EQ Magazine Nov 2021 Edition by EQ Int'l Solar Media Group

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CONT EN T

VOLUME 13 Issue #11

Disclaimer,Limitations of Liability While every efforts has been made to ensure the high quality and accuracy of EQ international and all our authors research articles with the greatest of care and attention ,we make no warranty concerning its content,and the magazine is provided on an>> as is <<basis.EQ international contains advertising and third –party contents.EQ International is not liable for any thirdparty content or error,omission or inaccuracy in any advertising material ,nor is it responsible for the availability of external web sites or their contents

INDIA

INDIA PLEDGES SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ACTION AGENDA AT COP26

40 BUSINESS & FINANCE

BLACKROCK RAISES $673 MLN FOR CLIMATE-FOCUSED INFRASTRUCTURE FUND

46 INTERNATIONAL APPLE SAYS 175 SUPPLIERS COMMITTED TO USING CLEAN ENERGY

68 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

How UAE landfills are becoming Solar Farms ?

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,NonCommercial use, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. want to use material for any non-personel,non commercial purpose,you need written permission from EQ International.

RENEWABLE ENERGY NEW CLIMATE TARGET POSES UPSIDE RISKS TO OUTLOOK FOR RENEWABLE GROWTH: FITCH SOLUTIONS

INDIA

BUSINESS & FINANCE

CEMENT, STEEL INDUSTRIES SHOULD USE GREEN HYDROGEN FOR ENERGY: GADKARI

DOWN OVER 25%, THESE 3 RENEWABLE ENERGY STOCKS ARE TOO CHEAP TO IGNORE

54 71

FEATURED INTERNATIONAL U.S., CANADA AMONG 20 COUNTRIES TO COMMIT TO STOP FINANCING FOSSIL FUELS ABROAD

JinkoSolar’s Next-Generation N-type Module Called Tiger Neo is in High Volume and Yield Production

ELECTRIC VEHICLE Delhi stops EV subsidies as electric vehicle registrations pick up pace

INTERVIEW

MR. MANISH GUPTA

INSOLATION ENERGY

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

MSGBC BASIN ACCELERATES PATH TOWARDS ENERGY TRANSITION BY INVESTING IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

RENEWABLE ENERGY

FITCH SOLUTIONS SAYS NEW CLIMATE TARGET POSES UPSIDE RISKS TO OUTLOOK FOR RENEWABLE GROWTH

EQ NEWS Pg. 12-80 INTERVIEW Pg. 30 & 32

ELECTRIC VEHICLE Cost of electric vehicles will drop, will be on par with petrol in 2 yrs

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ADANI POWER GETS NCLT NOD TO ACQUIRE ESSAR’S 1,200 MW MAHAN PROJECT IN MP

Adani Power said that it has got NCLT’s approval to acquire Essar Power’s 1,200 MW thermal power project in Mahan, Madhya Pradesh. CLT, Principal Bench at New Delhi, in its order dated November 01, 2021, approved the resolution plan submitted by Adani Power Ltd for acquisition of EPMPL (Essar Power M P Ltd), a company undergoing insolvency resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Adani Power stated in a BSE filing. EPMPL owns a 1,200 MW thermal power plant in Singrauli District, Madhya Pradesh.

The acquisition shall be subject to satisfaction of conditions precedent mentioned under the Resolution Plan, it stated. Earlier in June this year, Adani Power had emerged as the successful bidder for the Essar Power’s 1,200 MW project. According to industry sources, the deal size of the project is estimated at around Rs 2,800-3,000 crore. Source: PTI

INDIA PLEDGES SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ACTION AGENDA AT COP26

India, along with 26 countries signed sustainable agriculture action agenda for less polluting farming practices. uring the first week of the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), India signed up for sustainable agriculture action agenda. The ‘Sustainable Agriculture Policy Action Agenda for the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture’ and ‘Global Action Agenda for Innovation in Agriculture’ were the highlight action pledges by the participating countries at the COP26. India has an agrarian economy with 58 per cent of the total population’s livelihood depending on agriculture. For a country with more than half of its population relying on agriculture as a primary source of income, this step can turn out to be revolutionary.

The commitments being made today show that nature and land use is (are) being recognized as essential to meeting the Paris Agreement goals and will contribute to addressing the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Meanwhile, as we look ahead to negotiations in week two of COP, I urge all parties to come to the table with the constructive compromises and ambitions needed, said Alok Sharma, UK Cabinet minister and President of COP26.

NOVEMBER 2021

Others besides India to sign up to the action plan include Australia, Uganda, Madagascar, Tanzania, Vietnam, Nigeria, Lesotho, Laos, Indonesia, Guinea, Ghana, Germany, Philippines, Ethiopia, UK, Colombia, Costa Rica, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Spain, Switzerland, and the UAE.

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NOVEMBER 2021

INDIA

SECRETARY POWER REVIEWS STATUS OF BIOMASS UTILIZATION IN THERMAL POWER PLANTS IN THE COUNTRY Revised Policy on Biomass utilization for power generation through co- firing in coal based power plants issued on 8th October ‘21

TPC places order of 9,30,000 tons of Biomass pellets Haryana, Punjab and UP procuring 13,01,000 tons of biomass pellets for co-firing in their power plants. Training programs organized in Haryana and Punjab to sensitise and train stakeholders for participation in value chain of biomass co- firing in TPPs Union Secretary for Power Shri Alok Kumar took review meeting on status of bio-mass co-firing in the thermal power plants on 28th October 21. The meeting was attended by Central Electricity Authority, CMD NTPC, Representatives of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Mission Director – Nation Bio Mission and senior officials of Ministry of Power. It emerged that as a result of various actions taken by the Ministry of Power, initiatives for procurement of Biomass have been taken up by NTPC and different States as under: (i) NTPC placed order for 8,65,000 tons biomass pellets for which supply is already in progress. Further, NTPC has placed an additional order of 65,000 tons in October ’21. Another tranche of procurement for 25,00,000 tons is in progress for which the vendors are invited to submit offer by 1st November 21. (ii) Haryana, Punjab and UP are together procuring about 13,01,000 tons of biomass pellets for co-firing in their power plants. The orders are expected to be finalized in Nov 2021. In this context earlier, Ministry of Power on 17thNovember, 2017 issued Policy on biomass utilization for power generation through co-firing in coal based power plants. In this earlier Policy, it was advised in the policy that coal based thermal power plants, except those having ball and tube mill, of power generation utilities, to endeavor to use 5-10% blend of biomass pellets made, primarily, of agro residue along with coal after assessing the technical feasibility, viz. safety aspect etc. In order to further support the energy transition in the country and to achieve the target of cleaner energy sources, the policy has been modified and issued on 08.10.2021. This modified policy would provide the necessary direction in achieving the desired goals. The salient points of the “Revised Policy for Biomass Utilization for Power Generation through Co-firing in Coal based Power Plants” are as under: 14

NOVEMBER 2021

(i) It has been mandated that all thermal power plants to use 5% blend of biomass pellets made, primarily, of agro residue along with coal with effect from one year of the date of issue of this guideline. The obligation shall increase to 7% (except for those having Ball & Tube mill the use of biomass remain 5%) with effect from two years after the date of issue of this order and thereafter. (ii) It has been advised in the policy that minimum contract period for procurement of biomass pellets by generating utilities shall be for 7 years so as to avoid delay in awarding contracts by generating companies every year and also to build up long term supply chain. Ministry of Power has already setup the National Mission on use of Biomass in coal based thermal power plants, to address the issue of air pollution due to farm stubble burning and to reduce carbon footprints of thermal power generation, which would support the energy transition in the country and our targets to move towards cleaner energy sources. The Mission is fully functional at present and taking steps to encourage and support the biomass co-firing in the thermal power plants. The Mission is taking steps for development of the biomass supply chain, sensitising stakeholder and encouraging budding entrepreneurs. Recently two training & awareness programs were organised at Faridabad, Haryana and Nangal, Ropar, in this month. Both programs witnessed active participation by the farmers in the region wherein they were sensitized on negative impact of crop residue burning on the soil productivity and avenues to supplement their income by participating in the value chain of biomass co-firing in TPP. More such training program are planned in the near future. Further, large scale advertising & media campaigns are also being done regarding the benefit of eco-friendly utilisation of Biomass in Thermal Power Plants. As a result of these efforts, around 1400 tons of biomass has been fired in the Month of October 2021 and a total 53000 tons of Biomass has been utilised as Green fuel for in Power Plants so far. Parali burning incidences in the most affected six states like Punjab, Haryana, UP, Delhi, Rajasthan & MP has reduced by 58.3 % in 2021 till date as compared to same period in 2020. It is expected that the efforts of MOP through the newly formed National Mission will be able to curtail air pollution in North West India as well as prevent loss of fertility of agriculture land and provide a sustainable income source for farmers, suppliers and Biomass fuel manufacturers resulting into overall development.

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NOVEMBER 2021

INDIA

TO PROMOTE CLEAN ENERGY CONSUMPTION, POWER MINISTRY PROPOSES AMENDMENT TO ENERGY CONSERVATION ACT, 2001 Proposal includes defining minimum share of renewable energy in the overall consumption by industrial units

our stakeholder consultations held for inputs on possible amendments Amendments proposed to also address the global challenge of climate change Amidst the growing energy needs and changing global climate landscape, the Government of India has identified new areas to achieve higher levels of penetration of Renewable energy by proposing certain Amendments to Energy Conservation Act, 2001. The objective will be to enhance demand for renewable energy at the end- use sectors such as Industry, buildings, transport etc. Ministry of Power has prepared amendments, after consultations with stakeholders. The proposal includes defining minimum share of renewable energy in the overall consumption by the industrial units or any establishment. There will be provision to incentivise efforts on using clean energy sources by means of carbon saving certificate. Hon’ble Power Minister Shri R.K. Singh, reviewed the proposed amendments recently and directed to seek comments and suggestions from concerned Line ministries / departments and State Governments. Accordingly, a meeting was held by Shri Alok Kumar, Secretary (Power) with the stakeholders Ministries and Organizations on 28th Oct,2021 to give a final shape to the proposed amendments in the EC Act. To review the Act in detail, four stakeholder consultation meetings (one national consultation workshop and three regional consultations) were conducted with various stakeholders to discuss and receive inputs on the possible amendments. Further, to the discussion and stakeholder consultations, the amendments have been proposed to strengthen the institutions originally envisaged under the Act.

NOVEMBER 2021

The proposed amendments would facilitate development of Carbon market in India and prescribe minimum consumption of renewable energy either as direct consumption or indirect use through grid. This will help in reduction of fossil fuel based energy consumption and carbon emission to the atmosphere. India stands at the forefront of addressing the climate change and has committed to an ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of reducing emission intensity by 33-35% in 2030 against the levels of 2005. Ministry of Power, highlighted that India is committed to achieve more than 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil-fuel energy resources by 2030. Furthermore, by adopting energy efficiency measures, India holds a potential to reduce about 550 MtCO2 by 2030. The proposed changes to the EC Act will boost the adoption of clean technologies in various sectors of economy. The provisions would facilitate promotion of green Hydrogen as an alternate to the existing fossil fuels used by the Industries. The additional incentives in the form of Carbon credits against deployment of clean technologies will result in private sector involvement in climate actions. The proposal also includes expanding the scope of Act to include larger Residential buildings, with an aim to promote Sustainable Habitat. Ministry of Power has stated that the need for energy is inevitable and with the changing business landscape, it is has become even more imperative to address the nation’s need to become energy-efficient without putting further pressure on the environment. With the amendment to EC Act, 2001, the focus is to empower institutions to contribute for our Paris commitments and fully implement our NDCs in a timely manner.

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INDIA

CEMENT, STEEL INDUSTRIES SHOULD USE GREEN HYDROGEN FOR ENERGY: GADKARI Union minister Nitin Gadkari said it is now time that cement and steel industries start using green hydrogen as energy instead of coal for production. He was speaking at the inauguration of various facilities of Manganese Ore India Limited (MOIL) based in Nagpur. “It is now time for using green hydrogen as energy in the cement and steel industry in place of coal. We should work on value addition by running metal industries, where mining products are using green hydrogen as energy. We will have to protect the environment and increase our production at the same time,” he said. Gadkari, who is member of the cabinet committee on divestment, emphasized on carrying out divestment on a large scale as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said it is not the job of the government to run a business. “Big financial discipline is taking place through divestment. Those (PSUs) who are in profit and doing well should perform better and stressed on important performance audit which he said is more important than financial audit,” he said. Gadkari appreciated MOIL for the announcements it made for its employees in terms of wage revisions and other demands. He asked MOIL to increase its annual production and and reduce import of ore and make India 'atmanirbhar' (self-reliant). Mukund Chaudhary, CMD of MOIL, said that MOIL is consistently earning profits and paying handsome dividends to the shareholders major shareholder being the Government of India. Chaudhary informing about its plan to increase production capacity said it is targeting 2.5 million tonnes 2025-26 and 3 million tonnes by 2030. Talked about the expansion plan, Chaudhary said that MOIL has signed an MOU for manganese ore production with Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation in Gujarat, wherein exploration has been started and 9.5 million tonnes of ores has been approved. Similarly, MOIL will be signing MOUs with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha governments for manganese ore production.

Nitin Gadkari Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India

Source: PTI

POWER SECTOR EMPLOYEES THREATEN TO BOYCOTT WORK FROM NOV 1 The Madhya Pradesh United Forum for Power Employees and Engineers (MPUFPEE) gave a call to employees of the state-owned power companies to boycott work from November 1 to press for their various demands.

mployees and engineers of the state-owned power companies will go on karya bahishkar andolan (work boycott agitation) to press for their five-point demand from November 1, MPUFPEE coordinator engineer V K S Parihar told PTI. The demand includes payment of 50 per cent of the arrears of dearness allowance and deferred increment amount in the salary for October, Parihar said. The forum has already put forth its demand in a series of meetings with the state energy minister and the principal secretary of the Energy Department, during which assurances were made but no action has been taken so far, he said. The MPUFPEE is a forum of 11 associations of engineers and employees of the state-owned power companies, he said. The other demands include benefit of salary hike and dearness allowance to contractual engineers and employees, and payment of bonus and salary for the month of October before Diwali to employees engaged on outsource basis, Parihar added.

NOVEMBER 2021

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INDIA

POWER CONSUMPTION RISES 4.8% TO 114.37 BU IN OCTOBER: POWER MINISTRY

Last year in October, power consumption stood at 109.17 BU and in the same period in 2019, it was at 97.84 BU. ndia’s power consumption grew 4.8 per cent in October to 114.37 billion units (BU), indicating a good recovery amid coal shortages at electricity generation plants, according to power ministry data. Last year in October, power consumption stood at 109.17 BU and in the same period in 2019, it was at 97.84 BU. During October, the peak power demand met or the highest supply in a day stood at 174.60 GW, higher than 169.89 GW in the same month last year. The data clearly shows that there is recovery in power consumption as well as demand in the country. Experts said the recovery in power demand as well as consumption would increase further due to the government’s efforts to ramp up coal supplies at plants and improvement in economic activities following the lifting of lockdown restrictions by states. As many as 135 power plants with over 165 GW power generation capacity monitored by the Central Electricity Authority had coal stock of 10.08 million tonnes enough for six days (at daily requirement of 1.79 million tonnes) as on October 29, compared to 7.96 million tonnes for four days (at daily requirement of 1.82 million tonne on October 1, 2021). The coal stock data shows improvement in the dry fuel situation at thermal power plants in the country with onset of winters and improved coal supplies. Many states had imposed lockdown restrictions after the second wave of the pandemic hit the nation in April this year. Curbs were gradually lifted as the number of COVID cases fell. However, power consumption in September this year witnessed subdued recovery with almost flat growth at 112.43 BU mainly due to delayed monsoon (heavy rains). In September last year, power consumption was 112.24 BU, higher than 107.51 BU in the same month of 2019. 20

NOVEMBER 2021

Experts said the recovery in power demand and consumption in September 2021 remained subdued mainly because of delayed Monsoon. In August this year, power consumption grew by over 17 per cent at 127.88 BU compared to 109.21 BU in the same month in 2020. The second wave of COVID-19 hit the country in the middle of April this year and affected the recovery in commercial and industrial power demand as states started imposing restrictions in the latter part of the month. The month saw year-on-year growth of nearly 38.5 per cent in power consumption. Power consumption witnessed 6.6 per cent year-on-year growth in May this year at 108.80 BU, despite a low base of 102.08 BU in the same month of 2020. As per the latest data, in June it grew nearly 9 per cent to 114.48 BU, compared to 105.08 BU in the same month last year. In July, it rose to 123.72 BU from 112.14 BU in the same month a year ago. Power consumption in February this year was recorded at 103.25 BU, compared to 103.81 BU a year ago. In March, power consumption rose nearly 22 per cent to 120.63 BU, compared to 98.95 BU in the same month of 2020. After a gap of six months, power consumption had recorded 4.6 per cent year-on-year growth in September 2020, and 11.6 per cent in October 2020. In November, 2020, power consumption growth slowed to 3.12 per cent, mainly due to early onset of winters. In December, it grew 4.5 per cent, while this was 4.4 per cent higher in January 2021.

Source: PTI

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NOVEMBER 2021

INDIA

COP26: INDIA LAUNCHES ‘ONE SUN, ONE WORLD, ONE GRID’ TO IMPROVE VIABILITY OF SOLAR POWER India launched ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’ at the global climate conference with an aim to harness solar energy wherever the sun is shining, thereby ensuring that generated electricity flows to areas that need it most.

s part of this, it unveiled plans for the first international network of global interconnected solar power grids, known as the Green Grids Initiative. The project is being spearheaded by the governments of India and the UK and will bring together a global coalition of national governments, international financial and technical organisations, legislators, power system operators and knowledge leaders. In doing so, the project aims to reduce reliance on non-renewable energy such as coal by enabling consumers to purchase affordable solar power from other countries. The announcement was accompanied by the One Sun declaration, which has been endorsed by 83 countries. The declaration by the member countries said that to help deliver the vision of One Sun One World One Grid, they have resolved to combine our efforts and create a more interconnected global grid. They will also focus on developing innovative financial instruments, market structures, and facilitate financial and technical assistance to attract low-cost capital, including climate finance, for global solar grid infrastructure, the declaration said. The global grid concept was first announced by Prime Minister Modi in October 2018. Source: PTI

COAL WILL CONTINUE TO FEED GROWING ENERGY NEED OF INDIA FOR NEXT FIVE DECADES According to former Coal India chairman Partha Sarathi Bhattacharyya, coal will have to stay and initially will have to actually increase in quantity and not in share.

iven India's dependence on coal for 70% of the power sector's need, the 50% nonfossil fuel sourcing by 2030 itself will be quite challenging and coal will continue to feed the growing energy need of India for the next five decades, according to industry experts. The comments come a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised delegates at the COP26 climate summit with a bold pledge to cutting emissions at the world's thirdbiggest emitter to net-zero by 2070. "Coal will continue to feed the growing energy need of India in next five decades and only going to peak in the 2040s- hence we need to continue investment in coal mines and infrastructure going forward, else we will face fuel side challenges like in October," Debasis Mishra, partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in India told PTI. As such India’s thermal coal capacities are increasing from current 210 GW to 267 GW projected by CEA by 2030. Also there will be retirement of old capacities. Hence in no situation thermal coal capacities will get stranded because of this COP26 commitment, he added. According to former Coal India chairman Partha Sarathi Bhattacharyya, coal will have to stay and initially will have to actually increase in quantity and not in share. "Share will go down but it terms of quantity and in terms of capacity it will perhaps go up from the current levels," he explained. Niladri Bhattacharjee, Partner, Metals & Mining, KPMG in India said primafacie, the 2070 commitment for net-zero seems quite doable. However the generation that will be responsible for this is not yet born or are very young.

NOVEMBER 2021

"Coal's demise is not a foregone conclusion, especially in the power sector. What happens to coal will be a function of India's growth, overall energy demand in India and price of different forms of energy as we go through the transition," he said. Imported energy may be the first casualty compared to domestic coal. "However, the fourth commitment related to reducing energy intensity of the economy so sharply, will pose a challenge for steel, aluminium and cement sectors. Somehow, I feel we need to wait and see how the separate commitments impact each other and whether one can be easier to pull off independent of the other," he added. Modi raised the 2030 target for renewable energy capacity to 500 GW from 450 GW and pledged to produce half the country's electricity using renewable energy. India will also cut carbondioxide emissions by 1 billion tonne from business as usual by the end of the decade. To deliver on the 2070 goal, the country still has to lay out a detailed plan for the 40 years in between. Modi, in his address at the ongoing COP 26 announced a bold pledge that India will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070 and asserted that it is the only country that is delivering in "letter and spirit" the commitments on tackling climate change under the Paris Agreement. He also raised the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of achieving 450 giga watt non-fossil energy capacity to 500 giga watt, among other commitments including reducing carbon emissions.

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NOVEMBER 2021

INDIA

BIHAR GOVT TO SET UP SOLAR PLANTS AT KAJRA, PIRPAINTY The state cabinet approved the government’s proposal to establish solar power plants at Kajra in Lakhisarai and Pirpainty in Bhagalpur district on the land earlier acquired for the thermal power plants, state cabinet secretariat department additional chief secretary Sanjay Kumar said.

he cabinet also allowed to amend the energy department’s resolution of December 12, 2010 under which chunks of land had been acquired for the establishment and opening of thermal power plants. The proposal for integrated development of 20 towns and their allied rural areas was also approved. The towns concerned are Buxar, Kishanganj, Katihar, Sasaram, Dehri, Motihari, Aurangabad, Hajipur, Jamui, Siwan, Bettiah, Bagaha, Lakhisarai, Khagaria, Araria, Forbesganj, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Bhabhua and Sheohar. In yet another decision, the government will transfer 200.02 acres of land at Darbhanga to the Centre for the construction of AIIMS there. The land is located in Darbhanga Sadar and Bahadurpur circles. The cabinet cleared the release of Rs8.72 crore from the state contingency fund to Mahila Charkha Samiti, Kadamkuan (Patna), for the construction of a production-cumtraining centre. It also approved the proposal to increase the amount payable under JP Samman Yojana to those who were incarcerated under MISA/DIR between March 18, 1974 and March 21, 1977 for participation in the JP-led stir. The sanction was also given to release Rs8.05 crore for the constructions of Ambedkar Residential Girls High School in Aurangabad.

