean energy. Currently India receives annual sunshine of 2600 to 3200 hours which is almost twice as much as that of European countries, yet renewable energy accounts for just 13% or 35,000 MW of the installed capacity of 272,000 MW. This shows that this is still an untapped avenue which needs to be exploited.

According to a report by Bridge to India, globally, about 55 GW of solar capacity is expected to be added in 2015, with Asian countries likely to continue dominating the market. India is being touted to become the fifth largest market for solar energy by 2017. BENEFITS OF SOLAR ENERGY

olar energy is non polluting, clean and renewable form of energy. It does not require any fuel thus cutting cost of transportation and storage of radioactive waste. Solar cells are long lasting and require very little maintenance. Apart from initial investment, there are no recurring costs. Solar energy can prove to be very beneficial for rural electrification where there is no proper infrastructure for electricity supply. Even the installation is simple and doesn’t require huge setup, power sources, wires and cords. Solar power technology is improving consistently from time to time and as our non-renewable sources decline, it’s important for the whole world to move towards renewable sources of energy. With advantages come some challenges too. Cost and financing are the key hurdles in the way of realizing the 100 GW solar target. Potential problems with transmission and land acquisition would also act as hurdles in the way of achieving the mammoth target. Despite the announcement of the UDAY Scheme, the financial health of distribution companies which are not able to afford solar power remains a key concern for the sector. However technological advancements and government push have kept the enthusiasm going and is likely to plug these gaps.

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GROWING DEMAND OF SOLAR INVERTERS

According to a report titled “Global Inverter Systems Market for Renewable Energy 2014-2018”, the Global Inverter Systems market for Renewable Energy is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.9 percent over the period 2013-2018. The report suggests that increasing solar energy consumption is a major contributor towards this growth trend. The prospects for solar power inverter market in the country are bullish given that there is an acute power shortage and with the sudden increase in demand, dealers are unable to meet requirements. The Indian PV market has been growing and with the National Solar Mission and increasing number of players eyeing the market, the solar inverter market shows immense promise. Even the state government bodies are coming forward to install solar inverters on a large scale. New production facilities have emerged to provide faster support. Generation cost for solar is high and by using reliable inverters, developers can reduce the down-time for any failure. Solar inverters are energy efficient as they provide continuous power supply and reduce emissions of hazardous gases. The market for inverters for solar installation is quite upbeat following the government’s decision to boost solar power generation in the country. Policy action has been supported by corporate backing. With the technology being upgraded over time, solar power inverters have become smarter and offer a number of features which make them more efficient.

The Indian PV market has been growing and with the National Solar Mission and increasing number of players eyeing the market, the solar inverter market shows immense promise.

May 2016

SOLAR INVERTERS

GOVERNMENT PROVIDING MAJOR PUSH TO THE SECTOR

overnment is coming up with a lot of initiatives to boost the solar sector. The union government has set a target of 100 GW of solar generation capacity by 2022 to help meet the country’s power demand and overcome the acute energy deficit. A sum of Rs 5,000 crore was sanctioned for 30% capital subsidy on rooftop installations. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has allocated Rs 5036 crore for the renewable energy sector in Budget 2016. There has been a steady decline in solar power prices due to cheaper solar panel costs and lower financing cost. NABARD is providing 40 per cent subsidy for purchasing solar inverters in Andhra Pradesh.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) has mandate for subsidy for solar lighting and solar PV systems of smaller capacity. The commercial banks are open to provide loans for the 50 per cent of the amount while the rest will be paid by the consumer. The smart city initiatives being undertaken by the government will also bring along significant development in the solar sector. As far as Solar inverters are concerned, rapid advancement in technology and financial backing by the government especially “Make in India” Programme has resulted in new entrants in the segment. With continuous cost pressure due to reducing Tariff’s of Solar, everyone is looking towards inverters manufacturers who can offer advanced technologies and robust design for maximum output with special focus on efficiency, reliability and sustainability. Moreover, increasing awareness, lower cost and more players entering the domain is a positive.

May 2016

ROLE AND OFFERINGS OF SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC INDIA

chneider Electric offers complete solution for photovoltaic integration and connection including power conversion (inverters, transformers and switchgear), electrical distribution, monitoring, supervision and technical support. Schneider Electric provides complete solution from the panel DC output to the grid connection. Schneider Electric India offers complete Solar Solutions for Solar Power Plants, Solar Energy Storage, Commercial and Residential Solar Roof Top, Solar Micro Grids, Solar Off Grid and backup power solutions.

here are wide range of Solar Solutions and products ranging from Electrical Balance of Plant Solar Solution for Large Power Plants, PV Boxes (Plug N Play Solution), Solar Central Inverters, Transformers, HT Switchyards, String Inverters, Hybrid Inverters, Charge Controllers, Smart Monitoring, Life-Cycle Services. Schneider Electric has various products like Conext CL and Conext XW+ in solar inverter range. These address a wide range of customer needs and are the ideal solution for residential buildings, commercial hubs and PV power plants.

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SOLAR ENRGY

A Heated Footstep

By: EQ INTERNATIONAL

The sun is one of the only stars in the solar system that can provide the energy that can suffice the energy requirements for a planet to inhabit life in it. No matter how bright a star may claim to be, it can never equal the Sun that has helped in nourishing the earth for centuries.

eeping in mind the yin-yang, every dark side has something positive in it and all the positive side has darkness in it. Considering the increasing heat in the country, and the life that it is taking, one should look at the brighter side and consider harnessing the solar energy for the benefit of humanity rather than just suffering from the heat it is producing. Also looking at the brighter side of the increase heat, we can claim that more the heat better will be the production of power through Solar Photovoltaic Modules. Sova Solar has always tried to think out of the box with a larger view of community service rather than just profit making. The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) inaugurated its new green building at Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar where a 25kW solar power plant will be powering the building, which is connected to the grid. The programme was graced by CM Naveen Patnaik and Shree Pranab Prakash Das. The Plant is equipped to fully suffice the power requirements of the building, the

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Power Plant by Sova Solar is expected to produce a maximum of 125 kWh on a good sunny day and the excess power produced will be pushed to the grid that that will help in easing out the power demand of the state and vies versa on a bad sunny day. Sova has successfully completed the project and is proud to have joined hands with OERC. Producing more greener energies and decreasing the carbon footprint of India from the world in a broader aspect is the ultimate goal of the company, We will look forward to a greener earth and make sure that the solar mission and dream of the Shree Narendra Modi is brought to reality, so that India can be a greener country in the near future. In near future we are planning to spend more on R&D and bring in innovative solutions for the general population that will not pinch their pocket too hard. The ultimate goal that is community service will always be the first priority and the company will thus keep on serving the nation.

May 2016

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POLiCY & Regulation

IMPLEMENTATION OF

UDAY in India

BY: Bhargava Sharma, Investment Banking, PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited

Ministry of Power (MoP) recently approved a debt restructuringscheme in Nov 2015, named as the UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) which is the government’s attempt at finding a permanent solution to the issues affecting Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs)

Purpose of UDAY Scheme

75% The Scheme intends to achieve this through a multipronged strategy. The key action point is the takeover of 75% of debt from discoms’ books to state government books in order to take care of stressin discom cash flows and their financial health.

May 2016

he Ministry of Power (MoP) is certain that the scheme will make the majority of discoms profitable by FY 1718 (three or four by FY19). Also, annual savings nearly INR 1.8 trillion will be achieved through interest rate reduction, which will be done via debt restructuring, demand side management measures, aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) loss reduction, and other efficiency improvement efforts.

1 BACKGROUND

Under UDAY, four major initiatives have been outlined to address the financial situation of the discoms. These comprise the following:

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POLiCY & Regulation

2 Key Highlights The following is an outline of the main highlights of the scheme with respect to the debt take over mechanism, the re-structuring of residual debt and interest rates reduction. • State will take over 75% of their respective discom’s debt as it stands on Sep 30, 2015. The underlying principle for this is that thediscom debt is the de facto borrowing of the state, which is not counted in dejure borrowings • As per the scheme, 50% of the debt will be taken over in 2015-16 and 25% in 2016-17. • The discom debt takeover will be undertaken in a graded manner with priority being given to the debt that is already due, followed by the debt with highest interest rate • The principal component of the debt to be taken over by the states will not be counted as part of Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) limit of the respective states in this fiscal and the next • For repaying the 75% debt to lenders, the states will issue NonStatutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) bonds with a maturity of 10-15 years and a moratorium on the principal of up to five years • These bonds will be issued in the market or directly to the respective banks/financial institutions holding the discom debt. The bonds will be issued at 50 basis points above the G-sec coupon rate. • The residual 25% discom debt that is not taken over will be converted by the banks or financial institutions into loans or bonds with interest rates that will be more thanthe base rate plus 0.5 % • Alternatively for the residual debt, discoms would be allowed to issue state –guaranteed discom bonds at prevailing market rates, which will be equal to or less than the bank base rate plus 0.1 per cent.

