SAUR ENERGY I N T E R N A T I O N A L EDITOR
MANAS NANDI Editorial@saurenergy.com
SR. VP MARKETING & SALES PRATEEK KAPOOR Prateek@saurenergy.com
Sr. JOURNALIST
SANTANU MUKHERJEE santanu@saurenergy.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
NILOY BANERJEE niloy@saurenergy.com
TECHNICAL EDITOR
Editorial... E
BIKRAM SINGH NEGI bikram@saurenergy.com
FEATURE SPECIALIST LAIQUE KHAN laique@saurenergy.com
MANAGER MARKETING HEMANT ARORA hemant@saurenergy.com
DESIGN HEAD
ABHISHEK GUPTA
A Year Closer to the Solar Dream Happy New Year!
The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals as a set goal of 100 GW is already stands in front of us. What do we need to achieve this target in the stipulated time?
WEB DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Perplexed with these questions it gives me an engrossment and profound thought
WEB PRODUCTION
towards the sector driven by adequate land, cell, modules, inverters, structures,
SUBSCRIPTIONS
modules tormented me. As of 30 June 2016 we have a total installed capacity
JITENDER KUMAR
BALVINDER SINGH
S.RADHIKA subscription@saurenergy.com Saur Energy International is printed, published, edited and owned by Manas Nandi and published from 303, 2nd floor, Neelkanth Palace, Plot No- 190, Sant Nagar, East of Kailash, New Delhi- 110065 (INDIA), Printed at Pearl Printers, C-105, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi. Editor, Publisher, Printer and Owner make every effort to ensure high quality and accuracy of the content published. However he cannot accept any responsibility for any effects from errors or omissions. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Editor and publisher. The information in the content and advertisement published in the magazine are just for reference of the readers. However, readers are cautioned to make inquiries and take their decision on purchase or investment after consulting experts on the subject. Saur Energy International holds no responsibility for any decision taken by readers on the basis of the information provided herein. Any unauthorised reproduction of Saur Energy International magazine content is strictly forbidden. Subject to Delhi Jurisdiction. SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
on the game plan to achieve this target. The Government has sheer commitment cables, manpower and we have it all. But our domestic production of cells and of 1468 MW Cell manufacturing in India and only 1123.05 MW operational out of that. In modules we have total installed capacity of 5848 MW manufacturing in India and only 4307.55 MW is operational. We need a serious deliberation on our manufacturing capacities for modules and cells. In this issue we have endured to collate all we need to be a SOLARIZED NATION, from the Green ambition of India, Policies needed to achieve the same, year wise targets and much more inside that. Also we had an opportunity to peek in to teamtechnik’s office and understand the role of robotics & automation in module production process. India needs this kind of automation to achieve the capacities we dream of. Also we have voiced the less talked Inverter segment in great details with both Indian and global scenario in our Shout-Out section. Another very important aspect of any Solar PV system is cables which has not received its due share of attention. DC cabling is a very sensitive aspect which needs great attention. In this issue we have come out with a comprehensive story on PV cabling. There’s lot more reports and products inside to keep you hooked. Happy reading!
ManasNandi manas@saurenergy.com
CONTENTS 08
NATIONAL NEWS
- Oil India Limited inaugurates 40kW solar plant for eco-tourism project - Launch scheme to provide jobs through solar project: Parliamentary Panel - World Bank Study has pegged India’s Energy Efficiency Market at Rs. 1.6 Lakh Crores: Piyush Goyal - West Bengal Electricity Utility installs Smart Meters to Curb Power Theft - Indian Government sanctions Rs 30 crore for solar cities programme - MNRE launches Online Training Program for Solar PV Design
UDAY OF
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'SOLARIZED NATION'
LESS TALKED INVERTERS IN INDIAN MW PROJECTS 32 06
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SOLAR CABLES THE CRITICAL 48 METAL MESH
REPORTAGE ON 22 ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION WITH TEAMTECHNIK INTERNATIONAL NEWS - D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments
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acquires and commences Construction of 52 MW Solar Farm in Mississippi - Sungrow’s Testing Center Approved to Participate in UL’s Witness Testing Data Program - Envision Solar to Supply 12 Solar Tree Systems for an Illinois County Court System
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GURU INDER MOHAN SINGH
Director & COO, Amplus Solar MARKET RESEARCH
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- Solar Water Pumping System Market in India to Grow at a CAGR of 18%: Research and Markets - String Inverter Market to Reach $3 Billion by 2021: Research and Markets - Solar Imports in India Grew by 47 % In the First Half of FY 2016-17: Mercom Capital - Infrastructure Delays Affecting Large-Scale Solar Project Development in India: Mercom Capital
INNOVATIONS
56
- Simple Processing Technique Could Cut
ANDREW HINES
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Business Development Head - South India, CleanMax Solar
Cost of Organic PV and Wearable Electronics - Ultrathin protective layer brings quite a bit more stability to perovskite solar cell - Game changer for organic solar cells VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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NATIONAL NEWS RINL Commissions 5MW Grid-Connected Solar at Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant premises in Vizag
The corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) has commissioned 5 MW of grid-connected solar at the Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant premises in Vizag reports Marcom Capital. The research firm notes that the projects were developed on a Build Own Operate (BOO) basis at a cost of about Rs.330 million ($4.86 million). A RINL official speaking to the firm said Jakson Engineers had won the EPC contract to set up the project, the solar projects are expected to achieve a net minimum guaranteed power generation of 8,000 MWh at the end of first year.
Rajasthan Government Exempts Electricity Duty for Rooftop Solar
To encourage the investments in renewable energy projects, the state government of Rajasthan
Oil India Limited inaugurates 40kW Solar Plant for Eco-tourism Project PSU energy firm Oil India has inaugurated a 40 kW solar power plant, which will supply electricity to an ecotourism project in Dibrugarh district. Utpal Bora, Chairman and Managing Director, Oil India Limited, inaugurated the 40 kW solar power plant in Sasoni Merbeel Eco-Tourism Project, which has been provided by OIL under the company's CSR initiatives. OIL had sanctioned a financial package of Rs one crore, which included assistance to the solar power plant, 13 pedal boats, a four-wheeler, two ecofriendly green vehicles, construction of jetty and a bio digester plant for sewage disposal Complementing Sasoni Merbeel Eco Tourism Development Committee for its efforts in conservation of the Merbeel, Bora said that OIL was always committed to such meaningful environment preservation and community development initiatives. The Sasoni Merbeel Eco Tourism Project is located in the heart of the operational area of OIL, around 20 kms from its field headquarter at Duliajan in Dibrugarh.
Launch Scheme to Provide Jobs Through Solar Project: Parliamentary Panel A Parliamentary panel has asked the government to launch a scheme to set up solar power projects through qualified unemployed or under-employed youth, as
has exempted electricity duty of
assured by it on the floor of the House.
40 paise/unit for rooftop solar and
"The implementation of the Assurance given in reply to
captive units. The decision will help the state to reach closer to 2300 MW rooftop solar capacity by 2022, a target given to it by the Centre. The duty cut is expected to have a positive impact on the new capacity lined up. Recently, Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RREC) issued rate contract order for 25 MW rooftop plants and empanelled companies to design, supply and install these projects.
unstarred question 1778 on March 5, 2015 regarding solar projects is of paramount importance for augmenting energy generating capacity and empowering educated unemployed youths in the country," said a Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances in its report tabled in Lok Sabha. The panel chaired by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said, "By implementing the assurance, a new promising scheme with the above dual purpose will be launched which has the potential to be game changer in the country’s energy scenario and self-employment sector." As a matter of concern, not much progress has been made in the finalization of this laudable scheme even though a period of more than one year has elapsed since the assurance was given on the floor of the House. "The committee would like the Ministry (of New and Renewable) to realize the importance of the scheme and step up their efforts and the level of coordination with all the stakeholders including states and finalize and launch the scheme without further delay so as to fulfill the assurance and derive maximum benefit from the scheme."
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Annual maintenance contractors Installers / EPC companies Inverters Manufacturers of solar cells Materials and equipment Module connectors Monitor, Mounting Systems, Trackers Photovoltaic (PV) modules Project consultants Smart Grid Technologies
Solar cell manufacturers Solar consumer and commercial products Solar energy storage Solar LED’s Solar park developers Solar street and billboard lighting systems Solar water heating, cooling systems and solar pumps Suppliers of raw materials System integrators and assemblers Turnkey solution providers, etc.
NATIONAL NEWS Indian Government Sanctions Rs 30 crore for Solar Cities Programme Funds worth over Rs 30 crore have been sanctioned to 21 states and union territories under the solar cities development programme.These funds were sanctioned during the last three years till November 30 this year. Out of the total sanctioned amount of Rs 30.36 crore under the 'Development of Solar Cities Programme' for 21 states and union territories, around Rs 12.98 crore have been released, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal told the Lok Sabha. In a written reply, he said 60 places have been included in the solar cities programme. It includes Gaya (Bihar), Mysore (Karnataka), Kochi (Kerala), Pune (Maharashtra), Panaji City (Goa), Howrah (West Bengal), Imphal (Manipur), Aizawl (Mizoram), Kohima (Nagaland), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh). India Will be Among the Largest Installations of Renewable Energy by 2022: Piyush Goyal Asserting that the present generation has the duty to leave behind a better place to live in for the next generation, Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal stated that by 2022, India will be one of the largest installations of renewable energy in world. Under its plan, the government is also committed to set up solar plant of one lakh megawatt to meet its security needs. Goyal also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed towards ramping up renewable energy.
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World Bank Study has Pegged India’s Energy Efficiency Market at Rs. 1.6 Lakh Crores: Piyush Goyal Union Minister for State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal in a written reply in Lok Sabha said that a World Bank study has pegged India’s Energy Efficiency Market at Rs. 1.6 Lakh Crores. World Bank’s study titled, ‘Utility Scale DSM Opportunities and Business Models in India’, notes that the renewed Demand Side Management (DSM) market potential is estimated to be 178 billion kWh of energy savings per annum. Goyal said that this figure roughly translates into 18-20 percent of the current levels of all India annual electricity consumption and 150 million tonnes of annual CO2 emissions reduction potential. Further, the Minister informed that the study has placed 5 States, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Kerala, in terms of their overall energy efficiency implementation readiness. The Ministry of Power has fixed energy savings targets for XII Plan period (2012-17) as 60.5 BU (billion units) through various energy efficiency interventions.
Vikram Solar appoints Nimish Jain as Head of Global Module Sales Vikram Solar has announced the appointment of its new Head of Global Module SalesNimish Jain. In the given role, Nimish would be responsible for driving sales in both domestic and international markets. He would also supervise the accomplishments of targets and P&L of the year, along with recruiting and managing the sales team. Talking about Nimish’s expertise and expressing his optimism for the days to come, Ivan Saha,
President and CTO, Vikram Solar said, “As we
enter into the next phase of our growth, Nimish’s appointment is anticipated to bring in a fresh perspective to our sales operations and our overall growth strategy. He is a result driven professional with proven success in P&L, Business Management, sales, marketing, strategic planning and International Business. We hope this association is a lasting one and is conducive not only for the growth of the company, but also helps him grow personally.”
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West Bengal Electricity Utility installs Smart Meters to Curb Power Theft In a bid to cut down power theft, the state power department has started installing smart metres for West Bengal Power Distribution Co Ltd. "We have set up a target to install such metres for 1.7 crore consumers. New connections are being given through smart metres," state Power Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said on the sidelines of 31st Indian Engineering Congress organised by The Institution of Engineers. The minister said rampant hooking and pilferage has been a matter of concern in recent times. The technology will be smart so that any hooking or pilferage can be monitored directly from a centralised server. According to Chattopadhyay these smart metres will also contribute in bringing down pollution. "Our government's aim is to ensure uninterrupted supply of good quality power with less pollution. For this, we are also focussing on the use of solar power."
NATIONAL NEWS Nagpur Municipal Corporation open Solar Power-lit City’s Biggest Hall The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is reportedly gearing up to open city’s biggest hall, Suresh Bhat Auditorium illuminated by solar power soon. The auditorium has a seating capacity of 2000. The standing committee headed by Sudhir Raut approved the proposal to set up solar power plant for the auditorium at a cost of Rs. 1.18 crore. The project took almost six years due to delay in construction, but now 90% works of the auditorium are complete. Private firm, Sadique and Company is setting up the system under the state gover-
Germany to provide India 1 billion Euro soft loan for 'Green Energy Corridors': Piyush Goyal Piyush Goyal has informed Lok Sabha that in order to facilitate integration of large scale renewable generation capacity addition, a comprehensive scheme including Intra-State and Inter-State transmission system has been identified as a part of ‘Green Energy Corridors’. Intra-State Transmission System is being implemented by respective State Transmission Utilities (STU) and Inter-State Transmission System is being implemented by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL). The Minister also said that KfW Germany is providing soft loan to the tune of 1 billion Euro for the funding of green energy corridors in both intra and inter State transmission projects, under the framework of cooperation between Govt. of India and Govt. of Germany. Intra State transmission schemes under Green Energy Corridors (GEC) are to be funded as 20% equity of the State Govt., 40% grant from National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) and 40% soft loan, whereas, the inter State transmission schemes are to be funded as 30% equity by PGCIL and 70% as soft loan.
Suzlon Partners with AMP Solar for 15 MW Solar Project in Telangana
nment’s new metering scheme;
Suzlon Group has partnered with AMP Solar for the
it will have an installed capacity
development and construction of a 15 MW Solar
to generate 200 kw/hour.
PV Project located at Achampet, Mahaboobnagar
Union Cabinet approves International Solar Alliance (ISA): Signing of the Framework Agreement
District, Telangana.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by
Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set-up
the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra
by Suzlon for executing this project. AMP Solar
Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the proposal of Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) for ratification of ISA’s Framework Agreement by India. ISA was launched jointly by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France on 30th November, 2015 at Paris on the side-lines of the 21st CoP meeting. The ISA will strive to bring together more than 121 solar resource rich nations for coordinated research, low cost financing and rapid deployment.
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Under agreement signed between Suzlon Group and the AMP Solar on December 21, 2016, the AMP Solar shall acquire a 49% stake in Rudra Solarfarms
has the option to acquire the balance of the 51% stake in the SPV in the future in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations. The off-taker of the SPV project will be the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL). Suzlon will be responsible for project commissioning and to provide comprehensive operation and
Fitch assigns BBB- to IREDA’s issuer Default Ratings
Fitch Ratings has assigned BBB- to long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings on Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency with a stable outlook. "Fitch Ratings has assigned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of BBB- and short-term IDR of F3. The outlook is stable," it said in a statement. IREDAs ratings are equalized with those of the government. This reflects its strong strategic importance,
maintenance services for a period of 25 years.
given the governments control through 100
The project is expected to be commissioned
per cent stake and the fact that 52 per cent of
in the financial year 2017 (FY17). Suzlon won
the debt is guaranteed by the government, it
solar projects of 210 MW in Telangana through
added. This means there is a strong likelihood
a competitive bidding process and the PPAs for
of IREDA getting extraordinary state support,
the same were signed in February, 2016. These
if needed. Therefore, Fitch classifies it as a
include one project of 100 MW, one of 50 MW and four projects of 15 MW each.
credit-linked public entity. The stable outlook
SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
is in line with that on the sovereign.