NOVEMBER 2021

The cabinet cleared the proposal to calculate the earned leave of government employees, who retired between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, at the enhanced rate of dearness allowance. As per the revised payscale, the increase in the DA will be from 28% to 31% effective from July 1, 2021. The cabinet cleared the release of Rs2.90 crore for the purchase of eight new vehicles for use in the Patna high court. Besides, it also cleared Rs 1.13 crore for the purchase of six vehicles for use by the Speaker, deputy Speaker of the assembly, as well as the whips. Bihar State Cooperative Bank has been authorized to raise Rs5,000 crore from NABARD pertaining to the Kharif marketing season of 2021-22 and the Rabi marketing season of 2022-23. Similarly, Bihar Sate Food and Civil Supplies Corporation has been allowed to raise Rs9,000 crore from commercial banks and NABARD as its working capital in connection with the kharif marketing season 2021-22 and procurement of paddy. Winter session from Nov 29 The cabinet gave its approval for holding the fiveday winter session of the state legislature from November 29 to December 3. Source : TNN

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INDIA

IREDA LAUNCHES ‘WHISTLE BLOWER’ PORTAL Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA), a PSU under the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched a ‘Whistle-blower Portal’, as a part of ‘Vigilance Awareness Week 2021’.

he portal was launched by Shri Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), IREDA and Dr. Praveen Kumari Singh, Additional Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in presence of Shri Chintan Shah, Director (Technical), Ms. Manisha Saxena, CVO, IREDA and other senior officials. Through this portal, IREDA employees can raise concerns related to fraud, corruption, abuse of power etc.The portal has been developed by IT Team of the company. Launching the portal, Shri Pradip Kumar Das, CMD, IREDA highlighted that Whistle-blower portal is a part of a IREDA’s “zero tolerance” of corruption. Reiterating the Good and Clean Governance policy of the company, Shri Das stressed the importance of transparency and procedural fairness. Dr. Praveen Kumari Singh, Additional Secretary, CVC extended her compliments

for launching of Whistle-blower portal by IREDA. Further, she also conducted an interactive session on Whistle-blower Policy. During the session, she addressed all the queries raised by the participants and encouraged IREDA employees to work as ambassador of CVC to fight against corruption. On this occasion, latest issue of Vigilance journal ‘Pahal’ was also released by IREDA. During the week-long Vigilance Awareness campaign (26th October to 2nd November 2021), various activities like interaction with customers & vendors for redressal of their grievances, seminars, workshops, speech competition, quiz among employees, drawing competitions, dance competitions for students, NukkadNatakand other vigilance related awareness activities were carried out in line with the ‘Vigilance Awareness Week 2021’ theme- ‘Independent India @75: Self Reliance with Integrity’.

ISRO CAN SUGGEST IDEAL LOCATIONS TO SET UP SOLAR POWER PROJECTS “We have demonstrated the technology in identifying the best locations for putting up the solar power plants. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing that India can offer the technology to other countries, we may get enquiries,” said K.Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and also the Secretary, Department of Space

ndian space agency can suggest the ideal location to put up a solar power farm with the data gathered from its geostationary earth observation satellites within and outside India, said a top official. He also said the technology can be transferred to those who are interested. “We have demonstrated the technology in identifying the best locations for putting up the solar power plants. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing that India can offer the technology to other countries, we may get enquiries,” said K Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and also the Secretary, Department of Space. According to Sivan, the data transmitted by the satellites will be analysed by ISRO officials. An android application for the computation of solar energy potential has been developed by ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad at the behest of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The tool can be used for installation of photovoltaic solar panels for tapping solar energy.Speaking at the COP26 summit Modi said: “I also want to inform that our space agency, ISRO is going to present a solar calculator application to the world. With this calculator, the solar power potential of any place in the world can be measured based on satellite data. This application will be useful in deciding the location of solar projects and will also strengthen ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’.” The application provides monthly / yearly solar potential (in kWh/m2) and minimum / maximum temperature at any location. It also displays the location on the satellite image and provides azimuth / elevation angles as well as day length over different time periods in a year.The required location can be keyed in or can be obtained through GPS, said ISRO. Location is displayed on image with satellite data

in the background.It gives monthly and yearly solar potential processed using Indian Geostationary Satellite data (Kalpana-1, INSAT-3D and INSAT-3DR). It also offers monthly minimum and maximum temperature to calculate realistic solar potential.Obstruction of sunlight due to terrain is also calculated using the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The application also suggests optimum tilt angle for solar PV installationThe application can be downloaded from the “New and Renewable Energy” section at vedas.sac.gov.in.It may be recalled that Modi had earlier promised a satellite for South Asian regions which was later released by ISRO in the form of GSAT-9/South Asia Satellite (formerly SAARC Satellite) a communication/meteorology satellite in 2017. Meanwhile, queried about the upcoming satellite launches, Sivan nothing has been finalised and ISRO is working on that. Sivan also said the revised foreign direct investment policy is under formulation.

Source: IANS 26

NOVEMBER 2021

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INDIA AP GOVT TO BUY 7000 MW OF SOLAR POWER FROM SECI: ENERGY MINISTER Promising farmers free power for the next 25 years, Andhra Pradesh energy Balineni Srinivasa Reddy said that the state government is going to procure 7000 mega watts (MW) of solar power from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) which could ensure free power to 18 lakh farmers for nine hours until 2046. “There will be absolutely no burden on existing Discoms for purchasing this power and all the cost will be borne by Government of AP. This scheme comes with an ISTS waiver for 25 years compared to setting up the project in AP where central grid charges will have to be paid for 25 years,” stated Balineni Srinivas Reddy. The AP energy minister further claimed that the central government is giving exemption of central grid charges for power from outside the state. If a project is set up in Anantapur (Kurnool district) for example, it has to first flow to Tamilnadu and Karnataka using central grid because the power flows from North to South in India, he pointed out and said that it will cost heavy money every year for AP. Parallely power will flow from Orissa to Srikakulam down to Krishna and Guntur districts where the demand exists, said a press release from AP government. “All the land earmarked for our 10,000 MW project remains with us for use for other purposes. Curtailment matters are subject of real time operations done by the grid operator depending on the demand – generation gap at that point of time to ensure grid reliability of 24 x 7 uninterrupted power supply and grid safety,” stated the AP energy minister. The set price of Rs 2.49 /kwh is as per the tender discovered price of SECI, which is a Government of India Public Sector Undertaking, and the tariff for the same will be determined as per Electricity Act by the Regulatory Commission. The AP government has to abide by the decision of ERC as per Electricity Act. The quantum of procurement will be decided by Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) as per the Electricity Act.

Source: siasat

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NOVEMBER 2021

INDIA

BELECTRIC COMMISSIONS ANOTHER LARGE-SCALE SOLAR FARM IN INDIA Solar project with a capacity of 250 MWac completed on time 40% of the plant is equipped with bifacial high-performance modules BELECTRIC provides operation and maintenance services

ELECTRIC has commissioned a largescale solar farm in Rajasthan, India. With an installed capacity of 250 MWac the solar power plant is one of India’s largest installations. BELECTRIC provides operations and maintenance services (O&M) to the plant on behalf of the owner Fortum Solar Plus Private Limited (Fortum) “Because of Covid-19 it was not a given that we would be able to get this solar farm online on time. But our Indian team has overcome all challenges and we were able to deliver this new 250 MWac solar plant for our customer Fortum, safely, on time and with a quality build”, explains Ingo Alphéus, CEO of BELECTRIC Solar & Battery GmbH. “We are particularly proud that we delivered one of the first large scale bifacial installations in India.”. Around 40% of the large-scale solar farm is equipped with bifacial high-performance modules. Bifacial cells are embedded in a double-sided glass-module by which the solar radiation can be absorbed from both sides – the front and the back of the module. To clean the modules an automatic waterless cleaning system is installed.

NOVEMBER 2021

In addition BELECTRIC has built a 33/220 kV substation for electricity transmission within the boundaries of the solar farm. Jitendra Singh, CEO & Managing Director of BELECTRIC Photovoltaic India Pvt. Ltd, adds: “With successful delivery of this project, Belectric India crossed the milestone of 1 GWp of installed capacity in India. BELECTRIC continues to maintain the highest standard of health and safety guidance and we are looking forward to many years of safe operations of the solar farm in Rajasthan.”BELECTRIC is one of the world’s leading EPC service providers in the development and construction of ground-mounted solar power plants and rooftop PV systems. BELECTRIC has 20 years of experience in power plant construction and to date has built almost 4 gigawatts (GW) of capacity worldwide. Its Indian subsidiary, BELECTRIC Photovoltaic India Pvt. Ltd., is one of the most established EPCs in the country.Founded in 2009 the company has been steadily growing its footprint in India, starting with MWp scale projects to one of India’s first 1,500 V systems and two of Asia’s largest rooftop installations on a single location. In total BELECTRIC’s Indian subsidiary has been involved in solar projects in the country with an installed capacity of more than 1.2 GWp.

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INDIA KARNATAKA TO TRAIN 18,000 WOMEN SELF HELP GROUP MEMBERS ON SOLAR ENERGY UTILIZATION IN RURAL AREAS Trained Women To Be Engaged As ‘Swachha Karmikas’ By Gram Panchayats. Classroom Training In All 30 Districts To Benefit 18,000 Rural Women By Providing Them With An Alternative Source Of Income

he Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Energy and Development (MGIRED), in collaboration with the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, the Department of Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation, and the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), is training 18,000 rural women from Karnataka’s SHGs (Self Help Groups) in various aspects such as solid waste management and solar energy utilisation in rural areas.These women will be engaged as SwachhaKarmikas by their local Gram Panchayats to carry out solid waste management duties like daily waste collection, waste segregation, Swaccha Vahini driving, and so on.

The programme consists of five days of classroom training and exposure trips. The goal of the programme is to provide SHG members with the knowledge and skills necessary to efficiently administer SwacchaSankeerna as a business module and to make the SWM unit self-sustaining, hence providing a source of financial assistance for SHG members.

According to Mr. Parameswar Hegde (Director ISA, RDWSD), the classroom training that will be offered in all 30 districts this fiscal year would benefit 18,000 rural women, providing them with an alternative source of income. The programme is free of charge and includes travel, boarding, and accommodation forthree women from each of the Gram Panchayats in Karnataka. This year, 600 batches will be covered with 30 women in each batch, with each batch costing between Rs. 70,000 and Rs. 1 lakh. SHG members will learn about renewable energy sources, solid waste management, different composting technologies for wet waste, the idea of bio gas for managing biodegradable waste, and the importance of menstrual health and its management after the training. The trained members are expected to carry out duties like as waste segregation, wet waste composting, and biogas unit management at their respective gram panchayats, which they learned during practical demonstrations. Further, MoUs will be signed with the local GPs for the trained women to be absorbed into the GPLF (Gram Panchayat Level Federation).

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AGENDA OF THE 5-DAY TRAINING PROGRAMME INCLUDED: Introduction to Energy, Renewable Energy – solar, wind, small hydro, Bioenergy, etc., at MGIRED Introduction to waste and solid waste management with activities. This comprised of group discussion, drawing, conducting surveys in the campus, etc., at MGIRED Visit to solid waste management unit, at nearby Gram Panchayat for practical exposure on primary segregation, secondary segregation, tendering, etc Vermicomposting techniques (theory and practical) at MGIRED Visit to solid waste management unit, at nearby Gram Panchayat for practical exposure on primary segregation, secondary segregation, tendering, etc Introduction to Biogas Technologies and their maintenance- different models of Biogas units, Government schemes, guidelines and subsidy for biogas plants at MGIRED Energy park demonstration at MGIRED Maintenance of sanitary pads, alternatives to sanitary pads Pipe composting theory and practical at MGIRED Visit to Solid Waste Management Unit, at nearby Gram Panchayat for practical exposure on primary segregation, secondary segregation, tendering, etc Case studies of biogas bottling plant and biogas to electricity plant and visit to biogas to electricity plant and commercial vermicompost methods at nearby agriculture college Assessment and feedback from participants at MGIRED Source : PIB

NOVEMBER 2021

INTERVIEW

MR. MANISH GUPTA DIRECTOR, INSOLATION ENERGY

EQ: Proposed BCD on Module/Cells Import in India…What are your views on this? MG: The government has decided to impose 40% basic customs duty (BCD) on solar modules and 25% on solar cells from 1 April 2022. There will be no grandfathering of power projects that are already bid out, considering the one-year period is sufficient to help developers secure the required raw materials in time .This is a welcome step in the right direction. This will encourage local manufacturing and reduce dependence on cheap imports thereby saving precious foreign exchange. Further the need of the hour is to have robust manufacturing base right from silicon manufacturing to modules. The Government should come out with more such stable, long term policies which are favorable to MSME sector as well as big enterprises. EQ: World Market Scenario and its impact on pricing and availability of modules in this year. Expected Pricing & Availability in this year and next year? MG: 1. It is very tough to predict the market scenario in short term because the price of key raw materials is highly volatile. In the 1ST and 2ND quarter of FY 21-22, we saw an exponential rise in the cost of glass which subsequently came down a bit in the last month. 2. Coming to wafers, & cells there has been a substantial increase in the price of poly crystalline in the last 2-3 months which is being attributed to excessive demand from India since rest of the world has stopped using Poly modules. Predicting the price is not something that we’d speculate in at the moment. 3. After the imposition of BCD, the costs may go up or the producers in China may decide to reduce the raw material prices by some extent due to demand adjustment in the beginning of FY 22-23. EQ: How much modules have you supplied to India till now, what is the target/expectation in this year and next year? MG: Till date we have supplied 250+ MW of solar modules. In the last financial year ( 2020-2021 ) we have supplied approx 100+ MW of modules. This year our Target is to supply 200 MW*+ and further 500 MW in the next year.

NOVEMBER 2021

EQ: What are the new technology innovations in Solar Modules, Logistical aspects usage of larger format modules? MG: We are sitting at a stage where we can foresee the phasing out of poly-silicon modules. Gradually we are seeing the narrowing of price gap between mono perc and poly modules. Stage is clearly set for new technologies like mono perc, bifacial modules and twin peak modules …. Bigger cell sizes with multiple bus bars are going to see the light of the day. These highly efficient modules in higher wattages and higher voltages will ease the logistical aspects, reduce the land requirement, reduce the BOE cost and finally brings down the LCOE EQ: Kindly comment on policies and regulatory aspects like BCD, BIS, ALMM.SGD. etc. MG: We at Insolation Energy are very quality conscious. our products are made using the best of row material best of manufacturing equipment and the best manufacturing practices. Being a quality conscious company we appreciate the initiatives like BIS ALMM. etc. However we firmly believe that there should be uniformity in policies across the various Govt. departments. The policies should be such that they are transparent, easy to implement, long term and stable. in addition we request Govt. to create lab in infrastructure wherein tests are done at an economical prices and quality too is ensured .In the absence of SGD which got expired on 29th of July 2021 there is the strong need of BCD to prevent the import of cheap solar modules. EQ: What are your plans to ramp up or set up or grow your manufacturing base in India in light of the Proposed BCD? MG: Currently our manufacturing capacity is 200 MW. We are expanding it to 500 MW by the end of this financial year. We further plan to increase this to 1GW in the near future.

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NOVEMBER 2021

INTERVIEW

MR. BRIJESH NAIR PROJECT DIRECTOR, MM INDIA EQ: Now that we have moved past the virtual meets, what is it that Intersolar has to offer this year? BN: This is a special year for the whole exhibition and conference Industry. As we prepare to restart business post pandemic, we see a huge interest form the industry and people to connect at physical events and kick-start business as usual. Intersolar this year is more like a restart event, where it termed as Intersolar India Special Edition. However, we also are happy to inform on the contrary the response received has been immense, we have a sold out halls and couple of day of knowledge packed conference. You can meet all the top manufacturers from India and few international companies, displaying their new range of products ready for the Indian market. About 100+ exhibitors will connect with 400+ top buyers at our buyer seller forum, the most interesting part of this activity is the buyer are announcing a yearlong sourcing requirement and closing deals at this forum. Surpassing our expectation we receiving communications and calls from remote part of the country to visit the show. As the industry is excited, so are we at Messe Muenchen India. EQ: What are going to be the key highlights of this well anticipated event? BN: The key highlights of the event will be the focus we have towards solar manufacturing. We try to align our theme as govt of India is extensively focusing on Atmanirbhar Bharat, as they launch the PLI scheme and huge focus is towards solar Industry. The conference program as well as the buyer seller engagement are going to complement this initiative. In addition, companies like Solex, Pixon, Nyalkaran Solar, Aatmanirbhar Solar are kind of launching at our event, Goldi will be displaying the launch of new range of modules at our show. Not just this our session on the first and second day focusing on PV manufacturing in India downwards integration as well as Law for solar- waste management, will deliberate on future trends and set a trend for 2022 and beyond for the solar industry. Intersolar India this year is happening alongside IFAT India and drink technology India shows of Messe Muenchen India, bringing upon strong synergy of end users to the show. EQ: What measures are being taken to ensure health and safety of the attendees amidst the pandemic? BN: Messe Muenchen India has and will ensure all possible measure to make the event safe and secure for all attendees of the trade fair. We have listed some of the points which are specially been taken to comply with COVID protocols set by govt of India.

NOVEMBER 2021

• We are promoting online bookings and digital payments for exhibitors to reduce contact. • On online registration form, we are asking questions regarding vaccination, to ensure people visiting are all vaccinated and are as per the SOP recommended by Govt. of India for exhibition and conferences. • We are keeping a track on the most preferred time of visit, as there are timeslots a visitor to ensure the halls and conference are not too packed at any given time or day. • We will ensure setting up of Health/First-aid kiosk with temperature scanning and hand sanitizer at each entry and exit gates of the halls. • Halls are ensured to be disinfected before giving possession to exhibitors and attendees. • Placement of Necessary Signage for Health & Safety around the venue listing of does and don’t at the venue. • Multiple and separate visitor & exhibitor entry & exit Planned. • Secluded logistics & material handling entry & exit. EQ: What are the prospects of RE growth and development for the year 2022? BN: Post pandemic industries are opening up and as India grows, the demand for Energy is going to grow as well. India is globally leading the Energy Transition and intends to continue leading the path. India is home to one of the most ambitious energy transition programs across the globe. With a goal of 175 GW of RE by 2022 and 500 GW by 2030, this decade can be truly called India’s Decade of Energy Transition. Already 39% of our installed capacity is from non-fossil-based sources and by 2022 we will reach 40%. India has already set an example for emerging economies by reaching 100GW of renewables. EQ: As organisers what is your message to the guests, panelists and attendees of the conference? BN: At the outset, we would like to inform the entire stakeholder from the solar industry not to miss this opportunity and use this as a launch pad for the coming 2022 which is going to be a bright year for the solar industry in India. The venue will conduct all associated programs following COVID protocol and all measure are being taken to ensure safety of people attending. The world is changing, as never before, intense monsoons, cyclones, ravaging forest fires are all happening due to climate change, now ignoring this will be the biggest mistake humanity could do. At Intersolar we have the philosophy to change this and reduce the carbon footprint, top notch solar companies are coming together at Intersolar India 2021, 2 – 4 Dec @ Hall 11 – 12 Helipad Grounds, Gandhinagar, Gujarat to make this happen and offer cost effective solar solution for energy demanding and growing India. Come join us for the initiative: Save Energy / Save Cost / Turn to Solar

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TECHNOLOGY

Technology Selection: Half Cell Vs Full Cell Solar PV Modules

Contendre Solar is an ISO Certified Solar PV Manufacturing and Solutions Company with a State-of-the-Art, Fully Automated Solar Module Manufacturing Facility at Bhiwandi, Thane, Maharashtra, India with an aim of providing the highest quality solar products and solutions to the world at a competent price point. Its Avant grade European production line provides them with a high level of production accuracy, making them one of the most technologically advanced PV modules producing facilities not only in India. Contendre Solar being primarily focused in Solar PV Module manufacturing and Solar EPC Services has also recently introduced its Solar PV Inverters range with an unrivalled replacement warranty of 10 Years. Contendre Solar offers Solar PV modules ranging from 40Wp up to 400Wp with the technology upgradation already under process allowing them to produce modules up to 600Wp in near future. Contendre Solar provides Inverter range starting from 1Kw upto 255KW. With their equipment already advanced & upgraded to keep up with the fast-evolving technology, they are also able to provide their customers with some customised products for applications like Building integrated Photovoltaics and other uses.

olar Modules have been predominantly used for various applications like land, rooftops and now even on the surface of the water bodies. In the run for minimising the LCOE while also parallelly maximising the commercial gains from a solar power plant, a constant R&D and technology evolution is necessary. Which indeed has given rise to this new technology of halfcell solar PV Modules. The share of half-cell modules has increased significantly in these recent few years. The separation of solar cells and the subsequent interconnection of halved cells has been advertised and reported advantageous compared to full size cells. But, diving into this deeper there are a few things which an installer has to take care before blindly concluding the selection based on the output of the modules.

Advantages of half-cell modules: • Less resistive loss due to a reduced current resulting in higher output compared to the full cell modules. • Better shading behavior because of the use of two strings connected in parallel within the module instead of one. • Less hot spot impact due to lower current within the module.

Drawbacks: Perc Half-Cell Module Performance at Several Levels of Irradiance • HC Perc Modules (Rated 380 Wp at STC) and FC PERC module (rated370Wp) of the same technology, performances were evaluated • Outcome: Lower Irradiance result in high loss in efficiency means high loss. • A normalized module efficiency for each setup and irradiance to compare the different module designs and find that an increase in irradiance does not linearly translate into a power gain. The full cell module performs relatively better than the half-cell module at low irradiances.

• Higher structure related costs for smaller plant capacities if done in HC Modules due to additional support requirement due to longer module lengths. • Similar space requirement in both FC and HC when compared in smaller plant capacities.

Mechanical Strength:

Due to the bigger module size of HC Solar PV Modules it provides lesser mechanical strength and the chances of Solar Cell Fracturing is much higher compared to full cell modules if not installed correctly.

Conclusion: Half-cut cells module have many advantages thanks to their unique architecture: similar or better shading behaviour than full cell modules; lower hot spot impact; lower series resistance. However, the low light efficiency is lower and can impact the potential yield of a PV plant. Depending on the irradiance conditions of the site where the modules are going to be installed, half-cell modules may not be the choice that will minimize the system LCOE. These higher losses at low-light are linked to the half-cut architecture, with relatively lower resistive losses at high current, but maybe also to higher recombination losses. Questions may remain on the impact on the durability of a module as half-cell modules requires twice more solders than a full-cell module and can be investigated in the future. As per our opinion, HC modules are better designed for Utility Scale projects which are implemented in a controlled and customised environments. However, for rooftop segments it is more preferrable to select the Full cell module technology where the modules are to be retrofitted in an existing environment. Still, for the betterment of our industry and to take this industry further we’re open for your further inputs.

Module Size: Standard Full Cell Module 400Wp: 1985 x 1000mm (Ref. Contendre Solar MPro Series) Standard Half Cell Module 535Wp: 2384 x1096mm (Ref. Trina Solar Vertex Series) Approximate difference in Module size is 20-25% • Transportation of HC Modules is a bit of a challenge in comparison to Fc modules leading to higher costs.

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Author DHARMIN SHETH

Director, Contendre Greenergy Pvt. Ltd.

NOVEMBER 2021

BUSINESS & FINANCE

DOWN OVER 25%, THESE 3 RENEWABLE ENERGY STOCKS ARE TOO CHEAP TO IGNORE These stocks may be down, but they still have very bright futures.

If residential solar continues to grow, SunPower will be one of the industry’s leaders. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure gives investors income and growing assets in the renewable energy sector. TPI Composites can turn things around over the next few years. Many of the biggest renewable energy stocks on the market have pulled back sharply since hitting highs earlier this year. That’s partly because investors had become too exuberant in trading and partly because higher interest rates have hurt growth stocks. Despite the pullback, renewable energy is a booming industry and there’s a lot of opportunity for investors. Three of our renewable energy contributors think SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR), Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (NASDAQ:AY), and TPI Composites (NASDAQ:TPIC) are great deals, with the stocks down over 25% from their 52-week highs.

THE QUIET RESIDENTIAL SOLAR COMPANY Travis Hoium (SunPower): SunPower has gone through tremendous changes this year. The company recently announced plans to exit the commercial solar business, after exiting the utility-scale solar market and the solar manufacturing business over the last few years. SunPower also recently announced the acquisition of a residential solar installer Blue Raven Solar, meaning the company now installs solar systems itself rather than working with thirdparty partners to do the work. But this may be the right move long-term. SunPower has built the digital infrastructure and brand to be a top residential solar company. On the company’s website you can build and price a solar installation in just a few minutes and the company has put together the infrastructure to control and monitor solar and energy storage installations. Strategically, SunPower is well positioned to succeed in residential solar and currently has the No. 2 market position

NOVEMBER 2021

behind Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN). And the stock is trading at a discount to Sunrun. In the first half of 2021, SunPower installed 204 megawatts of residential and light commercial solar, before the acquisition of Blue Raven Solar, and Sunrun installed 353 MW of solar. But SunPower’s market cap of $5.1 billion is less than half of Sunrun’s at $10.6 billion, so even from a valuation perspective SunPower’s shares look like a value. Long-term, I think residential solar will continue to grow in the U.S. and SunPower clearly has a market-leading position. The stock may be down from highs earlier this year, but that’s created a discount for investors who believe in this industry long-term.

