EQ Magazine Sept 2022 Part C

Gautam Solar is a 25+ yrs. experienced Solar Module Manufacturer with 250 MW Solar Module manufacturing capacity, expanding to 1 GW. It manufactures ALMM & BIS approved Solar PV Modules that are deployed in Utility & Rooftop Solar Power plants. It has various IP’s (Patents/ Design Registrations) and a well-equipped R&D centre for continuous devel opment of new products.

EQ in Exclusive talk with...

MR. MANISH GUPTA Chairman, Insolation Energy Ltd.

Solar power is gaining importance. In 2010, it laid its founda tion with the launch of The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), later renamed the National Solar Mission (NSM). It is an initiative of the Government of India and State Governments to promote solar power in India with a target of 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022. From then it is an important sector of the Country providing a rapid scope for solar power generators, solar panel manufacturers as well as other component manufacturers. India is now eyeing a goal of 280 GW of solar power by 2030.

Indian Government is working towards their vision of becoming one of the largest solar energy producer & component manufacturer by 2030 and for which in November 2020 they approved a PLI program for ten critical sectors in order to en hance its manufacturing capabilities and exports under the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” initiative. Today India has a module manufacturing capacity of apprx 20GW and to achieve the target of 280GW by 2030 they need to work towards 27GW+ per year. In the Union Budget 2022-23, the government allo cated Rs. 19,500 crore (US$ 2.57 billion) for a PLI scheme to boost manufacturing of high-efficiency solar modules/ solar cells etc; a strong indicator that India is targeting solar power as a main source of energy.

EQ: Sir, Can you please brief us about the journey of the Company since its incorporation?

MG: I started my business as a trader and distributor of pipes and fitting segments. During this journey I saw rising demand for solar components not only in Rajasthan but across India. In 2015, I had set up a solar power plant of 1 MW which gradually increased to 3 MW. Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission introduced in January 2010 to promote solar power in India, gave us the major boost to enter into solar panel manufacturing business. In 2015, we decided to diversify our business model and enter into a solar panel manufacturing segment. Isolation Energy was promoted by me with Mr. Vikas Jain in October 2015 to manufacture high efficiency solar modules of various sizes in Jaipur. The Company commenced its production with 60 MW capacity in 2017 which was gradually increased to 200 MW in 2021. Today solar panels contribute 90% of our total revenues while the remaining 10% is contributed by trading in other solar power components as well as contract manufacturing for other big players. We are the largest manufacturer in Jaipur and second largest in North India.

Many companies are moving in this direction by in creasing their solar power generating capacities while another important segment solar module manufacturing is also expanding its capacity in a big way. Today, we have Insolation Energy Ltd, one of the leading Compa nies which manufacture high efficiency solar modules and have an aspiration to grow from current levels.

Insolation Energy Limited is a Jaipur based company engaged in manufacturing of high efficiency modules of various sizes catering to various applications from KW to MW scales. The management is focused towards the government “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” initiative and are taking required steps to achieve the same. In view of achieving the 2030 vision, the company manage ment has decided to enter into the primary market with the launch of its IPO to raise funds to the tune of Rs 22 crore. The Company reported revenues of Rs 215.32 crore and net profit of Rs 6.92 crore for FY22. In regard to understanding more about the company’s vision and growth perspective, we have Mr. Manish Gupta, Chairman & whole time Director with us. Mr Gupta is Bach elor’s in Chemical Engineering and first-generation entrepreneur of Jaipur.

EQ: We are looking to raise about Rs 22 crore through IPO, this could have been done by private placement or borrow ings. Why are we approaching the equity market?

MG: Yes, this is a very good question. Here, I want to highlight that we are an established player in solar panel manufacturing and the largest in Jaipur and the second largest in north India. We are expanding our capacity from 200 MW to 700 MW by adding 500 MW through our subsidiary company by FY23 backed by strong and rising demand for solar panels. We are growing and would need funds for our rising working capital requirements. This is from a financing perspective. What I want to highlight here is that solar panel component manufacturing is an emerging sector considering the robust government targets to make India as one of the largest solar energy producer & components manufacturer by 2030. Be ing an established player, we would be able to take the first mover advantage by entering into the primary equity mar ket. We are looking to raise our capacity by another 500 MW in the next

financial year and the entry at the right time in the primary market will enable us to enhance our valuation as a BSE SME listed company. We have robust plans and strategies to become a 1.2 GW capacity player. The global solar PV panel market size was valued at $180.4 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $641.1 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 11.9% from 2021 to 2030. India is expected to grow at a much higher rate of over 30% during this period. The country is targeting about 450 Gigawatt (GW) of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030 and about 280 GW (over 60%) is expected from solar. Solar power installed capacity has increased by more than 18 times, from 2.63 GW in March 2014 to 49.3 GW at the end of 2021. In FY22, till December 2021, India has added 7.4GW of solar power capacity, up 335% from 1.73 GW in the previous year. This indicates how fast the solar power capacity is increasing. India’s solar module production capacity will almost double to 36GW in two years, from 18GW as of December 2021. Currently, we are at 200 MW, by FY23 we would be 700 MW and by the end of FY24 our capacity would be 1.2 GW. It means we are increasing our market share from meagre 1% to 3% with up ward bias in the next 2 two years.

EQ: If this is an opportunity, what is your view on competition?

MG: There are few big players who are in the business of power generation and manufacturing solar panels. The industry also has a presence of few medium level manufacturers and many small time players. The healthy competition is good for the industry & we are sitting at an advantageous position having earned a good name in the market by virtue of offering quality products at a competitive price.

Further as discussed above the country aim is to achieve 280 GW of solar capacity by 2030. Our current installed capacity stands at apprx 58 GW which means we need to install about 27+GW of solar capacity every year to land up at 280 GW by 2030. Hence i can see enough space for every manufacturer to cater to this demand. Further as far as my knowledge goes, we would be the only listed entity manufacturing solar panels post our listing on BSE SME. We are growing at a much higher rate and will have a first mover advantage in the listed space.

EQ: How do you see the threat to our business from imported solar panels from China or Taiwan?

MG: It is true that most of the solar panels and solar cells are imported from these countries. But with government support and its niche initiative of "Atmanirbhar Bharat", things are changing drastically. Many domestic companies are given incentives to produce solar panels in our Country. In the Union Budget 2022-23, the government allocated Rs. 19,500 crore (US$ 2.57 billion) for a PLI scheme to boost manufacturing of high-efficiency solar modules. Further, MNRE has approved the list of models and manufacturers

(ALMM) which are eligible for use in government and government assisted projects or government schemes widening scope for domestic products. Our modules are manufactured under stringent quality standards & thus are approved under BIS, ALMM & other quality standards.

To decrease reliance on imports & to give fillip to the domestic industry, the government of India imposed a basic custom duty of 40% on solar panels and 25% on solar cells on imports w.e.f. April 1st, 2022, which makes solar panels manufactured in India much cheaper as compared to imported materials.

EQ: What do you think you would bring to investors of your company?EQ:Whatis

MG: We are grateful to our investors and confident that our investors would be beneficial by being a part of an emerging sector. As I mentioned, this industry is growing at a much faster pace and will attract impressive valuation as far as the equity market is concerned. In my opinion, the solar panel and modules industry is an emerging industry and can mirror the growth trajectory of the telecommunication industry which has seen a robust growth from its emergence in 1995 till date. What would differentiate us from our competitors are our USPs. First and foremost is the quality of our solar panel. Our solar panel has a guarantee of 25 years. Additionally, we have a wide product portfolio from 40Wp to 545Wp. We are com petent in supplying any order at any point of time due to raw material inventory maintained by us. Our products are already well accepted in market & our team has a strong market pres ence and are well poised to tap the robust demand in the com ing MG:years.Asfar

the expected valuation of this IPO?

as valuation goes, it is for the market to decide. However, considering our strong financial record for the past few years which is growing at a steady rate, we expect a good valuation which is about 3x-4x of our IPO size. Again, I have a reason to claim this. -1) Our financial track record, 2) Our strong client base- our top 5 clients contributes about 65% of our revenues, 3) Strong client relationship – OEMs contribute over 55% of our revenues, 4) Quality of our product 5) The wide scope for contract manufacturing , 6) The last and most important the growth perspective of our industry, as explained earlier, backed by various incentives and thrust of the Indian government on solar power segment.

EQ: Where do you see Insolation Energy five years down the line?

MG: I am very confident about our company’s growth perspective as explained earlier. We would grow in tandem with industry, may be at a much higher rate.

EQ in Exclusive talk with...

MR. PRASHANT MATHUR C.E.O., Saatvik Green Energy Pvt.Ltd.

EQ: What Kind of changes do you see in the industry after the BCD Implementation on Solar Panels?

PM: According to the government's decision to impose a BCD of 40% on solar modules and 25% on solar cells, the solar industry in India is confronted with new challenges, module manufacturers across the country will witness new challenges and surely will have benefits in the Indian market especially those dedicatedly innovating and working on made in India products.

Imposing BCD is a much-awaited decision from the Government of India, as the major decision would undoubtedly benefit manufacturers by providing relief to local manufacturers. As a module manufacturer, we hope that additional measures to address supply chain gaps will now be considered and that this is an excellent time for developers across the country to purchase Indian-made Solar PV modules for projects that will undoubtedly promote the "Atamnirbhar Bharat" Initiative and contribute to the country's GDP growth.

EQ: How does the dynamics of Price- Demand –Supply looks like for this and the next year?

PM: The Indian solar sector will undoubtedly accelerate in the future years, as the government of India is focusing on clean and green energy mediums for its energyproducing needs. Currently, the cost of the Modules has grown to some level because of several reasons impacting demand and supply, the most significant of which are currency fluctuations, Russia-Ukraine conflicts, and Covid to some extent prices for modules and related support goods may rise in the coming years as the global supply chain is disrupted owing to higher freight rates. Demand in the Indian market for solar modules and support items has consistently increased since the imposition of BCD, as suddenly the demand for made-in-India products has increased and suppliers with limited production capacity are unable to procure raw materials and meet the excessive market demand.

EQ: What Kind of Products and technologies are you going to launch this or next year?

PM: Saatvik believes in innovation as innovation and upgrading to new technologies is the key to success for any business. Saatvik is currently working on M-10 technologies and is in a research phase for introducing G-12 and Topcon technologies in the coming year. We have consistently been researching and practicing new methods to introduce international standards-claimed technologies so as to provide the best quality products in the market.

EQ: What kind of Pricing and Technology Road map do you see coming through in the Industry?

PM: Pricing in the solar industry for Solar modules and related support items is to remain high for an undefined period of time because of the current supply chain issues in the PV industry. However, according to our estimates and forecasts, the Indian Solar sector will experience negative trends in growing prices in the coming fiscal year as polysilicon production catches up with other nodes in the module supply chain and power limits in China for other essential module components.

EQ: What’s the total quantity you supplied to India in the Last 1 year and what’s the expectation for the coming one year?

PM: Saatvik provided more than 350 MW of high and premium grade solar PV modules spanning major projects as well as utility, commercial, and rooftop applications in the fiscal year 2021-22. As the firm is devoted to increasing its business verticals and launching exports, it has set a target of supplying 750+MW in the local market and 100+MW in the foreign market.

EQ: What is the Opportunity in India currently….. in terms of projects in Tender Pipeline, etc … Opportunities in manufacturing etc.….?

PM: India's green energy revolution has raised its worldwide standing in terms of meeting rising demands for energy, economic, and environmental security. It is the most promising contender for resolving the energy issue while also creating numerous job opportunities and addressing climate change. India stands at a strong

position in terms of solar power capacity, accounting for 38% of total renewable energy capacity. India launched the International Solar Alliance in 2015 to minimize reliance on non-renewable en ergy sources. After achieving its goal of establishing 20 GW of solar power plants by 2022 through solar parks and rooftop solar panels, India announced a new goal of 100 GW of solar power by 2022.

Opportunities for manufacturing players in the sector:-

India is the fastest growing manufacturing hub with an annual production capacity of more than 30GW+ for solar panels and is ex pected to grow exponentially in the coming years. Manufacturers across the country may witness a huge and excessive demand as the government is consistently working towards promoting new energy mediums and improvising various policies and subsidies scheme to promote and encourage manufacturers.

Along with utilizing its expanding green energy sector to promote manufacturing, India aspires to play a larger role in global supply chains. PLI plans aim to construct whole component ecosystems in India in order to produce global manufacturing champions by elimi nating sectoral barriers and achieving economies of scale.

EQ: How has the rupee devaluation affected the Solar Industry and your Business?

PM: The depreciation of the Indian rupee in relation to the US dollar has contributed to the problems of the local renewables industry, which is already dealing with increased pricing, levies, and supply chain challenges. Pricing across for raw materials has raised up to an extent affecting the entire supply chain and market demand in the country. Prices in recent times have exponentially grown to an extent where the operating and assembly cost has gone an extent thus reducing the marginal profits for manufacturers. Manufactur ers are currently working on the lowest margins as prices for raw materials in the market especially the import items have drastically impacted the finished goods price.

EQ: What kind of key changes do you see from the PRE COVID to covid and to the kind of post covid or Mild Covid Era?

PM: Covid has impacted the overall business in India and, has impacted our GDP as well, but taking this as an opportunity we have strategized our business planning a way back along. As the entire industry witnessed a massive impact on pricing, projects, manufacturing, and supply during covid occurring less demand has impacted the financials of the companies. During Covid, Saatvik has proactively supplied required modules for marquee projects, with complete precautions.

EQ: Saatvik has been in the industry for 6+ years, so now what are your expansion plans?

PM: With a vision to cater to the Indian Solar industry by providing the best of the technology Solar PV modules and capturing the major market share, we have been consistently focusing on growth and expansion. Currently, Saatvik stands strong in the market and within a short span of time, we have become the most preferred brand in the Indian Solar module industry. As part of our expansion plan, we will be setting up a green field project in Gujarat Gandhidham by setting the most advanced technology inbuilt production set up with an annual production capacity of 1.2GW/Annum. Also by the financial year 2022 end, we will be starting off with our export sales as well, As per our export expansion plan we will be targeting US market to begin with followed by Europe and other parts.

EQ: What are the technologies that you as a company are working on to provide the best-of-the-class products?

PM: Upgrading to the latest and most advanced technologies is always a crucial part for many organizations but at

Saatvik we are always open to adopting best practices and new technologies. Currently, we operate at M-10 technolo gies, and soon we will be upgrading to G-12 and Topcon technologies. All the required planning has been strat egized already and initial talks, approvals, and testing is in

EQ: What is your take on government support, policies, and schemes to support players in the solar industry?

PM:process.Solar

industry in India is among the fastest grow ing industry opening ample amount of opportunities for manufacturers, suppliers, project installers, and other associated companies. The government is cautiously working to promote the sector by introducing support policies, schemes under make in India and “Atamnirbhar Bharat” initiatives supporting manufacturers with sub sidy schemes. Imposing BCD duty has given a boost to this sector as dependencies on China for required raw materi als will benefit Indian players in numerous ways.

EQ: What are your predictions for the solar market in India? What are the opportunities and challenges?

PM: The solar power industry in India is one of the fastest growing sectors offering new ways of generating power sources using clean and green energy mediums. The sector is witnessing a high demand as we can see that government is too actively promoting the sector for commercial, residential and industrial applications making it the most affordable mediums for power generation.

Opportunities and Challenges

The increased investment in renewable energy is a crucial driver driving growth in India's solar power sector. Over the last two decades, the global energy balance has shifted dramatically. Energy efficiency improvements were critical in balancing energy supply and demand. The entire cost of producing power from renewable sources is bigger than from conventional sources. Renewable technology, on the other hand, is developing and posing a threat to fossil-fuel-based power facilities. With more government assistance and improved economics, the industry has grown more appealing to investors. However, the availability of other energy sources would provide a significant challenge to India's solar power in dustry throughout the projection period. People through out the world prefer traditional fossil fuels over renew able energy because they are more readily available for generating electricity. Furthermore, the cost of developing renewable energy farms for electricity generation is high, and the power output from renewable sources is inferior to that of fossil fuels. Solar power competes with hydro power, wind power, and biomass among renewables. In In dia, biomass power has also grown dramatically in recent PM:years.As

EQ: About REI, what are your plans? Are you launching a product or what are you going to showcase?

REI is one of the biggest platforms to showcase technology we are working on, Saatvik has strategized their plan for the exhibition a way back. We will be showcasing our existing technology Solar PV module with M-10 technology. Our product portfolio contains premium quality solar pv modules Bifacial Half cut upto 590 Wp and Mono Perc half cut upto 590 wp which we will be showcasing out here in the Expo.

EQ in Exclusive talk with...

MR. PRATEEK SHARMA

Leader - Key Accounts (India) Sungrow India

EQ: How many inverters have you supplied to India till now and what are your expectations or targets for this year and the com ing

PS: As of now we have already completed around 14 GW in India and our target is to achieve more than 35% market share and as of now what we have seen is that India has achieved 8-10 GW in a year. Next year also we are expecting 9 to 11 GW depending on what will happen in India accordingly. We are expecting our market share in India to be more than 35% for inverters included along with utility, C&I and everything.

EQ:year?Could

you tell us about the road map in terms of price, tech nology, etc ?

PS: This is the first time we have seen in the last decade that the pricing of inverters is on the upper side and this is because of the crunch in semiconductor shortage or other raw materials price rise.

In terms of technology, we have been in the leading position every time by introducing the new inverters on the higher side like we did in the past also, we introduced 2.5 MW of solution then 3.125 and 5 MW of solution and now 1+X Modular design central inverter, then in string inverters also we introduced 200 KW of solution and now the latest one 320KW is the larg est string inverter model we launched. Being Technology ex perts, we have always been closer to customers' demand and always tried to supply what the customer demands. In future also there are various aspects in which our R&D is working on and that is on a conceptual basis that is like entire industry is working on 1500V but on conceptual then our R&D is working on more than 1500V. For the pricing I would like to highlight that we are expecting that the current situation may go up to next year, normal situation might not come back in terms of pricing because of shortage of raw materials and if the situa tion is getting worse so the pricing will go on a higher side only.

EQ: What are the biggest challenges in India’s goal of 175 GW by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030 . How much can we really achieve by 2022, 2025 and 2030?

PS: India is not able to achieve its 2022 Target. From the RE side, it's somewhere around 150 GW out of which the solar part is only about 60-62 GW which is being completed by 2022. If we are going at the same pace of adding 8-10 GW a year, then it will somewhere land up around 200 GW by 2030. Then again, we will be short of the targets. The challenges in this sector are the government policies and the dependence on the imported modules, cells, etc. The government is trying to bring the initiatives like ‘Make in India’ but apart from that what we feel is that the base of such initiatives have to be prepared first like the supply chain which is the major hurdle which we have seen capacity shortfall including high price of Make in India products, raw material supply chain issues be cause once this complete supply chain is there then it's easier for us to comply with the GOI policies and the clauses which GOI is trying to put in the tenders and that would be very help

The new addition in the family, the robotic cleaning is also going to be showcased in REI. Of course, few new launches are also there for the C&I segment that we are going to showcase in this year.

EQ: Could you also tell us about the major milestones Sungrow has achieved in different aspects?

PS: Major milestones Sungrow has achieved in different as pects can be that we have completed 14 GW of shipments in India. Sungrow has completed 25 years serving in RE Industry worldwide. The factory production capacity has been scaled from 3 to 10 GW. Every model that we have launched till now has a success story that is again a milestone in our basket.

ful.PS:

EQ: Government of India has been voicing concerns of mal ware etc in Solar Inverters and its possible effects.What are your thoughts?

As I mentioned that we are offering this Made in India product to the Indian markets. Our product and Sungrow equipment are not subject to any malware/ trojan or any cyber threat. No live data is being accessible to any other country except where the product is installed. Sungrow is compliant to all the standards which are there in India and we are very much open for testing in case required by the government or if it is due to necessary through the certified testing if available for the equipment.

EQ: What are your views on BIS and other tariff barriers?

PS: BIS is an initiative by the government to check the quality standards but again it might not be applicable on 1500V inverters because lab/testing facilities are not there in India. BIS notification is also getting extended year by year. If it's really meant for the inverters, then the labs and testing facili ties should be available in India so these checks can happen. If after 6 months the module pricing gets changed then viability of the tariff will not be there because modules or commod ity prices as we have seen have gone ups and downs like any thing, these are the major barriers which we have seen. Now that tariffs have come, it's not possible to execute on those tariffs on current prices. That is the reason we have seen the long hold, in 3-4 months there’s no such big projects that have happened in the utility segment specifically.

EQ: What are you going to display in REI, are there any new products that you are going to showcase?

PS: We are going to showcase our new inverters which we launched earlier in this year and some of our new string in verters which we have designed as per the market demands.

PS: We have been able to receive repeated orders from the customers. Regardless of any changes technology wise, etc will be able to gain a good market share. That is the biggest feedback which we consider from the customers.

EQ: Kindly enlighten our readers on the performance of your Inverters in India in various geographic locations, customer EQ:feedback.Kindly comment on Energy Storage as a game changer, its technology, cost trends, etc.

PS: Energy storage is a wide chapter. If you see, ESS is the solution for so many aspects. When we talk about renewable energy, it's a fluctuating source of power generation, the power coming from RE is not stable, sometimes it's high, sometimes low, and sometimes absent and hence this should either be compensated by flexible Thermal Power or by massive improvement in ESS. And so the stored energy can be passed on to maintain the stability of the grid.

EQ: According to the budget 2021, increased import duty as BCD on inverters in India, Do you think GOI will increase it more in near future?

PS: So to give strength to the ‘Make In India’ initiative which GOI has planned and to give strength to Indian manufacturers. We are expecting that GOI will increase it more soon irrespective of BCD we do have plans for Make in India. We have already scaled it up from 3-10 GW. We are also planning to gain more and more verticals in the factory.

EQ: Could you briefly describe the various technologies and their suitable applications such as central or string inverters etc.