NATIONAL NEWS
HAL Airport Installs 3.5MW Single-Axis Solar Project To harness solar energy, a 3.5MW solar power project has been installed by HAL at its Airport in Bengaluru. The solar power project that spread across 23 acres with 12,985 solar modules was inaugurated by T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL on Friday. “We are pleased to be a part of this environment friendly initiative by focusing on renewable energy to meet our demand for electricity. It is perfect example of promoting climate protection and conserving precious energy resources. The project enables us to use solar power and cut down our dependency on normal electricity”, said T. Suvarna Raju. He added “The power requirement of LCA-Tejas Division would be met to begin with.” The project is commissioned by the Amplus Energy Solutions. Speaking on the occasion, Sanjeev Aggarwal, Managing Director & CEO, AES, commended HAL’s decision to install a significant renewable energy capacity for its power consumption in Bengaluru. The project is unique as this is the first single-axis tracker based solar installation at an airport in India. In addition to cost savings, a 3,900 kWp solar facility would reduce emissions by 1,66,257 MT of CO2 over the life of the plant, which has the same effect on CO2 emissions as reducing consumption of 3,84,921 barrels of crude oil or planting 1,90,903 trees, he said. The project complies with domestic content requirement (DCR) since the modules used in this project are manufactured in India. The Amplus had won this project in a competitive bidding under developer mode where for the first time the VGF (Viability Gap funding) was negative. As part of its commitment given to the Government, HAL is in the process of establishing 50MW capacity renewable energy in next two years. The Company plans to install 35.8 MW capacity solar plants. Out of this, 9.275 MW will be from roof-top solar systems. Approximately 15 MW capacity will be from wind power plants. In July this year, HAL had taken a lead in commissioning 6.3 MW wind power plant at Harapanahalli in Davangere district of Karnataka to meet the Company’s captive power needs in Bengaluru. HAL in a statement said that it is also evaluating the proposal for setting up 150MW capacity solar power plants in partnership with BEL and MDL. The plants will be set up in the land owned by
Telangana Aims at Top Spot in Solar Power Generation State Power Minister G Jagadish Reddy has said that Telangana stands at second rank in solar power generation, and is expected to reach the top spot in another six months. In his reply to a query in the Legislative Assembly, G Jagadish Reddy mentioned that the state is producing 1000 MW solar power at present and tenders have been floated for another 2000 MW solar power generation. Plans have been prepared to give solar power to farming community, he added.
Ranthambore Forest Department installs solar panels at check posts Forest department in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR) has installed solar lighting systems and solar powered pumps in
Ordnance Factories across India. The power produced will be sold to respective Ordnance Factories.
check-posts located in remote
MNRE launches Online Training Program for Solar PV Design
to forest guards. 5 check-posts
The New and Renewable Energy Ministry has developed an online training programme under public-private partnership for design, installation and maintenance of solar photovoltaics (PV) to meet the manpower requirements of the booming solar industry. The skilling online programme has been developed by the National Institute of Wind Energy in association with Iacharya Silicon Ltd, Chennai. The course is currently being offered in Hindi and English and is priced at Rs 599. The programme is designed as a two-week course and covers various aspects of solar PV feasibility studies, basics of design, installation, operation and maintenance of solar power plants. The course will be delivered online in a combination of lecture, video formats, Powerpoint, multimedia and other design exercises, case studies and virtual onsite installation videos.
areas to provide basic amenities in RTR have been equipped with solar panels and 14 check-posts that had borewells, have been replaced with solar powered pumps. Solar panels installed with the capacity of 1 KW system can run five LED lights and two ceiling fans at each check-post. Three check-posts in Keladevi have also been provided with 5 HP submersible solar water pumps. Solar power facility was also installed at 14 check-posts in Keladevi.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS 8point3 Energy Partners Declares 3.5 Percent Increase in Quarterly Distribution
8point3 Energy Partners announces that the Board of Directors of its general partner declared a cash distribution for its Class A shares of $0.2490 per share for the fourth quarter of 2016. This represents an increase of approximately 18.7 percent over the minimum quarterly distribution and an increase of 3.5 percent over the previous quarter's distribution of $0.2406 per share.
Etrion Completes Balance of Sale of Italian Solar Portfolio to EF Solare Italia
Etrion Corporation has completed phase two of the previously disclosed sale of its Italian solar portfolio to EF Solare Italia, a joint venture owned equally by Enel Green Power S.p.A. and Fondo Italiano per le Infrastrutture "F2i". EF Solare Italia has purchased Helios Ita , which owns 6.4 MW of Etrion's total portfolio in Italy, for cash consideration of Euro 5.3 million and the assumption of related project-level debt of Euro 23 million. This successfully completes the Company's disposition of its Italian portfolio.
GameChange 28MW Tracker Installing With First Solar Modules
GameChange Solar announced that a 28MW Genius Tracker single axis tracker system utilizing approximately 250,000 First Solar Series 4 Modules is about to complete installation in the western United States. The Genius Tracker single axis tracker supports all thin film and silicon modules.
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Trina Solar Hits New Efficiency Record of 22.61% for Mono-Crystalline Silicon PERC Cell Trina Solar Limited has announced that its State Key Laboratory of PV Science and Technology of China has set a new world conversion efficiency record of 22.61% for a high-efficiency p-type mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell. The solar cell was fabricated on a large-sized boron-doped Cz-Si substrate with a low-cost industrial process of advanced PERC (Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell) technology that integrates back surface passivation, front surface advanced passivation and anti-LID (Light Induced Degradation) technologies. The 243.23 cm2 solar cell reached a total-area efficiency of 22.61%. This result has been independently confirmed by the Fraunhofer ISE CalLab in Germany. Trina Solar achieved a world conversion efficiency record of 21.40% for a large-area PERC monocrystalline p-type solar cell in 2014, and the Company subsequently beat this with a 22.13% efficiency record in 2015. Now the company announced that it has broken its previous efficiency record by about a half percentage point.
Canadian Solar Secures USD 62.8 million Refinancing for 50 Megawatts Solar Power Projects Canadian Solar has secured GBP 49.3 million (US$62.8 million) non-recourse term loan facilities to refinance a portfolio of 10 solar power plants, with total capacity of 50 megawatts in the United Kingdom. National Westminster Bank (NatWest), a subsidiary of RBS Group, is providing the 18.7year term facility. Part of the proceeds will be used to repay a construction loan of GBP 28.1 million (US$35.8 million). "We are pleased to be working with NatWest, a leading UK bank, to finance our portfolio of 50 MW of solar power projects in the UK. This transaction demonstrates yet again the quality and bankability of our solar power projects" said Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. "We are proud to cooperate with NatWest to promote the adoption of environment-friendly solar energy in the UK to help mitigate climate change."
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EDF EN Canada’s Vulcan Solar Project Receives Alberta Utilities Commission Approval EDF EN Canada a subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles Group, announced the approval by the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) to construct and operate the Vulcan Solar Hybrid Energy Centre (Vulcan Solar Project). The proposed 77.5 megawatt (MWAC) solar photovoltaic (PV) facility is located in Vulcan County near the Village of Carmangay. Approval is granted subject to provisions by the Hydro and Electric Energy Act and the Alberta Utilities Commission Act. The Vulcan Solar Project represents the largest development of a utility-scale solar project in Alberta and Western Canada. Once operational Vulcan Solar’s 300,000 ground-mounted solar PV panels will offset over 85,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. The power will be sold into the Alberta Power Pool, energizing more than 12,000 homes and businesses across Alberta, while employing more than 270 workers during the peak of construction. Vulcan Solar can be ready for construction in Spring 2017.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Mondragon Assembly Introduces New MTS 2500 Tabber and MTS 5000 lay-up Machine Mondragon Assembly has introduced its new MTS 2500 tabber and MTS 5000 lay-up machine. The new MTS 2500 is an evolutionary leap in the concept of Tabber Stringer machines. The design of Mondragon Assembly allows a net production capacity of 2400 cells per hour in a single welding track, making it the fastest in the market. This tab-ber allows the interconnection of cells up to 8 BB as well as the welding of half cells. In addition to its production capacity, it is also notable for its size, as it only requires 7.5 m2. It thus allows the installation of high-production lines in smaller areas. With a rupture rate lower than 0.2%, this machine does not require major adjustments or maintenance. Its user-friendly interface allows the operator to interact with it easily. The new MTS 5000 lay-up machine incorporates two MTS 2500 tabber stringer units, achieving a production capacity of 4800 cells per hour, which means an annual capacity of 180 Mw.
SPI Energy acquires 50% equity interest in two solar projects from Japan-based EastAsia Group SPI Energy has acquired 50% equity interest in two solar projects currently under construction with combined capacity of 3.98 MW, from Japan-based EastAsia Group. The Projects are located approximately 50 kilometers east of Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture and each with capacity of 1.99 MW, are currently under construction. The Projects are under certain power purchase agreement with Tokyo Electric Power Company. The Projects are also eligible for feed-in-tariff for 20 years upon completion and connection to grid. SPI Energy and EAG plans to sell its stakes in the Projects to a third party by the first quarter of 2017. The Projects are expected to complete and connect to grid by Q3 of 2018. EAG is a financial firm with significant presence in clean energy financing and development in Japan and with offices in both Tokyo and Shanghai. "The announcement marked our second cooperation with EAG, following successful co-development of a 1.99 MW solar project in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture since November 2014. We look forward to broadening our cooperation with EAG in the coming years," said Xiaofeng Peng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SPI Energy.
OneRoof Energy Reduces Workforce
OneRoof Energy a residential solar services provider and wholly-owned subsidiary of OneRoof Energy Group has announced that it has significantly reduced its work force as it begins to wind down its active operations. The company has thus far been unable to secure the significant additional financing necessary to continue its ordinary course sales, marketing and development operations and is thus considering various measures to preserve cash in an effort to maximize the value of its assets.
Alterra Power Announces Amendment of PPA for Michigan Solar Project
Alterra Power and Inovateus Solar announces the execution of an amended and restated power purchase agreement under which Spartan PV 1, LLC (the "Project") is expected to sell power to the Board of Trustees of Michigan State University ("MSU"). Under the agreement, the Project, a 15.5MWDC (10.1MWAC) solar power plant to be located on carports on the Michigan State University campus, will sell 100% of its power to MSU for 25 years on substantially the same commercial terms as the original agreement, except that the required date for the full project to enter operations has been extended to the end of 2017. Alterra and Inovateus intend to jointly own the Project under their previously announced agreement, commence construction in early 2017 and achieve commencement of commercial operations later in the year.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS SunPower dedicates 20MW solar plant in Arizona Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative (SSVEC) and SunPower are dedicating a 20-megawatt (AC) solar photovoltaic power plant generating clean, renewable solar power for customers in SSVEC's service territory. SSVEC will purchase the power generated by the solar plant under a 20-year power purchase agreement with SunPower. SSVEC is retaining the renewable energy credits associated with the solar plant. The plant is anticipated to generate enough electricity to serve the needs of approximately 2800 average Arizona homes over the next 20 years, based on estimates provided by the Solar Energy Industries Association.
European Commission favors keeping limits on Chinese solar panels The European Commission has recommended keeping import duties and a minimum price for solar panels and cells from China for two more years. The European Union and China came close to a trade war in 2013 over EU allegations of solar panel dumping by China. But this was averted by an agreement to allow a limited amount of tarifffree panels at prices not below 0.56 euros per watt. The Commission is currently reviewing that agreement and also import duties of up to 64.9 percent for those outside the agreement all of which ended in Dec. 2015.
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D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments acquires and commences Construction of 52 MW Solar Farm in Mississippi D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) has acquired the Mississippi Solar 2 project from Origis DevCo Inc. The project is a 52 MWAC solar power facility located three miles away from the town of Sumrall in Lamar County, Mississippi. DESRI has announced that soon after the acquisition it has started construction of the project, which it expects to be completed in Q2 2017. “We greatly appreciate the effort from all of our partners in helping launch construction on DESRI’s first project in the Southeast,” said Bryan Martin, CEO of DESRI. “We are excited to expand our footprint into Mississippi with a groundbreaking project that we expect will provide both jobs and clean energy to the state’s citizens and businesses.” The project has a 25-year power purchase agreement with Mississippi Power Company (MPC). Mississippi Solar 2 will be among the largest solar projects in the state, and is expected to generate roughly 130 million kilowatt hours of power each year – enough clean energy to power approximately 9,000 homes, according to metrics provided by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sammons Renewable Energy Leads $241 Million Solar Cash Equity Transaction with SolarCity
1366, Hanwha Q CELLS Achieve 19.6% Efficiency Using Direct Wafer Cell Technologies
Sammons Renewable Energy has announced that it led the equity portion of a $241 million cash equity transaction with SolarCity. Franklin Park Investments manages SRE. As part of the deal, SRE is investing in a portfolio of solar projects in 16 states, including 26,000 home residential systems and 19 commercial and industrial solar projects. The financing is non-recourse to SolarCity. “Solar City represents the caliber of company Sammons Renewable Energy looks to partner with,” said Heather Kreager, Chief Executive Officer of Sammons Enterprises, the parent company of Sammons Renewable Energy. “As Sammons Renewable Energy continues to grow in the renewable energy market, we will pursue partners that have the potential demonstrated by SolarCity in its ten-year history.” “We are pleased to close this transaction with SolarCity and look forward to additional investments in the North American renewable energy market,” commented Tom Tribone, the Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Park, SRE’s management partner. “Our objective is to partner with strong development companies and to acquire solar, wind and hydroelectric projects either at commencement of construction or project completion.”
1366 Technologies with Hanwha Q CELLS has
SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
achieved a new performance record of 19.6% cell efficiency for 1366’s Direct Wafer technology. The result was independently confirmed by the Fraunhofer ISE CalLab and clearly demonstrates the combined potential of the two inventions – 1366’s kerfless, drop-in 156 mm multicrystalline wafers and Hanwha Q CELLS Q.ANTUM, passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) cell process. The wafers were produced with 1366’s current production furnaces in Bedford, MA and the cell fabrication was completed at Hanwha Q CELLS’ Center for Technology Innovation and Quality in Thalheim, Germany. 1366 Technologies’ Direct Wafer process forms multi-crystalline wafers directly from molten silicon instead of today’s multi-step, energy- and capital-intensive process. The result is an uniformly better wafer, created at one-half the cost. The technology also has the enormous benefit of being a “drop-in” replacement for 60 percent of the photovoltaics market, making it seamless for cell and panel manufacturers to readily adopt the technology without adding a single new piece of equipment.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Sungrow’s Testing Center Approved to Participate in UL’s Witness Testing Data Program Sungrow has announced that its testing center has been qualified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), to participate in the UL Witness Testing Data Program (WTDP). UL’s standards and certifications are known for their strict test requirements and often lengthy approval processes. The WTDP enables approved manufacturers to test PV inverters using their own labs and engineers before receiving a relevant certification. Only facilities that have the required test equipment, environmental conditions, qualified personnel and data reporting instruments are eligible to participate in this program. Sungrow’s eligibility will significantly speed up the testing and verification process, and accelerate the company’s product to market process. Sungrow in a statement said that its testing center has been evaluated by the UL team as “a world leading testing platform under standardized and professional management, surpassing our requirements in all aspects including technology, engineer expertise, and testing ability.” Apart from the approval, Sungrow has also reached agreements with UL on further co-operations in regards to product certifications, introducing UL standards into early-stage product designs, and providing support to UL in drafting new standards as technologies evolve.
Singyes Solar Technologies wins a 100 megawatt solar farm tender in Uzbekistan
China Singyes Solar Technologies Holdings, a China-based EPC and project developer has bagged EPC contract for a 100MW solar farm in the Samarkand Province of the Republic of Uzbekistan from Uzbekenergo. Uzbekenergo is a state-owned company of the Republic of Uzbekistan and is the investor of the Project. The Project is mainly financed by Asian Development Bank. Singyes won the contract to build the US$147 million solar farm via a tender process.