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3 Future loss financing trajectory

critical element of UDAY is that states will take over the future losses of discoms in a graded manner. Thus, starting from 2017-18, the loss that a discom may incur will be considered for the state’s fiscal deficit FRBM targets. In 2017-18, 5% if the previous losses would be taken over; in 201819, 10%; in 2019-20, 25%; and by 2020-21, 50 % will have to be taken into the state’s FRBM fiscal deficits targets. This essentially implies that unlike previous bailout schemes, this time, the states will be responsible for any discom losses. This puts the onus on them to ensure sustainable solutions. Previous year’s discom losses to be taken over by states

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

0% of the loss in 2014-15

0% of the loss in 2015-16

5% of the loss in 2016-17

10% of the loss in 2017-18

25% of the loss in 2018-19

50% of the loss in 2019-20

4 Benefits to states

he scheme is optional for states, but to incentivize them to participate, the central government has linked it with various central government funding programmes. States that implement UDAY will be incentivized through additional/priority funding through government programmes like Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and integrated Power Development scheme (IPDS). On the other hand, those that do not meet operational milestones will be liable to forfeiture of their claim on IPDS and DDUGJY grants. Participating states will also be supported with additional coal supplies at notified prices from coal

India Limited (CIL) and have access to lowcost power from NTPC and other central sector generators. RPO Compliance: Participating state discoms will comply with the renewable purchase obligations (RPO) that have been outstanding since April 2012 within a period to be decided consultation with MoP. The states which have agreed to join UDAY scheme are Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra. Rest of the states are in discussion with MoP

5 Tripartite Agreement

tripartite agreement between the power ministry, state governments and discoms will be signed as part of the bailout plan. The agreements will clearly identify the responsibilities of each party and the details of specific operational activities to be undertaken in a state. There will also be circle-level targets of loss reduction with responsibilities, resources and timelines.

6 Status on UDAY

ntil now, 18 states and one union territory have given an in-principle agreement to join UDAY and 10 have already signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Notable absentees from the scheme are Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal.

May 2016

POLiCY & Regulation

he Reserve Bank of India has so far issued bonds on behalf of eight state governments worth almost INR 1 trillion (USD 15 billion) (refer below table) reducing banking sector exposure to the power sector by an equivalent amount. S.N States

Bonds Issued (INR Crs)

Uttar Pradesh

24,332.47

Rajasthan

37,349.77

Chhattisgarh 870.12

Punjab

9,859.72

Jammu & Kashmir

2,140.00

Bihar

1,554.52

Jharkhand

5,553.37

Haryana

17,300.00

TOTAL

98,959.96

7 Analysis

s per analysis from MoP, a significant relief of INR 880 billion will be available to discoms per year by 2018-19 which means a loss reduction by INR 0.95 per unit across the country. This could help the discoms break-even over the next three-four years.

ssuming all the states accept this scheme, 75% of amount will move over to state governments’ books in two years, FY 16 & FY 17. The balance 25% will be restructured by banks, with a guarantee being given by the state. Future losses will have to be progressively taken on by the state, which is a disciplinary action for not pursuing reforms. States now become

responsible for the actions or rather inaction of their Discoms. Hence, Discoms have to necessarily become efficient and cut down on their transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and revise tariffs.

o summarize, GoI has considered UDAY asa very prestigious project undertaken to address a growing problem which has so far not been an NPA but could be any day, given that not much is being done to address the core issue of efficiency and professionalism of state discoms. However, the success of the scheme is highly dependent on the acceptance of UDAY by states and its effective implementation.

alue of bonds placed by Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh alone is equivalent to 18% of the overall power sector debt in the country. These bonds have been readily subscribed by investors such as Employees’ Provident Fund, Kotak Mutual Fund, Reliance Mutual Fund, UTI MF and the Life Insurance Corporation of India because of marginally higher yields.

y shifting debt from DISCOMs to the state governments, the government has not only achieved improved financial profile of the DISCOMs but has also improved future debt funding prospects for the sector because of reduction in banking sector exposure.

he reform process has started on a positive note and it seems that the Ministry of Power is constantly supervising the progress which is a very big positive for the sector. Industry experts believe that the power sector will give a tremendous boost for attracting private investments in the sector.

May 2016

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GLOBAL TRENDS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENT 2016 BY: BLOOMBERG

Renewable energy set new records in 2015 for dollar investment, the amount of new capacity added and the relative importance of developing countries in that growth. All this happened in a year in which prices of fossil fuel commodities – oil, coal and gas – plummeted, causing distress to many companies involved in the hydrocarbon sector. So far, the drivers of investment in renewables, including climate change policies and improving costcompetitiveness, have been more than sufficient to enable renewables to keep growing their share of world electricity generation at the expense of carbon-emitting sources.

ast year saw global investment in renewables rise 5% to $285.9 billion, taking it above the previous record of $278.5 billion reached in 2011 at the peak of the ‘green stimulus’ programmes and the German and Italian rooftop solar booms. Figure 1 shows that the 2015 total was more than six times the figure set in 2004, and that investment in renewables has been running at more than $200 billion per year for six years now.

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Over the 12 years shown on the chart, the total amount committed has reached-

$2.3

TRILLION EQ

May 2016

Research & analysis

ore impressive in a way than the new dollar investment record set last year was the result in terms of gigawatts of capacity added. In 2015, some 134GW of renewables excluding large hydro were commissioned, equivalent to some 53.6% of all power generation capacity completed in that year – the first time it has represented a majority. Of the renewables total, wind accounted for 62GW installed, and solar photovoltaics 56GW, record figures and sharply up from their 2014 additions of 49GW and 45GW respectively. Figure 2 shows the make-up of the record investment figure in 2015. At the left edge of the chart are the categories relating to the backing of early-stage companies and technology. Venture capital investment in renewables was $1.3 billion last year, up 36% but still far behind its peak level of $3.2 billion in 2008. Next along is corporate and government research and development spending on renewables. The former was up 3% on the previous year at $4.7 billion and the latter down 3% at $4.4 billion. Private equity expansion capital was $2.1 billion in 2015, up 32% on 2014 but less than a third of the peak, 2008 figure of $6.7 billion. The last part of that technology/ corporate level funding is equity raising by specialist renewable energy companies on the public markets. This was $12.8 billion last year, down 21% on the previous 12 months but close to its average over the last eight years. The biggest components of investment in 2015 were asset finance of utility-scale projects such as wind farms and solar parks, at $199 billion, some 6% above the previous year, and spending on small distributed capacity – local and rooftop solar projects of less than 1MW capacity – which was up 12% at $67.4 billion. There is also an adjustment of $5.8 billion for reinvested equity (money that was raised in the categories on the left of Figure 2 that then ended up going into asset finance or small projects). Finally, on the right of Figure 2 is acquisition activity of $93.9 billion, up 7%. This is a mix of asset acquisitions, refinancings, corporate mergers and takeovers, and buy-outs.

May 2016

FIGURE 1. GLOBAL NEW INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLE ENERGY BY ASSET CLASS, 2004-2015, $BN

* Asset finance volume adjusts for re-invested equity. Total values include estimates for undisclosed deals Source: UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

FIGURE 2. GLOBAL TRANSACTIONS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY, 2015, $BN

SDC = small distributed capacity. Total values include estimates for undisclosed deals. Figures may not add up exactly to totals, due to rounding. Source: UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

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FIGURE 3. GLOBAL TRENDS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY INVESTMENT 2016 DATA TABLE, $BN

New investment volume adjusts for re-invested equity. Total values include estimates for undisclosed deals. Source: UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

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May 2016

55Â

Research & analysis

he regional split of investment in 2015 is shown in Figure 3. The stand-out contribution to the rise in investment to a new record came from China, which lifted its outlays by 17% to $102.9 billion, some 36% of the global total. Investment also increased in the US, up 19% at $44.1 billion; in Middle East and Africa, up 58% at $12.5 billion, helped by project development in South Africa and Morocco; and in India, up 22% at $10.2 billion. However, it fell in Europe by 21% to $48.8 billion, that continent’s lowest figure for nine years – despite record commitments to offshore wind projects. Investment fell 10% to $7.1 billion in Brazil, and was also slightly lower in the Americas excluding the US and Brazil, at $12.8 billion, largely due to a weaker Canadian figure; and in Asia excluding China and India, at $47.6 billion. Much more detail on the regional and country trends can be found in Chapter 1. DEVELOPING WORLD AHEAD Renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar used to be seen by some critics as a luxury, affordable only in the richer parts of the world. This has been an inaccurate view for a long time, but 2015 was the first year in which investment in renewables excluding large hydro was higher in developing economies than in developed countries. Figure 4 shows that the developing world invested $156

FIGURE 4. GLOBAL NEW INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLE ENERGY: DEVELOPED V DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, 2004-2015, $BN

