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EDITORIAL CONTENT
The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. While the publisher makes every effort to ensure that the contents in the magazine are correct. However, he can accept no responsiblity for any effects from errors or omissions. Any unauthorised reproduction of Saur Energy International content is strictly forbidden. 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. SAUR ENERGY.COM l AUGUST 2016
Editorial... E
Wishing you a very Happy 70th Independence Day!
Today’s India demands energy independence, which can only be achieved by means of renewable energy. We all know traditional grids cannot power the entire length and breadth of India. Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines said in a statement that a capacity addition target of 4000 MW and 12000 MW has been proposed for generation of electricity by wind and solar respectively during 2016-17 and a total of 315 MW have been already installed under Solar Roof top Scheme. Government has also formulated draft National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy with the objective to provide a framework for promotion of large grid connected wind-solar PV system for optimal and efficient utilization of transmission infrastructure and land, reducing the variability in renewable power generation and thus achieving better grid stability. Further, the Policy aims to encourage new technologies, methods and way-outs involving combined operation of wind and solar PV plants. In this issue we have strived to weave the Industry opinions on the calculative profitability reckoned to edify solar business in India and were spell-bound with the extolling insights which we hoarded. On the heels, storage sector is also flourishing like a green bay tree. As, Okaya has extensive and progressive plans for the solar storage sector, biggies like Samsung are also watching Indian solar market very closely. SECI has initiated a pilot project in which storage to be included in 100 MW tranche of Andhra Pradesh 750 MW solar tender. Talking of the arsenal of liberal arts we previewed, we deepened our know-how editorial virtuosity dedicating a Technology and research section which industriously dealt with new and optimized ESS for efficient functioning of micro grids. Withal, as said that a book is not just what its prologue delivers, our August issue’s Cover story we have broadly addressed on how battery technologies have evolved and India’s concrete stance to befit the sporadic electricity across the country. With solar, battery makes quite a market sense – does India lay-back in this industry and the potential it has adrenalized. How I’m putting the coins is that the Sun is shining very bright during this peak monsoon period also. Happy Reading!
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AUGUST 2016 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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NATIONAL NEWS
MNRE in process of finalizing the draft for National Lab Policy for Renewable Energy The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is in the process of marking the final seal on a national lab policy to set norms for standardization, testing and certification of renewable energy related products in India, and also define the infrastructure required for the testing centers. Expected to be completed within a month’s time, the policy document is in the final stage of being drafted. MNRE Director BS Negi, who is heading the committee and National Institute of Solar Energy’s (NISE) Director OS Sastry have already composed a draft policy document. Until now, there were no existing standards for products such as solar batteries, solar pumps, solar thermal systems and solar lanterns; the draft mentions that these products need to be quickly put in place. It also defines the technical standards that each of these solar products should adhere to.
Import of solar cells, modules increases by more than three times in India Imports of solar cells and modules are on the rise, with in-bound shipments surging over three times to Rs 15,523 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 5,051 crore in 2014-15. Early this year in April, the import of solar modules and cell stood at Rs. 936 crore- said the New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. The imports stood at Rs 4,317 crore in 2013-14. Goyal said, “Manufacturers from the US, China and other countries are supplying solar cells and modules in India and in some cases; the price is much lower than what is being offered by domestic manufacturers.” He further added “because of international competition, the domestic manufacturers are impacted.” On the government not imposing anti-dumping duty on such countries, the minister said: "Indian manufacturers gave in writing that they are not interested in continuing with the anti-dumping petition." Director General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) had recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of solar cells and modules from China, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and the US in May 2014.
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Chennai Metro to go fully solar by next year
Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) is reportedly planning to go fully solar in phase one of 2017. 1MW of solar power will be available in next few months, while another 8MW is expected to be accessible by next year. The plan is not just to make it self-sufficient but also feed the surplus power to the Tangedco grid. The solar panels will be installed on rooftop of elevated stations, depot and on buildings of underground stations. The CMRL have identified around 29 locations with a total rooftop area of 79,759 sq.m to install 8MW capacity solar plant.
NATIONAL NEWS
EESL and TERI sign MoU for strategic partnership to achieve energy efficiency in India and abroad
Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has entered into a strategic partnership with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) for two years. The MoU was signed between the two parties in the presence of Union Minister of State (IC) Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, PiyushGoyal. Under the MoU, both the organizations will work jointly for the achievement of common goals and objectives related to energy efficiency in India and abroad. TERI will be working with governments, regulatory bodies, industry organizations, and utilities to create a policy environment for clean energy technologies, while EESL will emphasize on implementing projects and programmes to promote clean energy technologies through innovative policy based business model to end users.
Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited bags 30MW solar project in Maharashtra Tata Power has announced that its 100% subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd. (TPREL) has bagged 30 MW grid connected photovoltaic project of in Maharashtra. The projects have been awarded in the DCR category under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) Phase-II Batch-III Tranche-l under ‘State Specific Bundling Scheme’. TPREL will sign a 25 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. Rahul Shah, CEO & ED-Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd, said, “This is the third LOI received by TPREL in recent months and brings our solar bid wins to 145 MW. Receiving this Letter of Intent for 30 MW of non-fossil fuel energy will further add to our total generation capacity, thereby, significantly increasing our green footprint.” AUGUST 2016 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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NATIONAL NEWS
Government doubles power generation target from solar energy parks Government is working on doubling the power generation target from solar energy parks to 40,000 MW in the backdrop of slow off take of rooftop solar and problems being faced by some project developers. The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) is keen to set up solar park projects with a cumulative capacity of 20,000 MW; in addition to the already launched similar programme of 20,000 MW in 2014, a senior government official said. According to the official, there has been slow progress of rooftop solar projects as it is mainly being implemented by institutions like government offices, schools and colleges.
Solar-Apps Energy announces availability of all-in-one solar LED street lights
MNRE collaborates with KfW for floating solar projects in Maharashtra and Kerala
Solar-Apps Energy has announced the availability of its all in one solar LED street lights. These new street lights use Lithium Phosphate batteries instead of inefficient lead acid. It comes with a LED heat sink for longer life, and fixed point tracking solar panel for highest efficiency. According to the company these all in one compact unit comes without any wiring or installation hassles. Solar-Apps Energy notes that the energy saving solar street lighting system is a self-sufficient, independent lighting system that eliminates the need to construct buried electrical supply trunks that are typical in conventional street lighting systems. The smart control feature with PIR motion sensor integrated in the street lights helps to save more power. When people enter within 10m radius of the street light , it glows in full power and when they move out, it automatically switches to power energy saving mode, notes the company on its website.
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in collaboration with Germany-based development bank KfW will set up two floating solar PV plants in the Maharashtra and Kerala. Both the plants are estimated to cost around USD 46.15 million. “The KfW-funded floating solar park would be a showcase project that would demonstrate the technical viability of large solar projects,” said an MNRE senior official, “To begin with, at least 40 MW of floating solar capacity would be set up.” MNRE recently conducted a study to assess the potential of floating solar power in the country. Larger capacity floating solar plants are expected to be built once technical viability of the floating solar technology is assessed from the initial two projects.
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MARKET GLANCE
Silicon Metal Market to be Worth US$ 3.4 Billion by 2024: TMR Silicon metal is derived from quartz, globally its market is highly consolidated and is led by a handful of multinational companies. Transparency Market Research in its report revealed that this has compelled players to focus on product differentiation as well as supply chain integration in order to survive this challenging vendor landscape. The report states that rising demand for solar panels and in turn silicon metal in North America, Europe, and emerging economies of Asia Pacific will offer immense opportunities for manufacturers during the forecast period. "An increasing number of manufacturers today have silicon metal manufacturing assets, quart mining units, and even produce downstream products so as to establish a strong foothold in the silicon metal market," said an analyst at TMR. Key applications of silicon metal include aluminum alloys, silicones/silanes, semiconductors, solar panels, and others (laboratory reagents, etc.) Dow Corning Corporation, for instance, has been successfully performing mergers and acquisitions in the silicon metal market to establish an integrated and low-cost-intensive supply chain. Over the years, the company has acquired the silicon manufacturing assets of different companies and this has enabled it to not only provide efficiency and stability to its business operations but also integrate these operations. Giving another instance of Wynca Group, TMR said strong technical support network and research and development activities through the Organic Research Institute has helped the company develop newer applications of
silicon in the downstream segment. The report analyzes and forecasts the market for silicon metal at the global and regional level. TMR notes that market forecast is based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) from 2016 to 2024, considering 2015 as the base year. The report includes drivers and restraints of the global silicon metal market and covers impact of these drivers and restraints on demand for silicon metal during the forecast period. Additionally, detailed value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the global silicon metal market and Porter’s Five Forces model for the silicon metal market has also been included to help understand the competitive landscape in the market. The study highlights opportunities in the silicon metal market at the global and regional level. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, wherein applications are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness. It provides a decisive view of the global silicon metal market by segmenting it in terms of application such as aluminum alloys, silicones/silanes, semiconductors, solar panels, and others. These segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends. Regional segmentation includes current and forecast demand for silicon metal in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report also covers demand for applications of silicon metal in all the regions. The report provides the estimated market size of silicon metal for 2016 and forecast for the next eight years. The global market size of silicon metal has been provided in terms
of volume and revenue. Market volume has been defined in kilo tons, while market revenue is in US$ Mn. Market numbers have been estimated based on key applications of silicon metal. Market size and forecast for products and applications have been provided in terms of global and regional markets. In order to compile the research report, TMR conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a number of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Secondary research sources that are typically referred to include, but are not limited to company websites, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, investor presentations, SEC filings, GUNTHER Portfolio, REN21, Forbes, internal and external proprietary databases, and relevant patent and regulatory databases such as ICIS, Hoover’s, oneSOURCE, Factiva, Bloomberg, national government documents, statistical databases, trad journals, market reports, news articles, press releases, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market. The report comprises profiles of major companies operating in the global silicon metal market. Key players profiled in the report include China National Bluestar (Group) Co, Ltd., Dow Corning Corporation, MINASLIGAS, RW silicium GmbH, Simcoa Operations Pty Ltd, Wacker Chemie AG, Ferroglobe PLC, and Yunnan Yongchang Silicon Industry Co., Ltd. The companies have been profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments.
AUGUST 2016 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Commercial Rooftop Solar PV Guide released by UK RE Leaders
Two renewable energy leaders in the United Kingdom, Renewable Energy Association and BRE National Solar Centre have released a new Rooftop Solar PV Guide for installing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on commercial rooftops, which will be of great help to both tenants and landlords of commercial buildings in their bids to decrease energy costs and reduce the carbon footprints. The new solar guide, titled “Solar PV on commercial buildings: A guide for owners and developers,” was compiled with the help of REA members that hold commercial rooftop solar experience in technical, legal, financial issues, and was edited by Gaynor Hartnell, who is a Community Engagement Advisor for the REA. The introduction to the solar PV guide mentions there is “an estimated 250,000 hectares of south facing commercial roof space in the country” which could be used to meet about 50 percent of the UK’s electricity demand if properly covered with rooftop solar arrays.
JA Solar Reaches Important Milestone in Monocrystalline PV Product Shipments JA Solar Holdings has announced that as of middle of July this year, the company’s shipments of monocrystalline PV products over the last ten years totaled 7GW. Founded in 2005, JA Solar focuses on the research and development of monocrystalline cell products. Since 2010, JA Solar has been one of the leading solar cell and P-type monocrystalline cell manufacturer. After transforming its main business from cells to modules, JA Solar’s shipments of monocrystalline modules reached 500MW in 2013, making the company the world’s largest P-type monocrystalline module provider. In 2014, the company shipped more than 1GW of monocrystalline modules, and the figure for 2016 is expected to near 2GW. Percium, launched in October 2013 as a flagship product, is a high-efficiency monocrystalline module developed by JA Solar. Percium modules feature better low-light performance, a lower temperature coefficient, lower light attenuation, and better PID resistance.
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Photon Energy Adds 28.5 MWP To Its O&M Portfolio Photon Energy Operations, a subsidiary of global solar power solutions provider Photon Energy NV, has taken over the operations, maintenance and monitoring of 17 PV power plants in the Czech Republic with a total capacity of 28.5 MWp. The power plants are owned by Energy 21. One of Photon Energy’s main advantages for Energy 21 is the company’s expertise when dealing with central PV inverters, in this particular case Satcon inverters. “We are proud to have been chosen by Energy 21 as their O&M provider“, says CEO Georg Hotar. “We now have almost 100 MWp under O&M in the Czech Republic and being an international company we are a reliable partner for international investors with portfolios in Central Europe, who do not have a permanent presence here.” Photon Energy recently entered into a cooperation agreement with GreatWall, the successor of central inverter producer Satcon. The agreement includes new product and spare parts distribution as well as service partnership for Satcon and Great Wall technology in Europe and Australia.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Canada to set up large-scale solar power plant in Balochistan
Canadian Government and Balochistan have signed an agreement to set up solar plants of 1,000MW in different parts of the province. The agreement was signed by Chief Secretary Saifullah Chattah provincial government under special power received through the Pakistan constitution. Under the agreement Canadian firm would establish 20 solar power projects of 50MW plant each in different areas of the province to meet the electricity requirement. A Canadian delegation is expected to visit Pakistan soon to finalize the various project locations. Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri has asked the Balochistan Investment Board to play its due role for bringing in more investment to the province.
China installed 20GW of solar PV in first half of 2016 China’s solar surge has accelerated drastically in the first half (H1) of this year, the country added 20 GW of new PV capacity in the six months ending June 30, which is three times more than same period last year. Wang Bohua, General Secretary of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA), said that the surge in capacity has extended China’s lead over Germany as the top solar producer. Moreover, the power developers too were instructed to execute the installations ahead of a proposed reduction in the price paid for solar power by grid operators, Wang added. The Government of China in late 2015 dictated that solar projects that were operational by June 30 2016, would be entitled for a ‘feed-in tariff’ of roughly 1.0 yuan (15 U.S. cents) per kilowatt hour (kwh), while projects that were completed after said date would be eligible for a lower tariff rate. AUGUST 2016 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Modernize Launches ModSun Solar Cost Calculator for Homeowners
Modernize has announced the launch of ModSun, an easy-to-use solar panel cost calculator for homeowners. ModSun is powered by the only solar resource with nationwide Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data. It accurately maps each square meter of a rooftop’s size, slope, orientation and average sunlight intensity. According to the company ModSun can instantly provides the homeowner with a 3D visualization of their rooftop’s solar energy potential and a personalized, user-friendly cost assessment for offsetting up to 100 percent of their home’s electricity usage. ModSun calculates the output potential of a solar panel system and its total cost to the homeowner, accounting for current local electric rates, recommended system size based on energy usage and weather patterns, specific federal and state incentives and detailed purchasing or financing options.
Solar Ware Samurai 1500VDC photovoltaic inverter achieves UL 1741 safety certification Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation (TMEIC) has announced that its Solar Ware Samurai 1500VDC photovoltaic inverter has achieved a UL 1741 safety certification. The new inverter is the latest addition to TMEIC's portfolio of PV utility scale solar inverters for industrial markets. The company in a statement said that its Solar Ware inverters offer industry's most advanced grid management in an efficient, compact footprint. "At TMEIC, we are committed to helping our customers deliver safe and reliable power by designing and manufacturing inverters that meet the industry's highest standards," says Donn Samsa, TMEIC Renewable Energy General Manager. "This UL certification demonstrates our commitment to delivering high quality, high performance inverters and highlights our dedication to bringing
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our customers the equipment needed to develop modern and efficient grids, while adhering to the highest safety standards."