Envision Solar to Supply 12 Solar Tree Systems for an Illinois County Court System Envision Solar has announced that it has received order to supply 12 Solar Tree Systems for Illinois County Court facilities. The Solar Tree systems will be deployed in the parking lots of the municipality's County Courthouse campus. The Solar Tree system will provide solar powered EV charging and clean, emissions-free energy for the Courthouse. Invented and manufactured in California, Envision Solar's Solar Tree Arrays are widely considered fastest deployed and most attractive turnkey photovoltaic parking shade systems. A Solar Tree structure shades six to eight standard car parking spaces and simultaneously produces enough clean energy to deliver up to 700 miles of electric driving or power six family homes per day. The energy produced can be used to reduce utility bills, charge EVs or be stored for emergency use. A third-party vendor contracted by the County will receive the Solar Tree systems for installation.
The Solar Tree requires limited assembly that allows vendors to install high-quality and unique solar structures without committing resources to solar engineering or fabrication.
France inaugurates world's first solar road France has inaugurated the world's first "solar highway", a road paved with solar panels providing enough energy to power the street lights of the small Normandy town of Tourouvre. The one-kilometre (halfmile) "Wattway" covered with 2800 square metres (30000 square feet) of resin-coated solar panels was hooked up to the local power grid as environment minister Segolene Royal looked on. The new use of solar energy takes advantage of large swathes of road infrastructure already in use to produce electricity without taking up new real estate. The idea, which is also under exploration in Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, is that roadways are occupied by cars only around 20 per cent of the time, providing vast expanses of surface to soak up the sun's rays.
Pika Energy’s B Link (B301c) battery converter receives ETL listing to the UL-1741 standard Pika Energy has announced that its B Link (B301c) battery converter has received ETL listing to the UL-1741 standard for power converters. With the listing of the B Link converter, all of the products in the Pika Energy Island product suite are now UL-listed and shipping to solar installers and OEM partners.
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VIZ-A-VIZ
t GURU INDER MOHAN SINGH Director & COO, Amplus Solar
In a vivid viz-a-viz with Santanu Mukherjee, Sr. Journalist, Saur Energy International
he industry reactions have varied from congratulatory messages to critiques analyzing the basis and impact of the INR 3 per unit tariff. We find these motivating and helpful in understanding the market.
Q
Recent bid of Rs 3 per unit to three states,has not gone down well with the industry. Please tell us how you are offering such low tariff and what is your take on the Industry’s reaction? The tariff of INR 3 per unit is for projects in Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry. In the same program, we have bid ~ INR 5.5 – INR 6 per unit for other states. The difference is based on the subsidy support provided in the program, which is 70% for the former and 30% for the latter states. The MNRE program provides subsidy for promoting rooftop solar for a certain section of customers viz., educational institutions, hospitals and within these, an impetus to special states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh etc. As regards the industry reactions, these have varied from congratulatory messages to critiques analyzing the basis and impact of the INR 3 per unit tariff. We find these motivating and helpful in understanding the market. Critiques have compared these rates to the record low tariffs in Middle East and how externalities like “near zero” interest rates in Middle East and subsidy support in India can influence tariffs. We agree with these and have always maintained that extrinsic supports like accelerated depreciation, subsidies and DCR are detrimental for the growth of the solar sector. We have always believed in making our offering inherently competitive and our initial projects are a testimony to this; none of our initial projects had any subsidy support but were competitive and beneficial to the customer, on the back of our engineering capabilities and inhouse EPC. In the extant bid, we could have abstained from participating but if we bid, we had to pass on the benefits to our customers, and that is what it did. Share us about your “Refer and Earn” program, what kind of revenue your business development partners can make referring educational institutes and hospitals? Distributed solar needs distributed sales. Our “Refer and Earn” program is inline with this philosophy. Our channel partners comprise of well networked firms and individuals, some of them specializing in specific channels, eg. education, hospitality, automobile, healthcare. The partners introduce us to decision
Q
makers at potential clients, and our team takes over to design an attractive and robust solution for the customer. Over time, our partners learn about the energy business and we learn from their varied experiences across industries. This helps us tailor our offerings, both technically and commercially, to the energy needs of our customers. Our business partners can opt for either upfront referral fees or a percentage of the revenue that we earn across the term of the Power Purchase Agreement with the customer, payable monthly. In September 2016, Amplus Energy Solutions committed an investment of Rs 90 crore to install and commission 15 rooftop solar power plants for Walmart in India. What has been the progress so far and what are the key challenges that your face? Till date, we have commissioned 5 sites and the remaining sites shall be commissioned over the next 1 month. It’s been an excellent experience working with Walmart, especially the positive approach from the customer, wherein any issues were proactively resolved, both at the HQ level as well at the individual sites. Hypermarket projects like Walmart have typical engineering requirements. Walkways and safety lines to ensure that the roof is not damaged due to continuous use are part of our standard product for industrial/PEB roofs. However, hypermarkets have another typicality since the rooftop potential may exceed the peak load of the host facility. When grid outage and low loads overlap, the solar plant cannot synchronize with the DG sets since the cumulative generation from solar and DG may be more than the load. This requires a thorough understanding of the customer’s load profile followed by robust automation that reads the load and then instructs the inverters to back down. Our real challenges have been “outside the campus” eg., net metering. Since the generation from solar can be more than the load, flow into the grid is a daily reality. While net metering regulations have been notified for some time now, the implementation on ground is tardy, to say the least. On the face of it, it is given to understand that it is just the replacement of the utility meter but when you dive into it, existing metering systems get reviewed and we may have to replace
Q
the existing metering cubicles, change CTs (since the existing CTs were lower accuracy), add Check-meters and isolators. All this, in addition to significant effort and expenditure, ends up taking 2-3 months. Shed some light on the achievements of Amplus on rooftop solar; both in opex and capex models. Amplus specializes in building rooftop solar power plants for on-building rooftops, car parks, and open spaces within the premises on Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) basis (Opex Model). We do not follow the Capex Model. Some of our recent achievements are: • Amplus has won the first National Excellence Award from Government of India for rooftop project development. The award was presented as part of the first ever National Workshop on Rooftop Solar in India organized by MNRE. • Amplus has built up a portfolio of over 60MW of operational and under-construction solar rooftop projects spread over more than 250 locations in the firm’s first year of operation since raising capital. • Amplus has commissioned India’s largest captive solar project at a manufacturing facility in a timeframe of only 4 months. • Amplus has commissioned a 4 MW ground mounted (in-house) solar PV project for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Bangalore using tracker based technology for higher efficiency, which is the first project at an airport in India using the tracker technology to meet their in-house requirement. • Amplus is solarizing Walmart stores across 5 states in India. The construction for these 15 stores is underway. What kind of due diligence is done by Amplus Solar on the client before installing solar plant on an opex model? We have a diverse portfolio of clients including manufacturing organizations across Aerospace & Defence, Automotive, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Pharma, Food processing, etc. as well as commercial establishments like Retail chains, Educational institutes, Hospitals & Healthcare, Office buildings, Malls etc. Since in Opex Model, the operational and financial risk lies with us, we try to make sure that we work with customers that are highly rated leading majors with a sound financial background and credit history.
Q
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PRODUCT ANATOMY AnGIndia SC-IE20SP-V212R30 CCTV camera
MECO Solar Power Meter-936
NEXTracker NX Fusion Plus
Product Brief: AnGIndia, electronic security
Product Brief: MECO Solar's Power
Product Brief: NEXTracker has designed
solution provider has launched a 2MP highresolution solar powered CCTV camera named SC-IE20SP-V212R30 in the market at Rs 65000. The new solar powered CCTV camera fea-tures wireless high resolution digital image sensor camera with 1080p high resolution image quality and low-bandwidth power consumption that can run for 48 hours of battery once fully charged.
Product Feature: The camera comes with 36 IR LED which help to see up to an IR Range of 10 to 30 meters, its high shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/10,000 seconds captures high quality JPEG snapshots with its refined 2.8 to 12mm lens quality.
Application: The camera is supported with
remote web and mobile configuration, central monitoring systems (CMS) and motion detection alarm triggers, using cellular network to send video streams to remote location.
Benefits: This technology is the perfect cost
effective and environmental friendly solution for providing power to wireless security surveillance systems. The new CCTV camera supports Android, iOS and blackberry mobile platforms; it comes with 3G, 2G and Wi-fi data communications. The camera offers 3G/2G, Wi-fi data communications and has been added with2 MP high resolution with Automatic color Day/Night Mode. It boasts durable IP66 housing and support integral SD card storage.
Availability: Available for purchase
Meter-936 is used for measuring solar power or solar irradiance. The portable meter uses high sensitivity silicon photodiode to measure solar power. MECO solar power meter can also detect solar tilt angle with orientation.
Product Feature: This instrument is desi-
gned to measure solar power in the range from 400 to 1100 nanometers. It measures the solar power and transmission up to 2000 W/m2. Solar Power Meter has Max / Min / Avg and data hold functions to indentify locations with maximum or minimum power. The good spectral range, orientation and angular detection of meter allow users to conduct the most precise quantitative measurements of solar power radiation.
Application: MECO Solar Power Meter-936
is best used for Solar radiation measurements and comes handy for Solar power research for location of the solar panels or solar water heater. It is suitable for physics and optical laboratories, meteorology, agriculture. Windows performance – calculation and verification of the heating or heat reduction caused by direct sunlight.
Benefits: The device offers solar power
measurement with Orientation and Tilt angle, also provides easy measurement for rate of daylight penetration. It facilitates auto change for measuring range and Auto power off with disable function. It displays instantaneous display Ave/Min/Max values and 20 points memory. It comes with socket of tripod mounting, magnetic mount and includes backlit LCD and 4 digits triple display.
Availability: Available for purchase
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SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
an innovative solar plus energy-storage solution ‘NX Fusion Plus’ US and international markets. NX Fusion Plus integrates solar tracker, battery, inverter, and software to deliver better return on investment to owners of solar power plants. By incorporating battery storage technology into its product, NEXTracker is further increasing the energy output and duration of solar power plants.
Product Feature: NX Fusion Plus is an
incredibly powerful development for the energy industry. The tracker acts as the data acquisition backbone of the plant, offering complete system analytics and monitoring. In order to bring solar + storage into the mainstream, NEXTracker leverages Flex’s secure data platform with NEXTracker’s predictive smart control software, which is already embedded in the tracker’s electronics.
Application: NEXTracker NX Fusion Plus is
particularly attracting the customers such as farms in the Central Valley of California, and can be best utilized for stable, reliable power in countries such as India, where power fluctuates. It is a perfect match for distributed generation power plants. With large-scale solar + storage and smart software and controls, the customers will have a solution that lowers their energy bill and peak hour demand charges.
Benefits: The NX Fusion Plus enables cus-
tomers to use more solar energy throughout the day while simultaneously lowering their electricity bills. NX Fusion Plus enables higher return on investment than solar alone because developers can now utilize more clipped energy and offset demand charges for end users. Complementing this product portfolio is machine learning capability, acquired through the purchase of BrightBox earlier this year, which optimizes solar power plant performance and reduces operations and maintenance (O&M) costs.
Availability: Available for purchase
PRODUCT ANATOMY MECO Solar System Analyzer-9018BT
SolarEdge P800P-5NCDARL Power Optimizer
Sunverge Advanced AC-coupled Energy Storage System
Product Brief: MECO Solar System Ana-
Product Brief: The P800 commercial power
Product Brief: Sunverge Energy, a leading
lyzer- 9018BT is a portable analyzer used for testing, monitoring, measuring, analyzing and troubleshooting various parameters of solar system.
Product Feature: Solar System Analyzer-
9018BT draws I-V curve with parameters such as Voc, Isc, Vpm, Ipm with efficiency (%) calculation for solar system. This analyzer comes with Remote Solar Detector for measuring and monitoring solar irradiance and temperature. The Analyzer and Remote Solar Detector are connected by Bluetooth Wireless technology (Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Class 1).
Application: Solar analyzer has Intelligent
Test Logic with no personal attendance required. Solar System Analyzer waits and tests the system until appropriate sun light Irradiance is detected. The system continuously monitors DC output of Solar System and AC power output of inverter; calculate Efficiency of DC to AC power conversion and maximum output power. The analyzer can be used for quality control at production line, warehouse or site of installation, maintenance of solar panels, identify requirement of solar power system, verify best angle of installation and for Research and Development.
Benefits: Analyzer is supplied with user
friendly software for Data Storing and Analysis. Users can store data (.CSV/.TXT) that can be read in MS Excel and print Waveform / Graph via printer. Users can generate test report with testing data and curves of information. This report can be viewed by browser and printed out. Report can vary according to the selected curve items (OPC/STC/OPC, STC).
Availability: Available for purchase
optimizer enables installers to connect two modules to one power optimizer. It is available in two versions: P800s for series connections (for high power 6” cell modules and bi-facial modules) and P800p for parallel connections (for high power 5” cell modules).
Product Feature: The parallel version
(P800P-5NCDARL) has a built-in branch cable to eliminate the need for an external cable. A single input version of the P800p (P800P-5NC4ARL) is also available and should be used when connecting a single module to the optimizer (in cases of an odd number of modules in the string). This ensures there are no unused inputs exposed to outdoor conditions.
Application: The SolarEdge Site Designer
can be used for recommended designs and to verify system sizing. Some 208Vac designs can have limitations and we recommend the use of the SolarEdge Site Designer.
Benefits: The P800 power optimizers are compatible with all SolarEdge three-phase inverters. These power optimizers have an increased maximum output current of 18A, enabling the connection of longer strings: • When connecting to 208Vac inverters: up to 7.2kWp per string • When connecting to 480Vac inverters: up to 15.3kWp per string
Availability: Available for purchase
provider of intelligent energy storage systems for residences and small businesses has announced the immediate availability of an AC-coupled model of its industry-leading energy storage product.
Product Feature: Offered to renewable ene-
rgy installers and electric utility partners, this alternative method for connecting to rooftop solar systems provides superior backup power and easier installation than competing energy storage systems. Like all SIS units, Sunverge’s AC-coupled SIS includes Sunverge’s proprietary virtual power plant software, a cloud-based platform that helps owners make the most efficient use of their storage and rooftop solar system and gives utilities unparalleled ability to monitor and manage a fleet of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).
Application: The AC-coupled version of
the company’s flagship Solar Integration System (SIS) offers all the quality, reliability and safety of the original DC-coupled model, but with the flexibility of easy attachment to new or existing PV systems. Automatic voltage support for mid- and low- voltage feeders experiencing solar backflows, to help meet voltage threshold requirements from ISOs/RTPs and to dispatch or absorb power according to pre-set voltage thresholds. Peak reduction through demand control at the customer’s site and power export to other homes on same feeder or transformer.
Benefits: AC coupling allows DC power from
rooftop PVs to flow first through a grid-tied inverter to critical AC loads that are always “on,” powering them before delivering excess energy to charge the SIS storage unit. In the case of a grid outage, both the PV array and battery storage are available to power the critical loads directly.
Availability: Available for purchase VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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Reportage on
Robotics and Automation with teamtechnik
Global photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing community is currently witnessing renaissance in investment, development and innovation, a revolution that is said to be largely be driven by technology.
ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION It is important for the manufacturing industry to find the most effective as well as cost-effective tools and processes to increase cell and module production and decrease costs within a set capital plan. Robotic automation plays significant role in the solar cell manufacturing, and it is equally significant to consider which robot types and kinematics are best for each unique process, looking at the solar manufacturing areas where there are the greatest return opportunities for robotic automation. The Solar industry has assimilated robots into its value chain to increase its production capacity, execute jobs quicker and cheaper with higher precession. According to equipment providers rise in the use of automation and robotics in solar manufacturing, project development, operations and maintenance is helping guarantee top quality and lowest cost. The industry is observing uptake in automation adoption, including small six-axis robots for sealing panel edges to large robots for inspecting and palletizing assembled panels. The cost of robotics and automation has gone down along with the cost of computers, so it is now cheaper, more flexible, and easier to program. We reached at teamtechnik’s office in Freiberg, Germany to meet Sven Kramer, Vice President Sales Solar Technology, to understand the role of Robotics & automation in production process. Kramer was quite busy accessing mails on his laptop when we reached his office, but we decided to disturb him to find out the answers. We had a very interactive session with him unlike any mundane interview restricted to just questions and answers. While discussion on role of robotics & automation in production and to what extent does it eliminate human error in manufacturing, he said “a robot will perform the work 24/7 without any interruption. No breaks are required.” Kramer added “an operator will get tired during the day and errors could happen. In addition, the quality might fluctuate, depending on which operator is performing the work and how good the operator is trained. But a human being will be able to work with higher tolerances and can easily adapt to new designs or new work orders. A high level of automation does also imply that the materials have to be available with a certain quality level and with tight tolerances. Otherwise it could cause problems and intefarruptions of the manufacturing process. In addition the basis for automation is a high number of the same products which have to be produce. If the production numbers are small and there will be long times of adjusting the automation equipment to new products, it would be better to carry out the production with more operators and less human beings. At the end of the day it is important to have a high quality control and good end of the line quality check to ensure that only 100% products are leaving the manufacturing line and only excellent products are supplied to the end customer. Teamtechnik provides high quality Stringer Systems for a high quality solar module production.” While we just started the conversation someone knocked on the door for coffee that Kramer ordered for us. Yup, coffee goes perfect with the weather in Germany. With every sip we discussed on the industry, technologies, innovation and many more. After
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Sven Kramer,
Vice President Sales Solar Technology, Standard Systems Division, teamtechnik a small tittle-tattle we headed to our next question- how valid is the statement “A quick return on investment outweighs the initial setup costs. With automated assembly lines, throughput speeds increase, which directly impacts production in respect to company’s assembly line for solar manufacturing.” Kramer with smile on his face looked calm and all set with the answers to my every next question. After a bit of pause he said, “with automation the speed will increase in the manufacturing process. But not only the speed will increase; also the repeatability and therefore the quality will increase by adding automation to any production line. Teamtechnik provides high-quality and high-speed Stringer Systems for the IR-light soldering of solar cells to strings. The first stringer was manufactured in 2004. At this time a Stringer had a capacity of 600 cycles per hour. Today our latest Stringer System has a production capacity of 4200 cycles per hour; seven times as high as 12 years go. In the past the soldering process was performed manually. Only with automation it was possible to reduce the production costs and to increase the capacity as well as the product quality and the yield. Besides Stringer Systems we also provide automated Layup Systems using a 6-axis robot. The repeatability and the accuracy cannot be achieved with a manual process.” In 2015, robot sales increased by 15% to 253,748 units, again by far the highest level ever recorded for one year. The main driver of the growth in 2015 was the general industry with an increase of 33% compared to 2014. According to Association for Advancing
ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION
Automation (A3) a total of 14,583 robots valued at approximately $817 million were ordered from North American companies during the first half of 2016. The number of units ordered in the first six months marks a new record to begin the year, growing two percent over the same period in 2015, which held the previous record. Order revenue decreased slightly by three percent in the first half of 2016. In the same timeframe, 13,620 robots valued at $838 million were shipped to North American customers. These figures represent the second highest total for units shipped and a new record for shipment revenue in the first half of a year. International Federation of Robotics in a recent report stated that the total number of service robots for professional use sold in 2015 increased by 25 percent. The sales value surged by 14 percent to a new record of US$ 4.6 billion. By 2019, sales forecast indicates another rapid increase up to an accumulated value of US$ 23 billion for the period 2016-2019. Undoubtedly there are number of advantages with the robots like Improved Quality and Reliability, Shorter Cycle Times, Better Floor Space Utilization & Reduced Waste. There is a common question among solar module manufacturers around the world that how many strings/ modules can they produce, what will be the cost and what quality will they be offering. We asked Sven Kramer to share in detail the types of automated lines teamtechnik offer to solar industry. Kramer said “teamtechnik does not offer complete turnkey line solutions. We work with system integrators to provide complete automated lines.” He added “teamtechnik has its focus on Stringer Systems and we provide
automated Layup Solutions. The Stringer process is the key process in a solar module production line. In order to achieve a high quality solar module you need the best available Stringer system with a low cell breakage rate, a very accurate ribbon positioning and a high throughput. Teamtechnik offers the TT4200GIGA Stringer System. One Stringer has a capacity of 130 MW. In addition we offer our Stringer TT2100 with an annual capacity of 65 MW. Solar cells with 3, 4, 5 and 6 busbars can be processed on our Systems. The higher the number of busbars, the narrower the connection ribbons are. Ribbon widths of 0.6 mm can be processed with a high equipment uptime on our systems.” As we had spent a couple of hours discussing various topics with Kramer at his office, we decided to take a walk through the teamtechnik’s premise and have a look at the company’s automation system. There are number of advantages of robotics like Improved Quality and Reliability, Shorter Cycle Times, Better Floor Space Utilization & Reduced Waste. So, was curious to know about the advantages that teamtechnik’s robots offer and how does it meet industry expectation? S. Kramer showing us the TT4200GIGA model explained “this model requires a floor space of 15 m² and offers a production capacity of 130 MW. Our system is the fastest system in the market. No other Stringer Supplier is capable of providing such a production capacity on this small footprint. With our system we achieve a very low cell breakage rate of only 0,2%, a very accurate ribbon positioning, a high throughput of 4200 cycles per hour with a technical availability of higher than 95%. The system has been
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ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION
introduced mid of 2016. No other system
skilled service technicians and engineers are
technicians at our headquarters. In addition
is capable of providing the same technical
performing the installation of our systems.
we have trained our partners during joint
features on the same footprint, same quality
This ensures the high equipment standard. In
installation works. Besides the training “on
and same throughput.” Kramer looked
addition all of our customers will be trained
the job” we provide also training classes
very excited while demonstrating about
on the correct operation and maintenance
to ensure a high level of quality for the
the new model, being Vice President Sales
of our systems.”
operators and the maintenance personnel.
he couldn’t stop himself touting about the
Robotics and automation manufacturers
If required we can also provide production
company saying it is the world market and
sell some products directly to end users,
support and training after the installation of
technology leader in the field of Stringer
but largely rely on turnkey integrators to
the equipment.”
Systems.”
assemble the right mix for the customer.
Automation in solar is spreading globally,
As the world stands poised on the brink
But to operate the new system employees
and China is leading the market within the
of “fourth industrial revolution," regardless
will need training for programming and
fast growing Asia region. However, who
of what you call it, the figures are quite
interacting with the new robotic equipment.
could be a better person to know about
evident that robots are aggressively being
This normally takes time and financial output.
global trends in robotics and automation in
amalgamated into factories because of
We asked about the kind of training that
Solar Manufacturing then an industry expert.
their incredible precision, productivity, and
teamtechnik offers to its customers to operate
Before leaving we tossed our last question as
flexibility. Additionally, factories are also
the new system. Kramer said “Overall we
we already had lot of discussion on robotics
seeing a boom in collaborative robots that
provide different kind of trainings. Customers
and automation, and got all the answer to
are able to seamlessly work hand-in-hand
are trained for example at our headquarters
our questions, one that was left was the
with human workers to further increase
facility in Freiberg am Neckar, Germany. The
trends in robotics and automation. Kramer
litheness and efficiency. However, there
training can be performed prior or after the
said “In my opinion the automation level
are certain safety standards that every
per-acceptance of our equipment. After the
will increase in the solar module production
organization follows while setting up an
pre-acceptance the equipment is shipped
facilities. This will ensure a high quality
assembly line. To comprehend we visited the
from our factory to customers around the
standard around the clock, 24/7 and 365
manufacturing unit at the headquarters where
world. In addition we provide training at
days per year.”
Kramer demonstrated us the safety standards
the customer site, either by our authorized
What a conversation it was with Kramer. As
teamtechnik follows and explained that the
service partners or by teamtechnik service
we already spent hours at teamtechnik, it
systems are manufactured here according
technicians.” As being from India I was
was time for us to say “Auf Wiedersehen”
to the European Machinery Regulations
curious to know about the training that
which means goodbye that I learned before
(CE regulations). He said “In addition we
company offers in the country, so while
visiting S. Kramer. We wanted to gain more
ensure the quality at our factory with our
walking back to his office he said “ In India
knowledge about the industry so promised
ISO9001 certified production process. At
our service partner NMTronics did perform an
to return soon…
the customers’ sites only highly-trained and
intensive training program with their service
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- Santanu@saurenergy.com
VIZ-A-VIZ
ANDREW HINES
Business Development Head - South India,
Rooftop projects are taking the ramp and opening new avenues for solar rooftop players. This sector
CleanMax Solar
is no more in silos with players like CleanMax Solar are popping new stratagem to spur this segment. Notching recent accolades from MNRE and other prime consultancies, CleanMax have perennially catered to affluent MNCs and corporates. The recent 30MW solar farm in Tumakuru district, Karnataka also spells their stature in the GW race. To delve into company’s snowballing propositions, Andrew Hines, Business Development Head - South India, CleanMax Solar exclusively confabulates with Niloy Banerjee, Associate Editor, Saur Energy-International on the ongoing bottlenecks, scopes in rooftop segment and the company’s modus operandi to tap this nascent segment with. Edited Excerpts.
Q
Why do you think Rooftop segment
missioned 30 MW solar farm in Tumakuru
CleanMax started in 2011 with a vision of
is still treading in India’s GW race
district in March 2016. Our second farm is
enabling corporates to achieve their green
and how can this sector evidently collar
expected to come up in March, and that will
ambitions, with zero-investment, zero- hassle
with India’s promising solar dream?
be another 50 to 60 MW. Karnataka solar
solutions. Our observation was that leading
The Indian rooftop solar market is growing
policy provides some sort of incentives like
corporates are genuine in their green ambi-
and maturing, but much is needed from the
no cross subsidy surcharges and wheeling
tions, but these ambitions often fall short
private sector and government to achieve
charges for solar plants, set up until March
due to both the high investment required,
the ambitious goals the Government of
2018. Under that window we are looking to
as well as the many other managerial and
India has set.
set up a plant of approximately 200MW.
operational hassles involved in setting up
While capital subsidies are not need for commercial and industrial rooftop projects
Q
What are the strategic propositions
the project.
before choosing your module and
Our goal was to change all of this by of-
inverter partner for any project that you
fering corporates a solution which would
and government can effectively support
develop. In addition, the total cumulative
reduce their carbon footprint and reduced
rooftop solar though:
capacity developed by CleanMax is 55
their energy costs with zero investment and
yy Well-crafted net metering policies, free
MW as stated officially; kindly elaborate
zero hassle, which currently is recognized
of arbitrary constrains and made easy for
which module and inverter manufa-
as BOO (Build-Own-Operate) model. Who
consumers
cturers you have perennially been wor-
could say no to such a proposition?
yy Indirect supports such as accelerated
king with and the specific reasons for
Today, I am very happy to say that we can
depreciation, Section 80-IA benefits and
this partnership?
offer solar tariffs at below industrial grid
indirect tax exemptions
CleanMax uses world class equipment for
tariffs in all major states in India, without a
yy Avoiding unnecessary technical require-
installations as the incentives in BOO model
rupee of government subsidy.
ments which add cost without improving
are directly linked to better generation for
performance or safety (for example, insisting
developers. CleanMax uses globally rec-
on reverse power relays)
ognized tier 1 modules, imported typically
to be financially viable, central and state
Q
Q
What is your set target for rooftop segment in the coming few years
and how do you plan to achieve it?
CleanMax Solar has commissioned
from China and some Indian makes.
With a current installed rooftop solar capac-
Karnataka’s first solar farm panning
These have shown best generation perfor-
ity of 55 MW pan India, we are looking at
mance globally.
increasing it to up to 400 MW in the next
a whopping 30 MW solar farm. How seamless has been the process in terms of (State policy, Infrastructure, regulatory approval, talent Pool etc.)
Q
New model formations are been seen in the Indian rooftop sector
like the BOO (Build Own Operate) or
two years.
Q
The company has lately been recognized for its excellence in the
With a progressive policy of Karnataka,
OPEX (Operating Expense), what are
we are planning a long-term investment of
your consent on expanding towards
you apprehend these accolades for your
producing 200 MW. CleanMax has com-
these models?
burgeoning business establishments?
rooftop solar industry by MNRE? How do
VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
29
CleanMax Solar has been recognized with National Excellence Awards for Rooftop Solar Developer and EPC Player by the
Q
What are your current expansion
the full potential.
plans and how important is Indian
As India’s oldest and largest rooftop solar
market for CleanMax?
developer, we at CleanMax are well aware of
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. It
As we look ahead, CleanMax, being India’s
the challenges of ramping up rooftop solar
was an honour to receive such accolades
largest onsite solar developer, is keen to
to the scale envisioned by the Government
from Shri Piyush Goyal himself.
drive the growth in the overall market, while
of India. However, I believe that the target
After more than five years of operations, we
maintaining and growing our market share.
is achievable, with a combination of the
are proud to claim a number of achieve-
We see tremendous potential in the rooftop
following measures:
ments, including:
segment, and we are growing our organiza-
yy Leading onsite solar developer in the
tion in line with the fast-growing demand.
yy Smart, enabling financing structures,
country, with >28% market share, and an
Outside of our core business in corporate
would include the extension of accelerated
unparalleled client list of leading corporates
rooftop solar, we are starting to see good
depreciation for solar – accelerated depre-
yy Recently recognized by the Ministry of
opportunities in the government rooftop seg-
ciation has been particularly crucial for the
New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) with two
ment, as well as the Open Access markets
growth of the rooftop solar industry so far
excellence awards in the “Solar Developer”
in certain states. Our corporate clients have
(more so than in utility scale projects), and
and “Rooftop EPC” categories given by Shri
diverse energy needs across many facilities
scaling back the benefit now would sure
Piyush Goyal
around India and abroad – for example, they
dampen growth in this sector, as it did in
yy Many of the country’s largest rooftop and
may look for a combination of rooftop solar,
the wind industry when it was temporarily
onsite solar plants, including:
open access and perhaps energy storage
withdrawn there. It is hard to see the 40
rather than direct capital subsidies. This
o Our largest onsite plant is a 3.8 MW
needs, and they will always prefer for a
GW target being achieved by 2022 without
plant in Pune, the country’s largest on a
single, trusted vendor to provide all of these.
accelerated depreciation.
build-own-operate model
Finally, we are actively exploring select op-
yy Sensible and well-implemented net
o Largest rooftop solar plants in Gujarat,
portunities outside of India where we see
metering schemes. Net metering is an
Maharashtra, and Karnataka
good potential. But India, which is now the
yy First solar farm under Karnataka’s Solar
world’s 4th largest solar market, has such
rollout in many states in the past 12 months
Energy Policy, commissioned in March 2016
tremendous potential that we will not seek
has been a promising development. How-
and exclusively for corporate Open Access
international expansion at the expense of
ever, the implementation has been slow in
customers in the state
realizing the full potential in India itself.
some states, and it can take many months
This scale is a very important differentiator
Q
important enabler for rooftop solar, and its
How many projects has the com-
to actually get the permission, with very
pany successfully comm-issioned
different processes in different states. A
in the current FY and how you eye into
standardized policy across India would
needs across multiple geographies, and
the next fiscal year?
be helpful.
who has the operational scale to execute
CleanMax has executed more than 75 onsite
Many states have arbitrary restrictions –
quickly and effectively them. Today, we are
projects totally a capacity of 35 MW, enjoy-
for example, caps of 0.5 or 1 MW in many
executing 15-20 large rooftop projects and
ing a market share of 28%. The ambitious
states, restrictions based on offtake voltage
2-3 solar farms simultaneously, and we have
plan is to eye 400 MWp in the next 2 years.
or transformer capacity, or unreasonable
set up the organization to do this effectively.