PS: So we have available string inverters and we are continu ously involved in the innovations as per the market require ments like we did in the past also, we introduced SG2500, 200 KW rating, etc. Now 1.1*X MW of inverters too. And in string inverters also we are continuously doing the innovations and introducing higher ratings of inverters in the market. We also provide the highest rating inverters in the market as of now. We have also launched completely outdoor inverters.

EQ in Exclusive talk with...

MR. BC RAJESH

Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Teqo

EQ: Mahindra Group has a demonstrated experience of 70+ years in various sectors. How did Mahindra Teqo come into play and how do Teqo’s offerings fit into the bigger picture?

BCR: The essence of Mahindra Group’s vision has been to drive positive change in the lives of our stakeholders & communities. Inspired by this vision coupled with India’s aspiration and need to play a significant role in the climate change movement provided a fertile ground for us to seed the renewable business back in early 2010. It started with the turnkey execution of solar power plants which also had obligations around managing the assets and delivering performance for a certain time frame. The renewable business naturally evolved from the turnkey execution of projects to an Independent Power Producer and alongside this growth path, Mahindra Teqo was created. We developed significant capabilities in managing assets and addressing niche requirements for leading solar plant developers with the right blend of Software, Analytics, People & Technology - and importantly, with an orientation to serve! The portfolio of offerings from Software, Analytics, Advisory, O&M, Repowering, etc. was aligned to the needs of the stakeholders and was well received across the value chain, be it investors, EPC, Developers, OEMs, etc. Trust of our customers, the value system of Mahindra, and an ori entation to serve coupled with the value these services both inde pendently and in combination delivered enabled Mahindra Teqo to emerge as a leading and preferred partner across solutions of fered in our portfolio.

EQ: Since inception, how has Teqo grown and what are the major milestones you have achieved? How do you view your journey in the coming years?

BCR: Mahindra Teqo has played the role of an evangelist with many firsts. Today, performance-backed outsourcing of RE assets for asset management and O&M to credible players like Teqo has emerged as a preferred alternative for key stakeholders like Developers and EPC contractors. We are grateful to them for the bets they have taken on us and for enabling the partnership to succeed. Back in 2016, Mahindra Teqo was the first to launch its NOC (Network Operations Centre) to monitor Solar Assets in real-time, enabling the delivery of superior performance while optimizing the cost for asset owners. Mahindra Teqo was also the first to launch a Mobile PV Testing lab that would deliver Mod ule testing (NABL accredited) at the doorsteps of our customers’ plants; we have also emerged as a leading Technical due diligence partner for investors and developers, as well as a trusted software player in solar. Continuing its trend of bringing newer offerings to

the market, Teqo has launched robotic module cleaning services as an offering, allowing Owners to leverage the lat est technology deployment without blocking the CAPEX. Going forward, we expect to bring the latest technology-led solutions to the market and provide best-in-class asset man agement services.

EQ: Teqo has been the leader in O&M with the largest portfolio in the country. How do your other offerings like Software and Teqtics create synergistic value for your O&M custom-

BCR: At Mahindra Teqo, the O&M is delivered with a customer-first intent, leveraging the rich experience of Teqo facilitated by the interplay between in-house capabilities on Software, Analytics, People, Operations, and Safety enveloped by the Mahindra Rise framework. Similarly, the Software products and the advisory services we deliver have been developed leveraging the deep understanding of the equipment and the rich experience of managing a large and diverse asset base, enabling us to better understand the articulated and unarticulated needs, pains, and challenges of clients. We are focused on creating synergies through the quality of growth and impact by providing end-to-end integrated solutions. We will continue to expand our three verticals of Software, Analytics, and O&M businesses in addition to introducing value-added services which unlock value for our customers. The other RE sectors like Storage and Wind are also adjacent where we can create and deliver value.

You have one of the most experienced teams in the Solar industry. How does Teqo leverage its technical expertise for providing a differentiated offering?

BCR: We are indeed fortunate, since Teqo started early in this journey and evolved with the industry extending services to a range of stakeholders, we do have valuable experience ingrained across businesses, structures, and people, includ ing the processes & tools which are key enablers. We remain committed to this Journey of continuously challenging and reinventing ourselves to meet our customers’ expectations and aligned with the current & emerging context. Synergizing the capabilities and strengths of these different businesses and their deep understanding of the subject along with customer-centric orientation, allows Teqo to offer a comprehensive and cost-effective solution to our clients for their various requirements. This is also backed by implementing and delivering results, which is walking the talk!

EQ: Having a wide range of operations from 3 kW to over 1000 MW, what are the unique challenges faced due to these variations and how does Teqo tackle them?

BCR: Yes, this uniqueness is addressed first with a mindset that every customer is valuable and grateful for their trust in Teqo. Secondly, creating an organizational structure backed by customized systems and tools enables differentiated delivery of services tailored to the nuanced needs of individual customers. Finally, active communication and engagement with the teams, partners, etc. ensure that the intent translates into reality. E.g., the HSE challenges, needs, and benchmarks for O&M of our rooftop plants are very different from the large utility plants we manage. Appropriately, the HSE Framework at Teqo is aligned with the requirements of these sectors, including the L&D initia tives and the tools we engage.

EQ: As you mentioned the gigantic scale of operations, how do you drive key essentials such as HSE for the mammoth manpower deployed on the sites?

BCR: I am glad to share that HSE has emerged as the topmost agenda for all the stakeholders, and collectively we have evolved a lot in this dimension. Having said that, our approach toward Safety at Teqo is a journey of continuous improvement, learning, and raising our bar. We rigorously review our Safety systems, performance, feedback, technology adoption, and any aspect which can influence our output. We remain humble and receptive to learning from other stakeholders and willing to share our experiences & knowledge for the benefit of all. Given the large spectrum of skills that are deployed on the field and their spe cific background, rigorous communication and daily training be come mandatory to preserve the Safety orientation.

EQ: Given the various energy transitions that you have been a part of, how do you view the renewable energy industry and the shift to green energy in India?

BCR: In a few words - Bold, ambitious, a serious intent, and commitment demonstrated by various stakeholders starting with the Government of India as it raised the aspirations of RE back in 2015 from 22GW to 100 GW by 2022. The month-on-month addition of GWs is a true reflection of synchronous effort by all the agencies to transition India to meeting its COP 26 commitments and achieving India’s net zero aspiration by 2070. Given the evolving context, and geo-political dynamics, coupled with scale & complexity the industry will continue to experience some impediments, but given the maturity of the stakeholders can be collectively overcome. This journey is also quite inclusive and allows a large spectrum of Indian corporates, industries, entrepreneurs, and talent; in fact, the entire ecosystem, to tap into the opportunities emerging from this transition, harness their potential, and truly achieve growth with purpose!

EQ: With the accelerating growth of the industry, many new players entering and established ones expanding, how can value be unlocked for them, by bringing in 3rd party players like your self to take over O&M?

BCR: It is always our endeavour, to add value on various dimensions starting with access to proven, industry-leading practices, elevated safety framework, domain knowledge of plants and individual equipment, technology engagement lowering cost and increasing efficacy, high level of analytics supported with soft ware that enables real-time monitoring & deriving maximum value from the assets. Nuanced intervention to unlock value by debottlenecking asset performance through design

improvements, initiatives to enhance sustainability, and Peace of mind! Additionally, the performance is backed by guarantees that many times can’t be extracted from teams that Clients would otherwise have to build, manage, and nurture. In summary, partnering with Teqo entails access to a dependable partner, services at scale, and thus bringing the collective value addition of learnings across a diverse portfo

EQ: With the industry now consolidating and the demand for unlimited liability coming into the picture, what is the growth strategy for Teqo in terms of handling risk-reward tradeoffs and maintaining expenses with quality of opera

BCR:lio.

In my opinion, if the industry and its stakeholders have to grow sustainably over an extended period, it is imperative for all the stakeholders to be sensitive toward risk-reward equilibrium. What it also means is the expectations and asks will have to be moderated keeping an elevated thought of preserving the stakeholders’ interest and their survival. If you observe the turn of events in the large utility solar EPC segment, the large players couldn’t thrive and grow beyond a short period of 7 to 8 years, as they succumbed to the pressure of expectations and asks, and the risk-reward got skewed, making them revisit their business strategies and play area.

As a result, we are short of credible large EPC Players for Util ity-scale solar projects. Moreover, given the growth in the sector, we have observed that some of the entrants agree & accept the liabilities, without truly evaluating the risks and their mitigation. Eventually exposing themselves and their clients to the unmitigated risk. At Mahindra Teqo, we drive cost optimization on multiple vectors of operational excel lence, smart maintenance, and technology engagement, in addition to suggesting interventions in collaboration with clients to enhance plant performance, and revenue and in turn reduce % costs. However, we have learned the hard way that an isolated view on cutting down genuine expenses or trying to fit into extreme budgets, does greater harm to all the stakeholders including asset health and its life. Hence transparent engagement and suggestions which enable a win-win arrangement protecting the core business impera tives are vital. Thus, collectively as an industry we should evolve & develop these sensitivities amongst all the stakeholders to balance the short-term rewards with long-term

EQ:tions?Teqo

BCR:sustenance.Weare

has come a long way to become one of the leading RE asset management players. What does the journey for Teqo look like going forward?

extremely grateful to our customers, partners, and communities where we operate, for the trust and con fidence placed on Teqo, which has elevated us to a leading O&M and preferred Analytics and Software solution provid er in the country. We treat this as a responsibility and with all humility remain steadfast in our endeavour to preserve their trust. Talking of our journey ahead, we added significant MW of assets into our portfolio across businesses in the last 1 year, enabling us to take a leadership position in the O&M sector along with meaningful growth in the Software and Analytics segments. In the coming year, we would continue to strengthen the core and explore opportunities adjacent to our current play to create greater value for our stakehold ers. We will also continue to take firm strides in elevating our Safety practices and sustainability initiatives to support our clients and partners to maximize not just generation, but also social impact.

EQ in Exclusive talk with...

MR. BHARAT SINGH - Sales & Marketing (India) Technology Co., Ltd

EQ: How many Inverters have you supplied to India till now, what is the target/expectation in this year and next year?

BS: Till date we have supplied 1 Gw+ of inverters to India since 2018. Our target this year is 400Mw. For the next year we have a dream target of 1Gw which includes string inverters, Hybrid in verters and lithium batteries.

EQ: Please share your Road Maps – Pricing, Technology etc.

BS: Our road map is to have upto 50Kw high voltage hybrid inverters in 2022 with lithium batteries and EV charger.

EQ: What are your views on Inverters – Make in India.

BS: We are already technology partners to 10+ companies in India and we also have plans of making Deye products in India starting from 2023. By 2023 we shall have upto 300Kw high voltage hy brid inverters with 1500v battery voltage. By 2024 we have a pla of launching Central hybrid inverters with grid ESS and portable

EQ: Please describe in brief about your company, direc tors, promoters, investors, its vision & mission?

BS: The group was founded in 2000 by a visionary person Mr Hejun Zhang, then companies were formed under a group and now it's a publicly listed company. The com pany now has many directors in different segments with their individual roles and responsibilities performing to wards a common goal and the company under their lead ership is progressing everyday. Deye’s vision is to become the leader in providing inverter solutions and promoting the usage of solar energy worldwide. Our mission is to cre ate a healthy and intelligent living environment through scientific and technological innovation.

battery.BS:Opportunities

EQ: What according to you are the current opportunities, biggest challenges, in the Indian Solar Market?

are huge in India. There is a room for new technology to enter the Indian market with manufacturer’s innovative products resulting in higher yield, safer, sustainable, more efficient and user friendly products.

Biggest challenges are adoption of new technology into the projects. India being a price sensitive market when it comes to procurement of solar PV products, it needs to be changed and qualify in terms of quality, technology and feature oriented products.

EQ: Kindly enlighten our readers on the performance of your Inverters in India in various geographic locations, customer feedback?

BS: Deye Inverters are performing amazingly well since 2018 in Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka and various states of North India. Customer feedback is very important to us. It improves our quality, motivates us to sell more and to deliver the best product in terms of technical and features.

EQ: How much is your R&D budget as % of your sales / profits?EQ:Kindly

BS: R&D budget till 2021 was 10% and from the year 2022 it increased to 15% because we are a technology oriented company with many innovative health oriented nature friendly products launching / upcoming in the near future. As our sales revenue is increasing we increase our budget for R&D. We have 200+ R&D engineers in which 60+ are Phd holders who work towards better products.

comment on Energy Storage as a game changer, its technology, cost trends, etc?

BS: Energy storage is the future of the solar industry. It's not just a game changer but it shall be the trend to be followed so clean energy can be used 24/7 for the loads. Deye Hybrid inverters and batteries with new technology shall be the trendsetter and in the coming years efficient, reliable and sustainable products shall be launched such as central hybrid inverters, grid energy storage batteries and portable batteries. Cost shall be on higher side till demand is created. For sure cost optimisation is the key factor and experts already found the solutions for better cost.

ADANI GREEN COMMISSIONS 325-MW WIND POWER PROJECT IN

DHAR DISTRICT OF MP

With the commissioning of this plant, its operational generation capacity has increased to 6.1 gigawatt (GW), Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) said in a statement

Green En ergy Limited has commissioned a 325-megawatt wind energy plant in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. With the commissioning of this plant, its operational generation capac ity has increased to 6.1 gigawatt (GW), Adani Green Energy Lim ited (AGEL) said in a statemen

Adani

“Adani Wind Energy MP One Private Ltd (AWEMP 1PL), a subsidiary of AGEL, has commissioned a 324.4 MW wind power plant in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh,” it said. The plant has two 25year Power Purchase Agree ments (PPAs) with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), one for 274.4 MW energy and another for 50 MW power, at a tariff of Rs 2.83 per kwh (kilowatt hour).

The newly commissioned plant will be managed by the Adani Group’s ‘Energy Network Opera tion Centre’ platform, which pro vides technological assistance. In the statement, the company did not disclose any financial details of the project. According to industry esti mates, to set up every 1 MW of so lar capacity, an investment of over Rs 4.5 crore is required. AGEL has a total of 20.4 GW of renewable energy portfolio which includes the operational ones, under-con struction, awarded and assets under acquisition catering to investmentgrade counterparties.

Source: PTI

INDIA ADDS OVER 825 MW OF SOLAR ROOFTOP IN 1H CY 2022

(Rooftop Solar account for 12% of the Total Solar Installation in Q2 2022)

Indiainstalled around 438 MW of rooftop solar capacity in the second quarter (Q2) of the cal endar year (CY) 2022, an increase of 12.9% compared to around 388 MW installed in the previous quarter (Q1 2022). On a year-overyear (YoY) basis, installations increased by 7% from the 408 MW installed in the same period last year. The first half (1H) of CY 2022 saw 825 MW of roof top solar capacity added, a 39% decrease compared to the same period last year. Rooftop Solar contrib utes just 12 % of the total Solar PV installations in the second quarter of 2022. India’s cumulative roof top solar capacity reached over 7.037 GW at the end of June 2022 and still makes up just 13% of the total Solar PV installations in the country, the target for Solar rooftops by December 2022 is 40 GW, still, a long way to go to reach the target, it is impossible to install 40 GW of Solar rooftop projects.

The installations in the quarter were slow due to a BCD (basic customs duty), one of the major reasons for the de cline in the overall installations of rooftops in the second quarter was the lack of panels availability, as C&I consum ers don’t want to install the projects with higher panels price, which went down to the lowest a few quarters back. The good days were gone for the Commercial & Industrial consumers as they have to pay extra costs for the pro curement of modules on the imposition of BCD.

Over 83% of rooftop solar installations were in the top 10 states at the end of Q2 2022. Gujarat led the list, accounting for 27% of the rooftop solar in stallations as of June 2022, followed by Maharash tra with 14%, and Rajasthan with 12%. The Top 10 states cover more than 5.83 GW of Solar rooftop in stallation, while the rest of the states & UT installed 17% of the overall rooftop installations. Rooftop Solar installations will grow exponentially in 2022 as the demand in commercial and industrial are in creasing every year.

DRAFT POWER PLAN SEES RISE IN SOLAR TARGETS

With India’s electricity consumption largely remaining reliant on coal-based generation, the draft electricity plan sees a “significant increase in solar and decrease in 2030 coal capacity”, according to energy experts.

Thedraft plan by advisory body Central Electric ity Authority shows that coal’s share in power generation combination will decrease to 50 per cent by 2030 compared to the current 70 per cent. The contribution from coal to the power mix is expected to fall from 70 per cent today to 59 per cent by 202627 and 50 per cent by 2031-32. However, apart from the un der-construction coal-based capacity of 25GW, the additional coal-based capacity required till 2031-32 may vary from 17 GW to around 28 GW. In other words, India may need ad ditional 28GW coal-fired power generation capacity by 2032 apart from the 25GW thermal projects under construction, evoking mixed response from some experts.

The draft National Electricity Plan (NEP) sees a significant increase in installed solar power capacity by 2027, 2030 and a downward revision of installed coal capacity when compared to CEA’s Optimal Generation Capacity Mix report released in 2020. The revisions exceed commitments made by PM Modi at COP26, Glasgow, last year. As per Madhura Joshi from E3G, “The projected non-fossil fuel capacity for 2027 alone is expected to be about 58 per cent and around 68 per cent by 2032, which is higher than India’s recently updated NDC targets for 2030 and even exceeds Modi’s announcement made at COP26.”

INDIA CROSSED 20 GW OF SOLAR PV

INSTALLED MODULE PRODUCTION LINE, 80% REGISTERED UNDER ALMM LIST-L

EQ iSearch has released a mini-report on ALMM and its implication for the Indian Solar industry, which reveals the enlisted manufacturers under ALMM List-I both company-wise as well as state-wise.

MNRE enlisted 16,850 MW by Au gust 2022 with 66 domestic manu facturers who can participate in the government tenders, and sup ply the panels to rooftop projects and open access Solar projects. The last date for ALMM List-l has been extended to October 2022, after that only the enlisted module suppliers can sup ply the panels to the Solar project in India. Waaree has an enlisted capacity of 4.75 GW, followed by Vikram Solar with around 2.022 GW, Mundra So lar (Adani) with 1.662 GW, and so on. There are 66 companies overall with 16.85 GW of enlisted under list-l till August 2022. The top sixteen manufacturers account for 14.204 GW which is 84 percent of the to tal enlisted capacity, and the rest 16 percent account for 2.646 GW. The Solar PV module manufacturers from Gujarat got the maximum enlisted capacity of approved capacity under the ALMM List-l, having a capacity of 8,660 MW with 27 manufacturers,

followed by Telangana with 8 manufacturers of 2,381 MW capacity. Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh got six manufacturers each listed with 1.1 GW, 979 MW, and 480 MW of production capacity. West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Haryana got three manufacturers each with 1.54 GW, 163 MW, and 320 MW of production capacity. Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand with just a single manufacturer listed under ALMM List-l. The listed manufac turers will drive the Solar industry to the next level and will give tough competition to the for eign suppliers by providing higher wattage pan els with maximum efficiency which will benefit both the utility-scale developers as well as roof top installers. ALMM listed panels will boost the quality of Solar installations in the country as MNRE can give a close watch on the qual ity of panels being used in the upcoming Solar projects.

NITI AAYOG CELEBRATES ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF SHOONYA

CAMPAIGN – INDIA’S ZERO POLLUTION E-MOBILITY CAMPAIGN

NITI Aayog held a day-long forum to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Shoonya, India’s zero pollution e-mobility campaign.

Shoonya is a consumer awareness campaign to reduce air pollution by promoting the use of electric vehicles (EVs) for ride-hailing and deliveries. The campaign has 130 industry partners, including ride-hailing, delivery and EV companies. All the partners participated in forum and shared their success stories and commitments toward fleet electrification. G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog CEO Param Iyer, MyGov CEO Abhishek Singh, Delhi Government Principal Secretary Ashish Kundra, Mahindra Electric Mobility CEO Suman Mishra, and several others attended the event. In his keynote address, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said, “The success of the Shoonya campaign is evidence that the green mobility revolution is knocking on our doors. The future belongs to a shared and con nected world through electric mobility.” Underscoring the important role of green mobility in achieving In dia’s decarbonization goals

NITI Aayog CEO Param Iyer said, “The Shoonya campaign has the potential to galvanize participation from all sectors to wards the goal of green mobility.” forum provided opportuni ties for partners to share knowledge and learnings and initiate collaborative engagements. During the focused discussions, corporates shared their challenges in scaling EVs and solicited feedback on driving impact through the cam paign. The National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Energy Storage (Part III) report was also launched during the event. The report highlights that In dia’s $2.5-billion Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Ad vanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) energy stor age is critical for meeting the pro jected cumulative battery demand of 106–260 GWh by 2030 to successfully realize the country’s vision for EV adop tion and grid decarbonisation.

THE ERA OF NEWTHESOLAMET...

THE INNOVATION LEADER FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC METALLIZATION

Solamet® is one of the most well recognized brand in the photovoltaic industry. DuPont Solamet® was the innovation leader in photovoltaic metallization technology, especially for the revolutionary Pb-Te-O glass frit technology first intro duced to market in PV17x front-side silver pastes since 2011. After more than 10 years of prosperous growth and with continuous drive for higher cell efficiency and lower cost, the PV industry not only needs an innovation leader which DuPont Solamet® stood for, but also a company that can respond rapidly and dynamically to the diverse and changing needs of the industry.

OnJuly 1, 2021, Jiangsu Suote Elec tronic Materials Co., Ltd., a Chi nese consortium, completed the acquisition of the Solamet® Photo voltaic Metallization business from DuPont, including all of its technology and business teams, IP portfolio, R&D and manufacturing sites, and ushering the Solamet business into an exciting new era.