New investment volume adjusts for re-invested equity. Total values include estimates for undisclosed deals. Developed volumes are based on OECD countries excluding Mexico, Chile, and Turkey. Source: UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance billion last year, some 19% up on 2014 and a remarkable 17 times the equivalent figure for 2004, of $9 billion. Developed countries invested $130 billion in 2015, down 8% and their lowest tally since 2009. A large part of the record-breaking investment in developing countries took place in China. Indeed that country has been the single biggest reason for the

FIGURE 5. GLOBAL NEW INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLE ENERGY BY SECTOR, 2015, AND GROWTH ON 2014, $BN

New investment volume adjusts for re-invested equity. Total values include estimates for undisclosed deals. Source: UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance 56

May 2016

near-unbroken uptrend for the developing world as a whole since 2004. However, it was not just China – India also raised its commitment to renewables in 2015, and developing countries excluding China, India and Brazil lifted their investment by 30% last year to an all-time high of $36 billion, some 12 times their figure for 2004. Among those “other developing” economies, those putting the largest sums into clean power were South Africa, up 329% at $4.5 billion as a wave of projects winning contracts in its auction programme reached financial close; Mexico, 105% higher at $4 billion, helped by funding from development bank Nafin for nine wind projects; and Chile, 151% higher at $3.4 billion, on the back of a jump in solar project financings. Morocco, Turkey and Uruguay also saw investment beat the $1 billion barrier in 2015. Investment in the developed world has been on a downward trend, more or less consistently, since 2011, when it peaked at $191 billion, some 47% higher than the 2015 outturn. This decline has been a little to do with the US, where there was a rush of investment in 2011 as projects and companies tried to catch the Treasury grant and Federal Loan Guarantee programmes before they expired; but much more to do with Europe, where allocations fell by 60% between 2011 and 2015.

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FIGURE 6. VC/PE NEW INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLE ENERGY BY SECTOR, 2015, $BN

Source: UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

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hat big drop reflected a mix of factors including retroactive cuts in support for existing projects in Spain, Romania and several other countries, an economic downturn in southern Europe that made electricity bills more of a political issue, the fading of solar booms in Germany and Italy, and the big fall in the cost of PV panels over recent years. The two factors pushing in the opposite (positive) direction in Europe in recent years have been strong investment in the UK, and the growth of the offshore wind sector in the North Sea. Figure 5 shows the sector split for global investment. Over recent years, renewables have become more and more dominated by wind and solar, with the smaller sectors losing relative importance, and in 2015 this process continued. Solar saw a 12% increase to $161 billion, and wind a 4% boost to $109.6 billion â&#x20AC;&#x201C; both records, although not by as huge a margin as their gigawatt installation figures.3 Biomass and waste-to-energy suffered a 42% fall to $6 billion; small hydro projects of less than 50MW a 29% decline to $3.9 billion; biofuels (the second-biggest sector behind wind back in 2006) a 35% drop to $3.1 billion; geothermal a 23% setback to $2 billion; and marine (wave and tidal) a 42% slip to just $215 million.

May 2016

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Research & analysis

FIGURE 7. PUBLIC MARKETS NEW INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLE ENERGY BY SECTOR, 2015, $BN

Source: UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

FIGURE 8. RENEWABLE ENERGY ASSET FINANCE AND SMALL DISTRIBUTED CAPACITY INVESTMENT BY SECTOR, 2015, AND GROWTH ON 2014, $BN

Total values include estimates for undisclosed deals. Source: UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

May 2016

he split was somewhat different for venture capital and private equity funding specifically. This type of money tends to go to the newer technologies, rather than the more mature ones, so it is no surprise in Figure 6 to see solar dominating with $2.4 billion last year, up 58%, and biofuels – particularly secondgeneration based on non-food crops – come second with $523 million, down 3%. Solar also took the lion’s share of public market investment in 2015, at $10.1 billion in Figure 7, up 21%, with wind second at $2 billion, down 69%. However, the public market figures were heavily influenced last year by equity issuance from North American ‘yieldcos’ and European quoted project funds, many of which own projects in both solar and wind, so the sector split for their fundraisings is somewhat arbitrary. The really big financial flows to renewable energy in 2015 came at the roll-out stage, rather than the technology development stage. Figure 8 shows that solar (utilityscale and small-scale) was by far the largest sector for capacity investment, reaching $148.3 billion, up 12% on the year before. As well as conventional solar parks and rooftop installations, last year saw the financing of a number of floating solar photovoltaic projects on lakes and reservoirs, mostly in the single-digit MW range. Commitments for new wind capacity rose 9% to $107 billion. Perhaps more interesting was the sub-sector split with onshore wind garnering $83.8 billion, up 3%, while offshore wind attracted a record $23.2 billion, up 39% compared to 2014, mostly in Europe but also including a first wave of Chinese sea-based projects. The offshore wind arrays financed worldwide last year were more than 20 in number, with eight of them having estimated project costs of between $1 billion and $2.9 billion.

There was also a 30MW floating offshore wind project financed in Scotland. See Chapter 5 for details. Figure 8 also shows the capacity investment comparison between wind and solar and the smaller clean energy sectors, the largest of which was biomass and wasteto-energy at $5.2 billion, and also between all of those and large hydro. Some $43 billion of large hydro-electric projects of more than 50MW are estimated to have reached the ‘final investment decision’ stage in 2015, down 7% on the previous year. This would put large hydro at 40% the size of wind in terms of new investment last year, and just 29% of the size of solar, although of course prior decades of development mean that the installed base of 50MWplus hydroelectric dams is still, at around 925GW, much bigger than that of wind and solar (671GW combined).

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ENERGY ABUNDANT, COMPETITION ON COSTS

he global energy sector has changed out of all recognition since the summer of 2014. Oil, as measured by the Brent crude contract, fell in price from a high of $115.71-a-barrel on 19 June of that year, to $27.10 on 20 January 2016, a decline of 76%. The ARA coal contract dropped from $84-a-tonne on 28 April 2014 to $36.30 on 17 February 2016, intensifying a downward trend that has been unfolding since its high of $135 in 2011. The US Henry Hub natural gas price slid from around $4.50 per MMBtu in June 2014 to $1.91 in midFebruary 2016. However, cheaper fossil fuels have not materially damaged prospects for renewables so far. Competition between fossil fuels and renewables is rarely a simple one-or-other choice. Oil does not compete directly with renewable power, except in a few crude-producing countries that burn oil to make electricity, and in remote regions using diesel generators. Gas does compete more directly with wind and solar, but while gas prices in Europe and Asia have fallen, they remain far above US levels. Coal also competes with renewables but, as with gas, decisionmakers are unlikely to make power station choices on the basis of short-term spot commodity prices. In addition, new coalfired plants may be more difficult to finance than those of cleaner technologies, given rising investor concern about exposure to stranded assets and the climate priorities of development banks. Meanwhile, renewables have their own advantages. Wind farms can be built in nine months or so, solar parks in three-to-six months, whereas coal and gas plants take several years, and nuclear even longer. So developing countries in a hurry for new capacity may opt for speed. And, while fossil fuel costs have been falling, renewables and especially solar have also been getting more competitive. Figure 9 shows the change in levelised costs of electricity for four different renewable power technologies over a sixyear period. Onshore wind has seen its average global LCOE decline from $96 per MWh in the third quarter of 2009 to $83 per MWh in late 2015, a reduction of 14%. The equivalent for offshore wind actually increased for several years, as projects moved out into deeper water, but have started to come down more recently. Average costs were around $174 per MWh in the second half of last year. The LCOE

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FIGURE 9. GLOBAL AVERAGE LEVELISED COST OF ELECTRICITY FOR WIND AND SOLAR, Q3 2009 TO H2 2015, $ PER MWH

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance for solar thermal parabolic trough plants has hardly changed and remains around $275 per MWh. The spectacular mover has been solar photovoltaics, the biggest single subsector in renewables. The average global levelised cost for crystalline-silicon PV has plummeted from $315 per MWh in Q3 2009 to $122 in late 2015, a drop of 61%, reflecting deflation in module prices, balance-of-plant costs and installation expenses. And there is an advance guard of projects taking place in particular countries now at much lower figures – examples including the ACWA installation in Dubai that went ahead with a $58.50-per-MWh tariff in January 2015, and auctions in India in late 2015 and early 2016 that have seen solar projects win capacity with bids of $64 per MWh (Fortum Finnsuurya Energy in Rajasthan) and $68 (SunEdison and Softbank in Andhra Pradesh). Many governments in developed and developing countries are moving towards auctions as a way of awarding capacity to renewable energy developers at relatively keen prices – continuing a trend that was discussed in last year’s Global Trends report. In South Africa, for instance, the 2015 auctions awarded contracts to onshore wind at 41% less in local currency terms than the first auctions, back in 2011. In the UK, the first Contractfor-Difference auction, held in February 2015, saw winning bids for onshore wind at 11% below what was available under the preceding green certificate regime. Two contracts for offshore wind were awarded at 14% and 18% below the officially-set strike price. In Germany, the second PV

auction in 2015 awarded contracts 7.5% below the previous feed-in tariff level. None of this means that all obstacles for renewables have gone away, far from it. Challenges include national electricity monopolies in some developing countries that are not familiar with, or are resistant to, variable wind and solar generation. Then there are concerns in many developed economies about how variable generation can be balanced, and how it can be guaranteed that the lights will stay on (the subject of balancing and the potential of storage technologies are explored in Chapter 3). There are depressed wholesale electricity prices in many developed countries that are making it difficult to make a return on investing in any new generating plant, renewable or otherwise. There is a lack of investor confidence in a number of significant countries because of past political events or energy policy decisions, from Ukraine to Spain, and Argentina to Greece. In some countries, local financing options are plentiful; in others they are few and far between – the sources of finance for renewable energy are discussed in Chapter 4. And some jurisdictions have local regulations that make renewables difficult to develop, even if the natural resource is good – small-scale solar in Turkey being one of the many examples. Finally, there are also issues resulting from rapid build-out of renewables. One important example is curtailment of new wind farms in China, as the grid struggles to match electricity demand that is growing less rapidly than before with increased power generation capacity.

