Saur Energy International Magazine November Issue 2020 by Saur Energy International

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SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL VOL 5 | ISSUE 03

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Kuldeep Gusain subscription@meilleurmedia.com Saur Energy International is printed, published, edited and owned by Manas Nandi and published from 303, 2nd floor, Neelkanth Palace, Plot No- 190, Sant Nagar, East of Kailash, New Delhi- 110065 (INDIA), Printed at Pearl Printers, C-105, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase 1, New Delhi. DISCLAIMER: Editor, Publisher, Printer and Owner make every effort to ensure high quality and accuracy of the content published. However he cannot accept any responsibility for any effects from errors or omissions. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Editor and publisher. The information in the content and advertisement published in the magazine are just for reference of the readers. However, readers are cautioned to make inquiries and take their decision on purchase or investment after consulting experts on the subject. Saur Energy International holds no responsibility for any decision taken by readers on the basis of the information provided herein. Any unauthorised reproduction of Saur Energy International magazine content is strictly forbidden. Subject to Delhi Jurisdiction.

t a time when face to face offline meets has been an issue (the REI expo slated for December was cancelled yet again as I wrote this), it was refreshing to see the MNRE pull off the 3rd RE-INVEST event well. The virtual event had the speakers, the issues, and most importantly, the frank discussions that made it a pleasure to attend virtually. We thought that deserved some detailed coverage, and pride of place on our cover too! Talking of frank discussions, what hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t changed is the diffidence of industry players to talk on record on issues that matter to them. Be it a judgement at a state regulator that seems unfair, to the health of their projects, or their views on a policy that seems impractical. Our industry prefers to play it safe, largely due to the heavy government overhang in their day to day lives still. That is a pity, because we will really struggle to identify any industry that has done well in India, without a more open airing of views, ideas and innovations. For pointers, look no further than the wind energy sector, that did very well in the warm cocoon of the FiT regime, but has struggled ever since open auctions invaded their sector. The only certainty of 2021 is that solar will overtake it that year. As the year draws to a close, some good news has also started trickling in that matters to everyone. Be it the probability of a Corona vaccine finally, or the resilience in an economy that has surprised on the bounce from its Q1 lows, there is finally, some reason to be hopeful. On that note, take extra care and stay safe till the vaccine reaches you:)

PRASANNA SINGH Group Editor

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CONTENTS VOL. 05, ISSUE-03

N OV E M B E R 2020

S AU R E N E R GY . C O M

Policy and Legal

India Will Reach 175 GW Renewable Energy Capacity Before 2022: PM Modi

EV Updates

UK To Target 100% EV’s by 2030, a Decade Earlier Than Planned

Modules Reports

MILESTONE

India’s RE Capacity to Reach 160 GW by 2025, Investment of Rs 4 Lakh Cr: ICRA

Yakima’s Solar Rooftop Cargo Box Makes Top 100 Inventions of 2020 by Time

Finance News

Storage

Innovations

Opinions

Solar Loans Securitisation. Loanpal Raises $400 Million In US

IIT Madras Develops Solar-Powered Survey Craft for Indian Ports and Waterways

Counterview

Ambience and Natural light metrology for Building environments

Exide Increases Stake in Li-ion Battery JV With Leclanche to 80.15%

Will CERC Restart in December? Hopes High As 174 Judgements Await Sunlight

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Projects and Tenders

Solar Tariffs Drop to Record Low of Rs 2/kWh in SECI’s 1070 MW Tender

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32 REINVEST 2020

The Risk In Renewables, And How To Reduce It

ROHIT BAJAJ

Head, Business Development IEX

26 SANDEEP DAKSHINI

Founder and Managing Director, Rayfuel

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GAUTAM DAS

Co-founder | Oorjan Cleantech Private Limited N OVEMB ER 20 20

SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL S AUR E N E R GY. C O M

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India Will Reach 175 GW Renewable Energy Capacity Before 2022: PM Modi

rime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the 15th G20 Summit convened by Saudi Arabia in a virtual format, on 21-22 November 2020. In his address, Modi claimed that India will meet its goal of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity target well before the target 2022 and that India is now more focused on reaching its next target of 450 GW capacity by 2030. In his speech underscored that for an inclusive, resilient and sustainable recovery in a Post COVID world, effective global governance is required and reformed multilateralism through improvement in character, governance and processes of multilateral institutions is the need of the hour. The PM further underscored the importance of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ‘leaving no one behind’. He said that India is following the same principle in the ‘Reform-Perform-Transform’ strategy to move forward and inclusive development efforts that are participative. He said that India is not only meeting Paris Agreement targets but will be

exceeding them. He emphasized that India has been inspired by its traditional ethos of living in harmony with the environment and has adopted a low carbon and climate resilient development approach. He then went on to say that “We will meet our goal of 175 GW of renewable energy well before the target of 2022. Now, we are taking a big step ahead by seeking to achieve 450 GW by 2030.”

PM Modi recently also attended the 8th Convocation of Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. At the ceremony, the PM said that the country is moving forward with the goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 30-35 percent over the coming years. The PM also laid the foundation stone for a 45 MW production plant of monocrystalline solar PV panel at the ceremony.

Europe Proposes to Have 60 GW Offshore Wind Capacity by 2030, 300 GW by 2050

o help meet the EU’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050, the European Commission recently presented the EU Strategy on Offshore Renewable Energy. The Strategy proposes to increase the offshore wind capacity in Europe from its current level of 12 GW to at least 60 GW by 2030 and to 300 GW by 2050. The commission stated that it will also aim to complement this with 40 GW of ocean energy and other emerging technologies such as floating wind and solar by 2050. Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans said “This

strategy shows the urgency and opportunity of ramping up our investment in offshore renewables. With our vast sea

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basins and industrial leadership, the European Union has all that it needs to rise up to the challenge. Already, offshore renewable energy is a true European success story. We aim to turn it into an even greater opportunity for clean energy, high quality jobs, sustainable growth, and international competitiveness.” The ambitious growth based on this plan will be based on the vast potential across all of Europe’s sea basins and on the global leadership position of EU companies in the sector. The commission expects it will create new opportunities for industry, generate green jobs

across the continent, and strengthen the EU’s global leadership in offshore energy technologies. It will also ensure the protection of our environment, biodiversity and fisheries. To promote the scale-up of offshore energy capacity, the Commission will encourage cross-border cooperation between Member States on long term planning and deployment. This will require integrating offshore renewable energy development objectives in the National Maritime Spatial Plans which coastal states are due to submit to the Commission by March 2021.

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British Govt Planning for More Clean Energy in Next Round of CfD Scheme

he British Government has set out its next steps towards a green industrial revolution with ambitious plans for the next round of its flagship renewables support scheme. The fourth round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme – to open in late 2021 – will aim to double the capacity of renewable energy compared to the last round and expand the number of technologies supported, with offshore wind, onshore wind, solar, tidal and floating offshore wind projects all eligible to bid. This will be coupled with a new consultation looking at the supply chain and ways to support more jobs and private investment by increasing the competitiveness of UK manufacturers. It will

mean the country can reap the rewards of clean energy following the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution published last week. The CfD scheme is the government’s primary method of supporting low-carbon electricity. It encourages investment in renewable energy by providing projects with a stable income while protecting consumers from paying increased costs when electricity prices are high. The fourth round aims to increase the capacity of renewable energy from the 5.8 GW achieved in the last round to up to 12 GW, which could be enough to power 20 million electric cars on the UK’s roads in any year. Given its long-term potential to support the country’s 2050 net-zero target, offshore wind projects will compete in their own ‘pot’ in the next auction process rather than against other technologies as they have previously. Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said “the UK is a world leader in clean energy, with over a third of our electricity now coming from renewables. That huge achievement is thanks to the government’s Contracts for Difference scheme. The new plans set out today build on the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan and put us firmly on the path towards building a new, green industrial revolution.”

Karnataka Will Look to Collaborate With the UK on RE Front: Yediyurappa

arnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has said that the state will be very interested in engaging with the United Kingdom (UK) on the renewable energy (RE) technology and implementation front. During a virtual meeting with Lord Tariq Ahmad, UK’s Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Yediyurappa expressed the state government’s willingness to cooperate in the field of renewable energy to further improve its position as the renewable energy leader in India. According to reports, they discussed bilateral cooperation and collaboration in various sectors such as renewable energy, pollution control, animation/gaming, regulatory sandboxes and waste management. “Karnataka is one of the fastest-growing technology hubs in the world. The State has become the prime spot for global industries to invest here due to the availability of a skilled workforce and other favourable factors. “Being a champion of renewable energy production, Karnataka would like to

engage with the UK on forecasting, scheduling and ancillary service solutions on the renewable energy front,” Yediyurappa said. Ahmad said as the economies around the world recover from the impact of COVID-19, this was the time to look to the future. “We must take the opportunity to build back better to create a world that is green, clean and sustainable.

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We want to work even more closely with India to mobilise global action at COP26 because we both lead by example,” he added. British Deputy High Commissioner to Karnataka and Kerala Jeremy PilmoreBedford said application of green technology was at the heart of the UK’s ambition to build back better from the current Covid crisis, the release added.

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Israel is India’s Partner in Quest for Low Carbon Future: PM Netanyahu

sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which addressing a digital conference of the India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA) has said that Israel is India’s partner in its quest for a future with low carbon and pollution levels and exuded confidence that solar energy would constitute over 25 percent of his country’s energy supply by 2030. He further went on to say that obstacles to conserving solar energy would have to be overcome to ensure supply on days when there is no sun. “We want a future with less carbon and less pollution, a future based on green energy and that’s why I welcome this vital initiative by Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and I want to assure you that Israel is your partner in this quest,” a government release quoted Netanyahu. “I believe that the most important renewable energy is ingenuity and innovation. And all the countries represented here, beginning with India and Israel, and all of you, are committed to seizing innovation in order to seize the future. And on that, I think we can all be very, very hopeful.” Netanyahu attended

the digital conference on the personal invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. The ISA, which seeks to harness the power of the sun to reduce pollution and carbon footprint, is an initiative of Modi. Over 80 countries are members of the alliance. India was re-elected as president of the ISA for a

term of two years at its third assembly in October. Netanyahu noted that the sun is almost the exclusive source of renewable energy in his country. pproximately 10 percent of Israel’s energy consumption originates in solar energy. Solar energy would constitute over 25 percent of Israel’s energy supply by 2030, he said.

KERC Reinstates Tariff of `4.79/unit for Adani Green Energy

he Karnataka Electricity Regulation Commission (KERC) passed two orders in favor of Adani Green Energy Limited’s (AGEL) solar plants of 20 MW each. Both the projects were part of a tender by Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) for 290 MW of solar projects for 17 talukas across Karnataka. The distribution companies (DISCOMs) Hubli Electricity Supply Company Limited (HESCOM) and the (KREDL) were directed to pay AGEL the tariff of `4.79 / kWh for both the projects as mentioned in the power purchase agreement. The firms had refused to do so on the grounds of delays in project

completion, going by the tariffs prevailing at the time of completion. Both the solar projects are situated in Byadagi Taluk of Haveri District and Chanapatana Taluk of Ramanagara District respectively. On May 2016, Adani was granted the letter of award (LoA) for the Bydagi project and Chanapatana project

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respectively. A supplemental PPA (SPPA) was executed, incorporating a few corrections and modifications between Adani and HESCOM. On January 30, 2018, AGEL received the inter-connection approval from KPTCL for connecting the project with the substation on the same day. According to the PPA for both

the projects, the developer had to achieve the financial closure, obtain evacuation approval, and documentary evidence of having clear title and possession of the land within eight months from the effective date of the PPA, unless the project was affected by any force majeure event. The scheduled commissioning date for the project was one year from the PPA signing date. The order noted that the PPA signed on June 28, 2016, guaranteed a tariff of `4.79/kWh. HESCOM had extended the timeline to March 15, 2018, for the project’s scheduled commercial operation. KERC ordered that Adani was liable to the agreed tariff of `4.79 /kWh.

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UK To Target 100% EV’s by 2030, a Decade Earlier Than Planned

t was only in February this year, that British Prime minister Boris Johnson had announced plans to bring forward the date to ban petrol and diesel cars from the UK to 2035. From the earlier target date of 2040. Now, multiple reports say that the new date will be 2030, likely to be announced as early as next week. With this, it becomes clearer that irrespective of political leanings, the shift to greener economies has acquired irresistible momentum in the developed world. And China off course. Those shifting goalposts will send a shiver of worry across Indian auto manufacturers, who seemed to have won a temporary reprieve when Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had spoken about a plan to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles in India by 2030. At that time, a key argument against the ‘impossible’ target was the argument that even developed economies like the UK and France had a target of only

2040 to meet those numbers. That had led to the target being scaled down to 30 percent by 2030. A figure that looks way too conservative now. China has a target of 25 percent by 2025, and 40 percent by 2030. The share of EV’s in India’s total auto market is currently under 3 percent, but the figure is growing fast, especially among two

wheelers. Clearly, what was impossible in 2017, seems to be a lot more closer in 2020 to policy makers in the UK. On the anvil are also plans to make firms declare their risks from climate change by 2025, in their financial reporting. That would be a first for any major economy.

BattRE, RevOS Team Up To Build Low Cost EV Charging Network

omentum for building a viable charging network for Electric Vehicles (EVs) is getting stronger by the day. Even though the big announcements like a station at every one of India’s 69,000 fuel outlets are being made by the government, when it comes to action on the ground, nimble startups are leading the way. The latest to join the pioneers is BattRE, a tech driven EV startups, which has tied up with RevOS to build a network of low cost EV charging stations. Or RE: charge as they are calling it. Touted as India’s first low-cost Peer to Peer charging solution for EVs in India, users can locate the nearest RE:charge station by downloading BattRE’s mobile app The new initiative seeks to find a solution to challenge that the problems of the availability, cost of space, electricity, infrastructure & developing a large-scale charge point network poses in India. The RE:charge Stations

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can be installed anywhere, be it Home, Office, Kirana Shop etc, with the owners receiving payments by UPI based on usage. Commenting on this launch, Nishchal Chaudhary, Founder of BattRE says, “With the proposed guidelines of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India’s to permit establishment of private charging stations at residences, work spaces etc, we strongly believe our new offering “RE:charge stations” will help in speeding up EV ecosystem in India. He says that the firm plans to add 500 + e-charging stations by March 2021. Jyotiranjan, Co-founder of REVOS states that, “Together we introduce to you a peer-to-peer charging network to further eliminate the range anxiety associated with EVs. It’s compact, cost-effective, and can be installed anywhere with ease. Just Locate, Scan, Pay, and Use”

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OKAYA Bags World Bank-funded Contract for Setting up EV Charging Stations Across India

KAYA, a flagship company of Okaya Power Group has announced that it has bagged a major World Bank-funded contract from Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a JV of PSUs of Ministry of Power, Government of India. EESL has given this contract to OKAYA for supply, installation and commissioning of 1020 multi-standard EV charging stations with CCS, CHAdeMO and Bharat specification protocol across India. Committed to meet the fast-emerging demand for both charging infrastructure as well as EV charging solutions, OKAYA will be deploying these state-of-the-art EV charging stations across the country. OKAYA EV chargers are compatible with all internationally accepted standards and the company’s research and development division works round-the-clock to develop a best-inclass product line. OKAYA has already catapulted its capabilities to facilitate well laid out electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country. Anshul Gupta, Director, Okaya Power said, “We are delighted to have been awarded the World Bank-funded contract for Supply, installation and commissioning of 1020 Multi-Standard EV charging Stations with CCSa, CHAdeMO and Bharat specification protocol across India. We have achieved a stupendous feat by securing this significant contract from the prestigious Energy Efficiency Services Limited which is a joint venture of four national public sector undertakings. Continuing with its ceaseless commitment towards accelerating the transition to electrical vehicles, OKAYA has been at the forefront of augmenting a sustainable EV charging infrastructure across the country and our association with EESL is a major step forward in this direction.”

World’s First Sigfox Enabled EV Chargers to be Manufactured in India

ndia has embarked on an ambitious program to introduce EV (Electric Vehicle) in a big way to transform the entire transport sector. Given this stated objective to decarbonise the whole transport sector, VerdeMobility, a unit of System level Solutions, has joined hands with one of the largest operators of Sigfox, iWire Technologies, to develop the world’s first Sigfox enabled, Electric Vehicle Charging Stations. It is the first of its kind low-cost EV charging solutions manufactured in India. The different product variants can be used for personal or commercial purposes, drawing power from the grid or solar systems. With a mobile app that allows the vehicle owner to find the nearest available charging station, make payments based on charge and online, this unique machine is

Magenta Launches Associate Program for Deploying Nationwide EV Charging Platform

agenta, a pioneer in the business of clean mobility and clean electricity has launched its nationwide business associate outreach program starting December 2020. Under this initiative, Magenta will identify associates across India to deploy low-cost electric vehicle (EV) charging platform. The 3-stage program will commence with partner training in EV technology, EV charging and supporting IT infrastructure. In further stages, Magenta will create a sales, deployment and support backend for 2W, 3W and 4W charging across India. After being seed funded by HPCL in 2018 and selected by Shell for the E4 innovation hub in 2019, recently Magenta was selected by Microsoft to help them to scale and grow leveraging its technology. Under the ChargeGrid brand, already Magenta has done EV charger installation and deployment for various private and government organizations across 19 states and union territories in

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the ‘thing’ every Government, Company with fleets, Mall owners, petrol pumps, need to implement. Both companies aim to manufacture chargers in India and supply solutions across the globe. “It’s been an exciting period, working with SLS and HT Micron in getting the first Sigfox enabled Electric Vehicle Charging Machine up and running. This is a game-changer in the IoT space, and is a clear proof of our commitment to building world-class Sigfox enabled products in India,” said Vinod CEO, iWire Technologies. The first charger is planned to be installed in Dubai by end of November 2020. The CMS and end-user apps (iOS/ Android) will help the Charge Point Operators manage the infrastructure seamlessly to empower them to expand operations with ease.