Is Indian solar industry consigned
rules about meter locations – which prevent
by numbers, may it be 40,000MW
the easiest volumes from materializing. We
rooftop or 100GW cumulative solar ca-
hope to see these policies improve based
or manage multiple projects simultaneously
pacity. If yes, in long run how liable will
on the experience to date.
at multiple locations.
this sentiment be for India’s solar sector?
yy Sensible tenders for government roof-
for us, since our corporates want a partner who can meet their diverse clean energy
This differentiates us from our competitors who may struggle to execute a large order
Q
Q
How are the cutthroat solar auctions
While India’s 100 GW solar target is ambi-
propagating new dynamics for
tious, many argue that its 40 GW rooftop
tops: To date, tenders for government
rooftops have varied widely. Tenders run by
solar industry?
solar target is unachievable, since it is
SECI have been well conceived and well
Everyone is affected by low solar tariffs that
starting from a smaller base (< 1 GW), and
implemented, while some institutions have
consumers read in the newspapers. But
also because rooftop solar development is
run their own independent processes, with
ultimately, consumers will do what makes
harder for the government to accelerate
mixed results. Government entities would
financial sense for them, as many corporates
on its own. Even where the government
be well-served by going with standard PPAs
are doing today by signing long-term solar
has issued tenders for solar systems on
used by SECI, and with tighter eligibility
PPAs with reputed solar developers like
the rooftops of government buildings, it
criteria to weed out less serious vendors.
CleanMax, to sign up for lower-than-grid
has not seen a large enough response or
tariff electricity with zero investment.
follow-through from the industry to achieve
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SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
VIZ-A-VIZ
LESS TALKED
S R E T R E INV INDIAN MW PROJECTS IN
SCOOP Following eight months of construction, India has finished building its new solar power farm in Kamuthi which will replace California’s Topaz Farm as the world’s biggest solar plant. The massive facility packs 648 megawatts, which should suffice to power over 150,000 homes, and consists of 2.5 million solar modules, 576 inverters, 154 transformers as well as 6,000 kilometers of cables. With the introduction of this solar farm, India is expected to become the world’s third-biggest solar market from next year, trailing behind only China and the US. Interestingly, this alone project comprised of a 576 inverters which significantly emblems the Indian utilityscale inverter sector. This colossal growth of India’s single MW solar projects will tune into supervise the market for utility-scale Inverter market. The inverter technology has created a shift towards 1,500 VDC architectures and this is widely seen as the next natural step in the evolution of utility scale PV power plants. By increasing the voltage level, the inverter has higher power density and decreased system losses and balance of plant costs. It can help reduce up to 3% system cost and save up to 15% inverter operating expenses.
String Inverter Market worth 3.89 Billion USD by 2021
The String Inverter Market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 2.61 Billion in 2016 to USD 3.89 Billion by 2021, registering
a CAGR of 8.29% from 2016 to 2021. The global market is witnessing significant growth due to decrease balance of system cost, remove systems monitoring capabilities, and easy installation & customization. On-grid segment is expected to hold the largest share of the
String Inverter Market, by system type, during the forecast period
The on-grid segment led the overall String Inverter Market in 2015. On-grid systems are applied mostly in small-to-medium scale commercial & industrial, and large utility-scale solar applications. This is driving the market of three-phase string inverters, which are being commercialized at a huge scale in Asia-Pacific and Europe. Utilities are expected to hold the largest market share of the String Inverter Market, by end-users, during the forecast period
The utilities segment is expected to hold the largest share the String Inverter Market during the forecast period. Utility-scale large
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SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
projects are improving given regulations for renewable integration, while accelerating the growth of the String Inverter Market for the utility segment. On islands, string inverter in utility-based solar systems, integrated with energy storage systems, is expected to grab areas with high level of penetration of renewable energy. Asia-Pacific is the largest market for string inverter
In this report, the String Inverter Market has been analyzed with respect to four regions, namely, the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the largest market for string inverter till 2021. Government targets, policy support (tax incentives and RPOs), incentives such as feed-in tariffs and tenders, and competitive bidding in the region will drive the Asia-Pacific sting inverter market from 2016 to 2021.
Demand of Inverters: India’s 10 States accounts for 90% of country’s large-scale solar India now has a total installed large-scale solar capacity of 9,018 MW and a solar pipeline of 14,030 MW as of December 2016, with the top 10 states accounting for approximately 90% of all solar installations and pipeline, Mercom Capital Group has recently estimated. States to lookout for: Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, these figures are supposed to expand and penetrate into new geographies of the country. Tamil Nadu leads with 1,577 MW in-operations. In order to fulfil the state Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) the Tami Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (TANGEDCO) recently auctioned 500 MW solar. The state has close to 485 MW of solar under various stages of development. Rajasthan’s position was recently usurped by Tamil Nadu as installation activity in the state has slowed. The state has 1,324 MW of solar in-operation with a project pipeline of 1,206 MW and could reclaim the top spot. Considering Gujarat has large tracts of land ideal for large-scale grid-connected solar projects and hasn’t faced evacuation and transmission issues, the solar sector in the state has been stagnant with 1,101 MW in-operation and 300 MW under development. Gujarat is a power surplus state and has met its RPO obligations and is not in a hurry to ramp up its solar installations. Andhra Pradesh is the state with the most solar parks. Activity in solar sector has picked up in the state with the completion of Kurnool solar park. At present, Andhra Pradesh has solar projects aggregating 1,009 MW in-operation and 1,494 MW under development. Telangana’s lucrative solar policies and program have helped the state leapfrog others to claim the fifth spot with 1,006 MW in-operation and 2,418 MW under development. Madhya Pradesh, the state once with sporadic power now delivers surplus power. Currently, the state has 861 MW in-operation and 722 MW under various stages of development. Infrastructure at the Rewa solar park is nearing completion; once tenders are
SCOOP issued, solar is expected to pick up pace. Punjab is ranked seventh with projects in-operation aggregating 569 MW. The state has a project pipeline of 453 MW. Karnataka has the largest solar project pipeline of 3,376 MW. The state is ranked eighth with projects in-operation aggregating 511 MW. Maharashtra is ranked ninth in terms of solar energy production. Projects aggregating ~384 MW are in-operation. The state has a project pipeline of 957 MW. Uttar Pradesh is a surprise addition, after power purchase agreements (PPAs) in Jharkhand for 1.1 GW were not signed. The development of solar in Uttar Pradesh has been slow; the state has in-operation projects aggregating 241 MW and a project pipeline of 696 MW.
The Next Trend: 1,500 Volts DC Opportunities
GTM Research finds that the ten largest suppliers of solar inverter will this year meet 80% of demand, led by Huawei, Sungrow and SMA in terms of shipments. “We haven’t seen the leading vendors hold share this high since 2010, when solar demand was highly centered in continental Europe,” said report author and GTM Research senior solar analyst Scott Moskowitz. China’s Huawei which ousted Germany’s SMA to top the shipments chart in 2015 – has retained first place for shipments with 17% of market share in the first half of the year, followed by Sungrow (China), SMA, Sineng (China), TMEIC (Japan), TBEA Sunoasis (China), ABB (Switzerland), KStar (China), General Electric (U.S.)
According to our research, installing 1,500 Vdc systems in place of now-standard 1,000 Vdc can lower costs by as much as $0.05 per watt. Higher-voltage systems provide an opportunity for improved system economics, but these systems will be limited to 1,000 Vdc and 1,500 Vdc. Incremental increases in voltage to 1,700 Vdc or 1,800 Vdc are unlikely due to the significant cost to develop products and change standards while only providing marginal benefits. Inverter standards in the U.S. have been written to potentially enable 2,000 Vdc bipolar arrays though it will see some time to hit the International market as 1,500 Vdc is
and SolarEdge (Israel). Huawei is poised to shape the industry further in 2017 with its expected entrance into the residential market with a new power optimizer/microinverter product. Despite these price pressures and a 5% shipment decrease forecast for 2017, revenue will fall by only 1.2% in 2017 as gains are made in the residential string and module level power electronics (MLPE) space. Inverter prices in some product segments have fallen 10% in the last six months, although that is less severe than the price drops currently plaguing manufacturers of PV modules.
considered the low-voltage limit by the IEC. Anything above that is qualified as medium voltage transmission and comes with a different set of rules and standards.
Huawei, SMA Leads as Global Inverter Shipments to Stumble 5% in 2017
After Global PV inverter shipments to reach a record 63.5 GWac in 2016; the global PV inverter industry will log a 5% contraction in shipments next year as the markets of China, the U.S. and Japan decline, finds the latest Global PV Inverter and MLPE H1 2016 Report by GTM Research. Total inverter shipments are set to reach a record 63.5 GWac this year, up from 59.7 GWac in 2015, but will fall to 60.3 GWac in 2017 as the market takes a breather. However, GTM Research forecasts steady growth from 2018 onwards, with shipments growing to 66.6 GWac that year, then rising steadily towards more than 100 GWac by 2021. As the market grows, the number of leading players has consolidated. VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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SCOOP However, even the top players are struggling in the current
stated Sunny Rai, Vice President of Renewable Energy at Intertek.
market climate. SolarEdge and Enphase, two suppliers of high-
"Intertek is proud to work with leading companies like SolarEdge
end inverters to the US rooftop solar market, have seen their
to advance the PV industry through smart inverter functionality,
market capitalisations decline by more than 50% this year, even
which supports improved grid resiliency and enables more PV
as their market continues to grow. Enphase is restructuring its
integration."
business. SMA lately announced a 616MW inverter order in India
SMA bags 616MW Indian PV Inverter Order
for developer Greenko Energies.
The Major Headlines Taker: An Anecdote
German PV inverter maker SMA Solar Technology will supply 616MW of inverters apt for challenging conditions to Indian
TMEIC Logged 3.6GW Shipment Last Fiscal Year
developer Greenko Energies for solar projects in the Indian states
achieved shipment of approximately 3.6GW of utility scale PV
Ingeteam - 100 kW Three-Phase String Inverter
Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation (TMEIC) inverters (PCS) in fiscal 2015. The cumulative volume of shipments since fiscal 2009 has reached 8.3GW. The total shipment volume in fiscal 2015 marked a 1.4-fold increase over the previous fiscal year. This was attributable to continuing favorable sales in Japan as well as a significant increase in overseas sales. Supporting this uptrend are a strong demand for 1000Vdc type large-capacity PCSs in Japan and rapid increase in construction of large-scale projects of PV plants in the United States as well as rapid expansion of sales in India, where TMEIC has set up a manufacturing base in 2014. TMEIC will continue to strive to provide products and services that meet customers’ expectations and to earn their trust.
of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Ingeteam announced new solar PV string inverter, which touts to make it possible to achieve a power output of 100 kW AC in a single, 75 kg unit. The inverter will be showcased at the upcoming Solar-Tec fair in Egypt and is set to go into production in June 2017. This new three-phase inverter, commercialized under the name INGECON SUN 100TL, is suitable for indoor and outdoor installation alike and is primarily directed at commercial, industrial and large-scale projects. The inverter’s high power density means that it is possible to reduce the number of inverters to be installed and, therefore, the total amount of cabling. Furthermore, the company says no combiner boxes are required (either in DC or
Dynapower and Samsung SDI Unveils Integrated Behind-the-
AC), and a neutral cable is not necessary, thereby reducing the
This line of systems will incorporate Dynapower’s recently released
ABB’s TRIO-50 inverter for Every Location
meter Energy Storage System
total AC cabling cost by up to 20%.
Generation 2 MPS product line of behind-the-meter energy storage
ABB’s new TRIO-50 three-phase string inverter can be installed
inverters and Samsung SDI’s recently released E2 battery solution. The initial release of the joint system will be a 250 kW/550 kWh offering, with a 100 kW two-hour system to follow. Dynapower and Samsung SDI are launching their integrated behind-the-meter ESS offering with an immediate first deployment at the University of Minnesota, and are working with several behind-the-meter ESS developers to deploy their integrated solution across the nation during 2017. The integrated energy storage offering provides energy storage system vendors, project developers, and utilities with a fully engineered solution that reduces costs for commercial and industrial end users in the deployment of energy storage. The two companies’ integration experience includes the Electrical Training Institute Net Zero Plus building microgrid and the Duke Energy Notrees 36MW/14MWh ESS project.
in virtually any location or in any orientation and enables shorter time to market for large commercial or small utility scale projects, according to the company. It has a landscape modular design to guarantee maximum flexibility, improve ease of installation and lower maintenance costs and can be installed by two people and no machinery.
The Indian Schema
The India solar inverter market has been dominated by major multinational companies such as ABB India, Delta Power, TMEIC, Ingeteam, SMA and Others. Major domestic players in the market include Su-kam, Luminous, and Microtek amongst other. India solar inverter market holds a great potential owing to the development of premium category products, rising advertisement and promotional efforts by solar inverter companies to make consumers aware particularly in rural areas. Government’s perennial backing has
SolarEdge Leads the Market in Advanced Inverter Functionality
all divulged new scopes for this market. Hence, 2017 might see
samples of SolarEdge inverters were the first it tested to meet the
the utility-scale inverter market.
SolarEdge Technologies announces that Intertek confirmed that UL 1741 SA draft requirements to be smart inverters. SolarEdge single-phase smart inverters are Rule 21 ready and support 12 advanced inverter features. "The SolarEdge single-phase inverters are the first inverters we have confirmed to meet the UL 1741 SA draft requirements,"
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SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
some hiccups but in large the MW promises will bring blues to - Niloy@saurenergy.com
52218_solar_expo_2017_saur_energy_intl_186.7x237.1_eng.pdf
1
11/16/16
4:59 PM
UDAY OF
'SOLARIZED NATION'
INSIDE STORY Largely powered by thermal plants, India’s energy generation remained among the least sustainable of the world’s large countries. For half of the population of India that lives in the faraway remote regions, the onset of dusk puts an end to the day quite early. Means, all work should be wrapped before the sun sets. Estimates vary but around 200-300 million Indians are still living without access to electricity and face regular power cuts throughout the year. Around 7108 unelectrified villages has been ‘electrified’ in 2015-16, which is 37% higher than previous three years. Of course, electrification of villages is a vague indicator at its best; but it does reflect a broad direction of the attempt of the Indian Government to shrink the base of off-grid Indians. It appears that the quest to address one of India’s top challenges – ensuring power security for millions of Indians – has begun in earnest. As India reaches the total installed solar capacity including rooftop and off-grid segments to 9.2GW mark; a major milestone for Indian solar sector- the ‘Power of All’ seems achievable. Can India's Grand Solar Vision Become Reality? Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious target of 1oo GW of solar power capacity to be achieved by 2022, when India celebrates 75 years of independence. This is a grand vision for ushering in a sort of revolution in renewable energy in India in the next six years. In a country that generates more than 60% of its electricity by thermal plants, and where air quality is fast worsening, the need for clean energy cannot be overstated. Seems like an ambitious target, to say the least- especially if one considers that the goal is more than twice the current capacity of the two leaders in solar power, China and USA. PM Modi has pledged to provide 24-hour electricity to all by the end of his term in 2019. To realize this vision, Ministry of Power, along with other central agencies has put special focus on efficient utilization of conventional generation resources and development of 100GW solar energy by 2022. All Central & State Government agencies along with private sector organizations are geared up to develop electricity infrastructure in the country. For optimum use of resources, a strong National Grid has been evolved and a number of high capacity power transmission corridors have been developed to facilitate seamless power transfer from surplus regions to deficit areas. India will invest Rs 127 billion on lines to transmit 20 GW of power capacity from 34 solar parks across 21 states. India has added total solar capacity of 4.9 GW (estimated), an increase of 101% over the previous year and has managed to touch the expected capacity mark; which is a substantial growth when compared to 2015 and expects to take the total solar power generation capacity to 15 GW by March 2017. Because of strong government support and increasing price competitiveness of solar power, the pace of sector activity has picked up tremendously in the last two years. India is forging ahead to become the world’s third biggest solar market after China and the USA.