HIGH-QUALITY ASSETS AT A DISCOUNTED PRICE

Howard Smith (Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure): In the first half of 2021, Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure reported that it grew cash available for distribution by 12.9% compared to the first six months of 2020. But shares of the renewable energy asset manager and owner haven’t followed along. Atlantica shares are down almost 25% since the first week of January 2021. With shares also yielding nearly 5%, now is a good time for investors to get this income-generating investment with room for capital appreciation. Most of Atlantica’s power generation comes from its renewable assets — more than 70% of which are solar. The company also holds assets in efficient natural gas, electric transmission lines, and water capacity. The company’s model is to grow by adding new assets with contracted or regulated revenue, helping to ensure a steady flow of income for investors. Shareholders can count on that income because Atlantica’s portfolio of 34 power generating assets are 100% contracted, or in two cases, regulated. And there’s good reason to believe invested capital can also grow, as the company continues to grow its generating assets. In the first half of 2021, Atlantica grew its megawatts in operation from its renewables segment by 30% compared to that period in 2020. For its efficient natural gas holdings, that growth rate was 16%. That, along with variations

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BUSINESS & FINANCE in working capital levels, helped operating cash flow soar 66%. Atlantica also operates globally, with assets in North America, South America, and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. That geographic diversity also helps provide protection from regional economic jolts. With steady income, solid prospects for continued growth, and a share price that is well off recent highs, now is a good time to add Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure as a renewable energy portfolio investment.

A MID-CAP WIND STOCK THAT’S DOWN BUT NOT OUT Daniel Foelber (TPI Composites): TPI Composites has spent the last few years shifting from a small and profitable wind blade manufacturer to a global producer with a much higher manufacturing capacity. Investors cheered the strategy, hoping that TPI’s investments would pay off as renewable capacity expansions reach the next inflection point. But after reaching an all-time high in February, shares of TPI have plummeted around 60% from that high, are down over 35% year to date, and are now within striking distance of a 52-week low. Without getting into too much detail, TPI’s problems stem from its need to book long-term supply agreements on its new production lines, renew contracts that will expire in the next few years or find fresh buyers, and pay down debt that it’s taken on to fund its growth. In its Q2 2021 conference call, TPI mentioned that it has contracts set to expire on Dec. 31, positioning the company to have fewer than 54 dedicated manufacturing lines under contract. TPI has struggled to grow its top line at a rate that justifies its valuation. After initially forecasting a profitable 2021, updated guidance suggests TPI will likely record yet another loss this year. To make matters worse, TPI now expects the wind market will be “relatively flat” in 2022, pointing to a longer than expected period of slow growth and

uncertain profitability. Companies aren’t perfect. And in today’s age of supply chain constraints and multi-year renewable energy development projects, it can be easy to make inaccurate predictions. TPI’s forecasts have been wrong, and the company’s lackluster growth has resulted in disappointing medium-term performance. The silver lining is that TPI has effectively lowered expectations by so much that virtually any news will look good. Favorable contracts, higher than expected utilization rates from its production lines, and any improvement to growth will indicate TPI is making progress on its turnaround. Given its presence in Europe, North America, Asia, Central America, and the Middle East, along with reliable business from some of the most reputable original equipment manufacturers in the industry (like Vestas, GE, and Siemens Gamesa to name a few), TPI is a wind energy stock worth considering at these lower prices.

GREAT BUYS TODAY Pullbacks can be healthy for the stock market and in the case of SunPower, Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure, and TPI Composites this provides a great buying opportunity for investors. These companies still have a lot of growth ahead as renewable energy grows, and investors are getting a better price for these businesses than they were a few months ago.10 stocks we like better than SunPower Corporation When our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now… and SunPower Corporation wasn’t one of them! That’s right — they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Source: fool

ASC-4 BATTERY Automatic Sustainable Controller

• Automatic shift between grid forming/following operation • Charging/discharging • Power Conversion System (PCS) control • Batter Management System (BMS) monitoring • Control of breaker • Simple graphical conﬁguration

Designed speciﬁcally to serve as a reliable, fully integrated and optimising link between sustainable power plants and genset power plants, DEIF’s automatic sustainable controller, ASC-4 Battery, oﬀers seamless energy storage integration in hybrid microgrid applications.

DEIF India Pvt. Ltd.

602, 6th Floor Town Center – II, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai – 400 059 - india@deif.in - Ph.: +91 22 42452000

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www.deif.com/products/asc4-battery NOVEMBER 2021 35

BUSINESS & FINANCE

BP IS FINANCING THE WORLD'S FIRST SOLAR-POWERED STEEL MILL

n a rare move, a Colorado steel plant is attempting to go green and source most of its power from solar energy instead of coal. A steel mill in Pueblo operated by Russian manufacturer Evraz Plc that melts and repurposes scrap metal is installing 750,000 solar panels, according to a statement. It will come online in November and could fuel almost all of the energy needed by the mill. The solar-powered mill is the world’s first, according to BP, which is financing the project through a joint venture. The solar-powered facility comes just as some of the biggest U.S. steelmakers get more serious about emissions and set goals to become carbon neutral by 2050. But getting there won’t be easy. Steelmaking remains one of the world’s most polluting industries, accounting for about 6% of global carbon dioxide emissions by some measures. Experts have said switching to renewable energy will be key to reducing emissions.

PUNJAB SLASHES POWER TARIFF BY RS 3 PER UNIT; FINANCIAL BURDEN AT RS 3,316 CR

With this, 69 lakh domestic consumers out of the total 71.75 lakh are going to get benefited. handigarh, In a bonanza to the people of Punjab ahead of Diwali, the Punjab Cabinet decided to reduce the power tariff to domestic sector consumers having connected load up to 7 KW by Rs 3 per unit With this, 69 lakh domestic consumers out of the total 71.75 lakh are going to get benefited, an official statement said. The total annual financial burden on the state exchequer would be approximately Rs 3,316 crore due to this tariff rationalisation. Existing free power facility up to 1 KW to the Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Classes and the below poverty line (BPL) categories will continue. The state government will reduce the power procurement cost and it will be passed on to the consumers. State-run PSPCL has issued termination of notice to GVK Thermal Plant at Goindwal Sahib. This costly power will be replaced with the low cost power from solar and other sources, said the statement. The PSPCL has also issued default notice to Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant for failure to give proper supply during the last paddy season. This penalty amount works out to be in the range of Rs 600-800 crore. It has allotted two solar companies to supply power to the tune of 250 MW at the record lowest rate of Rs 2.33 per unit. Similarly, PSPCL has allotted 150 MW of solar plants to be established within Punjab at the rate of Rs 2.69 per unit. These plants will be established in next eight months. The state government has already waived off pending defaulting amount of consumers having connected load of less than 2 KW. With this the government is going to bear an expenditure of Rs 1500 crore and it will benefit 15 lakh consumers, especially the poor.

Source : IANS 36

NOVEMBER 2021

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

COLLECTIVE CLIMATE AMBITION – A JOINT STATEMENT AT COP26 BY THE MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS

limate change, and the parallel crisis of environmental degradation, are critical factors affecting the development prospects of countries, businesses, and households, and threatening to reverse years of development progress. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have proven to be essential partners in global efforts to manage the urgent transitions climate change will involve, through the financial, technical, and knowledge support we provide, tailored to our clients’ unique domestic and international circumstances. To set the world on a sustainable development path requires a significant expansion and acceleration of climate action

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across countries and economic sectors, taking into account the findings of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in August 2021. We welcome the growing ambition reflected in the new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and we will continue to support the delivery of these plans in developing countries, building on our track records of supporting low-carbon, climate-resilient, and nature-based solutions for sustainable development. We will also contribute more broadly through our joint and individual efforts to align our financing flows with the Paris Agreement and in our work supporting our clients to develop ambitious Long Term Strategies (LTSs). Source : aiib

NOVEMBER 2021

BUSINESS & FINANCE

INDIGRID Q2 RESULTS: NET PROFIT SLIPS 20% TO RS 68 CRORE Infrastructure funding belief IndiGrid‘s consolidated web profit fell 20 per cent to Rs 68.17 crore within the September quarter due to increased finance prices and depreciation. The consolidated web profit was Rs 85.51 crore within the quarter ended September 30, 2020, a BSE submitting stated.

he finance price within the quarter rose to Rs 266.67 crore within the second quarter from Rs 158.39 crore a yr in the past. Similarly, the depreciation elevated to Rs 178.27 crore within the quarter from Rs 102.23 crore. Total revenue stood at Rs 559.97 crore within the quarter towards Rs 393.57 crore within the year-ago interval.The board of administrators of IndiGrid Investment Managers performing as supervisor of the India Grid Trust (IndiGrid), authorized declaration of distribution of Rs 3.1875 per unit comprising Rs 1.8626 within the type of curiosity, Rs 0.0497 per unit within the type of dividend and Rs 1.2752 per unit within the type of principal cost for Q2 FY22 (July-September).The file date for this distribution shall be November 2, 2021, and cost shall be made on or earlier than November 11, 2021. The board additionally authorized elevating of debt up to Rs 1,200 crore by varied sources, together with time period loans, non-convertible debentures and/or some other mode as could also be permitted beneath relevant legislation. “We are on observe to meet the elevated FY22 distribution steerage of Rs 12.75 per unit on the again of fifty per cent progress in EBITDA in IndiGrid additionally

NOVEMBER 2021

efficiently launched the primary public NCD concern by any REIT/InvIT within the nation to diversify its sources of debt and improve the debt tenure. H1 FY’22. I’m happy to share that during the last six months, we have now strengthened our operational capabilities by the implementation of DigiGrid and strengthened our steadiness sheet by elevating pre-emptive progress capital. “We have also substantially diversified our sources of debt and reduced the weighted average cost of borrowing by 70 bps YoY (basis points year on year),” IndiGrid CEO Harsh Shah stated in a press release. He additional stated, “We continue to focus on generating superior and sustainable returns for our investors on the back of our AAA-rated balance sheet, resilient operations and accretive acquisitions”.IndiGrid continued its observe file of profitable acquisitions by finishing the acquisition of its first photo voltaic asset (FRV) in July 2021 for Rs 660 crore. This together with the Rs 6,900 crore value of acquisitions in FY21, has taken the overall AUM (asset beneath administration) to Rs 21,400 crore. In April 2021, IndiGrid raised Rs 1,284 crore of capital by means of the rights concern, which was subscribed over 1.25 instances to create headroom for progress. Separately, in May 2021, IndiGrid additionally efficiently launched the primary public NCD concern by any REIT/InvIT within the nation to diversify its sources of debt and improve the debt tenure. Source: PTI

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BUSINESS & FINANCE KKR INVESTS IN SK E&S REDEEMABLE CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED SHARES KKR, a leading global investment firm, announced that KKR has acquired from South Korean energy company SK E&S (the “Company”) KRW2.4 trillion (approximately US$2 billion) worth of SK E&S’ newly issued redeemable convertible preferred shares.

he investment will provide KKR with an opportunity to receive cash or in-kind redemption as an option for repayment in the future paired with the possibility of converting into common shares of SK E&S. SK E&S will use the funding to accelerate its growth and transformation into a global clean energy solution provider. Established in 1999, SK E&S is a member of the SK Group, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates. The Company engages in a range of businesses, including upstream such as overseas gas field development and downstream such as power generation, district energy, and city gas distribution. SK E&S has been operating a city gas business which distributes natural gas to customers in cities and rural areas across eight regions in South Korea. It is developing 2.5GW worth of renewable energy assets, and is expanding its portfolio via large-scale investments in companies including Plug Power, Key Capture Energy and Rev Renewables. In 2021, SK E&S outlined its goal to become a leading global clean energy solution provider by transitioning its portfolio to focus on hydrogen as well as renewable energy and related solutions. Keith Kim from KKR’s Infrastructure team said, “KKR is excited by this unique opportunity to join SK E&S in its journey to accelerate its growth and transformation into a global clean energy solution provider. KKR is additionally pleased to further expand its valued relationship with the SK Group. Sustainability continues to be at the top of its minds at KKR when reviewing and executing investments, which is why KKR is excited to invest together with leading businesses such as SK E&S that seek to provide sustainable energy solutions.” The transaction marks KKR’s latest investment in South Korea and builds on its track record as an active investor across asset classes including infrastructure, private equity, real estate and credit. Also, KKR, in strategic partnership with TY Holdings, has successfully launched ECORBIT, a leading waste management platform created through the merger of two market leaders: Eco Solutions Group and TSK Corporation. Looking ahead, KKR has identified energy transition and digital transformation as key drivers of Korean infrastructure opportunities. The team also looks to utilize its invested platforms in waste management and renewable energy to scale up through bolt-on acquisitions. “Korea is a key part of KKR’s Asia infrastructure strategy. It is home to many companies with great potential for growth both domestically and abroad,” said David Luboff, Head of Asia Pacific Infrastructure at KKR. “We look to continue investing in compelling infrastructure opportunities where we can leverage KKR’s global experience and networks to partner with Korean businesses to achieve their transformations.” KKR made its investment from its Asia Pacific Infrastructure Fund.

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NOVEMBER 2021

BUSINESS & FINANCE

BLACKROCK RAISES $673 MLN FOR CLIMATE-FOCUSED INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Climate Finance Partnership passes $500 mln target France, Germany, Japan all invest in novel fund EM investment a key issue at COP26 climate talks

lackRock Inc (BLK.N) told Reuters it has raised a target-beating $673 million for an infrastructure fund with backing from the French, German and Japanese governments to invest in climate-focused projects such as renewable energy in emerging markets. The world’s largest money manager hopes the fund, announced and dubbed the Climate Finance Partnership, will show how to mobilize private capital in developing countries to tackle climate change, a sticking point at United Nations climate talks under way in Glasgow. Investors have been wary of investing in risky projects without more certainty they will get a return. Stateowned development banks from France, Germany and Japan and philanthropic institutions such as the Grantham Environmental Trust and the Quadrivium Foundation are providing 20% of the fund’s capital and have agreed to take losses before other investors. While a number of multibilliondollar renewable energy funds have been raised over the last year to help build out solar, wind and other projects, the vast bulk has been spent in richer countries offering investors lower risk. Emerging economies, including countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, will need around $1 trillion a year out to 2050 to help them transition to a low-carbon economy, BlackRock said. In 2020, just $150 billion was invested, excluding China. BlackRock and the fund’s other backers are trying to muster more support for such emerging markets-focused initiatives at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. The new fund could help developed nations meet a target of 40

NOVEMBER 2021

mobilizing $100 billion a year to help poorer countries tackle climate change. Among the fund’s 22 backers were French energy company TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) and institutional investors including AXA (AXAF.PA) and Dai-ichi Life Insurance. The fund comfortably beat its fundraising target of $500 million, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said, speaking at the Green Horizon Summit, held alongside the COP26 climate talks in Scotland. “We could have raised a lot more and this is a great example of leveraging what public capital can do,” Fink said. He also backed the concept of energy companies spinning off a portion of their assets and said world leaders should rethink how institutions like the World Bank could be reformed to harness more private-sector lending. “We’re going to have to change finance,” he said.The fund has a typical 10-year lock-up with a five-year investment period, with the average equity investment likely to be in the $25 million-$75 million range, David Giordano, global head of renewable power at BlackRock Alternative Investors, told Reuters. “One of the key things that we talked about with our partners back in 2018, when we started down this path, was really coming up with something that was simple but did provide that sense of derisking the emerging markets,” Giordano said. Kenya, Morocco and Egypt were all attractive for investment, as were Peru and Vietnam, where the government was “really committed” to the energy transition, Giordano said. Renewable energy in nonOECD countries is expected to represent 49% of global energy capacity by 2050, Edwin Conway, global head of BlackRock Alternative Investors, said. “Now, that’s huge … I think we’re talking about decades, with regard to the opportunities that are ahead,” Conway said. Source: reuters

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

PARTNERS PLEDGE $665 MILLION TO SUPPORT GREEN RECOVERY IN ASEAN

Four partners have collectively pledged $665 million toward a platform managed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that aims to mobilize anadditional $7 billion for low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia and accelerate the region’s recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

he funding, which was announced at COP26 in Glasgow, includes £110 million ($151 million) from the Government of the United Kingdom, €132 million ($155 million) from Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), €50 million from the European Union, and $300 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The partnerships will be part of a new Green Recovery Platform to support the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Catalytic Green Finance Facility (ACGF), which was established by the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund and is managed by ADB. “ASEAN countries have a unique opportunity to build a green and inclusive future after the COVID-19 pandemic,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, who attended the launch event with ministers and senior officials from ASEAN and partner countries. “The ASEAN Green Recovery Platform will help accelerate the flow of investments to support climate-resilient, environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia and boost sustainable, equitable development.” The new funding will add to the $1.4 billion in cofinancing commitments already pledged to the ACGF since 2019, bringing total pledges to the facility to $2 billion. The original financing partners supporting ACGF include ADB, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the European Investment Bank, the German state-owned development bank KfW, and the Government of the Republic of Korea. Director General for International Partnerships at the European Commission Koen Doens, GCF Executive Director Yannick Glemarec, and AFD Chief Executive Officer RemyRioux also spoke at the launch. “This year, the UK became ASEAN’s first new Dialogue Partner in 25 years. We’re now working together to build stronger economic and

investment relationships and tackle climate change,” said UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss. “The £110 million of UK funding for the UK–ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility Trust Fund will help deliver clean, honest, and reliable infrastructure into countries that urgently need it, drawing on UK expertise on green technologies and creating jobs across the UK.” The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant economic, health, and social impacts in Southeast Asia. The platform will provide financing and technical assistance to reduce investment risks and catalyze public and private financing for green infrastructure projects that create jobs and bolster growth. It will also support the efforts of ASEAN developing member countries to reach their climate goals under the Paris Agreement and help them strengthen green capital markets, such as by expanding the issuance of green and climate bonds. “As we rebuild our economies, our commitments to the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals must not falter,” said CDP Chief Executive Officer Dario Scannapieco. “CDP stands ready to play an active role in financing sustainable and inclusive infrastructure by promoting constructive partnerships, like our support to the ACGF, to finance a sustainable and green economic recovery in Southeast Asia and to join forces with other national development banks to tackle todays’ challenges for both this and the next generation. ” The ASEAN Green Recovery Platform forms part of ADB’s commitment to raising its ambition for 2019–2030 cumulative climate financing to $100 billion, while ensuring that at least 75% of projects will address climate change mitigation and adaptation by 2030. ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region. Source: adb

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NOVEMBER 2021

BUSINESS & FINANCE

TATA POWER TO SEEK SHAREHOLDERS’ NOD TO NOT MERGE TATA POWER SOLAR SYSTEMS

This is contrary to its earlier plan to merge it with itself through a postal ballot notice

ata Power will seek shareholders nod to amend a scheme of arrangement to keep Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd (TPSSL) as an independent entity, contrary to its earlier plan to merge it with itself through a postal ballot notice. Tata Power had given a postal ballot notice to amend an amalgamation scheme to keep the TPSSL as a separate entity and let it continue as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, rather than merging it with the company as envisaged under the composite scheme, according to a BSE filing. The company explained that in recent months, there have been numerous favourable policies of the government to promote and encourage entities engaged in solar manufacturing, including production linked incentive scheme to make high-efficiency solar PV modules, and the imposition of basic customs duty on the import of solar cells/modules, etc. to scale up domestic solar manufacturing, including exporting solar cells/ modules. "TPSSL is in the solar manufacturing business, and the government policies will help it further expand its existing manufacturing capacities to avail these benefits/incentives and create more shareholder value to the company and its shareholders", the filing said. Therefore,the company said it was felt that it would be commercially prudent and desirable by the Board of Directors as well as the Transferor Companies to keep TPSSL as a separate

entity and let it continue as a wholly-owned subsidiary rather than merging it with the company as envisaged under the Composite Scheme. The Board and the Transferor Companies, at their respective meetings held on July 1, 2021, have decided to amend the Composite Scheme and withdraw the amalgamation of TPSSL with the company, and accordingly, approved the amendment to the Composite Scheme. The amended Composite Scheme (post exclusion of TPSSL) will now comprise the amalgamation of CGPL (Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd) with the company and consequential capital reorganisation. Further, under the amended Composite Scheme, no consideration will be discharged, either in the form of shares or otherwise, by the company to CGPL being a wholly-owned subsidiary. Thus, it stated that there is no valuation exercise to be undertaken in relation to the amended Composite Scheme and therefore, there will also be no requirement for obtaining a fairness opinion. According to the amended Composite Scheme, the rights of equity shareholders will not be adversely impacted as even currently, the financial accounts of CGPL and TPSSL (being whollyowned subsidiaries of the company) are consolidated with the company, and the amended Composite Scheme will not impact its financial position. Further, the filing said TPSSL would continue to remain a wholly-owned subsidiary. The Board of Tata Power Company on August 12, 2020, had approved the Composite Scheme of Arrangement among CGPL and TPSSL and Tata Power Company and their respective shareholders. Source: business-standard

NOVEMBER 2021

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

CDC INVESTS $70 MILLION IN INDIA’S FIRST DEDICATED CLIMATE CHANGE INVESTMENT FUND

CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, has invested $70 million into the Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF), India’s first dedicated climate change fund.

sectors that GGEF is targeting. GGEF’s portfolio of renewable energy, e-mobility, and energy efficiency companies will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; its wastewater company will reduce freshwater consumption; and its waste management company will improve the sustainability of natural resources. Furthermore, GGEF, as a pioneer in the green infrastructure space in India, will hopefully play a catalytic effect in the market by proving that investors can earn returns whilst directly contributing to climate objectives. Srini Nagarajan, Managing Director and Head of Asia at CDC said: “India is an incredible exciting market for renewable energy. Our investment in GGEF Greencell Mobility, an e-mobility platform that aims to will consolidate CDC’s role in India as a staunch supporter become the largest pan-India e-MaaS (e-mobility as a service) of the country’s low carbon future.” Commenting on this company investment by CDC, Dhanpal Jhaveri, CEO, EverSource Capital, and Vice-Chairman, Everstone Group, said, Ayana, a utility-scale renewable energy platform with a “We are committed to bringing positive climate impact by target of 6+ GW of operating assets catalyzing capital for and investing in high growth platforms EverEnviro, one of India’s leading integrated waste and businesses. These businesses will contribute to the Indian management platform government’s ambitious climate goals and renewable energy targets. We want to thank CDC for reposing their trust in us. Kathari, which aims to be India’s largest water and Their fund commitment to our Green Growth Equity Fund is wastewater management platform a testament of the hard work put in and the results achieved With CDC’s investment, GGEF will finance the development by the EverSource team in a short time.” Last month CDC of between six and eight ‘green infrastructure’ companies in announced an ambition to invest up to $1 billion in climate India. GGEF is different from many funds in that it adopts a funding to India over the next five years (2022-2026). The ‘platform model’. This means that it sets up a company from commitment will fund climate mitigating projects and businesses scratch in a sector of interest and then grows the platform in India and enhance national efforts to align with the Paris by making acquisitions of other companies in the sector. By agreement. Over the last four years, CDC has invested over US consolidating lots of smaller companies with similar business $1 billion in climate finance across Africa and South Asia. The models under one roof, the platform can achieve both most recent announcement builds on CDC’s existing $2 billion operational efficiencies and scale, which is key to improving portfolio in India, further demonstrating the DFI’s commitment profitability and building a company of sufficient size to attract\ to helping mobilise and accelerate climate investment in the a buyer. Equally importantly, the ESG standards of investees country and showcases CDC’s Climate Change Strategy in will be brought up to a common standard across the platform. action. Synergies, scale, and standards are all key in the nascent Source : cdcgroup he fund is managed by EverSource Capital, a joint venture between Everstone, one of India’s leading private investment groups and Lightsource BP, BP’s renewable energy platform. GGEF already has strong climate credentials and within the portfolio has several notable investments, including: Radiance, one of India’s leading renewable energy solutions partners to Commercial and Industrial (C&I) customers