May 2016

Research & analysis

Solar energy segment to remain a key driver for RE capacity addition, going forward;

Record capacity addition in the RE segment during FY2016 led by wind & solar energy segments: ICRA Executive Summary »

The renewable energy (RE) sector has witnessed a record capacity addition of 6.9 GW during FY2016, which was driven by sizeable capacity addition in both the wind and solar energy segments. The wind and solar energy capacity addition contributed to 48% and 44% of the total RE capacity addition in FY2016. As on March 2016, installed RE based capacity stood at 42.7 GW which accounted for 14.1% of the overall installed capacity in the country, increasing from the level of 10.5% at the end of March 2010. Within the RE segment, the wind energy segment continues to occupy a dominant share at 62.6% followed by solar energy contributing 15.8%, bagasse co-generation and biomass segment at 11.3% and small hydro at 10.0%. The increasing

May 2016

share of RE capacity in the overall installed capacity can be attributed to increasing cost competitiveness of generation from RE sources, shorter execution cycle for wind and solar power projects as compared to conventional power projects and policy support from central and state governments to RE sector. »

projects in the state of Madhya Pradesh (MP), given the attractive tariff (which was highest among all the major states with large wind energy potential at Rs. 5.92 per unit) being offered in the state in the period leading up to March 31, 2016. »

The share of solar energy capacity within the RE segment has increased considerably largely aided by sizeable capacity additions from FY2012 onwards led by favourable policy support both by Central Government as well as at State level and improving regulatory framework. In addition, reduction in capital costs for solar power projects resulting in improved cost competitiveness also played a role in driving the capacity additions. The solar power capacity addition stood at 3019 MW

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in FY2016, reporting a significant jump of 171% as against the capacity addition of 1112 MW in FY2015, driven by capacity additions in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

capacity addition has stagnated mainly because of significant execution challenges, arising out of inherent risk factors such as proneness to natural calamities, difficult terrain and infrastructural constraints. By contrast, biomass sector has stagnated mainly because of issues pertaining to availability and pricing of fuel (mainly agricultural residue and wood) and in some cases inadequate revision of tariffs in relation to increase in fuel costs.

In contrast to wind and solar energy, other segments namely small hydro and biomass energy segments have not seen much capacity addition with annual addition at a relatively paltry level of 600-650 MW. Small hydro

Based on the tenders already floated and proposed for award of solar projects under various State and Central Government policies so far, ICRA estimates the solar capacity addition to increase to about 5.7 GW in FY2017 as against the 3.0 GW seen in FY2016. However, in the wind energy segment, ICRA notes that there could be a decline in fresh capacity addition from 3.3 GW seen in FY2016 to around 2.5 GW in FY2017 because of several factors. These include: a) substantial reduction in preferential tariff (from Rs. 5.92 per unit to Rs. 4.78 per unit) for new wind energy projects to be commissioned in MP; and b) slowdown in signing of fresh PPAs & delays in payments by state owned utility in the state of Maharashtra. Further, the expiry of generation based incentive (50 paise per unit) on March 31, 2017 and reduction in accelerated depreciation benefit from 80% to 40% are likely to adversely impact the wind power capacity additions from FY2018 onwards. The small hydro segment and biomass energy segments are also unlikely to see any significant capacity growth owing to the aforementioned constraints. Overall, ICRA estimates the capacity addition in the RE sector to increase to 8.8 GW in FY2017 as against the 6.9 GW seen during FY2016, primarily led by the higher capacity addition in the solar segment.

With a strong focus on promotion of RE, the Government of India (GoI) in the union budget for FY2016 announced a RE capacity target of 175 GW by the year FY2022. The revised target of 175 GW comprises of 100 GW of solar power generation capacity, 60 GW wind power generation capacity, 10 GW biomass power generation capacity and 5 GW small hydropower generation capacity.

Further, solar power is expected to remain a key driver for RE capacity addition in the medium term. In spite of aforementioned favorable factors, transmission challenges and counterparty credit risks affecting signing of PPAs and timely payments could pose challenges for the sector. Further with the concerns on the viability of the competitively bid tariffs in the solar energy sector, actual solar capacity addition would hinge on timeliness in achieving the financial closure by IPPs, as well as in signing of PPAs with the buyers, viz. the State-owned utilities.

Renewable Energy Capacity Addition in India

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•

As on March 2016, installed RE based capacity stood at 42.7 GW which accounted for 14.1% of the overall installed capacity in the country, increasing from the level of 10.5% at the end of March 2010. Within the RE segment, the wind energy segment continues to occupy a dominant share at 62.6% as on March 31, 2016 followed by solar energy ontributing 15.8%, bagasse co-generation and biomass segment at 11.3% and small hydro at 10.0%. The increasing share of RE capacity in the overall installed capacity can be attributed to increasing cost competitiveness of generation from RE sources, shorter execution cycle for wind and solar power projects as compared to conventional power projects and policy support from central and state governments to RE sector.

•

The RE sector has witnessed a record capacity addition of 6.9 GW during FY2016, which was driven by sizeable capacity addition in both the wind and solar energy segments. The wind and solar energy capacity additions contributed to 48% and 44% of the total RE capacity addition in FY2016 followed by smaller contribution from small hydro and biomass segments. The capacity additions in the small hydro segment is impaired by the permitting risks and execution related challenges arising out of inherent risk factors such as proneness to natural calamities, geological surprises, difficult terrain and infrastructural constraints; while in case of biomass capacity, issues pertaining to availability and pricing of fuel (mainly agricultural residue and wood) and in some cases inadequate revision of tariffs in relation to increase in fuel costs have affected the capacity additions.

•

The wind power capacity addition during FY2016 stood at 3300 MW, increasing by 43% over the capacity addition of 2312 MW achieved during FY2015. This growth was led both by the IPP segment with its focus on feed-in tariff based PPAs and by the non-IPP segment with the re-introduction of the accelerated depreciation benefit by GoI in the Union Budget presented in July 2014. A major portion of the wind energy capacity addition during FY2016 was driven by new projects in the state of Madhya Pradesh (MP), given the attractive tariff (which was highest among all the major states with large wind energy potential at Rs. 5.92 per unit) being offered in the state in the period leading up to March 31, 2016. The tariff for new wind energy projects in MP has been revised downwards from Rs. 5.92 per unit to Rs. 4.78 per unit w.e.f April 1, 2016.

The share of solar energy capacity within the RE segment has improved considerably largely aided by sizeable capacity additions from FY2012 onwards led by favourable policy support both by Central Government as well as at State level and improving regulatory framework. In addition, reduction in capital costs for solar power projects resulting in improved cost competitiveness also played a role in driving the capacity additions. The solar power capacity addition stood at 3019 MW in FY2016, reporting a significant jump of 171% as against the capacity addition of 1112 MW in FY2015, driven by capacity additions in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

May 2016

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•

With a strong focus on promotion of RE, the GoI in the union budget for FY2016 announced a RE capacity target of 175 GW by the year FY2022. The revised target of 175 GW comprises of 100 GW of solar power generation capacity, 60 GW wind power generation capacity, 10 GW biomass power generation capacity and 5 GW small hydropower generation capacity. In January 2016, the GoI also revised the solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO) target from 3% to 8% by FY2022 so as to be in line with the revised solar capacity installation target of 100 GW by FY2022.