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SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
India’s National Solar Mission (NSM) is becoming a grand success. The Government of India has also formed International Solar Alliance with 121 tropical countries with maximum potential to harness solar energy and is leading the initiative. The country championed the International Solar Alliance (ISA); an initiative launched a year ago at COP21 in Paris which is was ratified at the follow-up COP22 in Morocco. It aims to mobilize US$1 trillion (INR 67 lakh crore) to develop 1 terawatt of global solar power by 2030 – that’s four times more than the current worldwide total. According to Tim Buckley of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, “India is executing one of the most radical energy sector transformations ever undertaken.” “The flow of finance is matching the ambition.” Over $100 billion in financing has been announced over the past 12 months. The Indian government is targeting an investment of $250 billion into power generation and transmission by the end of the decade. Of that amount, $100 billion would be invested into renewable energies – led by solar power.
The Green Ambition of India
The great strides India has made so far in 2016 on solar energy are set to widen in 2017 as the country enters a new phase of multigigawatt renewable growth. The report from BNEF (Bloomberg New Energy Finance) states that Indian renewables sector to grow by at least 10 GW next year as investments pour into large-scale solar, rooftop solar and off-grid sectors. Moreover, the country is also expected to double its cells and module manufacturing capacity to 2000 MW and 10000 MW in the next couple of years. Many laudable and novel attempts are being spearheaded.
INSIDE STORY In 2014, Prime Minister Modi announced a major policy shift in country’s energy sector by multiplying the 2022 solar target five-fold to 100 GW. Since then, the Government of India has launched multiple policy initiatives to support the sector. Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme is probably one of the most comprehensive power sector reforms ever as it seeks to strengthen India’s weak distribution sector (DISCOMs). The policy has already shown extremely positive results in the shortterm. At least 18 states/union territories including some of the worst performing states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh joined the UDAY scheme and have successfully reduced the deficit per unit of electricity. Moreover, around 13 states/union territories have reported a material decline in Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses. As solar tariffs for utility fell below Rs. 5/kWh, the reduced cost has been instrumental in boosting solar demand from the DISCOMs despite total power demand staying relatively weak throughout One of the world’s largest solar power projects has just been
the year. Both National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
completed in southern India. At 648 MW, the Kamuthi solar
and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) are expected to
plant can generate as much electricity as most coal or nuclear
allocate substantial new capacity in 2017 attracting even more
power stations. Impressive solar energy projects are springing
competitive tariff bids. Moreover, in the last 500 MW rooftop solar
up across India. The completion of 648MW solar plant means
tender by SECI, tariffs for rooftop were cut down to an all-time
the state of Tamil Nadu now hosts the world’s second largest
low of INR 3/kWh for special category states on the back of a
solar plant and one of the largest in India. Even construction of
significant capital subsidy. It is expected that tariff level for both
bigger solar plants are under-process further west, in states of
utility and rooftop will be breached in early 2017, which will mark
Karnataka and in Andhra Pradesh along the east coast. This is
a radical moment for the entire power sector in the country. India’s
all part of an ambitious plan to deploy 100GW of solar power by
rooftop solar segment also crossed the symbolic 1 GW mark in
2022 (for reference, the current the global total is around 223GW.
September this year, growing by 135% over last year. Attractive
The government has pledged tens of billions of dollars to these
capital subsidies and substantial demand from public sector
projects, while a very strong private and foundation grant-based
are expected to continue to provide great demand boost to the
movement is encouraging smaller scale solar, including micro-
segment over the next few years.
grids and off-grid systems.
According to the report from Bridge to India, Tamil Nadu owns
The initiative to develop solar parks around the country has also
the highest installed capacity, followed by Rajasthan, Andhra
been very instrumental in tackling the two major issues of land
Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.
acquisition and power evacuation for project development. Unlike
These seven states collectively account for more than 80% of
a number of other infrastructure projects, there seems to be no
total installed capacity as of mid-November, 2016. Moreover, the
dearth of land for solar power projects, with more than 467,021
utility-scale solar accounts for more than 85% of total installed
sq km of wastelands in the country. The government originally
capacity. Rooftop solar, so far about 10% of the sector, has also
envisaged developing 20 GW of solar park capacity by 2020 but
been growing at a very healthy CAGR of 98% from 2011 to 2015
the scheme had an enthusiastic response from the private sector
and is expected to play an increasingly important role in the sector.
and the government plans to double this capacity to 40,000 MW.
Improving net metering implementation and subsidy disbursal are
Further, eight green energy corridors are under construction,
expected to lead to significant demand boost for rooftop solar
with financial assistance from German development bank KfW to
across all consumer segments. There is also a very strong impetus
evacuate and integrate growing share of renewable energy into
on increasing rooftop solar deployment in government-owned
the grid. The corridors will allow transmission of solar power from
buildings. Around 1.5 GW of potential rooftop solar capacity
solar rich states to other states. Also, there has been a highest ever
has been identified in central ministries and departments alone.
31472-plus solar pump installed in 2015-16, which is greater than
The off-grid segment, which is important from the point of view
total solar pumps installed since launch of programme in 1991.
of increasing access to electricity and relieving stress on the VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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INSIDE STORY transmission grid, is also poised to soar, as costs for solar PV technology maintain their downward trajectory. With the government committed to expanding the grid and aiming to provide 24×7 electricity throughout India by 2018-19, the off-grid home systems are increasingly becoming the first step on to the energy ladder for millions of Indians living in rural areas not connected to the grid. Annual sales for such solar-powered devices have increased by an average of 47% per year, electrifying 91000 households between April 2012 and March 2016. In its analysis of the year 2016, Bridge to India reported that India’s solar market has attracted attention of not just the domestic investors, but also from other countries including Europe, USA, Japan and China. The list of active project developers in the market includes very prestigious names including Fortum, Softbank, CLP, ReNew, Adani, Tata Power and First Solar. Further, the Indian project developers have asserted themselves strongly in 2016 winning over 90% of tendered capacity. All of the top 10 developers by pipeline capacity are now home-grown IPPs and corporate. Successful sale of solar assets of SunEdison (to Greenko), Welspun (to Tata Power), Punj Lloyd (to IDFC Alternatives) among others and international IPO by Azure has inculcated confidence in the sector’s growth prospects. Also, the falling module prices proved to be a gift that keeps on giving to aggressive bidders. Reduction in Chinese demand in the second half of 2016 resulted in prices tumbling by 20% during the year. As reported on World Resource Institute, India looks to reach its annual solar capacity addition target for FY17. The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has already approved the installation of 15 GW of new solar projects, of which half of the gigawatts is likely to be in operation before March 2017. The states of Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will see the largest solar capacity
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SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
additions in 2017 (collectively contributing to more than a third of new capacity additions in FY2017). While the majority of these new projects will be “ground-based,” utility scale grid-connected solar parks (with government encouraging the use of waste land for the development of these parks), 1 GW of new solar power capacity will be added to rooftops dotted across the country. India also plans to install 44 MW of solar PV on canal tops and banks, a novel concept that was first piloted in Gujarat in 2012. Canaltop solar power projects have the dual advantage of little to no requirement of land to set up the solar panels, as well as limiting the evaporation of water from canals and reservoirs. But at some point, all these achievements somewhere got challenged by growing incidence of delayed power purchase payments by many DISCOMs and curtailment risk that badly affected the industry,
INSIDE STORY
especially wind sector. But solar sector managed to come out succ-
target of 15GW for 2017 will be 22% of the total global demand.
essfully because of smaller capacity (10 GW v/s 28 GW of wind
This isn't a small amount of solar for any country, but India seems
power capacity) and much greater ‘Political Attention’. Earlier in
determined to achieve the same. SunPower Corporation and First
October 2016, PM Modi planned a 210 billion-rupee ($3.1 billion)
Solar aspire to grow their presence in the country. First Solar which
package of state aid for India’s solar panel manufacturing industry.
has earlier contributed in the projects, aims to reach bigger market
The scheme, Prayas initiative (Pradhan Mantri Yojana for Augmenting
in coming years, especially with its thin-film panels that fit desert
Solar Manufacturing), which is a central-government plan has been
regions. SunPower has mentioned that it hopes moving to a solutions
designed to lift India’s installed photovoltaic capacity as well as to
model, which may allow local developers to be partners, will help
create an export industry. A part of Modi’s Make in India campaign,
gain market share in the booming market. Canadian Solar is also
the Prayas program is intended to create 5GW of photovoltaic
trying to gain a presence in India, recently buying 49% of a 15
manufacturing capacity from 2019 and build 20GW of projects in
MW project. It's a small stake, but could lead to more growth in the
the country by 2026. The policy, which is being developed by the
country and has led to tremendous opportunities for the investors,
ministry in charge of renewable energy and industrial policy, along
developers, EPCs and manufacturers. Even at an industry-low
with the Niti Aayog government research group is as of now under
cost structure of $1 per watt, the Indian market is expected to be
the screening for final approval from the cabinet.
worth over $15 billion next year alone. And this is enough to alter
As we look forward to 2017 and beyond, two big markets worth
the entire solar industry.
watching closely are China and India. China has been already
But questions are still being raised- if India took more than 5 years
showing a tremendous appetite for solar energy and will want to
to attain 10 GW, can it reach 100 GW in another 5 years. And
keep its factories churning out product, and on the other hand
notorious for its political bureaucracy, can India achieve this lofty
India could be the new growth market for the industry in FY17.
goals? Of course, the target seems quite steep, but rather than
A recent report from MNRE states that a capacity addition of 14.30
quibble about it, let us acknowledge the environmental, social and
GW of renewable energy was reported during the last two and half
economic potential of solar technology that has helped India attain
years under Grid Connected Renewable Power, which include 5.8
a distinctive position in the world to emerge as the Solar Nation.
GW from Solar Power (rest are 7.04 GW from Wind Power, 0.53 from Small Hydro Power and 0.93 from Bio-power). And the set
- Laique@saurenergy.com
VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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SOLAR MEGA PLANTS
Here we bring inspiring story of one of the country’s largest solar power plants located in central India, Madhya Pradesh. ACME’s 25MW Power Plant is situated at Bagheli, Tehsil- Khilchipur, Rajgarh, (M.P.) with an investment of INR 208 Crore. The 25MW solar plant in Rajgarh can electrify 26000 homes considering daily consumption of 5 kWh. This plant is a significant step towards India’s plan to be amongst the leaders in solar power production by 2022. Our solar mega plants featuring ACME’s solar projects includes bidding process and land acquisition, technical due dili-gence, complexities encountered, cost and more. ACME’s current portfolio is around 1800 MWp with operational portfolio of over 600MWp with projects under different phases of implementation spread over 14 states. From thought to design to implementation, ACME possesses full know-how to run projects exactly & above expectations. The company’s highly trained engineers and skilled technicians ensure the completion of each solar plant from concept to commissioning including its operation and maintenance for the complete lifespan of the plant. ACME over the years has developed expertise in engineering and technology, procurement and project management, construction and commissioning, with a strong command over asset management. For the 25MW project ACME followed same process as generally adopted for any other projects like-Analysis of the tender –land analysis (availability, GHI, rates), utility rating, lenders comfort, local challenges etc., Submission of tariff depending upon the analysis, Issue of letter of intent and signing of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Land lease/acquisition process, Project designing and engineering, Financial Closure of the project, Issue of bill of material and raising the purchase request, Placing and receiving the equipment order , Start of construction and Commissioning and Testing. A spokesperson of the company said “Our experience is good when it comes to dealing with government authorities for approval and permits. The biggest challenge is to 1) get the clear land 2) getting right of way, in case transmission line is in our scope.” He added “In Madhya Pradesh project it was a smooth process and we feel grateful to State Government’s diligence and commitment towards clean energy. The continuous record performance at our MP Solar PV Plant showcases our capability to build and operate world’s finest green energy generation infrastructure.” ACME Group has demonstrated a continuous commitment to the
ACME SOLAR ENERGY (M.P.) PVT. LTD. 25 MW SOLAR PV POWER PLANT
VILL. BAGHELI, TEH.KHILCHIPUR, RAJGARH (BIAORA) M.P.
development and construction of utility-scale projects to contribute to India’s present and future growth in the green energy sector. We aim to conduct our business in a socially responsible, ethical and transparent manner and intend to have a positive effect on our stakeholders and workforce said the spokesperson.
MEGA PLANTS Land acquisition
One of the major problems faced by developers and EPC companies is the land, as huge parcels of land are needed for solar projects. For example, a 1 MW of solar power plant requires somewhere around 5 acres of land and may be more depending on the type of photovoltaic technology used. Additionally, getting a suitable land which must be barren and unused with good solar irradiance is challenging. Also, the land must be flat and free from trees as shadow on the panels would affect the output. Once a suitable land is identified, its acquisition becomes the next challenge. Many developers and EPC players believe that the single biggest factor for delay in project execution is the time-consuming process of land identification and acquisition. Even the government’s own plans for creating solar parks, have been put on hold several times because of challenges in making available the required land. In some of the tenders the land is provided by the government. It is generally clearly mentioned in the tender document. ACME have the experience of both, however it prefers to take the government land to avoid unnecessary hassles. In the 25MW solar project in Madhya Pradesh, the land parcel is a mix of government and private land. ACME has some key criteria for land selection like Solar Irradiation, Cost, land contour and waste land. The land selected for 25MW projects that spreads across 150 acres is
Due diligence can be performed over an
collaboration with Acme Cleantech Solutions
existing and operating power plant or during
over differences in strategy- marking an end
pre-construction or permitting phase. The
to its first venture into the Indian solar energy.
final output of the project evaluation is
Currently ACME owns 100% of the shares.
to assign a rate to the potential invest-
Challenges
ment return.It is therefore a comprehensive
ACME has an in-house team for EPC and
multidisciplinary analysis onto technical
O&M with strong knowledge, skills and
PV plant performances in terms of energy
expertise. The team successfully erected
production and on the overall project docu-
the 25MW plant in given timeframe of 4
mentation. It is primarily done to identify
months, which is said to reduce carbon
risks or mistakes in the solar project could
emission by 35000 ton. Interestingly the
impact at short to medium-term horizon.
team did not face any major challenges or
The aspects, constraints, doubts or lacks
environmental problems while setting up
remarked during an exhaustive study dec-
the solar plant.
rease the level of risk. For 25MW project
In August this year Ministry of New and
built at a cost INR 208 Crore ACME did the
Renewable Energy (MNRE) complained
Energy Yield assessment, soil testing report,
to the Central Electricity Regulatory Com-
environmental and social impact study etc.
mission (CERC) that some Discoms are not
before starting the project.
fully evacuating the solar power available to
Solar Panels And Storage Devices Used
them, resulting in losses for solar developers.
In The Project
Discoms have been arbitrarily shutting off
The main equipment used in the solar plants
power from solar projects, for varying lengths
are Modules and mounting structures, Inv-
of time, often during peak consumption
Technical Due Diligence
erters and Transformers. ACME’s 25MW
hours.
plant consists of 166880 solar modules and
Tarun Kapoor,Joint Secretary, MNRE in a
energy projects help in understanding the
40 inverters of capacity 630 kW.
letter to Shubha Sarma, Secretary, CERC
The project was developed in partnership
said “Some load dispatch centres (LDCs)
with French green energy company EDF
are asking solar projects to back down due
Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) and Luxem-
to various reasons."
bourg-based EREN. Both the companies
'Back downs', or temporary disconnection
formed a joint venture with Acme, called
of some power sources from the grid, some-
Acme Solar, in December 2013. However,
times become inevitable if there is oversupply
EDF Energies in October 2016 called off its
to the extent that it strains the grid. It is up to
mainly a barren land and it fits perfectly in the selection criteria of ACME, said the spokesperson. Technical due diligence for renewable technical feasibility of the project with a full technical risk review. When investing in or developing major energy projects, one needs to understand and mitigate all technical risks before they commit. It is crucial for stakeholders to balance the advantages and risks across an investment.