With the fresh investment and commitment from the investors, the NEW Solamet not only inherited the 30+ years of innovation journey of DuPont PV metallization but also significantly improves its flexibility and speed in business operations to bet ter serve customer needs. Furthermore, as a world wide reach company and the expected significant increasing cell capacity expansion in key regions India, South Asia, Europe and US, Solamet not only holds its strength to fully support customers outside of China by an independent Technology Center in Taiwan with full capabilities for product development, customization and testing but also plans to set up new manufacturing site in Taiwan in 2022 with the consideration of supply security.

"Kaien

Chang, Oversea Vice President of Technology of Solamet, said: “As the PV industry is expected to maintain its rapid growth trajectory with the increasing needs of clean renewable energies to meet the global carbon neutrality target, Solamet is committed to continue to synergize its R&D, technology and business resources and strengthen its global influence and brand reputation. And Renewable Energy India would be a perfect platform to vow our willingness to take on the role of the innovation leader for photovoltaic metallization.” The New Solamet now provide reliable customized metallization solutions including PERC, TOPCON and HJT dual printing pastes with faster response through strong technology expertise and intellectual property portfolios.

Tata Power Solar Systems Limited (TPSSL), one of India’s leading solar companies and 100% subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), received the ‘Letter of Award’ (LoA) of ₹ 612 crore for setting up a 100 MW groundmounted solar project for SJVN Limited (SJVN)

SJVN is an Indian public sector un dertaking having business interests in hydro, thermal, solar, wind and in Power Transmission and Power Trading. It is a joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

The bids for the project, located at the Raghanesda solar park plot C, Gujarat, were invited earlier this year. The LoA was awarded through tariffbased competitive bidding. The proj ect will get commissioned within 11 months from the date of receiving of LoA

"Speaking on the win, Mr. Ashish Khanna, CEO, TPREL, said, “We are glad to be associated with SJVN for setting up this 100MW landmark so lar project in the ground-mounted segment. The project win further solidifies our expertise in developing and deploying large scale renewable projects for the public and corporate sector clients around the country.”

TPSSL has commissioned several large scale solar ground-mounted projects in the country. TPSSL is a pioneer in curating customized stra tegic renewable projects and with this win its total portfolio will touch 9.9GWp. As on date, TPSSL’s total order book stands at ₹ 15,520 crore.

WAAREE UNVEILS HIGH EFFICIENT N-TYPE TOPCON AND HJT PV MODULES

Waaree Energies Limited (WEL) is India’s largest solar PV Company with 5GW of operational module manufacturing capacity. WEL strives to provide high-quality and cost-effective energy solutions in the renewable sector. Advanced technology adoption, design, strong process control, flexibility, recycling inception, accelerated performance and reliability testing are the important pillars which has helped Waaree to emerge as a technology leader, and a continuous performer (being rated as Tier 1 module manufacturer by Bloomberg NEF since past more than 20 quarters) and the largest PV module manufacturer in India. Waaree is aiming to be self-reliant by the year 2024-25.

is happy to announce that they are launching high efficient and most advanced TOPCon N-type PV modules in M10 and M12 configurations as well as HJT modules in M10 and M12 configurations in both Bifacial glass to glass and mono-facial variants. WEL will be the first Indian company to launch TOPCon N-type and HJT PV modules and the modules will be showcased in SPI (Solar Power International) 2022 Anaheim, USA, and REI (Renewable Energy India Expo) 28th-30th Sept 2022, Greater Noida, India.

WEL

TOPCon (Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact) which is considered to be the next generation of solar cell technology con sists of the additional tunnel oxide layer and doped poly-Si layer for better passivation and improved performance. TOP Con N-type solar cell-based modules have certain advantages over conventional P-type Mono PERC modules listed as under:

• High efficiency and high wattage modules with bet ter performance and reliability.

• Lower temperature coefficient -0.3 to -0.31 %/°C as compared to Mono PERC modules -0.34 to -0.35 %/°C thereby lower temperature losses and higher en ergy yield.

• Excellent anti-PID performance.

• The lower first-year degradation rate is around 1% as compared to 2% in p-type Mono PERC modules.

• Zero LID and lower LeTID losses due to phospho rous doping (no boron-oxygen defects).

• Lower year-on-year (YOY) degradation rate of -0.4% as compared to -0.55% for Mono PERC modules.

The HJT (Hetero Junction with Intrinsic thin layer) PV modules are made from HJT cells which consist of the n-type wafer that utilizes both amorphous & crys talline silicon technology in their cell structure. The n-type monocrystalline silicon layer in the cell has better light absorption whereas the amorphous lay ers have superior passivation characteristics which enable high electron collection. Key Features of HJT PV modules are listed as under:

• No effect of PID, LID & LeTID.

• Best in class power output for given module

•size.Bifaciality factor of the module above > 90% realized.

• Lower power temperature coefficient (-0.26 %/°C) of the module.

• MBB module – High resistant to micro cracks.

• Higher reliability and lower degradation rates.

Waaree’s R&D team and quality control team is constantly working for years to provide high efficient, superior quality, reliable, and cost-competitive products and services in the green energy domain.

GOLDI SOLAR STRENGTHENS ITS PRESENCE IN THE US MARKET

GoldiSolar, India’s most quality-conscious solar brand, today announced the launch of HELOC̣®Pro module series. It features mono-facial and bi-facial modules with M10 wafer size. With a power of 560W and 400W, the new modules can be widely used in utility, industrial, institutional, agriculture, and rooftop applications. The 560W module will be in glassto-glass, and 400W will be in an all-black variant. The products are being launched at RE+ 2022, a renewable energy trade expo held between 19-22 September 2022 in Anaheim,

"At the launch event, Mr. Bharat Bhut, Director, Goldi Solar, said, “Goldi Solar is proud to roll out HELOC̣® Pro in the USA. The company has earmarked a significant solar module production capacity for exports. With the strong and favorable bilateral relations between the two countries, we believe that the USA will continue to be an important market for India. Goldi Solar aims to leverage the opportunity with our Made-In-India panels.”

California.Vigorous

"Mr Hardip Singh, President & Global Head, Sales & Marketing, said, “The name HELOC̣® stands for HighEfficiency Low on Carbon. The name is our ode to a solar-powered, energy-efficient, low-carbon econo my. Our manufacturing processes are more efficient, leading to low carbon emissions. Goldi has consistently managed to raise market competitiveness with high-quality modules as it continuously -

-invests in technical updates. Our cutting-edge technologies, dependable supply chain, and committed delivery have trusted our customers in 20+ countries worldwide since 2013. We also want to expand our associate network and look for partners for our module sales business in the US market.”

quality tests have been undertaken, and the modules have been shown to provide mechanical support up to 5400 Pa snow load and 2400 Pa wind load. The panels come with a 12-year product warranty and a 30-year perfor mance warranty and certifications such as CEC (California Energy Commission and UL (Underwriter Laboratories), and DNV (Det Norske Veritas). Our advanced lab tests comply with IEC (The International Electrotechnical Commission) and ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials and Standards.) Goldi Solar’s existing facilities in Gujarat (India) have a module manufacturing capacity of 2.5 GW.

INDIA CROSSED 400 GW OF TOTAL INSTALLED POWER CAPACITY, RENEWABLE ACCOUNTS FOR 28%

Solar Contributes ~51% of the Total Installed Renewable Capacity as of July 2022

India’s

installed total power capacity stood at 404.13 GW, Renewable capacity additions con tinue to increase at a rapid pace in India, account ing for approximately 28.32 percent of India’s power capacity mix at the end of July 2022.

The share of renewable energy increased marginally from the previous year (Decem ber 2021) when the total installations were 104.88 GW, accounting for 26.66% of the overall power capacity mix.

The total installed energy capacity from conventional power sources stood at approximately 242.845 GW at the end of July 2022, accounting for 60.09% of the total Power installations. In 2022, around 846.7 MW (coal 890 MW, while around 43.3 MW of gas plant closed) of convention al power capacity being added in the first seven months as of July. The segment covered electricity generated from thermal-based sources, which included 50.5% of coal, gas (6.15%), nuclear (1.68%), lignite (1.64%), and diesel (0.13%).

Coal continued to lead the mix with 204.08 GW of installed capacity at the end of July 2022. The market share of coal reduced from 51.65% in December 2022 to 50.5% now.

Among the renewables, Solar continued to dominate the non-conventional source of energy and accounted for 50.66% and 14.35% of the total in stalled power capacity at the end of July 2022. Wind accounted for 10.12 percent of the total installed power capacity and 35.73 percent of the renewable mix capacity as of July 2022.

With a total installed power capacity of around 46.85 GW, large hydro accounted for 11.59% of the total installed power capacity as of July 2022. India had approximately 40.89 GW of wind installations, representing the

second largest installed capacity of the total in stalled (excluding Hydro) Renewable power ca pacity at the end of July 2022. While biomass and small hydro accounted for 2.64% and 1.21% of the cumulative installed power capacity.

MAHINDRA GROUP HAS UNVEILED ITS NEW MOBILE PV LAB FOR TESTING OF LARGE SIZE MODULES

Mahindra Teqo, the new age tech-enabled Renewable Energy Asset Management offering from the flagship Mahindra Group has unveiled its new and upgraded NABL-accredited mobile PV diagnostics lab maintained as per IEC/ISO 17025 standards.

With a 5 GW+ of O&M portfo lio, Teqo is the largest RE asset management company in India and the 7th largest globally. With its best-in-class portable PV testing facilities, Teqo aims to further its efforts to elevate the Indian solar industry toward embrac ing world-class testing facilities and establishing high-quality technical specifications as a norm by increasing awareness of all stakeholders and pro viding better access to such facilities across the var ied geographies in the country. In an industry-first launch, Teqo offers module wattage testing of up to 800 Wp (1.4X2.7 m) with Flash test/I-V curve measurement integrated with a high-resolution EL tester and IR tester for PV modules for testing on site and at manufacturing plants. Featuring A+/ A+/A+ rated lab-grade LED flasher, the mobile lab adds new upgrades comparable to remote test ing facilities, while service quality and experience are guaranteed with the proven track record of the previous lab which was the first of its kind in India. Thanks to its robust design, within the last year it has travelled 1.7 lakh kilometres or over 4 times of the earth’s circumference! The volume of test ing completed, i.e. 6.4 GWp pan-India or more than 10% of the cumulative installed solar capacity in India, bears testimony to the kind of geographical reach that can be attained; an added advantage for players having large and spread-out portfolios.

The lab boasts of advantages on multiple fronts and is designed to tackle the challenges faced with the existing offsite as well as on-site testing facilities available. It provides a range of electrical and visual tests of PV modules as per IEC61215/61646 norms, including IR Tester (following IEC 61215) and Diode Tester. Tests such as these are generally conducted in stationary labs, thereby exposing mod ules to transportation risks and slow TAT. Teqo’s lab being mobile thus saves time as well as costs. Being equipped with integrated distributed generation to work without an auxiliary power supply, and requir ing ZERO set-up time for the dark room, it saves on resources required for operation.

The thoughtfully built compact model of the lab maintains the STC conditions required for testing, preventing the need for high-uncertainty translation procedures required in power degradation calculation, and provides integrated living space for an engineer for instant reporting. The mobile PV Lab I-V test can be conducted during non-generation hours, thereby preventing inherent generation losses of other testing methods. The lab will also provide post-delivery-pre-installation and post-installation quality assurance of modules. As solar capacity addition accelerates in India, testing at various stages of the lifecycle of a plant becomes crucial in ensuring optimum generation to guarantee high returns and planning maintenance and repair of PV modules for improved longevity. The on-site lab will empower developers and investors in identify reliable solar investments through on-demand accurate testing and support the endeavours of the rapidly growing industry.

WHAT IS PORTABLE ENERGY STORAGE POWER?

What is portable energy storage power? Outdoor power supply is a kind of multi-functional portable energy storage power supply with built-in lithium ion battery, which can reserve electric energy and has AC output. Product light weight, high capacity, large power, easy to carry, can be used indoors or outdoors.

Main uses of outdoor power: mainly used for mobile of fice, outdoor leisure, outdoor work, emergency rescue, etc.

As an uninterruptible power source for outdoor office use, can be connected to mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other digi tal devices.

Outdoor photography, off-road enthusiasts field electricity, lei sure and entertainment outdoor electricity.

Outdoor lighting electricity.

Mine, oil field, geological exploration, geological disaster res cue emergency electricity.

Telecommunication department field maintenance emergency electricity.

Medical equipment small miniature emergency equipment emergency electricity.

Increase the endurance of UAVs in outdoor operation and im prove the efficiency of UAVs in outdoor operation.

The car emergency start.

WHAT ARE THE APPLICABLE EQUIPMENT?

1. 12V cigarette lighter port: car charge.

2. DC 12V/24V port: UAV, vehicle-mounted products, POS ma chine, laptop, mobile hard disk box, projector, electronic refrigera tor, digital photo frame, portable DVD, printer and other equip ment.

3. USB/Type-C port: smart phone, tablet computer, smart watch, digital camera, projector, e-reader.

4. AC port: camping lamp, small rice cooker, small hot kettle, small table lamp, fan, juice machine and other small power appliances.

The charging methods of this kind of products on the market are mainly as follows: AC charging, solar charg ing, car charging, Type-C charging.

SOLAR ENERGY CHARGING

Paired with a portable solar panel, an outdoor power source can be used to charge electricity wherever the sun shines. A 400W so lar panel can fully charge an outdoor power source in four hours, providing a steady stream of electricity for a variety of appliances. In addition, the outdoor power supply adopts a general input in terface, which can be compatible with a variety of solar panels on the market. Of course, there are products on the market that al low multiple solar panels to be connected and charged at the same time. Some can simultaneously support a maximum of 6 110W solar panels access for charging.

AC AC CHARGING

Wherever alternating current is available, it can be charged through an AC port. The charging time for similar products of the same capacity level on the market is 6-12 hours.

Driving users can charge through the car charging port, but com pared with AC charging, the car charging is slow, usually around 10 hours to full.

CAR TYPEBATTERIES–CCHARGE

If the product has a Type-C input port, you can charge it through this port. It can choose conventional charging or solar charging ac cording to different use situations, can provide super large power 100-240V AC AC output, and is configured with 5V/9V/12V and other DC output modules, not only can emergency start the car, but also suitable for emergency use of various types of loads

Source: digitaljournal

Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation (TSREDCO) organised the ‘Investment Bazaar for Energy Efficiency’, in Hyderabad in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) with an objective to bring together all the stakeholders on one platform to deliberate and share best practices in energy efficiency and financing options for energy efficiency projects.

Energy service companies, financial institutes, original equipment man ufacturers, and government and pri vate officials attended. TSREDCO Chairman Y Sathish Reddy, Joint Director Bureau of Energy Efficiency Shyam Sundar, Manager Power Finance Corporation Piyush Dutt Pandey, MD and Vice Chairman TSREDCO N Janiah and officials from vari ous States and Central government bodies were present. The platform was said to have played a key role in bringing financial institutions and industries under one roof for discussions on en ergy efficient projects.

"Speaking on the occasion, Sathish Reddy said the State government was strongly committed to bring rapid change in energy sector by encouraging energy efficiency investments. According to him, energy efficiency is a powerful and cost effective solution to meet escalating future energy demands. The TSREDCO is going ahead with construction of net zero energy building spread over 2591 Sq.mtrs which is a first of its kind and fully environment friendly office building.

At the time of formation of Telangana in 2014, the re newable energy capacity was around 70 MW only and the renewable energy capacity increased to 5400 MW as on date. This achievement is purely because of the State government’s commitment under the leadership of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao by encouraging the sustainable practices in power generation and energy conservation.

HOW RIGHT TESTING AND TARGETED

INTERVENTIONS CAN INCREASE THE VALUE OF RENEWABLE ASSETS

parameters, in turn, stem from the reliability of the PV technologies utilized, and the processes implemented throughout the ecosystem.

Inthis scenario, multiple stakeholders come into the picture at various points in the lifecy cle of a solar plant, with unique requirements and agendas. However, the end goals of these various stakeholders oftentimes can be inher ently conflicting. Hence, validation of the claims made by the participants becomes imperative in order to completely, and truly understand the final outputs of these players, and the value generated by the as sets. Such validation can be achieved by the testing of PV modules, through unbiased parties. This can help in painting the right picture for every stakeholder in the ecosystem. This article aims to address this issue and highlight the need for employing the right test ing procedures, at the right time, to correctly evaluate the assets, and help attain the varying objectives as described below.

Improving Power Generation in Real-Life Conditions

Manufacturers conduct multiple tests in order to provide accurate specifications for their PV mod ules. However, various outdoor conditions, such as weather, dust accumulation, etc. can cause deviations in the manufacturer’s claimed values for power output generated. In a study conducted by Bošnjaković et al, it was found that as a result of an increase in the module temperature, a power decrease of 11.8% occurred. In the Indian climate where the module temperature ranges from 35 de grees to 45 degrees Celsius on average, a higher temperature at an inactive area will further cause a reduction in output. Consider the following pos sible scenario of a 100MW plant with 350 Wp with 285714 PV Modules in the field

FEATURED

Scenario A: Degradation of 5% PV Module is 1.18% instead of 0.7% due to inactive area in cells (dead cell)

Scenario B: Degradation of 10% PV Module is 0.9% instead of 0.7% due to cracks or inactive area due to soldering Scenariodefects.

C: 10% of PV Modules are affected with PID with approximately 5% degradation instead of 0.7%

In the above scenario, a 100 MW plant will pro duce only 99.51 MW, causing a loss of 8.48 lakhs units in a year which may cost around Rs 40 lakhs loss per annum. If the above defects are detected, one can claim for warranty based on defects, and consider the same in the energy yield calculation to minimize PR guarantee loss. On the other hand, if the defects are not identified, this may cause further damage to the PV Modules, which may increase every year. Hence, EL and Flash testing of the modules at regular intervals would allow power producers to better understand the power genera tion capacity of their plant. This will enable them to take corrective measures and deploy optimum resources to attain the required generation level.

The Value of Milestone Based Testing –Stages and Impact

According to a report by International Energy Agency (2014), 5% of all failure cases in new PV modules occur due to transportation. These dam aged PV modules are more prone to failure. This leads to additional project costs, thus having a dra matic impact on the costs of the involved parties, from manufacturers and installers to the owners, lenders and investors. The mechanical defects –like the cracks or μ-cracks in cells/modules – which have an impact on module power output over its whole life, occur mainly during transportation and handling. These are difficult to identify at a later stage. Therefore, early tests at various milestones, based on robust sampling can prove to be a game changer

The milestones suggested by industry practitio ners are :

(i) Manufacturer outbound premises, as the specifi cations stated by the PV Module manufacturers at STC can be verified before being shipped from the works or storage facility;

(ii) Project site inbound facilities, so that transpor tation stage damages can be ascertained in time, and at a lower cost;

(iii) Post/during installation to quantify and hence control impact during handling and installation; and

(iv) Post commissioning stabilisation period, e. at 3-4 months period.

Investors – Evaluating the ROI of Assets and Increasing Valuation of Investments

As illustrated in the scenario analysis above, for so lar PV Modules excellent performance over a period of time is not guaranteed. Investors valuing solar as sets may utilize PV testing to reduce the chances of adverse outcomes, thereby minimizing surprises and ensuring wiser and more reliable investments. Fur thermore, as the age of a plant increases, the power output reduces with the degradation of the modules. For example, few module technologies can show degradation of up to 10-15% in the initial 5 years of life, making testing a smart investment choice to identify and replace the degraded modules, hence maintaining the generation at the required levels. Generation im provement interventions can even make it possible to generate up to 30% more output from the same land area and increase the ROI/IRR of the assets for the investors.

Manufacturers - Decreasing Warranty Risks while Increasing Customer Satisfaction

Several tests for performance, quality, structural, and safety of PV modules are carried out during the man ufacturing process. These modules are then stored, handled, and packed at the manufacturers’ warehous es which can induce inherent defects. Pre-shipment inspections, through comprehensive visual and elec tro-luminescence tests, identify defects exceeding the AQL standards, and avoid shipping of defective products. This can ensure quality product delivery for every customer.

Logistics Providers, Buyers and Module Insurance Providers – Decreasing Liabilities at Acceptable Costs

Further, if a batch of modules has been verified to be in acceptable condition, logistics service providers need to check for any adverse effects because of transportation. An IEEE published research has found that the PSD profile of transportation vibration data from trucks on Indian roads do not fit the ASTM D4169 standard. . The magnitudes of vibration are

higher than recommended, and thus there is a risk of module damage in the logistics phase. Visual in spection, electro-luminescence (EL) test, and op tionally flash test can help identify defects during the transportation phase and set a benchmark for next milestones. Post-transportation testing not only veri fies the adverse effects, because of transportation, but also provides crucial information for logistics providers to improve their packaging methodology to prevent such damages.

EPC and Installation Service Providers– Validating SOPs and Attaining Risk Immunity

Mounting of PV Modules, on the ground or other structures, is a largely manual activity that could re sult in PV Module damage, and the subsequent loss of asset value, if not undertaken adhering to stringent SOPs. Installation service providers can provide in stallation guarantees and verify the completion of their tasks satisfactorily by sample-based visual and electro-luminescence (EL) testing, post installation. This can act as another level of insurance in the sup ply chain which can clearly delineate where in the chain the loss of asset value has occurred. This will enable all the stakeholders to validate their SOPs and the value offered to their customers while achieving immunity from unforeseen risks and pre-installation damages. In case of damage under their jurisdic tion, it will provide opportunities for improvement of their processes, as well as offer clarity in case of claims.insurance

Owners and Operators – Identifying Defects Early to Prevent Future Losses

When a solar module is first exposed to sunlight, a phenomenon called Light Induced Degradation (LID) occurs due to oxygen traces in the silicon wafer. During this phase, a solar PV Module can lose up to 3% of its rated wattage (Wp) output in the first 3 to 4 months of operation. Post this, the rate of LID reduces significantly. To cover for LID, a module manufacturer accounts for higher power degradation in the first year. However, this hides the degradation that occurred due to other defects, for many years, if the LID is lower. Con ducting visual, infrared, electro-luminescence, and flash (IV) testing post commissioning the sta bilisation milestone can calculate LID and help identify the causes of degradation in later years to take corrective action and save on loss of pow er output. In conclusion, the right testing proce dures used by the right party at the right time can be beneficial on multiple levels, not just for the stakeholders conducting the testing, but also for the stakeholders before and after them in the value chain. By assessing the PV module damages and failures across the lifecycle against a scientific baseline, identifying the root cause for the same, and deploying corrective measures in timely fash ion, we will be able to serve the dual purpose of improving the present scenarios and advancing the future potential and growth of our own assets as well as the industry at large.