CONFRENECE
EEETech 2016
Technical Conference & Exposition on Energy Efficiency, Environment & Technology Theme: Building Competitive & Energy Efficient India Thursday, 1 – Friday, 2 September 2016: IHC, New Delhi Energy is central to sustainable development and a key to strategic planning of any country. It affects all the aspects of development – economic and social and environmental. India has emerged as a fastest growing economy and the energy sector holds the key in accelerating the growth and prosperity, especially to take forward the Make in India vision. While every year, significant amount of the energy is wasted through transmission, heat loss and inefficient technology, Energy Efficiency determines the growth and competitiveness of businesses. Also, being energy efficient and adopting environment best practices is the new way of branding your organisation and reaching to the global market. Be Energy Efficient - Multiply Margins CII’s study & experience shows that there is around 10 – 30% energy saving potential in industries. In India, Energy costs have risen by more than three fold in the last decade. Thus, cutting down on costs is the easiest and the fastest way to multiply earnings. Energy cost is a major component of production cost, excellence in energy efficiency ensures a healthy bottom line through the most productive consumption of energy. In this context, CII-Avantha Centre of Excellence for Competitiveness is organising a Technical Conference and Exposition on Energy Efficiency, Environment and Technology on 1-2 September 2016 at IHC, New Delhi to provide a platform for thought provoking discussions and technology led solutions on various issues of Energy Efficiency, Energy Security Mechanism, Environment Concerns & Best Practices to make India
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competitive and global. The conference will be a platform for discussions pertaining to latest technology trends and the future of energy efficiency and its effect on environment. It will also be an opportune platform to network and showcase products / technology to a targeted audience. Key Technical Sessions: 1. Energy Efficient Utility System 2. Electrical System & Energy Efficiency at Design Stage 3. Innovative Technology for Energy Efficiency 4. Latest Standards in Energy Efficient Equipment/ System 5.Renewable Energy Industrial Application and Best Environmental Practices 6. Energy Efficiency through Automation 7. World Class Practices – Case Study from Industry & Financing Mechanism for Energy Efficiency 8. Energy Efficiency in Thermal System 9. Characteristic of World Class Energy Efficient Organisation Participate to Learn: 1. Techniques to reduce operational cost of an organisation
SAUR ENERGY.COM l AUGUST 2016
2. Techniques for reducing thermal and electrical energy consumption in operations 3. New trends in Design & Selection of Equipment 4. Benchmark Practices being implemented by Energy Leaders 5. Design Stage Considerations for Lowest Life Cycle Cost 6. Tools for energy monitoring on a continuous basis 7. Sustain energy efficient culture at the workplace EEETech 2016, will be attended by government officials, about 150 participants including industry stalwarts & strategists and about 35 speakers. For further information, please contact: Manpreet Singh Counsellor – Energy Management Mobile: +91 9876724003 Email: manpreet.singh@cii.in Priyanka Sehgal Executive Mobile: +91 8054579556 Email: priyanka.sehgal@cii.in
MARKET GLANCE
Commercial Energy Storage Economics in the U.S Will be Attractive by 2021: GTM Research In its latest report, The Economics of Commercial Energy Storage in the U.S., GTM Research analyzed rate structures across 51 utilities to determine the opportunity for demand charge management for commercial energy storage customers. According to the report, commercial energy storage economics are attractive in seven U.S. states. And that number is expected to grow to 19 states by 2021. U.S. commercial energy storage deployments grew fourteenfold between 2013 and 2015, making it the fastest-expanding segment of the U.S. energy storage market. While that growth rate is very high, it’s important to note that the commercial storage market is expanding from a small base. Adoption today is limited to a handful of states with local incentives and high retail electricity rates. However, as storage costs continue to decline, more markets will emerge as offering attractive economics.
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The report models the internal rate of return (IRR) for 1-hour and 2-hour storage systems for both the small/ medium-sized and large commercial customer segments. It found that demand-charge rates of at least $15 per kilowatt per month are necessary to achieve favorable economics for energy storage today. By 2021, commercial storage economics will be favorable for certain utility tariffs with demand charges as low as $11 per kilowatt per month. Large commercial customers in 17 U.S. states will have an internal rate of return of 5 percent or higher, which GTM Research identifies as “in the money.” For small/medium-sized systems, 14 states will be economically attractive. Taken together, there will be 19 unique states primed for commercial storage adoption in 2021. Under GTM Research’s aggressive cost reduction case, storage costs are forecasted to fall 15 percent annually over the next five
SAUR ENERGY.COM l AUGUST 2016
years. In this scenario, there could be as many as 26 states where commercial storage is economically attractive. Energy storage can provide multiple benefits across the grid. However, most of the commercial storage deployed today is used to provide demandcharge-related bill savings. “In this report, we wanted to provide an outlook for demand-charge-based economics of commercial storage, treating storage as a one-trick pony,” said Ravi Manghani, GTM Research’s director of energy storage and lead author of the report. “In reality, policy and market structures are evolving to help storage owners capitalize on other value streams as well. Effectively, this analysis should be viewed as the floor for commercial storage potential. The results establishing attractive economics in over a third of the states by 2021 is a promising sign for the future of commercial storage in the U.S.”
MARKET GLANCE
The residential solar market in the US to grow at a CAGR of 33.12% by 2020: Research and Markets Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Residential Solar Market in the US 2016-2020" report to their offering. The research firm forecasts the residential solar market in the US to grow at a CAGR of 33.12% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the residential solar market in the US for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, Research and Markets collected the annual installed capacity of residential solar PV systems through secondary research. Government policies and targets of various US states have been considered while estimating the market size said the firm in a statement. In order to calculate the market revenue, the average price of PV balance of system (BOS) based on customer feedback has been taken into consideration. According to the report,
a key growth driver is the incentives offered at the federal and state levels along with solar friendly policies. Policies and incentives play a crucial role in the widespread deployment of renewable energy technologies such as solar PV systems. Incentives, awareness programs, and policies offered by the federal government are integral to the growth of the residential solar market in the US. Tax credit policies such as solar ITC have triggered the sales and demand for solar PV systems. The report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. It covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The author of the report recognizes companies like NRG Energy, SolarCity, Sungevity, Sunrun, Verengo, and Vivint Solar as the key players in the residential solar market in the US. Other Prominent Vendors in the market are: First Solar, Borg Energy, Jinko Solar, and ReneSola.
Commenting on the report, an analyst from the research team said: “A key trend that will offer sustained market growth is the advances made in the area of battery storage technology. Intermittency has been one of the biggest challenges in using renewable energy for power generation. However, this challenge has been overcome by the recent advances in battery storage capacity. Cost and storage capacity of the batteries have improved with extensive research and large-scale deployment. Aqueous solar flow is one such technological breakthrough, introduced by the Ohio State University in 2015.� The report states that low conversion efficiency of solar PV systems could hamper market growth. Though there is intense research to improve the efficiency of solar PV technologies, the conversion efficiency of solar PV systems is by far the lowest in electricity generation technologies.
AUGUST 2016 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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what's
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stored in the solar storage - Niloy Banerjee
The war of storage is no novice in the generation of digital transformation. Perhaps, the word storage can be framed with human evolution as we dignified civilization and society further to individual home, hence imagining a home is also a fact of storage where it composites humans and their endeared beholdings. Now, the fact of sociology has a great impact to whatever it has created. The reason it is believed ‘Technology are a rationale cognizance of Humans stored in the earthly forms of energy’. The Untold History To move beyond the myths and wizardly stories, the discovery of electricity is kept in the mere limelight. From the discovery of coal to the implementation of solar panels, inventors and explorers have avant-garde the energy industry to where it is today. Notwithstanding, across the past 4(four) hundred years the most novel discoveries is electricity, though it has been used in different forms from centuries it came into ‘light’ by mid to late 1800s. Similarly, batteries also contain prehistoric stories like getting unearthed from Baghdad. So in the course of discussing the history, today, we have gained all that we made centuries before to emerge as a complete organized sector dividing into two prime commercially accepted forms of technology a) Lead-Acid Batteries b) Lithium-ion Batteries.
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COVER STORY
Batteries – An Important Aspect of Modern Life They are portable, quiet, compact, and can start-up with the flick of a switch. Importantly, batteries can also store energy from the sun and wind for future use. However, batteries also have many limitations that prevent them from taking on an even bigger role in society. They must be recharged, and they hold a limited amount of energy. A single battery cycle is only so long, and after many of them, they begin to lose potency. Therefore, to understand the market for batteries and how it may look in the future, it is essential to understand what a battery can and cannot do. ‘Storage’ - The Misunderstood Technology To the present scenario, it is no grave digging that solar energy has given a solace of new hope to the juggling battery sector. Making it an undeniable part of the solar technology the futurebold solar industry is set to debunk on what’s more store on the solar storage attics. The ambitious solar plans of India are reiterated to and fro but if you think it in the aspect of much coveting achievement of innovation then we will find ourselves reading the prologue. It’s not just that we have to achieve the 100GW(Gigawatt) solar projects but have to also create an ecosystem stating every aesthetics for the achieving the goal has to be previewed. One of an integral part of the ecosystem is the storage since batteries are composed of chemicals, the way and conditions under which they have used affects their performance, cost and lifetime. For instance, in many cases, the amount of a battery’s capacity used, also known as depth of discharge (DoD), dramatically affects its operational life. This is measured in charge cycles. A battery’s capacity is often referred to in energy terms as power over a specified time. Megawatt hours (MWh) or kilowatt-hours
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(kWh) are examples. Another important metric is power capability, which is the amount of power an installation can provide. Power capability is denoted in MW or kW. Ambient conditions like temperature also have an important effect in many battery types. Definitions of these concepts must thus be understood when approaching the topic of battery storage. It is important to note that different battery types have unique attributes. In addition, manufacturers of batteries technology differ and the characteristics of the leading market batteries available like sodium-sulphur, advanced lead-acid, lithium-ion and flow batteries might always give you different results. Key drivers to battery deployment vary by application and requirements are unique to each location. For islands and off-grid applications, they include the high cost of diesel fuel and a desire to integrate greater amounts of variable renewable energy while maintaining electricity supply reliability. Solar PV and battery storage at the household level is driven by government support, concerns over electricity supply in areas with a weak grid and economic trends. These include decreasing costs of small-scale battery systems, falling feed-in tariffs (FiTs) and rising retail electricity prices. Batteries are being used for a number of purposes. These include smoothing and energy supply shift applications driven by incentive programmes and regulatory requirements to increase renewables use. Other drivers are the need to control variable renewable energy feed-in to minimise variability and better match renewable electricity supply with area demand. Fast frequency regulation, technology developments and regulatory changes to compensate short-term balancing for fast and accurate response are also driving implementation. Evolution of Storage Technology It’s never bad imagining the term where entire power demands of a single household can be met by rooftop and
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on-site solar panels, which integrated with energy storage can eventually set itself free from the grid. But where is the problem, no technology to deliver optimum performance, reliability cause or the cost which hinders the consumers to adopt temporary option and go back fetching the ‘Cheap and Best’ stuff? As the storage technology evolves and technology like Lithiumion batteries enters the Indian rupee market the algorithms of utility-customer relationships are set to revolutionize. Battery storage costs have reduced substantially over the last few years from over USD 1000 per kWh to about USD 350 per kWh, this massive cost slump in dollars shall bring the rupee spenders to some relief. The graph below shares a clear indication on where the battery business is moving in terms of cost and LCOE. Government Plans for Storage Magnets Global Players Large companies are sneaking o’clock to foray into the sector. Few of the late announcements shall also take you on serendipity marking the influx of storage technology and its growing market in India. As India plans for the first time to include energy storage as a requirement when a solar project is tendered this month, opening what could become a significant new market for battery makers such as Tesla Motors Inc., Samsung SDI Co. and Panasonic Corp. The state-owned Solar Energy Corp. of India, which is responsible for implementing the government’s green targets, will ask bidders to include a storage component in 100 MW of the 750 MW of solar capacity tendered in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, Managing Director Ashvini Kumar said in an interview. The intention of the pilot program is to reduce fluctuations in electricity supply in order to make possible the transfer of clean energy between states. The Andhra Pradesh project includes 15
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Moreover, Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, told a gathering at the Mumbai University in suburban Kalina that India aims to achieve its 100 GW solar target as early as the end of 2017. The question is: Is this target achievable? India’s total installed solar power capacity stands at 5.8 GW, so the country will need to significantly ramp up the pace of solar capacity additions, from an average 4 GW per year to 15+ GW per year to meet the 2022 target. Critics have been skeptical, citing hurdles like poor transmission infrastructure and lack of access to finance. Yet recent signs show that the country is starting to make serious progress on how it will achieve its lofty solar goals. According to the targets, India will add 12 GW of new solar power capacity this fiscal year, and add 15 GW and 16 GW of new solar capacity in FY2018 and FY2019, respectively. This will also bring the country closer to the government’s commitment of providing 24-hour electricity to all Indians by 2019. minutes of storage each for two solar installations. Warehousing power is considered a crucial component of India’s green targets. The requirement, if more broadly adopted, has the potential to invigorate the storage market because of India’s outsized ambitions for the industry. It would give manufacturers the scale they need to help bring down costs of battery storage that are holding back wider adoption.
Tesla sees an "exciting market opportunity" that it looks to expand in 2016, the Palo Alto-based company said in its third-quarter shareholder letter last year. Panasonic is preparing suitable products for India, said Hiren Pravin Shah, head of the energy business at the company’s local arm.
General Electric recently announced that its energy consulting business was chosen by IL&FS, one of India's leading infrastructure developers and financiers, to examine the feasibility of integrated wind, solar and energy storage projects at sites in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. By 2020, about 11.3 GW of energy storage will be installed globally, equivalent to less than one percent of the total installed capacity of intermittent renewables,
according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Much of the current focus on energy storage is in the U.S., Korea and Japan, said Logan Goldie-Scot, an energy storage analyst at London-based BNEF. “Recent actions in the Indian market suggest that both the government and the private sector are eager to take
advantage of recent cost reductions and performance improvements across the space,” Goldie-Scott said. It’s the time for Change in the Indian energy Storage Market A recently published research by Technavio on the global battery energy storage market for smart grid claims that lithium-ion batteries are to dominate the battery energy storage market. The research into detail describing the growth of the 3 segments in the global battery energy storage market for smart grid: Li-ion batteries, Lead-acid batteries and Sodium sulfur batteries, claiming that the li-ion batteries segment in particular is projected to reach 3,130 MW by 2020, growing at a CAGR of close to 72%. Global rechargeable battery market growth is positively influenced by factors like growing demand for lead-acid battery in new sectors, hence driving the market at 8.2% CAGR during 2015 to 2019. Analysts estimate the lead-acid battery segment to dominate over all other segments during the forecast period. This segment is envisaged to account for more than 53% of the total market share by 2019 and is influenced by factors like its cost effectiveness and increased power surge capabilities. A Renewable Future? Renewable energy sources like solar and wind face a similar problem – today’s battery technology cannot store big enough payloads of energy. To balance the load, excess energy must be stored somehow to be used when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. Currently, industrialstrength battery systems are not yet fully developed to handle this storage problem on a widespread commercial basis, though progress is being made in many areas. New technologies such as vanadium flow batteries could play an important role in energy storage in the future. But for now, large-scale energy storage batteries are experimental.
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In a live interview, Mr. Rajesh Gupta, Director, Okaya Power Ltd asserts that the Indian Solar Storage market is promising which is also bringing new opportunities to energy storage players. It’s also about a company offering the widest range of solar batteries with emerging applications and requirements to log the growth metrics in this Industry. He adds that Indian Customers are no different from the world other than the price sensitivity. As Indian consumers goes with ‘Cheap and Best’ mantra; big players like Okaya Power is all set to give maximum return per rupee to their customers. Solar is the prime focus for the company and it plans to foray strong scooping a major chunk of the market by 2020. Energy Density Li-ion batteries have a lot of advantages. Lithium is the third lightest element, which leads to the production high capacity of batteries. In addition, Li-ion batteries use non-aqueous electrolytes that offer high operating voltages. The biggest difference between batteries and other fuel types is in energy density. Even the best lithium-ion batteries have a specific energy of about 250 Wh/kg. That is just 2% of the energy density of gasoline, and less than 1% of hydrogen. Other energy storage technologies may also solve problems: • Chemical storage: Using excess electricity to create hydrogen fuel, which can be stored. • Pumped hydro: Using electricity to pump water up to a reservoir, which can be later used to generate hydroelectric
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power. • Compressed air: Using electricity to compress air in deep caverns, which can be released to generate power. • Solving this energy storage problem will pave the way for more use of renewables in the future on a grander scale. Next is the Unified System of Batteries Many of enterprises currently rely on lead-acid battery systems to provide emergency back-up power. The technology is stable, well-known and reliable. But, these installations have relatively short five-year lifespans, have to be visually inspected constantly, and take up a lot of space. Lithium-ion batteries take up much less space and last longer, but have earned a
reputation for overheating, as evidenced by recent hoverboard product problems. This is the biggest issue that needed to be resolved before lithium-ion batteries could replace lead-acid batteries as the best emergency power option. A properly designed BMS combined with the battery set solves the problem. It leverages the benefits of internet connectivity to allow technicians and engineers to monitor battery sets and their environment (including temperature) remotely. The system also automatically takes action to keep temperature under control, reducing risk and wear-and-tear. The BMS also extends the life of a lithium-ion battery emergency back-up system to ten years,
Harping on the future models of storage, Mr. Arvind Khanna, Senior Vice President, Solar Business, Luminous Power Technologies asserted that Integrating Energy Storage System (ESS) technologies with solar PV smoothen the output, reduce the intermittency and help in maintaining grid stability. ESS with solar PV can make solar power dispatchable, reduce stress on the grid and optimize overall system resources. In addition, ESS plays an important role in optimally sizing the solar PV systems for off-grid usage. Solar PV integrated with ESS can also be used to supply the peak load above the base load, in such a way that when solar energy is unavailable ESS can be used to supply the peak load. Highlighting on the key market trends, the veteran said that The power sector in India is expected to grow in coming years on account of increasing demand of electricity from the consumers. However, there has been an increasing awareness among the end consumers regarding the environmental issues which have led to development of clean energy technologies like solar energy. In the coming years, solar energy and solar power systems will play a big role in meeting consumer demand for electricity by reducing dependence on the use of conventional fossil fuels. The country’s National Solar Mission that aims for an installed capacity of 100 GW by 2022 demonstrates Indian government’s seriousness for building a solar nation. The installation of solar power systems at the rooftop of office buildings, residential apartments, community centers, government buildings will result in huge upsurge in the market of rooftop solar business in India. The India rooftop solar industry has witnessed a 66% growth in 2015, clearly hinting at a bright future for solar demand. But, the residential demand for solar is still lower than expected & with lowering of Solar generation cost, its expected to grow. Note* -The complete interview can be read at our Viz-a-Viz section.