India. With this outreach program, Magenta is targeting to increase its EV charging support network across 300 districts in India. Bhavana Srivastava, who recently joined Magenta as the Client Services Head and who is driving this initiative said, “This Associate program has been created to develop entrepreneurs in EV charging and in turn generate employment using the EVSE hardware and software technology which we have built over last 2 years specifically to solve Indian EV charging challenges. I call it the ecopreneur program – creating employment with a focus on sustaining the environment. The microservices based charging software platform we have developed especially for the Indian ecosystem allows a democratised approach to EV charging infrastructure and we believe we will positively impact the lives of 300 entrepreneurs directly and the larger EV ecosystem as a whole.”

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Total to Operate 2300 EV Charge Points of Bélib’ Network in Paris

otal has announced that it has won the City of Paris’ concession tender for the modernisation and extension of its public Electric Vehicles (EV) charge points network, installed throughout the French capital city. The Council of Paris awarded to Total the management of its on-street public network for the 10 coming years. This public service concession covers the supply, installation and technical and commercial operation of this charge points network. The new network, which combines the Belib’ network -from which it derives its name- and the former Autolib’ network, will ultimately encompass 2,300 EV charge points, an increase of 56 percent compared to the number currently in service. Total is committed to the modernisation of the current equipment and will additionally install fast-charging hubs, located at selected underground parking lots. Total will offer attractive energy tariffs adapted to the needs of the EV drivers, in addition to a seamless and

simplified customer experience while ensuring both availability and quality of the services. Total has also included in its proposal the development of solar farms in France that will be dedicated to covering the entire electricity needs of this network, providing Parisian users with a 100 percent renewable electricity charge for their vehicles. “This partnership with the City of Paris enables us to accelerate our transformation toward a broad energy company. We are delighted by the trust placed in us by the Council of Paris for the 10 coming years, through this concession, for the Bélib’ network management and modernization. Following Amsterdam, Brussels and London, another major European city is henceforth building on Total’s expertise to foster the transition of its citizens’ mobility. As such, our promise is to provide our customers with a 100 percent renewable electricity charge and a service that meets their expectations,” underlined Alexis Vovk, President, Marketing & Services at Total.

Hitachi ABB Power, Ashok Leyland,

IIT-Madras Team up for E-mobility Pilot

he e-bus, which will incorporate Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ innovative flash-charging technology – Grid-eMotion Flash, will be provided by Ashok Leyland, while IIT-M will host the infrastructure required to operate the flash-charging system for the e-bus, Hitachi ABB Power Grids in India said in a statement. Hitachi ABB Power Grids in India, Ashok Leyland and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) on Friday announced a partnership for an e-mobility pilot. The tripartite partnership will run an electric bus (e-bus) pilot to support sustainable in-campus commuting by IITM’s students and staff. The e-bus, which will incorporate Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ innovative flash-charging technology – Grid-eMotion Flash, will be provided by Ashok Leyland, while IIT-M will host the infrastructure

required to operate the flash-charging system for the e-bus, Hitachi ABB Power Grids in India said in a statement. “With sound policy levers in place, this partnership – engaging some of the finest industry and academic minds in India – creates a truly sustainable framework for e-mobility,” Hitachi ABB Power Grids in India Managing Director N Venu said. The partnership will provide a zeroemissions mass public transportation bus system through the company’s ‘awardwinning technology’, localised for the Indian market, he added. “Combination of our robust buses with electric propulsion technology and flash charging from Hitachi ABB Power Grids, can be the answer to the need for sustainable public transportation across the country,” Ashok Leyland Chief Technology Officer N Saravanan said.

ZestMoney: Massive Demand for Pay Later option on EVs

ue to COVID-19 and the need for social distancing, Zestmoney has observed a 500% month-on-month growth in customers opting for the Pay Later solution for Electric Vehicles (EVs). The company is India’s leading AI-driven EMI financing and “Buy Now Pay Later” (“Pay Later”) platform. The vehicles are low-cost as well, which is another reason for customers to opt for these rides. As tallied by ZestMoney, Uttar Pradesh provides 30% of the total business from EV. The state is followed by Bihar, Rajasthan and Maharashtra and the age-group of 25-35 is the one which buys these scooters the most. It is interesting to see that EVs are gaining increasing traction in Tier II, III and IV towns where many new-to-credit customers are opting for the convenience of Pay Later solutions. These markets are driving 70-80% of the total demand. Lizzie Chapman, CEO & Co-founder at ZestMoney, when commenting about the development said, “The pandemic has augmented the demand for electric vehicles with people wanting to skip public transportation. At ZestMoney, we see a massive opportunity in financing for this segment, particularly in smaller towns where customers may not have a past credit record or a traditional credit score. Our Buy Now, Pay Later solution offers them the perfect flexibility to spread the cost which is great financial planning too. Since many are availing credit for the first time, we are helping them build their credit score for large ticket loans they may need later. The EV industry is taking shape and we at Zest strongly believe that despite COVID-19, FY 20-21 will be a defining year for the EV segment.”

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There Is Still A Huge Unmet Compliance On RPO targets vis-à-vis achievements

I N T E R V I E W

The Renewable Energy market uses REC’s or renewable energy certificates, besides normal power trading, in a big way to help firms meet their obligations for using Renewable energy (RPO’s). We spoke to Mr Rohit Bajaj, Head and Senior Vice President-Business Development, Indian Energy Exchange Limited, on the developments in this market in India. Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) is the first and largest energy exchange in India providing a nationwide, automated trading platform for physical delivery of electricity, Renewable Energy Certificates and Energy Saving Certificates. The exchange platform enables efficient price discovery and increases the accessibility and transparency of the power market in India while also enhancing the speed and efficiency of trade execution. Recently, at a forum for Climate Change hosted by the Environment minister, we also heard many corporate leaders talk about the need for an efficient trading market for renewable energy, besides carbon credits.

What is the importance of RECs? How does it help with RPOs? Rohit Bajaj: The Central Electricity Regulatory

Commission (CERC) introduced Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) mechanism in the year 2010 with an aim to ease the purchase of renewable energy by the state utilities and obligated entities, including the states which are not well endowed with RE sources. Through RECs, obligated entities such as distribution utilities, open access consumers and captive power plants are able to meet their RPO compliance requirements set by the regulator. Over the last decade, REC Market has become one of the key avenues through which these entities have been able to leverage to fulfill RPO targets in the most efficient and competitive manner. The market platform has also greatly helped in increasing the renewable energy penetration in the country’s energy mix.

ROHIT BAJAJ

Head, Business Development, IEX

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What is reason behind APTEL’s decision to postpone the trading? Latest updates on the decision. Rohit Bajaj: In June 2020, CERC had issued an

order regarding revision in the floor and forbearance prices of RECs. According to the order, the floor price of both solar and non-solar RECs was reduced to zero from earlier Rs 1000 and forbearance price was reduced to Rs 1000 per MWh from earlier Rs 2400 per Mwh for solar and Rs 3000 per

In India, while we have made significant progress in the last few years, we are still working towards increasing the share of green power and have even set a steep target of increasing the renewable installed capacity to 450 GW by 2030. Therefore, RPO and REC become an important tool to accelerate the growth of renewable energy by allowing obligated and even voluntary entities to buy green power.

Mwh for non-solar RECs. Some of the green power generators and industry associations resisted new reduced pricing proposed by the CERC and had been keen on continuation of the old pricing. These stakeholders thus filed an appeal with Honorable APTEL for the revocation of the order claiming that reduced pricing will lower their financial realization. Taking a note of this, APTEL issued an order staying trade in the REC Market in early July for four weeks which has since been continuing and the trading has not taken place over the last four months. The latest update is that although the hearing in the matter is completed, the final APTEL order is much awaited to enable resumption of trade in the REC Market.

Discuss how bulk purchasers have their requirement of RPOs. Rohit Bajaj: The bulk purchasers who opt for procuring elec-

tricity through power generators directly instead of purchasing through their respective distribution utility are obliged to fulfill their RPO compliance targets. They can either enter into power purchase agreements with green power generators or buy RECs through the market as per their RPO compliance requirements. Since the RECs provide greater flexibility in terms of planning and meeting required RPO targets in the most flexible and competitive manner, the bulk purchasers thus greatly prefer this market mechanism.

Data on the expected volumes in REC trading, as they existed before they were stopped, and expectations going forward. Rohit Bajaj: In the current financial year 2021, the trading in

the REC market was very sub-dued for the initial three months i.e. April, May and June largely due to CoVID -19 pandemic and the fact that industrial consumption had come to a halt and also there was overall contraction in the demand for power. This has adversely impacted the market and resulted in the trading of only about seven lakh RECs so far.. However, in fiscal year 2020, IEX witnessed the trade of about 60 lac RECs implying an average monthly trade of about 5 lac RECs. With power demand and energy consumption now accelerating, we may see the trade this year surpass the previous year numbers, provided the REC trading is resumed in November 2020 without any further delays.

As RE supply itself goes up at energy exchanges, won’t that lead to drop in demand for REC’s? Sales have already dropped sharply between 2018-19 and 2019-20, as it is. Rohit Bajaj: The regulators have bene gradually increasing the RPO targets over the years and also have been enforcing

strict and timely compliance. Therefore, there is a compelling need to have multiple avenues available that can help the obligated entities to fulfil their allotted targets. Most importantly, there is still a huge unmet compliance when we measure RPO targets vis-à-vis achievements and many obligated entities are still not achieving their targets and some are not even participating in the market. The newly commenced Green Markets on the Exchange and the REC Market both enable the obligated entities to fulfill RPO compliance in the most competitive manner. For integrated energy and RPO, the green market is appropriate and REC market is suitable when it comes to meeting RPO in a standalone way. Thus, the two market segments indeed complement each other in a very nice way and serve the requirements of the market participants in their own unique ways. Going forward, both market segments must co-exist in meeting larger renewable energy aspirations.

Globally, how has the REC model evolved? In India, who certifies the validity and authenticity of REC’s? Rohit Bajaj: The concept of RPOs is well-accepted and has

been widely used globally, especially in developed countries since a long time now. Over the years, developed countries have witnessed a significant increase in the share of renewable energy to the extent that it is now traded at par with conventional power on the exchange platforms. Owing to the maturity and expansion of renewable energy markets in these countries, the respective governments have even removed RPO. In India, while we have made significant progress in the last few years, we are still working towards increasing the share of green power and have even set steep target of increasing the renewable installed capacity to 450 GW by 2030. Therefore, RPO and REC become an important tool to accelerate the growth of renewable energy by allowing obligated and even voluntary entities to buy green power. CERC has designated National Load despatch Centre (NLDC) as Central Agency for registration, repository, and other functions for implementation of REC framework at national level. The Central Agency (NLDC) has been authorized to issue RECs to renewable energy generators for specified quantity of electricity injected into the grid. The metering of quantum of renewable energy injected into the grid is approved and recorded through energy accounting by SLDC. NLDC issues the certificates equivalent to the amount of electricity injected into the grid as certified by the SLDC. RECs are then ultimately traded only on the power exchanges as also mandated under the framework notified by the Honorable CERC. N OVEMB ER 20 20

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Solar Loans Securitisation. Loanpal Raises $400 Million In US

lmost no infra sector can grow without access to finance, and this is as true of residential solar as anything else. If the Auto and housing sector exploded on the back of better access to finance, then the residential solar sector, at least in the US, seems to be going the same way. And now, even loan securitisation, a clear indicator of market confidence in the quality of those loans, is becoming bigger there. Loanpal, a leader in residential solar financing in the US, has announced that Loanpal Solar Loan 2020-3 Ltd. closed a securitization of approximately $434 million worth of Loanpal solar loans previously purchased by Goldman Sachs, Blackstone Credit and Goodfinch. This represents the largest securitization of residential solar loans to date and vindicates Loanpal’s asset quality. Loanpal offers its loans for users in the residential sector, while giving financial institutions and home improvement contractors the confidence to finance those products. The firm has worked with credit unions, insurance companies, banks and asset managers to provide $400 million of loans through its technology platform per month. Since 2018, the Company claims to have transacted over $5 billion in solar loans on its technology platform. “The market for sustainable home improvement products is

estimated to be worth more than $100 billion in 2021. Access to efficient financing for those products will be a key driver for the sector and the clean energy industry overall,” said Loanpal President and Chief Investment Officer Tanguy Serra. “We’re thrilled to continue our incredible relationship with Goldman Sachs and Blackstone Credit who support Loanpal’s mission and deeply understand the solar loan asset class.”

Enel Plans to Invest €160 Bn by 2030 to Accelerate the Energy Transition

ne of the biggest utilities in Europe – Enel has released its visibon 2030 and 2021–2023 strategic plan. The firm has announced that it is placing at the core of its strategy the acceleration of the energy transition. The firm expects to mobilize investments of 190 billion euros in the 2021-2030 period, boosting decarbonisation, electrification of consumption and platforms to create sustainable shared value for all stakeholders and profitability over the medium and long term. And it has said that it plans to directly invest around 160 billion euros, of which over 150 billion euros through the ownership business model and around 10 billion euros through the stewardship business model, while further catalysing around 30 billion euros from third parties. Francesco Starace, CEO and General Manager of Enel said “with this new Strategic Plan we are setting a direction for the next 10

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years, mobilizing 190 billion euros in investments to pursue our goals in a decade full of opportunities. To realize this vision, we can leverage on our clear leadership in the utility sphere across three main elements, all driven by an innovative platform-based model. “First, as a ‘Super Major’ in the renewable sector, we operate the world’s largest private generation fleet. Furthermore, we have an unparalleled global network system, where the platformoperating model drives improvements in quality, resiliency, efficiency and flexibility. Last but not least, we count on the largest customer base worldwide to which, through our business platforms, we provide innovative services and integrated offerings. Throughout the decade, we will strengthen the creation of sustainable shared value for all stakeholders, which is also embedded in an attractive remuneration for our shareholders.”

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Equinor and SSE Reach Financial Close on World’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm

ogger Bank offshore wind farm owners, Equinor and SSE, have announced financial close on the first two phases of the project, representing in aggregate the largest offshore wind project financing to date globally. “Reaching financial close on the two first phases of Dogger Bank is a major milestone, demonstrating our commitment to profitable growth within offshore wind. The extensive interest from lenders underpins the attractiveness of UK offshore wind assets and confidence in SSE and Equinor. As the wind farm’s future operator, we are proud to take this big step forward in delivering what will be the backbone of a growing wind hub in the North Sea,” said Pål Eitrheim, Equinor’s executive vice president of New Energy Solutions. The total senior debt facilities across the two phases is GBP 4.8 billion, plus ancillary facilities of around GBP 0.7 billion. Dogger Bank A and B are being project financed

with gearing of 65% to 70% for the generation assets. Gearing on the

transmission facilities is set to 90% of the forecasted OFTO sale proceeds. With the strong interest from lenders, Dogger Bank A and B were able to secure competitive terms, despite unprecedented economic circumstances arising from the global coronavirus pandemic. The project is being built in three 1.2 GW phases, with the first two phases being constructed at the same time to take advantage of the synergies resulting from their geographical proximity and use of common technology and contractors. As such, the two phases are being financed concurrently with all lenders participating in each phase in equal proportions. Dogger Bank A and B will each require total capital expenditure of around GBP 3 billion, including the capex for the offshore transmission station (OFTO). The third phase, Dogger Bank C, is being developed on a different timescale with financial close to follow at a later stage.

Canadian Solar Records Big Growth in Module Shipments, Profit in Q3

anadian Solar, one of the largest solar module manufacturers and project developers has reported its financial results for the 3rd quarter (Q3) of the financial year. The firm has reported big growth in all key business segments including growth in Module Shipments, Module Manufacturing capacity, Revenue, Projects Capacity, Profits, etc. Key Highlights: Total module shipments in Q3 grew by 33 percent yearover-year (yoy) and 9 percent quarter-over-quarter (qoq) to 3,169 MW driven by strong global demand growth. Of the total, 278 MW was shipped to the Company’s own utility-scale solar power projects. The firm shipped to more than 70

countries in the third quarter of 2020. The top five markets of the MSS business ranked by revenues were the U.S., Vietnam, Brazil, China and Japan. Net revenue grew by 20

percent yoy and 31 percent qoq to USD 914 million. Growth was driven by higher module shipments and project sales, partly offset by a lower module average selling price (ASP). N OVEMB ER 20 20

Gross profit in the third quarter of 2020 was USD 178 million, up 21 percent sequentially. Gross margin in the third quarter of 2020 was 19.5 percent, compared to guidance of 14 percent to 16 percent, and 21.2 percent in the second quarter of 2020. The gross margin decline was mainly driven by the previously anticipated module ASP pressure and increased manufacturing input costs, but the magnitude of the fluctuations was smaller than expected. Another highlight from the quarter was the firms’ first large scale energy storage system supply and service agreement, which officially positioned the firm in the solar plus energy storage market. SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL S AUR E N E R GY. C O M

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ADB Grants $600 Mn Loan to Indonesia’s PLN to Promote Renewable Energy

he Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 600 million loan to help the State Electricity Corporation (PLN), Indonesia’s state-owned power company, expand electricity access and promote renewable energy in eastern Indonesia. The program also includes two grants, at USD 3 million each, from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction and the Asia Clean Energy Fund. The second phase of the Sustainable Energy Access in Eastern Indonesia–Electricity Grid Development Program supports efforts by PLN to expand electricity access and improve service reliability in nine provinces in the outer regions of Kalimantan, Maluku, and Papua. The first phase of the program began in 2017 and covered eight provinces in Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara. Indonesia’s economy has doubled in size since 2000 and the national poverty rate declined to 9.7 percent in 2018 from 19.1 percent in 2000. Such gains are now threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. ADB expects Indonesia’s economy to contract by 1.0% in 2020, compared with a 5.0 percent

expansion in 2019. To cushion the economic shock, the government has announced free electricity for 24 million poor households and a 50 percent discount for 7 million more households, which could reduce PLN’s revenue and financing capacity. The government has been pushing to develop the country’s economic growth centers beyond Java, where more than half of the population lives. Residents in eastern Indonesia

currently have limited access to electricity, with up to 56 percent of households having inadequate or no electricity access in Papua and 28 percent in Maluku—much higher than the national average of 4 percent. The government has prioritised 433 villages currently without access to electricity, all of them located in the eastern provinces of Papua, West Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku.