AshishAUTHORSUnadkat, Satish Pandey, Sourav Kumar – Mahindra Teqo

CATL JOINS FORCES WITH SOLARGIGA TO EXPAND INTO GLOBAL MARKET FOR INTEGRATED PVSTORAGE SYSTEMS

OnSeptember 5, CATL announced via its official WeChat account that a team led by its chairman Robin Zeng visited Solargiga’s HQ and discussed the pos sibility of forming a tight partnership in the global market for energy storage systems and other new energy technologies. The visit ended with the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement. Ac cording to the agreement, CATL and Solargiga will bring their respective advantages together and jointly cultivate the global market for integrated PV-storage systems. This partnership extends to system-level in novations and application development. Together, the two companies will work to sustain the growth mo mentum of the greater new energy industry.

Solargiga manufactures mono-Si PV products and builds PV power stations. However, it is involved in other renew able energy sectors including wind power, energy storage, green hydrogen, and electric cars. Examples of its offerings include inverters for wind farms and PV power stations, energy storage equipment, and floating PV systems. As a provider of advanced energy solutions with a global reach, Solargiga is among China’s major domestic technology en terprises. Currently, Solargiga is selling PV systems mainly to mature markets such as the US, the UK, and Germany. At the same time, the company putting more efforts into inte grated energy projects that combine PV, wind power, and energy storage. The company has accumulated a wealth of expertise in peak shaving, frequency regulation, and ancil lary services. This expertise, in turn, facilitates its entry into application segments such as grid-connected renewable energy projects, micro-grid, and energy storage solutions for commercial, industrial and residential settings.

Thanks to favorable government policies, the energy storage industry is experiencing rapid growth. Recently in China, CATL has formed an alliance with Solargiga in order to develop and market products for a wider range of energy storage applications. CATL and Solargiga are recognized as major players in their respective fields of Li-ion batteries and PV products.

to the parent company grew by 18.95% year on year to RMB 900 million for the same period. The share of energy storage systems in its revenue stream during the first half of the year came to 19.42%. As for the revenue from sales of energy storage systems, it surged by 159.33% year on year.

Turning to CATL, the company has been develop ing products for utility-scale energy storage since its establishment. The company has participated in the development of the energy storage section of the Zhangbei National Demonstration Project, which for a while was the world’s largest platform for the synergistic utilization of PV, wind power, and energy storage. In 2018, CATL formally estab lished its energy storage unit, thus ensuring that ve hicle power batteries and energy storage batteries are the two main pillars of its businesses. In 2021, CATL led the construction and application devel opment of a 100MWh energy storage project. The project is part of a national program for the R&D of a smart grid and related power equipment. The 100MWh project was to showcase an advanced lithium battery technology.

Under CATL’s leadership, the project achieved more than 12,000 charge cycles for energy stor age batteries. It also overcame key technical is sues related to the operational safety and unified management of a large battery plant. CATL was able to develop and provide solutions for system integration, battery management, etc. On the topic of client base, CATL is a strategic partner of the major Chinese utilities such as CHN Energy, SPIC, China Huadian, China Three Gorges Corporation, and China Energy Engineering Group. CATL’s major foreign clients are among the top 10 players by demand in the global market for energy stor age batteries. Examples include Nextera, Fluence, Wartsila, Tesla, and Powin. These companies are all working closely with CATL. On the subject of financial performance, CATL generated RMB 13.624 billion from sales of energy storage bat teries for 2021, showing a massive year-on-year growth of 601.01%. For the first half of 2022, the company’s revenue related to energy storage came to RMB 12.736 billion, showing a year-on-year growth of 171.41%.

Source: energytrend

Looking at its activities in the first half of 2022, Solargiga were the solution provider for the following projects: the first phase (176MWh) of the Ginan Solar Project in Australia; (2) the SanxiaUlanqab demonstration project for “generation-grid-load-storage” in China; (3) the largest PV-storage project so far in Southeast Asia (136.24MWh); and (4) the largest energy storage project so far in Israel (430MWh). In terms of financial performance, Solargigia’s revenue grew 49.58% year on year to RMB 12.281 billion for the first half of 2022. Its net profit attributable

JP MINDA AND SHERU SIGN MOU ON SOFTWARE PLATFORM FOR BATTERIES

Energy solutions start-up Sheru and Advanced Battery Manufacturer JP Minda have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together on improving battery performance and the deployment of batteries.

Under the MoU, Sheru would provide Minda with access to its Tezz software platform and receive advanced Li-ion batteries from Minda for battery swap ping. Sheru Tezz software provides users with data on critical battery pa rameters such as performance, asset tracking, battery life management, and alerts related to the mechanical and electrical aspects of the asset. It would also enable better ser vicing of batteries, inventory management, and tracking and demand management. “We want to help battery manufactur ers have access to software that helps improve battery life and overall product performance. India’s EV revolution needs soft ware capabilities to reach its true potential, and we aim to be the most trusted solutions provider. This partnership with JP Minda, a leading manufacturer, only underscores that.” said Shikhar Sharma, COO of Sheru. “Gathering granular data on the batteries enables us to provide better quality products that benefit the end consumer. We are happy to enter into this MoU with Sheru which provides us with that data. Battery safety is paramount and Minda’s world-class products would continue to lead on that front through such engagements. The MoU would also help us improve the overall lifecycle of batteries, increas ing supply chain efficiencies, and helping us serve our custom ers better.” said Anirudh Minda, Director, JP Minda Group.

RENEWABLES-DEDICATED AI FIRM JUNGLE RAISES EUR 5 MILLION

Dutch artificial intelligence company Jungle, the developer of a tool that identifies and resolves underperformance issues at renewable energy plants, announced today it has raised EUR 5 million (USD 5m) in a Series A funding round led by SHIFT Invest.

Rocks International Group, EDP Ventures, Gorilla Growth Capital and Future Energy Ventures also took part in the transaction. SHIFT Invest’s participation in the fund ing round comes about a year after it provided a small loan to Jungle. Jungle’s flagship product, called Canopy, applies AI technology to increase the uptime and performance of electro-mechanical as sets, including wind and solar farms. The firm says that renew able energy is its first vertical. Its team is predominantly based in Lisbon, Portugal “We have been able to expand to a much larger customer base over the past year. With this funding we will further strengthen our team to support scaling on a global basis,” commented Arnoud Kamerbeek, CEO of Jungle. More specifically, the company will seek to hire 12 new employees over the next few months.

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MAHINDRA GROUP AND ONTARIO TEACHERS’ TO FORM A STRATEGIC

PARTNERSHIP IN THE RENEWABLE ENERGY SPACE

Mahindra Group and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (“Ontario Teachers’”) announced today a strategic partnership to capitalize on the growing renewables opportunity in India and contribute towards the country’s decarbonization ambitions. The parties have signed binding agreements pursu ant to which Ontario Teachers’ will acquire a 30% equity stake in Mahindra Susten Private Limited (“Mahindra Susten”) at an equity value of INR 2,371 crore (~USD 300 million).

Theproposed transaction also envisages the setting up of an Infrastructure Investment Trust (“InvIT”) in compliance with ap plicable regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The InvIT is initially proposed to comprise renewable power assets seeded by Mahindra Susten with operational capacity of around 1.54 GWp. As part of the proposed transac tion, shareholder loans of INR 575 crore (~USD 73 mil lion) advanced by Mahindra Group to Mahindra Susten will be repaid. As a result of this transaction, Mahin dra Group will receive an inflow of approximately INR 1,300 crore (~USD 165 million). Mahindra Group and Ontario Teachers’ will jointly explore the sale of an ad ditional 9.99% stake in Mahindra Susten by May 31, 2023. Mahindra Group will deploy these funds, plus an incremental amount of upto INR 1,750 crore (~USD 220 million), into the business & InvIT over the next seven years. Over the same period, Ontario Teachers’ has committed to deploy an additional amount of up to INR 3,550 crore (~USD 450 million) into the business and the InvIT. This transaction will enable Mahindra Susten to build a strong renewable energy business fo cused on solar energy, hybrid energy, integrated energy storage & round-the-clock (“RTC”) green energy plants.

"Puneet Renjhen, Member of Group Executive Board and EVP, Partnerships & Alliances at the Mahindra Group said: “We are delighted to welcome Ontario Teachers’ as a strategic partner in Mahindra Susten. The partnership with Ontario Teachers’ will enable the Mahindra Group to unlock value in the renew able energy sector with continued joint investments towards accel erated growth. The Mahindra Group aims to be Planet Positive by 2040 and the continued inflow of patient, long-term capital in our climate positive businesses is validation of our commitment to be a global ESG leader.”

"Bruce Crane, Senior Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Infra structure & Natural Resources at Ontario Teachers’ said: “We are pleased to continue making significant investments in India and to acquire a meaningful stake in Mahindra Susten, one of India’s leading renewable energy platforms. As part of our climate change strategy, we have committed to continue grow ing our portfolio of green assets around the globe with investments like Mahindra Susten. This strategic partnership marks the begin ning of what we hope will be a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with the Mahindra Group.”

Thakur, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Susten said: “This partnership with Ontario Teachers’ syncs with Mahindra Susten’s plan to substantially grow our green energy portfolio across solar PV, wind, and energy storage. This platform will leverage our proven experience in development and deep knowledge of the Indian energy market. Our in-house EPC capabilities honed across renewable energy projects executed globally ensure Mahindra Susten engineers and delivers superior performing assets, thereby enabling our energy platform to provide clean, reliable power to millions of people across India.”

"Chris Ireland, Senior Managing Director, Green field Investments & Renewables, Infrastructure & Natural Resources at Ontario Teachers’ said: “We are proud to invest in one of India’s leading renew able energy platforms. We believe the renewable energy sector in India is poised for significant growth in the coming years as India works towards its ambitious clean energy goals, and are excited to partner with the Mahindra Group in this initiative.

As per the updated Nationally Determined Contributions (“NDCs”) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCCC”), India now stands committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030 from its 2005 levels, and achieve about 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030. These are concrete steps towards achieving India’s long-term goal of reaching net-zero by 2070. As a result, the In dian renewable industry is expected to continue to grow significantly in the long term. It is ex pected that Ontario Teachers’ acquisition of a 30% shareholding in Mahindra Susten, which is subject to closing conditions including regula tory approvals, will complete over the next few months. The InvIT is also expected to be formed during FY 2024 subject to requisite approvals. Avendus Capital acted as financial advisor and Khaitan & Co. acted as legal advisor to the Ma hindra Group for the transaction. Ambit acted as financial advisor and Cyril Amarchand Man galdas acted as legal advisor to Ontario Teach ers’ for the transaction.

"Deepak

REC SEEKS SHAREHOLDERS’ NOD TO RAISE UP TO ₹ 75,000 CRORE VIA BONDS

State-run REC Ltd will seek shareholders’ approval to raise up to Rs 75,000 crore through issuance of bonds next week

REC Ltd will seek shareholders’ approval to raise up to Rs 75,000 crore through issuance of bonds next week. The funds are proposed to be raised through issuance of debentures on private placement basis during a period of one year from the date of passing of the resolution, in one or more tranches, as per the AGM notice. The limit of Rs 75,000 crore shall be within the overall revised borrowing limit. The annual general meeting (AGM) of shareholders is scheduled for September 16, 2022. REC will also seek shareholders’ approval to autho rize the board to mortgage/create charge on immovable and/ or movable properties of the company, for securing loan up to Rs 4,50,000 crore.

CCI APPROVES ACQUISITION OF STAKE IN APRAAVA ENERGY

PRIVATE LIMITED BY CDPQ INFRASTRUCTURES ASIA II PTE. LTD.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approves acquisition of stake in Apraava Energy Private Limited (Target) by CDPQ Infrastructures Asia II Pte. Ltd. (Acquirer) under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002.

The Proposed Combination pertains to the acquiring an addi tional 10% shareholding in the Target from CPL GPEC (Mauri tius) Holding Limited. The Acquirer presently holds 40% share holding in the Target. The Acquirer is incorporated in Singapore and is a direct and wholly owned subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a long-term institutional investor with net assets of approximately CAD 420 billion invested globally that manages funds primarily for public and para-public pen sion and insurance plans. The Target is a foreign investment in the Indian power sector with an investment spread across renewable energy (including wind and solar), transmission, su percritical coal and gas fired generation. The Target entered the country in 2002 and has since expanded its portfolio of op erating conventional and renewable assets.

RELIANCE POWER, ITS SUBSIDIARY TO RAISE DEBT OF UP TO RS 1,200 CR FROM VARDE PARTNERS

Reliance Power and its subsidiary have inked a pact with Varde Partners for availing debt of up to Rs 1,200 crore.

In a regulatory filing, Reliance Power said the company and its subsidiary have entered into a indicative Memo randum of Understanding (MoU) with Varde Partners for availing debt of up to Rs 1,200 crore (USD 150 million) “for settlement and discharge and/or acquisition and restructuring of certain financial debt availed by Reliance Pow er.” Varde Partners is a leading global alternative investment firm specializing in credit and credit-related assets. The draw down of the debt will be subject to finalization and execution of binding documents and all requisite approvals including regula tory approvals as per applicable rules/ laws/ regula tions, the

filing added. The stock exchanges will be updated once the terms of the proposed financing are finalised and the definitive documents in relation to the proposed financing are execut ed, it further said. Reliance Power Ltd, a part of the Reliance Group, is a leading private sector power generation and coal resources company. The company has one of the largest port folios of power projects in the private sector, based on coal, gas, hydro and renewable energy, with an operating portfolio of 5,945 megawatts.

Source: psuwatch

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ADB SIGNS $52 MILLION LOAN WITH MASDAR TO BUILD

LARGEST WIND POWER PLANT IN CENTRAL ASIA

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Shamol Zarafshan Energy Foreign Enterprise Limited Liability Company (SZE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company Private Joint Stock Company (Masdar), signed a $52 million loan agreement to finance Uzbekistan’s first wind power plant and the largest yet developed in Central Asia.

The 500-megawatt (MW) plant will be lo cated to the east of Zarafshan City, in the Tamdy District of the Navoi Region in Uz bekistan. It will help the country meet rap idly rising energy demand, deliver reliable power supplies to underserved urban and rural areas, meet its climate action goals, and improve resilience against climate change impacts. The facility will comprise 111 wind turbine generators, each with a capacity of 4.5 MW.

“The Zarafshan wind power project shows how private sector investment can help countries largely dependent on fossil fu els to decarbonize their economies,” said ADB Private Sector Operations Department Director General Suzanne Gaboury. “It will support Uzbekistan’s efforts to lift clean energy’s share of total generation to more than 25% by 2030, while helping the government deliver reliable and affordable power to busi nesses, schools, health clinics, and households.As one of Cen tral Asia’s fastest-growing economies Uzbekistan’s demand for energy will continue to increase, so it’s crucial to diversify its energy mix with more renewable sources of power,” said Of ficer-in-Charge of ADB’s Uzbekistan Resident Mission Enrico Pinali. “This is the largest wind power plant that ADB has ever financed, and we are proud that it will support the government’s efforts to transition to a sustainable, green economy.”SZE is a special purpose vehicle owned by United Arab Emirates-based Masdar, a global leader in renewable energy. Masdar has de veloped utility-scale, grid-tied projects, small-scale applications providing energy access to remote communities, and carbon abatement projects globally. Masdar and ADB have previously partnered in multiple landmark renewable projects in the re gion. 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.

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KARNATAKA INKED MOUS WORTH ₹ 1.3 LAKH CRORE IN RENEWABLE ENERGY SPACE: CM

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the State has signed memoranda of understanding worth Rs 1.3 lakh crore in the renewable energy space and soon work will start in the area of hydrogen fuel.

TThe Chief Minister said his government wants to set up industries all along the Kar nataka stretch of the Mumbai-Chennai cor ridor and renewable energy all along the seashore. “We are doing extensive work in the field of renewable energy. We will soon start producing hydrogen fuel. We have signed Rs 1.3 lakh crore worth MoUs in renewable energy,” Bommai said.He was speaking at the inaugural function of the Indian Manufac turing Show-2022, organised by the ‘Laghu Udyog Bharati’ at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre. “There will be production of biofuel, solar, and hydrogen. We are going to produce ammonia from sea (water). It’s an essential part of our agenda,” the Chief Minister said. “Karnataka takes steps, which others will follow”, Bommai said, adding that the state recognises the entrepreneurship, research and development, skills and capital of the industrialists and helps them in whichever way it can. In this re gard, he said the state has taken steps to offer the PLI (production linked incentives) to the industries. Speaking about the progress made in the defence sector, Bommai said earlier 90 per cent of the defence equipment were imported right from raincoat, daily use materials for the soldiers and also coffins.

“Now 60 per cent of the de fence requirement is produced in India by the Indians. To make this possible, a strong R&D is required, which we have started achieving. We will achieve 90 per cent manufacturing of de fence equipment in the coming days,” the Chief Minister said. He also said that India has switched from a defence equipment importing country to an exporting country. “This is the change that is happening. It shows India has got the potential. It has to be explored, supported and harnessed. We need (to ensure) that talent gets recognised,” Bommai said. According to him, this was an era of change and the “curve of change is going upward”. “We are lucky to be living in this time. Make best use of this time,” the chief minister in his appeal to the industrial leaders. He said the state has the best industrial, electric ve hicle, employment and R&D policies. “The more you employ our local youth, we will give you more incentives,” Bommai told the gathering. He also appealed to leaders of industry to par ticipate in the Global Investors’ Meet (GIM) here from Nov 2 to 4, organised by Karnataka Government, and make the event successful.

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SJVN SIGNS ₹ 612.71 CRORE CONTRACT WITH TATA POWER

SJVN has entered into an Engineering Pro curement & Construction contract for 100 MW Solar Power Project at Raghanesda in Gujarat with M/s Tata Power Solar Systems Limited. This Rs 612.71 crores contract in cludes end to end delivery of the commis sioned solar plant to SJVN including com prehensive operation and maintenance of the plant for three years. Sh. Nand Lal Sharma further informed that SJVN had secured this project at a tariff of Rs 2.64 @ unit through tariff based competitive bidding conducted by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GU VNL). The project is scheduled to be commissioned in the year 2023 and will generate 252 MU energy annually with Capacity Utilization Factor of 28.8%.

Power generated from this project will be procured by GUVNL for 25 years for which the PPA has been signed on 3rd January 2022. The contract agreement was signed by Executive Direc tor (Electrical Contracts) SJVN, Sh. Salil Shamshery and Chief (Business Development) of M/s Tata Power Solar Systems Lim ited Sh. Vepul Jain. On this occasion, senior officials from SJVN and M/s Tata Power Solar Systems Limited were also present. Presently, SJVN has a portfolio of around 42,000 MW with key fo cus on developing renewable projects. SJVN has recently signed an MoU with Rajasthan government for developing 10,000 MW solar parks/projects in the state. In addition, SJVN has also ex pressed keen interest in developing 5000 MW solar projects in the state of Punjab. With these recent developments, SJVN is on the path to achieve its Shared Vision of 5000 MW by 2023, 25000 MW by 2030 & 50000 MW installed capacity by 2040.

Source: psuconnect

JINKO HAS SPENT RMB 205.4 BILLION TO PURCHASE 718,800 TONS OF POLYSILICON FROM TONGWEI AND XINTE

Jinko Solar announced on September 10 that it and its subsidiaries have inked a polysilicon procurement agreement with Tongwei’s subsidiaries. Under this deal, Jinko will buy around 382,800 tons of polysilicon products. This news was first reported by other Chinese renewable energy news platforms.

Silicon China, which is a branch of the China Nonferrous Metal Industry Association, re ported on August 31 that the average transac tion price of monocrystalline dense material in China reached RMB 305,100 per ton (including tax). Using this price as a reference, the latest deal between Jinko and Tongwei is estimated to value around RMB 103.356 billion (including tax). Note that this figure does not constitute an actual price commitment. The value of the contract will be deter mined by the finalized transaction price. Just half-a-month ago on August 26, Jinko and its subsidiaries also signed a polysilicon procurement agreement with Xinte Energy. Between 2023 and 2030, Xinte will supply Jinko with 336,000 tons of raw polysilicon for RMB 102.077 billion. Hence, Jinko has spent more than RMB 200 billion on polysilicon within a span of less than a month. Ac cording to the reporting by Chinese news platforms, Jinko in its presentation for the first half of this year stated that fluctuations in prices of raw materials such as polysilicon are having a signifi cant effect on its profitability. Therefore, it has to be well prepared in the aspect of inventory management in order to prevent sharp turns in material prices from causing production cost overruns or a sharp decline in prices of its own products. Such scenarios would further squeeze the room for profit.

Commenting on the latest deal with Tongwei, Jinko said this transaction supports the long-term growth of the company. The procurement is made through a long-term supply contract. Therefore, Jinko has locked in the total procurement quantity but will be able to negotiate the price and shipment quantity on a monthly basis. Jinko also pointed out that it is necessary to further increase and stabilize its polysilicon supply. Additionally, this transaction will not affect Jinko’s financial performance for the current period. Likewise, Jinko’s main business operations will not become dependent on Tongwei as the contract is being implemented.

Source: energytrend

The contract agreement was signed by Executive Director (Electrical Contracts) SJVN, Sh. Salil Shamshery and Chief (Business Development) of Tata Power Solar Systems Limited Sh. Vepul Jain.