•

Based on the tenders floated and proposed for award of solar projects under various State and Central Government policies so far, ICRA estimates the solar capacity addition to increase to about 5.7 GW in FY2017 as against the 3.0 GW seen in FY2016. However, in the wind energy segment, ICRA notes that there could be a decline in fresh capacity addition from 3.3 GW seen in FY2016 to around 2.5 GW in FY2017 because of several factors. These include: a) substantial reduction in preferential tariff (from Rs. 5.92 per unit to Rs. 4.78 per unit) for new wind energy projects to be commissioned in MP; and b) slowdown in signing of fresh PPAs & delays in payments by state owned utility in the state of Maharashtra. This is given the fact that wind energy capacity addition in State of Maharashtra and

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MP together accounted for about 35-40% of incremental capacity addition seen on all India level in last 2 year period, given the fairly attractive feed-in tariffs notified by SERCs in both the states. Further, the expiry of generation based incentive (50 paise per unit) on March 31, 2017 and reduction in accelerated depreciation benefit from 80% to 40% are likely to adversely impact the wind power capacity additions from FY2018 onwards. The small hydro segment and biomass energy segments are also unlikely to see any significant capacity growth owing to the aforementioned constraints. •

Overall, ICRA estimates the capacity addition in the RE sector to increase to 8.8 GW in FY2017 as against the 6.9 GW seen during FY2016, primarily led by the higher capacity addition in the solar segment. Further, solar power is expected to remain a key driver for RE capacity addition in the medium term. In spite of aforementioned favorable factors, transmission challenges and counterparty credit risks affecting signing of PPAs and timely payments could pose challenges for the sector. Further with the concerns on the viability of the competitively bid tariffs in the solar energy sector, actual solar capacity addition would hinge on timeliness in achieving the financial closure by IPPs as well as in signing of PPAs with the buyers, viz. the State-owned utilities.

May 2016

OEM vs CM

WHY PREFER OEM vs CM CSUN has sold 350MWp in India manufactured only from in house production facility. 3 out of Top 5 Chinese panel manufacturers (by volume) in India have used contract manufacturing . Solar contract manufacturing is different

es, outsourcing the manufacturing of a product allows original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to reduce labor costs, free up capital, and improve worker productivity. OEMs can then concentrate on the things that most enhance a productâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s valueâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;R&D, design, and marketing, for instance. But contract manufacturing in Solar is unacceptable. It does not make any sense for a Solar OEM to transfer production to Chinese - CM, China to China!! Something is wrong here.

Own facility VS contract manufacturing

In this letter CSUN wants to promote DNA of a well built product. A well build product should meet two key criteria. It should have a good bill of material & it should come from a proven automatic line. Many OEM companies in China have perfected both criteria. However because of price pressure OEM companies including 3 out of Top 5 are involved in somewhat malicious practice to CM (contract manufacture) solar panels to small, unknown 300MW- 500MWp production houses. The FAQ below addresses many questions as to the CM product:

OEM vs CM

CSUN own factory product

Terms of

Competition contract mfr

“Contract manufacturing (CM) ’’ the facility outside the OEM where the solar panels are being manufactured “OEM “The OEM is the company owned, company operated factory where the solar panels are manufactured and have achieved certain quality standards

Crucial FAQ

Does the contract manufactured product uses the same Bill of Material as the OEM?

o the contract manufactured panel does not use the same Bill of material as the OEM in the solar industry. Often the quality of CM Bill of material is sub – standard & this is how a price advantage of 3-4c / WP is reached. Imagine the 4c delta

enjoyed by some OEM Sales. E.g. the CM of a large 4GWp OEM uses a poor back sheet of outer layer 25um with erosion rate of 2.3um/year. This backsheet will disappear in 8-10 years. Following is result as per CSUN analysis.

Degradation analysis of backsheet for product made at CSUN VS Made in contract mfr. This result cannot be shared without the written permission. CM backsheet for Tier 1 panel

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May 2016

OEM vs CM

Does OEM supervise production & quality control at CM?

f course not & QC is a function of production equipment. The CM production line (automatic or manual) uses significant less quality control during production leading to production quality issues. Equipment: The CM production uses unknown Chinese solar manufacturing equipment for tabber, stringers, laminators and sunflasher. Process: The CM process cuts corners excluding hot knife, HIPOT, post EL, calibration which leads to product quality issues in field e.g. in a popular CM below which makes panels for a Top Chinese NASDAQ listed OEM brand there is no Post EL testing rejection , no vision systems & multiple micro cracks of 50mm and above on panels.

Warranty (& reinsurance) of OEM. Is this enough?

arranty can become a difficult subject & no one wants to travel that road. In India CM panels have been involved 51 times over in claims compared to OEM based on analyst feedback for the same brand. While PID loss is startling and noticeable, panel power degradation is often unnoticed. You can lose 10% of EIRR (5% production in 1 year) due to degradation and an “expert” can still attribute it to weather, soiling etc. Indian Developers and EPCs are opting out of important string monitoring & degradation estimation & third party monitoring software to cut cost. In a recent study CSUN could not find even a single Indian plant with proper plant data for analysis.

How successful is third party inspection to counter contract manufactured product?

hird party inspection has been a partial success with certain testing companies & a total failure with others. Often 3rd party inspection companies don’t have experience in solar manufacturing & a contract manufactured product is supplied under their nose or consent. The idea is to define scope , quick testing & trustworthy testing partner. It may best to avoid companies with history of supplying contract manufacturing product in India. The good news is 4 out of Top 7 Chinese panel companies still supply only an OEM product.

aybe it is time to look beyond Top 3 names & search for 2GWp + manufacturers who have played a more safe play on product.

Contract manufacturing for a NASDAQ listed Tier 1 panel company

May 2016

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May 2016

Rooftop projects

UNLEASHING PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN ROOFTOP SOLAR IN INDIA BY: Phil Marker- Project Director, leading the report team for the Solar Rooftop Policy Coalition

In January 2015, the Solar Rooftop Policy Coalition was formed as a partnership between The Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), The Climate Group and The Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. These organisations were inspired by the ambition the government was injecting, with it’s target for 40 GW of rooftop solar by 2022 and wished to offer concrete policy solutions that would accelerate progress towards this target.

May 2016

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Rooftop projects

he prospects for rooftop solar were bright: rising electricity prices and falling solar costs were making rooftop solar an attractive economic proposition for growing numbers of industrial and commercial customers. But bright prospects were not translating into the scale of growth needed to reach the 40 GW target. Net metering regulations are in place in most states but very few net-metered projects were happening. Projects were almost entirely financed from balance sheets with little lending to the sector. So, what would it take to turn promise and potential into reality? The Coalition formed a project team

consisting of eight experts from The Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation, The Climate Group, Bridge To India and Meghraj Capital Partners. The team gathered information and ideas from over 25 organisations, held consultations in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, discussed solutions with policy makers and regulators at the centre and states, with industry, investors,think tanks, utilities and customers of rooftop solar. The research based team sought to be evidence-based and to use real numbers to back up the analysis whenever possible and undertook extensive modelling of the sector.

The Solar Rooftop Policy Coalition report was launched on 17th March, by Honourable Minister Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, along with Sir David King, UK Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate Change.The Minister warmly welcomed the report, declaring that MNRE hadinformed him they were ‘delighted’ with it.

he team identified seven priorities need to be addressed to unleash the potential of private investment in rooftop solar. Operationalising net metering (1) will require active support from utilities (2). Without these foundations, market growth will be severely constrained. With these foundations in place, the building blocks of addressing the risks faced by investors (3) and consumers (4) are needed to unleash the potential growth. Sustaining rapid growth means anticipating and addressing potential constraints including skills (5), sufficient realisable rooftop space and (6) continued drivers such as mandates (7) to support adoption.

herefore, we propose a package that combines benefits to utilities along with firm regulatory and political signals that they need to back rooftop solar. The benefits would be threefold: a regulated services charge from about 2019 or 2020 that would compensate utilities for the services they provide to new net metered rooftop solar customers; a tweak to the RPO to allow rooftop solar to count as perhaps 1.3x ground mount for RPO compliance; and a fund for utilities who invest in infrastructure for rooftop solar – including billing systems and training. In return, regulators (backed up by politicians) would make clear that support for rooftop solar is required and not optional.

Operationalizing net metering and securing active support from utilities

et metering regulations are in place in most states, but few are working in practice. Whilst the regulations can be improved further, we see the main priority as operationalising these regulations. This means utilities developing operational guidance for their staff and training them in rooftop solar. Regulators must play a key role in setting maximum timescales for new connections and enforcing compliance. The goal is to make interconnection quick, simple, predictable and easy for customers. chieving this will need proactive engagement from utilities who have been wary that rooftop solar means loss of customers. However, India is a growing electricity market with considerable latent demand and our analysis suggests that utilities have much less to fear from rooftop solar than they think. Nevertheless, many utilities are already in financial stress and they do have some reasonable concerns about rooftop solar.