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NOVEMBER 2021

INTERNATIONAL

EXPENSIVE COAL WILL PAVE THE WAY FOR MORE SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES: HONEYWELL UOP CEO

The Honeywell UOP CEO and President said while the current coal crisis hasn’t affected Honeywell’s business directly, it has had some trickle down effect. he global coal crisis provides an opportunity for petroleum refining and gas processing companies like Honeywell UOP (Universal Oil Products) to develop sustainably. After the economic activity rebounding post the second COVID-19 wave, industrial power demand has increased globally leading to a surge in global coal prices and freight costs. Honeywell UOP’s President and CEO Bryan K. Glover says that the ongoing coal crisis will pave the way for sustainable technologies. “Certainly high prices of oil, high prices of coal, high prices of gas makes solar and wind much more attractive,” Glover told Business Today. “Now, a complication exists: the wind doesn’t blow all the time and the sun doesn’t shine all the time, but the base cost of solar and wind is unchanged irrespective of the price of oil. As the presence in the grid grows, the price of solar and wind will have to start to incorporate the price of energy storage. Some renewable technologies will bring more stability and sort of more independence for the industry,” Glover said. The Honeywell President said while the current coal crisis hasn’t affected Honeywell’s business directly, it has had some trickle down effect. “We have seen the knockout effects of the coal crisis owing to high price of gas and the growing price of oil. I think the high prices of oil are good for producers. They’re not necessarily good for consumers. "We deal with the people in the middle, who are the refiners and the petrochemical producers and for them, high prices, medium prices, it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference, but what they really look for is some stability in the price,” he explained. In terms of exploration, he said, one of the challenges of the low oil prices from the pandemic and even going back to 2016 is that it can “slow down the rate of exploration, investment in new oil and gas, and it can have knock out effects like reduced investment in coal and tightened gas supply". Asia Pacific makes up 36 per cent of the total market for Honeywell UOP and the company plans to push it further in these key markets where it runs refining and petrochemicals processing, natural gas treatment and software-enabled services among other businesses. Glover believes developing countries like India have a unique opportunity to develop sustainably unlike the developed world. “From a developing world perspective, the developing society has societal needs and those need to be respected and they need to be taken care of and I think any economy that’s growing has to chart its path. Other countries may have had the advantage of using fossil fuels extensively to grow their economies and why should developing economies be denied that. Developing economies in some respects have a much better opportunity to just develop sustainably,” said Glover. “If you look at North America or Europe, a lot of the challenge on sustainability is essentially replacement of assets that exist, that aren’t very sustainable, but in places like India most of those assets haven’t even been built yet,” he added. Coal accounts for over 70% of India’s electricity output and the target is to take non-fossil fuel power to 40% by 2040. “This sounds

Bryan K. Glover President & CEO - HONEYWELL UOP’S like a pretty reasonable path but there’s an enormous challenge. There’s a huge amount of energy demand but there’s also a huge amount of infrastructure that has to grow and develop. I think right now from what we’ve seen and maybe it’s been helped by the pandemic, but I think attitudes and approaches and intentions in the world have changed. We’ve seen a change and societies are moving firmly in the direction of sustainability,” said Glover. “Essentially anything that’s hydrocarbon based today is going to need to evolve. We’ve also been adapting to the changing markets and the demand for fossil fuels in India and other developing regions will continue to grow. In developed regions, in Europe, it’s probably peaked or plateau-ed already,”Glover added that India’s focus on growing power through solar and wind can help support the country’s overall economic growth. Honeywell UOP’s focus right now is to help drive advances in the area of carbon capture, for combustion sources and blue hydrogen. “We believe today these are technologies that are the most effective in the world and we’re continuing to invest to make those better to bring the cost down to get to lower targets. Energy Storage is another area where we’re working. We’re looking at alternative battery types with the goal of getting the cost down to something that’s significantly less expensive than lithium today and something that when coupled with solar or wind and that pairing can together still be more cost competitive than fossil sources,” he said. "Honeywell UOP will spend the next few years in investing in renewable fuels particularly renewable fuels for diesel and for jet applications and aviation fuel which is one of the hardest to decarbonize in terms of energy. One of the technologies we’re working on will help convert agro field waste that today in India gets burned. Being able to convert those into diesel or even gasoline or feedstock for making petrochemicals. That’s one of the next horizon and that we’re investing in to extend our existing technology,” Glover said. Source: businesstoday

NOVEMBER 2021

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INTERNATIONAL

GUYANA PLOTS SHIFT TO NATURAL GAS, RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR POWER GENERATION Guyana plans to meet an unprecedented growth expected in its power demand by building a new gas-fueled plant and expanding its hydropower capacity, a key step to leave behind fossil fuels for generating electricity, President Irfaan Ali said this week.

atin America’s newest oil producer launched a low-carbon strategy ahead of the U.N.’s COP26 climate conference that will move the country to cleaner sources of energy as its offshore oil industry ramps up. Guyana plans to meet an unprecedented growth expected in its power demand by building a new gas-fueled plant and expanding its hydropower capacity, a key step to leave behind fossil fuels for generating electricity, President Irfaan Ali said this week.Latin America’s newest oil producer launched a low-carbon strategy ahead of the U.N.’s COP26 climate conference that will move the country to cleaner sources of energy as its offshore oil industry ramps up. Guyana’s power demand is forecasted to triple in the next five years along with a booming economy. Proposed thermoelectrical and hydropower projects will serve people living along the coast, while solar power will meet the indigenous communities’ demand.

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“Cheaper electricity will be supplied, and that supply can increase five-fold with emissions staying essentially flat,” Ali said during the announcement of the clean energy initiative. Guyana’s transmission and distribution lines also will undergo upgrades. Demand on its main power grid, which supplies 78% of the country’s energy needs, is expected to rise to 415 megawatts (MW) in 2025 from 126 MW last year, the president said. Guyana has some of the highest electricity rates in the region but power outages are frequent. Many manufacturers have opted to generate their own electricity. Most Guyanese live along the coast, where power is generated from old diesel plants that are mostly in need of upgrade or replacement. The nation, which depends about 97% on imported fossil fuels, spent $100 million to generate electricity last year. A group of towns that are the gateway to the country’s gold and diamond mines will be exclusively powered by renewable energy at the end of 2027, according to the plan. In its second phase from 2027 to 2032, the incremental demand will be met by wind and solar projects replacing fuel oil power plants. A second hydro project is in planning. Source: devdiscourse

NOVEMBER 2021

INTERNATIONAL

APPLE SAYS 175 SUPPLIERS COMMITTED TO USING CLEAN ENERGY Apple said it has more than doubled the number of suppliers committed to using clean energy to 175 globally in the last one year, including those from India, as part of the technology major’s aim to become carbon neutral across its supply chain and products by 2030.

n total, 175 Apple suppliers will transition to using renewable energy. The company and its suppliers will bring online more than 9 gigawatts of clean power around the world. This is up from 75 suppliers enrolled last year. These actions will avoid over 18 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually – the equivalent of taking over 4 million cars off the road each year. “In India, we have, so far, 11 manufacturing sites operated by suppliers who have joined our clean energy programme, so it’s certainly a big role. We are also really excited to see expanded growth in India of renewable energy generally, we also think that’s a really great roadmap to a resilient energy future for India and so very appreciative of the commitments of the local facilities, and also of the policy to enable access to that renewable energy,” Apple Senior Director and Environment and Supply Chain Innovation Sarah Chandler told reporters. Environment and Supply Chain Innovation Sarah Chandler told reporters. The 11 suppliers include Cheng Uei (Foxlink), Avary, CCL Design, Flex Ltd, Hon Hai (Foxconn), Jabil, Lingyi Tech, Pegatron, Sunwoda Electronic, Wistron and Yuto. She noted that Apple also focuses on educating suppliers and helping them build capacity to transition to renewable energy, and much of that work is specific to a region. “…so helping a supplier understand what is available in their local market, what the barriers might be, and how best to set themselves up with a solution that works for them. So we have some suppliers who are able to invest in onsite solutions…we are certainly side by side with them as they do that,” Chandler added. Talking about the progress on these initiatives despite COVID-19 challenges, Chandler said the dramatic increase that has been seen in supplier clean energy commitments is a proof that environmental stewardship can also be good for business. “Ahead of COP26, we hope these actions from Apple will encourage governments around the world, as well as the business community, to drive progress towards protecting the planet we all share,” she told PTI.

Models like iPhone 11, new iPhone SE and iPhone 12 are assembled in India by its supplier-partners. The Cupertino-based company has also added 10 new projects for its first-of-a-kind ‘Power for Impact’ initiative to bring clean energy solutions to communities around the world. These projects are designed to provide renewable power to under-resourced communities while supporting economic growth and social impact. While Apple is already carbon neutral across its global operations, by 2030, every Apple device sold will have a net-zero climate impact. Since announcing this goal last year, the company has dramatically increased the number of its suppliers transitioning to renewable energy as well as expanded the amount of recycled material in its products and established new projects focused on environment. In total, Apple has reduced its carbon emissions by 40 per cent over the past five years. In the US, 19 suppliers in Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Programme,

Sarah Chandler Apple Senior Director & Environment & Supply Chain Innovation including Solvay, are scaling their use of renewable energy across their Apple operations, while in China, 50 suppliers are now part of the programme. In India, Japan, and South Korea, 31 suppliers have joined, including SK Hynix. Source: PTI

NOVEMBER 2021

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INTERNATIONAL

WHITE HOUSE DOES NOT RULE OUT CARBON TAX DESPITE MANCHIN COMMENT

ome Democrats, including Senator Ron Wyden, have focused on a carbon tax as a possible alternative as Manchin opposes a key measure in the spending bill called the Clean Energy Payment Program (CEPP.) That measure, which would reward power utilities for investing in renewable energy such as wind and solar and fine those who do not, has been backed by Biden to achieve his climate goals including cutting U.S. emissions by about 50% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. The White House said it had not taken a carbon tax off the table as a possible option for fighting climate change, but U.S. Senator Joe Manchin said he was not discussing the topic in talks about U.S. spending and infrastructure bills. “I’m not taking any options on or off the table,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told a briefing when asked about a carbon tax. Psaki said President Joe Biden believed it was possible to design a carbon tax that would not violate his pledge not to raise taxes on people making $400,000 or less a year. Some Democrats, including Senator Ron Wyden, have focused on a carbon tax as a possible alternative as Manchin opposes a key measure in the spending bill called the Clean Energy Payment Program (CEPP.) That measure, which would reward power utilities for investing in renewable energy such as wind and solar and fine those who do not, has been backed by Biden to achieve his climate goals including cutting U.S. emissions by about 50% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. Manchin indicated a carbon tax was not in play. “The carbon tax is not on the board at all,” he told reporters. Manchin, a fellow Democrat, is a centrist from West Virginia, the top U.S. coal producing state after Wyoming. Under a carbon tax, the government sets a gradually rising price for each ton of greenhouse gas that polluters emit, incentivizing industries to move to cleaner energy sources. The White House has been making the case that it can reach Biden’s climate goals even if the legislation does not have everything Biden wanted, including the CEPP. Psaki cited a report from Rhodium Group, an independent research organization, to underscore White House confidence that Biden’s goals can be met. Biden is attending a U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in the coming weeks and hopes to send a message that the United States is back after former President Donald Trump, a Republican, removed the country from the Paris climate accord. Biden re-entered the Paris pact, but the back-and-forth among his fellow Democrats in Congress over his bills has threatened to undermine his efforts to reassure the world that he can deliver on his promises. If Congress is forced to drop certain climate measures, the legislation would still take huge steps on global warming with incentives for electric vehicles and expanded tax credits for renewable power such as wind and solar, according to John Larsen, an author of the report. “I’m much more worried about no deal than trimmed down bills,” he said. Manchin urged lawmakers to pass the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill before the wider spending bill and in time for the U.N. climate talks that start at the end of the month. Progressive Democrats have said the bills should be passed together to ensure that the debate on wider legislation on climate and social programs does not slip into next year, or get abandoned altogether. “We have the trust in each other, we should be able to vote immediately on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is a tremendous piece of legislation for the president to take with him to Glasgow,” Manchin told reporters.

Jen Psaki White House spokesperson

Joe Manchin

United States Senator from West Virginia Source : Reuters

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NOVEMBER 2021

INTERNATIONAL

EIB AND AVANT MONEY UNLOCK EUR 75 MILLION OF GREEN FINANCING FOR IRISH HOMEOWNERS Ireland first country to benefit from EU Private Finance for Energy Efficiency scheme for private homeowners New initiative to accelerate energy efficiency investment by homeowners

Designed to help cut energy bills and carbon emissions

he European Investment Bank (EIB) and Avant Money will support EUR 75 million of new green investment by homeowners across Ireland. The new initiative will help to cut domestic energy bills and reduce carbon emissions as well as contribute to delivering Ireland’s National Climate Action Plan. The EIB backing for Avant Money’s consumer green financing initiatives was highlighted during a recent visit to in Dublin by EIB President Werner Hoyer and Vice President Christian Kettel Thomsen. “Personal action can help to tackle climate change and investing in energy efficient homes reduces energy bills and helps to reduce carbon emissions. The European Investment Bank is committed to scaling up climate action and is pleased to work with Avant Money to unlock EUR 75 million of energy efficiency investment in homes across Ireland in the years ahead. The EIB is working with private and public partners across Ireland to harness clean energy and reduce emissions and this partnership is enabling homeowners in Ireland to be the first to benefit from targeted support under the visionary Private Finance for Energy Efficiency scheme.” said EIB Vice President, Christian Kettel Thomsen. The funding will support the energy rehabilitation of residential homes across Ireland, to include energy efficiency measures and small-scale renewable energy installations, all of which are expected to bring positive environmental impacts as well as extend the useful life of buildings. Speaking about the funding, Sean Sheehan, Head of Strategic Partnerships for Avant Money, said “Sustainability and supporting the green economy is a key focus for Avant Money and we are incredibly proud to be the first consumer finance company in Europe to bring to the market funding backed by the European Investment Bank’s Private Finance for Energy Efficiency (PF4EE) scheme. This funding allows us to help Irish homeowners take an active part in the National Climate Action Plan by making their homes more energy efficient; reducing emissions, cutting down on energy wastage and doing their part for the green economy at affordable rates.”

UNLOCKING GREEN CONSUMER LENDING TO REDUCE IRELAND’S CARBON FOOTPRINT The new consumer financing will be managed by Avant Money and initially provided to residential homeowners through the An Post Green Hub which provides personal loans and expert advice to support eligible home energy improvement projects. John Rice, An Post Financial Services Director, said “An Post is committed to supporting Ireland’s ambitious National Climate Action Plan by enabling householders to make their homes more energy efficient and more comfortable with affordable finance at a market-leading rate1, expert advice and end-to-end Green Hub project support. Ours is a long-term promise to improve

Post is committed to supporting Ireland’s ambitious National Climate Action Plan by enabling householders to make their homes more energy efficient and more comfortable with affordable finance at a market-leading rate1, expert advice and end-to-end Green Hub project support. Ours is a long-term promise to improve quality of life, now and for generations to come.”Ireland first country to access new consumer green financing scheme Ireland is the first country in Europe to benefit from homeowner financing backed by the Private Finance for Energy Efficiency initiative, a joint scheme backed by the European Investment Bank and European Union. This finance is being partly funded by the European Investment Bank’s Private Finance for Energy Efficiency (PF4EE) scheme and Avant Money is the first consumer lender in Europe to bring PF4EE funding to this segment of the market. In 2020, the European Investment Bank Group provided EUR 1 billion for new private and public investment in Ireland. Avantcard DAC trading as Avant Money is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Registered in the Republic of Ireland. Number 541980 Registered Office: Dublin Road, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim Note 1. Claims relating to market-leading rates and are based on a comparison of interest rates and APRCs for all personal loan lenders, per ccpc.ie and individual lender websites as of 3rd Nov 2021.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Financing available for Irish homeowners to back range of green investments The finance is available exclusively to private residential homeowners, supporting an extensive range of energy efficiency and renewable energy investments, such as insulation upgrades, replacing windows and doors, installing heat pumps, combi-boilers and solar panels. Customers can apply for a loan, carry out a free home assessment and find out more about going green at www. anpost.com/greenhub. 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) October 31st to November 12th One of the four key objectives for COP26 is to Mobilise Finance, specifically: ‘To achieve our climate goals, every company, every financial firm, every bank, insurer and investor will need to change. Countries need to manage the increasing impacts of climate change on their citizens’ lives and they need the funding to do it. The scale and speed of the changes we need to make will require all forms of finance: Public finance for the development of infrastructure we need to transition to a greener and more climateresilient economy.Private finance to fund technology and innovation, and to help turn the billions of public money into trillions of total climate investment.’

Source: eib 48

NOVEMBER 2021

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INTERNATIONAL

G20 MAKE COMMITMENTS TO REACH CARBON NEUTRALITY, END COAL FINANCING ABROAD

The G20 reaffirmed past commitments by rich nations to mobilize $100 billion annually to help poorer countries. However, it failed to set a target for phasing out domestic coal use.

eaders of the world’s biggest economies made a compromise commitment to reach carbon neutrality by or around mid-century as they wrapped up a two-day summit that was laying the groundwork for the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. According to the final communique, the Group of 20 leaders also agreed to end public financing for coal-fired power generation abroad, but set no target for phasing out coal domestically a clear nod to coal-dependent countries including China and India and a blow to Britain which had hoped for more solid commitments ahead of the Glasgow meeting. The Group of 20 countries represent more than three-quarters of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and summit host Italy had been looking for solid targets on how to reduce emissions while helping poor countries deal with the impact of rising temperatures. Without them, momentum could be lost for the larger annual talks that officially opened in Glasgow and where countries from around the globe will be represented, including poor ones most vulnerable to rising seas, desertification and other effects. Italian Premier Mario Draghi told the leaders going into the final working session that they needed both to set long-term goals and make short-term changes to reach them. We must accelerate the phasing-out of coal and invest more in renewable energy, he said. ” We also need to make sure that we use available resources wisely, which means that we should become able to adapt our technologies and also our lifestyles to this new world.”According to the communique, "the G20 reaffirmed past commitments by rich countries to mobilize 100 billion annually to help poorer countries cope with climate change, and committed to scaling up financing for helping them adapt. The sticking point remained the deadline to reach carbon neutrality or net zero emissions, meaning a balance between greenhouse gases added to and removed from the atmosphere. Going into the summit Italy had all-but conceded it would only be able to secure commitments to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century,” rather than a specific year. According to the final communique, "the G20 leaders said they will accelerate our actions across mitigation, adaptation and finance, acknowledging the key relevance of achieving global net zero greenhouse gas emissions or carbon neutrality by or around mid-century.”A French official said mid-century” meant 2050 in the strict sense but given the diversity of the G20 countries … it means everyone agrees to a common goal while providing a bit of flexibility to take into account national diversity. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the French official cited top carbon polluters China and India, as well as Indonesia.Some countries have set 2050 as their deadline for net zero emissions, while China, Russia and Saudi Arabia are aiming for 2060. The future of coal, a key source of greenhouse gas emissions, has been one of the hardest things for the G20 to agree on. At the Rome summit, leaders agreed to put an end to the provision of international public finance for new unabated coal power generation abroad by the end of 2021. That refers to financial support for building coal plants abroad, something Western countries have been moving away from and major

Asian economies are now doing the same: Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the U.N. General Assembly last month that Beijing would stop funding such projects, and Japan and South Korea made similar commitments earlier in the year. The failure of the G20 to set a target for phasing out domestic coal use was a blow to Britain, which had hoping there would be progress on the issue at COP26. The spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Max Blain, said "the G-20 communique was never meant to be the main lever in order to secure commitments on climate change, which would be hammered out at the Glasgow summit."He said "the U.K. would continue to push for ambitious commitments on coal."Youth climate activists Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate issued an open letter to the media as the G20 was wrapping up, stressing three fundamental aspects of the climate crisis that often are downplayed: that time is running out, that any solution must provide justice to the people most affected by climate change, and that the biggest polluters often hide behind incomplete statistics about their true emissions.The climate crisis is only going to become more urgent. We can still avoid the worst consequences, we can still turn this around. But not if we continue like today,” they wrote, just weeks after Thunberg shamed global leaders for their blah blah blah” rhetoric during a youth climate summit in Milan. Britain’s Prince Charles addressed the G20 Sunday morning and urged leaders to listen to young people who are inheriting the warming Earth, warning that it is quite literally the last-chance saloon.Charles, a longtime environmental activist, said public-private partnerships were the only way to achieve the trillions of dollars in annual investment needed to transition to clean, sustainable energy sources that will mitigate the warming of global temperatures."It is impossible not to hear the despairing voices of young people who see you as the stewards of the planet, holding the viability of their future in your hands," Charles said.

Source : PTI

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NOVEMBER 2021

INTERNATIONAL EXPO 2020: THE NETHERLANDS PAVILION WINS AWARD AT THE UAE AWARD SHOW The Netherlands Pavilion at Expo 2020 has been named the Best Sustainable Construction Project of the Year at The Big 5 Construction Impact Awards for its temporary circular climate system. Celebrated for its sustainable building approach, the pavilion’s construction materials were locally rented and are reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable. The construction award ceremony took place on September 12 at the World Trade Center in Dubai

he sustainability project referred to as a ‘biotape in the desert’, was established with a holistic approach in terms of architecture, design, materialization and construction. The creative collaboration of the main contractor Expomobilia, V8 Architects, engineering firm Witteveen+Bos and experience designers Kossmanndejong collectively brought the 3,493m2 closed circulation system of the Netherlands Pavilion to life.

Carel Richter, Commissioner General for the Netherlands Pavilion and Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Dubai, said: “Every recognition is an achievement. I’m very proud that the Netherlands Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai won this prestigious sustainable construction project award. From October 1 onwards, we will show Expo 2020 visitors that sustainability solutions are our core business and through creative, strategic partnerships the Netherlands is [a] coherent partner that contributes to ensuring water, energy and food security.” The Netherlands Pavilion’s central design was created with the core focus on sustainability in mind. An 18-metre-high conelike structure named The Food Cone is covered with a variety of edible plants whilst oyster mushrooms surround the inside of the cone. SunGlacier Technologies developed the solar-powered rain shower, a Dutch innovation that allows us to harvest hundreds of liters water at our pavilion every day. The solar panels, devised by solar designer Marjan van Aubel, together with regular solar roof panels, provide the ‘SunGlacier’ innovation with electricity.