KALYANI POWERTRAIN LIMITED AND HARBINGER MOTORS INC. ANNOUNCE JOINT VENTURE TO DEVELOP ELECTRIFIED DRIVETRAINS FOR THE COMMERCIAL TRUCKING INDUSTRY

Named ElectroForge, the new JV will leverage the technology expertise and manufacturing excellence of both organizations to offer best-in-class EV drivetrains, delivering superior efficiency and cost competency

ElectroForge to manufacture electric powertrains for mediumduty commercial vehicles...

● Company’s products will be developed specifically to support the needs of the growing commercial electric vehicle market, with a wide range of customized and scalable solutions appro priate for class three through eight trucks

● Initial drivetrains to be manufactured at Kalyani Powertrain Limited’s Pune, India facility with expansion anticipated world wide Kalyani Powertrain Limited (KPTL), a wholly owned sub sidiary of Bharat Forge Ltd. and a leading global supplier of critical chassis and powertrain components, joins hands with Harbinger Motors Inc. (Harbinger), a company revolutionizing the medium-duty commercial electric vehicle industry, to form a joint venture focused on developing electric drivetrain solu tions for the commercial vehicle market. The new JV, named ElectroForge, will leverage the strengths of both the partners to offer bestin-class drivetrains developed for the Class 3 through 8 markets, delivering superior efficiency and cost competency. The partnership will perfectly balance the forward-thinking in novation of Harbinger’s experienced EV team and the vast manufacturing knowledge and scalability of Bharat Forge.

“This collaboration marks the begin ning of a new chapter for commercial electric powertrains,” said John Har ris, CEO of Harbinger. “Both compa nies bring class-leading manufactur ing and intellectual capital that enables us to scale an industry solution that will blend efficien cy with unmatched value.”

Beginning with operations at KPTL’s Pune, India facility, ElectroForge will leverage cutting edge technology to deliver high-power, low-mass drivetrains with a revolutionary new architecture tailored specifically for the durability and perfor mance requirements of commercial vehicles. The joint venture will serve as the volume manufacturer of electric powertrains for Harbinger, leveraging KPTL’s global manufacturing experi ence in India, Europe, and North America.

“For over 20 years, Bharat Forge has been one of the leading suppliers of safety critical components for chassis and engines to the global commercial vehicle markets. As this sector is electrified, we have joined hands with Har binger in bringing world-class products to support cus tomers globally in their electrification journey. The JV accelerates our efforts and adds to the existing product portfolio in Power Electronics & light weighting solutions for the EV space. This JV fully aligns with our organizational vision of be ing PLANET-POSITIVE® and reducing our en terprise carbon footprint,” said Amit Kalyani, Deputy Managing Director, Bharat Forge.

INDIA COMMITTED TO REACH $300 BN WORTH OF ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING AND EXPORTS BY 2025-26, VISITS INDIA’S FIRST LITHIUM CELL MANUFACTURING PLANT AT TIRUPATI: MOS RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR

MoS visits India’s first lithium cell manufacturing plant at Tirupati

TPersonally, fitting to be in India’s first lithi um cell manufacturing plant – a day before Prime Minister’s Birthday Emphasising that India can achieve the target of $300 billion worth of electronics manufacturing and ex ports by 2025-26, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, in Tiru pati, Andhra Pradesh, that the Government is committed to work in partnership with all states to support startups and entrepreneurs keen on investing in this sector –to reach this mark. Shri Chandrasekhar was speaking on his visit to India’s first lithium cell manufacturing facility of Munoth Industries at the Electronics Manufacturing Cluster at Tirupati. He said “it’s an honour and privilege to be on this blessed land of Tirupati – abode of Sri Venkateswara. It is also one day be fore the birthday of our Prime Minister. For me, it is person ally very fitting to be in Tirupati EMC and in India’s first lithium cell manufacturing plant.” “Our vision is to edge past the tar get of $300 bn worth of electronic manufacturing and exports by 2025-26. It translates to Rs 25 lakh crores, 24 times more than what it was when PM Modi took over in 2014 – 1.10 Lakh crores,” he said.

The Government’s proactive policies and well-calibrated programmes will support every startup, every entrepreneur to make this dream a reality, he said. The commercial produc tion and formal opening of the lithium-ion factory is slated for next month. The installed capacity of the plant at present is 270 Mwh and can produce 20,000 cells of 10Ah capacity daily.

Shri Chandrasekhar praised the Electronics Manufacturing Clusters for being a step in the direction for realizing Prime Minister Modi’s vision of making India the global hub of elec tronic manufacturing. “The Electronics Manufacturing Clusters are fast becoming centres of creation of electronics manufac turing, innovation and jobs. They will be playing a big role in the future and shape India’s Techade in both design innovation and electronics manufacturing that are important areas of interest for our youth,” he explained. This state-of-the-art facility has been set up by the Chennai based Munoth Industries Limited an outlay of Rs 165 crores. The facility is located one of the two Electronics Manufacturing Clusters set up in the temple town, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. Also present on the occasion were Shri Lalchand Munoth, Chairman, Shri Jaswant Munoth, Vice Chairman, Shri Vikas Munoth, Managing Director and Shri Sashi, Director. Shri Chandrasekhar also planted a sapling in the plant premises. Later the Minister also visited the facilities of Dixon Technologies and United Telelinks located in the two EMCs.

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

| Minister | State for Electronics and Information Technology

SMS AND JSW STEEL SIGN MOU FOR CARBON REDUCTION

PROJECTS

SSMS group, a world leader in iron and steel production technologies, will support JSW Steel in India in improving its operational ef ficiency and environmental performance. The MOU also sets out an agenda for discussions about future areas of cooperation with the greatest potential. Through this partnership, both businesses will be able to jointly look for ways of lowering carbon emissions and man ufacturing green steel in a challenging industry.

Sajjan Jindal, Chairman & MD, JSW Steel said, “While the steel industry accounts for 0.7 percent of the world’s economic output, it also contributes 7 percent towards global emis sions. We need a new transformative approach focused on green steel. With SMS group as our technology partner, we are on our way to turning met als green across the globe. We are also committed to build ing and continually upgrading all our plants using the lat est technologies available, thereby ensuring a safe, secure and healthy future for all our stakeholders and communities. Achieving net zero in the steel industry will require major upgrades and capital investments in steel mills, and the initiative will have to be taken at both an industry and policy level,” Sajjan Jindal added.

In pursuing a shared ambition to reduce carbon emissions from iron and steel production, JSW Steel, the flagship company of the $22 billion JSW Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SMS group to explore multiple cutting-edge solutions and R&D projects to reduce carbon emis sions in its iron and steel making operations in India. INDIAPRIVATE A SUBSIDIARY OF AG

Burkhard Dahmen, CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board of SMS group, said, “Our knowhow and experience in metallurgy combined with our digital expertise and plant technology are enabling SMS group and JSW Steel to create a greener metals industry.”

Ravicab Cables Private Limited announces acquisition of Leoni Cable Solution IndiaPrivate Limited(LCSI), Pune, a fully owned subsidiary of Leoni AG.The ac quisition of LCSI by Ravicab provides an expansion in market reach, extension in Product range and finds a perfect synergy with the growth aspirations of Ravicab,for the acquired business, this means a clear perspective for future development in terms of investment and growth.

CSI has a turnover of 24.5 M€ in 2021. With this ac quisition Ravicab has a strong foothold in the important Project business in the western part of India. Ravicab with acquisition of LCSI also has a leverage in specialty products business of Renewable energy and Railways. Ravicab, has also inherited LCSI’sprocesses and sys tems for manufacturing specialized cables,andiconic brandslike “Kerpen”and “Icon”

Announcing this, Mr. HemantK Mehta, Managing Director, Ravicab Cables Private Limited, said, theagreement with Leoni AG to purchase the shares of Leoni Cable Solutions India Private Limited(LCSI) is beneficial to all stakeholders and reflects Ravicab’s strongaspiration to further strengthen its

market position.It’s a great opportunity for Ravicab to be able to acquire a unit set up with best-in-classinfrastructure with best available machinery and major approvals in place to ex pand the business at high growth rates”

For the Wiring Cable Solution (WCS)units put up for sale due to our strategic focus on the automotive industry it has always been our goal to find investors, who want to strategically develop the products and services. I am con fident that we have succeeded in doing so with Ravicab.”saidJerry Cummins,WCS Top Manage ment, Leoni WCS

Source: PTI

JINKOSOLAR SIGNS TWO POLYSILICON SUPPLY CONTRACTS IN A MONTH TOTALLING NEARLY US$30 BILLION

JinkoSolar has signed a major polysilicon supply contract worth more than RMB103.3 billion (US$14.9 billion), just weeks after it signed a contract worth RMB102.1 billion (US$14.7 billion) with Xinte Energy as the company looks to lock in long-term polysilicon supply.

n 10 September, JinkoSolar an nounced it had signed a major pro curement contract with Tongwei for roughly 382,800MT of polysilicon prod ucts from the company’s subsidiaries. Based on the average transaction price of RMB305,100/MT (US$44,010/MT) –inclusive of taxes – of Chinese mono dense poly material published by the country’s Silicon Industry Branch of China Non-Ferrous Metal Industry Association, the total contract amount is estimated to be about RMB103.3 billion (calculation excludes tax and does not constitute a price commitment). The actual purchase price shall be negotiated monthly and the total trading volume shall be subject to the final transaction. According to the announce ment, the above contract is a long-term purchase contract, running from this month until 31 December 2026. The existing Polysilicon Purchase and Sales Framework Agreement from 2020 to 2023 between JinkoSolar, its subsidiary Sichuan Jinko Solar and Tongwei will be automatically terminated when the contract comes into effect. JinkoSolar said the contract was signed with a subsidiary of Tongwei, its key polysilicon material supplier, with which it has established a good long-term strate gic partnership. Just two weeks ago, on 26 August, JinkoSolar announced another major polysilicon purchase. From 2023 to 2030, JinkoSolar and its subsidiaries will purchase 336,000MT of native polysilicon from Xinte Energy, with an estimated value of RMB102.1 billion. As a result, JinkoSolar has spent more than RMB200 billion locking up polysilicon material in less than a month. As mentioned in its H1 2022 report, the company’s profit is greatly affected by price fluctuations of silicon and oth er raw materials. If the price of upstream raw materials fluctu ates sharply and the company fails to effectively manage its in ventory, the company’s inventory price may drop or production cost may fluctuate, dampening the company’s profits. Silicon prices have hit a decade high this year. The Silicon Industry Branch of China Non-Ferrous Metal Industry Association said in a notice on 8 September that it decided to suspend the publication of polysilicon prices from this week to avoid overinterpretation and misunderstanding. Before the pause was an nounced, polysilicon prices had risen for 29 straight weeks this year without a sign of correction, hitting a 10-year high.

Source: pv-tech

Source: reviewgeek

IBM ANNOUNCED AS COP27 TECHNOLOGY PARTNER

IBM Will Demonstrate How Technology Can Help Align Sustainability Goals To Business Objectives

IBM – a leading hybrid cloud, AI, and business services pro vider – has been named technology partner of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, to be hosted by the Egyptian government in Sharm El-Sheikh during No vember 6 to 18. At the conference, IBM will showcase how technology and consulting can help business and government leaders align sustainability goals to organizational objectives, responding to regulatory demands and without compromising profitability. This collaboration with the Presidency of Egypt builds on IBM’s history of environmental commitments and al liances, such as establishing a goal to achieve net zero green house gas emissions by 2030 or being a founding member of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Science-PolicyBusiness Forum on the Environment. IBM also enables or ganizations and communities to tackle environmental issues through programs like the IBM Sustainability Accelerator. “IBM is honored to be technology partner in this year’s historic COP conference and to help address the existential challenge of cli mate change,” said IBM’s Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna. “I believe that technology can turn sustainability ambition into action. At IBM, we combine technology and expertise to help some of the world’s largest public and private organizations achieve their sustainability goals, in addition to setting our own strong environmental commitments.”

COP27 President-Designate, Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt welcomed IBM as technology partner of COP27. He highlighted the critical role that technology plays in helping governments, companies and organizations meet climate goals. Also, he recognized IBM’s expertise in creating innovative solutions that can contribute to push the climate agenda forward.

LUMINOUS PARTNERS WITH GP ENERGY TECH TO PROVIDE SAFER AND MAINTENANCE-FREE BATTERIES FOR INDIAN HOMES

Luminous Power Technologies, an innovation leader in energy solutions in India, has signed a memorandum of understanding with GP Energy Tech International Pte. Limited (“GP Energy Tech”), a member of Gold Peak Technology Group, one of the world’s major suppliers of primary and rechargeable batteries.

The partnership is India’s first project fo cused on adopting Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries for home inverter and so lar applications. The demand and growth for energy storage in the Indian market will drive the need for cost-efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly storage batteries for the years to come.Under the agree ment, Luminous will evaluate the mutually agreed specification prototype relevant for the Indian market in the inverter and solar segment and will be going under evalu ation using GP Energy Tech development kits to prepare for future production. By utilizing NiMH batteries, Luminous will deliver maintenance-free, fast charging, safe, compact, and lighter solutions – while leveraging its existing production lines and expertise in solar and home inverter materials.Comment ing on the partnership,

Preeti Bajaj, Managing Director, Lumi nous Power Technologies, said, minous, our innovation strategy is rooted to invest significantly on R&D for cre ating advanced energy solutions that are both greener and more efficient. Our partnership with GP Energy Tech demonstrates our commitment to bring better and safer solutions that benefit an array of consumers with unique needs. Alternate chemistry like NiMH batteries for residential use is an exhil arating step-forward; another endeavour to have a sustain able future.”

Adding to this, Victor Chong, President, GP Energy Tech, said, “India is an exciting market for us, and we’re proud to be partnering with the country’s leading battery manufacturer to serve the increasing need for sustainable and reliable energy in homes. This research effort aims to cre ate a solution that India has never seen before.

The solution has the potential to be far more environmentally friendly, maintenancefree, and safer than any existing battery technologies in India.”

NTPC

HISTORICSIGNSMOU WITH TO 115 CRORES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHERY

NTPC Ltd, India’s largest integrated energy company signed a Memorandum of Understand ing (MoU) with National Sports Development Funds (NSDF) and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) for the development of archery in India.

R.K Singh, Hon’ble Cabinet Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy along with Shri An urag Singh Thakur, Hon’ble Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Information and Broadcasting were present during the historic MoU signing cer emony. Shri Gurdeep Singh, CMD, Shri D.K. Patel, Director (HR) NTPC and senior officials were present on the occasion NTPC has been supporting the Archery sport in partnership with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Archery Association of India (AAI) with an aim to provide world class facilities with international exposure & platform to the talented pool of Archers of India. Under its CSR initiative, NTPC has committed Rs. 115 Crore in 5 years for development of Archery Sports. Out of total 115 Crore, Rs. 15 crore will be incurred as a one-time expenditure towards preparations of field targets, setting up of training centres and equipment like bow & arrow. Further remaining Rs. 100 crore will be incurred as recurring expenditure in 5 years (Rs. 20 crore per year) towards the development of Archery from the grassroot level, training of identified talents, training of elite tal ents, development of high-performing coaches, procurement of FOP equipment, development sports & science lab compat ible for Archery, Scholarships/ prize money for high perform ers, advance training/ competitive exposure/ foreign training & exposure to Sub-Jr./ Jr. Archers of Recurve and Compound Archers including Para Archers, etc. NTPC has already been supporting Archery sports through an existing MoU. NTPC has supported Archery sports at National and International level since 2018. The agreement further extended up to the next Olympics in 2024. NTPC extends the support for organizing all National Archery Championships for Sub-Jr., Jr. and Sr. cat egories for both Men & Women groups, National Ranking Ar chery Tournaments (NRAT), coaching facility, equipment, play ing kits, among others. With NTPC’s support, Indian Archers are participating in all International Tournaments like Asian Championships, World Cups, Circuit Championships, and per forming well in all International tournaments and bringing lau rels for India by winning medals at world level. Archers won many International medals during this period and performed excellently in Tokyo Olympics and reached the Quarter Final which is considered to be India’s best performance in Archery to date. Indian archers showcased an exemplary performance in Tokyo Paralympics-2021 where Shri Harvinder Singh won Bronze Medal. In 2021, India was honored with 2 world records and Indian archers won a total 49 International

Shri

Medals (20 Gold, 20 Silver and 9 Bronze) in all major Interna tional Tournaments including Paralympics. Archers won many International medals during this period and performed excel lently in Tokyo Olympics and reached the Quarter Final which is considered to be India’s best performance in Archery to date. Indian archers showcased an exemplary performance in Tokyo Paralympics-2021 where Shri Harvinder Singh won Bronze Medal. In 2021, India was honored with 2 world records and Indian archers won a total 49 International Medals (20 Gold, 20 Silver and 9 Bronze) in all major International Tournaments including Paralympics. NTPC’s CSR portfolio covers all facets of developmental aspects encompassing equity and inclusive ness as fundamentals of CSR execution. NTPC management believes that CSR is a commitment beyond compliance. In recognition of its efforts towards improving lives, NTPC has been conferred many awards and accolades at different fo rums. Under its flagship program named, Girl Empowerment Mission (GEM), many girl children are benefited in their overall development. Till date, GEM initiative has helped to groom and encourage 5000 girls at several locations towards enhancing their dreams. The program has created an aspiration among little school girls to think big and achieve greater heights. NTPC has scaled its CSR initiatives to cater to different focus areas like Livelihood generation, Skill development, Education, Agri culture& Farming, Water & Sanitation etc. The Municipal Solid Waste Treatment Plant of Karsada, Varanasi is one of the fin est examples towards environmental sustainability. The proj ect also proved the mantle of NTPC in project management. Due to this intervention Varanasi ranked 27th in 2020 under “Swachh Sarvekshan Rankings” conducted by the Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India. The city has also been ranked as the cleanest city along the river Ganga. In pursuance to develop skills among youth of India, NTPC has also under taken Skill Development program for youth including youth of Leh & Ladakh and J&K region through National Skill Develop ment Corporation (NSDC) & NSDF in order to make them selfemployable, supporting “Skill India Mission” of Government of India (GoI). NTPC is also supporting the Government of India initiative to upgrade Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to im prove the quality of skilled workforce. Further, NTPC has also extended its CSR support to Uttarakhand for undertaking re construction and restoration of Government Schools & Health centers which were devastated by unexpected natural calamity faced by the state recently.

The 11th edition of IREDA Stakeholders’ Interaction Meet was held today through a virtual platform to discuss new initiatives, future plans and seek feedback from business partners. The Stakeholder’s Meet was chaired by Shri Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA).

The Stakeholders Meet started with a brief presentation on the historical financial per formance of IREDA in the first quarter of FY 2022–23, recent amendments to existing fi nancial schemes, and the company’s longterm growth plans.In his opening remarks, CMD, IREDA, emphasised that IREDA has already implemented many of the sugges tions given in the previous Stakeholders Meet. These include:

• Introduction of concept of Relationship officer

• Reduction in LoC charges

• Improvement in D/E ratio on account of increased project

•costsSupport to E-Mobility

• Document execution at Branch offices

• Retain lower interest rates

• SHP schemes to be made more attractive & comparable to other sectors

CMD, IREDA made an appeal to business partners to assist IREDA to fulfil the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of sustain able lifestyles and climate justice to protect the poor and vul nerable from the adverse impacts of climate change. IREDA is dedicated to actively supporting efforts to achieve 50% cumu lative power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based ener gy resources by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2070. Shri Das reaffirmed that IREDA is making every effort to take care of all the segments of RE sector, including start-ups, to the great est extent possible. The company will continue to work with its business partners following “Zero-Tolerance” policy towards corruption and the highest standards of Corporate Governance. The bulk of the business partners expressed their gratitude to IREDA for rapidly addressing their issues and providing finan cial support at retaining lowest interest rates, despite hikes in repo rate by RBI. The business partners came up with a variety of ideas and suggestions during the interaction. At the conclu sion of the Stakeholders Meet, business partners were praised for their active participation and helpful suggestions.

CMD, IREDA, said that innovative ideas do not originate in air-conditioned offices but rather in the minds of students at campuses such as IIT.

Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), Indian Renewable Energy De velopment Agency Ltd. (IREDA), delivered a keynote address at “Tech Expo” of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, today. He emphasised that with a strong foundation led by young minds, long-term sustainable economic growth driven by Aatmanirbhar Bharat is achievable. Speaking on the theme of Tech Expo ‘Imagine Innovate Inspire’, CMD, IREDA, said that innovative ideas do not originate in air-conditioned of fices but rather in the minds of students at campuses such as IIT. He encouraged students to innovate in the field of Renewable Energy for the sustainable development of the country. Shri Das highlighted that IREDA is the only dedi cated organisation that focuses solely on the development of the Renewable Energy Sector in India and is the largest “Green Financier” in the country. He further said that IREDA has been successfully offering the most competitive rate of interest for financing RE projects and acting as a trend setter for other financial institutions and banks. The “Tech Expo” is the flagship event of the Techno-Management fes tival of IIT Guwahati—”Techniche 2022″. It brings together innovators from across the nation to showcase their techno logical and scientific concepts. CMD, IREDA, Shri Chintan Shah, Director (Technical), and other IREDA officials have also visited several stalls and interacted with young inven tors at the Tech Expo

Shri

H1/2022 MODULE SHIPMENT RANKING SHOWS JINKO SOLAR ON TOP

•InfoLink Consulting’s H1/2022 solar module shipment ranking has JinkoSolar on the top with 18.21 GW

•Top 10 companies on the list together shipped about 101.7 GW in the reporting period with an annual increase of 45%

•Large size modules namely M10 and G12 accounted for 80% of the shipments with bulk comprising M10

•As top 4 companies aim for 40 GW or higher shipments in 2022, due to supply chain challenges prices are likely to peak in Q3/2022 which may impact •profits and shipments for vertically integrated manufacturers

With 18.21 GW solar module ship ments, Chinese solar PV pro ducer JinkoSolar has made it to the top of InfoLink Consulting’s Global PV Module Shipment Ranking for H1/2022, replacing the previous year’s top seed LONGi In H1/2022, Trina So lar shipped 18.05 GW, LONGi 18.02 GW, followed by JA Solar’s 15.70 GW while JinkoSolar’s

numbers reflected an annual increase of 113% (see JinkoSo lar’s Q2/22 Shipments Grow 102 Percent). These numbers have been announced by the companies themselves in their fi nancial results. What makes these top 4 companies strengthen their hold is the sheer size of their business, cost advantages with production at economies of scale and overseas pipelines. Canadian Solar, Risen Energy, Chint New Energy, First Solar and Hanwha Q Cells took remaining spots from 5 to 10, in that order on the list.