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Samsung SDI “is currently evaluating business opportunities for photovoltaic plus energy storage applications, along with the micro-grid projects in order to supply eco-friendly energy in remote areas. It has also conceived some plans to bring their top-notch li-ion batteries to the cost stimuli Indian market. But for now no specific date or time is scheduled as the company asserts to be on a watch-dog process to evaluate the potential of the Indian storage market.” double the lifespan of lead-acid systems. Lithium Power has created a lithium battery energy storage system, the ESS500-48, which incorporates a new BMS. This proprietary BMS uses an internetbased reporting system that allows engineers to remotely monitor the backup power system after installation, even using their smartphones. The Consumers Needs the Storage Weed Therefore, the sweet spot for battery use today comes when batteries can take advantage of their best properties. To assess the suitability of a particular type for any specific use, there are 10 major properties worth looking at: • High Specific Energy: Specific energy is the total amount of energy stored by a battery. The more energy a battery can store, the longer it can run. • High Specific Power: Specific power is the amount of load current drawn from the battery. Without high specific power, a battery cannot be used for the high-drain activities we need • Affordable Cost: If the price isn’t right for a particular battery type, it may be worth using an alternative fuel source or battery configuration for economic reasons • Long Life: The chemical makeup of batteries isn’t perfect. As a result, they only last for a number of charge/ discharge cycles – if that number is low, that means a battery’s use may be
limited. • High Safety: Batteries are used in solar application or for important industrial or government applications – none of these parties want batteries to cause safety issues. • Wide Operating Range: Some chemical reactions don’t work well in the cold or heat – that’s why it’s important to have batteries that work in a range of temperatures where it can be useful. • No Toxicity: Nickel cadmium batteries are no longer used because of their toxic environmental implications. New batteries to be commercialized must meet stringent standards in these regards. • Fast Charging: What good would a smartphone be if it took two full days to recharge? Charge time matters. • Low Self-Discharge: All batteries discharge small amounts when left alone over time – the question is how much, and does it make an impact on the usability of the battery? • Long Shelf Life: The shelf life of batteries affects the whole supply chain, so it is important that batteries can be usable many years after being manufactured. There are many pros and cons to consider in choosing a battery type. The more reliable impact it puts the more chances it gets to become viable for market. India expects to get 15% of all power from renewables
by 2022 as against about 5.5% today. Greater amount of storage capacity will be required in future to address intermittency challenges of renewable energy by storing surplus electricity to meet short term demand-supply mismatch. Storage will also be critical in supporting the local grid through ancillary services such as frequency regulation, voltage support and peak demand shaving. While some proponents’ purview India as a land of opportunity for clean energy but the undeniable truth is it’s not that breathe easy. Financial problems, economic manipulation, legal issues and a stubborn bureaucracy haunt the green pathway. Over the past half century, most developments in India have come from the Government, as with the institutions who have abided to work amid the structural hullaballoo. With the current Government emphasizing to liberalize the dilapidated walls of reforms, the sector has some reason to make a value for their CAPEX model.
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VIZ-A-VIZ
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Arvind Khanna Senior Vice President, Solar Business, Luminous Power Technologies
he attempt to divulge the Solar Storage sector was a contrary to popular opinion. Aspects, reasons and facts happen to assimilate a unanimous voice asserting “A Vision to accomplish”. The twig to the Industry-leading opinions seems to be ascertained with the Gigawatt dream of India. Luminous Power Technologies - the well-known pioneers in Home electrical also has the ace in the hole for Solar Applications. With India helm towards the vision and mission of lighting every household, Mr. Arvind Khanna, Senior Vice President, Solar Business, Luminous Power Technologies speaks off-the-cuff with Niloy Banerjee, Associate Editor, Saur Energy International on the philosophy of Indian storage market and also purviews on the critical aspects which are ought to define this sagacious sector.
WE ARE WORKING WITH NEW CHEMISTRIES IN LINE WITH EVOLVING GLOBAL TRENDS Compared to traditional solar storage technologies, the price of Solar PV Panels is slumping dramatically. How this storage sector is striving to bring next-gen products with cost effectiveness? Traditional storage technologies are time proven & reliable but with its own limitation well known to consumers & all stake holders. However, with increasing storage requirement for Solar Installations, we expect batteries with high life & high performance with respect to the DOD at affordable price. The industry is working on various chemistries to make this a reality.
There is a strict certification procedure to qualify the battery through the tests corresponding to capacity, efficiency of watt-hour and amp-hour, and charge retention shelf life irrespective of type/capacity of battery. How does your company manage the regulations providing cutting-edge solutions to customers? Luminous batteries are designed keeping in mind the stringiest testing requirement. Besides the selection of raw material, we ensure that the products are consistent & conforms to the mandates. Tech history reveals that technologies in battery have
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VIZ-A-VIZ
not undergone quintessential advancements if compared to the world of connectivity or digitalization. No technology is useful without power, talking about solar storage technologies, what technological advancements the company is undergoing? We are working with new chemistries in line with evolving global technological trends, some of the promising & viable technologies being Li-FE-PO4 & Li-MnCo. These technologies offer high life, compact size & operate at almost 100% depth of discharge thereby bringing in consumer value. The local storage market has vast footprint in India with mid-level local manufacturers cultivating a large portion. How is your company poising to debunk the market potential of this sector? The Solar battery quality standards & requirements are largely driven by MNRE. The mandates require a manufacturer to provide a battery with a warranted life of Five Years. Today consumer is also aware & expects Five Year warranty product for Solar application. You need to have a high spec product to comply with these requirements. Small players can’t meet such a stringent requirement & can’t be relied for long term commitments. Power Intermittency is common in Solar PV modules (at least till now) hence consistency of power consumption is a concern for storage systems. Hence, offering the best security of supply even in the event of a mains power failure will be revolutionary. Any developments to purview into such hybrid model? Integrating Energy Storage System (ESS) technologies with solar PV smoothen the output, reduce the intermittency and help in maintaining grid stability. ESS with solar PV can make solar power dispatchable, reduce stress on the grid
and optimize overall system resources. In addition, ESS plays an important role in optimally sizing the solar PV systems for off-grid usage. Solar PV integrated with ESS can also be used to supply the peak load above the base load, in such a way that when solar energy is unavailable ESS can be used to supply the peak load. What are the current nuggets to bring Lithium-ion batteries to much acceptance than the Lead-Acid Batteries in the Indian Market? Lithium-Ion batteries have following advantages over conventional Lead-Acid Batteries – a. High life, b. Depth of Discharge c. Compact size We expect the consumer shall be willing to accept these features @ 1.85 price multiplier What are the key market trends you are witnessing in the solar market today? The power sector in India is expected to grow in coming years on account of increasing demand of electricity from the consumers. However, there has been an increasing awareness among the end consumers regarding the environmental issues which have led to development of clean energy technologies like solar energy. In the coming years, solar energy and solar power systems will play a big role in meeting consumer demand for electricity by reducing dependence on the use of conventional fossil fuels. The country’s National Solar Mission that aims for an installed capacity of 100 GW by 2022 demonstrates Indian government’s seriousness for building a solar nation. The installation of solar power systems at the rooftop of office buildings, residential apartments, community centers, government buildings will result in huge upsurge in the market of rooftop solar business in India. The India rooftop solar industry
has witnessed a 66% growth in 2015, clearly hinting at a bright future for solar demand. But, the residential demand for solar is still lower than expected & with lowering of Solar generation cost, it’s expected to grow. In your opinion, what are the critical prerequisites for the expansion of solar-plus-storage? Power Autonomy is the single most factor driving storage in the solar system. However, in India the need for storage is more critical due to the frequent power outages. As the power situation improves, we shall still need the back up as the solar power is poised to be cheaper than the grid power. Also the solar generation has a limitation that it can be generated during the daytime & in order to achieve solar selfreliance, storage remains the essential component. What are the major challenges today in the Indian PV storage market and what will be key market drivers for this sector? Electricity demand by more than 400 million Indian Homes presents a huge opportunity for off-grid solar solutions with storage systems for usage during long power cuts. While energy storage offers benefits such as grid-balancing, but grid stability is likely to pose a potential bottleneck for Indian PV in the coming years. Power tariff reforms like TOD metering, change in feed in tariffs & unreliable grid shall change the scenario & potentially create a demand for storage facility with every PV installation.
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TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
Emerging batterie management strat for microgrids
- Rahul Sethi It may sound ludicrous, but the concept of producing electricity is not very different from producing vegetables. It’s a different thing that the quality of one is increasing, the other in grave pity. We need more and more of electricity for our daily tasks – heating, cooling, cooking, commute (metro and electric vehicles); and so does the industry – refineries, paper mills, chemical/metal production, or even IT to power its mammoth data centres. But production time can differ from consumption time. The demand could be way below average production or 2-3 times of that. Not being able to store properly for later use has led to murkiest of consequences. Electrical transmission networks across the world use electrical energy storage systems (ESSs) to get away with this sudden surge in demand, by storing when available and releasing when not. This not only reduces burden on utilities and device wear that occurs from high peak-demand, but saves costs by delaying grid reinforcements. Distributed generation is also the next part of the grid puzzle countries are struggling to solve. Electricity production happens in bulk, mostly near fuel extraction centres to minimize transportation costs and loses. This has
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turned around with deeper proliferation of renewables. With renewable energy production rising fastest of all, EESs have one more benefit – bridge the gap between power generation and its intended time of use to raise their reliability. Generation can now take place at/near the load centres, most of it derived from abundantly available sources like solar, wind or water head. When deployed in small scale network, termed microgrids, they not only ease the load on central grid and saves tremendous loses incurred in T&D, but creates a decentralized, independent and flexible system of production and distribution that is easy to initiate/shut-down, control, maintain costeffectively and above all, encourages the use of green power. But with limited production, it is important to ensure a regular and balanced supply is fed to consumers. Energy Storage Systems or ESSs play a vital role in strengthening the ground for autonomous distributed generation systems like these by eliminating a major roadblock – intermittency or unpredictability of renewable energy sources. Hydrogen storage The most widely used method of storing electricity with zero percent harm to environment is Pumped Storage. Excess
TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
s and storage egies pave the way
An artist's impression of a hydrogen generation plant using HyperSolar H2Generator that directly converts solar energy to Hydrogen. electricity pumps water to a height storing potential energy; to initiate backup, water is flown back down to run generators and return electricity. But with high space requirements, they are more suitable to grid level deployment, storing massive amounts of energy for long period of time. Hydrogen Fuel Cell also uses water as an exchange medium. Excess electricity is applied to convert it into its constituents Hydrogen and Oxygen. Electricity is regenerated from the recombination of these gases and process produces water as waste. HFCs are modular storage units and can be scaled at a later stage using expansion units. Phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) were the first commercially available hydrogen storage units. They use liquid phosphoric as electrolyte and platinum coated carbon paper as electrodes. Hydrogen itself is part of an interesting research that implements it as a fuel. With highest density of energy (chemical), about five time of coal, it is already being used to power fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). They currently have a round trip efficiency ranging 70%-80% and have a competitive cost compared to batteries. Apart from cryogenic liquid form and compressed gas, cheaper and safer methods to store Hydrogen are being developed for a more widespread use of HFCs. Physisorption/chemisorption techniques for material based storage keeps a more stable form at ambient temperature and pressures. Latest research on new materials like Zeolites (MCM-41) and nanostructured hydride materials like binary hydrides (MgH2, TiH2) aim to capture and store more Hydrogen, preferably in solid state. Tweaking the
structure from bulk to thin film, nanoparticles and nanoconfined composites improve the hydrogen sorption properties, unlocking potential use in new technological applications. In the two above said cases, they are required to meet stringent gravimetric and volumetric adsorption requirement for storage capacity target set by DOE at 5% wt (1.8kWh/Kg). A Nature article reported how Gallium Phosphide, a material largely deployed in PV panels can be used to create extremely tiny ‘nanowires’ to achieve production of photo-electrochemical Hydrogen directly from solar energy and water. Its yield is about one-fifth of light-electricity-fuel cell production, but it is in initial phases and also, way cheaper than the panel in comparison. Hypersolar is also developing a solar hydrogen generator that directly has an electrolyser integrated into a solar cell. Named the H2Generator, it is a single unit making Hydrogen directly from water under the Sun. Redox Flow Batteries Electric utilities largely depend on lead-acid batteries for their storage. Despite several upgrades, modifications (like the VLRA batteries) and a low energy-to-volume ratio they have significant market share and are forecasted to continue to be deployed at an increasing pace of 6.4% every year (2016 – Grand View Research, Inc) Li-ion continues to grow at a similar pace. Having high energy density, lower maintenance and a solid state nature, they find perfect mate in renewables like solar. But its cost has remained a deterrent for bulk power storage and in developing countries its adoption has been anything but rapid. A Flow battery or a Redox Flow battery draws similarities from a battery and a fuel cell. Two liquids (electrolyte) separated by a membrane circulate in their respective space with the dissolved components creating a potential for ion exchange that happens AUGUST 2016 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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through the membrane. Depending upon the type of electrolyte and its state, the membrane, the electrode, a Flow battery can be of various types. First developed in 1940s they are now being considered as a promising technology and market has seen a variety of commercially successful products, primarily using HydrogenLithium, Vanadium-Vanadium, IronChromium and Zinc-Bromide/ZincBromine chemistries among others. But the industry research push is to use organic materials to make them harmless and inexpensive, especially if needs to be integrated with solar generation systems. A research letter published in Nature dicussed the conceptualization of Redox Flow batteries that use table salt solution as electrolyte, simple dialysis membranes and electrodes made out of organic polymers. At an estimated 10% cost of current RFBs, the letter cites a method to create metalfree, all-organic energy storage device fit for domestic or commercial use. The storage capacity of the prototype was adjusted to 10Ah per litre and it’s cycling stability tested for 10,000 repeated charge/discharge cycles at 20mA/cm2. It registered 80% retention in the capacity
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even in the static, un-pumped conditions and a stable voltage between 10%-90%
state of charge. Super Capacitors Capacitors are used invariably in the power system to improve the quality of power supplied. They work by storing and releasing the charge, thereby changing the phase difference between the supply voltage and current, which in turn changes the power factor of the output electricity. Compared to batteries, they can charge and discharge at a rapid pace as no chemical reaction is involved in the process. Electricity is stored as electrostatic charge on the surface of the material and can work for millions of charge/discharge cycles without degradation in capacity.
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But they can store it for a very small amount of time. Depending upon the electrodes and the dielectric medium used, charge on capacitors may last from a nanosecond to a few hours. And the amount retained is proportional to the size. Therefore, generally a bank of capacitors is used to achieve the desired results even in a small setup. Supercapacitors have charge storing capacities up to hundred times more usual (dielectric) capacitors. Several new approaches have been tried in the recent times for improving the electrochemical performance, charge retention at high discharge current and higher charge capacity per unit weight of the device. One such finding published in Sciencedirect used nitrogen-doped mersoporous carbon (OMC) electrodes to improve electrode wettability and chemical conductivity while providing additional pseudo-capacitance, Dan Liu et al. [2016]. It details large scale production of OMCs, in presence of amino acids as polymerization catalysts or nitrogen dopants, while maintaining highly ordered mesostructures. With a variable nitrogen content, flexible mesophase (3-D body centred cubic or 2-D hexagonal) and other techniques, the surface area can be significantly enhanced up to three times. In a symmetrical, two electrode configuration, it shows high capacitance of 186F/g (and 75% capacity retention at 20A/g current densitites) in ionic liquid electrolyte. If clubbed with ESS requiring high startup time, supercapacitors can be used to decrease the overall response time of a storage system and hence find huge interest in related applications.