Biotech Major Biocon Takes 26% Stake in Hinduja Renewables Two

engaluru-based biotechnology major Biocon has announced that it has entered into an agreement on November 21, 2020, for the acquisition of a 26 percent equity stake on a fully diluted basis in Hinduja Renewables Two Private Limited (HRTPL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed for the purpose of power generation and developing a captive power plant as per Electricity laws. As per a corporate filing issued by Biocon, the acquisition of a 26 percent stake in the SPV will cost the firm around Rs 5.91 crore (Rs 5,91,61,730). The indicative time period for completion of the Acquisition is December 15, 2020. According to the release, the objective of the acquisition is to enhance renewable based power consumption. Biocon will acquire and maintain a 26 percent stake on a fully diluted basis in HRTPL throughout the term of the Power Purchase Agreement to maintain captive status as per Electricity Act.

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HRTPL was incorporated on September 25, 2020, which will engage in the business of power generation and will develop a 19.77 MW wind power plant (captive) at Raichur District of Karnataka. In October, Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), the renewable energy business of the Adani Group, had announced that it has completed the acquisition of 205 MW operating solar assets from Essel Green Energy Private Limited (EGEPL) and Essel Infraprojects Limited (EIL). The portfolio is relatively young with average remaining PPA life of approximately 21 years. The acquired assets will be held 100 percent by Adani Renewable Energy Holding Ten Limited, a 100 percent subsidiary of AGEL. Later, the assets were acquired by Adani Green Energy Twenty-Three Ltd (AGE23L), which is a joint venture (JV) jointly controlled by Total Solar Singapore and Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL).

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AES to Absorb Solar Develop sPower to Form 12 GW RE Platform

he AES Corporation has announced an agreement with Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) to merge the sPower development platform, a leading independent solar developer in the US, with AES’ US-based clean energy development business to accelerate the safe, reliable transition to cleaner energy solutions in the country. AES’ wholly-owned clean energy development business includes AES Distributed Energy and a wind development team formerly part of Advance Energy. The merged business will represent one of the top renewables growth platforms. As states, communities and organizations of all types make commitments and plans to reduce their carbon footprints, renewables are on track to be the fastestgrowing source of electricity generation in the US in 2020. AES is working with its customers to co-create and deliver smarter, greener energy solutions that meet their needs, including 24/7 carbon-free energy. “We share our customers’ commitments to a more sustainable energy future. Together, we can create a safe, resilient and carbon-free grid,” said Andrés Gluski, AES President and Chief Executive Officer. “The merger of sPower with AES’ clean energy business will benefit customers by providing access to a broader portfolio of product offerings as well as an expanded highly skilled and experienced team to drive innovation at scale.” The merged renewables platform will bring

together sPower’s and AES’ differentiated capabilities in solar, wind and energy storage to accelerate our customers’ energy transitions. “This platform will bring tremendous value to our customers as they pursue their business objectives and climate commitments,” said Leo Moreno, AES Clean Energy President. “Our expanded portfolio of innovative solutions based on cutting-edge technologies will enable us to work together with our customers to power their energy transitions while making a carbon-free future possible.”

Association of Power Producers Request Financial Support From Finance Minister

he Association of Power Producers (APP) recently wrote to Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, highlighting the concerns of power debtors and extended litigations that have been egging the power sector. The letter titled, ‘Request for key financial support required for revival of the infrastructure industry’, laid out the major issues pressing the sector and suggestions for its solutions. At the foremost, it brought forward one of the biggest challenges afflicting the power companies, the large overdue of receivables pending over long time, including regulatory dues. It spoke at length on how the recovery of such dues is inordinately delayed due to multiple litigations by the

adhered to in many cases and mostly end only at Supreme Court. It then went on to suggest that a mechanism or policy framework be formulated, in lines of MSME Act and Consumer Dispute Resolution Act, wherein at least 75 percent of the claim amount has to be paid by any party in order to file an appeal challenging the orders of regulatory commissions. The amount can be adjusted in the future once the final judgment from higher courts is given. Discoms as a strategy to delay their payment obligation. Orders issued by regulatory forums are challenged as a matter of routine and

honouring directions for interim payment issued by regulatory commissions are rare; even such orders from appellate tribunals are not N OVEMB ER 20 20

A few other issues shared in the letter: On Tap Targeted Long TermRepo Operations (TLTRO) Incentivising Banks to lend to the Infrastructure Sector SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL S AUR E N E R GY. C O M

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IIT Madras Develops Solar-Powered Survey Craft for Indian Ports and Waterways

esearchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras have developed a solar-powered unmanned autonomous survey craft for Indian ports and inland waterways. According to the team, the system can undertake autonomous hydrographic and oceanographic surveys and provide real-time data transmission over a long distance. The researchers are in the process of commercialising the technology with the help of the Ministry of Shipping. “This system could be equipped with an echo sounder, GPS system and broadband communication technology, capable of delivering precise depth measurements. In addition to the echo sounder and the GPS system, it is possible to add additional oceanographic payloads, a 360-degree camera, LiDAR for seamless topography and bathymetry measurements,” K Murali, professor in-charge, IIT

Madras‘ National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC), said. “The craft had a successful field-test recently off the Chennai Coast at Kamarajar Port. Further field trials under harsher environments have been scheduled during November 2020 at Syama Prasad Mookerjee (SMP) Port, Kolkata,” he added. According to Murali, the Indian maritime sector is currently dominated by foreign technology. “This is a significant leap towards indigenisation of the Indian maritime sector, which is currently dominated by foreign technology. The craft is capable of delivering precise and accurate depth measurements even in very shallow waters. This autonomous survey craft will help to meet the increasing demands for volume and efficiency as ships are becoming larger, with maximum loading to ensure the most efficient operations.

Chinese Researchers Make Progress With Hydrogen Solar Project, Liquid Sunshine

hina, which announced a net zero emissions target of 2060, has no intentions of falling behind in the next frontier of the renewables race, especially the race to produce Hydrogen using solar power. Solar powered ‘green’ hydrogen production, which has been a key focus area for many regions especially the European community area, Australia and even the middle east, as they look to find better uses for the high volume of solar power coming online, is one area. The issue at this stage is high costs and of course, ways to use the hydrogen produced in industry. In China, researchers have demonstrated a use case for using the hydrogen to make methanol, and if convert it back, a promising area, as methanol does have wide readily available industrial uses. In fact, rather than releasing carbon dioxide into the air, it can be used to produce methanol – an excellent fuel for cars and airplanes, using solar energy. In this case, Hydrogen is just an intermediary step. Researchers led by professor Li Can at

the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), an institute under the government recently claimed to have industrialized the liquid solar fuel production via the “Liquid Solar Fuel Production Demonstration Project. ”Or the “liquid sunshine” project, as they called it. Solar power was used to power a process

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where independently created alkaline water electrolysis catalysts were used to synthesize renewable hydrogen. It ended with carbon dioxide hydrogenation catalyst being used to synthesize methanol. With solar power providing the energy for key steps, the methanol produced became “liquid sunshine.”

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Scientists in Korea Develop Novel Eco-friendly Buffer for Solar Panels

olar power is an eco-friendly alternative to conventional, nonrenewable sources of energy. However, current solar panels require the use of toxic materials as buffers, which is not sustainable. To this end, a team of scientists in Korea, at the Incheon National University, has developed a new ecofriendly alternative, called the ZTO buffer, which can overcome this limitation. This new development to make solar panels even more sustainable is indeed a cherry on top. Their findings were published in a new study in Nano Energy. Solar panels are composed of photovoltaic cells, whereby materials exposed to light generate excited electrons, in other words: an electric current. Modern thin-film solar cells are made up of micrometer or sub-micrometer-thick layers of photovoltaic material, allowing

them to be integrated into flexible, lightweight panels for use in a variety of substrates. However, this process has some limitations. JunHo Kim, Professor of Physics at INU, who led the study, explains, “Most thin-film solar cells include toxic and expensive elements, which may hinder the expansion of solar cell applications.” Professor Kim and his team are working on the production of a solar cell using naturally abundant, eco-friendly materials, which are easy to extract and inexpensive to manufacture. The scientists looked at eco-friendly cells made up of kesterite, a natural mineral that acts as a photon absorber. Most kesterite cells use a buffer layer made of cadmium sulfide (CdS) to optimise their performance. Despite their efficiency, the pollution associated with making these

buffers and the toxicity of cadmium are not desirable traits in an eco-friendly solar cell. To deal with this issue, the researchers examined a promising alternative, called the “ZTO buffer.” To further improve the efficiency of the solar cell, the team aligned the energy levels of the electrons between the absorber layer (kesterite) and the buffer layer (ZTO). This allowed for a better circulation of electrons between the two layers, increasing the cell’s voltage and overall performance, with a power conversion efficiency of 11.22 percent. To put things into perspective, current kesterite cells using CdS buffers have a maximum efficiency of 12.6 percent, meaning that the proposed cell showed high efficiency. This technique is the first to yield such a high performance using solely ecofriendly, abundant and inexpensive materials.

TERI and Greenstat to set up Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen in India

he Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Greenstat Hydrogen India have announced a research partnership aimed at accelerating the deployment of hydrogen technologies in India. This will be focused on the establishment of a Norwegian Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen in India. Girish Sethi, Senior Director, Energy Programme, TERI said, “TERI looks forward to this partnership with Greenstat to help accelerate the pace of the energy transition in India. Hydrogen technologies are crucial for the decarbonisation of India’s energy system as well as reducing energy imports – making them a win-

win proposition.” The joint partnership agreement, in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), covers policy and research activities such as (i) collaboration on the establishment of a Norwegian Centre of

Excellence on Hydrogen in India; and (ii) knowledge-sharing to support the development of hydrogen technologies in India. This will build upon TERI’s existing research on hydrogen in India, which most

recently included a policy brief titled ‘Make Hydrogen in India’, with a more detailed report coming out in late 2020. Sturle Pedersen, Chairman, Greenstat Hydrogen India, said, “Together with TERI, we are launching an initiative that will put India at the forefront of hydrogen globally. The Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen in India will be key to achieve the objectives of India’s international climate commitments and accelerate the energy transition. This Centre of Excellence offers opportunities throughout the entire green hydrogen chain to fulfill the aspirations and our ambitions to reduce CO2 emissions and deliver more and cleaner energy.”

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SOLAR power and solar driven appliances are going to play a major role in COVID vaccine distribution Sandeep Dakshini at Rayfuel (Rayfuel Enercon Private Limited) sees immense potential in the coming years for solar powered products and broader opportunities. A firm believer in the ability of Indian manufacturers to fill in the technology gaps where they exist, and innovate where needed, his firm is primed for growth. The Founder and Managing Director of the Jaipur based firm shared his views with SaurEnergy .

Tell us more about RAYFUEL the firm. Sandeep Dakshini: RAYFUEL was founded in 2015 with an

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objective of providing good indigenous solutions for SOLAR OFF- GRID market. In 2017, we started manufacturing at Jaipur. Today we make Solar charge controllers, BLDC fans, All-in-one and other verities of solar street light, solar home lighting solutions, hybrid inverters and much more, all under one roof in a state-of-the art backwardly integrated manufacturing unit. Last year we did a business of INR 150 million. Design and innovation are key areas of our focus.

As someone who has observed the solar sector grow virtually from zero, what do you believe were the biggest turning points for the sector so far in India? Sandeep Dakshini: Yes I was personally involved in designing and establishing one of the largest off-grid solar plant of 1.2 MWP in South India in the year 2011-2012. Solar industry has come a long way since then. The turning point has been exciting Govt. policies such as net-metering, last mile electricity program, Solar water pumps etc. which have hugely popularised SOLAR as a top source of alternate energy in our country amongst Urban, semi-urban and rural areas equally.

Your firm is also into solar lighting systems high masts. How can these products move from just government driven push to a market driven use in India? Sandeep Dakshini: Public area and arena lighting are big

SANDEEP DAKSHINI Founder and Managing Director, Rayfuel

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concern and focus areas for many govt./ semi-govt. and private establishments. Problem is that at first it involves big capital expenditure and then recurring cost of electricity bills as well. Solar High mast is an answer to this concern. Lithium battery based, raising -lowering type high masts are perfect solutions for public areas and general lighting as it eliminates concerns of battery maintenance, recurring bills and general maintenance of the system. We will see lots and lots of these masts in coming years in India.

Strong insistence on policy follow up by central as well as state govt is what is required for accelerating growth of the Solar sector. Due to pandemic obviously, all the focus is on medical facilities and healthcare as such, but let me tell you, SOLAR power and solar-driven appliances are going to play a major role in COVID vaccine distribution, as and when it happens.

The solar sector has been struggling somewhat from well before the time the Corona pandemic hit us. What will it take to put the sector back on a strong growth path, in your view? Sandeep Dakshini: Strong insistence on policy follow up by

central as well as state govts. is what is required for accelerating growth of Solar sector. Due to pandemic obviously all the focus is on medical facilities and healthcare as such, but let me tell you, SOLAR power and solar driven appliances are going to play a major role in COVID vaccine distribution, as and when it happens. The last mile distribution in certain temp. conditions, when its summer time in India will be a challenge, in which Solar powered devices, such as small refrigerators and temp. controlled chambers will be required apart from many other things which require energy supplies continuously.

Between the corona crisis and sluggish growth in rooftop solar, we have seen a lot of pain in the industry, especially among smaller developers and manufacturers. What are you doing to ensure your firm comes out stronger ? Sandeep Dakshini: There is always pain, as you say, for smaller manufacturers since we have to fight all the time against many odds. As for RAYFUEL, we are completely focussed on developing more solutions which suit Indian Market conditions. We are focussed on areas such as lithium battery based micro inverters , Solar powered VFDs which will complement local grids and provide round the clock electricity for users. We are also focussed on providing correct solutions both on load side and supply side. As far as roof-top market is concerned, it is slated to experience an auto-correction, which is due also now. Any trade whenever grows exponentially sees a period when its dynamics go through massive changes, unfortunately or fortunately, roof-top solar market is going to go through this phase now. Technically, financially and commercially STABLE (I insist STABLE) players will carry on to cater to future market which will be free of any kind of subsidies and lesser and lesser govt. controlled.

Our industrialised states, especially those in South India, Maharashtra Gujarat etc have dominated solar installations so far. Why do you think states like UP, Bihar, East India in general have not joined the solar brigade yet ? Sandeep Dakshini: They would eventually catch up. States

like UP, Bihar and other Eastern states will now provide more

opportunities, since Solar power is now commercially far more viable than ever. The states which are not highly industrialised would always be late entrants in catching up on new technologies and its benefits but sooner or later they open up. I guess, UP is already offering a lot of opportunities in commercial installations.

Does manufacturing in India face the same challenge in categories like Solar lighting, high masts etc as it does in module and cell manufacturing? Sandeep Dakshini: No, not at all. These are simple technologies and for durability of these products in Indian conditions, they have to be manufactured accordingly. Indian manufacturers obviously understand these conditions better than any one else.

All the Atma- Nirbhar talk in solar tends to be about cells, modules, even ingots and wafers now. What about Solar inverters? Do you think Indian firms can compete in that market ? Sandeep Dakshini: Solar Inverters is not an alien technology

for our country. There are so many Indian manufacturers I know of, who have all the wherewithal to churn out Solar Inverters. I would like to state here one thing, ATMANIRBHAR or SELF DEPENDANT is what any manufacturer worth his salt wants to be. Nobody ever wants to be dependent on others to do their business. Govt. must ensure here that it follows up its Atma-Nirbhar Abhiyan by allowing Indian manufacturers preference in SOLAR INVERTERS market (using whatever measures) so that it gives them an incentive to invest in R&D more and develop better products. Competence for me, is hundred percent there, a push from the govt. policy side will do the final trick.

What is your wish-list from the government to help your company, the whole sector grow faster? Sandeep Dakshini: Govts. is there to regulate and monitor.

Their job is to provide initial fillip to local manufacturers by tweaking policies in their favour but at the end of the day it is the industry itself which has to invest more in technology and product development and dish out products of global standards at Locally affordable pricing. We can not ask Govt. for heavens. I look up to industry leaders to set examples, trust local vendors, invest in R&D more and more and soon we will not need GOVT. to CREATE a market for Local manufacturers by force. It will happen on its own and I sincerely feel that day is not very far. N OVEMB ER 20 20

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The Solar Adoption Experience For Consumers Has Been Poor

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One of the strongest reasons for encouraging solar rooftop, besides the obvious benefits, is the opportunities it creates for jobs, when compared with utility scale solar. Thanks to a more open market, a whole eco-system of suppliers, be it modules, structures, inverters and more have adapted to the opportunity. Finally, the very fact that in an open market, everyone with a better product, design or service believes they have a chance to do well means much more competition. Investors have naturally tried to pick potential winners here. We spoke to Gautam Das, Co-founder at Oorjan Cleantech Private Limited, one such firm that has sought to make quality and access to finance the mainstay of its outreach into the solar rooftop business.