Annual module shipments for top 4 companies were above 15 GW each, for those after top 5 ranged between 3.5 GW to 8.7 GW and for those under top 10 the numbers slipped to about 2 GW to 3 GW. According to InfoLink, previously PV InfoLink, top 10 companies on the list shipped about 101.7 GW in H1/2022 increasing their share by 45% YoY, accounting for some 80% to 90% of the demand. Top 4 manufacturers alone represented about 60% to 70% of this volume. Excluding First Solar, re maining manufacturers in the top 10 sold large size modules namely M10 or 182mm and G12 or 210mm, representing about 80% of the shipments out of which M10 accounted for the bulk. Overall performance of the companies different in Q1 than in Q2 this year since Q1 for most was underlined by high prices and high costs hence their shipments were lower. Demand grew in Q2 with the necessity for energy transition and high overseas demand hence compared with Q1, shipments grew

by 36% in Q2. “Among them, looking at the regional distribution of shipments, the share of manufacturers with high overseas dependence in China has been reduced to only 20-30%, and the share of many manufacturers in Europe has increased,” share InfoLink analysts. In H1/2022, top 4 companies shipped an average of about 17.5 GW while their annual target is 40 GW or more for 2022. This means the average single-quarter output in H2/2022 will reach close to 8.5 GW to 12.0 GW. None theless, analysts caution that supply chain challenges are likely to ensure prices peak in Q3/2022 which may impact profits and shipments for vertically integrated manufacturers. InfoLink had earlier placed Tongwei, Aiko, Runergy, Solar Space and Jietai in the top 5 solar cell module shipment companies list for H1/2022, respectively. All 5 companies together shipped 59 GW of cells in the reporting period with a 60% annual increase.

JAKSON GROUP EYES GREEN HYDROGEN PROJECTS

Energy and infrastructure company Jakson Group is planning to build green hydrogen projects across West Asia and North Africa, Sameer Gupta, chair man and managing director of the group, said in an interview.

RThe overseas green hydrogen projects will be driven by the group’s clean energy arm, Jak son Green Pvt. Ltd. “The inten sion is not only to look for solar EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) projects, but also for hydrogen and ammonia projects both in India and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. To explore the opportunities, we have also opened our offices in Dubai and Johannesburg.” Jakson group is also in talks with potential partners in the regions, he added. Considering the potential of West Asian and North African countries as leading suppliers of green hydrogen, the industry has witnessed increasing inter est from investors. An in-house research study by Abu Dhabi’s Clean Energy Business Council (CEBC) said that the region is projected to be the largest supplier of green hydrogen globally, accounting for a bulk of ex port-oriented low carbon hydrogen projects. UAE has a majority share of around 29% of green and blue hy drogen energy projects as of 2021, followed by Egypt and Morocco at 19.35%, each. Many homegrown re newable energy companies, including ReNew Power are looking to set up green hydrogen projects in the region. ReNew signed a memorandum of understand ing (MoU) with Egyptian government agencies and the country’s sovereign fund in July to set up a green hydrogen manufacturing unit at the Suez Canal Eco nomic Zone. ACME Group signed a land agreement in June to build a green ammonia project in Oman. Jakson Group also plans to set up green hydrogen projects in India and is in talks with a few states, Gupta said. “We are talking to some state governments, and some overseas in MENA region. The company is also looking at acquisitions and strategic partnerships in other “futuristic energy” businesses such as electro lyzers, batteries and fuel cells. Either we will have ac quisitions or strategic partnerships, where both com panies will financially participate. …we are looking at long term relationships,” Gupta added. The company is present in distributed energy business, solar power projects and solar module production. Distributed en ergy includes battery energy storage systems. It has a solar module manufacturing capacity of 600 MW, and is looking to scale to 1 GW by December 2022, he said.

SAMEER GUPTA | CMD| JAKSON GROUP

On October 2, an electric train will start moving on the 137 km long Banihal-Baramulla corridor of the Jammu and Kashmir rail link.

FIRST ELECTRIC TRAIN TO CHUG IN KASHMIR ON GANDHI GREENJAYANTIMOBILITY

Indian Railway officials said that work on the proj ect was going on since August 2019. The man datory principal chief electrical engineer (PCEE) inspection of the electric rail link will take place on September 26 and on Gandhi Jayanti, the proj ect will be inaugurated, the railway officials said.

“Trials on Baramulla-Budgam part of the 137-Kms long electric train link have already been com pleted while the trial on the remaining BudgamBanihal portion will be carried out on September 20”, sources said, adding that the project cost of the electric train link from Banihal to Baramulla is Rs 324 crore. The electrification of the Banihal-Baramulla rail link will reduce air pollution and is expected to bring down operational cost by 60 percent.

Source: PTI

KEY TO DECARBONISATION OF TRANSPORT

SECTOR: NITI AAYOG CEO PARAMESWARAN IYER

Green mobility is going to play a major role in decarbonisation of India’s transport sector, NITI Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer said .

Iyer, while addressing an event organised by the ‘Shoonya Forum’, noted that the role of financing is critical for scaling of electric mobility in India. He also stressed on the need of finding ways to reduce risks associated with financing of electric vehicles.

Pointing out that the rural India is urbanising rapid ly, the NITI Aayog CEO said there is a need to push electric vehicles in smaller cities also. According to a recent report prepared by NITI Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) India, banks and non-banking finan cial companies (NBFCs) have the potential to achieve electric vehicle financing market size of Rs 40,000 crore by 2025 and Rs 3.7 lakh crore by 2030. The report had also stressed that lending by banks and NBFCs for buying EVs should be includ ed in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) priority-sector lending (PSL) guidelines. Priority sector lending aims to expand finan cial access and support employment opportunities in India. To meet these goals, the report had suggested that the RBI might consider various EV segments and use cases based on five parameters — socio-economic potential, livelihood generation potential, scalability, techno-economic viability, and stakehold er acceptability.

Source: PTI

Mr. Parameswaran

Iyer | Chief Executive Officer | NITI Aayog.

Heavily subsidised power given to farm ers has been a major ffinancial burden on the state government. Irrespec tive of whhich party comes to power, the subsidy not only stays, but more number of agriculture connections are issued. Knowing that the subsidies cannot be removed, recently Rajast han Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RRECL) prepared a note on how to reduce the gov ernment’s subsidy burden with the use of solar power. Some states in the country have already gone ahead with such strat egies to reduce the debt burden. Agriculture consumes about 40% of the power used in the state. If the plan is acted upon, the state can save thousands of crores every year. According to a source, the energy department has received a proposal from RRECL strategising the use of solar energy for agriculture connections. “The note lays out various strategies for the ag riculture connections which are subsidised by the state,” said the source preferring anonymity. The cost of power procured by the discoms comes to around Rs 5.50 a unit, while the ag riculture customers are charged at 90 paisa per unit. As per recent biddings, the cost of solar power is Rs 2.50 a unit. Given the equation, RRECL believes that if the agriculture connec tions are solar powered, the subsidy burden will reduce by half. Currently, the state government bears about Rs 16,000 crore as annual subsidy burden. RRECL argues that will come down to about Rs 8,000 crore. Besides the reduction of financial bur den, the farmers will be able to use day power. Currently, they are given power during night-time, non-peak hours. Day power has several socio-economic benefits. Irrigation during night time disturbs the family life of the farmers. Also, it exposes them to health hazards. There is also the risk of snake bites or wild animal attacks. With day power, all these inconveniences and the risks would be mitigated. While these subsidies are paid to the discoms by the state government, timely payment has been a issue forcing the former to borrow from banks to meet the revenue shortage.

SOLAR POWER CAN CUT SUBSIDIESFARM

ADANI TRANSMISSION INTEGRATES ARM FOR POWER TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION BIZ

The company is adding 10,000 new credit customers per day with a reach across 25,000 pincodes in the country, it said in a release

Adani Transmission Ltd said it has in corporated a wholly-owned subsidiary, Adani Electricity Jewar Ltd, to carry on business of transmission, distribution and supply of power and other related infrastructure services. “Company has incorporated its WOS (wholly owned subsidiary) in the name of Adani Elec tricity Jewar Ltd (AEJL) on 12th Sep tember, 2022 with an initial authorised and paid up capital of Rs 1,00,000 each to, inter alia, carry on the business of trans mission, distribution and supply of power and other infrastruc ture services relating thereto,” a BSE filing said. AEJL will com mence its business operations in due course, it stated.

Axio annualised disbursals at Rs 5,000 cr Digital finance com pany axio said it has reached annualised disburals of Rs 5000 crore, up from Rs 1700 crore in 2021. axio (formerly Capital Float) said it has doubled its customer base in the last twelve months to nearly 5.5 million credit customers. The company is adding 10,000 new credit customers per day with a reach across 25,000 pincodes in the country, it said in a release. “axio has also achieved a threefold growth in its disbursal rate and is currently clocking Rs 5,000 crore of annualized disbursals, up from Rs 1,700 crore in 2021. The remarkable increase in an nual disbursals can also be attributed to 70 per cent of the cus tomers engaging in repeat credit utilization,” the company said.

Source: PTI

Source: PTI

NXTRA BY AIRTEL TO BECOME THE FIRST DATA CENTER COMPANY IN INDIA TO INSTALL FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY TO PROVIDE CLEAN ENERGY

The hydrogen-ready fuel cell unit will supply much cleaner energy to Nxtra’s data center in the state of Karnataka and lead to significant reduction in carbon emissions.

BBharti Airtel (“Airtel”) announced that its subsidiary Nxtra Data Limited (“Nxtra”) has partnered with Bloom Energy to deploy low environmental impact fuel cell installation at its data center in Karnataka, reducing carbon emissions through a cleaner, hydro gen ready fuel supply. Nxtra will be the first data center company in India to deploy fuel cell technology to reduce carbon emissions at its data centers while unlocking cost and sustainability ben efits. Nxtra plans to start the unit on non-combusted natural gas and then switch to 50% hydrogen in future without any sig nificant investment. The natural gas-powered cells will be used for primary generation with utility electrical grid and genera tors as backup sources. Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Rajesh Tapadia, COO, Nxtra by Airtel said, “Nxtra is commit ted to set new benchmarks in sustainability for the data center industry and play a leading role as India emerges as leading data center destination in APAC. With an ambition to reach net zero by 2031, we have embarked on our sustainability journey by making all possible efforts to adopt innovative energy solu tions. Our partnership with Bloom Energy is a testament to our future-ready energy strategy to supply much cleaner energy to our data centers." “Bloom Energy’s technology is distinctly capable of helping India meet its decarbonization objectives as it transitions to a hydrogen economy,” said Tim Schweik ert, senior managing director, international business development, Bloom Energy. “We are proud to collaborate with Nxtra to support them in their pursuit of using clean, reliable and affordable power for their data centers.” Nxtra by Airtel has the largest network of data centers in India with 12 large and 120 edge data centers across the country and will invest over Rs 5000 cr over the next four years to expand its capacity by 3X to over 400 MW. The company has already invested and partnered with 8 organisations to develop renewable energy power plants across India to source more than 180,000 MWh of renewable energy and is committed to achieving 50% of its power requirements through renewable energy sources in the next 12 months.

Source: airtel

ditya Birla Group’s company Hindalco Industries Limited, established in Sin grauli district, has started producing electricity from a 25 MW solar plant along with a captive power plant in unit Mahan, which was inaugurated by company chief Senthil Nath. He was accompanied by Human Resource Chief Biswanath Mukherjee, Smelter Head S Shashi Kumar, and Power Plant Head Chandra Shek har Singh. Officials of Madhya Pradesh Vidyut Vitaran Compa ny Limited and Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Compa ny Limited were present. Senthil Nath said that the plant would generate 55 crore units of electricity, which would reduce the consumption of 35,000 tons of coal, as well as reduce carbon emissions by 52,000 tons. The company aimed to increase the power generation capacity of the solar plant. Hindalco would use this power for internal needs and aluminium production. The departmental officers of discom and Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company Limited said Hindalco Mahan did commendable work to generate renewable energy from non-conventional energy sources and promote clean energy. At the function, a large number of senior officers and employ ees were present.

Mr. Senthil Nath President & Unit Head HINDALCO INDUSTRIES LIMITED

Senthil Nath said that the plant would generate 55 crore units of electricity, which would reduce the consumption of 35,000 tons of coal, as well as reduce carbon emissions by 52,000 tons.

INDIA IS COUNTING ON DEBUT SOVEREIGN GREEN BOND TO LOWER FINANCING COSTS

The govt has developed a framework to sell the debt in line with widely-used principles from the International Capital Market Association, and is also liaising with the World Bank over best practices

ndia is aiming to get much lower borrowing costs from its debut sovereign green bond in coming months.Officials want a significant “greenium,” the premium investors pay for bonds that fund envi ronmental projects, according to people familiar with the matter. The government has developed a framework to sell the debt in line with widely-used principles from the International Capital Market As sociation, and is also liaising with the World Bank over best practices, they said, declining to be named as the talks are private. A lower cost of borrowing would help Asia’s third-largest economy finance infrastructure and meet clean energy goals, while managing a record debt issuance plan. The first green bond sale will take place before the end of the fiscal year in March, and discussions are underway with ministries to identify projects such as renewable energy, automobiles and a Ganges river restoration campaign, the people said. India will be a latecomer to the global market for green debt, which has exploded in recent years, including debuts for Hong Kong, Sin gapore and South Korea. While it’s common to get lower bor rowing costs thanks to strong investor demand, it’s often just a few basis points and a big greenium would be unusual. India’s finance ministry declined to comment. “You need to do some outreach and engage with investors to have a greenium,” said Sandeep Bhattacharya, climate change advisor at GIZ and for mer India project manager of the Climate Bonds Initiative in Mumbai. “The size of the greenium is also very dependent on the market situation at that point in time.” That’s particularly true this year, since global debt market sentiment has taken a hit thanks to surging inflation, central bank interest-rate hikes and the fallout from the war in Ukraine. ESG bonds are un derperforming conventional debt in the sell-off, putting the size of any greeniums in doubt. Outsized ESG-Bond Losses Men ace Investors Beset by Politicians Added to that, currency risk could pose a hurdle for foreign investors interested in India’s first green bond, which will be in rupees. The currency is down about 7% this year, poised for its worst annual depreciation since 2018 in the face of broad dollar strength despite India’s central bank selling dollars to curb depreciation. The yield on the benchmark 10-year sovereign note has climbed to 7.12% from 6.46% at the end of last year, making it more expensive for the government to raise additional funding. India will first is sue only a few small tranches of the green debt to test appetite, the people familiar said. The government budgets to raise a record 14.3 trillion rupees in the year through March 2023, and initial reports suggest green bonds will be more than 200 billion rupees. Some funds with a green mandate are interested. Cli ent demand for “green, social, sustainable and sustainabilitylinked bonds in emerging markets, both in US dollars and local currencies” means asset manager TCW Group Inc. would con sider investing in India’s debut, said David Loevinger, a man aging director at the Los Angeles-based firm. Indian debt is also on investors’ radars as JPMorgan Chase & Co. conducts a semi-annual review of its emerging-market debt index, and the expulsion of Russia could open the door to India’s addition to the benchmark. If India is added to global bond indexes, “there’d be even more investment for India’s transition to a lowcarbon economy,” Loevinger said.

Mr.David Loevinger | Managing Director | The TCW Group

INDIA MUST TARGET 100%

ELECTRIFICATION OF 2 & 3-WHEELERS IN 4 YEARS: KANT

India must target 100 per cent electrification of two- and three-wheelers in the next four years, said G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant

India must target 100 per cent electrification of twoand three-wheelers in the next four years as these segments will lead the country’s green mobility revolution, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said .The country’s focus has to be on shared, connected and an electric transportation movement, he said while speaking at the annual session of Automo tive Component Manufacturers Association of In dia (ACMA). “My view is that green mobility revolution is really knocking on our doors, whether we like it or not, and India’s focus has to be on shared, connected and an electric transpor tation movement,” he said. He further said, “I’m a believer that India’s electrification journey is to be about two-wheelers and three-wheelers.” It has to be two-wheelers and three-wheelers because 80 per cent of the total sales of vehicles is really about two-wheelers and three-wheelers in India right now, he assert ed. Kant further said, “We need to target in the next four years, to my mind, India needs to target 100 per cent electrification of these two segments, go 100 per cent.”

ELECTRIFICATION OF VEHICLES

In 2021-22, domestic two-wheeler sales stood at 1,34,66,412 units, while three-wheeler sales were at 2,60,995 units and overall vehicle sales across categories were at 1,75,13,596 units, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). As per the Federation of Automotive Dealers Associa tions (FADA), electric two-wheeler retail sales last fiscal stood at 2,31,338 units, up over five-fold from 41,046 units in 202021. Total Electric Vehicle (EV) retails reached 4,29,217 units in 2021-22, a rise of three-fold from 1,34,821 units in the financial year 2020-21, the dealers body had said. Kant said transition to electric mobility is gaining ground as the cost of battery, which accounts for about 40 to 45 per cent of electric vehicle cost is falling rapidly. “It has seen a decline of over 100 per cent in the last five to six years. It’s going to come down to below USD 100 per kilowatt,” he added. When that happens, he said, the initial cost of acquisition of an EV without any FAME subsidy will become cheaper than the comparable internal combustion engine vehicle. As such, he said the total cost of ownership of an EV is lower even now. Kant said Indian companies, in cluding in the components sector must aim to become global champions in the new technology. He, however, admitted that the EV sector still faces challenges when it comes to financing of these vehicles. “Firstly, I think there is a very high interest rate and we need to bring down lower interest rates for electric vehicles. There is a very high collateral and insurance charges, which need to be brought down,” Kant said.

GADKARI ASKS OFFICIALS TO LOOK FOR UNIFORM CHARGING SYSTEM FOR ELECTRIC BUSES

Road transport and highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that he has asked officials of his department to look for a uniform charging system for electric buses manufactured by different companies.

Gadkari said that states are facing problems as electric buses of differ ent companies have different charging systems. “Himachal Pradesh transport minister told me about the problem of different charging systems for electric buses made by different companies. I have asked my officers to look for a solution as there should be one charg ing system for electric buses of different companies,” he said while speaking at the Mindmine Summit. Gadkari emphasised on the need of encouraging people to use mass rapid trans port system. “We need to discourage people to purchase more cars… We need to start air conditioned trolley bus services in metro cities,” he said. The minister predicted that the prices of Electric Vehicles (EVs) will be on par with the cost of petrol ve hicles in the country within one or two years. Gadkari said the Government’s target is to reduce logistic cost to 10 per cent of GDP before the end of 2024 from present logistic cost of 14-16 per cent. He noted that green hydrogen is the fuel of the future.

ONE LAKH ELECTRIC TUBE WELLS TO BE SOLARISED IN PUNJAB, SAYS MINISTER ARORA

Punjab’s minister for new and renewable energy sources Aman Arora on said the government has decided to solarise one lakh existing electric agricul ture tube wells in the state.

This ambitious project will save around Rs 200 crore per annum on account of power subsidy, besides going a long way to save the natural resources, he further said.“The energy sector is transitioning in an unprecedented way and this revo lutionary step will pave a way to ensure cheaper and green energy,” said the min ister. With the implementation of this proj ect, Punjab will avail four major benefits, including reduction in the burden of subsidy on the state exchequer, reducing demand of power supply and also input cost of agriculture. He further said that the Punjab Energy Development Agency has already invited bids for selection of Solar Power Genera tors (SPGs) for feeder level solarisation of 25,000 grid-con nected agriculture pumps.The state government provides free power to 13.88 lakh farmers of the state for their gridconnected tube wells for irrigation and bears the expenditure of about Rs 7,000 crore as subsidy. The Cabinet minister said a proposal for solarisation of one lakh grid-connected electric tube wells had been sent to the Union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE). The central government ac cepted it and allocated the target of one lakh pumps to the state. Arora said presently the agriculture power tariff is Rs 5.66 per unit and after solarisation of these one lakh tube wells, rate per unit would be much lower resulting in saving of government’s subsidy to the tune of Rs 200 crore annu ally. The union government will provide a subsidy of Rs 1.05

crore per MW for setting up solar power plants for solarisation of the tube wells, said chief executive of PEDA Sumeet Jaran gal. Solar power plants of capacity around 215 MW will be set up for solarisation of one lakh pumps with a total cost of about Rs 1,030 crore, he said. Of which, Rs 804 crore will be gener ated from private investors, while the central government as its share will pay Rs 226 crore as subsidy, he added.