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May 2016

Rooftop projects

Reducing risks for investors and consumers

chieving 40 GW of rooftop solar will require investment in the order of 3 lakh crore rupees (or $45 billion). These funds can only come from private investors, and we believe that third party models (where a developer installs and operates the rooftop system and sells power at a discounted rate to the rooftop owner) are essential because they allow institutional investors (who are the ones with deep-enough pockets) to come in. But there are some critical issues that are deterring investors which need to be addressed. The most important of these is the risk of default on contracts. Rooftop solar involves agreements of 20 years or more and during that time solar costs will continue to fall. There will be a temptation for a rooftop owner to default on a contract after ten years if someone offers a new system at a cheaper price. Going through the courts to recover the costs of a rooftop solar system may take years. And for an investor having a portfolio of potentially tens of thousands of systems, this is a major problem. We have suggested ways to address this including through better credit rating and strengthening the rights of third party contractors. The other big challenge is investors who cannot benefit from accelerated depreciation who find themselves at a competitive disadvantage, discouraging investment from important sources. It is important that all incentives are equally available to all investor categories. There is a big need for consumer awareness, to help customers navigate a technically complex sector with few established brands or quality standards. There is a risk that customers who have a bad experience due to poor products or unrealistic expectations will put off many more. Therefore, we have recommended government support independent consumer bodies to support consumer awareness on a sustained basis.

Skills, rooftop availability and mandates

nce rapid growth is achieved, sustaining it creates other challenges. Availability of skills is a major concern for developers. Our consultations showed that most agreed that whilst the private sector will be the main skills provider, government leadership was needed to avoid bottlenecks, drive standards and ensure early-enough investment in skills. Even though the technical potential for rooftop solar is upward of 120 GW, availability of sufficient rooftops will become a challenge. Building codes should encourage designs that support rooftop solar, for example by more careful placement of air conditioning, water tanks and other services. Local bureaucracy can also be an issue. Developers told us that unclear rules down to the level of industrial zone authorities or resident welfare associations can hinder progress. A campaign is needed to get these local area groups to help not hinder rooftop solar. The government can make rooftop solar mandatory, as Haryana and Chandigarh have done. However, this should only be considered after all the other measures are in place, and once economic viability is firmly established. Mandates introduced before the conditions are right or before customers perceive they will benefit will simply lead to non-compliance. Under the right conditions and at the right time, mandates may help overcome consumer inertia and lead to wider uptake. 70Â

May 2016

Subsidies

astly, we explored whether additional subsidy would be important. We found that additional subsidy would offer much poorer value for money, as compare to the nonsubsidy measures we recommended. We support the decision by government to withdraw subsidy from commercial and industrial customers and we have not recommended further subsidy beyond the provisions recently made by government.

40 GW by 2022

ur modelling suggests that the measures we recommend in the report of the Solar Rooftop Policy Coalition could double capacity by 2022 to 26GW. Other reports and other measures will be found to get to the 40 GW, but we think an addition 13 GW without subsidy is a good additional step!

We have been fortunate to have great engagement from the MNRE throughout out process. We remain very optimistic about the sector and the potential of rooftop solar in India. With sustained, rigorous efforts, this potential can be realised.

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SOLAR INVERTERS

Secrets of the Reliability of Smart PV Power Plant Solutions - approaching GCTC

BY: HUAWEI TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Smart PV power plant solutions feature intelligence, efficiency, safety, and reliability. Compared with traditional centralized solutions, the Smart PV power plant solutions take ′making power plants simpler′ as the core concept.

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hat we mean by making power plants simpler is that power plants have no nonessential facilities, like inverter rooms, DC solar junction boxes (SJBs), or fragile components, such as fuses, fans, so that the delivery of simplified and standard solutions is achieved. All the components can adapt to various harsh environments, including wind, sand, salt mist, high temperature, humidity, and altitude. Free of maintenance for 25 years, guarantee of reliable operation as well as simpler construction and O&M maximize the benefits of customers′ investment. It is known that the solar power generation system works under the sun exposure and is frequently challenged by such adverse elements as scorching heat, bitter cold, high humidity, strong sandstorms, heavy rain, and salt mist. Conventional electronic devices work in a relatively stable environment, but the components in the PV system, like inverters and SJBs, operate in a capricious environment, so the reliability of these components faces greater challenges. Many factories in this industry have poor reliability testing conditions and only

conduct simple tests of high and low temperature performance, so they lack a good deal of other reliability testing evaluations. As the core equipment of smart PV power plants, inverters are the key factor in ensuring the smooth operation of the plants. Then, how were the reliability of the smart PV power plant solutions realized? Let us approach GCTC to find the answer. Huawei Global Compliance & Testing Center (Huawei GCTC) is a comprehensive laboratory that integrates EMC, RF, telecom, safety, and reliable environment, and is recognized by international authoritative organizations, including CNAS, ATLA, MET, ITS CETECOM.GCTC offers services of testing, compliance, and design consultations to Huawei products in accordance with the ISO/IEC17025.In addition to traditional testing equipment, the Huawei GCTC also has the combined stress testing equipment and testing methods for temperature, humidity, and corrosive dust, high temperature rain, solar radiation, of lightening attraction. This improves the adaptation of Huawei products dramatically.

May 2016

SOLAR INVERTERS

Figure 1 : GCTC Lab

Figure 2 : A Scenario of the GCTC Lab

THOROUGHLY-TESTED HUAWEI INVERTERS, BEST OF THE BEST

uawei inverters need to pass the most strict tests of Huawei GCTC. The tests comprise of two parts: short-term and long-term reliability tests. Each part also contains many tests. The short-term tests include HALT test, high/low temperature tests, high temperature rain test, icing test, low pressure test, wet dust test, lightening attraction test, EMC tests

(electromagnetic radiation, surge, static, lightening, and so on), and safety regulations test. The long-term tests include temperature cycle test (TC), temperature humidity bias test (THB), lifespan test (LLT), and outfield exposure test (high temperature, humidity, and salt). The time of long-term reliability tests all exceeds 1000 hours and some of the tests even last over a year. The

reliability tests of Huawei inverters cover many real-world scenarios, such as high humidity, rain, salty and wet dust corrosion, solar radiation, capricious temperatures, lightening strikes, high altitudes, and extreme temperatures (from –60ºC to over 100ºC).Now, let′s move to the main labs of Huawei GCTC and experience in person the testing process of Huawei inverters.

HALT Test HALT lab is short for Highly Accelerated Life Test lab. HALT test is one of the reliability tests that Huawei inverters must pass. The test is conducted at the development stage of products and mainly characterized by stepped high temperature limit test, stepped low temperature limit test (instant cooling of liquid nitrogen), stepped vibration test, and combined (temperature shock + vibration) stress test to reveal the weak points in design. The high temperature limit is 110ºC, the low temperature limit is –60ºC, and the vibration limit is 40 G acceleration. The test generally lasts 3 days. Inverters are powered on with loads in the whole process and the operating status of inverters is monitored.

May 2016

Figure 3 : HALT test of inverters

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Icing Test Approaching the icing test chamber, you will feel the cold. This simulation test is to see whether Huawei inverters can adapt to the winter scenarios. This test is conducted under –40ºC and lasts one week. During the test, water the sample intermittently and leave it to freeze. After three days of icing, warm the sample to thaw. Do it twice within the week. In the process, power on and off the inverter, with and without loads, and repeat these operations several times, to test all its functions.

Figure 4 : Icing test of inverters

Heat Dissipation Limit Test After the icing test, here comes the heat dissipation limit test. The heat dissipation limit test simulates the contained scenarios Huawei inverters work in to reveal the design demerits of inverters. Entering the contained lab, heat waves are attacking you. The heat sinks or the top are stuffed with tree leaves. Installed in different modes, inverters are operating with full loads.

Figure 5 : Heat dissipation limit test

Low Pressure Test High altitude is one of the typical application scenarios of inverters. Huawei is determined to send its inverters to Tibet and Mount Everest. Low pressure test simulates the application scenario of high altitude to check the power derating and safety performance of Huawei inverters. Low pressure test checks the operating status of grid-tied Huawei inverters at altitudes of 4,000 meters, 4,500 meters, 5,000 meters, and 5,500 meters respectively.

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May 2016

SOLAR INVERTERS

Vibration Test

Figure 6 : Low pressure test of Huawei inverters

Wet Dust Test

The vibration lab is an independent lab. You will hear the strong vibration noise when nearing it. Vibration test is a test for an object or model to check its anti-vibration capability in a simulated environment of its actual use. Influence on vibration on a product includes: 1.Broken structure, for example, the structure becomes misshapen or the product cracks or breaks. 2.Impaired functions, for example, there are poor contact and relay misoperation. These are irreversible damages. 3. Process damage, for example, the screws or connectors become loose, or a soldering point fails. A Huawei inverter is fastened on a large vibration test platform. During the test, the inverter is powered on with full loads and monitored. Throughout the process, there is no alarm and the operating data is normal. After the test, no abnormality is found in any component.

Created by Huawei, wet dust test is an integrated test of temperature, humidity, and corrosive dust (the formula of the dust is customized for different regions in the world), designed to verify the adaptation of Huawei inverters working in high temperature, humidity, and dust environments. The test casts dust on the inverter in the dust box, and then increases the temperature and humidity to check the anti-dust and antisand capability of the equipment. From the outside, it feels like that a sandstorm is coming.