GAUTAM DAS

Co-founder | Oorjan Cleantech Private Limited Tell us a little more about the firm, in terms of its journey so far. Gautam Das: Oorjan is co-founded and led by IIT Mumbai (and

ISB / Stanford / Berkeley) alumni with experiences across renewable energy, engineering, EPC, finance, operations and building large businesses. We are headquartered in Mumbai and have offices in Pune, Bangalore, Patna, Silvassa and Nagpur. We are currently operating across 14 states and union territories and aim to expand further. Oorjan is highly invested into people, technology and infrastructure. We were at a couple of million ( $2 – $5 million

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range) last year as on March‘20 (revenues). Oorjan has more than 1500 customers including large industrial and commercial end-consumers spread across 14 states/UTs in India. In addition, the company has supported more than 20,000 systems’ designs for end consumers and/or partners. So far, the total installed capacity stands at more than 13 Mega Watt with a few upcoming projects already in the pipeline. Currently, we are a team of 50 people with experiences across engineering, solar technology, financing and operations. Many of them are engineers from IITs, IIM, and CA, CS from premium institutes and have experience of working in large multinational companies. As far as the growth plans are concerned, we want to bring solar to the masses in India and make it affordable, easy to adopt and hassle-free for consumers. Oorjan wants to be the most reliable solar partner in India. “Think Solar Think Oorjan” is our motto. Also, we have recently launched an online portal called “Greenstitute” to build awareness on solar among students, consumers and investors. Parallelly, since our team at Oorjan may not be able to serve across India, we are exploring a franchise model for selective states.

Rooftop solar has fallen well behind utility solar in India. What do you ascribe this to? Gautam Das: The most important reason is lack of awareness

and it is often perceived that solar rooftop requires large capital investment. However, one kilowatt of solar system costs less than a premium mobile phone and in addition, it’s an investment into green energy and the saving in electricity bill continues for 25 years.

The most important reason is lack of awareness and it is often perceived that solar rooftop requires large capital investment. However, one kilowatt of solar system costs less than a premium mobile phone and in addition, it’s an investment into green energy and the saving in electricity bill continues for 25 years.

Another reason behind the unexplored potential of this sector is the perceived fear of discontinuous power supply as opposed to the power supply from the grid. However, rooftop PV systems are highly dependable systems when coupled with the use of battery storage. And with the help of net-metering, the power supply is uninterrupted which in turn reduces the cost of the overall system in the longer run. Solar is not only environmentally responsible, but the investment too breaks-even within 3 to 4 years. The system yields high returns on investment and is commercially viable. Renewable energy ecosystems and policies are yet to mature and the adoption experience for consumers has been poor over the last couple of years. Companies like Oorjan are addressing this aspect by offering turn-key projects including net-metering and financing.

An abiding issue around rooftop solar is the immense confusion around prices. From incorrect comparisons with utility solar rates to confusion around subsidies. What is the way out of this? What can the rooftop industry do about it? Gautam Das: Oorjan is constantly building awareness through

digital and physical platforms on financing, subsidies and statelevel policies. The cost of solar rooftop has significantly reduced over years. It is all about awareness on affordability, financing and hassle free adoption experience! Oorjan is a “Cleantech + Fintech” company enhancing solar adoption by consumers and investors. The company uses technology and financing tools to offer turn-key solar energy solutions to end consumers in industrial, commercial and residential space. Turnkey includes premium products, reliable installation, grid-synchronization, approvals, financing and hassle-free maintenance. To address this, rooftop industry can play a major role by taking these measures:- Offer easy financing options to consumers to make solar affordable (Oorjan offers easy EMI and/or pay-per unit options to residential, industrial and commercial end consumers) - Hassle free adoption experience (We offer turn-key project including financing and regulatory approvals) - Protect consumers and investors (Co-invest with consumers and investors to boost confidence. Company offers financial structuring to protect all partners interest) - Build awareness that solar is commercially viable and environmentally responsible (We solve this through technology and digital approach – Oorjan own a platform called “Greenstitute”) - Offer trustworthy and reliable technology (Oorjan offers premium products and services)

How big is the financing division for Oorjan? How many customers and volume of financing has Oorjan enabled till date? Do you only arrange to finance or invest/plan to invest directly too? Gautam Das: Oorjan offers financing to all consumers subject to

the clean credit track record of the borrower and internal policies. Gautam (Co-founder and CEO)is an ex-Director of Citibank India and CFO, Manjesh Nayak too is an ex-banker. We have a highly skilled team to access and promote financing. Our offering to end consumers include both loans with 12-84 EMIs as well as PPA (Power Purchase Agreement). We have deployed both our own and 3rd party investors money till date. One of the key-highlights of our offering to residential projects is that consumers can pay in 12 EMIs without any interest.

What do you feel about the future of the C&I segment going forward? Which states offer the best potential for growth here, considering how slow industrialised states like Maharashtra have moved thus far? Gautam Das: Investment in solar could be a long-term solution

for maintaining business sustainability. In the last few years, Oorjan has onboarded a lot of C&I customers across many Indian states and Union Territories like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Daman and Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli etc. Investment in solar projects breaks even in 3-5 years for most of the companies and it also makes the business sustainable. Most importantly, annuity saving continues for 25 years and protects consumers from the increasing price of grid electricity. In addition, 100 kW of solar adopted by a company is equivalent to mitigating 3,000 tonnes of carbon-dioxide i.e., plantation of 4,900 teak wood trees over it’s project life. Maharashtra stands third in the country as far as the solar potential is considered after the states of Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir. Maharashtra with its high level of industrialisation, has the potential to be a game-changer for the entire energy mix for the country.

The rooftop segment has multiple players, intense competition, with rules varying from state to state. How does Oorjan plan to grow and differentiate its offerings in such a market? Gautam Das: Oorjan is unique because of its proprietary technology, premium hardware and financing options while offering hassle free solar adoption experience to end consumers. The solar market is huge in India and we all can co-exist. There are 1000+ companies in India and we are one of the fastest-growing companies in India. N OVEMB ER 20 20

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As an investor-backed firm, how do you see investors evaluating the solar opportunity in India? Does distributed solar offer opportunities too for startups? Gautam Das: Renewable energy is the need of the hour, it is

commercially viable and environmentally responsible. The market size and opportunity in India is enormous, and the adoption of solar energy is going to grow exponentially. Solar ecosystem in India is evolving fast and is expected to scale up in both distributed and land- mount space. Oorjan is powered by technology and financing to make solar adoption hassle free for end consumers. Our investors, co-founders and entire team are more bullish than ever before and committed to build a scalable business in sustainable living space.

How has Covid impacted your firm? Gautam Das: COVID -19 and lockdown impacted the entire

While others try to predict the future, we’re creating it. That’s because we don’t wait for change to happen. We drive it. How? By combining proven expertise and technology with responsive service. All so that installers like you can challenge the limits of what’s possible. So let’s step into a new era of solar – together.

Stronger. Better. FIMER fimer.com/newera

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world and we too are not insulated from this pandemic. However, we decided to utilize the time to plan our comeback and build resilience while ensuring safety of our valued customers as well as team members. We spent significant time on training and adding value to the ecosystem. We launched our online training platform, Greenstitute and a few relevant training modules. These modules are made available free of cost on the public domain for people to generate information and interest in solar energy. When lockdown was relaxed, we completed Mumbai’s largest solar installation at a commercial building with 525 kWp capacity. We made use of the “Oorjan site survey app” to limit physical surveys, without compromising the quality of delivery. Our team of site engineers and sales executives followed necessary protocols to build customer confidence and reliability during the pandemic. We are back on track in full form.

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THE RISK IN RENEWABLES, AND HOW TO REDUCE IT The Fourth Plenary session at REINVEST 2020 looked at the risks in investing in renewables in India, and ways to mitigate those risks. A panel with India’s leading renewable financiers, developer and global players narrowed down the key issues, and some possible solutions.

ankaj Jain, Additional Secretary , Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, moderated the discussion. Starting off first was Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman and Managing Director, IREDA. Das placed the demand for financing in perspective first up, pointing out that based on India’s targets for 2030, Rs 1.5 lakh crores or USD 20 billion would be needed per year to 2030. Pointing out how solar today had proved many naysayers wrong, who doubted bids at Rs 2.44 or Rs 2.36 earlier, Das stressed that the clarity in government policies and support from the government has helped break new ground all the time. “ It is equally important for all lenders to have adequate capacity building, to prevent the emergence of credit gaps, as beyond wind and solar, even bio energy and Compressed Bio Gas are emerging as big areas for financing. Today our interest rate on RE financing is lower than REC and PFC” he added . Das stressed on the quick thinking

decision making that has characterised decision making from the government, something that has added a lot of comfort for investors. Simon Stolp, Lead, Energy Specialist, The World Bank shared the World Bank’s own experience in India, in terms of two instruments the bank had designed for the sector 3 years back, which, to the bank’s surprise, failed to find traction. These instruments had sought to address two fundamental issues with the Indian market, as he saw it. “First is the poor financial health of the sector, stemming mostly from the publicly owned distribution utilities, and their limited ability to raise cash and costs”. Calling them the achilles heel of the sector, Stolp shared how they have spent over 1.5 billion dollars to support the financial turnaround of discoms in in 9 of Indian states. “We are backing private sector participation with transition financing” The second issue he flagged was the lack of

options to reduce risks in the wholesale market. First to enable other options for trade for renewable energy providers to provide long term contracts and to increase market participants that will support renewable energy generators around the issue of variability. A market for ancillary services for one was a starting point, in his view. On the measures they offered that failed, payment risk was one. “We proposed a number of credit enhancing instruments to the market. One was structured product that would have credit enhanced renewable projects by covering up payment risks from discoms across a range .It would have cost 4 paise per KWh to the developer to access that guarantee. We predicted net savings of 40 paise per KWh. The commercials were very transparent , and it got a very lukewarm response. Made us wonder just how developers are managing risks. Especially when another instrument they designed to manage forex tail risk facility, where they would have taken

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first loss on a range of forex movements got a very poor response, even after considering that most developers might have been raising money domestically. Sumant Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director, ReNew Power: started off by responding to Stolp’s query on just how developers are managing risk in India. “Frankly, we don’t deal with risk too well. That’s impacts everything we do, from raising new capital, to the discount rates and more. Talking about the Renew Power approach to discom risk, Sinha said that “One is, we know the track record of different discoms. We take that into account in our financial models by assuming a receivables period accordingly.” “From a cash flow standpoint, it’s a little bit harder. Even assuming a 3 month delay is not standardised. Working capital can still fluctuate. You always build in a lot of buffer at a corporate level”. Pointing out that brining in SECI as the interposing offtaker has been by far the best move taken by the central government as it allowed projects involving them to get lower ratings, better terms as well. Second is to try and enforce the LC(Letter of credit, where a discom is supposed to open an LC for 60 days when contracting a power purchase) mechanism. The third area he highlighted was the push to inject liquidity into discoms through PFC and REC, which possibly have better ability to collect than individual generators have. Sinha’s view was that a long term solution to the discom issue must necessarily include a push to privatise the distribution sector . “ The political class will recognise that this is

in the best interest of consumers, and ultimately theirs too”. While asserting that the renewable energy sector today had the credibility and record to be counted as a mainstream sector, Sinha did point to a key challenge. With financing requirements set to climb to 3-4x of existing levels, there was a need to broadbase the market beyond the few government owned NBFC’s funding actively. Both for the long term health of the market, as well as to meet demand. Sridhar Rengan, Managing DirectorFinance, Brookfield, a global investor that has almost $20 billion dollars of renewable assets under management , flagged their poor experience in Andhra Pradesh, where the state tried to renegotiate PPA’s on a project they had acquired, as completely avoidable. He said that even as they are open to greenfield projects in India, the Andhra ex-

perience had forced them to gravitate towards SECI backed projects , a route that simply could not take India to its targets eventually. He highlighted how global interest is very high in renewables financing today, with fixed rate financing for upto 20 years in global markets. Tenure is shorter, rates are floating , even as revenue is capped. That added to the risk profile of projects. Calling it a great opportunity to design appropriate instruments for the market here, he stressed on the need for sanctity of contracts again. Sean Kidney, from Climate Bonds Initiative spoke on high despite the Covid lockdowns, funding for renewables had barely paused. With larger global economies committing to ambitious targets to be zero carbon, he said India would also benefit from the funding that would be available for renewable energy now.

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Priyantha Wijayatunga, Director, Energy Division of South Asia Department, Asian Development Bank focused on how India had a key role for the whole neighbourhood, when it came to renewable energy. Be it lower costs if manufacturing happened here, or even the nature of contracts and pricing, success in India was vital to encourage countries in South Asia to move ahead too. Abhishek Bansal, Director, ACTIS, the private equity fund, shared how the fund has invested $800 million equity in renewables in India . The company’s sale of Ostro Energy was one of the largest renewable energy deals at the time. Bansal estimated that India had actually done very well to attract foreign capital so far. “Over 90 percent of renewable energy assets have been built by foreign investor capital. Having said that, to attain targets, we will need to raise far more equity, and recycling of greenfield equity becomes very important”, he added. Opening up the yield market further, besides lender limits, better tax treatment, were all areas that could be improved, he added. Highlighting how domestic debt capacity availability for renewable energy was probably close to 7 billion dollars annually, Bansal pointed out that the actual number was probably even lower after taking into account exposure limits, which made a very strong case to attract global debt too. Clarity and visibility on issues like taxes and duties was a key area for him, as that

would help avoid the red tapism involved in applying for say, pass through of costs. Thus, grand fathering of projects already allotted was high on his agenda. Ravinder S Dhillon, Chairman & Managing Director, PFC shared that RE assets in their loan portfolio had grown at a CAGR of 44 percent . On managing the risks of duties or taxes, he referred to the recent SECI tender where the winning bid was at Rs 2per unit. There is a fixed formula there, where there is a provision for a 0.005 paise per Kwh per lakh or 50 paise increase in tariff for every 1 crore increase in cost per MW due to change in policy. That provided bidders with a lot of assurance on the future risks of added costs. Bruce Hogg, Managing Director & Global

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Head of Power & Renewables, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was pleased with India emerging as one of largest renewable markets in the world, and the policy efforts that have brought it here. Talking about his own fund’s plans to take investments in renewables from $6 billion to $15 billion he stressed on the need for revenue certainty, sanctity of contracts, and any other uncertainty that can be managed. Welcoming the entry of SECI as an intermediary , he said that clarity on issues like SGD is very important. He was confident that enough funding was available for Indian plans, provided the basics were in place and the country fared well on global benchmarks.

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Small Hydro At Re-Invest 2020 Strives To Stay Relevant

aught between low cost solar power and wind, and the huge displacement and other environmen-tal concerns of large hydro projects, small hydro tends to get missed out by policy makers. Especial-ly as most potential here is limited to the hill states of Himachal especially, besides Uttarahand and now, Arunachal Pradesh. At RE-Invest 2020 though, where a full session was dedicated to the is-sue. Especially when it could have a clear role in providing dependable power all through the day and night. Moderated by Prof Arun Kumar, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. Mr Ram Prasad Dhital, Member, Planning & Monitoring, Regulatory and External Affairs, Electricity Regulatory Commission, Nepal started off with the status of SHP in Nepal and ex-pressed satisfaction that almost 96% of electricity in Nepal is generated from hydro power, he also claimed that 86% of access to electricity comes from grid and 4% is from off grid. Despite the suc-cess of SHPs in Nepal he claimed that there are still some challenges faced which involves difficulty in

competing with other cheaper and advanced RE technologies. One of the major problems he stat-ed was that out of 626 HPPs (Hydro Power Projects) at different stages, 330 are small HPPs, re-serving almost 6% of total capacity but despite of the majority these small HPPs are forced to com-pete with medium and large scale HPPs with same posted tariffs. Mr P M Nanda, Sr Vice President, Greenko Group, highlighting problems which small hydro power industries faces in India such as the varied profile of developer and the involvement of small scale consultants as there is no large scale industry here. There is also absence of concrete strategy at planning stage which needs to be looked upon. He also stated the critical issues hampering the development of SHPs in India mainly due to high initial cost, long clearance process, higher infra-structure cost due to installations in remote locations, uncertain returns due to the long term SHP projects and social roadblocks before and during the projects. Ms Eva Malicka, President, Polish Association for small Hydropower Development

(TRMEW) focused her presentation on solutions to avoid decommissioning of existing SHPPs af-ter the expiry of support period. The SHPPs with high levelized cost of energy may be desired due to functions they provide in certain region including contracting the effects of drafts, water management services, flexibility and distributed electricity generation providing benefits for the electric-ity grid and maintenance of state owned water facilities. She also proposed the mechanism needed to maintain operation of SHPPs after the support period such as adjusting the support mechanism period to the long lifetime of small hydropower plants, valuation of services provided by SHPPs and adequate remuneration for plants operators. Mr R K Joshi, Chief Engineer, Department of Hydropower Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh spoke about opportunities available in AP and state level policies such as the online application to generate ‘UIN’ for investors that enables the nodal department to follow up with line departments for clearances. There will also be a

provision of ‘deemed’ clearance if the pro-vided time is exceeded. Other panellists also stressed on the need to update small hydro power projects policies. Mr Muddasir Nazir Mir, Director, Magpie Hydel Construction Operation Industries P. Ltd. also highlighted the same issues of policy paralysis in the long term projects and limited financial institu-tions. Among the rec mmendations the panellists came up with, first and foremost is the development and implementation of a cost-effective tariff system, and a diversifed energy mix to enhance energy se-curity through policy intervention recommended by Mr Dhital. Mr Mir recommended the involve-ment of stakeholders such as developers, investors, contractors, state and national organizations etc. before publishing the new policies, the additional charges levied like water charges etc should be abolished to provide a level playing field to the developers. The panellists were unanimous in their view for the need for a proper mapping of upcoming projects along with the upgrade of transmission network particularly for receiving stations grids where power from the projects has to be evacuated.