Source: PTI

Source:

Shir. Aman Arora | Minister | Member of Punjab Legislative Assembly

Shir. Nitin Gadkari | Minister | Road Transport and Highways of India

INDIA LAUNCHES ITS FIRST AND ASIA’S LARGEST SOLAR

POWERED ROPAX FERRY SERVICE ON THE GULF OF CAMBAY

DG Sea Connect has relaunched its much-anticipated Ro-Pax ferry service between Hazira in Surat and Ghogha in Bhavnagar on September 7. It is India’s first and largest solar-powered Ro-Pax ferry, giving greater convenience to passengers as well as cargo transit between Surat to Saurashtra and vice versa.

azira-Ghogha Ro-Pax ferry services between South Gujarat and Saurash tra by sea were temporarily suspended owing to technological and economic concerns. With its restart, the Ro-Pax ferry will transfer passengers and cargo between the two destinations in three hours. The solar-powered RoPax ferry, according to Voyage Express India, will drastically reduce fuel usage, adding to the Central Government’s efforts to promote the use of renewable energy. Furthermore, travellers will have the option to travel between Hazira and Ghogha twice a day. The Voyage Express will leave Ghogha at 9 a.m. and from Hazira at 06:30 p.m., while the Voy age Symphony will leave Hazira at 8 a.m. and from Ghogha at 5 p.m. Voyage Express is outfitted with cutting-edge tech nology to ensure passengers’ comfort and freight movement between South Gujarat and Saurashtra. The ferry is fully airconditioned, with three cafeterias, game zones, and a top deck where one can enjoy the sea’s majesty. It can transport 180 executive passengers, 115 business passengers, 80 sleeper class passengers, 22 VIP lounges, and 11 cabins. The ship has a capacity of 70 automobiles, 50 motorcycles, 25 tempos, and 55 trucks. Voyage Symphony, on the other hand, has a capac ity of 316 executive passengers, 78 business passengers, 14 VIP lounges, 85 automobiles, 50 bikes, and 30 trucks.

GOVT WORKING ON DEVELOPING ELECTRIC HIGHWAYS: NITIN GADKARI

The government is working on developing electric highways, which will be powered by solar energy, that will facilitate the charging of heavy duty trucks and buses, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said on.

ddressing an event organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Com merce (IACC), Gadkari reiterated that the government wants to develop In dia’s public transport system on elec tricity. “The government is strongly encouraging solar and wind energybased charging mechanisms for elec tric mobility. “We are also working on developing electric highways, which will be powered by solar energy and this will facilitate charging of heavy duty trucks and buses while running,” he said. An electric highway generally refers to a road which supplies power to vehicles travelling on it, including through overhead power lines. Gadkari said that the government is also encouraging toll plazas to be powered by solar energy. The minister said the road ministry has con ducted route optimisation exercises across major corridors and has designed newer alignment. Emphasising that a well de veloped infrastructure enhances economic activities, creates new businesses and promotes job creation, Gadkari said, “We are constructing 26 greenfield expressways.” With the launch of PM Gati Shakti Master Plan, he said projects will get faster clearance and it would cut down logistic costs.

Source: PTI

Source: PTI

Shir. Nitin Gadkari | Minister | Road Transport and Highways of India

The course will provide an overview of the e-mobility eco-system and basic fundamentals in technical areas such as vehicle development, power electronics, battery engineering, thermal management, power trains, and EMI/ EMC, etc.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has launched an e-Mobility course for working professionals. The registration is open till September 30. The course will provide an overview of the e-mobility ecosystem and basic fundamentals in techni cal areas such as vehicle development, power electronics, battery engineering, thermal management, power trains, and EMI/ EMC, etc. The classes for the course will begin on Oc tober 2. In this course, four out of the nine modules will be taught by industry professionals. The certificate program was conceived with inputs from industry experts and would be con tinuously upgraded based on technology trends, market trends and industry needs. The course is being offered by the Centre for Outreach and Digital Education (CODE), IIT Madras. EcoSystem details on global and Indian market trends, technology trends, policy trends and supply chain trends will be taught be fore diving into technical details. IIT Madras director, Professor V Kamakoti said that last year, the college started a dual degree program in EV Engineering, it was purely for BTech students. And, they received enquiries from people in the auto industry for the need to re-skill and up-skill many of their employees as the industry is growing exponentially and the focus is shifting towards Electric Vehicles. Professor Kamakoti said that they are launching the course to address the needs of working pro fessionals across industries and various departments.

NO POWER CRISIS THIS FESTIVE SEASON, ALREADY IMPORTED 20 MT COAL: POWER SECY ALOK KUMAR

India will not face any power crisis during this festival season due to coal shortage as India has already imported 20 MT of coal so far, Power Secre tary Alok Kumar said

India will not face any power crisis during this festival season due to coal shortage at thermal plants as India has already imported 20 Million tonnes (MT) of coal so far, Power Secretary Alok Kumar said. Last year around this time, the country faced power cri sis due to coal shortages at thermal plants. This had prompted the Centre to take a slew of measures to scale up supplies and manage the crisis in 2021. “It (power crisis due to coal shortage) is not going to happen this time (during festival season). We have al ready imported 20 million tonnes of coal so far (this fiscal year) and we have used 15 million tonnes out of this,” Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of the conference ‘INSIGHT2022’ on green mobility. Festival season, especially in North India, will begin with the onset of Navratri in the last week of September 2022. India may import more coal if needed: Secretary When asked whether India will import more coal, he said coal will be imported whenever needed. About any specific plan to import more coal, he said there is always a back-up plan for any un foreseen situation. Kumar also talked about the government’s promotion of electric vehicles and its

charging infrastructure. He said the government would soon redraft Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid and) Elec tric Vehicles Scheme (FAME) to provide subsidy for setting up of upstream infrastructure to firms setting up EV charging infrastructure. He explained that discoms or utilities set up up stream infrastructure like transformers for providing electricity supply to EV charging stations which cost around Rs 5-6 lakh. “We would give subsidy to firms setting up EV charging infra structure to pay the discoms or utilities setting up upstream infrastructure.” Presently the companies setting up EV charing stations are required to pay for this upstream infrastructure.

Source: PTI

Source: psuwatch

JA SOLAR AWARDED HIGHEST AAA RATING IN

PV MODULETECH BANKABILITY RANKINGS

JA Solar has received the highest possible AAA rating on September 13 when PV Tech released its PV ModuleTech Bankability Rankings for the third quarter of 2022. The list saw JA Solar’s leading manufacturing advantages and solid financial position reflected in key indicators such as shipments, capacity layout, technology layout, and financial performance.

ccording to the report, JA Solar is one of the most con sistent A-grade suppliers in terms of all the key metrics for the period 2014 to 2022.

On August 26, JA Solar released its 2022 semi-annual re port, which shows JA Solar’s overseas shipments accounted for 67% in the first half of 2022. In recent years, JA Solar has continued to steadily expand its international reach, with over seas shipments consistently contributing 60% to 70% of total shipments. JA Solar has now established complete industrial chains at home and abroad respectively based on its 12 man ufacturing bases around the world, providing strong capacity support for its shipments to global markets. JA Solar’s global market share reached 14% in 2021. Specifically, its share in established markets continued rising, including Europe at ap proximately 18% and China at approximately 19%; in emerging markets, JA Solar’s share in 2021 scaled to a record high of 46% in Pakistan, 58% in Malaysia and approximately 40% in Israel. Moreover, it has also found new outlets such as Guy ana in South America, Sierra Leone in Africa, Tahiti in Oceania, and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, contributing to steady business development across the globe. As indicated in the PV Modu leTech report, JA Solar will become more competitive in the US market with the advancement of its global production layout.

JA Solar has kept increasing its investment in scientific re search to meet the evolving market demand and promote the technological iteration and upgrade of the industry. As of the first half of 2022, JA Solar had been granted 1,178 pat ents for independent research and development. The average conversion efficiency of its mass-produced Percium cells has reached 23.7% and that of n-type cells has reached 25%. Par ticularly, the Percium-cell-based DeepBlue 3.0 modules have attracted market-wide attention around the globe since the first order was shipped in October 2020. By the end of June 2022, shipment of the product had amounted to 24GW. And it has been applied in key global projects such as the Beijing Feng tai Railway Station rooftop PV project, the rooftop PV project of the UN Compound in Beijing, the world’s largest integrated source-grid-load-storage project in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, and the Uivermeertjes floating PV project in the Netherlands which is the second largest floating PV park outside of Asia. In May 2022, JA Solar launched the n-type cell-based DeepBlue 4.0 X module, which boasts a cell conversion efficiency of 25% and a maximum power of 625W. Compared with mainstream p-type modules, DeepBlue 4.0 X can reduce balance of system (BoS) costs by up to around 2.1% and levelized cost of electric ity (LCOE) costs by 3.5%-5%, which can further increase the profitability of projects and create greater value for customers.

JA Solar’s n-type cell capacity is expected to exceed 27GW by 2023, making it one of the first enterprises to develop n-type cells and put them into production. JA Solar is also promoting

intelligent manufacturing by accelerating digital transforma tion. During the production process, it has achieved meticulous quality control ensuring quality is kept on a short leash through it 24-hour real-time detection and automatic warning system. Taking JA Solar Yiwu manufacturing base as an example, JA Solar realizes digital intelligence during the whole process from planning and production to logistics, enabling “visibility of the 7-day delivery process” of an order and ensuring precise con trol of production efficiency and product quality.

The semi-annual report shows that in the first half of 2022, JA Solar recorded a revenue of RMB28.469 billion, represent ing an increase of 75.81% year on year, and a net profit of RMB1.702 billion attributable to shareholders of the listed com pany, representing an increase of 138.64% over the same pe riod of the previous year, showing an outstanding performance in the growth of operating revenue and net profit. Moreover, the module shipment in the first half of 2022 achieved an in crease of more than 50% (higher than the industry average) over the same period of the previous year. JA Solar has also been widely recognized for its solid performance inside and outside the industry. To date, JA Solar has repeatedly been listed in the Global Top 500 New Energy Enterprises, Fortune China 500, China’s Top 500 Private Enterprises, China’s Top 500 Private Manufacturers, among others, and its rankings continue to climb. AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE GLOBE

CONTINUED HIGH-QUALITY GROWTH WITH A SOUND FINANCIAL POSITION

FAME INDIA PHASE II SCHEME HAS BOOSTED EV OEMS FOR FASTER ADOPTION

Electric mobility in the country has recently received a big boost from the government. The proposal for the implementation of ‘Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase II (FAME India Phase II)’ has approved by The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the development of electric mobility in the country. The scheme of Rs 10,000 crore over the period of three years, was implemented on April 1, 2019.

This scheme is the expanded version of the previous FAME India 1, which was launched on April 1st, 2015, with a total amount of Rs 895 crore. By way of offering incentives upfront on the purchase of elec tric vehicles. FAME India Phase II aims to encourage faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by establishing the neces sary charging infrastructure for EVs, which is very critical if e-mobility wants to take root in the country. The Ministry of Heavy Industries developed a Scheme for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme in 2015 to promote the adoption of electric/ hybrid vehicles (xEVs) in the country. At present, Phase II of FAME India Scheme is being implemented for a period of 5 years which was started from. April 01, 2019, with a total budget of Rs. 10,000 crores. This phase has focussed on supporting the electrification of public & shared transportation and it also aims to support, through subsidies, 7090 e-Buses/5 lakh e-3 Wheelers/55000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars and 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers. 38 original equipment manufacturers of e-2W, e-3W & e- 4W (OEMs) were registered under phase II of FAME-India Scheme till 9th August 2021. Under the scheme of FAME-II, the demand incentive for e-2W has been increased to Rs. 15,000/KWh from Rs. 10,000/KWh with an increase in cap from 20% to almost 40% of the cost of the vehicle to in crease the adoption of e-2W. further, the phase II of FAMEIndia Scheme has been extended for a period of two years after 31st March 2022. A year ago following initiatives had also been taken up by the Government of India for the promotion of electric vehicles in the country – The Government approved on May 12, 2021, a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the manufacturing of Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) in the country in order to bring down prices of battery in the country. The drop in the price of the battery will result in cost reduction of electric vehicles. GST on electric vehicles reduced from 12% to 5%; GST on chargers/ charging stations for electric vehicles has been reduced from 18% to 5%. Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) recently announced that battery-operat ed vehicles will be given green license plates and be spared from permit requirements. A notification was issued by MoRTH advising states to waive road tax on EVs, which in turn will help reduce the initial cost of EVs. The Sum of Rs 10,000 crore has been made for three years till 2022 for FAME 2 scheme. Rs 8,596 crore for incentives has been sanctioned by the cen tre, of which ₹1,000 crores has been marked for setting up charging stations for electric vehicles in India. To be used for commercial purposes The government will offer incentives for electric buses, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers. Those with a sizeable lithium-ion battery, Plug-in hybrid vehicles, and elec tric motors will also be included in the scheme and fiscal sup port offered will depend on the size of the battery. The center will invest more money in setting up charging stations, with the participation of active public sector units and private players. It has also been proposed to provide one fast-charging station and one slow-charging unit for every electric bus for 10 electric buses. Those needed to extend electrification for running ve hicles such as pantograph charging and flash charging will be included for charging infrastructure projects. FAME 2 will also encourage the interlinking of renewable energy. The centre may think to incentivize the purchase of 7,090 electric buses

with a sum of ₹3,545 crores, 35,000 four-wheelers with ₹525 crores, 20,000 hybrids with ₹26 crores, and 500,000 threewheelers with ₹2,500 crores. Manufacturers, who invest in developing electric vehicles and its components, including lithium-ion batteries and electric motors will be offered incen tives by FAME 2. The centre asked states to frame their EV policy and provide, non-fiscal and additional financial incen tives to manufacturers and buyers. Only strong and plug-in hy brids priced under ₹15 lakh, buses priced up to ₹2 crore threewheelers under ₹5 lakh, and two-wheelers under ₹1.5 lakh will be eligible for incentives. On the electric three-wheeler front, the aggregation will be the key method for bringing the upfront cost of electric three-wheelers at an affordable level and at par with ICE three-wheelers.” For this, the ministry mentioned that the state-owned (EESL) Energy Efficiency Services will come out with aggregate demand for 300,000 electric three-wheel ers for multiple user segments. The details will be worked out by Energy Efficiency Services for implementation. Lastly, the Heavy Industry Ministry had detailed for electric buses that cit ies with a 4-million-plus population – Mumbai, Delhi, Hyder abad, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune, and Surat – will be targeted. Energy Efficiency Services will again go for aggregation of demand in these cities for the remaining e-buses on OPEX basis. The details shall be worked out soon by Energy Efficiency Services for implementation The Indian automotive industry has now become the fifth largest in the world and is slated to become the third largest in the next 7-8 years. To address this, federal policymakers are developing a mobility option that is “Connected, Electric, and Shared” and have projected an aim to achieve this target of 100 percent electrification by 2030. India stands to benefit on many fronts, by making the shift towards electric vehicles (EVs). Regardless of the country’s ambitious targets for the coming future, India’s Electric Vehicle space is at a nascent stage. However, after looking at it differently – India to offers the world’s largest un tapped market, especially in the two-wheeler segment. Foreign direct investment is 100 percent allowed in this sector under the automatic route.

MahindraHydrogen

National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), India’s largest um brella organisation for Solar Energy stakeholders and Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Bombay entered into an agreement of collaboration to closely work on strategic energy tran sition technology areas including Solar Manufacturing and Green Hydrogen.

In a move aimed at increasing focus on Industry Academia collaboration in the important area of Renewable Energy this cooperation between NSEFI and the National Centre for Pho tovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE), IIT Bombay will foster the Industry-Academia Collaboration in areas including Energy Innovation, New Applications of RE technologies, Ad vanced Research in Solar PV material and component , appli cations of AI/ML in RE and Green Hydrogen Sector along with Skill Development in Green Energy sector. This cooperation will also aim at development of new India-specific standards in the Renewable energy sector while also focusing on spe cialised training of industry professionals in emerging areas in Solar Energy. In the august presence of Shri Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, Secretary MNRE, Shri Dinesh Jagdale, Joint Sec retary, MNRE, Shri Pranav R Mehta Chairman NSEFI, Shri Ravi Reddy, Director, IndoSol Solar, Chair, NSEFI Manufac turing Committee and Prof Subhasis Chaudhari, Director, IIT Bombay – NSEFI CEO, Subrahmanyam Pulipaka and IIT Bom bay Dean R&D, Prof. Milind D. Atrey, signed this MoU in New Delhi on 13th September,

NSEFI AND NCPRE, IIT BOMBAY ENTER INTO AGREEMENT TO PROMOTE INDIAN INNOVATION IN ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES SOLARIZE HAS INSTALLED A SOLAR POWER PLANT FOR ONE OF THE REPUTED TEXTILE COMPANIES

Solarize has installed a 1765 kWp Ground Mount Solar Power Plant for one of the reputed textile companies, for our privileged customer M/s Yindu Textile Pvt. Ltd. (Spinning Division) based in NTR district, Andhra Pradesh

Solarize has installed a 1765 kWp Ground Mount Solar Power Plant for one of the reputed textile companies, for our privi leged customer M/s Yindu Tex tile Pvt. Ltd. (Spinning Division) based in NTR district, Andhra Pradesh. With this installation, the customer is expected to meet approximately 25% of energy requirements through solar and mitigate approximately 2500 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year. This will enable them to save the cost of electricity and be a part of green energy adaptation towards a sustainable future. The project has been constructed using latest technol ogy #MonoPerc Solar modules, String inverter and the best-inclass BOS for maximum power generation. The project will pay back within 4-5 years and the client will enjoy reduced cost of electricity for next 20 years.

Agreement aims at accelerating Industry Academia Collaboration in emerging energy transition technologies including Solar Manufacturing and Green

TATA POWER SOLAR SYSTEMS LIMITED RECEIVES ‘LETTER OF AWARD’ OF INR 596

CRORE. TO SET UP 125MWP FLOATING SOLAR PROJECT FOR NHDC LIMITED

Tata Power Solar Systems Limited (TPSSL), one of India’s leading solar EPC companies and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited, received the ‘Letter of Award’ (LoA) of ₹596 crore. for setting up a 125MWp floating solar project from NHDC Limited (NHDC).

NHDC, had invited bids early this year for this project at the Omkareshwar reservoir in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. It will be one of the India’s largest floating solar power projects. Tata Power holds 93.94% stake in TPREL. NHDC is a joint ven ture of NHPC Limited and Govern ment of Madhya Pradesh. The LoA was awarded through tariff-based competitive bidding. The project will be commissioned within 13 months from the date of letter of award and will provide sustainable power to M. P. Power Management Company Limited. Speaking on the win, Mr. Ashish Khanna, CEO, Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited said, “This is a significant project for Tata Power Solar and we are honoured to collaborate with NHDC. This partner ship will highlight our working and project execution diversity to promote green energy across sectors. Floating solar projects are the game changer for the renewable industry. This project is a true reflection of our ability to pioneer world-class solar projects within a short period of time.” TPSSL Solar has always been at the forefront, when it comes to the implementation and commissioning of such large-scale solar and renewable proj ects. With this win, the company’s total utility-scale solar proj ect portfolio touches 9.8 GWp. As on date, TPSSL’s total order book stands at ₹14,908 crore.

RENESOLA POWER LAUNCHES INAUGURAL ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) REPORT

ReneSola Ltd (“ReneSola Power” or the “Company”) (NYSE: SOL), a leading fully integrated solar project developer, announced the publication of its inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, which details the Company’s ESG strategy, policies, and initiatives, as well as summarizes the Company’s ESG activities and achievements during the recent years.

“We are pleased to release our first ever ESG report and share our ESG performance with investors and all the stakeholders,” said Mr. Yumin Liu, ReneSola Power Chief Executive Officer “Since our strategic restructuring in 2017, we have transi tioned to a pure downstream player with a focus on solar devel opment projects globally. With our mission of providing clean, low-carbon, sustainable energy solutions that combat climate change, ReneSola Power has been committed to driving a more reliable, efficient, and sustainable future for everyone. Sustainability is an essential part of our strategic thinking, busi ness development, and long-term value creation, so we utilize the report to transparently communicate our thinking and prog ress in ESG with all our investors and stakeholders on an an nual basis.” ReneSola Power’s ESG report is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Global Re porting Initiative (GRI) framework with relevant ESG metrics. The report covers the ESG activities of all ReneSola Power operations across its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut and professional teams in 10 countries.

FEATURED

SHELL PLANS TO INSTALL OVER 10,000 CHARGING POINTS ACROSS INDIA BY 2030

Shell launched its first electric vehicle (EV) chargers in India, for the four-wheeler and two-wheeler segments in Bengaluru. India is the first market for Shell to launch chargers for two-wheelers.

The company plans to set up more than 10,000 charging points across India by 2030 and aims to provide safe, green, and integrated mobility solutions to its custom ers through the Shell Recharge Stations.

The power on the Shell Recharge chargers is 100% green energy In the first phase of its launch, Shell plans to set up charging stations in Bengaluru across its fuel sta tions located in Yeshwantpur, Marathalli, Old Madras Road, Brookefield and Kanakpura. The company has plans to expand its EV charging infrastructure beyond its existing retail markets of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Assam, Andhra Pradesh. Shell will provide customized charg ing solutions at on-the-go locations such as Shell fuel stations, standalone EV hubs, home charging and destination locations. For on-the-go and standalone EV hubs, the company will de ploy 100 kilowatts (KW) and above direct-current (DC) fast chargers to enable fast charging and the lowest possible dwell time. Customers will be able to operate these chargers through the ‘Shell Recharge India app’, available on both Android and iOS operating systems. The app provides a hassle-free, reli able EV charging experience to customers, allowing them to locate the nearest available charger, pick a charging method –by unit, time or by percentage and then make quick payments. Customers can also view their charging status on a real-time basis. Shell has a full product range of hardware solutions for different cases, such as providing capabilities around:

• Simultaneous charging and cable connector configuration strategy – to increase the Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment utilization and improve investment efficiency

• Modular designs enabling capabilities around upgrades

• Reliability and operation excellence ensuring higher uptime

SHELL’S NET-ZERO EMISSIONS TARGET

Shell’s operating plan, outlook and budgets are forecasted for a ten-year period and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next ten years. Accordingly, they reflect our Scope 1, Scope 2 and Net Carbon Footprint (NCF) targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plans can not reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target and 2035 NCF target, as these targets are currently outside our planning pe riod. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emis sions, we expect Shell’s operating plans to reflect this move ment. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.