NOVEMBER 2021

Dietmar Kautschitz, Project and Construction Manager at Expomobilia, comments: “Our extensive experience, ability to be open-minded to unconventional ideas, and a strong sense of synergy with various parties and principles, were integral to our success. The level of dedication and teamwork displayed across our large, multinational team was the reason behind the successful execution of the pavilion.” Source: gulfnews

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INTERNATIONAL

ENGIE SAYS HALTING FRENCH WIND DEVELOPMENT WOULD BE ‘DANGEROUS’

ngie SA Chief Executive Officer Catherine MacGregor said halting the development of wind power in France, as suggested by some presidential hopefuls, would jeopardize the country’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2050. Some candidates in next year’s presidential elections -including nationalist Marine Le Pen and conservative leader Xavier Bertrand -- want to curb wind farm construction, blaming it for inflating household electricity bills and harming landscapes. That’s as the French government recently unveiled measures to increase public acceptance of wind turbines. “If we want to decarbonize France at the 2050 horizon, we’ll need to develop new renewable energy capacities, wind and solar,” MacGregor said France Inter radio.

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“It’s extremely dangerous to call for a moratorium on wind in France, and that would be a major mistake for France’s decarbonized destiny.” The debate over the future energy mix is heating up as France’s power grid operator recently unveiled a report showing that the country’s least expensive path to net zero would require to build large amounts of renewables as well as new atomic plants. It also comes as a crunch in natural gas in Europe and Asia has recently sent energy prices soaring, forcing some governments to intervene with tax cuts and subsidies. European gas prices recently retreated, driven by the prospect of more supply from Russia and reduced demand from industrial users smarting from October’s record-high prices. “Winter will be a slightly complicated period” regarding gas prices, the CEO of the French energy utility said on France Inter. “But we can hope that prices will fall a bit from spring, although one is never sure.”

Source: bloombergquint

NOVEMBER 2021

INTERNATIONAL

EIB'S NEW PARTNERSHIPS AND INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT CLIMATE ACTION WORLDWIDE EIB will triple climate adaptation finance with new Adaptation Plan The group will engage to help clients align to the goals of the Paris Agreement EIB joins global partners to support more ambitious climate action

he European Investment Bank (EIB) Group will participate in the United Nations Climate Change conference COP26 in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021. The EIB Group (European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund) will launch new initiatives under its Climate Bank Roadmap, to support adaptation projects and engage with clients to help them align to the goals of the Paris Agreement. In addition, the EIB will join partner organisations and countries in calls to step up ambition on climate action.

EIB President Werner Hoyer commented: “The United Nations has called the latest IPCC report a code red warning for humanity. At the EIB Group, we have heard the warnings. As one of the leading multilateral banks for climate action, we are further increasing our climate ambition. We listened to the calls from the COP26 Presidency and the international community on how public banks must do more to help save the planet from global warming. We stand ready to work with our partners to increase our joint impact, and respond to the calls from the COP26 Presidency and international community.”

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle added: “To reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, we must scale up climate finance. The EIB comes to the COP26 conference with ambitious announcements on its own transformation as the EU climate bank. We continue to focus on demonstrating results and delivering even more action on the ground. We are also collaborating with our partner organisations to show impact and leadership on financing green innovation, protecting nature and supporting affordable and clean energy worldwide.” EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix stated:

EIB ADAPTATION PLAN The EIB Adaptation Plan supports the objectives of the European Union Adaptation Strategy inside and outside the EU. The EIB pledges to increase the share of adaptation support to 15% of the bank’s overall finance for climate action by 2025. This represents an almost three-fold increase compared to adaptation finance over the past five years. The EIB will screen all projects it finances for the risks of climate change and ensure they are adapted to future changes. A new advisory service called ADAPT will help public and private sector clients understand how climate change affects their operations.

NOVEMBER 2021

“To meet the Paris climate goals, we must switch to a green economy and create opportunities to ensure that no one is left behind. At COP26, the EIB partners with fellow multilateral development banks on common principles to finance a Just Transition. We are currently working on a Just Transition proposal under our Climate Bank Roadmap, which will demonstrate how our lending, our financial instruments, but also our technical assistance and advisory services can support a green future for all of us, in particular in the regions that have the furthest to go.”

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INTERNATIONAL PARIS ALIGNMENT FOR COUNTERPARTIES FRAMEWORK

EIB CLIMATE SURVEY

The Paris Agreement commits countries to “make finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”. Already since the beginning of the year 2021, all new EIB Group projects and operations are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. But this leaves open the question as to whether the EIB Group can support a green project with a client that, in its wider activities, continues to invest in high carbon activities. The new framework provides clarity: From 2022 onwards, EIB corporate clients will need to develop and disclose decarbonisation and resilience plans. In general, EIB will no longer finance standard low-carbon projects of high-emitting corporates if the corporate continues to operate or invest in activities that are not aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Large financial institutions are asked to increase climate-related disclosures. The EIB Group is offering technical support to clients to help them prepare credible and robust climate plans.

The EIB has launched the fourth edition of the EIB Climate Survey, a thorough assessment of how people in the EU27, the United Kingdom, the United States and China feel about climate change. Conducted in partnership with market research firm BVA, the fourth edition of the EIB Climate Survey aims to inform the broader debate on attitudes and expectations in terms of climate action. More than 30 000 respondents participated in the survey between 26 August and 22 September 2021, with a representative panel for each country polled.

EIB AT COP26 The EIB will be present with a pavilion in Hall 4 of the Scottish Event Campus and run a series of side events on numerous topics. You will find the full agenda here. You are welcome to join our virtual attendee hub to follow the sessions either live or in replay and network with attendees. With an easy two-steps registration, you will always have the latest information on our agenda. Source: eib

PORTUGAL’S EDP TO INVEST UP TO 13 BILLION STG IN UK WIND AND SOLAR BY 2030

ower company Energias de Portugal (EDP) plans to invest 12.86 billion pounds ($17.69 billion) in wind and solar projects in Britain by 2030 as the country strives to lower its emissions to net zero by mid-century. EDP plans to invest via its subsidiary EDP Renovaveis (EDPR), the world’s fourth largest renewable energy producer, which has 1 gigawatt (GW) of offshore wind capacity under construction and 0.9 GW under development in Britain. “These plans underscore our commitment to the United Kingdom, a strategic market for the growth of the group,” said Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, chief executive of EDP and EDPR. “We will explore any further opportunities that allow us to continue to play a leading role in the UK’s energy transition,” he added. The 13 billion pound investment is in addition to a 2.65 billion pound investment by Ocean Winds, EDP’s 50-50 joint venture with French utility Engie, in the Moray East and Moray West offshore wind projects in Scotland, EDP said EDP plans to invest a further 2.2 billion pounds in the Moray West project, which is due to start construction in 2022. Britain has the largest offshore wind market in the world, with around a third of all installed offshore wind capacity at the end of 2020. It plans to generate a third of its electricity from offshore wind farms by 2030 as part of its own efforts to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. EDP said it plans invest around 660 million pounds in UK onshore wind projects over the next five years. In July, it acquired onshore wind and solar portfolios with capacity of 544 MW. EDP said it is currently negotiating with local partners over 200 MW of onshore wind projects. Last month, the UK government announced the biggest auction round of its renewable energy support scheme, which will open in December, and will include onshore wind and solar for the first time. In the last auction, the cost of offshore wind fell to around 40 pounds per megawatt hour (MWh), much less than the current price of wholesale

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Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade Chief Executive of EDP and EDPR. power of around 175 pounds/MWh. Wholesale power prices have rocketed in Britain this year due to global gas prices that have soared due to post-pandemic demand recovery, low inventory volumes, infrastructure outages and other factors. Other major European utilities are also investing large amounts in renewable energy, including Spain’s Iberdrola, Denmark’s Orsted and Italy’s Enel. Source : Reuters

NOVEMBER 2021

INTERNATIONAL

U.S., CANADA AMONG 20 COUNTRIES TO COMMIT TO STOP FINANCING FOSSIL FUELS ABROAD

Coal produced around 37% of the world’s electricity in 2019.

ore than 40 countries have committed to shift away from coal, in pledges made at the COP26 climate summit. Major coal-using countries including Poland, Vietnam and Chile are among those to make the commitment. But some of the world’s biggest coal-dependent countries, including China and the US, did not sign up. In a separate commitment, 20 countries, including the US, pledged to end public financing for “unabated” fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of 2022. Such projects burn fossil fuels, like coal, oil and natural gas, without using technology to capture the CO2 emissions. Coal is the single biggest contributor to climate change.

WHAT IS THE COAL PLEDGE? Signatories to the agreement have committed to ending all investment in new coal power generation domestically and internationally. They have also agreed to phase out coal power in the 2030s for major economies, and the 2040s for poorer nations, the UK said. Dozens of organizations also signed up to the pledge, with several major banks agreeing to stop financing the coal industry. “The end of coal is in sight,” UK business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said. “The world is moving in the right direction, standing ready to seal coal’s fate and embrace the environmental and economic benefits of building a future that is powered by clean energy.” But UK shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said there were “glaring gaps” from China and other large emitters, who have not committed to stop increasing coal use domestically. He also noted that there was nothing on the phasing out of oil and gas. Mr Miliband said the UK government “has let others off the hook”. Although progress has been made in reducing coal use globally, it still produced around 37% of the world’s electricity in 2019. Juan Pablo Osornio, head of Greenpeace’s delegation at COP26, said: “Overall this statement still falls well short of the ambition needed on fossil fuels in this critical decade.The small print seemingly gives countries enormous leeway to pick their own phase-out date, despite the shiny headline,”

he added. Countries like South Africa, Poland and India will need major investments to make their energy sectors cleaner. There’s been such a flurry of announcements on the world’s most polluting fossil fuel, that it’s hard to see the light for all the (coal) dust. There are many questions outstanding. One of the biggest is the list of countries missing from this bonfire of coal commitments – including the US, China and India. The time scales for phase-out are also a bit woolly – with richer countries promising to end coal by the 2030s, with developing nations in the 2040s. None of these commitments are binding – again there is no big stick to force countries to do this. And how many of the plans to stop using coal in developing countries will need financial support from the developed world? We’ve already seen the UK, Germany and the US step up to pay South Africa’s $8.5bn (£6.2bn) to move away from coal. Other countries are said to be interested in following in South Africa’s footsteps. So is there also a question of the rich countries paying others to do what they struggle to do at home?

WHAT ABOUT FOSSIL FUELS? While the US was notably absent from the coal commitments, it joined 19 other countries – including the UK, Canada and New Zealand – in pledging to stop financing unabated overseas fossil fuel projects. “Investing in unabated fossilrelated energy projects increasingly entails both social and economic risks… and has ensuing negative impacts on government revenue, local employment, taxpayers, utility ratepayers and public health,” the signatories of the UK-led initiative said in a joint statement. The deal saw countries and financial institutions vow to steer their spending into clean energy instead. It allowed for exemptions in unspecified “limited” circumstances, but said these must be consistent with efforts to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C. “Ending international finance for all unabated fossil fuels is the next critical frontier we must deliver on,” UK energy minister Greg Hands said. “We must put public finance on the right side of history.” However, major financers of such projects, such as China, Japan and South Korea, did not sign up. The countries did join G20 nations last month in agreeing to end financial support for new unabated coal plants overseas. Source: bbc

NOVEMBER 2021

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INTERNATIONAL

JINKO SOLAR CO. LTD. INVESTS RMB 450 MN IN TONGWEI SICHUAN YONGXIANG

The Investment Is Made to Build Annual Capacity of 100,000 Tons of High-purity Polysilicon inkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (“JinkoSolar” or the “Company”) (NYSE: JKS), one of the largest and most innovative solar module manufacturers in the world, announced that its principal operating subsidiary, Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. plans to invest RMB450 million for equity in Sichuan Yongxiang Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (the “Project Company”), a subsidiary of Tongwei Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 600438). The investment will be used for the construction of a high-purity polysilicon production line with an annual capacity of 100,000 tons. After the capital increase is completed, Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. will hold a 15% stake in the Project Company, the latest update on the strategic partnership between the two parties announced in February 2021. At the same time, Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. will secure a stable supply of nearly 30,000 tons of high-purity polysilicon every year once the project is fully operational, and will share the pro rata profit allocated by the paid-in capital with the Project Company for the duration of the joint venture. Mr. Kangping Chen, CEO of Jinko Solar Co., Ltd., commented, “The strategic investment into this new high-purity polysilicon production line based in Leshan, Sichuan Province, is beneficial because it is geographically close to JinkoSolar’s major mono wafer production facilities. By securing this new line of clean, high-quality and highly reliable raw material, we will be able to guarantee the long-term reliability of our wafer and module production for the next few years. In addition, we have also realized that the healthy and sustainable development of the PV industry is increasingly dependent on the profound cooperation among supply chain partners. By leveraging Tongwei’s leading high-purity polysilicon production capabilities, we will be able to fully reach the potential of our in-house integrated production of silicon wafers, cells, modules, and by optimizing technology and specialized labor, both companies will jointly work together to reduce costs and improve efficiency in PV manufacturing, and build a long-term sustainable clean energy ecosystem for the industry.”this

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Kangping Chen CEO Jinko Solar Co.Ltd.

new high-purity polysilicon production line based in Leshan, Sichuan Province, is beneficial because it is geographically close to JinkoSolar’s major mono wafer production facilities. By securing this new line of clean, high-quality and highly reliable raw material, we will be able to guarantee the long-term reliability of our wafer and module production for the next few years. In addition, we have also realized that the healthy and sustainable development of the PV industry is increasingly dependent on the profound cooperation among supply chain partners. By leveraging Tongwei’s leading high-purity polysilicon production capabilities, we will be able to fully reach the potential of our in-house integrated production of silicon wafers, cells, modules, and by optimizing technology and specialized labor, both companies will jointly work together to reduce costs and improve efficiency in PV manufacturing, and build a long-term sustainable clean energy ecosystem for the industry.” He added, "This new high-purity polysilicon production line based in".

NOVEMBER 2021

INTERNATIONAL

SB ENERGY USA CHOOSES SENSEHAWK’S SAAS PLATFORM FOR SITE-OPERATIONS DIGITIZATION SenseHawk, a solar software as a service (SaaS) startup, announced that SB Energy, SoftBank Group Corp’s US-based solar and storage platform, has adopted its solution for digitizing solar site operations. The deployment will enable SB Energy to achieve quick event-response time while increasing operations and maintenance (O&M) efficiency, resulting in robust savings and higher returns on their investment. Abhijit Sathe, Co-CEO of SB Energy said, “We believe the SenseHawk digital workflow solution for our operating sites will result in substantial productivity gains for our O&M team. It is the type of innovation essential for scaling renewables.”SB Energy’s implementation of the SenseHawk field mobility and asset information solution for solar will enable remote management of all assets through a single, powerful dashboard. Abhijit Sathe The included “digital twin” system fuses real-time Co-CEO of SB Energy performance data, drone feeds, and more, with a full-featured digital model of the site to facilitate efficient workflows that can be visualized on a map. The ability to seamlessly integrate with SB Energy’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system will allow users to select and prioritize the alarm notifications, and quickly translate them into actionable, geo-located tasks for field teams. “Our goal is to make on-site operations as simple as opening your favorite maps application and finding a restaurant in a new city while also making communication and coordination simpler. The SB Energy implementation stands testament to the real dollar value that our platform can deliver,” said Swarup Mavanoor, CEO of SenseHawk. Solar software is seeing increased traction with the acceleration of solar installations worldwide. However, aggressive cost reduction in construction and O&M is creating challenges for O&M teams tasked with ensuring optimal plant performance. Since legacy computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) for plant maintenance are not intuitive for field personnel use, O&M team members still rely on emails and deep personal knowledge of solar farms to pinpoint tasks in a work order. This results in specific personnel being dedicated to specific sites, increasing cost. SenseHawk’s digital twin, which simulates the asset and its environment the platform, makes onsite task management Swarup Mavanoor on simple and seamless, even for techs that are onCEO of SenseHawk site for the first time. With the SenseHawk app, a technician can move to a new site and immediately become productive without needing time to “study” the site. Savings of 20-30% are easy to achieve with the productivity gains SenseHawk delivers. The SenseHawk platform is enterprise-ready with an extensive system of collaboration, access control, and single sign-on (SSO) capability. Every component, event, and spare part on the site is digitized and loaded into SenseHawk’s map-based platform. A SCADA alarm, for instance, will trigger a workflow with tasks tagged to specific components or parts on the map. O&M technicians can use SenseHawk’s mobile map interface to find and complete these tasks. All task updates, including pictures, files, and remarks, are synced to the cloud, ensuring that everyone is up to date. Don Nista, Director of O&M, SB Energy said, “We hope that the SenseHawk platform will help our technicians and operators to locate an issue and then easily and quickly know what specific actions to take to resolve the issue and maintain, or exceed, site yield targets.” While SB Energy has already used SenseHawk’s drone analytics capabilities to monitor construction quality and progress, it now plans to use SenseHawk’s task management tools and Therm solution for infrared thermography at its operational plants.

NOVEMBER 2021

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

INDIA VOLUNTARILY, UNILATERALLY ENHANCED SELF-DECLARED COMMITMENTS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY: SHRINGLA Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla claimed that India enhanced its self-declared commitments in terms of RE at Special Briefing on PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Glasgow for the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26). “The ‘Panch Amrit’ that Prime Minister announced was very very carefully thought through and considered. The statement of the Prime Minister also outlined some of the steps India had already taken,” the Foreign Secretary said during the briefing.“We voluntarily and unilaterally enhanced our selfdeclared commitments in terms of renewable energy,” he added. While noting that India intends to keep its climate targets, Shringla said that the Prime Shri Harsh Vardhan Minister during his address at COP26 highlighted Shringla, Foreign Secretary how commitments at the climate summit are not seen through. “One of the points the Prime Minister made is that a lot of commitments are made at summits of Paris and Glasgow nature. And these commitments are not seen through. They are like routine announcements that countries make and don’t monitor carefully,” he said. Answering a question of aspiration of developing countries, Shringal said, “While there was greater pressure on climate action, there should be equal pressure on commitment on climate financing. While developing countries are interested in achieving the climate-related targets, at the same time they need the means to deliver on those commitments.” Foreign Secretary had said that India’s new target of 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030, announced at COP26, is a “very significant” contribution to meeting the goals of the climate summit. “The Prime Minister spoke at the summit of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030. By all means, this is a very very significant contribution to the overall area of climate change and in meeting the goals of the summit, considering that India comprises one-sixth of humanity,” Shringla had said in a briefing. "The Foreign Secretary had also informed that PM Modi at COP 26 announced that by 2030, 50 per cent of India’s energy needs would be met from renewable energy sources. The Prime Minister also stated that India will reduce its carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes from now until 2030, he added. PM India has spoken about net-zero by 2070,” he said. Source: ANI

GERMAN PARTIES AIM TO ABOLISH RENEWABLE ENERGY SURCHARGE FROM 2023-SOURCES Germany’s Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats have reached an initial agreement in talks on forming a new government to abolish a renewable energy surcharge by January 2023, negotiators told Reuters.

The EEG surcharge, which is used to fund wind and solar power production costs of more than 20 billion euros ($23.15 billion) a year, had been earmarked for a phaseout by the outgoing government and run-away energy prices have added urgency to abolish it.

Source : reuters

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NOVEMBER 2021

RENEWABLE ENERGY

FITCH SOLUTIONS SAYS NEW CLIMATE TARGET POSES UPSIDE RISKS TO OUTLOOK FOR RENEWABLE GROWTH

Fitch Solutions claimed that the new climate targets announced at the COP26 summit by PM Modi pose an upside risk to its outlook for renewable growth in India. ith the new targets, it expected to see attempts to alleviate the issues regarding supply chains, manufacturing and project development that have long plagued renewable proliferation.“The market’s rapidly growing need for electricity will keep the market highly reliant on coal power, posing challenges to the country’s decarbonization plans,” it said. “Hydrogen will offer a unique pathway to decarbonization in the power and wider energy sectors as the market seeks to cut one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.” At the 2021 Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, Modi outlined a net zero emissions target by 2070 for India. “As the fourth-largest carbon-emitting market globally, India has lagged behind much of the world’s leading power markets including China and the US who have outlined a net zero target by 2060 and 2050 respectively,” Fitch Solutions said. The new announcements put forth a clear ambition of the Modi government to tackle climate change more aggressively. India is targeting to increase its low-carbon power capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and meet 50 percent of its total energy requirements by 2030. “We highlight that these pledges pose a mounting upside risk to our forecasted 313 GW of installed low carbon power capacity, including nuclear, hydro and non-hydropower renewables by 2030,” Fitch Solutions said. It added that non-hydropower renewables will make up the vast majority, 83 percent, of this growth highlighting the significance of the wind and solar sub-sectors. “We highlight that the market will not reach the Modi government’s previousplans to develop 175 GW of renewables capacity by 2022 and will fall short with just 116 GW installed by end 2021. “We also highlight increased risks to the successful continuation of renewables auctions as well as the development of recently selected projects within those tenders,” it said. Ongoing challenges, including project

NOVEMBER 2021

realisation risks, stemming from bureaucratic, financing and logistical delays and the country’s underdeveloped and inefficient grid system, also underpin conservative outlook. “We have seen the government take steps to ease bottlenecks in the country’s grid infrastructure, particularly in the integration of renewables generation. However, we are bearish on the prospects of this being sufficient to ensure the smooth integration of renewables capacity into the grid,” it said. Ongoing China-India tensions will also cause increased supplychain disruptions, project delays and reduce the viability of certain projects in the pipeline due to cost pressures. In July 2020, the Ministry of Power said it will impose restrictions on all imports of power equipment from China. However, Chinese imports account for 80 percent of the equipment and components in the Indian solar power sector. The safeguard duties on Chinese and Malaysian solar cell and module imports are set to end over 2021-2022. Currently, India has manufacturing capabilities of 1.5 GW per year, which is set to expand to 3.5 GW in the coming year. Some estimates highlight that the potential for an additional 14 GW of production capacity could be forthcoming by 2022. “If the country is to increase its cumulative low carbon capacity from our forecasted 313 GW to 500 GW, significant increases in domestic manufacturing will need to occur or import regulations will need to be lifted,” Fitch said. “The market’s rapidly growing need for electricity will keep the market highly reliant on coal power, posing challenges to the country’s decarbonization plans.” Fitch expected power demand in the country to grow strongly over the coming decade, in conjunction with robust macroeconomic and demographic fundamentals. Economic growth will continue to be driven by the construction, manufacturing and services sectors over the coming quarters; these sectors are all large-scale consumers and will boost power demand. We also highlight the market’s rapidly intensifying energy consumption per capita each year. Source: cnbctv18

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

AFRICA NEEDS RENEWABLE POWER FOR GREAT GREEN WALL TO WORK, AFDB HEAD SAYS For Africa’s Great Green Wall project to succeed in stopping desert advancement, local people need sustainable power so they do not cut down the trees that make up the desert barrier, the head of the continent’s development bank said.

he African Union initiative has started to plant trees, invest in agriculture and create sustainable ecosystems. When complete, it will stretch across an 8,000-kilometerlong (5,000-mile-long) and 15-kilometerwide strip from Senegal to Djibouti. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed $6.5 billion towards the wall, which the United Nations estimates will cost $33 billion. Billionaire Jeff Bezos pledged $1 billion to it this week. AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina said on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate summit in Glasgow that it was key to link the Great Green Wall project with access to clean energy. “If there is no electricity in the Sahel, and the levels are very, very low right now, that whole wall is nothing more than a pack of charcoal and fuel wood waiting to be cut down,” Adesina said. He said "the bank was linking its $20 billion Desert-to-Power solar initiative, which seeks to provide power to 250 million people in the Sahel region by 2025, to the Great Green Wall. Doing so “will save encroachment on the wall,” Adesina said. Otherwise “people will just go cut it down because they don’t have access to electricity.” The communities currently rely wood and charcoal for fuel, which add carbon to the atmosphere. Adesina said the bank has mobilised $1.2 billion of around $2 billion needed for a component of the solar project in Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. This would develop 2 GW of electricity generation for 3.5 million people. The $1.2 billion includes funding announced in Glasgow of $16.33 million by Sweden and $100 million by France.