At Re-Invest Curtain Raiser, Minister Informs Of 35 GW Bids For Solar Under Incentive scheme

ower, MNRE and Skill Development Minister R.K. Singh Shared yesterday that the government had received bids for close to 35 GW of total capacity, when it comes to solar equipment. According to a statement given by Union power and renewable Minister RK Singh on Thursday, the government has received expressions of interest to set up manufacturing capacity of nearly 35,000 MW of solar equipment. These bids follow the inclusion of solar manufacturing in the gov-ernment’s latest performance linked incentive scheme for manufacturing in India. These bids include offers to manufacture ingots

and wafers, something considered critical for con-trol over the overall supply chain. Till now, the focus had been primarily on cell and module produc-tion, where the country is estimated to have capacities of 2 GW and 10 GW respectively. Sharing the breakup, Singh said that “We have expressions of interest for setting up manufacturing capacity for 20,000 MW of solar modules, 15,000 MW of solar cells, and a similar quantity of in-gots, wafers, etc.” Asked about the status of additional basic customs duty, Mr Singh stated that reminders had been sent to the Ministry of Finance, which is the final authority on the decision. A decision has

been pending since August 2020, on the issue. The issue is possibly getting dragged on not just due to projects that have been bid out and pro-curement is still on, but also due to the delay in signing PPA’s in recent projects. The ministry of finance possibly wants to avoid the issue of grandfathering clause that has been brought up regular-ly, in favor of a clean cut off for projects that have been awarded and placed equipment orders. Keep in mind that some of the low bids received in recent months, including the record Rs 2.39/kW bids, are presumed on equipment import at rates prevailing at the time of the bids.

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The Case For Storage Is a Tough Sell At Reinvest 2020

E-invest 2020’s session on battery storage, with a focus on innovation and sustainability, sent out mixed messages on the potential for, and need for battery storage in India. Thus, while some of the panelists drove home the point that long term storage was not really a re-quirement for India yet, considering the little gap between peak demand and supply, others stressed on a more pragmatic approach to the elephant in the room, ie, what to do with the high thermal and gas based asset base that has yet to outlive its rated life or generate adequate returns. Consider that for a peak demand of 180 GW, India already has close to 370 GW of installed capacity of various means, with a large segment of thermal and gas assets lying idle or operating at sub-optimal loads. The session also missed the perspective of a very important member, Sumant Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director of ReNew Power, which has won some of the largest storage linked tenders re-cently, as he was unable to attend. Moderated by Fabian Wigand, Associate Director, Energy, Sustainability & Infrastructure, Guidehouse Energy Germany GmbH, the session ended with cautious optimism on the situation changing in the next few years, by which time, both storage costs as well as demand situation might improve significantly enough to make a difference. One of the few areas of consensus was the appreciation of SECI, for taking on the risk to experi-ment with its RTC and peak supply auctions early enough, to suss out the market and support the establishment of a long term benchmark rates. Jatindra Nath Swain, Chairman and Managing Director, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was also a member of the panel. Swain spoke on how RPO (renewable Power Obligation) is one driver for RE power, aligned with the massive drop in costs to effectively 2.80 per unit on aver-age. He flagged the issue of older thermal plants that are unable to back down below 55 percent PLF even as RE power in the grid goes up. So discoms incur a fixed charge on these thermal plants currently, during periods of subdued demand, as we have seen through almost all of 2020. His pre-scription was for demand management. Giving the example of states being asked to shift agri demand to day time to manage demand better. Single shift industries can also do that . Pointing to the large gap between peak summer and peak winter demand in the country, he ex-

pressed the ap-prehension that using battery storage to manage such peaks may not really work. Till an ancillary services market developed like in the west. Ranjit Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Azure Power reminded panelists that in a price sensitive market like India ,discoms find it a struggle to buy power from even hybrid projects currently. Add-ing batteries to this layer, will only make the cost higher. Pointing out that variability of renewable power is still manageable due to large size of wind and solar projects today, it was despatchabil-ity that needed demand management. Storage through pumped storage or other innovative structures like RE + thermal is great. When looking at despatchable power, discoms can start thinking about costs by comparing it to the cost of building a new thermal plant. But even with that, storage based power could go up to Rs 5 or more, as we have seen in the few tenders that have been award-ed. Thus, his view was for a period of patience as storage costs come down further, before that can make a string vase for viability. Rupam Raja, Market Director, India & SE Asia, Fluence highlighted the 10 MW one hour battery storage plant in Delhi, active for about 10 months now. “Its giving a lot of info to help make policy. The challenge is while we have given discoms the option to contract renewables for RTC (Round the clock power), what we have not done is create a viable option where they can get away from signing a fixed contact for a firm capacity. So they need to get out of the fixed costs for fossil fuel alternatives. Just focus on peaking need, such that discom does not have to sign a firm capacity con-tract with a gas or coal-based supplier, then you will see true

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value of a battery storage solution”. Asked about the recent Mumbai power outage of October 12, he stressed that it all boils down to considering a battery for such situations as a fixed T&D cost. Mahesh Kolli, Joint Managing Director, Greenko Group, which won the largest chunk of SECI’s storage plus Renewable project also had his issues with battery storage. Voting for pumped storage at this stage. “In Karnataka RE penetration has gone from 6 percent in 2015 to 50 percent in 2020. Average cost of energy increased from Rs 3 to Rs 4, forcing the discom there to virtually halt any fresh RE additions since 2018-19. On the storage front, pumped storage comes at around $70 per MW h, versus battery which is much higher at a minimum of $130 /MWh currently”. He suggested considering a move like a Storage Portfolio Obligation for discoms, much like the RPO’s dricing renewable growth for now, as a possible starting point to ensure a start with battery storage in India. Nawal Saini, Managing Director-Renewable Power, Brookfield, one of the largest investors in Re worldwide at close to 20 GW said that it was not a matter of if, but when battery storage comes into its own. He stressed on deeper understanding of energy consumption patterns, and possibly short term ener-gy contracts for peak loads, to create a viable market for storage. Stressing on bankability as an investor, he complimented the Indian authorities for a good job through SECI and NTPC to provide foreign investors the comfort of bankability. “As we look to integrate more and more storage into our grid, it is critical to have a payment security mechanism upfront. What you don’t

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want is issues on long term contract” This was to cover for the certainty of prices coming down in the future, and tempting discoms to go back on contracts signed earlier, as seen by the Andhra case since 2018-19. S Vijayanand, Chief Executive Officer, Amara Raja Batteries spoke from the manufacturer’s pers-pective. “The traditional storage manufacturing capacity is about 55-60 GW of manufacturing, largely lead acid GWh capacity. About 25% of this goes to what I will call micro applications. Homes, offices, telecom networks etc. Interface with RE is fast evolving to be an attractive proposi-tion. The tech challenge we have is how much of the energy generated do you want to store and discharge for demand requirement. That will determine cost of storage. The 24×7 RTC kind of application opens up a very interesting proposition of combination battery storage to come on the table. While li-ion is good on energy density and fast recharge, when it comes to round trip efficiency, high cycle rate, and agility in both charge and discharge cycles, lead acid batteries or other chemistries can also work. We havelooked at creating hybrid solutions. Like marrying a low cost option to stable , long time discharge versus high cost for short term discharge. Overall optimise the total cost. Maybe even in combination with pumped storage”. “As costs for battery storage go below $100/MWh, then policy framework needs to identify those benefits and factor it in as part of the regulatory mechanism. Globally we still haven’t seen scaling up to the level“, he added. Rohan Patel, Senior Global Director, Public Policy and Business Development, Tesla stressed that any discussion on storage costs needs to take into account the subsidies fossil fuels still get in many parts of the world. “Perceptions of high energy storage cost don’t include full life cycle. Avoided costs, like round trip efficiency. Quoting the example of the Hornsdale power reserve in South Aus-tralia, he stressed that it has reduced both network cost, delivered efficiency gains, and 90 percent reduction in grid regulation cost. “Stressing that no other power source can provide the speed of re-sponse that large battery storage today does, he stressed on the need to develop an ancillary services market for battery operators to recover their investment faster.

Govt Role, Hydrogen In Focus At Plenary On Future Of RE At REINVEST

t a plenary session of ReInvest 2020, called the Future of RE, the focus shifted to all that needed to be done to ensure the future arrives on time. Where renewable power forms the basis of the economy without causing the sort of upheavals and disruptions that many skeptics continue to warn of. Picking up the discussion was an elite panel of experts, all doctorate panel of academics, researchers and other experts moderated by Prof. Ambuj Sagar, Head, School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi. Besides Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi of course, the Secretary, MNRE who made the opening remarks. In his opening remarks, Chaturvedi pointed out that the rate of change we have seen in the past will only accelerate for the global energy sector now. “ The definition of energy security is changing and so is the public affirmation to the positive side which is leading to the liking for renewable energy”. While the public backing will make it easier to design more progressive policies, he stuck a note of caution on issues such as recycling of solar waste, loss of grazing land due to solar parks, etc, which needed to be handled well. Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), emphasized that a lot of change is happening RE simply because of the drop in prices. It was time to look at technology upgradation to combat the problem of climate change too. He stressed on the need for better investments and planning in storage technologies, to allow for the higher share of renewables in the grid. Making a string pitch for more government support, especially in green hydrogen development, Dr Mathur pointed out that bringing down green hydrogen prices would lead to solving for bigger challenges, of replacing fossil fuel powered energy in energy intensive processes, from steel manufacturing to chemicals and other sectors. Dr. Paolo Frankl, Head, Renewable Energy Division, International Energy Agency in his presentation stated that the future of RE in the long term this decade is very important and this depended on the right policies. He predicted in 2025 renewable will surpass coal and will become a first generation technology in the world. Besides storage, he stressed on the need for a wider technology

portfolio for energy needs, be it optimized hydropower, offshore renewable and geothermal energy. Enhanced market and regulatory frameworks are critical to attract timely investment in grids and remunerate flexibility from dispatchable supply, storage and demand-side response. Deeper commitments to emissions cuts would mean faster clean technology deployment and cost reductions, innovation for hydrogen and other low carbon fuels, battery storage and CCUS. He also emphasised the role of governments to attract affordable financing, accelerate the transition in building, industry and transport. Rajit Gadh, Professor, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, UCLA spoke on California’s state bill 100 which targets to make the state powered by 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. He appreciated the idea of the implementation of V2G (Vehicles to Grid) charging station for the vehicles in UCLA. He also expressed optimism about the dropping cost of E-vehicles that would help make them penetrate deeper, sooner than many people expect. Dr. Anshu Bharadwaj, Chief Executive Officer, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation said that resource availability in India is not an issue but land is an issue but manageable. The core aspect. With Re prices dropping, he felt that storage technologies would become key, besides domestic manufacturing of solar cells, for instance. Dr. N Rajalakshmi, Team Leader, International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials brought the research point of view in front of everybody. She emphasized that Hydrogen energy would be better than storage due to its higher portability, making it an ideal conduit to use more renewable energy during production and meet the energy needs in more sectors, across the country.

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Preparing For a Renewable FutureThe Business Models That Matter

f there is one thing the renewable energy sector cannot be accused of doing, it is to look back too much. The solar sector in particular has everything to look forward to, considering the strong mo-mentum it has built up globally. The Covid-19 crisis has only sharpened those opportunities, and possibilities of even more support worldwide. Taking up the issue for debate at RE-Invest 2020 was a panel of industry leaders. Issues from storage, to merchant power, to trading came up, all handled in detail by the panelists. Moderating the session was Rahul Munjal, CMD Of Hero Future Energies Private Limited. Jayant Parimal, Formerly Chief Executive Officer, Adani Green Energy Limited and now Advisor to Chairman of Adani Group highlighted a key issue of pricing of REC (Renewable Energy Certifi-cates) Blaming the CERC for making it an unviable market for generators by reducing prices to Rs 1, he highlighted how in developed markets, during certain peak periods, the cap is several times the normal average price. “REC can be a good source of revenue on merchant side, but due to CERC dictat, its stuck. “Even bankers are vary of financing of merchant power consequently, he added. On growing the commercial and industrial market, a key driver for renewable growth in comparable markets, he said we should either make open access free, or make it on a per KWh basis, as the cur-rent restrictions on this account made solar with its 20 percent PLF very uncompetitive vis a vis thermal. Pushing for a need to remove perverse incentives for discoms to allow open access, he pushed for a more equitable market where discoms get due share of benefits too. Finally, he held out hope that the move to produce green hydrogen would bring in the much needed demand for future capacity additions in solar. CS Setty, one of the three Managing Directors at State Bank Of India, who also heads its debt re-covery division offered a bankers perspective on the sector. “What has actually made us comforta-ble is execution capability of the developer. Short execution time in two years or less is a positive. Most of the time they have contracts (PPA’s) for the

long term giving long term cash flow visibility. Backed by strong payment mechanism. Finally, project developers , by getting projects refinanced, indicates a strong appetite for such financing, which is also a positive”. On the downside, he highlighted recent low tariffs as a worrying signal. “If we look at abysmally low tariffs, how they can withstand the sensitivity of interest rates? They depend on so many varia-bles, like material costs will go down, bank costs will come down, interest rates won’t change”. In RTC (Round the clock bids where a mix of renewable and thermal is allowed), thermal players are not in the loop. Renewable bidders are bidding on hope. While conceptually it’s wonderful, you have to look at sustainability of cash flows, 100 percent availability. In peaking power, we are wor-ried about high tariff here. Apart from convincing ourselves on technology used, how do you justify a Rs 6.80 paise peak tariff? The off takers off late have shown how they might even pull the plug on PPA’s? So worries on payment security”. He urged IPP’s (Independent power producers) and ten-dering agencies to look at a package that will meet the risks of domestic lenders too. The risk taking capabilities of domestic lenders have to be taken into account. “If you don’t do that, then the ten-dering mechanisms will fail. “On merchant power, he highlighted its low share in the total electricity

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market right now at under 4 percent, besides the issue of competing with stressed thermal or gas power capacity, some of which have bid very aggressively for recent tenders. Urging the need to relook old models, he threw up the possibility of a a hybrd model with a PPA of say 12 years, where the investors have the liberty of selling under a PPA or move completely with merchant pow-er later. With power shortages at an all time low, that itself would be a big block for merchant pow-er growth, he added. Basant Jain, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Susten said that as an IPP or EPC, the biggest challenge today is the lack of incentive for developers to be innovative or efficient in the best use of technology. It’s a race to the bottom(price) . He shared how they have the data from a site in Saudi Arabia where they used solar trackers and bifacials. “From 7 a.m to 7 p.m, you get a flat power generating curve “ In India, during March to June, when even hydro pow-er is not available, solar alone can solve the requirement with a little innovation, he added. On the issue of selling solar as merchant power, he stressed that solar cannot be seen as equivalent of thermal where you can get very high PLF’s. “It’s high time that CERC takes cognizance of these things. If we do not start adopting storage in a smaller manner now, then we would struggle. A leap of faith is required, and technology adoption should be promoted”. Multiple panelists spoke on storage, and how the focus right now needed to be on short term stor-age, to support tiding over peak power requirements, rather than massive long term storage. On C&I relevance for the sector, Jain highlighted how unlike developed markets, where sustainabil-ity was a real driver in the shift to renewables, in India it is treated as a way to reduce power bill. This was one way why discoms were not supporting it. Making a case for a higher, but more pre-dictable regime for discoms, he said that “after factoring Rs 2.5 to Rs 3 of wheeling charges solar can still be viable. There is still a market. Power being a state subject, there has to be consensus across different states to be consistent about policy regime for open access charges.”

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Mr Parag Sharma, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, O2Power, also added to the skepticism on the need for long term storage now. “When India has just 180 GW of peak demand, 370 GW of generating assets, 230 GW is thermal itself, do we really need a long term storage. Tenders seem to be addressing long term storage, which is not required. What we need is high MW, low power bat-tery size. Lead should be taken by grid operators.” He contended that solar+wind hybrids are low risk as compared to plain vanilla models for lenders. On RTC, “it has a significant component of merchant power, besides there are risks in PPA’s for not meeting conditions.” For merchant power, he pitched for a derivatives market in India. “Many states do not allow pur-chase of merchant power. In some states, minimum period is 24 hours or 8 hours in others. These restrictions should go”. Welcoming the launch of the Green Trading market (GTM), he urged for waiver of POC (Point of Connection) charges to make it more attractive for merchant power. He opined that long term stor-age would come into play only when the share of renewable energy crossed certain thresholds. Anurag Mishra, Team leader (energy Group) USAID focused on the C&I market again. Urging a model that kept dicoms in the loop, he cited the US market where through a PPA there is a devel-oper –discom PPA with back to back PPA with a corporate. He also spoke on how demand for re-newable energy from many small and medium enterprises can be aggregated through a contract done via a discom. Finally, providing a time of day tariffs which is actually a reduction in tariff would help. So fixed power sources could be backed down during those periods to allow renewable energy free flow. This would also smoothen out peak demand to an extent, and deliver significant savings to utilities and customers. Kresten Ornbjerg, Head of Global Public Affairs, at Vestas was the lone representative for wind energy. Referring to the recent push for solar over wind, Kresten highlighted the possibilities that exist with Wind Energy getting far more efficient, with over 4 MW for onshore, and even 10 MW for onshore installations possible now. There was a need to relook Wind for the gaps it could fill when solar is not there, and for treating it separately from solar, he said.