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SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
MEGA PLANTS
the discoms' LDCs to decide which power
Regular solar panel cleaning will also help
engineers, technicians, casual labour and
source should be blocked.
to make the most of the government feed-
security. A solar PV power plant has several
Solar power projects have must run status as
in tariff. For the ACME’s 25MW project, the
components and each of the sub-system
there is no fuel cost. If any backing down is
cleaning is done on daily basis in parts and
requires different O&M. A spokesperson
to be done, thermal projects should be asked
the entire modules in a period of 15 days.
of the company said that the output of the
to back down so that some fuel is saved. But
Operation and Maintenance
25MW plant is around 48250 MWh and the
As the plant becomes older, Operation and
maximum monthly output achieved till date
renewable sources such as solar and wind,
Maintenance (O&M) becomes more and
is 4871 MWh.
since thermal power is usually cheaper. We
more important for improving the perfor-
tried to understand whether ACME faced
mance of the plant. A well maintained solar
Security
or is facing any challenges with respect to
project can maximize uptime and extend
Bubbly (thieves) known for creating chaos,
Discoms on payments or any other issue.
the life of the plant. The distribution of solar
breaking thing and thieving your jewelries,
ACME said it had quite different experience
power without any disturbance maintains
cameras, and other precious things have
with Discoms, it haven’t faced any delay/
the stream of economic value generated by
now found a new target – the solar sector.
challenge in the payment from Discoms in
each kilowatt hour of production, and proper
To tackle this ACME have done the fencing
last two years.
service is a critical component to ensure
around the project. Further around 23 guards
Cleaning solar panels
optimal performance while minimizing the
are present in the plant for security purposes.
Solar panels are generally self-cleaning, but
risks of downtime. A well-maintained solar
Today ACME is recognized as one of the
in particularly dry areas or where panel tilt
installation can actually perform 10 to 30%
leading solar power developer in India and
is minimal, dust and other substances such
better than one that is not. But installing
expanding rapidly for global footprint. The
as bird droppings can accumulate over time
solar arrays are just the beginning. Without
company has been able to add nearly 1100
and impact on the amount electricity gene-
proper operation and maintenance, system
MW of new Solar Projects through bidding
rated by a module. Dirt and bird poop
components could be void of all warranties.
in various tenders since April 2015.
doesn’t need to cover an entire panel to
In any power plant, a solar PV plant req-
Energy Storage is one of the key focus
have an effect. As the projected energy
uires Preventive Maintenance (PM), Corr-
areas of ACME and is developing various
figures claimed by solar panel manufacturers
ective Maintenance (CM) or Breakdown
customized solutions to meet application
and installers are based on the optimum
Maintenance (BM) and Condition-Based
specific requirements. The company believes
performance of clean solar panels, this
Monitoring (CBM). Operation and main-
that developing innovative and reliable
build-up of dirt can adversely affect the
tenance of the 25MW plant is take care
energy storage is key essential if India has
panel’s ability to meet those projections.
by ACME’s internal team. A team of 45
to reach 100GW of solar power by 2022.
So it is important to clean solar panels in
persons maintain the plant which is headed
order to protect and maintain investment.
by the plant manager and consists of site
discoms prefer to back down power from
India's prowling monkeys and Bunty aur
- Santanu@saurenergy.com
VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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SOLAR
CABLES THE CRITICAL
METAL MESH Indeed, building a quality, safe and profitable solar PV system with good return on investment (RoI) is the most important objective of project owners, investors and also developers. The safety, quality and profitability of a solar plant do not only depend on the workmanship and efficiency of PV modules and the reliability of storage or inverters, but also to the Balance of System Components that for many seem not to have direct
or not much impact. Cabling and wiring are often not considered to be a critical factor. However, neglecting the correct cables & wires and using material that is not suitable for solar applications can compromise the overall life time of a system. Low-quality BoS may at least result in higher maintenance costs, if not even replacements of modules and inverters.
CONNECT Consumer demand for distributed solar energy systems is rapidly
meet several crucial requirements to qualify for use in PV power
growing, and small- to medium-scale solar photovoltaic (PV)
applications:
systems are turning up in any location with available space and
• Good weather- and UV-resistance, as solar cables lay usually
abundance of sunlight—from rooftops and parking lots, to brown fields and highways. No matter what the size of the system, all PV applications require high-quality cabling that provides excellent mechanical properties and superior sunlight resistance for outdoor installations, flame-resistance for added safety, and flexibility for easy handling. Cables are considered as veins and arteries of any electrical power system. Solar energy systems are no different. Electrical energy may be generated by a solar panel, mounted on the roof, and may
outdoors and are subject to direct sun radiation and air humidity
• Withstand high and low temperatures and thus be usable within a temperature range of usually between -40°C to 90°C
• Withstand mechanical stress from pre-ssure, bending or stretching as experienced during installation
• Be resistant to abrasion, therefore most sheaths are made of plastics cross-linked using electron beam
• Withstand chemical stress in form of acids, alkaline solutions and salt water
be required to power loads in the basement. This transportation
In a typical grid-tie solar power system, cable and wiring is needed
of electricity is made possible by using solar cables and wires.
to connect the solar modules (connected in a string), inverters
While cables and wires are generally used to represent the term
(connected to the module string(s)), and in off-grid systems, the
‘wiring’, there is a major difference between the two. A Solar
charge controller and batteries can also be connected. In a more
Wire can be defined as a single conductor, smaller in diameter,
narrow sense, solar cables and wires can also be incorporated in
while Cable is a group of conductors within an insulation jacket.
other PV components, such as solar isolators with built-in wires
A cable may contain any number of conductors and varies in its
and MC4 connectors.
external diameter.
It is extremely important to use the correct solar cable size when
Types, Properties and Sizing
There are commonly three main types of DC cables and wires are used in PV installations which are: • Earth Wires • Single Core • Twin Core In DC circuits, cables commonly consist of at least a currentcarrying live wire within an insulation layer that is usually colored red, and a negative wire usually surrounded by a black-colored insulation layer. In other applications such as AC systems, cables consist of a live wire that carries the current; a neutral wire that completes the electric circuit, carrying current away from the device, and also feature a third ground wire. This ground wire or earth wire is a safety wire that connects the casing of the device to the ground and thus preventing fault from making the casing of a device live (current-carrying). Usually, the earth wire is colored green or yellow (or dual green-yellow). While DC cables are used for the connection between the PV components, AC cables are employed when connecting an inverter to the grid. Systems with single-phase inverters require the use of three-core AC cables and systems with three-phase inverters require the use of five-core AC cables. There are various types of insulation and sheath materials used for the conductors of solar cables and wires, commonly used are cross-linked polyolefin (XLPO) and cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) for solar cables and wires, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for the earth wires. Solar cable and wire properties are determined by their cable-specific insulation and sheathing materials. When exposed to irradiation, the molecular structure of cable material can change. It is important for the solar cables and wires to
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SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
connecting various components of a solar energy system. Properly sizing the cables ensures that there is practically no overheating and very little loss of energy. Using an undersized cable not only poses a potential for causing fire due to overheating, but is also a code violation in most jurisdictions. In DC circuits, cables commonly consist of at least a current-carrying live wire within an insulation layer that is usually colored red, and a negative wire usually surrounded by a black-colored insulation layer. Cables and wires have a maximum voltage and maximum current rating that indicate that maximum voltage (Volts) and current (Amps) that pass through the cable. These maximum ratings must not be exceeded. The size of the wire to be used depends upon: • Generating capacity of the solar module - the larger the current generated, the bigger the size
• Distance of the solar module to the loads - the greater the distance, the bigger the size
Solar cables, which are UV and weather resistant and can be used within a large temperature range, are laid outside. Singlecore cables with a maximum permissible DC voltage of 1.8 kV and a temperature range from –40°C to +90°C are the norm here. A metal mesh encasing the cables improves shielding and overvoltage protection, and their insulation must not only be able to withstand thermal but also mechanical loads. The cross-section of the cables should be proportioned such that losses incurred in nominal operation do not exceed one percent. String cables usually have a cross-section of 4 to 6 mm2. Cables used in solar generation must be designed to withstand long-term exposure to sunlight. To maintain long-term performance and reliability,
CONNECT Standard specification to be used for cabling:
Complete cabling specification which are proffered generally are shown below:
solar cables have been developed to resistant UV, ozone and water absorption, as well as provide excellent flexibility for subzero conditions and deformation resistance during prolonged
growing from being a small industry to a very large one, over the
exposure at high temperatures. Given the often-extreme installation environments for solar power
past decade. Although, the industry comes with a lot of technical
systems, coupled with the need to save time and ensure reliability,
decade, the industry has shifted from being an unorganized
pre-connectorized cable solutions have been developed. Ideal for utility-scale generation systems, these solutions enable fast, easy connections, simplifying installation while removing the inconsistencies associated with field termination. Along those same lines, DC feeder cables for connecting combiner boxes to inverters are now offered as all-in-one metal clad cables that increase reliability and eliminate the need to install conduit. PV cables are also being engineered in a full array of colors to easily identify source, output and inverter circuits without the need for time-consuming marking tape or tagging cables. There are different standards for solar cables in different countries. The requirements are very high, but they differ due to the various national philosophies in respect to safety and reliability issues as well as market and subvention aspects. The determining factors in this application are external conditions, which do not depend on national laws and can depend only on few local aspects. Therefore, a standard in the future will be established by international market acceptance. Due to the different requirements and philosophies in each individual standard, one cable cannot satisfy both standards at the same time. In order to meet these standards and not to compromise the performance of the cable, one type of cable is needed to satisfy the requirements of the specification and another cable type is needed to satisfy the UL requirements. Market Demand
The cables and wires industry in India has come a long way,
and quality nuances, it is mostly volume driven. Over the last sector to an organized one, still 35% of the industry continues to be a part of the unorganized sector. The cable and wire market in India comprises nearly 40% of the electrical industry. According to industry experts, it is expected to double in size in the next five years as the use of solar system rises in India. Indian cable and wire market size is around Rs. 50,000 crore and projected to grow at a CAGR of 15% as a result of growth in the power and infrastructure segments. As the new government initiated â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Make in Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; approach, the cable industry is expected to grow in the next 5 years. A report from Research and Markets forecasts the wire and cable market in India to grow at a CAGR of 15.61% during the period 2016-2020. According to the report, one of the primary drivers in the market is growth in Renewable Power generation in India. A huge emphasis is given to the commercialization of renewable energy worldwide, which will create an enormous demand for electric wire and cables. Market and research analysts at Technavio states that the rise in demand of cables and wires is mainly due to the lack of a transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure at locations where renewable energy resources are set up. Moreover, the expansion of the existing renewable power generation plants, in the emerging countries, will also result in the increasing demand for electrical wires and cables. Initiatives such as excise duty exemption for Ferro-silicon-magnesium and pig iron used for manufacturing components for wind-operated electric power generators and the target set by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
51
CONNECT
generate more than 1,00,000 MW of solar power by the end of
voltage, temperature rating, and environmental conditions. Codes
2022, will boost the demand for electrical wires and cables in this
and standards are struggling to keep pace with new technologies
region. All this calls for extensive T&D infrastructure development
and applications, while a relatively new contractor base is in need
activities. The market consists of a number of international and
of continuous on-going training to stay one step ahead of evolving
regional or local vendors who face intense competition from the
installation practices. As such, the industry has seen a variety of
unorganized vendors. The regional and unorganized players in
cable designs and practices, many of which may not necessarily
the market are offering products at a comparative price which
support long-term solar needs. Application-specific cables and
induces the well-established inter-
contractor certification are paramount to ensuring the economic
national electric wire and cable manufac-turers to focus on
viability of solar power systems.
differentiating their products to sustain their market shares. In addition
Cable manufacturers are challenged with balancing up-front
to innovative product offerings, cable and wire manufacturers are
costs with long-term reliability while continually meeting evolving
also following strategies such as mergers and acquisitions to acquire
requirements and trends, from developing cables for new micro
new technologies and expand their customer reach. Names like
inverter technology where DC power is converted to AC at the
Havells India, Apar, RR Kabel, KEI, Polycab Wires, KEC International
panel, to meeting more stringent fire ratings, test methods, UL
and few others are the key players in the industry. Despite the
and CSA standards, Nati-onal Electric Code requirements and
promising growth of solar power and related cable developments
global standards for halogen-free, fire-retardant and low-corrosive
aimed at ensuring its economic viability, this emerging market is
gas emissions. To meet these advancing trends and standards,
not without challenge. The report states that one major challenge in
develop application-specific cables, and ensure the performance
the market is compliance to regulations. Electrical wire and cable
and reliability to support the long-term needs of solar app-lications,
manufacturers in India are required to comply with var-ious safety
the cable manufacturers have now committed their operations
rules and regulations for the installation of power cable systems.
to solar energy with significant investment in R&D efforts and a
These regulations are scripted and decided by regulatory bodies
strong presence in the market through continued participation with
such as American National Standards Institute (ANSI), International
standards bodies, utility regulators and renewable developers.
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi-neers (IEEE). The rules vary depending on the circuit
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- Laique@saurenergy.com
MARKET GLANCE
Solar Water Pumping System Market in India to Grow at a CAGR of 18%: Research and Markets Research and Markets in its latest report "India Solar Water Pumping System Market (2017-2022) forecasts the Indian solar water pumping system market to grow at a CAGR of 18% during FY 2017-2022 Currently, 26 million agricultural pumps are installed in India of which nearly 7 million pumps are diesel based and remaining are grid connected. However, due to unreliable grid supply and increasing diesel prices, solar water pumping system offers immense opportunities to replace conventional pumps said the research firm. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set an ambitious target to install at least 10 lakhs solar water pumping systems in various states for irrigation and drinking requirements by 2020-21. According to Research and Markets Medium power (3.1 to 10 HP) AC submersible solar water pumps are most widely installed in the country, where
majority of pumps are used for lift irrigation. The Northern region accounted for the largest revenue share in the country in the year 2015-16, followed by Southern region. Rajasthan leads the market in terms of solar pump installations. During 2016-22, the western region is expected to witness large number of solar water pump installations.
The report covers the solar water pumping system market by power ratings, design, drive, applications and regions. It provides detailed analysis of the on-going trends, opportunities/high growth areas, market drivers which would help the stakeholders to device and align their market strategies according to the current and future market dynamics.
Solar Imports in India Grew by 47 % in the First Half of FY 2016-17: Mercom Capital Mercom Capital in its latest report has revealed that Indian solar sector registered import and export activity worth over $1 billion (~Rs.67 billion) in the first half of financial year (FY) 2016-17, compared to $700 million (~Rs.44.5 billion) during the same period in 2015. The research firm notes that during the six-month period, India exported solar modules and cells worth $52 million (Rs.3.5 billion), and imported modules and cells worth $949 million (Rs.63.5 billion). Exports have increased by 12 percent and imports have grown by 47 percent said Mercom Capital. Mercom citing developers states that
unless India scales up its manufacturing
Marcom Capital recently in a report stated
capacity, cost of modules are not likely to
that solar energy accounts for almost 1%
come down.
of total power generated in the country.