Kinwumi Adesina

AfDB President

Source : reuters

ADANI ELECTRICITY TO MEET 30% OF MUMBAI’S POWER DEMAND THROUGH RENEWABLE ENERGY

The company has linked these targets with financial penalty for non-achievement under its recent issuance of US Dollar denominated bonds to international investors, demonstrating commitment. said. The company has linked these targets with financial dani Group firm Adani Electricity penalty for non-achievement under its recent issuance of Mumbai Ltd, which distributes power US Dollar denominated Bond to international investors, in Mumbai, said it will meet 30 percent demonstrating commitment. A company spokesperson said of the energy demand of the metro city that Adani Electricity Mumbai uses three to five per cent of the through renewable sources and scale power requirement of the city using renewable energy sources. that proportion to 60 per cent by Adani Electricity is also offering sustainable lifestyle options to 2027.“Adani Electricity has already its consumers, enabling them to contribute to fighting climate taken steps to reduce Mumbai’s change and in reducing their individual carbon footprint. A Green carbon footprint. With a major thrust on promoting Tariff has been rolled out wherein consumers can opt for supply renewable energy, Adani will fulfill over 30 per cent from renewable energy sources. It is also offering a subsidy of Mumbai’s power requirements through renewable of up to 40 per cent to promote solar rooftop installations. energy sources, which would further be scaled up to More than 30,000 consumers have opted for these initiatives 60 per cent by 2027,” a company statement said. This will displacing equivalent of more than 26,000 tonnes of carbon offset up to 16 per cent of Mumbai’s total GHG (greenhouse dioxide annually, equivalent to planting 850,000 trees. Adani gases) emissions and make Mumbai one of the World’s Electricity Mumbai Ltd, part of the diversified Adani Group, is an first Metropolis to be powered by such a significant share of integrated business of power generation, transmission, and retail renewable energy, the statement electricity distribution.

Source: businesstoday

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NOVEMBER 2021

RENEWABLE ENERGY

NEW CLIMATE TARGET POSES UPSIDE RISKS TO OUTLOOK FOR RENEWABLE GROWTH: FITCH SOLUTIONS With the new targets, it expected to see attempts to alleviate the issues regarding supply chains, manufacturing and project development that have long plagued renewable proliferation.

t the 2021 Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, Modi outlined a net zero emissions target by 2070 for India. Fitch Solutions said the new climate targets announced at the COP26 summit by Prime minister Narendra Modi pose an upside risk to its outlook for renewable growth in the country. With the new targets, it expected to see attempts to alleviate the issues regarding supply chains, manufacturing and project development that have long plagued renewable proliferation. “The market’s rapidly growing need for electricity will keep the market highly reliant on coal power, posing challenges to the country’s decarbonisation plans,” it said. “Hydrogen will offer a unique pathway to decarbonisation in the power and wider energy sectors as the market seeks to cut one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.” At the 2021 Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, Modi outlined a net zero emissions target by 2070 for India. “As the fourth-largest carbon-emitting market globally, India has lagged behind much of the world’s leading power markets including China and the US who have outlined a net zero target by 2060 and 2050 respectively,” Fitch Solutions said. The new announcements put forth a clear ambition of the Modi government to tackle climate change more aggressively. India is targeting to increase its low-carbon power capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and meet 50 per cent of its total energy requirements by 2030. “We highlight that these pledges pose a mounting upside risk to our forecasted 313 GW of installed low carbon power capacity, including nuclear, hydro and non-hydropower renewables by 2030,” Fitch Solutios said. It added that non-hydropower renewables will make up the vast majority, 83 per cent, of this growth highlighting the significance of the wind and solar sub-sectors. “We highlight that the market will not reach the Modi government’s previous plans to develop 175 GW of renewables capacity by 2022 and will fall short with just 116 GW installed by end 2021.We also highlight increased risks to the successful continuation

NOVEMBER 2021

of renewables auctions as well as the development of recently selected projects within those tenders,” it said. Ongoing challenges, including project realisation risks, stemming from bureaucratic, financing and logistical delays and the country’s underdeveloped and inefficient grid system, also underpin conservative outlook. “We have seen the government take steps to ease bottlenecks in the country’s grid infrastructure, particularly in the integration of renewables generation. However, we are bearish on the prospects of this being sufficient to ensure the smooth integration of renewables capacity into the grid,” it said. Ongoing China-India tensions will also cause increased supply-chain disruptions, project delays and reduce the viability of certain projects in the pipeline due to cost pressures. In July 2020, the Ministry of Power said it will impose restrictions on all imports of power equipment from China. However, Chinese imports account for 80 per cent of the equipment and components in the Indian solar power sector. The safeguard duties on Chinese and Malaysian solar cell and module imports are set to end over 2021-2022. Currently, India has manufacturing capabilities of 1.5 GW per year, which is set to expand to 3.5 GW in the coming year. Some estimates highlight that the potential for an additional 14 GW of production capacity could be forthcoming by 2022. “If the country is to increase its cumulative low carbon capacity from our forecasted 313 GW to 500 GW, significant increases in domestic manufacturing will need to occur or import regulations will need to be lifted,” Fitch said. “The market’s rapidly growing need for electricity will keep the market highly reliant on coal power, posing challenges to the country’s decarbonisation plans.”Fitch expected power demand in the country to grow strongly over the coming decade, in conjunction with robust macroeconomic and demographic fundamentals. Economic growth will continue to be driven by the construction, manufacturing and services sectors over the coming quarters; these sectors are all large-scale consumers and will boost power demand. We also highlight the market’s rapidly intensifying energy consumption per capita each year. Source: businesstoday

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

UAE AND IRENA LAUNCH $1 BILLION GLOBAL FINANCE PLATFORM TO ACCELERATE RENEWABLE ENERGY Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) Platform secures 400 million USD anchor funding from Abu Dhabi Fund for Development as first strategic partner.

Platform launched at COP26 aims to finance 1.5 GW of new renewable energy power in developing countries by 2030.

he United Arab Emirates and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) announced the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) Platform, a new global climate finance facility to accelerate the transition to renewable energy in developing countries. The UAE committed USD 400 million in funding provided by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) toward the platform’s goal of securing a minimum of USD 1 billion in total funding.The formal launch took place on the sidelines of the COP 26 United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, together with the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Mr. Gaston Browne, President of the Maldives Mr. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and President of Togo, Mr. Faure Gnassingbé and UAE Climate Envoy Dr. Sultan Al Jaber. HE Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Special Envoy for Climate and Minister of Industry and Advanced Dr. Sultan Al Jaber UAE Special Envoy for Climate Technology, said: “The UAE views development aid and climate action as & Minister of Industry & Advanced Technology powerful catalysts for economic growth, both domestically and internationally. Today’s announcement will help to advance the economies of partner countries by providing reliable, low-cost renewable energy for businesses, industry, and homes. We are proud of this significant new contribution by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development to accelerate climate action and deliver immediate economic benefits in the process. This is the kind of initiative that combines partnership, policy and finance to create tangible progress, and it is this focus on practical results that has motivated the UAE to offer to host COP 28 in 2023.” Through co-financing, ETAF will aim to mobilize an additional USD 2 billion in energy transition investments, targeting a total deployment of 1.5 GW of clean renewable energy generation and storage by 2030. ETAF will be managed by IRENA from its Abu Dhabi headquarters, capitalizing on the UAE’s climate finance market and renewable energy innovation infrastructure. The new accelerator platform will help mitigate investment risks and finance renewable energy projects in developing countries that may otherwise struggle to secure sufficient capital. Francesco La Camera, the Director-General of IRENA, said: “We have reached a defining moment in our generation’s efforts to put our economies and our environment on a path to stability, resilience and shared prosperity. The energy transformation is the most attractive and effective tool we have to achieve that. This new investment platform reflects the UAE’s commitment to shaping a sustainable future, and IRENA’s efforts to serve its over 180 member countries as an indispensable energy transformation partner. We encourage multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, governments, and private sector actors to join us in bolstering sustainable development efforts.” The new UAE-IRENA partnership to establish the ETAF platform builds on the long-term collaboration between IRENA and ADFD, which includes seven cycles of the USD 350 million IRENA-ADFD Project Francesco La Camera Facility. Between 2013 and 2020, the facility financed 26 projects in Asia, Africa, Director-General of IRENA and the Americas, notably including Small Island Developing States.In total to date, ADFD has worked with a number of clean energy partners and governments in 65 countries to support the development of 90 renewable energy projects that have the capacity to generate more than 9,000 megawatts of electricity. With the new ETAF contribution, ADFD’s total financing for renewable energy projects now stands at USD 1.8 billion. His Excellency Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director-General of ADFD, said: “IRENA and ADFD have an excellent track record working together on the development of major renewable energy projects in developing markets. These projects have significant environmental, economic and social impact that is transformational for countries and their people. Through this new platform, we seek to bring together finance and development partners from around the world under a shared vision to combat climate change.”His Excellency Al Suwaidi added: “Given the essential role that renewable energy projects play in achieving sustainable development for developing countries, ADFD has committed to allocating USD 400 million until 2030 to enable accelerated deployment. These projects will have a great Excellency Mohammed Saif impact on local communities, helping beneficiary countries to achieve greater Al Suwaidi economic and social development.”The ETAF platform will source projects on an Director-General of ADFD ongoing basis, supplemented by calls for proposals aligned with Paris Agreement and SDG milestones. Investment-ready projects identified under IRENA’s existing Climate Investment Platform will also represent a notable pipeline. Source: irena

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NOVEMBER 2021

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS DUTY, TAXES TO LIFT SOLAR TARIFFS TO RS 2.6 PER UNIT NEXT FISCAL YEAR: CRISIL

Solar tariffs might rise to Rs 2.6 per unit to Rs 2.7 per unit from an all-time low of Rs 2 unit over next fiscal year in the wake of the recent increase in the goods and services tax (GST) on renewable energy equipment, and the proposed customs duty on imported solar modules, according to a press release by CRISIL Ratings.

High module prices, taxes, and duties are likely to result in project cost inflation for solar developers. Compared with fiscal year 2021, we expect the project cost to increase by 15-20 per cent — Rs 60-70 lakh per MW — on average to Rs 4.2-Rs 4.3 crore per MW next fiscal from Rs 3.6-Rs 3.7 crore per MW seen during the last few fiscal years, said Ankit Hakhu, director, CRISIL Ratings.

He added that this might make future solar bids expensive at Rs 2.6-Rs 2.7 per unit compared with the lows of Rs. 2.0-2.2 per unit seen during fiscal 2021, for developers to maintain returns of 11-12 per cent.

n the other hand, developers of already bid-out projects are expected to pass on the impact of taxes and duties under the change-in-law clause, said the release. The government has increased the GST on critical components of a solar project such as photovoltaic cells and modules from 5 per cent to 12 per cent with effect from October 1, 2021. “This has increased the total taxation on a solar project from 8-9 per cent to 12-13 per cent. It will more than double to about 30 per cent when customs duty of 40 per cent on imported solar modules kicks in from April 1, 2022,” said CRISIL. It said that module prices increased to 23-24 cents per watt in the first half of the current fiscal from an average 21 cents per watt in the last fiscal year, primarily due to increase in the polysilicon prices because of disruptions at the manufacturing facilities of Chinese manufacturers. CRISIL said that the calculation on tariffs included an anticipated reduction in prices of solar module to 20-21 cents per watt next fiscal, with an expectation of smoothening of silicon prices following the ramp-up in operations of the planned and existing capacities. In the absence of this correction, tariffs might further increase by 15-20 paisa per unit to maintain the said returns, it added.

NOVEMBER 2021

An increase in tariffs envisaged in future bids may scare away state distribution companies and add to an already large capacity of about 20 GW that has been bid-out but haven’t found a buyer for the electricity, said Aditya Jhaver, director, CRISIL Ratings.

He added that if developers resort to aggressive bidding in a competitive market, it will likely increase the credit risk on new projects as the cash flow cushion may be thinner than earlier. According to CRISIL, no notable module price correction is envisaged from these players over the medium term as it will take some time for the domestic players to rampup the capacities along the entire value chain, and lower their operating cost. Source : Crisil

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS RISING DEMAND TO KEEP ELECTRICITY PRICES ELEVATED IN THE SHORT-TERM Rising demand is expected to keep electricity prices elevated in short-term. According to India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), the all-India energy demand continued to recover in August 2021 by 17.8 per cent YoY to 129.4 billion units (BU). “There was a recovery of demand in all the major manufacturing states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu,” Ind-Ra said in a report. “Additionally, the all-India energy demand increased marginally in the first 20 days of September 2021 to 77BU, indicating a continued recovery. The all-India demand during 5MFY22 surpassed the pre-Covid levels at 597BU.”

s per the report, led by continued improvement in demand, the average short-term price at Indian Energy Exchange increased significantly to Rs 5.06 per kWh during August 2021, as the difference in the buy and sell bids turned positive. “The average short-term price for a day peaked at Rs 9 per kWh during August, and the average short-term price for the first 20 days of September remained high at Rs 4.08 per kWh.” Besides, Ind-Ra cited that with the recovery in demand, electricity generation (excluding renewables) increased 16.8 per cent YoY to 120.8BU in August 2021. “Given the higher dependency on coal-based power with almost all other sources of power already on must run status, the plant load factor of coal-based power plants improved to 59.27 per cent in August 2021.”

“Thermal generation contributed around 80 per cent to the overall power in August 2021.” In addition, the report said that electricity generation from renewable sources improved by 13.6 per cent in August 2021 to 16.4BU, led by a 35 per cent YoY improvement in the solar power generation to 5.24BU, despite a marginal 2 per cent YoY decline in wind power generation to 8.75BU. Source : IANS

ICRA REVISES UP FY22 GDP GROWTH FORECAST TO 9%

A ramp-up in COVID-19 vaccination, healthy advance estimates of kharif (summer) crop and faster government spending were the factors which led to the revision, the agency said. Ratings agency ICRA revised up its 2021-22 real GDP growth estimate for India to 9 per cent from 8.5 per cent.

t can be noted that after the 7.3 per cent contraction in 2020-21, there were expectations of a higher growth number in 2021-22. However, the second wave of COVID-19 infections early into the fiscal year, which spread even in the hinterland, made analysts more circumspect. The RBI expects the economy to grow at 9.5 per cent.

The widening coverage of COVID-19 vaccines is likely to boost confidence, which will in turn re-energise demand for contact-intensive services, helping to revive the portions of the economy affected most by the pandemic,” its chief economist Aditi Nayar said. The robust kharif harvest is likely to sustain the consumption demand from the farm sector while the expected acceleration in the central government spending after the withdrawal of the earlier cash management guidelines will recharge this key driver of aggregate demand, she added. The key risk to its revised projection of 9 per cent GDP growth is a potential third wave and the existing vaccines being ineffective against newer mutations of the virus, she said. Nearly three-fourths of Indian adults could receive their second vaccine shot by the end of 2021 if the average 7.9 million doses a day recorded between September 1-26 is sustained, Icra estimated. Nayar said late sowing has helped bring the kharif acreage nearly at par with last year’s record area. In line with this, the first advance estimates of crop production for 2021-22 signalled a robust rise in kharif output, barring coarse cereals and oilseeds, quelling the concerns raised by the uneven monsoon and episodes of flooding.

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Based on these, the agency has revised up its GVA (gross value added) growth estimate for agriculture, forestry and fishing to 3 per cent each in second and third quarters of 2021-22 from the earlier projection of a tepid 2 per cent rise, she added. The Centre’s spending contracted 4.7 per cent in April-July 2021 year-on-year, and stood at 28.8 per cent of the 202122 Budget Estimates, the agency said, expecting a higher government spending to boost growth in second half of the year. However, it said that trends from the industrial sector remain lacklustre in September 2021, with semi-conductor non-availability weighing upon auto production and a flattening out of GST e-way bills. Moreover, heavy rains have dampened electricity demand and are likely to distort trends in mining and construction. Source : PTI

NOVEMBER 2021

research & analysis

FRANCE’ LHYFE LABS PRODUCES GREEN HYDROGEN DIRECTLY FROM WIND POWER Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electrolyzer powered by electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. This comes in the backdrop of Acme Solar’s plans to produce green hydrogen in India and Europe with Lhyfe Lab

In a first, Lhyfe Labs SAS of France has produced green hydrogen directly from wind power, the firm said in a statement. This comes in the backdrop of Acme Solar’s plans to produce green hydrogen in India and Europe with Lhyfe Labs. Acme Solar and Oman’s Tatweer also plan to invest $3.5 billion for green ammonia and green hydrogen production. “Renewable hydrogen produced directly from wind power becomes reality. At the end of August, just a year after the foundation stone was laid for this industrial facility like none else in the world, Lhyfe, a pure player in renewable hydrogen, began producing its first hundred kilograms of ecological hydrogen and is ready for industrial scale production,” the Lhyfe Labs statement said.

rime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August announced India’s National Hydrogen Mission in the backdrop of India spending Rs12 trillion annually to meet the energy needs. Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electrolyzer powered by electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. It can be a gamechanger for India, which imports 85% of its oil and 53% of gas demand.

“Following a few days of testing at this first site, for which the foundation stone was laid only a year ago in Bouin (Vendée, France), Lhyfe has produced 627 kilograms of renewable hydrogen, using an electrolyser powered by wind turbines a few meters away,” the statement said.

NOVEMBER 2021

Speaking at the International Climate Summit, Reliance Industries Ltd’s chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani announced his ambitious plans to bring green hydrogen cost to under $2 per kg by 2030. He also said that India can set even more aggressive target of achieving under $1 per kg new age emission free fuel within a decade. “The purpose of this initial production was to finalize tests, before the end of September when industrial production and sales will start for new partners whose names will be revealed soon. Lhyfe will henceforth produce 300 kilograms of renewable hydrogen a day, before ramping up to a tonne a day in the coming months,” the statement added. With the current cost of green hydrogen produced by electrolysis estimated at around ₹350 per kg, India’s green hydrogen playbook plans to bring it down to ₹160 per kg by 2029-30. Such a cost price will make India’s plan to build green hydrogen plants to run on electricity produced by green energy sources an unique value proposition.

Source: livemint

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research & analysis

MSGBC BASIN ACCELERATES PATH TOWARDS ENERGY TRANSITION BY INVESTING IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

West African countries have for years had some of the highest electricity tariffs in Africa, and even prior to the discovery of major oil & gas deposits in the MSGBC Basin, many of these countries began investing in alternative energy sources including solar and photovoltaic plants; wind energy; and hydro power plants. From Senegal to Guinea-Conakry, governments are aiming to attract more private sector investment in renewable energy projects to help decrease energy costs, boost rural electrification and fight energy poverty by expanding the role of environmentally sustainable energy projects.

MAURITANIA- SHEIKH ZAYED SOLAR POWER PLANT The Sheikh Zayed Solar Power Plant is a 15MW photovoltaic facility in Nouakchott, built by MASDAR PV. The facility accounts for 10% of Mauritania’s grid capacity and produces 25,409 megawatt-hours of clean electricity annually.

SENEGAL – TAIBA NDIAYE WIND FARM Senegal’s Taiba Ndiaye is a 158 MW Wind Farm that was inaugurated in February 2020, and is currently generating 50 MW. Once fully operational it will generate 158 MW and increase the country’s renewable energy capacity by 15%.

THE GAMBIA – BIKRAMA SOLAR POWER PLANT The Gambia’s National Water and Electricity Company in March 2020 completed the preliminary phase of a tender for the 20 MW Bikrama solar power plant project in the Greater Banjul area. The solar project, funded by the World Bank, the European Union and the European Investment Bank will include up to four photovoltaic plants ranging in size from 3 MW to 6 MW of generation capacity.

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GUINEA BISSAU – BAMBADINCA, BISSORA, AND CONTUBOEL PV MINI-GRID PROJECT Through the United Nations Development Organization and the Ministry of Energy, Guinea Bissau is currently operating and installing the Bambadinca  (312 kWp), Bissora (500kWp), and Contuboel (100 kWp) PV mini-grid project, one of the biggest hybrid solar projects in ECOWAS, located in the region of Bafata.

GUINEA CONAKRY- KAMSAR AND BOKÉ SOLAR POWER PLANTS The German company Clean Power Generation, in partnership with Frontier Energy, is developing the 82 MW Kamsar and Boké independent solar power project in Guinea Conakry, one of the largest of its kind in West Africa. Source: energycapitalpower

NOVEMBER 2021

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TOTAL SIGNS DEAL WORTH $27 BILLION IN IRAQ; TO DEVELOP OIL FIELDS, NATURAL GAS French energy giant Total signed mega contracts with Iraq worth $27 billion to develop oil fields, natural gas and a crucial water project that officials will be key for the oil-rich country to maintain crude output.

he deals were inked with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in attendance, according to an Oil Ministry statement. Total signed contracts with the ministry to develop the Ratawi oil field in southern Iraq, a gas processing hub to capture natural gas from five southern oil fields, and a much needed project to treat Gulf seawater and inject it into reservoirs to maintain oil production levels. A fourth project was signed with the Electricity Ministry to build a 1,000 megawatt solar power plant. It is the most lucrative and ambitious deal to be signed by an oil giant in Iraq in years and comes as other international oil companies have taken steps to exit from Iraq’s oil sector. There was no immediate statement from Total. Iraq urgently needs to develop local gas resources to meet electricity demands, especially during the peak summer months. The country is heavily reliant on Iranian gas and electricity imports, which have been irregular in recent months due to outstanding payments and high demand inside Iran.

In a June interview, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail said he was aiming to increase Iraq’s gas capacity by 3 billion cubic standard feet by 2025. The development of the gas processing hub would bring Iraq a step closer to that goal. Iraq currently imports 2 billion cubic standard feet to meet domestic needs. The project entails building a gas complex capable of separating and processing the natural gas associated with petroleum that is extracted from the Ratawi, West Qurna 2, Majnoon, Tuba and Luhais oil fields. Iraq currently lacks the means to capture this gas and it is burned off in the atmosphere. Experts complain that by not effectively capturing this natural gas, Iraq is wasting millions in revenue. Once processed, the gas can be fed to power plants to meet domestic electricity needs. Iraq has said it plans to eliminate gas flaring in the next two to three years. The World Bank estimates Iraq flares around 16 billion cubic meters of gas per day. But industry officials and technocrats inside the Oil Ministry said far more urgent for the well being of Iraq’s oil industry was the seawater development component of the package of deals. Oil is Iraq’s main industry and accounts for 90% of state revenues. To keep current production rates and meet future targets, water is reinjected into the field to maintain well pressure. Officials say the signing of the deal was pushed ahead by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ahead of national elections next month despite reservations from ministry technocrats who harbor doubts that Total is serious about executing the seawater element.