Figure 7 : Wet dust test of inverters Figure 8 : Vibration test of inverters 74Â

May 2016

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SOLAR INVERTERS

High Temperature Rain Test High temperature rain test simulates the scenario that it rains suddenly on a day of high temperature and humidity, and then temperature drops dramatically. This test is designed to check whether Huawei inverters can adapt to the environments of tropical rainforest, and check their capability of IP65 protection and anti-condensation. The rain test is conducted in a big T/H box with a special sprinkler. After working in an environment of 70ºC/95% for a certain time, cool water is sprinkled on the inverter. Before the test, paste moisture-sensitive test papers on the internal board, interior of the shell, key components and the radiator. After the test, determine whether there is condensation according to the color of the test papers. During the test, the inverter is powered on and monitored.

Before the test

Unchanged after the test

Figure 9 : Sequence diagram of rain test Figure 10Test papers on internal board before and after the test

Powered-On Temperature Cycle Test Inverters work in daytime and stop working at night, so they have one temperature cycle every day. The lifecycle of a power plant is 25 years, so its temperature cycles total 9,125 times (365 x 25).Huawei has a very good understanding of this application scenario and implemented the most stringent standard (cycles: ≥ 1500 times; lowest working temperature: -40ºC; highest temperature: 70ºC; temperature variation: 15ºC/minute), while the industry standard (for example, IPC9592) of powered-on temperature cycle is only 300 times. During the test, the inverter is powered on and monitored.

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Figure 11 : Powered-on temperature cycle test EQ

May 2016

SOLAR INVERTERS

High Temperature & Humidity Test In Southeast Asian countries as well as in the South China, there are many days of high temperature and humidity. This T/H test is to check the adaptation of Huawei inverters to such environments, and the anticorrosion and insulation capabilities of inverter boards and shells. After operating in the T/H box (70ºC/95%) for over 6 months, the Huawei inverter has unimpaired electrical performance and appearance.

Figure 12 : Powered-on temperature cycle test

Outfield Exposure Test Huawei Hainan Specialized Cooperation Test Outfield is close to the equator, has strong ultraviolet radiation and is frequently hit by typhoons. The maximum temperature in summer well exceeds 40ºC. This outfield represents the typical scenario of high temperature, humidity, and salt. It also has an offshore test platform, and 350-meter and 1000-meter test sites. The Huawei inverter is in the 350m test site. After grid-tied operation over three years, the adaptation of Huawei inverters to solar radiation, salt mist, and high temperature and humidity has been fully proven.

Figure 13 : Offshore test platforms Figure 4Inverter outfield exposure test in the 350m test site

May 2016

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SOLAR INVERTERS

Lightening Attraction Test GCTC conducted the lightening attraction test with a rocket in the outfield. The rocket successfully attracted the lightening and the thunderbolt, like a huge sickle, splitting the cloudy sky. It is quite a spectacle. By launching a rocket shell in the field, the lightening is attracted to the equipment so as to test the surge protection capability of Huawei inverters.

Figure 15 : Outfield lightening attraction test

SUMMARY

uawei GCTC has always attached importance to the testing capacity building and has the most complete simulation tests for products in all scenarios, including climate, machines, wind, rain, solar radiation and icing, within the industry, and

advanced reliability tests, such as HALT and accelerated dust corrosion test. At the same time, it has also conducted long-term research in testing standards and effectiveness, and thus accumulated abundant data and rich experience in this regard.

he design concept of Huawei PV inverters as well as all smart PV power plant solutions is based on reliable operation of 25 years without maintenance. Therefore, the IP65 protection is implemented so that the internal and external environments are separated, ensuring a stable operation environment for components, and reducing the influence of external environment (temperature, wind, sand, salt mist, and so on) on the lifespan of components. The system eliminates fragile components, like fuses and fans, so that it is free of maintenance. Drawing on the design and quality management experience of massively delivered products and the product deploy-

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All Huawei products must pass the stringent quality tests. So, Huawei products can survive all the harsh environments, be it mindnumbing cold in the Arctic Ocean, scorching heat in Africa, coastal regions of high salt mist, or inner regions of deserts.

ment from Huawei communications base stations, the components and the whole system adopt designs of high reliability and long service life to ensure the 25-year lifecycle. Besides, they must also live up to the strict standard tests. In this way, the components do not need replacing within their lifecycle so as to achieve reliable and economical operation. We have always upheld this concept â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Quality is life, data is real & customers come firstâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Huawei Smart PV power plant solutions are best of the best. These solutions are widely used around the world and highly recognized by consumers. In a word, choose wise, choose Huawei.

May 2016

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ET Solar Launches EliTe Mono Module Globally

JinkoSolar wins the “TÜV Rheinland Star for Highest Efficiency Polycrystalline Silicon PV module” and the “Outstanding Award for High Power Output of Photovoltaic System Module”

ET Solar, an advanced solar module manufacturer, announces the global launch of its new generation monocrystalline module – EliTe Mono.All ET Solar’s monocrystalline modules are certificated by VDE and ETL, and have passed the strict tests under the standards of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Compared with traditional PV modules, ET Solar’s monocrystalline modules are more durable and reliable, resulting in less degradation in extreme weather conditions.

y utilizing Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (PERC) technology to optimize module design, improve performance and reliability, ET Solar’s monocrystalline modules now offer higher performance, with Module Efficiency up to 18.75%. Even in weak light conditions, these modules maintain high-power generating efficiency.

“We are pleased to launch this new generation of monocrystalline modules. By using PERC technology, our new monocrystalline modules have significantly higher power output. Monocrystalline modules are increasing in demand because the installed capacity of distributed power plants is increasing. To meet this growing global demand, ET Solar continues to develop high-quality, high - performance solar products,” - Patrick Guo, Executive Vice President. ET Solar

May 2016

inkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., a global leader in the solar PV industry, recently announced that it was awarded the 2016 “TÜV Rheinland Star for Highest Efficiency Polycrystalline Silicon PV Module” and “Outstanding Award for High Power Output of Photovoltaic Module” at the TÜV Rheinland Solar Congress 2016 held on April 13, 2016. The judging panels spoke highly of JinkoSolar’s outstanding contributions in fields of R&D and efficiency enhancement of PV modules. The awards recognized JinkoSolar’s leading position in technology for the PV industry. “In the TÜV Rheinland High-Efficiency Module Power Competition, Jinko beat the others with its 60-cell polycrystalline high-efficiency module at the power output of 284.7W and cell efficiency of 19.7%. Receiving the “Highest Efficiency Polycrystalline Silicon PV module” and “Outstanding Award for High Power Output of Photovoltaic System Module” fully demonstrates Jinko’s brilliant pursuit of product quality and product performance. We hope that JinkoSolar will continue to persevere in quality and innovation in the future development of solar,” said Mr. ZouChicheng, Vice President of Solar and Fuelcell Division Greater China, TÜV Rheinland.

“We are very honored to receive two major awards granted by TÜV Rheinland. These awards are indicative of JinkoSolar’s recognition for our module’s high-efficiency, quality and performance from the world’s most authoritative testing institution. Over the years, JinkoSolar has been constantly making efforts to improve the efficiency and reliability of PV modules, always setting the highest standards in the industry’s technology development. We will continue to strive to develop great quality products to our clients around the world. - Mr. Chen Kangping, CEO of JinkoSolar

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Risen Energy Solar PV Modules Receive JET Certification for Use in Japan Risen Energy Co., Ltd, a leading global Tier 1 manufacturer of high-performance solar photovoltaic products and provider of total business solutions for power generation, today confirmed their 72, 60 and 54 cell solar PV modules, for residential, commercial and utility scale projects, have passed the Japan Electrical Safety & Environmental Technology Laboratories (JET) pre-requisite testing for supply of PV modules into the Japanese market. The approved products cover power ranges from 215Wp to 345Wp.

he JET PVm certification mark comes in two distinct forms; the Performance Certification mark, and the Performance + Safety Certification mark. JET has a very rigorous testing regime, in part due to their understanding that Japanese consumers are more interested in quality and safety than price, and in part to ensure that the approved products last for more than 25 years, and that the suppliers will be available to provide service during the life of the product. The testing process comprises the qualification and verification of the products’ design, construction, reliability and performance as well as auditing the manufacturer’s facilities to ensure its compliance.