The Plan is to Power the Entire Agriculture Sector With Solar: RK Singh at RE-Invest

gro-PV offers an opportunity to enable the achievement of both sustainable agriculture and clean energy transitions. Decentralised and distributed renewable energy solutions including solar-powered irrigation can significantly contribute towards decarbonising electricity generation without any additional investment in transmission infrastructure. However, India’s plan is to rapidly take forward the idea of solarising its agricultural sector, and not just stop at providing solar pumps to farmers but moving forward to agricultural feeders, and then the entire value chain. During the session, ‘Solarizing Agriculture: Cultivating Renewable Energy in India’s Farm-lands’ at the ongoing 3rd RE-Invest conference, the flagship event of the Ministry of New and Re-newable Energy (MNRE). During his address, RK Singh, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and Power, said that the ultimate objective is to take our entire agricultural sector to solar power, and

that will entail the establishment of 30 GW of solar power capacity. The idea that started with providing 2 million solar pump replacements for the diesel pumps and then solarising a further 1.5 million grid-tied pumps under the KUSUM scheme, has been expanded or revised now and the focus has also shift-ed towards agricultural feeders. The minister said that “beyond solarising the pumps, we move ahead to solarising even the agricul-tural feeders. If a state or area, doesn’t have separate agricultural feeders, I suggest them to separate those feeders and solarise them because they bring with them a win-win situation.” The idea is for these projects to provide a 30 percent central subsidy and the remaining 70 percent of the funding be made using loans from NABARD or PFC, etc. So, the state and the farmers do not have to put forward any money at all. And, the loan is a 5-year flat loan, which the states can pay from all the funds that they will be saving from not paying the state subsidy for the projects. And, crucially, the farmer gets free irrigation from day 1.

PM Modi Strikes Optimistic Note On Future of Renewables In India At 3rd RE-invest

rime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-Invest 2020) through video conferencing. The event is being held virtually this year. The theme for RE-Invest 2020 is ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’, and it is organized by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. During the inaugural session the Prime Minister expressed happiness in the progress of renewable energy sector, especially the mindset change from MW to GW in spirit and reality on the ground. He pointed out

that India’s generation capacity and network is being expanded to ensure every citi-zen of India has access to electricity. He mentioned that India’s renewable power capacity is the 4th largest in the world and is growing at the fastest speed among all major countries. The renewable energy capacity in India is currently 136 GW, which is about 36% of total country capacity. He highlighted that in the last 6 years, India has increased installed renewable energy capacity by two and half times, emphasising that investing in RE when it wasn’t cheap has made it possible to reduce the prices further. The Prime Minister said N OVEMB ER 20 20

that after the success of Performance Linked Incentives (PLI) in electronics manufacturing, now they have decided to give similar incentives to high efficiency solar modules. He stressed that ensuring “Ease of doing business” is the utmost priority and dedicated Project De-velopment Cells have been established to facilitate investors. He announced that there are huge renewable energy deployment plans for the next decade and are likely to generate business prospects of the order of around USD 20 billion per year. He invited in-vestors, developers and businesses to join India’s renewable energy journey. SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL S AUR E N E R GY. C O M

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REInvest 2020- Decoupling From Solar, Higher Peaking Tariffs Key For Wind Energy At 38.26 GW of installed capacity till October 3, 2020, India is the fourth largest market for wind energy in the world. Yet, the industry has been overtaken by a sense of pessimism in the past couple of years, as fresh additions have slowed down, and multiple other issues have cropped up. Discussing this, and the way forward, was an eminent panel of Industry leaders, moderated by Ben Blackwell, CEO, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). Each panelist batted for India’s manufacturing prowess in wind energy, where almost 90 percent of components are made domestically now, by firms as varied as Suzlon energy, Siemens Gamesa and GE Renewable energy, besides a 2000 strong MSME supply chain was a key refrain of most partic-ipants, Ben started the ball rolling by highlighting that increasingly, the global wind market is look-ing at India as a hub for equipment and other key supplies also. Ramesh Kymal, CEO of Wind Power, Adani Green Energy started off by highlighting how the Industry in India could be seen in two parts. Before and after auctions. While auctions had brought the inevitable pricing pressures and caused a temporary slowdown, a good outcome has been in how auction forced consolidation and specialisation. Thus, manufacturers who were also trying to be de-velopers can now focus on manufacturing, and dealing with fewer, but larger, more financially strong clients. Kymal highlighted how even a faster shift to EV’s might also help Wind generation, as vehicle bat-teries could be charged during the night time, when wind is strong. in a view shared by all the pan-elists, he pressed for a special rate of Rs 3 or just around that for wind energy for the next two years, to ensure time for component manufacturers to optimise further. Sunil Jain, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Hero Future Energies asked every-one to acknowledge the elephant in the room, ie solar. “Today we have 750 GW of solar versus 690 GW of wind. With most of solar growth coming in the past decade”. He raised three key issues. One, due to the unique requirements of wind energy for the right location, large scale wind farms are going to be challenged, until you have large solar park type parks. Thus, he made a

case for smaller scale auctions of 50-100 MW size rather than the giant projects. Peaking tariffs for wind was the next key demand, seeing as how wind delivers in the evening when demand spikes. The government needs to value peaking tariffs a little higher. Currently, in trading platforms too, energy peak tariff is around 30-40% higher and here wind can be considered and can be used in decreasing the price. Finally, Jain pitched stability and predictability in demand, to support both manufacturers and de-velopers. “We have a model where we have a 450 GW target for 2030. 50 GW to wind means a decade of 5 GW every year. Once those volumes are assured, you will do optimisation in supply chain to bring down the cost”. Gilan Sabatier, Head of Region- India & Southeast Asia, GE Renewable Energy highlighted how, despite not having the best wind energy resources in terms of climatic conditions, cost reduc-tions had ensured that India’s wind potential is harnessable today. “Wind on its own has benefits in terms of matching demand profile, when solar is not as strong. You are able to generate to generate a lot more Kwh per sq metre of land today, and that has value. India has 10 GW of manufacturing capacity here. GE has three factories in this space.

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Localisation of the industrial and technological footprint exists at a scale that is second to none. That is incredible value for the industry to go for. Today we export quite a bit from India to Europe and North America. So there is room for exponential growth. A strong domestic market will support this localisation “,he added. Mr Chintan Shah, Director, IREDA seconded Kymal in welcoming the decoupling of manufac-turers and project implementers. He also urged the industry to consider a role in the future with a place in the Hydrogen economy, where wind energy could be the green energy used in Hydrogen manufacture. Ashwani Kumar- CEO, Suzlon Group. highlighted his firms role as a wind pioneer 25 years back. A significant proportion of Indian installations, and over 6000 MW of exports have been done the firm, helping establish a 2000 strong MSME’s in supply chain in India. Mr Rajnikanth Umakanthan, Managing Director, 3Tier India, Vaisala elaborated on the com-plexity due to changes in wind data that have been discussed recently. Mr Neerav Nanavaty, Chief Executive Officer & Country Manager-India, ENGIE spoke on how onshore wind is a logistics or land problem in India. “It is easier for us to develop wind farms in many countries compared to India. There is a need for smaller footprints for accelerating deploy-ment, and for making it a smoother journey for all the stakeholders. Adoption of wind by C&I customers would also help as they they stick to solar primarily because its an easier technology to de-ploy. Packaging smaller chunks key.” He was also the one to highlight the potential in repowering.” Lots of grandfathered wind resources constrained by sub 1 MW turbines today. 4 GW in Tamil Nadu sitting at 10-15% or similar PLF. Through a coherent policy, we can unconstrain that and double the PLF”. Doing so would be a huge opportunity, and also change perceptions about relative efficiency of wind energy, as overall PLF’s are barely 20 percent in India, when they could be easily pushing 30 percent or more with newer technology upgrades for these old assets.

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Ambience and Natural light metrology for Building environments

isual Comfort, thermal comfort, acoustic comfort and air quality should be a major consideration when designing buildings to promote occupant wellness. Visual comfort is characterised by a sufficient amount of natural light with controlled glare. Similarly acoustic-comfort and thermal comforts are sensual pleasures for residing or to contribute optimised work productivity. Conventional glass is the most common building element for aesthetic appeal by architects and Photovoltaic as technical device due to which PV integration is still at nascent stage. India, being in the tropical climate zone, will have two common problems with conventional glasses- excessive heat & light glare. Performance glass brings a balance between these two factors for living comfort. Appending energy generation will make the glass an active element in building an envelop which will aid to local energy generation and a step froward towards green building ratings. Looking at the current trends of industrialised nations, energy demand is insatiable and with an ever increasing appetite, residential and commercial buildings account for about 33% of the total electricity used in India. Residential space is increasing at a

NANDURI PURUSHOTHAM

DIRECTOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TOPSUN ENERGY LTD

rapid phase and expected to be 4 fold by 2030. With this phenomenal growth, is it not right to get in to an integrated building element instead of mere glass ? Right here Topsun Energy brings in distinctive photovoltaics Glass to Glass variants. We offer high performance glass with encapsulated glasses to achieve the desired SF/SHGC/‘g’ performance values. • we offer distinctive grade G-G PV with open frame edge seal to preserve the interlayers integrity of the laminate. • PVIGU (Photovoltaic insulated Glass Unit) a multi functional element with insulated glass (PVGU) combining the functionalities of energy generation and insulating the building with external heat and noise. The product pilot projects aggregating to 150 kwp were successfully installed, commissioned and are performing at a prestigious institution of Indian space Research organisation. • Addressing another aspect of architectural aesthetic requirement: merging with skin colour we are launching shortly two variants coloured PV glass and wall cladding with coloured flexible PV film . Such as white, beige, light terra-cotta, dark terra-cotta and light grey. Products are under evaluation. The comprehensive product details will be published shortly. N OVEMB ER 20 20

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India’s RE Capacity to Reach 160 GW by 2025, Investment of Rs 4 Lakh Cr: ICRA

n its latest market analysis credit and rating agency, ICRA has said that it expects to witness a gradual shift in renewable energy (RE) technology bidding in India to shift towards hybrid projects. And that it expects the RE capacity to reach about 160 GW by March 2025, which will see an estimated investment of more than Rs 4 lakh crore. In its analysis, it detailed why it expects the incremental bidding activity for RE projects to gradually shift over the medium term from standalone wind or solar bids to hybrid projects blended with other sources for round the clock (RTC) and peak supply. This is given the competitive tariffs discovered and the fact that hybrid projects enable efficient grid integration of renewa-

bles. Further, the bid out the pipeline for the awarded projects as on date remains strong at about 50 GW and this, in turn, is expected to result in a recovery in capacity addition to about 11-12 GW in FY2022. Overall, ICRA expects the RE capacity to reach about 160 GW by March 2025 with a combina-

tion of standalone solar and wind projects and hybrid projects, with incremental capacity addition of 74 GW during April 2020 – March 2025, with an estimated investment of more than Rs. 4 lakh crore. However, the realisation of this potential is subject to resolution of execution challenges and

timely signing of power purchase agreements (PPAs)/ power sale agreements (PSAs). This apart, a sustainable improvement in the financial position of state distribution utilities (Discoms) remains critical, given that counter-party credit risk is one of the prominent risks for RE IPPs.

Smart Power India Launches its Demand Generation Manual for Solar Mini Grids

mart Power India (SPI) has released the findings of its ‘Demand Generation Manual for Solar Mini-grid.’ According to SPI, the objective of the manual is to suggest ways to generate demand for solar mini-grids and increase electricity consumption among underserved rural communities for better social and economic development. The mini-grid sector has played a critical role in providing access to reliable electricity in rural India. Reliability of electricity not only enhances the lighting and productive uses but only spurs micro-enterprise activities in the villages. The energy service companies (ESCOs) running mini-grids need to focus on meeting rural India’s existing power demand along with building additional demand for power by supporting the development of local micro-enterprises to ensure financial viability and economic growth. Jaideep Mukherji, CEO, SPI said, “India has made phenomenal strides in achieving universal electrification. It is indeed a welcome

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development that due to the government’s persistent efforts, all villages in India have been electrified and today, almost 100 percent of households have received electricity connections. Now that the government has achieved this commendable feat, it is time to shift attention to the next electrification challenge of providing reliable electricity supply not just for lighting purposes but also for productive use.” It details that despite significant strides in the universal village and household electrification, electricity consumption has not seen much improvement. The gap is majorly a result of mismatches between characteristics of demand and supply. Mini-grids have been greatly successful in bridging this gap in rural areas with reliable electricity supply. A rural mini-grid distribution network extends 1-2 km from the plant, providing electricity to 100-140 households, 50-60 shops, and a mix of productive users. Demand Generation Manual for Mini Solar Grid aims to address the relevance of electricity for productive use by creating adequate demand among customers.

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Renewables in APAC to be Cheaper Than Coal by 2030, Led by India

new report shows that most markets in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region can expect to see a cheaper levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for renewables compared to coal by 2030. With India and Australia expected to lead the charge. The latest report by Wood Mackenzie tails that across the region, new investments in renewables power are expected to be 23 percent lower cost than coal power on average by the end of the decade. Currently, renewables power costs about 16 percent more on average compared to coal power but has been at a discount to gas-fired power since 2019. Wood Mackenzie senior analyst Rishab Shreshta said “today, India and Australia are the only markets in the Asia Pacific with LCOE for renewables cheaper than newbuild coal. However, by the end of the decade, we can expect almost all markets in the region to have renewable power at a discount compared to the lowest-cost fossil fuel. The stage is set for the rapid growth of subsidy-free renewables in the Asia Pacific.” By 2030, renewables power in India and Australia are expected to be 56 percent and

47 percent cheaper than new-build coal, respectively. India is a cost leader for renewables due to low construction and labour costs and good renewable resources. The massive renewables market potential has attracted many investors, leading to intense competition

and cost declines. While Australia and China have similar solar costs, the former market has better solar insolation whereas CAPEX is cheaper in the latter market. However, due to lower coal LCOE in China, the renewables premium remains relatively high.

Growth in Number of Profitable DRE Enterprises in FY 2019/20: Report

he fourth edition of the ‘State of the Decentralized Renewable Energy Sector in India 2019/20’ report was recently launched by the CLEAN Network, in an attempt to present an overview of the developments in the DRE sector for the financial year. Surveying 63 DRE businesses, the report showed that there was a growth in the number of profitable RE businesses, as at least 62 percent of the members surveyed reported that they have been profitable in FY 2019/20 as compared to 45% of the members FY

2018/19. While, 86% of the members were able to meet their projected revenue. The report, however, also stated that the DRE sector wasn’t immune to the impact of COVID-19. 50% of the members reported increased revenue loss between quarter 4 of FY 2019/20 and quarter 1 of FY 2020/21. Members stated their opinion that to overcome the adverse economic effects of the pandemic, various sources of debt and CSR funds can be helpful. Few Key Highlights: • Enterprises reported lights and solar home systems (SHS) as their highest sell-

ing products. Other products such as solar pumps, improved cookstoves, and cold storages are also popular. Although most enterprises reported sales of less than 100 units for their products, low-priced products such as solar lights, improved cookstoves, and SHS recorded sales of more than 10,000 units. • A larger number of enterprises manufacture products with these sales numbers, indicating a greater market competition. • Enterprises cited lack of adequate financing chan-

nels and consumer affordability as the biggest barriers to the growth of their business. This is followed by the gap in consumer awareness about the products and their benefits. Limited market linkages and distribution channels are other pressing issues for DRE enterprises. The report then goes on to indicate that there is maximum opportunity in rural development in areas such as health, livelihood opportunities, and agriculture; however, much remains to be done to leverage this potential.

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Greenpeace India Sends its Green Recovery Plan for India to NITI Aayog

nvironment think tank Greenpeace India recently sent to the government’s policy think tank NITI Aayog a plan to help build a climate-proof, equal, sustainable and resilient India as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. In its recommendations to the government’s policy think tank NITI Aayog, Greenpeace India stressed the need to promote a decentralised model of renewable energy which will not only help to get universal energy access but it can also help mitigate climate crisis by replacing fossil fuel-based energy production. “The government needs to support rooftop solar and other forms of decentralized renewable energy solutions that reduce the demand for coal-based electricity. Moving our energy generation sector from fossil fuels to renewables will help to prevent premature deaths and vast savings in health costs. Provide support to clean technology businesses affected by the crisis to help them sustain and grow,” it stated. Binu Jacob, Executive Director at Greenpeace India, said, “Green recovery

O would promote a sustainable and just society better than return-to-normal stimulus measures. NITI Aayog has advocated for sustainable development goals in the past, we are hopeful that the think tank body would seriously consider the green recommendations endorsed by citizens of the country.” The recommendations also called for promotion and increase in demand for electric vehicles, stating that as it will take some time to remove the fear of using public transport amongst people, who would prefer using their own vehicles, this is an opportunity to promote e-bikes and e-scooters.