Commenting on the launch, Varkey, Director, Shell Mobility, India, said, “Being a solution-driven and customer-centric organization, we have developed a world-class of fering for the electric-mobility custom ers drawing upon our global expertise and capabilities. The Shell Re charge proposition is based on unique insights that we picked up in our research and global experience. This enables us to provide safe, green, and integrated mobility solutions to our customers. We are excited to contribute to the electrification of mobility in India by rolling out the Shell Recharge network and look forward to serve the rapidly evolving needs of our customers.”

MODULES USING LARGE WAFERS TO ATTAIN HIGH POWER RATING HAS BECOME COMMON PRACTICE FOR LARGE POWER PLANT APPLICATIONS

Modules with higher power rating are promoted for utility scale projects keep the EPC and BOS costs low. The benefits of high power modules are even more pronounced when using string inverters and trackers.

Bifacial technology is increasingly preferred in utility applications and bringing trackers into the mix is turning out to be even more beneficial.

In this utility section of the report we listed almost 40 products from 11 suppliers covering all advanced module technologies.

Utility is by far the largest branch of PV applications with large-scale installations reaching up to GW-scale. This section of our TaiyangNews Solar Module Innovations 2022 report discusses modules promoted for ground-mount installations. For utility-scale projects, a low module price is the main requirement. The $/W metric has been the key criterion for module selection in the past. However, the segment is slowly but surely adopting the LCOE based $/kWh metric. So while price will always remain in focus, higher module power is what matters overall in terms of technicalities.

There is an industry-wide belief that high module power helps keep the EPC and BOS costs low. But high power alone does not suffice. The benefits of BOS cost reduction can be realized when the voltage of the module is maintained constant while increasing the current of the module so that the string count can be kept in check. In turn, this helps reduce the costs associated with electrical components. The benefits of high power mod ules are even more pronounced when using string invert ers and trackers. Size is another important characteristic of the module when using trackers. Maximum utilization of tracker support area, determined by the module size, is an important aspect that should be taken into account. Bifacial technology, with its ability to increase the power yield, is a technology that is increasingly preferred, and bringing trackers into the mix is turning out to be even more

Ourbeneficial.listingof

modules for utility-scale solar consists of 40 products from 11 suppliers, meeting the aforemen tioned qualification criterion. It can be observed from the listing that the idea of employing larger wafers for increas ing peak power is one that is well received. Both G12 and M10, the two commercially available larger formats, represent the major chunk — 11 and 17, respectively, for a total of 28 products out of 40. This change is quite sig nificant compared to our previous report , which just listed 4 products. Still, this is not a complete representation of the module products for utility-scale PV systems as com panies are choosing to broaden the application spectrum by labeling them ‘utility and C&I’. It is also evident that modules based on smaller wafer sizes are silently fading away, with just 7 products based on M6 and only 4 based on G1 format. With regards to the technology, half cell and MBB are the minimum qualification criterion anyway; but bifacial is one technology that is increasingly preferred in utility applications. As can be seen from the listing, 15 out of 40 products are bifacial, meaning either the modules are exclusively offered as bifacial or the same product is available in both monofacial and bifacial variants with the same power rating. Bifacial variants of most products are also available but usually with 5 W lower power. Those products, however, do not make it to our list since only the most powerful module of a series gets featured.

As for the number of cells, it completely depends on the wafer size. For G12, 132 and 120 half cells are the two main cell counts. The M10 format comes in several configurations such as 156, 144, 132 and 108 half cells. Cell counts of 144 and 120 are common for M6, while LONGi is the only company offering a PERC module in the 132-cell layout. G1 based products from only two companies — Tale sun and Hyundai — qualify for this utility listing. The shingled module from TW Solar appears somewhat special here with a cell count of 408, with each of 68 of the G12 cells is sliced into 6 pieces. In reality, it is a 132-cell equivalent module based on the G12 cell size.

While modules based on high-efficiency cell architectures such as TOPCon were not primarily targeted for utility applications, the trend seems to be changing. We have 8 TOPCon modules from Jolywood, Suntech and Megasol. And Jolywood is leading not just within the TOPCon segment, but the entire ‘utility-only’ listing. The most power ful module in this report, the 700 W 132-cell TOPCon panel based on the 210 mm wafer format from Jolywood, is promoted for power plant type installations. Then, Suntech’s TOPCon module based on M10 with 156 half-cells and a rated power of 620 W is also labeled for utility applications.

Among PERC products, GCL is offering the most powerful and efficient product; a G12 module in a 132 half-cell configuration with a rated power of 675 W and 21.7% efficiency. Following the same configuration, the next powerful modules at 670 W come from four companies — CSI, Suntech, Talesun and Trina. Except Trina, all the above companies also offer G12 based 120-cell modules. Within the M10 format, it is Suntech’s 590 W module that tops the power listing. As we emphasized in our previous report, multicrys talline is on its way out. While the previous edition included two multicrystalline products, they are completely absent from this year’s utility-only section.

Source: taiyangnews

SERENTICA TO LAUNCH RENEWABLE ENERGY PLATFORM IN INDIA

SThe company will specialise in providing end-to-end green solutions to the consumers, including connectivity to the appropriate transmission network using the services of group company Sterlite Power erentica Renewables, owned by Twinstar Overseas Limited, which has controlling stake in Sterlite Power Transmission Limited and Sterlite Technologies Ltd, will launch a renew able energy platform in India that plans to supply round-the-clock carbon-free power to large consumers of energy in India. The new green power company will specialise in pro viding end-to-end green solutions to the con sumers, including connectivity to the appropriate transmission network using the services of group company Sterlite Power Transmission. Vedanta Group company Hindustan Zinc last week announced that it has signed a power delivery agree ment with Serentica Renewables India 4 Pvt Ltd for the deliv ery of renewable power to the company on a long-term basis. Hindustan Zinc has also picked up 26% stake in the Serentica SPV involving an equity infusion of ₹350 crore for getting initial 200 MW of green power. Serentica plans to install 1,500 MW of solar and wind power across multiple sites in Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra where the company has already acquired connectivity approvals. A large part of this capacity will be used to deliver close to 600MW of round-the-clock clean energy to various entities of the Vedanta Group. The invest ment details are still to be worked out by the company. This ca pacity will be commissioned in 24 months, subject to statutory approvals. Besides, Serentica will also participate selectively in government tenders subject to the project having synergies with its overall focus of providing direct green energy solutions to commercial and industrial customers.

“Serentica will offer a new model for meeting the green power needs of commercial and industrial players. This will be done by forming renewable generation special purpose vehicle (SPV) for each customer who will also pick up to 26 per cent stake in the venture. This will then supply large quantity of green power to the consumer under long term power purchase agreement,” said Serentica Renew ables spokesperson Pratik Agarwal in an interview to Mint. He said that in the medium-term, Serentica aims to install 5000 MW of carbon-free generation capacity coupled with different storage technologies. “Eventually, it aims to supply over 15 billion units of clean energy annually and displace 20 million tonnes of CO2 emissions,” Agarwal said. Serentica has already initiated talks with large C&I customers for selling its proposed renewable energy capacity with expectation of striking key deals over the next few months. Agarwal said that Serentica will also look for more investors to join it as partners with both equity and debt so that scaling is completed quickly. Serentica is committed to reversing climate change by decarbonising energy-intensive industries such as steel, cement, aluminium and zinc. Industries account for over 30% of total carbon emissions. In India, most of the electricity demand of industrial consumers is met through thermal sources. We want to take advantage of the best-in-class policy framework rolled out by the Government of India to promote green energy in the C&I (Commercial & Industrial) sector,” said Agarwal.

Though the company will focus on providing round-the-clock power needs of C&I customers, initially, it will meet about 70%of their daily requirements. With proliferation of large stor age technologies, completely round-the -clock would also be provided.

Agarwal said that with bundled service Serentica will ensure that electricity tariff remains attractive. As, govern ment has announced waiver from interstate transmission system charges for solar and wind projects commissioned up to June 30, 2025, projects commissioned over next three years could provide electricity at low rates even to C&I customers. Also, renewable purchase obligation will help green projects. “Now, we are finding that customers are saving a good amount of money compared to buying imported coal in the market or compared to buying even expensive coal in the e-auction or buying RECs. So, when you look at those alternatives, our power is becoming cost effective,” Agarwal said.

ACCELERATING ONSHORE WIND CAPACITY ADDITION IN INDIA TO ACHIEVE THE 2030 TARGET: GWEC

India must revitalise the growth of wind power to achieve the country’s net zero goals.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is publishing Accelerating Onshore Wind Capacity Addition in India to Achieve the 2030 Target, an analysis of India’s current auctions regime, industry perspectives on the policy recommendations to restore wind growth and socioeconomic opportuni ties that lay ahead. India is at the forefront of climate action as one of the top coun tries for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and one which has announced its goal of achieving net-zero by 2070. With over three decades of experience in harnessing wind energy tech nology for power generation, India has already achieved nearly 41 GW of installed onshore wind energy capacity, making it the fourth-largest market for installed wind capacity globally. India has set a target of harnessing 140 GW (out of which 30 GW is offshore wind) installed wind energy capacity by 2030. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has estimated a 17.13% (140GW) share of wind energy in the likely installed capac ity in 2029-2030 to ensure an optimal generation capacity mix (CEA 2020). However, recently annual wind capacity additions have declined, hindering India’s implementation to decarbon ize the power sector, as well as other sectors such as heavy industry and transport. As the share of renewable energy in the grid increases, increasing wind power to meet growing power demand and to meet the demand for ancillary services (flex ibility, responsiveness and balancing) is critical to ensure the reliability of the overall grid system (GWEC and MEC+ 2021).

To meet India’s net-zero and renewable energy targets, and safeguard energy security and self-sufficiency in the course of its clean energy transition, the Government of India must revitalize the growth of wind power. This publication presents in sights into India’s current auctions regime, industry perspectives on the policy thatopportunitiessocioeconomicwinddationsrecommentorestoregrowthandlayahead.

“It is essential for the wind in dustry to have a clear vestmentfacturingmanuincase

based on an expanding Indian market, while building and enhancing partnerships with government agen cies, communities, and commercial & industrial consumers to achieve this goal.” Ben Backwell, CEO, GWEC, said: “The Indian wind sector is facing a series of legacy challenges that have led to drastic slow down in the pace of annual capacity additions. Meanwhile the reverse auction regime has fostered for the wind industry to have a clear manufacturing investment case based on an expanding Indian market, while building

and enhancing partnerships with government agencies, com munities, and commercial & industrial consumers to achieve this goal. “In addition, taking measures to ensure the financial health of project developers and manufacturers, who are facing the double impact of stalling capacity additions as compared to annual targets and price surges across the value chain, is necessary to ensure that the wind industry can play its role in helping India achieving its sustainability and growth ambitions.” “Everyone has to lean in hard to make this historic energy tran sition a success—and success can be the only outcome, as the consequence of a sub-par result in our battle against climate change can be catastrophic”

Sumant Sinha, Chairperson, GWEC India, and CEO of Re New Power said: “India has been a leader in the global energy transition, which has come as a result of unprecedented co ordination between all stakeholders, especially on the growth of wind assets. As India gears up in its fight against climate change and meeting its 2030 and 2070 targets amid an uncertain mac ro-economic environment, wind power remains a critical en abler. These efforts will require increased and more coordinated cooperation between corpo rates, international bod ies, policymakers, lend ers, investors, NGOs, academic institutions, research labs, and in novators, as well as im pacted andsitionhistoricinEveryonecommunities.hastoleanhardtomakethisenergytranasuccess—successcanbethe

only outcome, as the consequence of a sub-par result in our battle against climate change can be catastrophic.”

Source:

GOVT TO COME UP WITH PLI FOR GRID-LEVEL ENERGY STORAGE

The bid for 1,000 MW storage project invited by the government earlier has been finalized

Centre will soon launch a production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for grid-level re newable energy storage, said union power minister R.K. Singh said. Grid-level energy storage refers to a large-scale energy stor age. Speaking at an event organized by US-India Business Council, the minister also informed that the bid for 1,000 MW storage project invited by the government earlier has been final ized. Noting that the bids received by the government were expen sive, he said that increasing the volumes of storage would lower the prices. “The only way to bring down the cost of storage is to start manufacturing here and to add volume and that’s what I am going to do. The bid…PLI, which I will come up with will be only be for grid level storage,” he said. Singh, further said that lithium ion batteries would not be preferred for the grid level storage and other chemistries would be looked into. vIn the renewable energy space, government has earlier come up with PLIs for solar PV modules and advanced chemistry cells. Singh, who is the also the minister for new and renewable energy, said that the government will come up with bids for green hydrogen and green ammonia. On the offshore wind bids, he said that tenders would be out in the next two-three weeks. The stress on renewable energy sources for power have gained momentum after the government commit ted to achieve 500 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030. The minister exuded con that India would achieve the target energy from non-fossil sources

the 2030 target and may go on to achieve 65% non-fossil en ergy by 2030. India has a capacity of 168 GW capacity from non-fossil fuel sources, he added. “We will achieve 50% well before 2030.” He also said that India’s per capita emissions are among the lowest in the world. “If you look at the total carbon load which accounts for global warming, our contribution to the total CO2 load till date is just 3.4 per cent and our population is 17.7 per cent. Despite all this we decided that our environment is important and set ourselves huge targets. We committed ac cordingly in COP21 in Paris, that in 2030, 40% of our capacity will come from non-fossil fuels and I am happy to tell you that we have reached 41.5 per cent of that 9 years in advance.” Another target for the government is to to reduce the emission intensity of our economy by 33-35% by 2030, Singh said. “I am happy to inform you that we have reduced the Singh

hydrogen space, Singh ernment committed to green hydrogen hub in said that cost of green tion are competitive in

nesses to invest in able energy space,

Addressing event message, Jennifer stressed on the need US partnership in sition. India and the lead the world in the

energy sources, she

GWANGJU INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHERS PAVE THE WAY

FOR LARGE-SCALE, EFFICIENT ORGANIC SOLAR CELLS WITH WATER TREATMENT

Using water for morphology control of active layer thin films, researchers develop large-area, high-performance organic solar cells

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are attrac tive owing to their lightweight, flexibility, and high power conversion efficiency. However, a lack of morphology control of the active layer makes it challenging to develop OSCs with large active ar eas. Now, researchers from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Korea take things to the next level by using water treatment for morphology control in the fabrication of active layer thin films, improving the performance and stabil ity of large-area OSCs. Organic solar cells (OSCs), which use organic polymers to convert sunlight into electricity, have re ceived considerable attention in recent times for their desirable properties as next-generation energy sources. These include lightweight, flexibility, scalability, and a high power conver sion efficiency (>19%). Currently, several strategies exist for enhancing the performance and stability of OSCs. However, a problem that lingers on is the difficulty of controlling the mor phology of the active layer in OSCs when scaling up to large areas. This makes it challenging to obtain high-quality active layer thin films and, in turn, fine-tune the device efficiency. In a recent study, a team of researchers from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Korea set out to address this is sue. In their work, published in Advanced Functional Materials, they suggested a solution that appears rather counterintuitive at first glance: using water treatment to control the active layer morphology. “Water is known to hinder the performance of or ganic electronic devices, since it remains in the ‘trap states’ of the organic material, blocking the charge flow and degrading the device performance. However, we figured that using wa ter rather than an organic solvent-based active solution as a medium of treatment method would enable necessary physical

changes without causing chemical reactions,” explains Pro fessor Dong-Yu Kim, who headed the study. The researchers chose the polymers PTB7-Th and PM6 as donor materials and PC61BM and EH-IDTBR and Y6 as acceptor materials for the active layer. They noticed that inducing a vortex to mix the do nor and acceptor materials in the active solution could lead to a well-mixed active solution, yet it was not enough on its own. The active solution was hydrophobic and, accordingly, the re searchers decided to use deionized (DI) water and vortices to stir the solution. They let the donor and acceptor materials sit in chlorobenzene (host active solution) overnight, and then added DI water in the solution and stirred it, creating tiny vor tices. Due to the hydrophobic nature of the solution, the water pushed on the donor and acceptor molecules, causing them to dissolve more finely into the solution. They then let the solution rest, which caused the water to separate from the solution. This water was then removed and the water-treated active solution was used to prepare thin films of PTB7-Th: PC61BM (F, fuller ene), PTB7-Th: EH-IDTBR (NF, fullerene), and PM6: Y6 (H-NF, high-efficiency non-fullerene). The researchers then examined the photovoltaic performance of these thin films in a slot-diecoated inverted OSC configuration and compared them with those for OSCs without water treatment. “We observed that the water-treated active solution led to a more uniform active layer thin films, which showed higher power conversion efficiencies compared to those not treated with water. Moreover, we fabri cated large-area OSC modules with an active area of 10 cm2, which showed a conversion efficiency as high as 11.92% for water-treated H-NF films,” highlights Prof Kim. Overall, this study provides a guideline for developing large-scale, efficient OSCs using a remarkably easy, economical, and eco-friendly method, which can open doors to their realization and com mercialization.

Source: which

THE AFFORDABLE ELECTRIC VEHICLE IS STILL MOSTLY FANTASY

With battery supplies tight and customers eager, car companies are only cranking out expensive EVs. Jack Norton, a history professor in Minneapolis, started shopping for an electric vehicle early last year. His requirements were simple: all-wheel drive and a price tag under $55,000.

At first, Norton noticed that few EVs were being shipped to Minnesota, where car companies are contending with looser emissions mandates than in much of the US. So he expanded his search to other states — and then came the sticker shock. The scant elec tric models Norton could track down at dealerships were only available in top trims and for amounts far above the starting prices he’d seen in ads and product launch presentations.Muchhasbeen

The pragmatic Chevrolet Bolt — purportedly the most affordable EV in the US at $26,595 — was selling for almost one-third more this summer, at $34,874 on average.

“You know what vaporware is — when someone advertises some great new software that doesn’t actually exist?” he asks. “That’s what’s happening in EVs.”

written about unctuous car salesmen adding “market-adjustment” fees to capitalize on the current supply-demand imbalance of vehicles. But while that’s certainly an issue, most electric machines are getting pushed up to luxury-car levels far earlier — before even leaving the factory. In July, the average US start ing price for a battery-powered vehicle — the figure shown in car commercials and marketing materials — was $47,636. The average sticker price for EVs that were actually made and shipped to dealerships, however, was $61,251, almost one-third higher, according to Edmunds. It’s not that auto companies don’t have affordable electric cars; it’s just that they aren’t making them, choosing in stead to crank out more lavish (and profitable) versions.

STICKER SHOCK

John Fitzgerald Weaver, who lives in Boston and builds commercial solar farms, had to sch lep to Long Island to find a Hyundai Ioniq 5 without all-wheel drive — the only variant less than $47,500. “When I saw they had it, I was like ‘Sweet, I’ll buy this today,’” he says. No matter that the car came with an extra $1,000 fee, and wouldn’t arrive for more than a month. Of course, there are sound economics behind all this. Arguably for the first time ever, the companies making and selling cars have more demand than supply, according to Edmunds an alyst Ivan Drury. Increasing supply takes time, particularly with a new technology like electric drivetrains, and car companies are rushing to add assembly lines and source batteries. In the meantime, they’re pushing prices up. Exacer bating that dynamic is the fact that so many of the current parade of EVs are brand new. In the months after a new vehicle debuts — gas-pow ered or electric — companies tend to prioritize fancier versions with cutting-edge features, in part because early customers are the most eager and spendthrift.

EVs for sale in July had prices far higher than their starting “base” levels, on average almost one-third higher.

The largest gaps between the promised starting price and available inventory are evident in the most popular models. Kia’s EV6, a hot seller of late, had an average sticker price of almost $54,200 in July, 32% above the starting price Kia has crowed about since launching thecar.Most

Perhaps nowhere is this tension more clear than at Ford Motor’s Rouge complex just west of De troit, where the company cranks out both gas F-150 pickups and the battery-powered version dubbed Lightning. Ford hopes to have the capacity to make 150,000 Lightnings a year by the end of 2023, but for now is putting out roughly four or five times as many gas-powered F-150s. While the Lightning can in theory be had for just shy of $40,000, in July it sold for more than double that amount, on average. Ford said via email that the cheaper “pro” version of the electric pickup has been limited to one in five trucks on the assembly line as it hustles to chip away at an overflowing order book. General Motors, mean while, pushed the affordable-EV narrative again this month, unveiling an electric version of its Chevrolet Equinox SUV that it says will start selling for as little as $30,000. “To get to a high volume of EVs you have to reach the mainstream market,” CEO Mary Barra told Bloomberg Television. Drury at Edmunds thinks it will be at least two years before a critical mass of battery-powered cars sell at that price point. “Under $30,000, that’s the dream,” he says, “but it seems borderline impossible.”

Source: bloomberg

SINENG AND PNS LAUNCH NEW GENERATION OF STRING INVERTERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Sineng Electric has decided to partner with Power n Sun for its portfolio of string PV inverters in the South Africa market.

Recently,Sineng launched their new generation se ries of three-phase string inverters of varying fo cused on the commercial and industrial segment of South Africa market. The rated capacities of the string inverters launched are 50kW, 120kW, 250kW and 275kW. This partnership is expected to gain a significant foothold in South Africa due to cutting edge tech-nology of Sineng’s inverter products and robust after-sales service, cou pled with Power n Sun’s strong market focus and knowledge expertise to penetrate the local market. Both Sineng and Power n Sun showcased the inverter models at the recently concluded The Solar Show Africa 2022 in Johannesburg and received a tremendous response from the visitors. The special features which received particular attention from customers were the compact design, 12 MPPTs and high current input and output. Sineng is one of the largest manufacturers of high-power in verter solutions worldwide.

“The Solar Show Africa has confirmed our belief that South Africa market will continue to grow ex-ponentially for both C&I and utility sector. South Africa is a key market for us.” Sineng said “Along with Power n Sun, we are con fident that we will achieve significant success and ensure our cus-tomers receive unparalleled service and support in South Africa for our PV inverter products.”