The Oil Ministry and the (state-owned) Basra Oil Company have doubts that Total is serious about the seawater project. They think they will push for the oil field and gas hub projects and delay the rest, said an industry official with knowledge of the contract negotiations. An official with BOC expressed the same concern. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press. Industry and ministry officials have warned that adequate water supplies for reinjection is not guaranteed amid shortages and there is no other alternative in place. The contracts with Total mirrors another multiproject deal that had been under negotiation for years with U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil. But following years of painstaking talks the deal fell through. The Total deal also comes as other oil companies plan their exit from Iraq. Exxon announced this year it would be selling its shares from West Qurna 1 oil field. The oil minister has also said that British Petroleum will spin off development of the Rumaila oil field, the country’s largest. Source: libyanexpress

NOVEMBER 2021

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UAE, INDONESIA LAUNCH TALKS ON DEEPENING TRADE AND INVESTMENT RELATIONS Dr. Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, minister of state for foreign trade, led an official delegation to Bogor for discussions with Indonesia to deepen trade and investment relations. Indonesia is one of eight countries with which the UAE is seeking trading agreements as part of the ‘Projects of the 50’ initiative announced

uring the official economic mission, Al Zeyoudi and his delegation met Indonesia President Joko Widodo at the Jakarta Presidential Palace. They exchanged views on a number of regional and global issues and underlined the importance of greater collaboration to enhance sustainable development and accelerate the global economic recovery. Al Zeyoudi and Muhammad Lutfi, minister of trade of the Republic of Indonesia, also jointly established the Indonesia–United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IUAE CEPA). It will enhance trade ties, expand economic and investment opportunities, and mark a new phase of bilateral cooperation. A highlevel delegation representing the federal government and businesses, including the Federal Chambers of Commerce, accompanied Al Zeyoudi on the state visit and took part in the IUAE CEPA Business Forum. Discussions were also launched to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the chambers of commerce of both countries.

The UAE is paving the way for a more vibrant and competitive knowledge-based economy and continues to be a catalyst for economic growth for our partners around the globe, as our announcement on our trade ambitions as part of our ‘Projects of the 50’ initiative show, Al Zeyoudi said. “The IUAE CEPA builds upon the UAE’s strong economic relationship with Indonesia and will lay the foundations for an ambitious partnership that creates new opportunities for our businesses, attracts greater investment and talent to the region, and accelerates the global economic recovery.”

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Lutfi added: “It is our firm conviction that deepening the economic bonds with the UAE will assist in our goals to develop export markets, provide new horizons for our businesses, and implement best practices in key sectors such as technology, logistics, sustainable energy and food production. “The UAE’s plans to leverage trade partnerships to strengthen its future economy and build on its role as a global economic hub are exactly in line with Indonesia’s ambitions to do the same in Asia.” The UAE’s longstanding bilateral relationship with Indonesia is anchored on close cultural ties and a shared commitment to enabling greater economic development and prosperity between both countries. The total value of the UAE’s non-oil trade with Indonesia in 2020, for example, reached $2 billion and the UAE is aiming to increase this trade value significantly in the coming years through the IUAE CEPA. Recent announcements including UAE plans to invest $10 billion in the Indonesia Investment Authority in March 2021, the Indonesian government becoming the largest Sukuk issuer on Nasdaq Dubai in May 2019, and the UAE’s Masdar beginning construction on the world’s largest floating solar plant in Indonesia last month further demonstrates the strength of the UAE-Indonesia bilateral relationship. There are also a number of longstanding collaborations in the areas of oil exploration, the halal food industry, green technology, utilities, agriculture and education. In the last five years, the total value of non-oil trade between Indonesia and the UAE exceeded $11 billion, of which, the UAE’s exports to Indonesia accounted for $1.4 billion. Aluminum and related products generated nearly $600 million, while the value of re-exports from the UAE to Indonesia stood at nearly $1 billion during the same period. Current estimates indicate that opportunities to increase non-oil trade are promising, with an annual growth potential of $1.6 billion in several sectors, including jewelry, vegetable oil, automobiles and car parts, copper, rubber and aluminum. Source: saudigazette

NOVEMBER 2021

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How UAE landfills are becoming Solar Farms ?

Switching to clean energy will require using existing resources more creatively. On September 24, for the first time since 1981, the United Nations General Assembly will meet for a high-level dialogue on energy. The UAE will be represented there as one of the UN’s 25 Global Theme Champions.

t the meeting in New York, representatives of countries will discuss energy-related goals, the implementation of these goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. One of the topics that will be on the table is the need for countries to urgently switch to affordable and clean energy. Through targeting net zero emissions and developing cleaner sources of energy, including nuclear energy, the UAE has shown a commitment to climate action and energy transition. An initiative launched in 2017, called the UAE’s Energy Strategy 2050, aims to double the contribution of clean energy – to 50 per cent by 2050 – and reduce the carbon footprint of power generation by 70 per cent. In the run up to the meeting in New York, Damilola Ogunbiyi, a UN representative, visited the UAE in July. While in the UAE, Ms Ogunbiyi, who is also co-chair of UN Energy, met with Bee’ah at a session held by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to learn about how public-private partnerships are contributing to every aspect of daily life – from waste and energy production to health, education and collaboration with others. Such collaborations are going to be increasingly essential as companies around the world co-operate with one another to address climate problems. One example is our partnership with Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, to form the Emirates Waste to Energy Company. Our initial project together was to build the UAE’s first wasteto-energy plant. Ms Ogunbiyi and other UN representatives visited Bee’ah’s waste management complex in Sharjah to understand its significance. The facility will process more than 300,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste annually to produce around 30 megawatts of energy – enough to power 28,000 homes in Sharjah. Another positive affect will be its ability to offset almost 450,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Since 1970, global carbon emissions have increased by about 90 per cent. The generation of energy is the largest contributor to climate change, accounting for 60 per cent of global emissions. It is vital that countries work to reduce these figures and switch to cleaner forms of energy. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases act like a blanket that prevents heat from radiating out from the planet. This exacerbates the problem of global warming. So, efforts in the UAE to lower carbon footprint are not just positive but necessary. One of the rapidly growing forms of clean energy is solar power. The sunlight which the Earth’s surface receives in just one and a half hours is enough to power the entire world’s electricity consumption for a year. That is more than adequate reason to invest in it. There are other benefits too of tapping solar energy: as solar infrastructure is scaled up, other costs come down and efficiency increases. But for projects like solar farms, we need more investment. There are challenges to overcome, such as inadequate space or land requirements.

NOVEMBER 2021

To address these challenges, Bee’ah is creating the first solar landfill project in the region. This project is thematically aligned with the UAE already on course to develop a number of renewable energy projects that will diversify the country’s energy mix – including Abu Dhabi building the world’s largest solar power plant, and Dubai building the world’s largest solar energy park to reduce the emirate’s reliance on natural gas. The idea behind the Sharjah project is to repurpose closed landfills. Solar panels will be fitted on top of the landfill site. The innovative aspect here is that the landfill will use existing space while at the same time generating clean energy – up to 120 megawatts. The UAE’s adoption of green hydrogen, fuel generated with clean energy, is another source of clean energy that could help bring net-zero emissions in the coming decades. The UAE has announced its aim to become a major hydrogen producer. And we are proud to be helping the country achieve that goal. Bee’ah has announced plans for the region’s first waste-to-hydrogen project, including a green hydrogen generation plant and a hydrogen vehicle fuelling station. As Dr Abdullah Al Nuaimi, UAE’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said: “The private sector also has the potential to make a significant contribution towards our ultimate goal of reaching carbon neutrality.” Our aim at Bee’ah is to ensure a sustainable, technology-driven future through creative and resourceful solutions, something that will highlighted at the UN meet. In striving for a clean-energy future, if the public and private sectors collaborate, there is no challenge that we cannot overcome. Source: thenationalnews

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Rooftop solar systems survived Hurricane Ida; in blackout, some powered neighbors, too $10,000 batteries are needed to keep electricity running in an outage. Jenel Hazlett didn’t have time to evacuate her family and their little zoo of pets as Hurricane Ida rapidly strengthened. Instead, they rode out the Category 4 storm in their house in New Orleans’ North Carrollton neighborhood.

hen Ida crippled a major Entergy electricity tower and transmission lines, it sentenced much of southeast Louisiana to a week or more of heat and darkness. But the Hazlett family’s 37 rooftop solar panels made the blackout bearable, channeling the sun’s energy down to two thin white lithium batteries that kept portions of the house powered. Though her house was still hot – the system lacks enough juice to run the central air conditioning all day – Hazlett’s solar panels and batteries saved some stress. While neighbors running gasoline-powered emergency generators struggled to refill their supply because fuel stations were closed, she looked to the sky.

During this whole Ida incident, I didn’t have to chase gas, I didn’t have to worry about carbon monoxide, I didn’t have to worry about extension cords, Hazlett said. “The sun came to me.” Hazlett’s house is one of more than 19,000 in Louisiana with solar panels. The out-of-pocket cost for a 5-kilowatt system averaged $12,538 to $16,962 in Louisiana in 2019, not including federal tax credits, according to EnergySage, an online solar marketplace. The state ranks 38th in the U.S. for home solar panel installations, according to the Solar Energy Industry Alliance. But just a small fraction of that group has also installed the battery technology to store and use the energy on site, rather than simply selling it back to the grid for a discounted electricity bill. Without storage, the panels are of little help during a power outage, automatically shutting down to avoid electrifying the grid while workers are repairing power lines. Devin De Wulf, founder of the Krewe of Red Beans, has 24 solar panels and two $10,000 batteries attached to his house in Bywater. Unlike Hazlett’s neighbors, many on De Wulf’s street lacked their own means of generating power after Ida, so he turned his porch into a hub for charging portable electronic devices and distributing ice. His elderly neighbors’ oxygen machine, refrigerator and freezer also ran on solar.

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What’s happening is my house is making my block, my immediate vicinity, more resilient because, to be honest, nobody else has shown up. Because they can’t – they’re overwhelmed, he said. Neither Hazlett nor De Wulf could use their houses to their full capacity. But the sun-powered systems were enough to keep the lights on, appliances running and fans and small window air conditioners operating. Louisiana solar companies say most of their customers with storage capacity fared similarly in the Ida outage. And customers without batteries, while they couldn’t produce electricity, saw little damage to their rooftop solar panels. The panel installation is rated for winds up to 140 miles per hour, said PosiGen CEO Thomas Neyhart and South Coast Solar owner Scott Oman.

Drive around: We’ve got drone shots that show neighborhoods where the roofs are torn off. And where the solar is, the roofs are still there, Neyhart said. “We had 9,000 solar systems that were in the path of the storm. Very few of them are damaged.” When Oman tended to his Lake Charles clients after Hurricane Laura last year, he witnessed the durability of rooftop solar systems, which are typically anchored through the roof to the underlying rafters. “We saw homes where the panels were still attached … but the roof wasn’t attached to the house anymore,” he said. Oman and Neyhart said hurricane damage to panels typically occurs not directly from wind but when flying debris or a falling tree crushes the technology. If the roof itself must be repaired, solar companies must first remove the panels and later reinstall them. Neyhart’s company is focused on leasing rooftop solar systems to low- and moderate-income residents to increase access. It also has entered the roofing business for that reason, allowing PosiGen to become a one-stop shop for clients. Even if growth is slow for the companies, De Wulf wants to mimic the role his own house in played in Ida’s aftermath, by raising money to install solar panels and batteries on small neighborhood restaurants ahead of the 2022 hurricane season. “This hurricane has been just a real eye opener because of the needs of my community and my neighbors, and just seeing what’s occurred in the city,” he said. “We’re lucky that we have these things, and we just really want every person to have them.”

Source: nola

NOVEMBER 2021

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LONGi issues its first White Paper on Climate Action at COP26 summit LONGi founder and president Li Zhenguo has participated in a special company activity at COP26 in Glasgow via online video, outlining LONGi’s “Commitment and Action to Address Climate Change” and releasing the company’s first White Paper on Climate Action at the China Corporate Pavilion.

n 2020, LONGi joined the RE100, EV100 and EP100 in succession, becoming the first Chinese company to join all three initiatives of the Climate Group at the same time. LONGi also joined the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) in the same year in response to a CDP climate change questionnaire, which opened the way for the company’s involvement in Climate Action. According to its white paper, LONGi is actively fulfilling its commitments and promoting the implementation of the four international initiatives. The company has completed the accounting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain for the first time, with the proportion of renewable electricity used in 2020 reaching 41.83%, the equivalent of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.35 million tons.

LONGi’s five manufacturing plants in Yunnan Province have in the meantime achieved 100% use of renewable electricity. In accordance with SBTi standards, the company has also submitted its own emission reduction targets for the first time – based on 2020 figures, greenhouse gas emissions within the scope of operation in 2030 will be reduced by 60% and carbon emission intensity per ton of silicon material, per watt of cell and per ton of glass will be reduced by 20%. “LONGi’s philosophy on Climate Action corresponds to the four initiatives, which every company must follow, and the advanced presentation of this can be a demonstration and example for the entire renewable energy industry. In the future, the overall thinking behind LONGi’s Climate Action will be to refer to the SBTi in order to set emission reduction targets and integrate the promotion of the RE100, EP100 and EV100 initiatives.” Li believes that the road to “Net-zero LONGi” will be long and difficult, but the company hopes to use its own actions to show the outside world a successful demonstration of “manufacturing clean energy products using 100% clean energy”.

NOVEMBER 2021

The company also looks forward to working with more partners and stakeholders, especially upstream and downstream organizations in the supply chain, to promote global energy transformation, also working with customers from all walks of life to jointly realize the vision of harmonious coexistence between mankind and nature. The COP26 summit is the first meeting of the parties since the Paris agreement entered the implementation stage.

“In the face of an imminent climate crisis, the Paris agreement pointed out the actions necessary for a global green and low-carbon transition, and these are still our guidelines for protecting the earth,” Li added. Over the past 10 years, China’s photovoltaic industry has made significant progress, enabling people to use renewable energy at a cheaper price, with the “Photovoltaic + Energy Storage + Green Hydrogen” model gradually becoming a powerful weapon against climate change. Glasgow is the third consecutive COP at which LONGi has participated. At COP24 in 2018, LONGi released its “Solar for Solar” sustainable development concept of manufacturing photovoltaic products driven by photovoltaic power generation, with COP25 in 2019 seeing the release of the company’s “China PV Outlook 2050” report. LONGi’s ‘special activity’ at COP26 saw guests invited from the Climate Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, the British Energy Transition Commission (ETC), the British Embassy in China, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, Vanke Foundation and the Tencent Company, for in-depth discussion on the actions required of corporate entities to actively respond to climate change.

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JinkoSolar’s Next-Generation N-type Module Called Tiger Neo is in High Volume and Yield Production

JinkoSolar has now officially launched its Next-generation N-type TOPCon module called Tiger Neo refreshing with much higher efficiency and all the features we were anticipating. During the launch event held in Shanghai, the company was currently updating the key performance metric of this new module.

n top of the previously reported efficiency changes up to 22.3% and maximum 620watt output based on 182 wafer, Tiger Neo is equipped with a new “performance package” that improves on JinkoSolar’s already industry-leading module efficiency and reliability, resulting in much lower LCOE and IRR. At its launch event on November 02 in Shanghai, JinkoSolar detailed characteristics of Tiger Neo as well as laid out a roadmap for PERC successors in the form of Topcon technology. Beyond PERC, n-type represents a further evolution, extending its performance and efficiency resulting in LOCE further 3-6% down on average. Tiger Neo 10GW level volume production leads industry mainstream to start to move from PERC to TOPCon.

Tiger Neo offers 6% more efficiency and power density over conventional P-type module, 15% higher bifaciality (85% vs 70), lower temperature coefficient (-0.3%/Celsius degree vs. -0.35%/ Celsius degree), half initial-year degradation (-1% vs -2%) and 37.5% less degradation (-0.4% vs -0.55%) across the whole lifecycle, 5 years prolonged linear warranty (30 vs 25 years), better low light performance ( 0.5 working hours more per day during morning and sunset), enhanced safety due to improved Isc compared to 210 big size module, ergonomic and installer-friendly design with optimized width and weight. According to Dany Qian, VP of JinkoSolar, the current yield rate of Tiger Neo in mass production is progressing no behind of PERC, and extends additional efficiency gain and power enhancement over PERC. She also explained during the post-event interview why the monoPERC mainstream landscape of c-Si production in 2021 will be short-lived while HJT is struggling with yield rates and cost. One of the key metrics on how well a cell process is developing is looking at its quantitative yield or rather, its defect rate. JinkoSolar’s TOPCon yield rate is ahead of its counterparts and expects to go better as high volume manufacturing ramps into next year.

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Obviously, JinkoSolar is now at the forefront of N-type mass production and its first phase of 10GW-level capacity release will accelerate N-type to become mainstream offerings and pull the industry back to the fundamental properties of the substrate type and cell process flow. It is sticking with TOPCon roadmap and relying on “combined innovative features” to enable them to achieve the full-node scaling that Tiger Neo promises to bring.

NOVEMBER 2021

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SEMBCORP AWARDED 180MW WIND POWER PROJECT FROM THE 11th ROUND OF AUCTIONS BY SECI IN INDIA Sembcorp Industries’ wholly owned subsidiary in India has been formally awarded a 180-megawatt (MW) wind power project in the 11th nationwide wind power auction held recently.

he letter of award from SECI for the project has been received by Sembcorp’s renewables subsidiary Green Infra Wind Energy Limited. The project is proposed to be situated in Karnataka. Upon completion of the project, its power output will be sold to SECI under a 25-year long-term power purchase agreement.

Vipul Tuli – CEO of South Asia, Sembcorp Industries said: ““Winning the 180MW SECI wind power project is an endorsement of our competitiveness and capabilities in renewable energy. It aligns with our target of growing our renewable portfolio and fits well with our long-term commitment to India’s energy transition.”

NOVEMBER 2021

Sembcorp in 2020 completed the commissioning of 800MW of wind projects won from the first three SECI bids. With the win of 180MW wind power project, Sembcorp's total capacity of installed and under construction renewable energy assets in India is more than 2.3 gigawatts (GW). Globally, Sembcorp continues to actively grow its renewable energy offering as a leading provider of sustainable solutions. With this win, Sembcorp Industries the Singapore parent Company of the Sembcorp India now has a renewables portfolio of more than 3.5GW in operation and under development across Singapore, China, India, Vietnam, and the UK.

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ECE India Energies bags India Green Energy Award 2021 ECE India Energies Pvt Ltd has won the prestigious India Green Energy Award 2021 in the category of Outstanding Renewable Energy Equipment Manufacturers & Technology Developers - Solar. The award was received by Amit Arokar, Managing Director, ECE India from Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways. The award ceremony was also attended by Shri Bhagwant Khuba, Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

he Indian Federation of Green Energy (IFGE) has been organizing IGEA since 2019. This was the 3rd year for the India Green Energy Awards (IGEA). IFGE is a partnership of committed group of visionaries and stakeholders from diverse industries, business and services for creating a sustainable energy ecosystem and mitigating challenges and concerns. Being an umbrella organization, IFGE represents the interests of the national renewable energy sector in its totality - bio energy, solar, wind, hydro, tidal, geothermal, etc. ECE India was placed among the Top10 Solar Manufacturers in the country by Industry Outlook - a leading magazine on Indian Manufacturing & Industrial Products. Our Hon. Chairman Dr. V.T. Ingole & Managing Director Amit Arokar were lauded with the prestigious ‘Leaders of Change’ title by the Times of India in August 2021. One of the leading Solar Panel Manufacturer in Central India, ECE India was established to provide fruitful services to the stakeholders through value addition with an eye for quality, clean environment, and safe life. The Company was founded by mit Arokar in 2010 and currently it is handled by him with his four hard working friends with a mission to provide sustainable energy to Mother Earth, alongside becoming an employment generator in small town attracting expertise around the globe. Though the region of Vidarbha is lacking industrial environment and employment, ECE India has managed to become an employment-creator starting from a handful people in 2010.

Checking, Cell Cutting & Testing, Stringing, Ribbon Cutting, Bussing, IV Testing, Quality Control, EL Testing, Lamination, Framing & most importantly Panel Testing. ECE India is wellequipped with competitive back-office and HR teams which has helped to sustain and compete in the ever-growing solar industry.

ECE forms a solid ground with 50 MW+ satisfied customers and successful consultancy services in EPC projects being provided to some well-established conglomerates like Tata, Adani, Reliance, Aditya Birla Group, IRB, Shakti Pumps, Pitambari, Junna Solar, etc.. ECE India has a customer base of more than 2000 customers. ECE Solar Panels & Solar Kits make ECE India - a complete one stop shop for the dealers & distributors in order to provide the best solution to their end customers. These entrepreneurial, strikingly aspirational and customer centric efforts have led ECE India to expand its distribution network to more than 18 states in India. ECE India Energies is committed to becoming a multibillion venture with a vision to excel holistically, upholding our society and nation’s interests at its heart.

Manufacturing of Indigenous Solar Module, Solar Energy & Road Safety based products formed the initial base of the company, which later on went on to become a multi-faceted enterprise of green and solar energy products as well as services. Solar PV Modules, Solar Blinkers, Solar Water Pumps, Solar Fencing, Solar Street Lights, Road Safety Systems like Traffic Signals, Traffic Controllers, Graphical Countdown Timer, etc. were the innovative products which company manufactured from the start After successful installations of solar power projects throughout the country, in 2019 we have ventured into State of the Art - Solar Panel manufacturing unit of capacity 100 MW at Amravati (MH) Industrial Area. ECE India’s Solar Panels have been successful in keeping up with world standards and they are certified by BIS, IEC and other major organizations like MEDA, CREDA, SECI, NICE, REIL, Indian Railways, PWD etc. ECE Solar Panels range from 20 Wp to 525 W ECE India’s 100 MW state of the art Solar Panel manufacturing unit in Amravati (MH) is spread over 55000 square feet and houses all the necessary equipment’s & tools required for Raw Material Quality

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NOVEMBER 2021

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Decarbonization of the energy sector is motivation for most clean energy organizations, this is indeed one of the reasons for incorporation of enPossibilities Pvt Ltd.

enPossibilities, is a boot strapped, first generation, DIPP empaneled, clean energy, Start-up organization which is co-founded by Mr. Manish Asija and Dr. Ruchika Asija at Bengaluru in March 2017.

anish is a professional with entrepreneurial flair and brings with him experience of seventeen years in Indian power sector. He has served in two successful energy startups in leadership capacity and with Tata Power DDL in their strategy team in past. He has served in critical business functions like formulating and executing business strategies, incubating and growing strategic initiatives, leading new business lines, delivering mission critical projects and managing complex commercial processes. Major portion of his experience has been in developing infrastructure in power transmission & distribution, smart grids, advanced metering infrastructure, solar power generation projects and allied consulting services. He is the growth propeller at enPossibilities, formulating and executing the growth strategies.

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Dr. Ruchika is Information Technology enthusiast and PhD in Computer Sciences. Her areas of expertise are Data Security and Confidentiality. She is an ardent lover of green energy initiatives. Till she co-founded enPossibilities, she was best known for her numerous research publications and presentations in reputed National as well as international conferences and journals like IEEE, IGI Global, GSTF, MEDRECON etc. At enPossibilities she is the guiding lamp for entire sales and marketing team. She has acquired over 350+ happy customers in a short period of 4 years. She is enabling a vibrant organization culture at enPossibilities where, possibilities blossom, people thrive, clients are cared and success flourish.

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featured Over last 4 years, enPossibilities has been in news, for good reasons always, attributing to the best-in-class solar products and service offerings especially to south Indian solar industry. The business model of the company is based upon one simple element “Strategic Collaborations”. enPossibilities work as a bridge between EPC / Developer clients and the major global OEMs mostly on exclusive basis. The cumulative knowledge, experience, and passion of enPossibilities team, has led the company to become one of the fastest-growing and respected solar products company in the industry. It’s a young company with mature achievements. The founding purpose of enPossibilities is to bring energy consumers closer to solar power. It offers a range of premium solar products from the best of the global brands. It’s product portfolio includes high efficiency solar photovoltaic modules, robust solar string inverters and reliable balance of supply items. The services portfolio of company includes detailed engineering, design optimization, project management consulting, procurement support, construction, installation, testing, commissioning and operations & maintenance of solar power plants. Today enPossibilities is known in the industry for the exceptional customer service support it provides, while ensuring the availability of quality products always at affordable prices. enPossibilities has chosen to play its role into the distribution of two of the most critical components of any solar power plant, i.e. solar inverters and solar modules.