STORAGE MANAGEMENT Using ESSs for a small system like rooftop or community might be easy to manage but zoom up things for an area level micro grid and things could become a little complicated to control. And storage systems are an expensive lot that can degrade easily if not sized and used
TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH correctly. Various energy management strategies have been developed for meticulous planning of a power system incorporating renewable generation sources and storage. Starting from overcharging/ discharging avoidance, optimizing battery cost to automated control and Hardware in-loop simulations, several energy management scheme strategies have been developed to improve storage lifetime and operability. A couple of them are discussed below. Receding Horizon control RHC or Receding Horizon Control is a predictive method wherein a system can generate control variables to decide automatically upon the dynamics of charging and transmission taking into account the intermittency of the renewable sources. Using heaps of weather prediction data sets, modelling, load patterns and other related parameters, the system can be steered in a direction that makes it reliable and optimized. The strategy takes advantage of prediction of the future generation in the power sources, the load requirement, and the evolution of the state of charge in the batteries. Predictions of the power sources and the load are performed using autoregressive models and historic data of wind speed, ambient temperature, solar radiation, and load demand. Thus, at a given time step, the energy management strategy takes decisions based on the future predictions over a finite prediction horizon. At the next time step new decisions are taken starting from the new state and over a shifted horizon, leading to a receding horizon policy. Depending on connected devices, the system can be operated in various modes aimed at maximum output without straining the resources. Particle Swarm Optimization based Algorithm PSO is a method that was developed for simulating social behaviour inspired by patterns of bird flocking or fish schooling. It was adopted as a computational method to find performance optimization
solution by collecting a number of possible solutions (particles) and applying them in the search-space using mathematical formulae to iteratively find their local best position and improve as a solution to the problem. Each particle has a velocity and position that is continuously updated using a time dependant PSO algorithm. A team of researchers from Taiwan used this method with the roulette wheel re-distribution mechanism to optimize a renewable energy – ESS hybrid generation system. Using real time data for weather forecast, solar irradiance, wind speed, the state of charge of battery and historic data for all of these and load power, a PSO algorithm is used to find if they lie within the boundaries of inequality constraints. A penalty mechanism for the battery keeps in check the depth of charge in life cycle of the battery while the unbalanced power can be reallocated to more superior element to restore balance and achieve lowest accumulated cost. Artificial Intelligence based Energy Management for Microgrid Have you watched the movie Her? The Hollywood flick is based on a computer program that has the capability to learn like human beings and become intelligent at properly using the vast amount of global data and supercomputing prowess to interact like a person.
That may happen decades later, but Artificial intelligence has evolved from its phase on paper. Using its various techniques, Aymen Chaouachi and a team of three others demonstrated an artificial neural network learns from the real life scenarios of availability of renewable power throughout the day and load demand. A fuzzy logic expert system is used for battery scheduling and to handle uncertainties regarding fuzzy operation of a microgrid. The approach could be used to considerably bring down operational costs, seamlessly integrate renewable and battery energy sources into the grid. The Harmony Search Algorithm Metaphorically, each musician plays a note in way to create most harmony among themselves. In metaheuristic terms, Harmony Search is an algorithm that uses a random initial population (HM) and objectively improves it against three key ideas – memory consideration, pitch adjustment and random research, until the termination criterion is reached. Nikam T. and KAvousi-Fard A. used it to create a suitable optimizing framework for a microgrid system with renewable energy sources and battery. The algorithm is initialized with data sets like load pattern, price pattern, output power capacity, renewable energy source’s forecast power, magnitude of voltage, bus data and network topology. Initial population or the HM matrix is created next. The best performing parameter is found and objective functions for each solution to the parameters is combined into a single value using fuzzy min-max approach. If new solution is better than the worst vector, the parameter is updated and the algorithm is re-run. The report stated that IEEE test system showed superior performance with optimal scheduling and reconfiguration of the power units in the microgrid. This lead to an improved overall system performance from the view of all objectives while needing drastically low computations power.
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Solar Energy Sector Has Immense Potential To Grow Within The Next Few Years:
Hiten Parekh
Sr. Vice President Waaree Energies Limited Founded in 1989, WAAREE Energies Ltd is a flagship company of Waaree Group. The company has poised as a pioneer in the global solar energy space. To bring on context, the company flaunts India’s largest solar PV module manufacturing capacity of 500 MW. Waaree Energies has broad presence across the solar value chain, providing EPC Solutions, Solar Modules for Grid-connected solar farms, Rooftop Solar, Solar water pumps, Project development services and is an Independent Power Producer. In a candid chat with Saur Energy’s Sr. Journalist- Santanu Mukherjee, Hiten Parekh, Sr. Vice President at Waaree Energies Limited time travels on the transition of the company and footholds the aspiring technologies which are set to revolutionize the sector. Excerpts. Can you please share details on company’s projects in support of energy revolution in India? As a leading solar power manufacturer in India, our vision has always been to constantly invest in latest manufacturing facilities in order to augment the solar power capacity of India. So far, we have executed more than 225 MW of EPC projects pan India and are planning to deploy our modules to other similar projects soon. The biggest EPC project that we have executed at a single location is a 50 MW project in Madhya
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Pradesh. We have also executed roof top projects for Kokan Railway and for some renowned companies in India. Additionally, our solar panels are also being exported to all developed as well as developing nations. Global green energy firms eyeing India entry. How do you look at this? We look at this in a positive way as these firms can bring in latest technology and lots of investment opportunities to India. This is a welcome move considering these opportunities can
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provide necessary funding required to achieve the target set by the government of India, i.e. enhancing India’s solar generation capacity to 100 GW by 2022. The arrival of such green energy firms can also provide an opportunity for local manufacturers to consider tie-ups with the former in order to significantly enhance their management capabilities, invest in technology, and deliver quality products at an affordable cost to the nation. Is there any plan to increase your
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solar PV modules capacity from the current 500 MW? Yes, our production capacity is projected to reach 800 MW soon, and we hope to expand it further to 1000 MW by the end of this year. Waaree started manufacturing Solar PV Modules way back in 2007 in India and now offers a complete range of solar panels right from 4 Wp to 400 Wp as well as complete EPC and turnkey solutions. Waaree has collectively commissioned more than 225 MW of Solar PV projects across India. How has the sector changed over the last 5 years? When Waaree Energies began operations in 2007, the solar energy sector in India was at a very nascent stage. However, over the years this industry has become one of the most important sectors for many initiators – government or otherwise. As a whole, this industry looks very promising in terms of power generation and manufacturing of Solar components. Therefore, developments like these are an indication of the fact that things are finally looking up for this sector to gradually prosper in the Subcontinent. What impact has this development had on your business? The various developments within this sector has had a positive impact on our business. Over the years, we have witnessed a growing demand for solar power as a viable alternative to grid in both commercial establishments as well as residential buildings. Catering to that need, we have come up with various solar projects and have more in the lineup to be deployed soon. When you look into the future, what kind of development do you foresee in the EPC segment of solar business? The solar EPC segment in India has changed considerably over the past few
years due to increasing private clients and entry of several international players in the market. The EPC segment in India is poised to grow and the customers are expecting an International standard EPC project execution. Companies like ours, which has a focus on cost, quality and time for EPC projects are bound to grow in this competitive environment.
Waaree is one of the largest solar PV manufacturers in India providing a complete range of Polycrystalline and Mono PV Modules, for off-grid as well as on - grid applications. What new technology you are working on currently and how soon we are going to see it? On the technology front, we are working on 4 busbar solar cells, which is quite new in our country. Also, we have a strategic alliance with US-based Merlin Solar Technologies Incorporation through which we intend to bring the latest technology in solar to India, which would increase the applications of Solar PV. In August 2015 Waaree launched high performance WSM-345 Monocrystalline solar modules. Did the company use these modules in any recent project or any plan to use in upcoming project? The WSM-345 Monocrystalline solar module was designed keeping in mind the requirements of rooftop solar. This particularly high performance module uses high efficiency monocrystalline cells and can deliver an Industry leading 17.8% efficiency with positive power tolerance. These modules lead to more power per square feet and also help in reducing the balance of system costs. We have used these modules for some projects in and around Mumbai and are also planning to utilize the same in our upcoming projects soon.
What type of potential do you see in the solar sector especially when the government is taking several initiatives to increase power capacity from the renewables? With the Indian government taking several initiatives to increase power capacity from renewable sources, we feel the solar energy sector has immense potential to grow within the next few years. The government has shown a lot of support for this industry to ensure that a suitable ecosystem is developed to sustain solar power. One of the most recent examples of this development is the World Bank’s USD 1 Billion aid commitment that can significantly improve India’s solar energy sector. We feel that India can surely benefit through this industry in terms of both cost and power management. Idea behind Plug and Play solar park ‘Sunbless’ and how it is different form solar PV projects? Are you coming up with such projects and how soon? The ‘Sunbless’ Plug and Play solar park is meant to be the perfect solution for those wish to have their own solar PV plants and utilize the power generated for their businesses or act as an IPP without getting involved in time consuming activities like identifying & securing land , infrastructure development and power evacuation facilities etc. A ready infrastructure minimizes the risks involved in a project and offers economies of scale. Through ‘Sunbless’, we aim to look after every aspect – from concept to commissioning. I am pleased to inform that we have received excellent response for ‘Sunbless’. We do have a pipeline of few more plug and play type of solar parks and currently they are under different stages of development.
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MARKET GLANCE
Lithium-ion batteries to dominate the battery energy storage market: Technavio According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global battery energy storage market for smart grid is expected to grow at a tremendous CAGR of close to 73% by 2020. The report categorizes the global battery energy storage market for smart grid into three major segments. They are: Liion batteries, Lead-acid batteries and Sodium sulfur batteries. The study claims that li-ion battery segment in particular will reach 3,130MW by 2020, growing at a CARG of close to 72%. The Li-ion battery segment is expected to witness substantial growth during the forecast period owing to the growing demand for electricity storage. Li-ion batteries are being extensively used in battery energy storage for the smart grid. These batteries are lightweight and compact, which makes them the strongest contender in the battery energy storage market. As lithium is the third lightest element, it leads to the production of batteries with high capacity. Another advantage of Li-ion batteries is that they use non-aqueous electrolytes that offer high operating voltages as compared to lead-acid batteries and sodium-sulfur batteries, which have aqueous electrolytes. According to Sayani Roy, an industry expert at Technavio for smart grid research, “The cost of Li-ion batteries, however, is a big challenge for the industry. Companies are focusing on developing cost-effective Li-ion batteries. The Li-ion battery cost has dropped at an average of 23% per year since 2010,
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while the energy storage system cost has also dropped at an average of 14% per year. This has led to a total installation cost reduction by 17%.� Tesla, a leading vendor in battery technology has announced its goal to reach the price of USD100/kWh by 2020, which is expected to boost the Li-ion battery market. Global lead-acid battery market 2015-2020 The lead-acid battery segment is predicted to reach 990 MW by 2020, growing at a CAGR of more than 67%. This segment is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. After Li-ion batteries, lead-acid batteries are the most widely used. The technology used in the lead-acid battery is older than that of the Li-ion battery and has been in the market since 1960. There are two types of lead-acid batteries, namely, the two-way sealed valve regulated lead-acid (VRLA) and the flooded lead-acid battery. Innovations in battery have helped the lead-acid battery to achieve increased efficiency and overcome challenges such as slow charging, short life cycle, and high maintenance. The abundance of availability of raw material for lead-acid battery has increased the number of installations of the battery. However, these batteries have 3-4 years of operational life. High maintenance of lead-acid batteries may impede the growth of the lead-acid battery storage market. High energy density and fast recharging capacity of the Li-ion battery also restrict the growth of this segment. Global sodium-sulfur battery market 2015-2020
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The sodium-sulfur battery segment is projected to reach 1,450 MW by 2020, growing at a high CAGR of more than 84%. Sodium-sulfur batteries were developed in 1966 by Ford motors. The active materials in sodium-sulfur batteries are molten sulfur, which is used as a positive electrode and molten sodium, which is used as a negative electrode. The electrodes are separated by an electrolyte such as sodium alumina, and solid ceramic. This requires an operating temperature that
ranges from 572°F to 752°F, and if this temperature is not maintained, then the battery will explode. These batteries can provide up to six hours of backup. These batteries are upgraded by adding electrodes to enhance their lifespan and operational flexibility. It also eliminates the risk of fire mishaps. However, sodium-sulfur batteries are hazardous and catch fire instantly if they come in contact with air and moisture. For instance, in 2011, Japan-based NGK's plant, which used sodium-sulfur
batteries for storing electricity, caught fire owing to the flow of molten salt over sand fillers. “Costs of these batteries is continuously reducing, which is beneficial for its growth. Also, its high energy density and operating temperatures along with the corrosive nature of sodium polysulfide make it suitable for large grid energy storage. However, the increasing use of the Li-ion batteries may affect the growth of the sodium-sulfur batteries during the forecast period,” said Sayani.
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I would praise the government for meticulously planning and executing solar policy in India:
Nalin Sharma, VP, Ecoppia Asia As utility solar becomes competitive; companies are vigorously undergoing enhancements in efficiency and production. Automated systems and digital adoption is driving every corner of the industrial sector. In strive to automate the traditional and inefficient solar cleaning processes; Ecoppia’s robots are well poised to make a transformative effect in the perverse cleaning solution segment. The company's autonomous and water-free solar array cleaning solution frugally keeps photovoltaic panels at peak performance, even in extreme geographical conditions. In talks with Niloy Banerjee, Associate Editor, Saur Energy International; Nalin Sharma, Vice President – Asia, Ecoppia illustrates on the canvas of this ground-breaking ‘automating’ revolution and also confabs on the prospects which are set to sweep the solar corridors. Recently you joined Ecoppia as Vice President Asia, what are the top priorities to establish the operations in India? To establish a company, you need 3 things: great people, great culture and good numbers, in that order. We are scouting talent from top tier colleges, people who have worked in international organizations and have a drive to bring a change in the world and make world a better place. In addition, these people need to have
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a great product and great partners, hence, we are allying only with tier 1 vendor such as Kyocera, Panasonic, Texas Instruments and the likes. Also, for OEM we have chosen a fortune 500, USA based company, Sanmina. Our vision is build a world class ecosystem for solar O&M - a cutting edge technology, tier 1 vendors and highly competent people – to give an unmatched experience to solar IPPs. Recently we had a press briefing from
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your end that Ecoppia has launched its Make in India plan with Chennai plant. Will the company assembling the robots here or manufacture? Ecoppia is very impressed with “Made In India’ drive of Prime Minister Modi and is very keen to support the same. We are going to completely manufacture our robots in India. Our new Tamil Nadu plant is not only going to cater to India, but also to the Middle East. Infact, this plant is already operational and as we speak, our robots are getting shipped to
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Middle East for two of the biggest IPP players of the world. Tell us something about Ecoppia E4 robots? If you look at the complete value chain of the solar ecosystem, everything whether it is module or inverters has dramatically evolved during last 5-10 years. The modules earlier used to be 100 Watt peak, but now we are talking about 400 watt peak modules. Earlier module efficiency used to be just 11% now we are taking about 21-22% . Similarly, in inverters we are now talking about 1500V inverters. However, if we look at maintenance or O&M of the solar plants, specifically cleaning of the solar panels, we are still using the stone age manual cleaning where a person goes in with a water truck and then cleans panels using wiper. Firstly, our attempt is to completely revolutionize the stone age O&M systems to a 21st century high tech, cloud based solution. Secondly, we feel that in today’s competitive world we should not waste even a single unit of energy; When you’re cleaning a solar plant with a 30 or 15 days frequency, soiling losses are huge. But with a system like Ecoppia, where cleaning is done on nightly fashion, the soiling losses can be reduced to almost zero. As per World Bank, 79% of the new solar projects will come in arid regions, where you have lots of sun, acute water shortage and frequent dust storms. Post a dust storm, the efficiency of solar plant can drop by as much as 40% within a matter of minutes. In current competitive scenario a company cannot afford to take 15 days to bring plant efficiency from -30 back to 100% (which is the time manual cleaning with take). With a solution like Ecoppia, within a couple of hours, one can have immediate recovery with the entire plant getting cleaned and peak production getting restored. Additionally, the plant can operate at optimum production rates 365 days, throughout the year.