AI to Help Organizations cut GHG Emissions

by 16% in the Next 3-5 years: Report

rtificial Intelligence (AI) powered use cases for climate action have the potential to help organizations fulfil up to 45 percent of their Economic Emission Intensity (EEI) targets of the Paris Agreement. This is according to new research from the Capgemini Research Institute, conducted in partnership with climate change start-up right. based on science. The report, “Climate AI: How artificial intelligence can power your climate action strategy,” details that while AI offers many climate action use cases, scaled deployment is proving elusive and just 13 percent of organizations are successfully combining climate vision with AI capabilities. It further highlighted at least two-thirds (67 percent) of organizations have set long-term business goals to tackle climate change. While many technologies address

a specific outcome, such as carbon capture or renewable sources of energy, AI can accelerate organizations’ climate action across sectors and value chains; and, adoption is on the rise as more than half of organizations (53 percent) are moving beyond pilots or proofs of concepts. AI use cases include improving energy efficiency, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and optimising processes to aid productivity. From the 800 sustainability and tech executives surveyed in 400 organizations in the automotive, industrial/ process manufacturing, energy and utilities, consumer products, and retail industries, nearly half (48 percent) are using AI for climate action and as a result, have reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 12.9 percent, improved power efficiency by 10.9 percent and reduced waste by 11.7 percent since 2017.

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Statkraft Shares its Low Emissions Scenario of a Cost Effective Transition

ne of Europe’s largest renewable energy producers, Statkraft, has launched is Low Emissions Scenario which projects and details how energy usage, and the renewable energy industry, will change across Europe in the next thirty years. It has also analysed the potential barriers Europe could face in the transition, and what their consequences would be. The Low Emissions Scenario prediction has assumed that energy use in the EU will be decarbonised according to a 90 percent climate target in 2050 in line with the European Green Deal ambitions. The predictions have also taken into account expectations that COVID-19 will result in lower economic growth in Europe over the period, which in turn will reduce the need for energy and electricity to a greater extent than estimated before the pandemic. According to it, a cost-effective transition to the Low Emissions Scenario in Europe will result in an almost fully decarbonised power sector in 2050, with 95 percent renewable power production, where more than 80 percent is from variable sources. Solar PV will account for half of the installed capacity in the power sector in 2050, with annual capacity growth of approximately 8 percent. Wind power will account for just over a third of the capacity and will see an annual growth of 6 percent. Meanwhile, the need for electricity will increase by around 60 percent from today. The transport and power sectors will account for the largest emission reductions between now and 2050. It further adds that in the power sector, two-thirds of the emission reductions will stem from renewable sources, approximately one-fifth will be a result of phasing out coal power and the remainder will be due to energy efficiency improvements. In the other sectors, electrification will be the most costefficient climate measure across time, geography and sectors.

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883 MW Solar Rooftop Additions in 2020 So Far Powered By Gujarat

ndia added 883MW of rooftop solar in first nine months of 2020 despite COVID-19 and implementations of lockdown in different parts of the country, as reported by JMK Analytics, a research firm. These additions owe a lot to moves in Gujarat to push Solar power, even as other states, most starkly neighbouring Maharashtra has not just trailed, but followed downright restrictive practices and policies to stifle any possible rooftop solar growth. It’s the same story in state after state, with reports from Delhi indicating a time period of between 4 months to 6 months and more for activation of residential rooftop connections. New figures released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) showed that about 2320MW of solar capacity was added between January and September, with around 1,437MW of that being ground-mount. But this still fell short of predictions prior to the pandemic, with research groups suggesting nearly 5-8 GW of utility-scale capacity additions were expected in 2020. While these were impacted by unpredictable lockdowns in several states, labour shortages and construction, movement of equipment, and supplies all suffered. But despite the challenges of COVID-19, Gujarat was able to add significant capacity in part because of the Surya Urja Rooftop Yojana – Gujarat, a major government incentive program in the region that targets solar rooftops for eight lakh – or 0.8 million – residential consumers by March 2022. The scheme allows consumers to claim state subsidy of 40% for solar installations up to 3kW, and 20% for 3kW-10kW. Additionally, a Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) policy brought in September 2019 by the Gujarat state government allows the installation of solar projects with more than 100% of their sanctioned load or contract demand for MSMEs. This helped rooftop solar additions, as the popular policy allows MSMEs to sell excess solar to the State government for Rs.1.75/kWh, and buy solar power from third parties.

Yakima’s Solar Rooftop Cargo Box Makes Top 100 Inventions of 2020 by Time

he Yakima CBX solar rooftop cargo box has made the cut for TIME’s Top 100 Inventions of 2020 list in the outdoor category. The inclusion of the USD 1300 cargo box in the list brings with it a new focus on the latest wave of inventions that are focussed on incorporating sustainable solutions like solar panels to increase the functionality of their products by a massive margin. “We were seeing people add solar panels to their cargo boxes, and wanted one that looked a little more polished,” said Evan Hampton, Yakima’s senior category manager to TIME. “It gives you a way to power your Bluetooth speaker at a trailhead before or after a hike or après-ski at the parking lot of a resort.” The best example of that is the CBX Solar rooftop cargo box, which removes the condition for a camping/ outdoor trip to be completely off the grid. The cargo box is retrofitted with Sunflare

solar panels which can deliver 36W/5volt output, and equipped with two USB ports and can power your campsite on an overnight trip or keep your devices charged—without having to use your car battery. The firm stated that it teamed up with Sunflare to create a solar panel capable of delivering a 36W/5-volt output for when you’re adventuring off the grid. With 2 USB ports, it provides enough juice for a small campsite, won’t drain power from your vehicle and can charge phones, tablets, camping lanterns and action cameras. An integrated, easy-grab lid handle locks gear inside, and the removable torque tool stows away to free up all the storage space available in the cargo box. Beyond the applications of the solar panels, with its 16 cu. ft. of storage space, the CBX Solar has more than enough room to hold your skis, snowboards, hiking gear or that last duffel you can never quite manage to squeeze into the trunk.

Bifacial Shipments for Longi Solar Cross 10 GW Milestone

hina’s Longi Solar, a national champion that has long sought global heft too, has informed that its high-efficiency bifacial modules have now crossed 10GW in shipments. The firm hopes to take production to 12GW by the end of 2020. Bifacial modules have been around for a whole now, and in some markets like India, still shaking off the earlier image of being premium modules, to be used only in very specific circumstances. But as we have seen in some recent orders from India too they have effectively been pat of the mainstream solar panel technology now for some time. Thanks to their low LID (Light Induced Degradation) and high efficiency, the modern modules have made solid strides. Longi has been among the earliest firms to be pushing these since 2017, with its Hi-MO2 bifacial module back then. In

2018, with half-cut technology and bifacial cells, Hi-MO 3 was launched and 2019 saw the widespread adoption of bifacial modules, with the 166mm Hi-MO 4 (high voltage) module. As the era of grid parity approaches, the all new Hi-MO 5 bifacial module has been launched this year for delivery to investors in utilityscale PV plants around the world. According to Longi, some of the bigger projects where its bifacials have been installed are a 390MW project in Aswan, Egypt to a 224MW plant in Georgia, USA. The gap between the higher cost of a Bifacial is fast narrowing, with the higher profitability it delivers in terms of lower LCOE. The Hi-MO 5 module (M10 standard wafer) is Longi’s flagship bifacial offering now, designed for ultra-large power stations, with a maximum power of 540W and a claimed efficiency of 21.1%.

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BHEL Seeking PreBid Tie-ups for 50 MW BESS Under SECI’s Solar Plus Storage Tender

HEL has announced that it is participating in a tender for the design, engineering, supply, construction, erection, testing and commissioning of 100 MW (AC) solar PV project (200 MWp DC capacity) along with 50 MW/ 150 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) having 10 years of plant Operation & Maintenance (O&M) in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh for the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). And that it is looking to enter a pre-bid tie-up for 50 MW/ 150 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) having 10 years plant O&M. The firm that is selected will be responsible for the desired performance of the offered BESS system including survey, planning, design, engineering, manufacturing, testing, insurance, supply, installation and commissioning, comprehensive AMC on a turnkey basis. To be eligible for participating in the tender, the bidder must have the experience of having successfully completed design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation, testing and commissioning of grid-connected BESS of at least 3 grid-connected BESS plants, each having an individual capacity of 5 MWh or above in the last five years. Also, such BESS plant capacity must have been in satisfactory operation for at least 12 months from the date of commissioning. Further, the make of Battery and BMS, EMS and PCS offered for the project shall be same as at least one of the reference plant of minimum capacity 5 MWh running satisfactorily for at least 12 months from the date of commissioning in last 5 years.

Exide Increases Stake in Li-ion Battery JV With Leclanche to 80.15%

attery maker Exide Industries has announced that it has increased its stake in its joint venture (JV) with Swiss firm Leclanche to 80.15 percent with a further investment of Rs 33.17 crore by way of subscription to equity shares of the JV. In June 2018, Exide Industries had announced the signing of a pact with Leclanche SA for setting up a joint venture company, Exide Leclanche Energy Pvt Ltd, to build lithium-ion batteries and provide energy storage systems for India’s electric vehicle market. Exide Industries Ltd (EIL) has further invested an amount aggregating to Rs 33.17 crore by way of subscription to the equity share capital of its subsidiary, Exide Leclanche Energy Pvt Ltd, the company said in a regulatory filing. “With the above investment, the equity shareholding of EIL in JVC ( joint venture company) stands increased from 77.87 per-

NITI Aayog Drafts RfP for Setting up Advance Chemistry Cell Manufacturing Facilities

he Government of India through the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) intends to develop giga-scale advance cell manufacturing for domestic application and promotion of diverse energy sources, to ensure overall energy security for the nation in the long run. In line with this, it has launched and intends to implement the National Programme on Advance Chemistry Cell Battery Storage. To achieve this, Niti Aayog, on behalf of the Government, has issued the draft Request for Proposal (RfP) documents for selection of private entities to set-up manufacturing facilities that produce Advance Chemistry Cells (ACC). Advance Chemistry Cells (ACCs), as Niti Aayog defines it, are the new generation advance storage technologies that can store electric energy either as electrochemical or as chemical energy and convert it back to electric energy as and when required. Globally, manufacturers are investing in these new generation technologies at commercial scale to fill the expected boom in battery demand through 2030. Considering

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cent to 80.15 percent of the total paid-up share capital,” it added. EIL said its further investment is “to meet the funding requirement, particularly the capital expenditure projects of JVC”. The company said that as of date, the paid-up capital of the JV is Rs 128.59 crore. Its net worth as of March 31, 2020, was Rs 144.98 crore with a turnover of Rs 2.19 crore. It posted a loss after tax of Rs 18.95 crore for the year ended March 31, 2020. In August, we had reported that Exide is planning to start manufacturing lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries from its joint venture plant in Gujarat by end of this calendar year, according to a high-level company official. The JV company’s production plant in Gujarat is the first such indigenous facility in the country for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries and provide energy storage systems for the EV market, with the government’s push towards promoting electric mobility.

its importance and the emphasis on transition to a clean energy economy, the Government of India in March 2019, launched the National Mission on Transformative Mobility & Battery Storage, under the Chairmanship of the CEO, NITI Aayog. The Mission, apart from notifying various policy interventions to promote electric vehicle penetration in India, has proposed the National Programme on Advance Chemistry Cell Battery Storage, which is pending Union Cabinet’s approval, to support 50 GWh of domestic ACC manufacturing. This umbrella-level initiative proposes various fiscal incentives through a single-window mechanism, to make the domestic ACC manufacturing industry, globally competitive. In addition, the programme also proposes a composite framework for the imposition of suitable Basic Custom Duty with the intent to promote phased manufacturing of ACCs and its components in India and makes recommendations for promoting the overall market demand for ACCs in India.

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Panasonic, Equinor Form Partnership for Establishing European Battery Business

anasonic, energy company Equinor and industrial group Hydro have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a strategic partnership to explore possibilities for establishing a sustainable and cost-competitive European battery business. The companies will work together towards summer 2021 to assess the market for lithiumion batteries in Europe and mature the business case for a green battery business located in Norway. The companies intend that this initiative is based on Panasonic’s leading technology and targets the European market for electric vehicles and other applications. The compa-

nies will also investigate the potential for an integrated battery value chain and for the co-location of supply chain partners. The findings from this initial exploratory phase will form the basis for subsequent decisions. Mototsugu Sato, Executive

Vice President of Panasonic, said the company sees the strategic partnership with Equinor and Hydro as a potential basis for future development and growth in the energy/ battery sector in the European region. “This collaboration combines Panasonic’s position

as an innovative technology company and leader in lithium-ion batteries, with the deep industrial experience of Equinor and Hydro, both strong global players, to potentially pave way for a robust and sustainable battery business in Norway. Panasonic has powered the last two revolutions in the automotive industry – first by powering hybrids and now, by powering multiple generations of all electric vehicles. We are pleased to enter into this initiative to explore implementing sustainable, highly advanced technology and supply chains to deliver on the exacting needs of lithium-ion battery customers and support the renewable energy sector in the European region.”

EU can be Self Sufficient in EV Battery Cells by 2025: VP Šefčovič

aroš Šefčovič, Vice President of the European Commission recently addressed the European Conference on Batteries. At the event, Šefčovič claimed that he expects that by 2025, the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the needs of the European automotive industry and to further build its export capacity. The VP said that when the EU founded the European Battery Alliance in 2017, many people struggled to believe Europe could develop a globally-competitive battery industry, one which could rival and even outshine those in other parts of the world. “The last three years, however, have shown us that it is not only possible, but fast becoming reality. We still have a long way to go. But I am convinced we can achieve our goal of strategic autonomy in this critical industrial sector.” He further went on to say that “I’ll make a clear prediction: I am confident that by 2025, the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the needs of the European automotive industry – and even to build our export capacity. “I am aware that this is a big ask. If we do manage to achieve this, it will in large part be thanks to the Battery Alliance; a truly collaborative effort requiring the full commitment of all involved.”

The Alliance was created to build a globally competitive, innovative and sustainable European battery value chain, amounting to an expected market value of 250 billion Euro by 2025. With more than 500 industrial actors, the Alliance has become a resounding success in just three years, turning Europe into a global battery hotspot. In 2019, the Alliance attracted some 60 billion euros in investment across the entire value chain, with 25 billion so far in 2020; three times and twice the amount in China respectively.

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Will CERC Restart in December? Hopes High As 174 Judgements Await Sunlight

he Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), which has been shut since an Aug 29 ruling by the Supreme Court, might just reopen before its shutdown crosses 100 days, with luck. The SC order, which had been written to enforce an earlier ruling of 2018 mandating a member of law at all such commissions, had forced the remaining two members to proceed on lave till a new member (law) was appointed. After the usual delays and efforts to find a compromise on the altar of public good, the government, faced with an adamant court, finally seems to have completed the process of identifying a member of law. The last hearing, which had set the next date of hearing for December 4, was done with the express hope that a member would be appointed by then. Interestingly, an intervenor application which was filed by ACME Solar for partial

modifications to the extent of allowing orders reserved by CERC on and before 28.8.2020 to be passed, was also not accepted by the premier court. As it turns out, the government representative seems to have made a claim that 174 orders were stuck, where hearings had been concluded. The sheer number seems to have draw the court to ask for a formal affidavit on the claim, which was duly submitted two weeks back, according to sources. Irrespective of the accuracy of the numbers in terms of orders pending, it underlines the steady toll the delay is taking on the sector. Keep in mind that the CERC, besides being the exclusive body for power tariffs, disputes or any other action with respect to central government owned bodies, is also the key forum for inputs on ISTS, tariffs, issue of trading licenses and more. A three month

plus delay has effectively stopped movement on all these matters, as far as disputed projects, and fresh applications go. All this when work at other state commissions, and the Appellate authority For Electricity (APTEL), has also slowed down considerably, due to Covid induced video conferencing sittings, which have simply not allowed work to progress at the same pace as before. Lawyers we spoke to indicate that there is every chance of a thaw on December 4, when the court takes up the matter, with the central government likely to have the appointment in place. That could set the stage for a full restart as early as December 7, or a week after that. If and when it does, industry will heave a sigh of relief, at yet one more issue that blindsided everyone out of nowhere, finally ending.

JA Solar In Trouble, As Founder Jin Baofang Detained By Chinese Authorities

A Solar, the well known ‘wafer to module’ chinese manufacturer, with a strong global presence and track record with over 50 GW of projects, has announced that its Chairman and Founder, Jin Baofang, has been detained by Chinese authorities for as yet unspecified charges. Most such detentions in China are usually on corruption charges, with the state under no obligation to share details until it sees fit. The company website states that Mr Baofang is also the Vice President of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association and the director of PV Products Association Branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products. The move is bound to send shockwaves through the form and broader solar sector, as JA

solar is a key player among China based firms that have achieved success worldwide. At 21.2 billion yuan or 3.2 billion USD in 2019, the firm also has 22,000 employees worldwide. For now, the firm claims that it has the structures and management in place to keep business as usual going. The firm, that at the end of

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2019, had wafer of 11.5GW, solar cell capacity at 11GW, and a module assembly capacity had reached 11GW, was also at the beginning of a massive 10 billion Yuan expansion programme, that would have taken capacities to approximately 13.5GW inwafers, solar cell capacity of around 13GW and module assembly

exceeding 16GW. The firm has been a leader in PERC modules, claiming to have supplied close to 50 percent of the modules in the first phase of China’s ‘top runner’ program. The firm was earlier listed at NASDAQ in the US, where it eventually delisted from, and went for a listing at the Shenzhen stock exchange.