Five testimonials provided to enPossibilities its customers sums up in short what the company is known for:

Solar EPCs and Developers are the most vulnerable entities in the solar energy value chain. They are the most affected party and mostly the victims of policy uncertainties resulting into cost and time over runs. They deserve a supplier partner who can be trusted beyond words, who can deliver on time, offers a value proposition that differentiates them against their competition. enPossibilities has filled this gap of EPCs and Developers quite well in last 4 years.

ARGO SOLAR PRIVATE LIMITED

For most solar players add on services like free design optimization support, engineering validation and product selection means a lot, this is where enPossibilities brings-in another difference. enPossibilities is a distributor that believes in responding in real time through their localized presence and provides Just-in- Time (JIT) deliveries as and when required by the EPCs. enPossibilities has partnered with world leader in solar inverter technology, SUNGROW and Most bankable Tier-1 Solar Module manufacturer JA SOLAR. To provide the needs of Indian make modules, it also offers ALMM approved SAATVIK Green Energy solar modules, from north India’s biggest manufacturing facility. Major differentiators of enPossibilities from its competitors are, Professional leadership who are building an organisation with sustainable growth while focusing on internal processes, learning & growth, and delivering personalized service experience to customers. High level of commitment is another core trait of enPossibilities team. It maintains ready stocks and provides in-house pre/post-sales support to their customers. Last but not the least Flexibility in terms of competitive pricing, delivery terms and payment options have brought enPossibilities closer to customers. enPossibilities adheres to core values like Accountability, Excellence, Integrity, Customer Orientation, Up-Skilling & Growth and Respect for all stakeholders. These core values are the DNA that guides team members at each stage of business decision making.

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ORB ENERGY PVT LTD: “At Orb Energy, we are impressed with the dedicated services provided by your team. enPossibilities has been supplying Sungrow inverters to us since 2017 and they have consistently done a great job in providing Just-in-Time deliveries, pre-commissioning and post-commissioning support. We are happy with the kind of attention we are getting from the team and look forward to working with them in the future.”

RAVINDRA ENERGY LIMITED “We appreciate the efforts of your team in ensuring Just in Time deliveries of Sungrow inverters to our multiple projects. We also wish to acknowledge the support provided by your technical team in design optimization and installation support. Wish you good luck.”

BUDDING LEAF INFRATECH PVT LTD “EnPossibilities has supplied Saatvik Green Energy Modules to our various project sites over last 2 years. We appreciate enPossibilities team for their readiness of stocks at Hyderabad at all times and their competitive pricing with no Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) constraints. We are impressed with the quality of products and the knowledge of their service. Wish you all the best for your works.” “Argo solar congratulate enPossibilities team for their excellent services. They have supplied JA 540Wp modules and MWs of Sungrow inverters to our project sites at most competitive prices in Hyderabad. The post-sales service support of enPossibilities team is commendable.”

KALLAM TEXTILES LTD

“We put on record the excellent work done by enPossibilities team in supplying Sungrow inverters to our 5 MW captive solar project sites. enPossibilities team had been pro-active in conducting entire transaction. The level of technical details shared with us, accountability observed while dispatching inverters and unconditional support provided in pre-commissioning have highly impressed us. We are satisfied with your services and look forward to do business with enPossibilities again.” Though the company proudly serves to over 350+ happy customers and is growing at a CAGR of 200% since inception, the company is happy with what they have achieved and looks to enable new possibilities. The company has laid clear objectives for next 5 years, these are: • To be recognised as one of the most respected, integrated solar products distribution company in India. • Growing business profitably. • 5000+ delighted customers. • 15+ Warehouses. • Core team passionate professionals. • Preferred and trusted partner to customers, business associates and employees. • Operations in India and countries in which we chose to operate. • Ensuring care for the community and environment. Good Days are surely ahead for this emerging company, enPossibilities Pvt Ltd #enablingPossibilities in energy value chain.

NOVEMBER 2021

ELECTRIC VEHICLE

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SALES HEADED FOR FIVE AND A HALF MILLION IN 2021 AS AUTOMAKERS TARGET 40 MN/YEAR BY 2030 32% of global auto market now covered by manufacturers’ commitments to end sales of fossil fuel-powered vehicles, and 20% covered by equivalent national policies

assenger electric vehicle sales are set to jump over 80% in 2021, to 5.6 million units, off the back of unprecedented industry and government commitments around the world over the last two years, according to the Zero-Emission Vehicles Factbook, a special report published by BloombergNEF (BNEF), at the request of the U.K. COP26 Presidency and in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The Factbook documents the progress that has been made towards global netzero emissions in the road transport sector, and shows that the future is brighter than ever for zero-emission vehicles. In the first half of 2021, sales of passenger electric vehicles (including battery electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles) were 140% higher than the same period in 2019, reaching 7% of global passenger vehicle sales. This compares with just 2.6% in 2019, the year of the last UN Climate Change Conference.

What is more, the future looks brighter than ever. A review of industry outlooks shows that zero-emission vehicle forecasts have been raised across the board. BNEF’s own forecast for the global ZEV fleet in 2040 has been raised from 495 million vehicles in its 2019 forecast, to 677 million in its 2021 Electric Vehicle Outlook. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its 2030 battery electric vehicle fleet forecast by 7% since 2019, while the Organization of the

NOVEMBER 2021

The total global fleet of passenger electric and fuel cell vehicles now totals nearly 13 million, of which 8.5 million are true zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), either battery electric or fuel cell (still, fuel cell vehicles account for a fraction of that total). The latter figure is up from just 4.6 million at the time of COP25. At the same time, by 1H 2021, the global fleet of zero-emission buses has increased by 22% since 2019, and we expect 18% of all municipal buses on the road to be zeroemission at the end of 2021.

Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has raised its 2040 estimate for the global electric and fuel cell vehicle fleet by 11%. Underpinning these stronger forecasts are a range of factors, including improving battery technology and costs, faster roll-outs of charging infrastructure, a wider range of vehicle models on offer to customers, and longer range and faster charging speeds available on the newest vehicles. Each of these factors is discussed in detail in the report.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLE INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT COMMITMENTS The report is launched in time for Transport Day of COP26, where a coalition of government and global car industry leaders working towards 100% zero-emission new car, van and HGV sales by 2040, will come together, helping to keep 1.5 degrees within reach. U.K. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Accelerating towards a greener future is the U.K.’s key priority and I am delighted to see our tremendous efforts towards greening transport reflected in this report. Decarbonising transport is key to conserving our planet and creating new U.K. jobs. Today marks a very proud moment in history as Governments around the world come together behind 100% zero emission car, van and HGV sales by 2040.”

Aleksandra O’Donovan, electric vehicle analyst at BloombergNEF and lead author of the report, said: “Sales of internal combustion engine vehicles need to stop around 2035 to get global road transport to net zero by 2050. This report highlights the remarkable progress that has been made towards this goal in the last two years, powered by increasing ambitions of leading governments and vehicle manufacturers. However, there is still a large gap to fill if we are to meet the 2035 deadline globally.”

In an Annex to the report, BNEF finds that today’s declaration, in combination with existing commitments, means that automakers committed to reaching 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035 at the latest now account for 32% of the global auto market. The Annex finds that similar national targets account for 20% of passenger vehicle sales. U.S. state-level targets to phase out sales of internal combustion engines now cover a quarter of auto sales in the country (which currently does not have a national phase-out target). Additionally, the combined national targets, ICE phase-out targets and interim ZEV sales targets of China, India, and the U.S., reach nearly 41% of the global passenger vehicle market. This is up from just 8% in 2019.

Ambitious targets are increasingly being matched by policies and regulations stimulating market growth for zero-emission vehicles. The European Union’s proposed CO2 emissions standards imply that electric vehicles should account for 25%-32% of sales in the bloc by 2025, and 60%-83% by 2030. Proposed fuel economy rules in the U.S. imply a 24% market share for electric vehicle by 2026, on the way to a 50% share by 2030 under President Biden’s executive order. China targets 20% new energy vehicles by 2025, increasing to 40% by 2030. BloombergNEF

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NOVEMBER 2021

ELECTRIC VEHICLE

The First Ever British Brand of Elegant EVs in India – One Moto by Ellysium Automotives A British brand of exciting new EV’s are on their way to you in India. Elegant, electric, here to change the way you commute. One Moto brings to you vehicles combining elegance and performance with advanced technology at an affordable rate.

he first of its kind of electric vehicles with top line power train. One Moto India will launch 3 Models in India beginning next year (Commuta, Electa and Byka). Commuta is an entry level bike with 75 Kms range where as Byka and Electa are high performing bikes with 150 Kms of range with a powerful Bosch motor of 4000kW. Commuta is set to enter the Indian market with a base price of 120,000 INR, while Byka and Electa will hit the Indian roads with an initial price of 185,000 INR. Offering unparalleled technology like its own App to monitor performance and statistics gives them an edge over competitors. Elysium Automotives an Indian Startup for Sustainability is launching One Moto in India. One Moto, a British brand of electric vehicles designed with a mind to revolutionize electric mobility with unique designs that have a classic yet modern touch. The multi-award winning British based EV manufacturer has come to Indian shores to sustainably impact the automobile industry. Already established in Europe and the Middle East, One Moto has eyes on India and is set to launch in January 2022. While providing an edge with its modular design, it caters to commuters of all ages, from young riders to seniors owing to its versatile features. According to Adam Ridgway CEO One Moto Global, “Launching One Moto in India is a strategist’s dream, keeping in mind the value positioning and competition in the country in terms of mobility. With global price hikes in fuel prices and increased environmental protection awareness, our partners and UK team observed the Indian nation looking for competitive alternatives with unrivalled performance, enhanced technology and total convenience. After careful R&D, we have managed to develop a vehicle specific for the Indian market promising a low cost of ownership, increased safety, and a dedication to a responsible environmental impact.” As global economies shift towards electric based solutions for commuting, One Moto provides superior options in terms of its carbon negative impact and zero emissions, convenient charging systems, swappable batteries providing riders with ease of use they deserve.

NOVEMBER 2021

According to Muzammil Riyaz and Sameer Moiden Founders of One Moto India, “We take our responsibility to deliver quality very seriously as the Indian market and its customers deserve quality at an affordable price. Our focus is to offer a brand for the people and a business of tomorrow.” One Moto vehicles also come with the additional feature of the “One App”, an App that can be downloaded on any smart device to monitor Simple personal riding history, green kms and GPS to battery performance, book service repairs, search for battery banks, predictive maintenance alerts and integration with personal smart phones among more. With a dauntless team ready, they are set to reform Indian minds on what a confident EV looks like. Their aim- to provide the customer an electric and smooth ride, proud to ride and own a One Moto vehicles. One Moto India officially comes under One Moto Global with its Indian Headquarters in Hyderabad and branch in Mumbai. OMI has the persistent goal of creating sustainable vehicles in all forms of mobility with creative designs, affordability, speed and zero environmental impact. They are promoters for multiple electric based 2-wheelers and an entire ecosystem of charging infrastructure. One Moto India is led by its CEO, Shubhankar Chaudhary who has multiple expansions planned throughout India. Furthermore, One Moto India has already appointed a strong dealership network and will be inaugurating their experience hubs across all metros with a unique “Sustainability Model”. Ellysium Automotive the parent company of One Moto India has aggressive and innovative plans to establish a integrated network of Battery Charging/Swapping, moreover they have committed to the investment of R&D, job creation, sustainable practices to guarantee their values and vision is realized by a patriotic nation of twowheeled commuters. “Welcome to ONE MOTO” Source: theweek

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ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Cost of electric vehicles will drop, will be on par with petrol in 2 yrs This is significant because by 2030, India has set a target of 30% EV sales penetration for private cars, 70% for commercial vehicles, 40% for buses and 80% for two and three-wheelers. Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said the cost of electric vehicles (EV) in India will drop to the level of petrol vehicles in the next two years with the Indian government offering production-linked incentives and planning the installation of EV charging points at fuel stations and major highways of the country. At present, only about two to three e-car variants cost below ₹15 lakh in the country. The cost of two-wheelers and three-wheelers in the electric segment has already almost come at par with the petrol variants after factoring in the subsidies. Speaking at a webinar on accelerating the phasing out of coal and switching to electric vehicles, the Union minister said the government is also focusing on ensuring that EV charging stations get their electricity from renewable sources. He added that the government will also soon launch the country’s fully electric tractor. This comes months after Gadkari introduced the country’s first-ever tractor run on CNG. “Within two years, the cost of EVs will come down to a level that will be at par with their petrol variants. Already GST is only 5% on EVs and the cost of lithium-ion batteries is also declining. Besides, the government has already framed a policy allowing petrol pumps to set up EV charging stations. In two years, there will be a lot of charging points across India as well,” Gadkari said.

he National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has chalked out a plan to install at least 700 EV charging stations across its major highways in the country by 2023. These will be spread across a range of 40-60kms. Gadkari further said that a potential pilot project is being planned to install an electric highway system in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway which can be electrified using abundant solar power energy in the region. “There is no benefit in producing coal-based electricity. Our attention is now on renewable sources such as solar, tidal, wind energy and biomass. Domestic EV charging can be fulfilled through rooftop solar system. The average retail electricity charge across the country is as high as ₹7-8 kWh, that of backup power with diesel generator sets is as high as ₹20/kwh. Meanwhile, solar power is less than ₹2/kwh today. So, a rooftop solar system can address the twin problem of high electricity cost and grid reliability,” he said. At present, India has the world’s fourth-largest renewable energy capacity at 145 GW. Gadkari said domestic EV charging through solar PV cells, panel systems at homes, malls, parking lots and offices would make EVs more affordable and adaptable. “Electric mobility is gaining good momentum in the country. There is no artificial push required. The per kilometre cost of petrolbased vehicles is ₹10, that of diesel is ₹7/km, whereas, EVs, it is ₹1/km,” the minister said. The country has seen an increased demand for small batteryoperated vehicles such as e-scooters, e-carts, e-autos, e-bicycles in the past two years. Gadkari said India has the potential to become an exporter in these two segments of EVs. Electric two-wheeler and electric car sales have seen a rise of 145% and 190% respectively when compared to the pre-covid period. Source: hindustantimes

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NOVEMBER 2021

ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Automakers reveal plans to go all-electric in 2021, COP26 a booster With Renault in June, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis in July, to name a few, 2021 has become the year when mainstream automakers solidified their intent to become “all-electric” and transition further towards electrification.

he success of Tesla has pushed nearly all automakers to go all-electric in 2021, and the COP26 climate conference has provided a booster dose to initiate strategies for the supply of batteries, electric motors, power electronics and other components for a green future. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, there will be a step-change in the supply of batteries, electric motors, power electronics and other components associated with electrified powertrains, especially battery electric.

To secure component supply and leading-edge technologies, the mainstream automakers have recently partnered with battery cell vendors, electric motor developers and semiconductor vendors. As well as raising production capacity, automakers seek battery cells with more energy density and faster charging capability, said Kevin Mak, principal analyst in the Global Automotive Practice (GAP). The pace towards electrification has quickened because of tightening mandates (which could become even tighter following COP26) and in their attempts to catch-up on Tesla. “Some have resorted to the use of common platforms, from the likes of Foxconn and REE, to leverage the necessary economies of scale and ensure that their product offerings are affordable,” Mak mentioned in a report.

NOVEMBER 2021

Another result of this step-change in OEM (original equipment manufacturer) strategy is that the demand for hybrid powertrains will become more temporary, tapering-off in the long-term, as countries and states begin to impose a sales ban on new combustion engine-powered light vehicles.A “Demand for combustion engines could now peak in China, Europe and North America as soon as the mid-2020s timeframe as automakers prepare for an electric future,” the report noted. As pressure mounts for urgent climate action, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a global roadmap to achieve a radical transformation of energy access and transition by 2030, while also contributing to net zero emissions by 2050. Source : ians

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ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Delhi stops EV subsidies as electric vehicle registrations pick up pace Subsidies on buying electric cars in Delhi, one of the key features in Delhi’s Electric Vehicle Policy, has been withdrawn as the national capital witnessed sharp rise in EV registrations over the past few months. Kailash Gahlot, Transport Minister of Delhi, said that the government does not plan to extend the subsidy scheme on purchase of electric vehicles any longer. According to the state’s EV policy launched earlier last year, Delhi offered subsidies on the first thousand electric cars bought in the national capital. The EVs received subsidy of ₹10,000 per kWh of battery capacity, with benefits being capped at ₹1.5 lakh per vehicle. Road tax and registration fees for these vehicles were also waived. For other electric vehicles, which include two-wheelers, the subsidy amount was ₹5,000 per kWh of battery capacity and a maximum benefit of ₹30,000 per vehicle.

Kailash Gahlot was quoted by Hindustan Times saying, “The electric cars segment has received the required push in Delhi. Our focus now is to tap the two-wheeler, freight and public transport segments of electric vehicles (EVs) as they constitute a major chunk of Delhi’s over 10 million registered vehicles. They also ply on the road more as compared to private cars, thereby causing more pollution.”

etween July and September, Delhi saw registration of 7,869 electric vehicles among overall 1.5 lakh vehicles registered during the period, which is almost seven per cent of the total. Between August and October, 22,805 electric vehicles were registered in Delhi. This takes Delhi’s EV registrations in the past four months to nearly 31,000.

“Actually, a subsidy is not required for e-cars as such because those who can afford to pay around ₹15 lakh for a vehicle do not care if the cost is ₹1-2 lakh more, sans the subsidy. Our aim is to provide the subsidy to those who need it the most, and they include auto drivers, two-wheeler owners, delivery partners and so on,” Gahlot was quoted by HT. “We are witnessing good results of our electric vehicle policy and the adoption of such vehicles is gaining pace. We are committed to realising the dream of making Delhi the country’s electric vehicle capital, according to the vision of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,” Gahlot added.

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The Delhi government had launched its electric vehicle policy in August last year. It was one of the first full-fledged EV policy approved by any state governments across the country. Source: auto.hindustantimes

NOVEMBER 2021

ELECTRIC VEHICLE

BYD sets new milestone in Indian EV market with allelectric MPV, says GlobalData Following the news that Chinese EV manufacturer Build Your Dreams (BYD) launched all-electric MPV in India; Bakar Sadik Agwan, Senior Automotive Consulting Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“ “ “ “

Foraying into passenger vehicles space comes as a major milestone for BYD in India which will be the first passenger vehicle from the company in India. It is also the first EV in the MPV segment and is initially launched only for B2B sales across key cities in India. Potentially, the company has plans to bring more EVs to the market, its T3 Van could be the next for India. BYD has a decade and a half long presence in India. The company has been a key player in electric commercial vehicles and presently holds the largest market share in electric buses in India. Apart from electric commercial vehicles, BYD’s business in India covers mobile components, solar panels, and battery energy storage.

The Indian electric vehicle (EV) market has been picking up the pace. The recent success of a few domestic cost-efficient EVs has heated up the market and now more automakers are aiming to bring in their flagship EVs in the Indian market. BYD’s launch e6 all-electric MPV is a step in this direction in India. BYD is a leading EV brand in China with over 18 BEV and HEV active models in the market including the BYD e6. In early 2021, BYD launched the second generation of its e6 MPV in China which is based on BYD Song Max MPV. “With the e6 MPV, BYD has established a unique positioning for itself in the Indian market which presently lacks all-electric MPV. The vehicle will compete with the likes of Toyota Innova and Kia Carnival. From a strategic viewpoint, the vehicle could be a fit for government and non-government fleet vehicles. There has been priority focus by the government for electrification of government and non-government fleet than push to personal mobility. All domestic EVs that were launched by Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors were initially launched for institutional sales and were later introduced for the personal mobility segment.

NOVEMBER 2021

“

The fact that the Indian government is keen on achieving its 30% electrification target by 2030 is leading to significant growth in the EV segment. Conducive policies by the central and state governments, incentives and enhancing charging infrastructure will support the near-term growth of EVs. Further, the Make in India initiative is also expected to bring in significant localization to India’s electrification dream. BYD and other manufacturers would continue to launch new and innovative EV products to realize the latent potential in the market.”

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NOVEMBER 2021

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EV startups Lucid and Rivian deliver first models to customers

The upstarts are trying to replicate Tesla’s success but face challenges in trying to build up production. Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group Inc., two electric-car startups looking to emulate Tesla Inc.’s success, are making their marketplace debuts, shipping their first models to customers and planning to expand production.

ucid, a California-based upstart that went public in July through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, began building its first all-electric Air sedans in Arizona in September and started delivering them to customers. The company, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, is looking to target the high-end market for luxury electric cars—a niche long dominated by Tesla—with the Air, a model that starts at $77,400. The first versions delivered over the weekend cost around $169,000. Rivian, another up-and-comer backed by Ford Motor Co. and Amazon.com Inc., has started delivering its first model, the electric R1T pickup truck, to buyers and recently revealed plans for a second U.S. assembly plant to expand production beyond its factory in Normal, Ill. The rollout of these first models is a milestone for the two upstarts and gives them an advantage in the race among electric-vehicle startups. The next challenge will be increasing factory output to boost sales, said Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s chief executive. Lucid said it plans to make roughly 575 cars by the end of 2021 and increase that to 20,000 next year.

“

What’s next is just getting the volume ramped up and pushing like crazy,” Mr. Rawlinson said.

Both Rivian and Lucid are scaling operations as Tesla’s valuation has continued to soar, crossing the $1 trillion mark last week. Enthusiasm for electric vehicles, both among car buyers and on Wall Street, has been rising over the past couple of years. Electric-vehicle sales in the U.S. climbed 57% in September over the prior-year period, according to analysts from Morgan Stanley. And the Biden administration is pushing to extend the $7,500 tax credit now available for electric-vehicle purchases, as well as other additional incentives, to further stoke demand for plug-in models. Lucid’s stock surged last week, jumping more than 50%, following tweets that the company was beginning deliveries and Tesla’s deal to sell its cars to Hertz Global Holdings Inc. The company is valued at nearly $60 billion, about $8.4 billion behind Ford, which had almost $100 billion more in sales through the first nine months of 2021. 84

NOVEMBER 2021

Rivian, a company that started in Michigan and later moved its headquarters to California, has raised roughly $10.5 billion in the private markets since the start of 2019 and now is getting ready for an initial public offering. At its latest capital raise in July, Rivian was valued at $27.6 billion, according to a person familiar with the raise. Amazon said it owned about 20% of Rivian and valued its stake at $3.8 billion. “It’s going to be a really tall order to establish positions in this market,” said Aakash Arora, a managing partner on Boston Consulting Group’s automotive team. In many ways, both Lucid and Rivian are following Tesla’s lead. They plan to sell vehicles directly to consumers, bypassing the traditional dealer network, and Rivian plans to build its own network of fast-charges for drivers to use, helping to address a key concern for car buyers about not having enough places to plug in. The two companies have also hired several former Tesla executives over the years, including engineers and manufacturing executives, to help build their businesses. Lucid’s Mr. Rawlinson was once Tesla’s chief engineer overseeing the development of the Model S. The Lucid Air, a competitor to top-end Mercedes-Benz and BMW models, has created buzz in automotive circles, delivering an EPA-certified travel range of up to 520 miles on a single battery charge—the longest of any electric vehicle on sale in the U.S. market.

“Lucid has a high bar to rise to,” said Vivianna Van Deerlin, president of the Delaware Valley Tesla Owners Club. She has three Teslas and traveled to take delivery of her Lucid Air at an event. For her, the Lucid purchase is about backing car companies trying to increase electric-vehicle adoption, Ms. Van Deerlin said. “It’s about trying something different and supporting the mission,” she added. Source: livemint

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NOVEMBER 2021

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