Dust is one thing; can Ecoppia robots solve the problem of bird droppings? This is a question, which most of our client ask, because everyone is apprehensive on how effective and efficient the drycleaning is. Our system can easily clean bird dropping. Additionally, even sand deposits (formed on panels when sand storms are accompanied by shower), can be cleaned with ease by our system. Ecoppia systems removes 99% of dust each day, everyday. For example, say on day one you have 100 dust particles on a module, then on day two you will have just 1 dust particle left, and on day three you will have .1 dust particle left. Again the next day 99% of this .1 dust particle will be cleaned.So one can imagine the kind of effectiveness Ecoppia will bring to the overall ecosystem. I think another major issue which most of the solar plant owners are worried about is reliability; because in manual labor you never know what type of cleaning they would be doing, one day they are in good mood they would clean efficiently but next day the cleaning might not be up to the mark. But, with robots consistency in cleaning is guaranteed. Can you shed some light on how much water is saved due to Ecoppia Robots? If we go by the current statistics, the operating solar power plants in India are consuming 2.7 billion liters of water. Each panel on an average required between 2 – 3 liters of water per cleaning cycle. If we talk about 100GW, then Ecoppia can potentially save upwards of 200 billion liter of water, water critical for drinking. Government has a pragmatic initiative of 100GW of solar power by 2022, how Ecoppia and its robots will make a change and help us to generate that? For a world staring at acute water shortage, dry cleaning is the only way we can make the solar ecosystem sustainable and help achieve our Prime Minister’s
vision of 100GW of solar installation in India by 2022. With a payback of less than 3 years, Ecoppia can help solar companies, operating at wafer thin margins, improve their bottom line significantly. This is the only technology which is bankable, i.e., our clients are taking 85% loans from major banking institutions. The highly competitive solar landscape in India makes it indispensable for companies to ensure peak performance each day, every day. The overwhelming response from solar developers in India, known for strong ‘value for money’ bias, comes as no surprise to us. Solar policy was conceived to make the energy mix more sustainable. So, if you look at the complete solar ecosystem the only thing which is not sustainable is the use of water & that is where Ecoppia comes in. We make the system completely maintenance free, water free, labor free and thus make the overall ecosystem more sustainable. When we talk about govt. initiative, what we have seen is government has taken very a positive approach for solar industry. Infact, I would like to praise the government for the manner in which everything has been rolled out, they have brought many experts into the panel, incorporated agencies such as Solar Energy Corporation of India. Mr. Rakesh Kumar has been doing great a job as involving with most of the solar IPPS and I hear praises wherever I go about SECI and MNRE official. MNRE and SECI are very approachable, proactive and prompt. They are very open to hearing out problems and more importantly to solving them actively. Therefore, I feel that Indian government has done a fabulous job when it comes to solar Industry.
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Please share with us something about your market strategy? Ecoppia as a company strongly believe in focus. We would be focusing on the top 10 – 15 players in solar industry and addressing large scale utility plants in arid regions. The response from the industry is nothing short of “amazing”. We have already received orders from many Tier 1 solar companies and are recognized as the gold standard for solar O&M. You said you are not only manufacturing but you have started exporting your robots from Tamil Nadu facility …. Are you targeting SARC regions as well? For next 18 months, we will be focusing on the Middle East and India only. Both these geographies have aggressive solar policies and lot of arid regions, which fits beautifully with our offerings. To give you an idea on the kind of response we are getting in the Middle East, let us consider the harshest desert of the region - Arava Desert; three years back, 100% of solar plants in Arava Desert were on manual cleaning. Today 70% of solar plants are already on Ecoppia technology. We are confident of replicating similar success in India as well. ll. What are the current researches happening in Ecoppia and what kind of new products we can expect in coming time? Ecoppia is the only solar maintenance solution provider, which is investing heavily into research. The same is driven by the fact that, our Chief Technology Officer (CTO) was the R&D head of Israeli armory division at a young age of 29 and our system is already using technologies such as machine learning, which enables the robots to come up with predictive maintenance schedule. The Ecoppia solution is capable to apprise in advance if a particular part needs replacement 6 months down the line. That has been a major reason, why in last 3 years, none of our sites required even a single manual
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cleaning!! All the robots can be remotely controlled and managed via a desktop (internet) or mobile from anywhere in the world. That is to say, by sitting in New Delhi, you can control your fleet of robots in all parts of the world. In India we have already deployed fixed tilt solutions, later this year we are installing seasonal tilt solution for a Fortune 500 company, and next year we would be introducing the tracker solution in India. How Ecoppia robots can help us generate more power? In manual cleaning it has to be done in day time which might affect power generation. Do we have a facility that Ecoppia robots can work at night without hampering our day generation? With Ecoppia robots, most of our clients are doing cleaning in a nightly fashion because in robots unlike a person you don’t need day light to clean. Hence it make sense to clean during nonproduction hours. It is completely remote controlled application which means one can run robots can be activated / deactivated through simple SMS from your mobile. One can use desktop application to set time, say every day at 6:30 PM one can command robots go out for cleaning or can tie this with sunset or with any other schedule. What it does is, it makes the whole system more manageable because
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when you are talking about plants which are as big as 500MW it would be very difficult to track whether all rows are cleaned, so with Ecoppia robotic solution it would be very convenient for most of the COOs and asset managers to control the plant sitting in a room. Please share what kind of investment that goes into installing Ecoppia robots and what kind of ROI it can generate? Investment can vary from plant to plant, because our system it is highly dependent on plant layout. Talking of returns, our Indian and Middle East customers have witnessed a payback anywhere between 2-4 years. To reiterate, the main payback comes from energy upliftment which benefits the IPP because here you are doing daily cleaning versus once in 30 days manual cleaning. Hence, generally here there is a significant uplift in the energy yield which leads to an attractive payback period. What kind of warranty currently Ecoppia is giving? The way we sell our system through CAPEX model and offer 25 year maintenance contract. So it’s like plug, play & forget solution where everything is on Ecoppia, so for complete 25 year everything is taken care by the company.
PRODUCTS
Canadian Solar introduces new
1500-Voltage Crystalline
Solar Modules at Intersolar North America Canadian Solar launched new 1500V System Voltage ("1500V") crystalline solar module portfolio ahead of 2016 Intersolar North America Exhibition. The new Canadian Solar 1500V module portfolio has proven its performance under both IEC/UL standards for 1500V. The 1500V crystalline module, offered in two product types (60 cell configuration (CS6K - mono and CS6K - poly) and 72 cell configuration (CS6U - mono and CS6U - poly), provides a robust and cost-efficient system solution by adding more modules in a string, which decreases the number of combiner boxes, direct current (DC) homeruns and trenching. The company in a statement said this unique product design lowers wiring losses and reduces the number of equipment, thus improving the overall system performance and efficiency and reducing the labor cost and installation time. The 1500V crystalline module meets both International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard and Underwrites Laboratories (UL) standard. Consistent with its high product quality, this 1500V crystalline module comes with Canadian Solar's 25-year linear power output warranty and a 10-year product warranty on materials and workmanship. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, said, "We are very pleased to introduce the 1500V
crystalline module, which is a great addition to Canadian Solar's high quality product portfolio. The state-of-the-art product design of the 1500V crystalline module increases the overall system performance and lowers the Balance of System cost. We believe this new product can perfectly meet the growing demand for higher voltage systems with lower system costs. We look forward to welcoming every one of you to Canadian Solar's booth #7311 to explore more on the 1500V crystalline module and the complete set of Canadian Solar's diversified product offerings."
SimpliPhi introduces a high-voltage energy storage battery for commercial and industrial markets SimpliPhi Power has introduced a high-voltage energy storage battery for commercial and industrial markets. The modular high-voltage batteries from house of SimpliPhi are compatible with industry standard single- and three-phase inverters in systems that require 250 kWh to MWhs of reserves for a broad range of off-grid, back-up, peak shaving and energy arbitrage applications. The company in a statement said its 98 percent efficiency rate, 100 percent depth of discharge, two hour (or less) discharge rate and modular form factor translate into smaller installations that can maximize the square footage dedicated to useable power reserves in commercial and industrial applications. The smaller, modular form factor significantly reduces the oversized blocks of batteries normally required to achieve the same power output capacity due to shallow discharging and longer charge/discharge rates. AUGUST 2016 l SAUR ENERGY.COM
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POLICY
Himachal Pradesh SOLAR POWER POLICY The northern Indian state Himachal Pradesh has set an ambitious target to reinforce its solar power infrastructure. The state is not the most coveted location for solar power projects yet, however government has set a target to install 700 MW of solar power capacity under its revised Solar Power Policy 2016. The policy aims to encourage use of solar energy in the state and is applicable for Solar Photovoltaic Technology for all capacity. Unlike other states in India, Himachal Pradesh has been able to provide electricity to all households in the entire state since 1988, so the emphasis is now moving to 100% renewable energy. While the State’s own requirement shall be met from clean sources in line with Policy of sustainable development, it is prudent to have energy mix instead of single source and hence coal and gas based sources should be substituted with clean and renewable sources, which are relatively firmer as base load, for reliability and security. Among the R.E. technologies, Solar is the best option. National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) has estimated a potential of
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POLICY
34 GW taking into account 3% of total wasteland and roof top surface areas of the consumers for this purpose. On the other hand IREDA has estimated a potential of about 53 GW taking into account 5% of the waste land. These studies indicate that the State has huge solar power potential. The HP government revised its solar power policy keeping in mind of the central government's solar power target of 100 GW. In order to achieve this national target, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy states that Himachal Pradesh should have an installed capacity of 776 MW by March 2022. HPERC is focused on solar because grid reliability in the state is constraint due to geographical, topographical and climatic reasons. Therefore decentralized electricity generation from solar provides an efficient and easy to access solution. According to the revised solar policy the state government will help developers to obtain statutory clearances and will promote ease of doing business. Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC) is already working on identifying potential sites for private investment across four districts. Under the policy, capacities that qualify for rooftop solar plants range from 1KW-5MW. Usually other states in their policy keep this range between 1KW1000 KW. Also, rooftop solar capacities in the range of 1KW-500KW or even 1000 KW is thinkable. Capacity above this gets difficult. However, we have seen instances of airports, railways and even residential schools where rooftop solar capacity has even surpassed 1MW. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC) has prescribed a long term Renewable Power Purchase Obligation (RPPO), in line with National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), under which by 2022 the HPSEBL has to purchase at least 19% of electricity
including 3% from solar source of total energy consumption from renewable sources, as against 17% under NAPCC. The central government, on the other hand, recently revised the solar RPO target to 8% by 2022; this is another reason for the revision of the solar power policy by the Himachal Pradesh government. Energy available from non-solar (SHP) sources is already more than RPPO but against solar RPPO, State requires about 250 MW capacities whereas presently long term source of supply available from CPSUs is about 35 MW. To align the State’s target with National target of 100 GW, the state should require about 700 MW capacities to be created by 2022. Solar Power Projects of all capacities, except Roof Top Net Metering projects, will be registered with HIMURJA and letter of approval/consent for setting up project, with commitment for support and assistance for project implementation, shall be issued by HIMURJA after prior approval of State Govt. All the projects above 5 MW shall be registered with the prior approval of Single Window Clearance Authority constituted for clearance of industrial projects, in accordance with the procedure laid down by Department of industries and proposal will be placed before the Authority by Pr. Secretary NES. Wherever power is to be purchased by HPSEBL, tariff may be discovered through competitive bidding to be carried out by HPSEBL, before registration of the project. State Govt. will facilitate the developers in obtaining statutory clearances, if any, and procedures and processes for various State level clearances and support will be made simple, transparent with self-certified documentation and with clear time lines, so as to ensure doing business with ease.
Project developers will have to pay processing fee (non-refundable) of Rs. 5000 per project up to 1 MW and Rs. 25000 for above 1 MW and upto 5 MW, with application. Permanent Registration will be done by HIMURJA on commissioning of the Project. The state government is also considering setting up Solar Parks of small and medium sizes ranging from 50 MW to 100 MW in line with the Central Government’s Solar Park Scheme. The solar parks may be developed by NES Department with the support of GoHP scheme or otherwise on the lines of industrial Estates, for allotment of sites for development of solar projects, close to major load centres or at efficient locations with reliable and efficient grid. Land is a crucial requirement for solar power projects, because it has to be the most efficient in terms of location, slopes, solar radiation, cost, proximity to EHT/HT grid and load centers. HPERC has already engaged ARYABHATTA GEOINFORMATICS & SPACE APPLICATION CENTRE (State Council for Science Technology & Environment, GoHP,Shimla) and NIT Hamirpur for identification of potential sites for private investments in four Districts. This exercise will be continued for most part of the State. Grant of E.C. for approval under Section 118 of HPT and LR Act will be made normative and automatic. Land bank of Govt. waste land as Solar Park will be developed to facilitate large investments. Being hilly state, HP may pose some limitations for large solar power plants. However, the state also receives ample sunshine for the same reason. These factors together open up the scope for grid-connected rooftop solar energy plants under net-metering.
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YOU WOULD SOON SEE HIGHER CAPACITY, HIGHER POWER DENSITY INVERTERS FOR THE LOCAL MARKETS: ABB - Santanu Mukherjee
In an Exclusive interview with Saur Energy International,
Xavier Scaria , LPG Manager – Solar Inverters ABB asserted that the organization has a significant role to play in decoupling the growth of carbon emissions in a growing economy like India. He also pointed out about the company’s roadmap, project and challenges. Edited excerpts from the plethora of decisive dialogues. As the Union and several State governments have lined up mega expansion plans in solar energy capacity, how is ABB India looking to increase its presence in the solar energy space? ABB globally see Renewable energy as one its main growth drivers in coming years. ABB india also reflects the same vision and is very much in line with the plans of Govt of India. We are one of the first company in India to start local manufacturing of Solar inverters as the solar energy space in India started developing and is working constantly to improve our presence in this market. We have built a new dedicated factory for Central Inverters in Bangalore at our Nelamangala works doubling our manufacturing capacity in India and a market leader in this space. Continuous improvement and introduction of new
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technology and power ratings would be our focus for the coming years. You would soon see higher capacity, higher power density inverters for the local markets. ABB’s offering also includes low-voltage products, monitoring and control systems, grid connection, stabilization and integration products, as well as complete electrical balance of plant solutions. ABB also offers a wide range of support and maintenance services, including remote operations and diagnostics, helping ensure solar installations deliver optimal performance. ABB played a significant role in the development of a 648-megawatt (MW) solar project at Kamuthi in Tamil Nadu and its integration with the national grid. Share with us about the project
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and its challenges? In addition to substations and grid integration, on the solar inverters front, for the 648-megawatt (MW) solar project at Kamuthi in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, ABB has provided ~300 MW of inverters. The scope thus included majorly the substation, inverters and SCADA. The project was awarded by independent power producer (IPP) Adani Group in 2015, and completed on schedule. The solar photovoltaic project – made up of five plants in a single location – is the largest of its kind in the world. 360 MW from the solar project is currently grid-connected and at full capacity this facility will account for nearly 10 percent of the country’s current solar capacity of around seven gigawatts (GW). The project contributes to India’s vision
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of achieving 100 GW of solar power by 2022, with the overall aim of diversifying its energy mix to meet growing demand while minimizing environmental impact. As part of this plan, the government has issued a proposal to implement 25 ultra-mega solar power projects with capacities between 500 and 1,000 MW over a period of five years. Once connected to the local transmission grid, this will enable clean power supply for around 150,000 households based on average national per capita consumption. ABB India has 39 factories at 12 manufacturing locations and 22 branch offices nationwide. Is the company manufacturing inverter here or just assembling it? ABB has been manufacturing inverters in India for quite a few years. ABB’s solar business in India is supported by its state-of-the-art Bangalore factory, which opened near the end of 2012 and has continued expanding to meet growing demand. India is one of the world’s fastest growing solar markets, and ABB has steadily built this business up over the years. This has provided invaluable insights into the local needs and allows us to continue innovating in-country-forcountry solutions. The Bangalore site manufacturers ABB’s PVS800 central inverter series rated from 100 to 1 MW, which are designed for multi-megawatt PV power plants as well as large PV installations on commercial and industrial buildings. The PVS800 converters have proven popular in India due to their ease of commissioning and reliable performance in even the harshest of climates. How ABB plans to support PM's push for sustainable growth? From the latest technology in ultra to high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission, to providing the latest solutions in renewable energy integration be it through systems or products, distributed generation models of electricity like microgrids, special solar
pump drives or high efficiency motors and drives, automation and robotics solutions for industries. ABB solutions are all about enabling customers to enhance productivity, solve problems and innovate simultaneously offering greater efficiency and reducing carbon footprint. This is also done by creating awareness and market for products which are more efficient, have lower footprint and decouple carbon emissions for a growing economy – gas insulated switchgears, dry type and green distribution transformers, variable speed drives, high efficiency motors, new eco-efficient insulation alternative to SF6 for switchgears, etc. The organization thus has a significant role to play in decoupling growth from carbon emissions in a growing economy like India. What type of innovation, if any, integrated in your products is taken from the Indian R&D center? Can you name some of those products? The R&D Center we have in India is one of the biggest R&D center ABB have globally. We are not only supporting product development for local requirements but also widely supporting Research and development activities for product development world wide. From the Indian R&D center we have developed lot of products fitting for our local requirements. One such innovation, which is popular in green energy space, would be the solar pump drives, which help farmers transition from diesel generated to solar pumps rendering greater efficiency through drives. Half of the energy produced around the world goes to operate pumps, the critical piece of irrigation systems that are the lifeblood of rural economies. But in many of these areas, in India and beyond, people struggle for
reliable electricity to power them. In fact, nearly a fifth of the world’s population, 1.6 billion people, are without access to electricity. That’s why this solar pump, outfitted with ABB drives developed specifically for this application, offers such a powerful tool for farmers and others in remote areas seeking to boost their independence, increase yields and improve the quality of life for themselves and their families. For ABB, it meant creating a drive so efficient it yields enough energy to start the pump’s motor and keep it running, starting at daybreak when the sun is low on the horizon or cloudy days when solar radiation is at its weakest. There's builtin flow measurement and detection, so the pump turns off in a dry run. The pumps are working so well, they’ve been installed elsewhere, too, in Sudan, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and Yemen. ABB came up with a solution where there is a bigger voltage range and where it can operate for a longer time, it’s very simple and that leads to a lot of benefit for the farmers. ABB signed a MoU with IITM to enter a technical cooperation in building microgrids as well as joint R&D in the field of rural electrification. Is there any plan to add more such premier institutes? ABB has an Academic Partnership Program in place through which one works on formalizing leading-edge research partnerships with the academic community. ABB is already working with 12 universities for problem solving and cutting-edge technologies in the power and automation sector. What is ABB’s current market share and its growth expectation in a year’s time? Only in terms of inverters, as mentioned earlier, almost 50% of the solar energy generated in the country passes through ABB equipment. We would not comment further on market share and projections.