“The JET certification process is highly stringent, PV module components must meet not only IEC61215 & IEC61730 standards, but also UL1730, UL746C and UL94 standards. The testing and review processes took numerous months to attain. Our commitment to the Japanese market, in all of its forms, is now further underscored with the JET mark approval. Our historic successes within the Japanese arena have been achieved with individual enthusiastic customers carrying out similar evaluations and establishing the depth of our quality, performance, longevity and service. The JET mark approval further allows a wider range of knowledgeable customers to generate a greater profit from use of Risen’s high-performance solar PV modules.” - Mr Bypina Veerraju Chaudary, Risen’s CSMO

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Of course, JET certification alone is not sufficient to penetrate the Japanese market, albeit a worthy addition to the portfolio of justifications. The existing Risen service and support infrastructure within the region allow our experienced techno-commercial team to fully understand and support the customers’ needs to convert sunlight into maximum revenue. With numerous specific tangible validations, and the addition of the JET mark, Japanese and International customers can now focus on significant profit generation improvements with the full comfort that the JET laboratory has approved Risen with flying colours.

May 2016

AMtec Solar Products Announces UL1741 Listed 1500VDC Configurable Disconnecting Combiner Boxes

AMtec Solar Products, a unit of AMtec Industries announced recently the official launch of its new Prominence Series configurable disconnecting combiner boxes, featuring disconnect ratings of up to 400 Amps at 1500 VDC. The boxes are ETL Listed to UL1741 at 1500VDC and CAN/CSA C22.2 listed at 1500VDC.

“These heavy-duty, high-capacity components allow us to continue to offer improved cost savings for our customers by reducing the number of overall components needed. While AMtec is already well-known for its superior build quality, the ETL Listing to UL1741 provides a high level of assurance to our solar Balance of System customers that these units meet the high standards of manufacturing quality that is characteristic of UL1741. The next generation of PV projects are already demonstrating that 1500 VDC is really the new sweet spot. This shift brings down LCOE and balance-ofsystem costs. And thanks to AMtec’s investment in computer-driven cutting and drilling, AMtec is able to deliver its disconnecting combiner boxes faster, at ultra-competitive prices — even at very small order quantities.” -Tom Willis, Director of Sales, AMTEC

Astronergy Receives Both CSA and TUV Certificates In Recognition of Its 1500V Module Astronergy’s newly-developed 1500V solar module has successfully passed both CSA and TUV tests. The 1500V-based system allows a smaller amount of direct current passing through the system so that the entire system’s efficiency is improved, which is because less equipment is needed for the first part of system. In addition, higher voltage enables less power losses while transporting. The amount of conjunction boxes and wires would also be reduced, therefore cutting the cost.

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he module components that are qualified to the 1500V-based system require a higher level of technology to produce. Astronergy, after years of effort, and as a leader in the solar industry, is able to provide this type of system to its clients. Both TUV and CSA are the most widelyrecognized third party organizations in industrial certification. Astronergy products have always been recognized by these two for high quality and high reliability.

May 2016

“We think this is going to be a trend of the market. Our company has strong abilities in developing new products. The 1500Vbased module system has higher reliability compared to previous products. Clients always have expectation on us. It is our duty to serve them the best. -Dr. Lu Chuan, Executive Vice President, Astroenergy

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Trina Solar Announces New Efficiency Record of 23.5% for Large-Area Interdigitated Back Contact Silicon Solar Cell Trina Solar Limited a global leader in photovoltaic (PV) modules, solutions and services, recently announced that its State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology of China has set a new world record of 23.5% for a high-efficiency silicon solar cell with an Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) structure on a large-area 156×156 mm2 n-type mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafer. This new record has been independently confirmed by the Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technology Laboratories (JET), Yokohama, Japan.

he record-breaking n-type mono-crystalline silicon solar cell was fabricated with a process that integrates the advanced Interdigitated Back Contact structure with industrial lowcost processes. The best 156×156 mm2 solar cell fabricated entirely with a screen-printed process reached a total-area efficiency of 23.5%, which breaks the previous record of 22.94% for the same type of solar cell that was also established by the Company in May, 2014. Particularly, this remarkable result has been achieved just two years after the previous announcement by Trina Solar of 24.4% efficiency for a small area (2cm x 2cm) laboratory IBC solar cell developed in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia.

- Dr. Pierre Verlinden, Vice-President and Chief Scientist, who leads the development of high-performance solar cells at the State Key Laboratory of Trina Solar

“We are very pleased to announce the new efficiency result achieved by our scientists and researchers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a monocrystalline silicon IBC solar cell with an area of 238.6 cm2 exhibits a total-area conversion efficiency of 23.5%.”

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Dr. Pierre Verlinden continued“Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) silicon solar cells are the most efficient silicon solar cells to date but require a complicated fabrication process. Trina Solar has been developing IBC solar cells since the establishment of its State Key Laboratory with the objective to reach record efficiencies with the lowest possible cost. From the beginning we developed a scalable technology for IBC solar cells around large-area 156mm x 156mm wafers as we believe that the wafer size is the key to manufacturing cost reduction of this efficient solar cell.”

May 2016

Led Based A+A+A+ Sun Simulator For Pv Module Testing

Ecoprogetti’s sun simulator module tester represents a new generation of sun simulator thanks to the use of LED as light source.The use of LED, more than consent a supply of radiation in triple class A+ fully respecting IEC 60904-09 gives more benefits like: prompt feedback, high luminosity efficiency that brings a minimal power dissipation and possibility of obtaining impulses of customized duration and frequency.

The unit is suitable for testing both standard crystalline modules and thin-film and backcontact solar cell modules. The impulse duration of the simulator can be extended to more than five seconds, while maintain-

ing an A+ class radiation stability. ECOSUN PLUS improves the production quality with minimum floor space due to compact footprint {1.6m (L) X 2.4m (W) X 1.5m (H)} with inline/offline nature of the machine

FEATURES • • • • • • •

LED Technology ensures Long Lifetime, Reliable and Low Maintenance costs Compact Design - 1.6m (L) X 2.4m (W) X 1.5m (H) Suitable for Inline and Offline Production lines No recharging time is needed between tests Possible to personalise the test pulse duration (3-7s) Suitable for testing Standard Crystalline Solar Modules, Thin-Flim and Back-Contact Solar Modules with Light Soaking facility Suitable for testing all New Generation Solar Modules and New Efficiency technologies of Solar cells such as PERC, HIT, MWT, Bifacial, Back-Contact and Hybrid Silicon Solar cells

• • • • • • • • • • •

All Tests done in compliance with Class A+A+A+ and norm EN60904-9 standards Life of LED is more than 20 Million Flashes • Calibrated Pyranometer for accurate Irradiance Measurement Uniformity less than 1% constant over LD source lifetime Repeatability : >99.75% STI < 0.1%, LTI < 0.5% Spectrum : ± 8% Spectrum Range : 350nm to 1200nm Irradiance adjustment : 200 – 1200W/m2 RFID Compatible SQL Database for traceability

ECOSUN (A+A+A+) LED based Sun Simulator is installed at more than 15 Reputed Module manufacturers in India since 2012 82

May 2016

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teamtechnik at SNEC 2016: new TT2100 high-performance stringer with 65 MWp capacity At the prestigious SNEC trade fair in Shanghai, China this year, teamtechnik will present the next generation of high-speed stringer machines – now with a slimmer design and yet higher performance. Live demonstrations by the market-leading company will showcase the precision and speed with which the TT2100 solders solar cells.

he new generation of teamtechnik stringers sets a new standard with a cycle time of 1.7 seconds. With an annual capacity of 65 MWp, the Stringer TT2100 is the fastest single-track system in the world. Once set up, its teamtechnik technology operates reliably without the need for further adjustment and offers availability of up to 98%. Customers of the more than 600 hightech systems sold to date include leading global manufacturers of solar modules that are now ordering the fourth generation of teamtechnik stringers. Highly dependable output and the best soldering quality has made teamtechnik the

market leader in this area of solar technology. Exact ribbon positioning even with 0.6 mm widths An unique feature of teamtechnik stringers is that the key processes of ribbon and cell handling on the one hand and soldering on the other are decoupled by means of a patented hold-down device. This ensures optimal ribbon positioning, even down to very narrow ribbon widths of just 0.6 mm. Combined with the contactless infrared soldering process that compensates for fluctuations in the cell material, this results in consistently the best soldering, precise ribbon position-

ing and exact string geometry. Flexibility for up to 6 busbars The new system can process solar cells with up to six busbars. Even after delivery, it can be modified to accept five or six busbars. This applies for both full cells and half cells. The result: constantly high string quality with breakage rates of less than 0.1-0.3%. Live demonstration at SNEC Come and see the precision of the space-saving Stringer TT2100 for yourself at SNEC from May 24 through 26. teamtechnik will be demonstrating live at stand E3 550 how exact the new single-track system is.

Best outlook for the future

The management at teamtechnik views the market potential for this segment as significant: annual growth in installed PV capacity is expected to be up to some 15% and production capacity worldwide is being expanded. ‘The Stringer TT2100 offers a colossal output at low cost and the highest quality – and also an efficient 24/7 production regime and high system availability.’ ‘With this machine we are helping our customers to cut their manufacturing costs and secure a competitive advantage.’ says Lingxang Xu, CEO of teamtechnik China.

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May 2016

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