According to the report, United Kingdom
5,791.54 million Units of electricity pro-
was the largest importer of Indian solar
duced in the country during the six-month
modules and cells, accounting for 36
period from April to September, 2016.
percent of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total solar exports. VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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MARKET GLANCE
String Inverter Market to Reach $3 Billion by 2021: Research and Markets Research and Markets in its latest report "String Inverter Market - Global Forecast to 2021" forecasts the String Inverter Market to Reach $3 Billion by 2021 and grow at a CAGR of 8.29% during the time frame. The research firm notes that decrease balance of system cost, remove systems monitoring capabilities and easy installation & customization will drive the string inverter market. On the other hand, shading one panel reduces the efficiency of panels, along with heat losses due to the large size of the inverter, is the major restraint of the global string inverter market. String inverters are used in residential, commercial & industrial, and utilities. Research and Markets also estimates the off-grid segment to grow at the fastest CAGR. The firm states that though off-grid technology is cheaper, the string inverter application is not very cost effective, which restricts the installation of string inverter at a large scale, such as three-phase string inverters. In coming years, with declining solar
module, inverter, and overall solar systems prices, off-grid string inverters are expected to gain momentum. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the largest market for string inverters, with China and India being the biggest markets in the region. According to the research firm
it will dominate the global market during the forecast period, owing to government targets, policy support (tax incentives and RPOs), incentives such as feed-in tariffs, and tenders & competitive bidding in the region.
Global building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) market to grow at a CAGR of almost 10%: Technavio Technavio in its latest market study predicts the global building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) market to grow at a CAGR of almost 10% during 2017-2021. The research report titled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Global Buildingintegrated Photovoltaics Market 2017-2021â&#x20AC;&#x2122; identifies need to reduce energy cost is one of the key drivers responsible for the growth of the global BIPV market. According to the report, the most energyintensive end-user segments are commercial buildings, healthcare facilities and manufacturing plants. These require round-the-clock maintenance and utilize high amounts of energy. BIPV solutions
54
are adopted extensively in these areas to bring down the energy requirements. The report states that growing requirement for energy certifications, hike in infrastructure spending and increasing solar energy consumption and installation are the other important drivers responsible for the growth of the market. Due to these factors, the global BIPV market is forecast to be valued at USD 1.14 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of almost 10%. This market research and analysis estimate that in terms of geographical regions, EMEA was the major revenue contributor to the building integrated PV market
SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
during 2016. This mainly attributed to the increased investments in several countries in the region, especially Germany. The rise in demand for BIPV installations from the power utilities and residential sector, which are the major end-users in this region will fuel market growth in the coming years. Additionally, the introduction of favorable policies towards the installation of photovoltaic systems by the governments of several countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Greece, and the UK will also drive the marketâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth prospects during the predicted period says the research firm.
MARKET GLANCE
Infrastructure Delays Affecting Large-Scale Solar Project Development in India: Mercom Capital Modi government has set a 100GW target for solar power by 2022, out of which 20GW has been allocated to solar parks. India is expected to double the target for energy to be generated from solar parks by 2020, as roof-top installations progress has turned out to be slower than anticipated. Currently, there are 34 solar parks planned across 21 Indian states, where projects aggregating 20 GW will be set up. According to Marcom Capital incomplete solar park infrastructure are affecting large-scale project development in the country. The research firm notes that project developers are facing issues including, lack of access roads, clean green lands, and clear demarcation of land areas in these solar parks. Officials at government agencies, on the other hand, are pointing out that development of solar parks is in its early stages and state nodal agencies are working to resolve issues as they arise. All 34 solar parks have received in-principle approvals. Under the guidance of the MNRE, in some states, the SECI, has formed joint ventures with state renewable energy agencies to construct these solar parks. The government’s rush to auction projects in these parks ahead of completing land acquisition formalities has led to project developers winning bids but finding infrastructure not ready to start construction. In some cases, such as the Pavagada, Charanka and Kadapa solar parks, bid-submission deadlines for tenders have been repeatedly extended. “The issues around solar parks are typical to the Indian solar sector,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group. “Most policies are well-intentioned with top-down goal setting, but the problem usually is on the execution side.” A developer involved in the recent auctions for projects in solar parks speaking to the research firm said the positives are that the infrastructure promised for solar parks
is ideal for international investors and the bidding process is transparent. On the other hand, “infrastructure is not even close to being complete.” The government is in a hurry to invite tenders even before they have completed land acquisition which ends in a delay of four to five months before the auctions happen. Developers, meanwhile, are paying for park infrastructure that is non-existent revealed Marcom Capital. Much of the infrastructure is being built parallel to project construction and will be complete when projects are close to completion, which doesn’t help the developers. After paying steep park fees, developers are having to build parts of the infrastructure. “We cannot wait for roads to get built; there are going to be evacuation issues with each of these parks,” said a developer to Marcom. There are trees that need to be cut and ground levelled in order to start construction work. There is no road access and transmission lines need to be removed to start work, commented another developer. Developers are in some cases incurring expenses to clean the land, build roads, and still waiting for power to be evacuated after commissioning. All of this can seriously affect project costs and profitability says Marcom. In Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, there are delays in getting the land. Park infrastructure is not ready and the power evacuation facility at the Pavagada solar park is inadequate. There are also complaints of evacuation delays in the Kadapa Solar Park in Andhra Pradesh, where the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) bids are out. “Solar parks are huge projects and these problems are minor when you look at the capacity that will be achieved; it has just been two years since we ventured into solar parks,” said a SECI official speaking to the research firm. Nodal agencies are resolving these issues at the ministry-level
to fast-track solar park development. An official at Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation said that the only delays were issues relating to developers approaching them late. “On our part there have been no delays." An official at Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Corporation (APSPCL) confirmed that the Kurnool solar park has been completed and that infrastructure is under development in other solar parks in the state. “In Rewa, the park development is in progress and we intend to have infra-structure ready before we invite tenders so that the developers can construct projects without any hurdles or delays,” commented an official at Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam (MPUVNL). MNRE has requested that the Principal Secretaries and the Chief Secretaries of State Governments take up necessary action for speedy implementation of solar power projects so that solar targets are achieved on time. Recently Minister of Power and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal at Lok Sabha stated that “The MNRE is having regular review meetings with state governments and solar power park developers to ensure the timely completion of solar parks.” “Solar parks cannot be completed within days. A lot of planning is required; problems will come up but we are here to handle them,” said an MNRE official to Marcom Capita Group.
VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
55
INNOVATIONS
Simple Processing Technique Could Cut Cost of Organic PV and Wearable Electronics A simple solution-based electrical doping technique could help reduce the cost of polymer solar cells and organic electronic devices, potentially expanding the applications for these technologies. By enabling production of efficient single-layer solar cells, the new process could help move organic photovoltaics into a new generation of wearable devices and enable small-scale distributed power generation. Developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and colleagues from three other institutions, the technique provides a new way of inducing p-type electrical doping in organic semiconductor films. The process involves briefly immersing the films in a solution at room temperature, and would replace a more complex technique that requires vacuum processing. “Our hope is that this will be a gamechanger for organic photovoltaics by further simplifying the process for fabricating polymer-based solar cells,” said Bernard Kippelen, director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics and a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “We believe this technique is likely to impact many other device platforms in areas such as organic printed electronics, sensors, photodetectors and light-emitting diodes.” Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the work was reported December 5 in the journal Nature Materials. The research also involved scientists from the University of California at Santa Barbara, Kyushu University in Japan, and the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. The technique consists of immersing thin films of organic semiconductors and their blends in polyoxometalate (PMA and PTA) solutions in nitromethane for a brief time
56
– on the order of minutes. The diffusion
devices is unique as the functions of hole
of the dopant molecules into the films
and electron collection are built into the
during immersion leads to efficient p-type
light-absorbing active layer, resulting in
electrical doping over a limited depth of
the simplest single-layer geometry with
10 to 20 nanometers from the surface
few interfaces.
of the film. The p-doped regions show
“The realization of single-layer photovoltaics
increased electrical conductivity and high
with our approach enables both electrodes
work function, reduced solubility in the
in the device to be made out of low-cost
processing solvent, and improved photo-
conductive materials,” said Canek Fuentes-
oxidation stability in air.
Hernandez, a senior research scientist in
This new method provides a simpler alter-
Kippelen’s research group. “This offers a
native to air-sensitive molybdenum oxide
dramatic simplification of a device geometry,
layers used in the most efficient polymer
and it improves the photo-oxidation stability
solar cells that are generally processed
of the donor polymer. Although lifetime and
using expensive vacuum equipment. When
cost analysis studies are needed to assess
applied to polymer solar cells, the new
the full impact of these innovations, they
doping method provided efficient hole
are certainly very exciting developments on
collection. For the first time, single-layer
the road to transform organic photovoltaics
polymer solar cells were demonstrated
into a commercial technology.”
by combining this new method with spon-
By simplifying the production of organic
taneous vertical phase separation of
solar cells, the new processing technique
amine-containing polymers that leads to
could allow fabrication of solar cells in
efficient electron collection at the opposing
areas of Africa and Latin America that lack
electrode. The geometry of these new
capital-intensive manufacturing capabilities,
SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
INNOVATIONS said Felipe Larrain, a Ph.D. student in
with laboratory values reaching 13 percent
organic electronics, noted Ph.D. researcher
Kippelen’s lab.
– compared to around 20 percent for com-
Wen-Fang Chou. “With its simplicity, this
“Our goal is to further simplify the fabrication
mercial silicon-based cells. Though polymer-
is truly a promising technology offering
of organic solar cells to the point at which
based cells are currently less efficient, they
adjustable conductivity of semiconductors
every material required to fabricate them
require less energy to produce than silicon
that could be applied to various organic
may be included in a single kit that is offered
cells and can be more easily recycled at
electronics, and could have huge impact
to the public,” Larrain said. “The solar cell
the end of their lifetime.
on the industry for mass production.”
product may be different if you are able to
“Being able to process solar cells entirely at
Also at Georgia Tech, the research invo-
provide people with a solution that would
room temperature using this simple solution-
lved professors Samuel Graham and Seth
allow them to make their own solar cells.
based technique could pave the way for a
Marder, both from the Center for Organic
It could one day enable people to power
scalable and vacuum-free method of device
Photonics and Electronics. Beyond Georgia
themselves and be independent of the grid.”
fabrication, while significantly reducing
Tech, the project also involved Naoya
Organic solar cells have been studied in
the time and cost associated with it,” said
Aizawa from Kyushu University; Ming Wang,
many academic and industrial labora-
Vladimir Kolesov, a Ph.D. researcher and
Guillermo Bazan and Thuc-Quyen Nguyen
tories for several decades, and have expe-
the paper’s lead author.
from the University of California Santa
rienced a continuous and steady impro-
Beyond solar cells, the doping technique
Barbara, and Alberto Perrotta from Eind-
vement in their power conversion efficiency
could be more broadly used in other areas of
hoven University of Technology,
Ultrathin protective layer brings quite a bit more stability to perovskite solar cell The addition of a few nanometers of a
Anti-humidity protection
a perovskite solar cell against humidity
rchers have covered the sensitive layer
commercial application of this new
of aluminum oxide to protect against
is a yield boost of 3 percent. These are
layers are contained within the solar
University of Technology and research
and electric contact. The researchers
collective, published in the journal
thin layer of aluminum oxide protects
In the findings just published, the resea-
– still a major stumbling block to the
of perovskite with a few atomic layers
type of solar cell. A surprising bonus
degradation caused by humidity. These
the findings of researchers at Eindhoven
cell, between the layers of perovskite
institute ECN, part of the Solliance
opted for aluminum oxide (Al2O3) since it can form immediately on any kind of
by atomic layer deposition (ALD), the
Energy and Environmental Science.
surface. “Although Al2O3 has electrically
researchers compared the stability of
Solar cells made from perovskite have
insulating properties, it can still be used as
these cells with identical cells without this
undergone rapid development in recent
a buffer layer between the semi-conductive
layer. The complete cells were not given
years. Perovskite is a mineral that has
perovskite and the conductive contacts
any further protection against humidity
the same crystal structure as calcium-
by limiting the thickness of the layer
with sealed packaging. Two months after
titanium-oxide (CaTiO3). The yield of this
to one nanometer or less,” says FOM
being exposed to a humid atmosphere the
type of solar cell has risen to 22% in just
PhD student and first author Dibyashree
cells containing the Al2O3 layer reached
a few years. A drawback for the moment,
Koushik (TU/e group Plasma and Materials
60-70% of their original yield while the
though, is the damaging effect of humidity:
Processing). “Charge carriers can then
reference cells managed only 12%.
water vapor from the atmosphere reacts
tunnel electrically through the insulator
Higher yield
with the perovskite crystals causing a
layer.”
Moreover, the layer boosted the yield from
considerable reduction in the yield over
Comparing layer/no layer
15% to 18%. “That was an extra bonus
Once manufactured, whereby thin layers
for us,” leader of the study Prof.Dr. Ruud
were applied with precise composition
Schropp (TU Eindhoven) says. “We had
time. This instability is a stumbling block to successful commercialization.
VOL 1 l ISSUE 5 l JANUARY 2017 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
57
INNOVATIONS not expected this and we cannot exactly
also increase in those cells.”
light in the perovskite layer and thereby
explain why it is. But we will certainly be
Broad range
the optimum utilization of electrical current.
The fact that the protective aluminum oxide
Schropp: “All this and more robust use
raise the perovskite cell record is difficult
layer is not incorporated on the outside, as
of the cells.”of the solar cell and allows
to say, according to Schropp. “They are
often attempted by other researchers, also
the maximum penetration of light in the
constructed in a completely different
makes it possible to apply a broad range
perovskite layer and thereby the optimum
way to the simple, scalable structure we
of materials on both sides of the solar cell
utilization of electrical current. Schropp:
chose. But the stability will very probably
and allows the maximum penetration of
“All this and more robust use of the cells.”
investigating.” Whether the layers will
Game changer for organic solar cells With a new technique for manufacturing single-layer organic polymer solar cells, scientists at UC Santa Barbara and three other universities might very well move organic photovoltaics into a whole new generation of wearable devices and enable small-scale distributed power generation. The simple doping solution-based process involves briefly immersing organic semiconductor films in a solution at room temperature. This technique, which could replace a more complex approach that requires vacuum processing, has the potential to affect many device platforms, including organic printed electronics, sensors, photodetectors and light-emitting diodes. The researchers' findings appear in the journal Nature Materials. "Because the new process is simple to use, general in terms of applicability and should be configurable into mass productions, it has the potential to greatly accelerate the widespread implementation of plastic electronics, of which solar cells are one example," said co-author Guillermo Bazan, director of UCSB's Center for Polymers and Organic Solids. "One can see impacts in technologies ranging from light-emitting devices to transistors to transparent solar cells that can be incorporated into building design or greenhouses." Studied in many academic and industrial laboratories for two decades, organic solar cells have experienced a continuous and steady improvement in their power conversion efficiency with laboratory values reaching 13 percent compared to around 20
58
percent for commercial silicon-based cells.
a multiple layer device structure," said co-
Though polymer-based cells are currently
author Thuc-Quyen Nguyen, a professor
less efficient, they require less energy to
in UCSB's Department of Chemistry and
produce than silicon cells and can be more
Biochemistry. "The realization of single-
easily recycled at the end of their lifetimes.
layer photovoltaics with our approach will
This new method, which provides a way
simplify the device fabrication process and
of inducing p-type electrical doping in
therefore should reduce the cost. The initial
organic semiconductor films, offers a sim-
lifetime testing of these single layer devices
pler alternative to the air-sensitive moly-
is promising. This exciting development will
bdenum oxide layers used in the most
help transform organic photovoltaics into a
efficient polymer solar cells. Thin films of
commercial technology."
organic semiconductors and their blends
Organic solar cells are unique within the
are immersed in polyoxometalate solutions
context of providing transparent, flexible
in nitromethane for a brief time -- on the
and easy-to-fabricate energy-producing
order of minutes. The geometry of these
devices. These could result in a host of novel
new devices is unique as the functions of
applications, such as energy-harvesting
hole and electron collection are built into
windows and films that enable zero-cost
the light-absorbing active layer, resulting
farming by creating greenhouses that
in the simplest single-layer geometry with
support crops and produce energy at the
few interfaces.
same time.
"High-performing organic solar cells require
SAUR ENERGY.COM l JANUARY 2017 l VOL 1 l ISSUE 5
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