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INDUSTRY SPEAKS O
- Santanu Mukherjee
n profitable solar business, world bank loan, role of tariff for large scale solar power plant and rooftop
With an average of 300 sunny days a year, ample rooftop space, land availability and push from Modi Government, India is witnessing a solar boom. Solar Business worldwide has great political support and the threat of climate change and obligations to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions has put onus on large nations like India, to support renewable energy power generation vigorously. It is speculated that in the next 5 years there will be a solar revolution in India which composites the potential to oust U.S. as the No. 2 solar market behind China. Currently coal, gas and hydro account for 75 per cent of global installed capacity, whereas solar accounts for a mere 4 per cent. Within 25 years, solar power will
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cater to 29 per cent of global energy needs. Individually, coal will fall from 31 per cent today to 16 per cent in 2040. Gas will decline from 26 per cent to 15 per cent and hydro from 18 per cent to 12 per cent. At 29 per cent, solar will be the biggest - and among the cheapest - sources of energy. India is well equipped to take advantage of this shift. India presently has only 7 GW of installed solar capacity. However, according to analysts Zino and Patrick Jobin of Credit Suisse, India's push for 100 GW in installations by 2022 is too ambitious. That much generation would represent about 40% of the globe's total as of January 1. Still, the ambition has the
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analysts keeping a close eye on "the next mega-market for solar." Government of India has also framed out multiple policies in support of it solar mission. As a consequence, the Indian solar energy market- with opportunities and value chain – has opened its doors for many players worldwide. The revolutionary ‘sand to power’ field has proved extremely proactive for market and technology innovation. A solar value chain can be listed by identifying various processes involved in this transformation. We reached out to industry veterans to understand how profitable it is to set up solar business in India, especially after the government’s new policies and incentives.
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Setting Up Solar Business In India According to Bhupesh Trivedi, CEO REECODE Energy Solutions, Solar businesses are surely profitable. However, it is a matter of desires. As an investor, if your desire is equity IRR of 25-30%, solar is surely not for you. But if you are looking at steady, annuitytype and low-risk IRR of 14-16%, you can definitely invest in solar. The above is specific to the business of generating and selling power through solar. Other solar businesses include manufacturing and providing services to consumers and investors in projects. Solar is an overly-government-dependent business sector and has consequently its own risk factors and rewards. Surya Jeedigunta, CEO- SNJ SOLAR says
profitability of solar business depends on number of units generated, the tariff at which you sell and the quality of equipment. Also there are Green incentives such as REC and Accelerated depreciation. Tariffs at which solar power projects were awarded have come down from over Rs.12 a kilo watt hour in 2010 to below Rs.5 in 2016 due to the drop in the global photovoltaic module prices. The lowest discovered price so far is Rs.4.34 a unit. Therefore solar becomes a good business opportunity not only for large scale power projects but also for rural and roof top applications. In the case of large scale power plants, the cost of capital (debt rate) and CUF (capacity utilization factor) plays a key
role in the profitability. So, low cost and high quality equipment is paramount in determining the profitability of large scale projects. For rooftop, Govt. subsidy and current tariff determines the profit margin. Net Metering is a scheme that will remove the need of batteries thereby reducing the cost of systems and making it viable. Mux Narasimhan Managing Director & CEO at PlaySolar has a very different opinion; he says the solar business is profitable in certain sectors depending on business models. Pure play component manufacturers or EPC players are unable to make their own destiny compared to Project Developers. For example, there are several players like Azure, Renew, Tata Power Solar and Adani Green Power
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who are running successful operations on the utility scale, but it also bears reflection that a significant amount of capital investment is required in these cases. Certain other sectors like rooftop solar (commercial/industrial/residential) and solar products have not yet become as attractive due to a lack of scale in the marketplace. According to Ashish Verma, Analyst AMP Solar India Private Limited, within past 1-2 years’ Indian solar market has been shifted (from) ‘newly born child’ to ‘money making younger son’. Even past 5 years’ average solar tariff has dropped up to -64.22%, project cost up to -67.32%, financing factor like lending rate has went down by 20% along with debt tenure increased at 40-50%. The profitability and viability in solar sector depends upon 4 major factors – project cost & Expected Energy yield, solar radiation of location, tariff scenario along with financing scenario and credit worthiness of off taker and strong policy, regulatory directives and competition among the developers in any market in the world. All these factors are favorable for the developers to set up the solar projects in India. World Bank Loan and The Industry In developing countries like India, solar is the technology of the moment; and that is what everyone today is talking about. PM Modi has thrown his substantial political weight into the development of an international solar alliance. Modi is banking on India's 300 days of sunshine a year to generate power and help fight climate change rather than committing to emission cuts like China. Early July the World Bank announced $ 1 billion in support of India’s ambitious solar generation plans, its largest financing of solar projects for any country in the world. The World Bank-supported projects under preparation include solar rooftop technology, infrastructure for solar parks, bringing innovative solar and hybrid technologies to market, and transmission
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lines for solar-rich states. World Bank will develop a roadmap to mobilize financing for development and deployment of affordable solar energy, and work with other multilateral development banks and financial institutions to develop financing instruments to support solar energy development. The Government of India and the World Bank also signed an agreement for the $625 million Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Program. The project will finance the installation of at least 400 MW of solar Photovoltaic (PV) installations that will provide clean, renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing thermal generation. Between 2015 and 2016, the Group lent around $4.8 billion to India. Here is what industry thinks about the loans for the Indian solar market. Gyanesh Chaudhary, Managing Director and CEO, Vikram Solar' said India has landed a record deal in terms of the largest financing of solar projects for any country in the world. This showcases our country’s commitment to solar energy deployment. The need of the hour today is to develop financing instruments to support solar development. These funds, when channeled suitably in developing innovative financing models and deployment of affordable solar energy, will fast-track India’s solar dream. India’s solar targets are not only set to revolutionize the way our country consumes energy but will have far reaching consequences and global impact on the issue of climate change. The funding from World Bank will play a critical role in inching closer towards our ambitious solar plans. On the other hand Bhupesh Trivedi, CEO REECODE Energy Solutions is of the view that World Bank’s loan will help deployment of solar solutions across the country. It certainly augurs well for the industry. But, do compare this figure with the need for close to US$ 80 billion to
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realize the target of 100 GW of installed capacity. Even if we remove the installed base of 6 GW, we have a very long way to go on the solar path. Even if the World Bank gave US$ 1bn every year, it will not be enough. According to Gautam Mediratta Manager-BD Rays Power these funds have been used to provide subsidy to residential and non for profit (schools, colleges, NGOs etc.) customers. They have also been used to provide viability gap funding and feed in tariffs to achieve parity between renewable energy sources and traditional sources on the power plant level. In the future, these funds would be used through SBI to provide soft loans to rooftop customers as well. While such funding has been helpful till now, the way its been disbursed has much to be desired for. Subsidy disbursement at the rooftop level has been huge question mark, especially if subsidy is being disbursed through State Nodal agencies. There’s a huge time lag in the process which makes the end customer distrustful of the process and unwilling to commit. Mux Narasimhan Managing Director & CEO at PlaySolar expects that this will boost the solar market quite rapidly; he said the availability of support from the World Bank essentially means better financing options for players in the Indian solar market such as developers and aggregators. We can expect this to boost the solar market quite rapidly. For example, $625 million out of the $1 billion has been earmarked for the rooftop solar PV sector. This essentially means that it is easier for business models like power purchase agreements between the developer and the end user to penetrate the market since availability of financing has been the Achilles’ heel of several new rooftop solar companies. Large scale open access PPAs, PPA aggregation models are still in their infancy unlike other mature markets but will become popular soon.
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CEO of SNJ SOLAR , Surya Jeedigunta says that this amount of lending in one year clearly shows World Bank recognizing India’s aspiration and potential to become a leader in solar market. In addition to India’s domestic market, PM Modi initiative of International Solar Alliance (ISA) consisting of 121 countries led by India to collaborate on using solar energy around the world is an opportunity of 1 trillion dollars of investments by 2030. With this kind of opportunity India should focus on building the capacity and formulate policies that support the growth. This financing will be directed into four areas that include solar rooftop technology, Building Solar parks, innovation in solar technologies, and developing transmission lines from solar rich states. Therefore World Bank backing will help increase the availability of private finance, introduce new technologies and build capacity for the roof tops, and enable the development of common infrastructure for power Evacuation and transmission. Hope these institutions just don’t bring finance, but a global development network, global knowledge and international talent in achieving this ambitious target. Ashish Verma, Analyst AMP Solar India Private Limited believes that commitment amount will boost the rooftop segment through multiple fonts i.e. CFA, creation of debt funds, development of business models, and to raise the customer awareness Bank Loan Process and Hurdles Last year in a rare initiative, the government asked banks to set specific lending targets for renewable energy projects over the next five years as it seeks to present a strong commitment to green energy before international investors and institutions. Bank loans up to a limit of Rs.15 crore to borrowers for purposes like solar based power generators, biomass based power generators, wind
mills, micro-hydel plants and for nonconventional energy based public utilities viz. street lighting systems, and remote village electrification are eligible to be classified under priority sector loans under ‘Renewable Energy’. For individual households, the loan limit is Rs.10 lakh per borrower. We tried to know if the sanctioned loan for green energy is reaching out to developers/aggregators and derived business associates, and hurdles individuals have to face to gain the ordained benefit. Bhupesh Trivedi, CEO REECODE Energy Solutions Ease of lending to the investors and increased power off take from state discoms need to be addressed. We need to have a bottom-up thinking strategy to enable our dreams to come true. Managing Director & CEO at PlaySolar, Mux Narasimhan’s view is not very different from Bhupesh. According to Narasimhan there is some work that needs to be done by the partner banks to ensure that these loans reach the intended customers. As is the case with several other bank loan schemes, several branches of the bank in question are still unaware of the availability of easy financing options under such schemes and can present significant difficulties in getting loans sanctioned in time. Such delays often cause key projects to be lost. However, Surya Jeedigunta, CEO- SNJ SOLAR claims that larger companies with good relationships with banks have access to debt. He said superior projects also seem to have access. However, marginal projects with smaller, unconnected developers might find it more difficult. Particularly villages where there is severe power shortage fail to get access to these funds as they don’t have good track record or strong balance sheet support that is typically required by banks to sanction these loans. To circumvent this problem, I suggest each village panchayat float a SPV and let the state govt. fund the promoter’s equity and Banks be liberal in lending the debt
part. These SPV’s establish mini-grids across the country and train local youth to develop, build and maintain these mini-grids. This will rejuvenate these village economies in a big way. Ashish Verma, Analyst AMP Solar India Private Limited have very different opinion to share - NBFCs i.e. PFC, IREDA, PTC-PFS, National banks SBI, IDBI, Infrastructure FIs IIFCL etc., Yes Bank, Axis bank has provided the debt financing of ~20000 crore in previous financial year. The lenders are easily approachable, showing enthusiasm to fund the green energy project in priority manner. The 30 lenders under green energy financing commitment shall provide the debt financing of 352640 crores in next 6-7 years which shall cater 70.50 GW capacity. Large Solar Plants
Years ago price of solar panels was exorbitant. The practical use of solar panels was only in space on the US Vanguard 1 satellite, which was launched in 1958. But gradually and then impulsively price of building solar cell dropped. The subsequent spread of panels in countries like Europe, China, US and India followed along the dizzying curve that eventually lead to the market domination of the car, the mobile phone and electricity itself. Imports of solar cells and modules have increased by over three times from Rs 5,051 crore in
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2014-15 to Rs 15,523 crore in 2015-16. The solar industry in India is certainly having good times as the installations soar and investment increases. Early this year in April the import of solar modules and cell stood at Rs.936 crore. Despite of so much hype, backing and funding from the government, world bank and other countries we couldn’t figure out why still unable to see deployment of a massive solar power plant in India, we spoke to industry experts and asked ‘what is stopping us from building a Truly Massive solar power plant in India when this country is reiterated as one of the most conducive ecosystem for solar plants? Here is what they said:According to Surya Jeedigunta CEO- SNJ SOLAR- Building massive Solar power plant needs vast patches of barren land that are usually available in Cold and hot deserts. Getting the electricity from these remote places to India’s populated places would require major investment in long distance transmission lines and substations. This also requires having a power plan, arranging easy clearances and sorting right of way for transmission lines for solar developers. All of these hurdles put large solar plants only on paper. Besides, big solar plants are viable only when they use solar thermal technology, which converts solar radiation into steam and is used to run large turbines. Big solar power plants around the world mostly use Solar thermal, which is expensive compared to Solar PV. Another major advantage small power plants have over big ones is instead of few large businesses setting up large scale power plants, we promote thousands of small businesses that create jobs at the local level and build the local economies. This model will revolutionize the way power is produced and consumed in India. So, India should adopt a middle path of building large scale solar plants in the solar parks that are spread across India, while encouraging villages and towns to
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go for mini grids and roof tops. Mux Narasimhan Managing Director & CEO at PlaySolar says that the ecosystem is still steadily developing in light of the present government’s support. There are plans for a 750 MW solar park in Madhya Pradesh that could potentially be the world’s biggest solar plant. I personally believe that solar loses its advantage by going large GW scale plants in one location. The biggest advantage of solar is its ability to produce the energy at the point of use. Hence rooftop solar is more sustainable that GW scale plants in a single location with the same transmission losses of a coal plant. Bhupesh Trivedi, CEO REECODE Energy Solutions has pointed out three reasons that are stopping us from building a Truly Massive solar power plant in India - The first being availability of large tracts of land. Quite few large projects have either got postponed or cancelled because of challenges in arranging the required land. The non-availability of required land would carry a weightage of over 80% on this issue. The second reason is difficulty in arranging the required equity and debt finances for such projects. This is also because of this third reason - India does not yet have too many creditable power off-takers. Role of tariff and Profit So far we got enough to know about various things, from setting up of solar business to World Bank loan and obstacles in setting up large solar plants. Now it’s time to understand the role of tariff for large scale solar power plant and rooftop, and how does it decide profit. Bhupesh Trivedi, CEO REECODE Energy Solutions says that tariff is the allimportant factor. It constitutes the revenue-side of business. No business can survive without tariffs. The question is just that tariffs need to be better, to be able to generate good returns for investors. Tariffs directly influence the profits for large scale solar plants if they are involved in a power purchase agreement
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with a utility for the offtake of power since it is the direct source of revenue for the developer, said Managing Director & CEO at PlaySolar, Mux Narasimhan. Tariffs similar to the ones in netmetering schemes adopted by BESCOM in Bengaluru are also instrumental in invigorating the adoption of rooftop solar systems since there is the additional financial benefit to customers on top of satisfying their captive consumption requirements. Surya Jeedigunta CEO- SNJ SOLAR says that In the large scale solar plants reverse bidding is creating a competitive pressure on tariffs percolating down through the entire value chain, leaving very low margins for the all the players. Such tariffs could prove to be unviable— disappointing investors looking for steady returns. As we need many more players and many more investors to be entering the sector rather than shying away from it on account of low returns. To improve profitability the govt. should continue with solar park model where the risk of land acquisition and evacuation of power is transferred to the govt. And improve the credit rating of discoms help to get finance at a cheaper rate improving the profit margins for the IPP. In the roof top segment Net metering is the way to go that is cost effective and help the roof top segment to grow. The commercial, industrial and residential customers pay higher tariffs than Solar so it natural for them to migrate to Solar. In this sector also it is important to achieve scale quickly to maintain profitability otherwise the logistics, engineering, financing, customer relations and project management are daunting. It is clear that the challenges in the Indian solar sector like dealing with banks, getting loans and bureaucratic hurdles are still prevalent. As per the industry process of getting loans is quite time consuming and loaded with administrative obstacles.
INNOVATIONS
Korean Researchers Develop High-Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells A team of researchers led by Taiho Park at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Korea, has found a new method to improve not only the efficiency, but stability and humidity tolerance of perovskite solar cells. The Korean researchers designed a hydrophobic conducting polymer that has high hole mobility without the need of additives, which tend to easily absorb moisture in the air. Park and his students, Guan-Woo Kim and Gyeongho Kang recently published their findings in Energy & Environmental Science. Perovskite solar cells are made up of a transparent electrode, an electron transport layer, a hole transport layer, perovskite and a metal electrode. The hole transport layer plays significant role because it not only transports holes to the electrode but also prevents perovskite from being directly exposed to air. Spiro-MeOTAD, a conventionally used hole-transport material, needs additives due to its intrinsically low hole mobility. However, Bis(trifluoromethane) sulfonimide lithium salt (LiTFSI), one of the common additives, is prone to suck in moisture in the air. Moreover, SpiroMeOTAD forms a slightly hydrophilic layer that easily dissolves in water, and thus it cannot work as a moisture barrier itself. Researchers focused on an idea of an additive-free (dopant-free) polymeric hole transport layer
and designed and synthesized a hydrophobic conducting polymer by combining benzodithiophene (BDT) and benzothiadiazole (BT). The new polymer with face-on orientation, which helps vertical charge transport of holes helped the researchers achieve high hole mobility without any additives. Park and his team confirmed that the perovskite solar cells with the new polymer showed high efficiency of 17.3% and dramatically improved stability — the cells retained the high efficiency for over 1400 hours,
almost two months, under 75% humidity. “We believe that our findings will bring perovskite one step closer to use and accelerate the commercialization of perovskite solar cells,” said Taiho Park, a professor with the Department of Chemical Engineering at POSTECH.
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The banking system in India is not well developed compared to other countries: Gautam Mediratta
Manager-BD, Rays Power Infra - Santanu Mukherjee
RPIPL is one of the snowballing EPC Companies of India. The company leverages ConsultingEngineering-Contracting-Commissioning services with practicing expertise in the renewable power plant and transmission industry. Gautam Mediratta, Manager-BD, Rays Power Infra takes us inside the Industry’s temporal lobe. What is stopping us from building a Truly Massive solar power plant in India when this country is reiterated as one of the most conducive ecosystem for solar plants? One of the challenges in the Indian solar sector is that the banking system is not as well developed as it is in other countries. Its time consuming and laden with bureaucratic hurdles. Another factor is that the Grid infrastructure in India needs to be improved to absorb the 100 GW capacity injection. We need to work on improving evacuation, introducing Smart Grids and Smart Metering to meet this target. This would involve developing an intricate forecasting schedule to assess the Solar injection.
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How profitable is setting up solar business in India? Depends on where you are in the value chain. Manufacturing in India has been given a push recently, but the market is still heavily dominated by Chinese players and international players operating out of China with centrally planned economies of scale. So manufacturing would have to be heavily incentivized if we have to make profits. EPC has also seen a lot of competition lately, and margins have been driven very low with competitive bidding. However, if you introduce a value add to traditional offerings like developing innovative models of co-developing Solar Power Plants then you can make a profitable business out of Solar. For investors, Solar represents a relatively risk free investment in their investment portfolio – primary resource is the Sun which is as predictable as predictable can be. The rest of the plant engineering, design, equipment etc. has become relatively standardized in the last few years and quality plants meeting predictable payment schedules to investors are being set up these days. Early this year in May World Bank approves $750 Million loan to Support India’s Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Program. Now the Bank has approved loan of USD 1 Billion. Between 2015 and 2016, the Group lent around $4.8 billion to India, what does it mean for the Indian solar market? These funds have been used to provide subsidy to residential and non for profit (schools, colleges, NGOs etc.) customers. They have also been used to provide viability gap funding and feed in tariffs to achieve parity between renewable energy sources and traditional sources on the power plant level. In the future, these funds would be used through SBI to provide soft loans to rooftop customers as well.
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While such funding has been helpful till now, the way its been disbursed has much to be desired for. Subsidy disbursement at the rooftop level has been huge question mark, especially if subsidy is being disbursed through State Nodal agencies. There’s a huge time lag in the process which makes the end customer distrustful of the process and unwilling to commit. How do you think International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), Climate Investment Fund (CIF) will back the existing solar PV business models and also help expand the reach of rooftop PV systems to the intrigued customer base? Sustainability initiatives ring a bell with international businesses with their carbon-reduction agenda. Even if you look at German or Japanese companies in India, their primary goal for going solar is the reduction in their carbon footprints. However, Indian businesses don’t move beyond the economics of solar power. Consequently, PPAs are the need of the day for Indian businesses to consider solar power on their rooftops and there are plenty of investors willing to back such businesses which are already there in the market. The real role of IBRD, CIF and such organizations is to fund sustainable energy solutions for the people at the bottom of the pyramid – there’s a lot of scope to work on rural electrification projects if one can come up with the right business model involving all stakeholders like villagers, panchayats , local entrepreneurs and NGOs. A steady stream of funding with the right business model is the need of the day.
What is the role of tariff for large scale solar power plant and rooftop? How does it decide your profit? Tariffs for PPAs for large scale solar plants directly decide the return on investment for investors. Higher the tariff, the more profitable the proposition for the investor. Lower tariffs like the recently quoted Rs. 4.34.unit often push developers to lower quality of execution. On urban rooftops, high existing tariffs from DISCOM act as a mover to adopt solar solutions. In Delhi, the residential tariff top slab pushes high at Rs. 8.75+ taxes (approx. Rs. 9.5/unit), which means that every unit of energy the home owner generates from Solar, he saves Rs. 9.5 in bill payments. Hence, hedging of volatile and ever increasing electricity tariffs for 25 years is the value which rooftop solar provides to rooftop customers.
close to INR 5.10 per unit and above. The solar tariffs of INR 5 per unit and below would find it very difficult to get financial closure for these projects as the banks are very skeptical of funding power projects with low rate of returns. Even if they get foreign funding, the same will be subject to hedging and other costs which would increase their cost of funds. To maintain the margins and to justify the viability of the projects, there may or may not be some cost cutting in the execution of these projects which might have a direct impact on the long term sustainability of these solar power plants. Therefore, it is too soon to comment on such tariffs. We should wait and watch the execution and thereafter the operational working of these projects so as to provide a justification of these projects and their tariffs.
Amidst growing efficiency and vigorous innovation in solar panel, the prices are also slumping apparently. Hence, do you think solar power projects here in India will ever be able to generate electricity at Rs 2.2 per unit like Dubai? After the inflection point in price reduction in 2010-2011, Solar panel prices have been falling by 4-6% year on year. However, other costs like price of land or labor increase year on year. Hence the net balance of prices has been shifting downwards slightly, but not enough to warrant the recent tariffs of Rs. 4.34/unit (Fortrum, SunEdison), and definitely not the Rs. 2.2/unit tariff as was seen in Dubai. Dubai is a much safer bet for investment than India for various reasons – better sovereign guarantees (India has involvement of states with bankrupt DISCOMs), better Solar irradiation and better investment environment – that is to say it is less risky to invest in Dubai than in India hence the prices can be lower. In India, at present, the reasonable solar tariff with considerable returns is
When you hawk at the future, what are the development do you foresee in the EPC segment of solar business? In large scale power parks, EPC companies have to add more value to the process. They can’t remain pure play EPCs if they are to grow. This means taking a more proactive approach when pitching their services to not only bigger EPCs but also to investors of all kinds. Otherwise, the future is rooftops. 75% of the buildings that will be in India by 2030 are yet to be built. Even on exiting rooftops, Solar power can be accommodated seamlessly. I can foresee every fourth rooftop having solar panels by 2020 – and that’s a huge number!
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Searching the Skilled Workforce for India’s Solar Mission – A Vantage The clean energy industry is growing fast, led by solar power generation. Demand for trained and qualified solar professionals is increasing, and specialized credentials count in today’s challenging job market. India's installed solar energy capacity recently surpassed 7.5 GW, positioning India among the top ten global leaders in solar energy. The central government formalized a fivefold increase in its National Solar Mission. The Ministry of New Renewable Energy has taken an initiative to install 100 GW of the solar project by 2022 across the nation. The Skill-Will of India’s Solar Sector To achieve this mission, more than hundreds of thousands of skilled manpower are required for installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance in the field of solar technology. However, there have been gaps in the capacity and quality of training infrastructure as well as outputs, qualified manpower,
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- Laique Khan
insufficient focus on workforce aspirations, lack of certification and common standards related to solar technology. The report by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) outlines the types of new jobs and new training facilities, and institutes needed for India to reach its ambitious national target to add 100 gigawatts of installed solar energy by 2022. New jobs that will be needed includes- a good number of skilled & qualified plant designer and site engineers; skilled technicians for the construction of solar projects; and workers in various low-skilled jobs such as ongoing operations and maintenance for both roof-top solar and utility-scale solar projects. If India wants to achieve the desired century of GigaWatt by 2022, it will require thousands of PV power plant engineers, construction and operations and maintenance workers.
VANTAGE
Solar to Create 1 Million Jobs? According to research conducted by NRDC and CEEW, deploying this capacity of solar energy could generate over 1 million jobs. As demand for a skilled renewable energy labor market increases, policy support is needed to help create a skilled workforce to sustain this renewable energy growth. As many as 81,000 highly skilled workers would be needed by 2022 to carry out annual and on-going performance data monitoring of solar projects totaling 100 GW. An additional 182,400 workers would be required by 2022 to conduct low-skill operation and maintenance functions for the numerous solar rooftop and utility scale projects. A range of programmes is operational to bolster the training and skill development infrastructure across India, so the country can successfully achieve its twin objectives of clean energy development and employment generation. Ensuring that the domestic workforce is equipped with the necessary skills, it is critical to have a good number of training institutes and programmes for solar PV workforce to attain the country's plans of installing a mammoth 100 GW of solar energy. The Government is planning to increase the talent pool in functional areas like manufacturing, production, installation, operation & maintenance, marketing and research & development. Training courses, degree programmes, and apprenticeships are available, for both entry-level workers who need technical skills to move into a new field or a seasoned professional looking to move up the career ladder. Flexible solar training schedules exist, including some weekend options. Moreover, for the past few years, the Indian government has shown an immense interest in focusing more on increasing the workforce to meet its 2022’s solar target. At present, the government of India along with its nodal agencies is involved
in conducting various National Skill Training Programmes to create a workforce for executing country’s national solar deployment targets: Industrial Training Institutions Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled schemes to train more than 50000 Indian citizens, in solar energy services to support the India’s National Solar Mission. Training courses will be provided throughout the country’s numerous Industrial Training Institutions (ITIs), where the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has integrated renewable energy coursework, which could help broaden the accessibility of solar energy education. With nearly 12000 ITIs located across the nation, the training programmes for solar would be more accessible to citizens. Sector Skill Council for Green Jobs The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), MNRE and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) have taken a significant step to enhance renewable energy skill development by creating the Sector Skill Council for Green Jobs (SSCGJ). The SSCGJ facilitates in creating training curricula for occupations within the clean energy market. In addition to drafting training programmes, the SSCGJ also offer training opportunities to citizens of India. The council aims to provide training to 1500-2000 renewable energy teachers. Additionally, it will work to authorize around 60 renewable energy training institutes to prepare over 1 million citizens for employment in the renewable energy sector. Suryamitra Skill Development Programmes Every year, National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) organizes Suryamitra Skill Development Programmes (SSDP) in collaboration with State Nodal Agencies, at various locations across India. The duration of this skill
development programme is around 600 hours (approximately 90 days). This is the residential programme and it is free. The programme is sponsored by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. The primary objective of this training programme is to train the unemployed youths, ITI/Diploma holders to execute and successfully contribute towards the National Solar Mission across the country. NISE has established the solar energy Training Network (SETNET) institutions across India to build skills and capacities to ensure the availability of qualified solar energy professionals to meet the national solar deployment targets. MNRE has also partnered with the United States to create the Solar Energy Training Network (SETNET) of India to establish greater consistency and collaboration among India’s solar energy training programmes. Draft National Renewable Energy Act In another significant stride towards encouraging solar energy skill development in the country, MNRE drafted the National Renewable Energy Act. The NRE act outlays a comprehensive policy framework to support India’s renewable energy sector growth, directly addressing the domestic manufacturing and skill improvements that are required to sustain this growth. The Act also seeks to integrate renewable energy education into academic and vocational institutions across India. National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (NPSDE) The Government of India also proposed a variety of policies to improve India's broader skilled labor force. Within these overarching policies, government officials have been making specific provisions to support the renewable energy workforce. Earlier this year, India announced the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (NPSDE), which is a comprehensive policy approach to
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strengthen the India’s skilled workforce. Two prominent features of NPSDE include the Make in India and Skill India campaigns. The Skill India campaign aims at engaging the youths of India to indulge in quality training programmes and standardize skill certifications to meet the country's National Solar Mission effectively. The initiative also incentivizes skill certification by offering cash rewards to the participants who successfully complete the certification programmes. The programme is projected to invest Rs. 1500 crores to train around 2.4 million candidates throughout India's various states in renewable energy sector, particularly in focus on solar power. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has made an effort to create qualification standards within India's workforce, which could prove useful in improving the quality of India's domestic production markets. The recent creation of the Skill Council for Green Jobs shows MSDE has prepared itself to provide more concentrated support for the solar energy labor force. Solar Players to Create a Solar-Skilled Employment Ecosystem Solar corporations in India are also offering training support for the renewable energy workforce. Vikram Solar, one of the top solar manufacturing companies in India, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Meyer Burger, and Centrotherm. As part of the agreement, these prominent European solar professional institutions will work with Vikram Solar to set up a solar training academy in India. Experts from ISE will instruct courses at the solar academy, lending specialized knowledge to programme participants. Moreover, Azure Power entered into an agreement with the Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI) to design a national certification programme for rooftop solar PV installers. GERMI is involved in dictating the course
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requirements and oversee student performance, while Azure promotes the programme among the local workforce and seek out other institutions that show interest in adopting the programme. Further, leading states in solar energy production like Gujarat and Rajasthan, are also among the Indian states that have initiated solar power training components into their local policy frameworks. The Gujarat Solar Power Policy addresses skill development and renewable energy employment opportunities for local youth, and also sets basic technical expectations for professionals in the solar industry. With this view, Gujarat stabled the Gujarat Institute of Solar Energy (GISE) to provide technical training. GISE offers a variety of advanced degree and professional programmes for solar energy too, with a focus on enhancing India’s youth workforce. Rajasthan enacted the Solar Energy Policy of 2011, which includes provisions for technical training resources and institutions for its residents. Identifying the Lacuna With these numerous skill development programmes and schemes, both the Government of India and Solar Corporations is demonstrating their commitment to meet the demands of the burgeoning solar energy sector by creating a pool of talented and capable workforce. Much of the workforce development programmes are focused on solar PV system installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance, and all for good reason. Poor quality installations
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have not been uncommon, and the problem is compounded by the lack of trained and qualified PV system installers and contractors. Despite such programmes running and skill development institutes operating, training has not been readily available in many parts of the country. Opportunities for on-the-job training experience needs to be expanded. Training should be widely accessible and offered locally. The goal of the skilled workforce is to improve the quality of solar products and system installations. As solar workforce development becomes more of a critical component for an expanding solar energy sector, new training opportunities should be introduced for practitioners interested in either getting into the solar power market or upgrading their professional skills. Apart from the on-going skill development programmes, the Center should engage in offering more advanced and new trends in training by creating an alliance with foreign agencies and firms to train the workforce in solar technology. Curricula should be designed to provide teaching that leads to defined workplace knowledge, skills, and abilities. More and more government backed training programmes should be accredited specifically to solar energy standards. As the solar power sector continues to grow with the support of country’s skilled manpower, India will have a great opportunity to establish itself as a global leader in delivering quality, reliable, and clean energy services.
MARKET GLANCE
Grid-Scale Battery Storage Technologies Market Report 2016-2026 Visiongain’s comprehensive new 234 page report reveals that CAPEX invested in grid-scale battery storage technologies will reach $1,107m in 2016, with rapid growth anticipated over the next ten years. The grid-scale battery storage market is largely an emerging one, especially when compared with other energy storage systems such as the well-established pumped hydro storage (PHS). Grid-scale batteries are arriving at commercial viability, having been the subject of numerous demonstration projects. They possess numerous advantages over competing technologies, such as the precision and quality of the service they can provide to grid operators and the lack of geographical constraints experienced by technologies such as compressed air energy storage (CAES) and PHS. The regulatory frameworks and market
environments around the world are moving towards the direction of more grid-scale battery storage being deployed on the grid to perform ancillary services. Pressed by high and rising amounts of renewable energy capacity brought online each year, an increasing number of governments around the world are considering adopting new regulatory requirements favouring the commissioning of gridscale storage systems, such as capacity payment mechanisms rewarding the best-performing back-up technologies for frequency regulation, or mandatory targets for the installation of new storage capacity. In addition to this, production costs are consistently declining due to technological improvements, gained experience and mass production. Just as decisively, a larger wealth of performance data is becoming available
each year as pilot projects are completed all around the world, providing producers, operators and prospective clients with key information on the reliability and safety of each battery technology once applied outside the laboratory. Visiongain expects the grid-scale battery storage market to grow considerably over the next ten years for grid ancillary services, peak electricity demand shaving, energy efficiency and renewable energy integration. The Grid-Scale Battery Storage Technologies Market Report 2016-2026 report includes transcripts of extended interviews with eight companies- ABB Energy Storage, AES Energy Storage, American Vanadium, EoS Energy Storage, Imergy, S&C Electric, ViZn Energy and Younicos involved in the grid-scale battery market, who provide expert insight alongside visiongain’s analysis.
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VIZ-A-VIZ
Central Government should renew its focus on the DBFOT framework:
SIMARPREET SINGH
Head – Strategy, Hartek Power Hartek Power Pvt Ltd is one of India’s fastest growing Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies with expertise in executing high-voltage substation turnkey, rooftop solar projects and manufacturing a complete range of power distribution equipment/solutions to the needs of the industry and utilities. The company has four strategic business units—Power Systems, Rooftop Solar, Power Distribution Products and Fuel Services. In a vivid viz-a-viz with Santanu Mukherjee, Sr. Journalist of Saur Energy – International, Simarpreet Singh, Head – Strategy, Hartek Power shares about the participation of private sector, new projects, policies and more. The power sector in the country is growing at a fast pace with the participation of private sector. What and how should be the government’s approach to boost the private enterprise in scripting India's growth story? The proactive approach of the government in implementing policies that encourage private participation in the power sector has opened a world of opportunities for private companies. It is heartening that the High Level Committee on Infrastructure Financing has projected an investment of Rs 9.1 lakh crore in electricity and Rs. 1.7 lakh crore in renewable energy during the 12th five-year plan (2012-17), and half of it is to be met through private sector participation. These steps should be complemented by efforts to create a conducive environment for private investment. The concerns of bidders pertaining to basic inputs like land should be among the government’s top priorities. The government should ensure timely clearance and approvals. It should promote manufacturing of power equipments indigenously under the Make in India campaign. Private investments across the value chain have a crucial role to play in meeting the rapidly growing demand for electricity. We need to have a more inclusive and liberal power sector to achieve this potential. While the government has been proactive in inviting tenders from private players in the generation space, upgrading the
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T&D infrastructure is equally important. Do you think this is the right time when the government should renew its focus on the Design, Build, Finance, Operate, Transfer (DBFOT) framework to help private sector participate in the national solar mission and come up with new projects? Absolutely! The Central government should renew its focus on the DBFOT framework to come up with more and more projects through private sector participation. The DBFOT model is working really well for rooftop projects with private equity and foreign funding coming just at the right time for the renewable energy segment. We also welcome the power ministry’s move to put a system in place to promote private sector participation in developing transmission infrastructure through tariff-based competitive bidding and joint ventures with Central and state transmission utilities. Is government addressing the concerns of bidders related to basic inputs like fuel and land? While the availability of land is crucial for the success of any power project, fuel plays a vital role in the non-renewable energy space. Since, fuel prices are globally controlled, very less moderation can be done. Of late, the government has been proactive in making land available to project developers.
VIZ-A-VIZ
For example, under a new policy for solar parks, the government itself is procuring land for developers. As a result, the developers can solely focus on project execution. What type of policies is needed to make private investment work? The government has adopted favourable policies to attract private investments. We have a conducive environment for investments where investors are upbeat about the revenue-generating potential of their business models. The process for approvals has been considerably streamlined and an incentive mechanism has been put into place to maximise the gains. This change is particularly reflected in the solar segment. At the same time, there is always scope for improvement. What are the roadblocks in the expansion of the transmission grid network? India needs to gradually upgrade its grid ring system from 440 KV to 765 KV to 1,200 KV so that maximum power can be transferred to the central ring and suitably distributed among powerdeficient areas of the country. The upgrade from 66 KV to 132, 220 and 440 KV should take place simultaneously. At the end of the day, each unit generated must reach its rightful destination. While Eastern India generates maximum hydel power, it also bears the maximum load which the transmission lines are unable to cope with. This electricity gets drained in the absence of a ring system with which the power can connect to the ring and flow to those parts of South India where there is disparity of load and requirement for load balance through supply of adequate power. Then we have regional roadblocks in the expansion of the transmission grid network. The move to set up the National Transmission Authority of India will go a long way in removing these
roadblocks. The advantage is evident. With a uniform process for approvals in place at the national level, the fate of T&D projects will no longer hang in the balance owing to divergent state policies. The investments in the T&D segment are also grossly inadequate. Ideally, every rupee spent on generation should be met with a matching amount on transmission, as practiced in many countries. But in comparison to generation, India spends only onefourth on transmission. While our installed power generation capacity has grown by 50% over the last five years, the growth in transmission capacity has been just 30%. There is also a need to make the transmission business more regulated by laying guidelines on quality standards for EPC players. The right of way is also a major challenge, especially in rural areas where permission for setting up transmission lines is often delayed. To ensure the economic viability of upcoming projects, we need to remove the hurdles coming in the way of their timely execution, like land availability and right of way. Rules for right of way compensation should be clearly defined to the advantage of both transmission line developers and land owners. In the solar segment, too, the transmission system is not growing in sync with the increase in power generation. Our transmission lines are not geared up to receive the kind of solar power being injected into the grid. It is imperative for every state which has ventured into solar power to upgrade its T&D system accordingly. While the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd has been asked to build separate transmission lines to evacuate green energy, it is expected to build only inter-state transmission lines, at least in the initial stages. Within the states, the local governments have to invest in
capacities. The answer lies in constantly upgrading the grids and coming up with new ones to match the outflows created by new solar projects. Do you think poor planning and inadequate investments in the transmission sector have created a situation where we have states having surplus power but struggle to sell? How can it be improved? Well, I would not entirely blame investments. What is more important is planning and execution. As of now, many private companies are operating in the power transmission space with more than 25 inter-state projects awarded under tariff-based competitive bidding framework, apart from two projects under the viability gap funding scheme. But despite the steady increase in transmission capacity over the years, the country faces a 10 per cent peak power deficit primarily because the transmission infrastructure is still lacking. Poor planning and inadequate investments in the transmission sector has created a peculiar situation where we have power-surplus states like Chhattisgarh struggling to sell power and power-deficient states like Tamil Nadu burdened by high deficits. The processes should be streamlined in order to avoid any project delays which can impede the economic viability of projects and dissuade investors owing to cost overruns. The government should create a favourable environment to attract foreign and private investors by offering a level playing field. How investment in R&D in sync with the Make in India campaign can bring higher productivity and efficiency? We should expedite projects through extensive use of technology and innovative techniques. Indian companies investing in R&D in sync with the Make in India campaign can appreciably reduce their costs, thus leading to higher productivity. These enterprises can bring
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growth in years to come, considering the renewed focus on renewable energy. greater efficiency by means of wealth and value creation through innovative techniques, processes and products. 8. How Hartek Power is planning to create a competitive advantage and emerge as a formidable player in Rooftop segment? Considering the 40-GW target for 2022 out of which not even 1 GW has been achieved so far, rooftop solar is poised to be the next big thing for the Indian power sector, especially when installing rooftop projects on government and new residential buildings becomes mandatory across the country. Sensing this huge opportunity, we recently forayed into rooftop solar and have installed more than 13-MW rooftop projects already, including 10-MW projects recently commissioned in Punjab. A couple of months ago, we also executed our first rooftop project in Chandigarh, a 436-kWp project spread over six buildings at Chandigarh Technology Park which happens to be the UT’s first rooftop project in the commercial category and the third largest solar PV project to be commissioned in Chandigarh. With India recently securing $2.5-billion debt funding for rooftop solar power projects, Hartek Power has received a muchneeded impetus to firm up its plans to enter the residential category with its solar solutions. It is the residential category which will define the growth of rooftop solar in years to come. It has the maximum potential in terms of sheer volumes. We are working hard to create a competitive advantage and emerge as a formidable player in this segment by focusing on the repair and maintenance part, which is dissuading many people from opting for rooftop solar despite its immense potential. We feel rooftop solar will largely drive our
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Centre's move to revise the National Solar Mission target for 2022 last year from 20 GW to 100 GW has given a much-needed impetus to the industry, please share what does this shift mean for companies like Hartek Power? The revised National Solar Mission target presents a sea of business opportunities to private companies like Hartek Power. In pursuit of this target, the focus has now shifted to bigger solar projects and Mega Solar Parks, as being developed in states like Andhra Pradesh, which will result in bigger orders for companies like Hartek Power. Having already made its presence felt in the Indian solar industry, Hartek Power is eyeing a sizeable share in the country’s rapidly growing solar market. With India emerging as a global solar powerhouse and solar power becoming more and more financially viable with each passing day, the future holds a lot of promise for us. The 100GW target looks quite achievable from the way one solar project is coming up after another in various states across the country. This includes 60-GW gridconnected projects, out of which only 7 GW has been achieved so far. India is all set to go into a solar overdrive to complete the remaining 53 GW, which in turn will present huge opportunities to private companies. There is immense scope for rooftop solar, too, given the 40-GW target for 2022. The execution of solar plants is undoubtedly a time-bound affair with a lot of stress on the quality of products and services, any delay in execution or breakdown of equipment can cause huge losses to the solar developer, how does Hartek Power take care of this in your projects? We deliver quality, and deliver it in time, every time. That’s what sets us apart. We recently executed a project in record 78 days. However, matching speed with
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quality does not come easy. It requires tremendous teamwork and an eye for every painstaking detail to nullify the possibility of even minor breakdowns that can cause last-minute delays. Unlike other EPC companies, we are also quite selective about the projects that we take up. We don’t want to put our credibility at stake by biting more than we can chew. We have devised effective project management techniques to ensure that nothing is left to chance. Multiple teams work on various aspects of the project in close coordination to meet the deadline. We make it a point to deploy quality managers at the sites to ensure adherence to quality and safety standards. We also have a dedicated inhouse team to work on the substation design, power plant engineering and complete automation. Our strong supply chain and the practice of maintaining single supplier source for all projects also stands us in good stead with all the equipments used in the substation sourced from world-class companies. What helped Hartek clinch 330-MW solar EPC projects, share us about the challenges and time frame for the completion of the project? Quality and timely delivery are the driving force behind all our products and services. Our unrivalled expertise in executing substation projects, coupled with a compelling commitment towards clients, has helped us win the trust of leading developers. After all, good work speaks for itself, and seldom goes unnoticed. Having raised the bar, we are now vying with many big names. We, at Hartek Power, go the extra mile to take care of every minute detail to remove the scope for any delays or breakdowns. We maintain the highest quality of equipment and workmanship. Not a single project executed by us has been delayed. We take pride in our work and our satisfaction lies in creating unmatched value for our customers.
PRODUCTS
LG Chem introduces new battery storage for households The South Korean firm LG Chem with the biggest share of the grid-connected battery storage market in Australia, has launched its new generation systems, promising they will offer more choice, and be cheaper, smaller, lighter, and with improved aesthetics. LG Chem is offering low voltage and high voltage options to Australian households, with its new battery storage systems ranging from a stackable 3.3kWh lithiumion system to a 9.8kWh system. The three low-voltage battery systems (48 volt) are being offered in 3.3kWh, 6.5kWh and 9.9kWh units, while 7kWh and 9.8kWh high voltage (400 volt) battery systems are also being offered. The new series of battery storage systems will be offered globally but will be launched in Australia first as it remains the most attractive market for battery storage because of its high electricity
prices, tariff structure, high levels of rooftop solar (now at 5GW) and excellent sunshine. Changhwan Choi, Australian Business Development Manager at LG Chem, says there is a massive opportunity in the Australian market, particularly with the ending of the premium feed-in tariffs in some states at the end of the year. And although battery storage remains an early adopter market, LG Chem expects it to reach the mass market within a few years. “We think that at the end of this year, it will take off very sharply,” he says. LG Chem says it has sold nearly 1,000 units since last September, which it estimates gives it nearly half of the total gridconnected battery storage market, with estimates of around 2,000 homes in total. The South Korean company is one of a number of international and local developers which are rolling out battery
storage offerings in the next few months, including Enphase, Sonnenbatterie, BYD, Redflow, Panasonic and others. “There is a massive sustainability potential that is yet to be unlocked if Australia wants to be 100 per cent powered by renewable energy,” Choi says. LG Chem says its battery storage systems are pitched at households that want to store the output of their solar systems for use in the evening, minimising the amount of solar energy that is sent back to the grid, and which no longer attract significant tariffs. The new systems are lighter and smaller than their predecessors. The New 6.5kWh unit is 8kg lighter and 4cm shorter than the current 6.4kWh offering. And they will be made available in varying colours – à la Tesla – in silver and “champagne gold”. They can also be installed outside the home.
SolarWorld launches 1,500-Volt Solar Panel One of the largest crystalline-silicon solar manufacturers in the Americas, SolarWorld has announced the launch of 1,500-volt solar panel. The company will exhibit the new 72-cell XL product at SolarWorld’s Booth 7411 at Intersolar North America from July 12 to 14 in San Francisco. Compared to standard 1,000-volt solar panels, the 1,500-volt technology enables installers to increase lengths of solar-panel strings by up to 50 percent, thereby requiring fewer combiner boxes, less wiring and trenching and lower labor costs. Analysts have estimated the cost savings at up to 5 cents per watt installed. The company in a stamen said its technology’s application is ideal for large commercial and utility-scale designs. Unlike competitors, SolarWorld has not
increased the size of its 72-cell solar panel to reach the 1500-volt standard. The new solar panel is certified to UL1703; it is free of potential induced degradation (PID), as per IEC 62804-1:2015. “SolarWorld does whatever it can to help its installation partners lower their costs and increase profits,” said Mukesh Dulani, U.S. president of SolarWorld. “This new product maximizes the benefits of our 72cell solar panel design without having to alter its size. It represents just the latest development in our long track record of achieving innovations that serve the market. Our customers want this option, so therefore we are bringing it to market.” The company is taking orders for the 1,500-volt module for delivery starting in October.
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NATIONAL EVEVTS
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NTS
INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
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