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Railways Runs Into A Red Signal For 1 GW Solar Tender

he Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL)’s tender for a 1GW of solar plants on railway land available close to railway tracks has run into a wall of disinterest from solar developers. The tender, with deadline of September 2, was a detailed one that included the design, build, finance, operation, long– term maintenance and transfer of assets for solar PV project and the supply of electricity to Railways under long-term fixed-rate PPA. The poor response from developers has been ascribed to lack of demand for existing projects that have been bid out in the past quarter, besides SECI’s 14 GW pipeline under development already. It seems SECI, and many developers would rather have the railways commit to picking up power from these, than go for fresh capacity at this stage.

Thus, lack of power demand, coupled with abundance of thermal and other power sources, has constrained demand yet again for renewable energy efforts for the railways. The issue is clearly not something that will go away in a hurry, as overall demand will follow its own cycle of recovery after the Corona shocks, while the overall power system remains tied into legacy long term PPA’s which offer little option to curtail or exit for state discoms. The same issue has also throttled growth of rooftop solar until now, with most discoms making piecemeal efforts to allow more solar generation. Faster electrification of transportation, of which railways itself is one part, is a way out. It’s an area where the Railways own plans have progressed fairly well, and it might yet have to take a harder look for an energy self sufficiency model driven by

renewable energy, if its ambitious plans for renewable energy capacity are to be met. 20 GW was the last figure we heard from the railway minister Piyush Goyal on their long term solar power generation plans. The fact that this is now impacting generation from large utility scale projects is a serious cause for worry for the government too. Unlike many other entities, the railways remains a relatively credit worthy option for developers with a decent track record on payments in general. Developers have increasingly looked to take up utility projects that have a payment mechanism tied to central government entities like SECI and NTPC, to avoid the sort of payment delays from state discoms that have plagued the system over the years now. By keeping the railways out, the system does miss out on a credit worthy client.

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With Fresh Price Lows In Auctions, Are Solar Projects Awaiting PSA’s Truly Safe?

n the last month and more, there have been multiple reports about the failure of the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a key nodal body that has been conducting utility scale solar auctions to sign PPA’s (Power purchase Agreement) with winning developers. SECI in turn blames it on the delay on the part of solar discoms to sign up for the back to back PSA’s (Power Sales Agreements) it signs with them. SECI usually charges a trading margin of 7 paise per unit to act as the go between, an arrangement that has worked very well so far, especially for developers who prefer dealing with a central entity with an obligation to pay for power sold, rather than state level bodies where the experience can be much more poorer. How important the PPA is can be seen from even the financing for solar projects, with institutions making a marked preference for projects with SECI backed PPA’s. In the past few months, some of the biggest auction winners are still waiting to sign a PPA with SECI. The projects include the manufacturing linked tenders of 8GW won by

Adani Green, the RTC tenders, and even the record Rs 2.36/unit wins by Solarpack et al during the 2GW tender of August/September. The ostensible reason for the delay has been the Covid disruption, and lack of demand. The demand problem is cannot really be the major issue, simply if the RPO rules are enforced. Admittedly, that hasn’t been done as one would expect, again due to the Covid pandemic. But the unspoken issue that SECI has not spoken about publicly, is the expectation/fear among discoms of lower prices in the future. We have seen an extreme version of the consequences in the case of Andhra Pradesh, where a new state government is still locked in a battle to go back on signed contracts and renegotiate at new, lower rates. The very fact that new tenders are attracting even lower bids as we write this, indicates that we are heading for yet another crisis. In a world where price changes in a few months is no longer a big deal, the rules don’t apply to the government or its entities, where time moves slowly. A few months or even a year, is no big deal even today, if the officer in charge can show a lower price after the long

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wait. No matter that the delay might kill off investor interest, and even developer interest. The foregone benefits in terms of economic activity and environmental benefits? God forbid if you even mention those. The pundits will tell you that the long term cost of power will tend towards zero. In fact, even Mr R.K. Singh, the MNRE minister has repeatedly stressed that power costs will halve, over a yet indeterminate period in the future. Does that mean we have to stop everything to wait for the day? The latest news of a winning bid at Rs 2 per unit for the Rajasthan auction only drives in the mixed blessings lower prices are bringing. Real pain for developers who bid for and won a few months back, and imaginary benefits for consumers who will more likely than not, have to wait fa more longer than they deserve to see a drop in energy prices. In all the battles he has fought for the sector so far, this new battle to make discoms move might be the toughest one for the MNRE minister yet, as most remain outside his direct influence, and willing to make their end consumers suffer endlessly for their diffidence and inefficiency.

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Solar Tariffs Drop to Record Low of Rs 2/kWh in SECI’s 1070 MW Tender

he latest auction by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has seen solar tariffs drop to a new record low in the Indian solar segment. SECI’s auction for its 1070 MW solar tender for projects being set up in Rajasthan (Tranche-III) has received two bids (L1) at the new lowest of Rs 2 per kWh. The record low L1 bid was submitted by Saudi Arabian firm Al Jomaih Energy and Water Co and Sembcorp Energy India subsidiary Green Infra Wind Energy. Both submitted the L1 bid for 200 MW and 400 MW capacity respectively. According to industry reports, the L1 bid was closely followed by NTPC ltd which submitted the bid of Rs 2.01/kWh for 600 MW capacity. However, the firm will be awarded only 470 MW capacity in the tender i.e. the remainder of the 1070 MW capacity after the capacity for the L1 bids is allocated. In total, SECI received 14 bids for a total of 4,350 MW project capacity, which meant that the tender was oversubscribed by 3,280 MW. Interestingly, eight of the fourteen bids submitted for the tender were lower than the previous record low solar tariff of Rs 2.36/kWh in the Indian solar segment, which was discovered in June in SECI’s auction for its 2 GW ISTS connected solar projects tender. Behind NTPC, Sprng Ujjvala Energy submitted a bid of Rs 2.02/kWh for 300 MW capacity and SJVN Ltd submitted a bid of Rs 2.07/kWh for 250 MW project capacity. However, only three bidders were awarded project

capacity under the tender. In July, SECI had issued the tender for the 1070 MW solar projects. One key advantage of the tender is that SECI has already identified the off-taker for these projects. As per the RfS, the power procured by SECI from the above Project has been provisioned to be sold to the State Buying Entity, i.e. Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (RUVNL), which shall be the Buying Entity under this RfS.

SunSource Bags Floating Solar Plus Storage Project in Andaman

unSource Energy, a leading distributed solar energy company, has announced that it will develop a 4 MWac grid-connected floating solar PV power project, along with a 2 MW/1 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which it has won in a Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) tender. Once commissioned, it will be one of India’s largest floating plus storage project in Andaman which will in turn will reduce the existing reliance on diesel. The project will be situated at the Reservoir of Kalpong river, Kalpong Hydroelectric Project (KHEP) Dam, Diglipur, North Andaman, a District of Andaman and

Nicobar Islands which will power the island that will significantly power the entire region, thus increasing power reliability. In order to reduce the dependency on Diesel for electricity, which is getting a price hike every now and then, adapting to solar will be a huge boon which will lead to even higher energy cost savings and contribution to a sustainable

future. SunSource Energy will sign a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) for 25 years with the Electricity Department, Andaman & Nicobar administration (A&NA) for this Floating Solar Power with BESS based on the terms, conditions and provisions of the RfS that was issued by SECI. This firstever floating solar plus storage project in India is expected to N OVEMB ER 20 20

offset ~8112 tonnes of CO2 annually. Kushagra Nandan, President and Co-Founder, SunSource Energy, said that “with renewable energy taking centre stage in all discussions pertaining to reduction of carbon footprint, SunSource Energy is totally committed to supporting the government mission with its expertise in the solar segment.” SunSource, an investee of the Neev Fund – a private equity firm backed by State Bank of India (SBI) and UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), recently won one a solar with storage project in Lakshadweep that will supply clean and stable solar power to the islands. SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL S AUR E N E R GY. C O M

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Tender For 100 MW Floating Solar Hybrid On Mumbai’s Middle Vaitarna Dam

umbai’s Middle Vaitarna dam, whose reservoir is one of the seven key lakes that supply drinking water to the city, could soon be supplying power too, to the city. The Municipal corporation of Greater Mumbai has floated a tender for the establishment of a Hybrid floating solar PV plant on the lake, of 100MW capacity. The plan is to have a Hydro electric and floating solar plant together, with the floating solar contributing 80 MW of the 100 MW capacity. At the size, this could easily be the largest floating solar plant in Maharashtra, when made. As of now, plans are on the drawing board for over 2GW of floating solar capacity in India. The tender, with a contract period of 31 months for construction including the monsoons, followed by a 25 year O&M period is a comprehensive design, build, and operate mandate. For bidders, the first hurdle is a net worth criteria of Rs 472 crores. The criteria for the hydro electric project is even more intriguing, with a specific requirement of running a small hydro electric project in Maharashtra with at least 10 MW capacity, that should have been in operation for at least 10 years with a

minimum plant load factor of 50 percent. It should also have generated 67 MU (Million units ) of power in at least one of the 10 years. The last date for submitting bids is December 12, with a ceiling tariff of Rs 4.48 /kWh. It must be added here that so far,

India’s experience with floating solar plants has not exactly been good, with most such bids delayed due to various reasons. Some of the very specific conditions of this tender (available at mahatenders.gov.in) also don’t inspire too much confidence. But we would love to be proven wrong of course.

NTPC to Install Solar Systems in SDMC Buildings in Delhi

he South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has approved a proposal to install rooftop solar and ground-mounted solar systems on its buildings. The municipal corporation will now sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NTPC for the installation of the solar systems. The proposal was approved at a standing committee meeting on November 24, 2020, which also included the decision to sign a memorandum of understanding with NTPC for installing solar rooftop PV and solar ground-mounted plants. NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) will be responsible for the project design, supply, erection, commissioning, operation and maintenance of the projects for a period of 25 years. Rajdutt Gehlot, chairman of, SDMC standing committee, said the idea behind the proposal is to minimise the expenditure incurred on electricity at office buildings and to also generate revenue through e-charging

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stations. “After approval from the standing committee, now a memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be signed between the civic body and the NTPC for the project. This project will complete the requirement of electricity in SDMC as the civic body will purchase solar power from the NTPC for its consumption which will be cheaper,” he said. According to municipal officials, solar panels are already installed at 208 buildings and nearly 9.33 megawatt (MW) electricity is being generated through these panels. Similar work of installation of solar panels at 177 SDMC buildings is underway which will produce 0.8 MW of electricity. NTPC will install rooftop solar systems at nearly 250 more buildings under the SDMC which will produce nearly 10 MW electricity. Furthermore, NVVN will also be setting up a 20 MW solar plant in Ghummanhera. SDMC’s electricity demand is around 35 MW which, upon completion of the projects, will be met entirely by solar power.

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IAF’s Leh Station Gets Largest Solar Plant In Ladakh

adakh, the youngest Union Territory in the country, where plans are afoot to make some of the largest solar parks eventually, continues to take small steps towards decarbonising its energy needs. A small start has been made with the formal opening of a 1.5 MW solar power plant, at the Indian Air Force station in Leh. Set up under the government’s ‘Make In India’ initiative, that would also mean a strong bias towards using domestically produced equipment at the plant. The plant is the largest installed solar project till date out of the target of 300 MW in three phases for defence sectors and 14 MW for Leh region as set by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The project worth Rs 122 crore was recently inaugurated by Air Marshal V R Chaudhari, Commander-in-chief, Western Air Command, he added. Till just a few years back, Leh was almost completely powered by diesel fired

generators, a situation that is slowly being changed finally in the ecologically sensitive region by increasing use of solar, including distributed solar energy products and a focus on solar+storage projects. Conditions

in the region, despite the high altitude, are considered good for solar generation, one of the reasons why the government has been pushing a project for a massive 7.5 GW solar park in the region.

Carlsberg Partners With Solar Desalination Firm to Purify Sundarbans Water

ultinational brewer Carlsberg Group has announced that it has partnered with Netherlandsbased solar desalination technology company Desolenator for converting saline water to clean drinking water for a town of 4,000 people in the Sundarbans, West Bengal. Desolenator is the world’s first sustainable water purification technology and it will be used for a desalination plant designed to be set up at Sundarbans, located around 120 km from Carlsberg’s Kolkata brewery, it said. Sundarbans, which is home to around 4.7 million people, is at a critical point because the area is surrounded by saltwater, suffering the immediate consequences of rising sea

levels due to climate change. The situation has been compounded in 2020 by COVID-19 and Cyclone Amphan, with water being trucked into some areas, it added. According to the company, the sustainable

desalination project is part of its ‘Together Towards ZERO’ sustainability programme that aims to eliminate water waste across its breweries by 2030 and to protect shared water resources in high-risk areas. Desolenator’s sustainable N OVEMB ER 20 20

water purification system is 100 percent solar-powered and can harvest thermal and electrical energy to distill water. The project – due to complete in mid-2021 – will create 20,000 litres of clean drinking water, using the heat and power of the sun, it said in a statement. “Water is one of the four main ingredients in beer and healthy communities with access to clean and safe water is a prerequisite for our breweries around the world. Working in partnership to introduce innovative technology, Carlsberg can help local communities with access to clean water, building on our history of science and innovation and citizenship,” Carlsberg Group CEO Cees’t Hart said in a statement. SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL S AUR E N E R GY. C O M

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Key Solar Manufacturers Back 182mm Module Size for 2021

hree of the biggest module makers globally, Jinko, JA and Longi are betting that with their combined 54 GW in capacity, the 182 mm module will face little headwinds to market acceptance in 2021. The importance of standards, and standardisation in the solar sector can never be overemphasised, considering the multiple parts that have to work together to make a successful solar plant. As a sector that sees every part and component pass through multiple tests and components for safety and performance, and major change is done after great consideration, and more importantly, buy in from relevant partners in the eco system. For the leading module makers in the business, one such question has been the size of modules going forward. While the industry has broad consensus on the possibility of, and need for larger module sizes, the right size that would work for everyone is still being debated. In just the past three years, module sizes have moved frenetically after more than a decade of stable size of 156 mm. Now, we have modules ranging from 157mm to 210mm and many more in between, vying for attention. Which is where, the consensus on the 182mm size matters More so, because of its backing by key module manufacturers, as well as other industry partners in inverters, testing and more. At a conference in Shanghai last week, solar inverter and tracker manufactures, power design institutes, EPC enterprises and third-party certification institutions issued a comprehensive statement on the design, production cost, supporting infrastructure, system application and product

certification of the 182mm modules. Li Shaotang, Senior Product Manager of Longi Solar, commented, “As early as 2018, the industry came out with the idea of having larger module size to increase the power. However, larger size doesn’t mean better performance. Various boundary conditions for thorough consideration include manufacturing, transportation, reliability and manual installation. The 182mm modules effectively support the existing industrial specifications and electrical system. Additionally, in terms of LCOE, 182mm modules are superior to 210mm due to lower system cost, better generation capacity and reliability. The former is optimal for large-scale ground-mount power plants with flat terrain”. “The increase in module size requires consideration of a number of factors, ranging from module’s circuit design, component matching design, reliability to process capability, packaging and transport, system design, and postoperation and maintenance.” said Zou Chicheng, Vice President of TUV Rhein. Zou suggested that enterprises seek an optimal solution between size and safety from the perspective of certification.

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Meanwhile, the industry is steadily coming to terms with the fact that larger module sizes help in saving costs. Yu Hanbo, Senior Manager of Global Products at JinkoSolar, said, “Improving power generation by reducing line loss and internal loss is one of the ways to reduce costs.” With three of the biggest manufacturers behind them, the 182 mm modules have gradually entered into the mass production phase.182mm products have a number of qualified suppliers in each of the processes, including crystalpulling, slicing, cell and module manufacturing. It is estimated that in 2021, the production capacity of pull crystal-pulling, glass and film for the 182mm products will be more than 50% of the industry’s full capacity, and the proportion of pulling crystals will be as high as 91.7%. Huawei and Sungrow, two key inverter manufacturers, indicated that related products can support 182mm modules comprehensively. According to Gan Binbin, Global Solutions Director at Huawei, the highpower modules bring forth the challenge of matching the maximum current of the inverter MPPT with the working current of the modules. In addition, the reliability risks of crack, hot spot and diode also

increase. However, he added that Huawei’s products can fully support all modules and utilize AI BOOST’s intelligent algorithms and diagnostics to effectively reduce cost and increase efficiency. Zhang Yanhu, Vice President of Sungrow, said, “The rise in module current will increase the diameter of low-voltage DC cables, thus driving up the material cost. At the same time, excessive variation of modules current will also affect the performance of string inverters and combiner boxes. While centralized inverters can be flexibly adapted to various versions of modules, the DC combiner boxes can be adapted to 182mm and 210mm modules.” For PV trackers, Guo Zhikai, Senior Product Director of tracker leader NEXTracker, said, “Tracking system has met one challenge after another as solar modules upgrade. For today’s 182mm module, 1P/NX Horizon and 2P/NX Gemini products are fully compatible with its 72-cell version. The 78 version modules can further reduce costs, and solar module load values have been confirmed, which covers 100% of the project requirements. In terms of reliability, it has passed the new wind tunnel test, and even the largest module size can ensure its stability on the tracker.” What we can be sure of is that with standardisation of the 182mm size, modules with rated output of 500 watts and more will become really common next year, with huge implications for LCOE of solar projects, as these modules might cut back requirement of land too, to an extent. The challenge as always? Keep bringing down those costs, so that the rest of the market can keep up.

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The Future In Focus As Trina Solar, Tongwei In JV For Ingots, Wafers, 210 Series

he battle for the next stage of solar growth continues to intensify, with the announcement of a Joint venture between two more Chinese majors, Trina Solar and Tongwei. Both are large, established players, with Tongwei a particularly key supplier of cells to the industry in China. The new JV hopes to fill in to critical gaps for the two new partners. Better control over crystalline silicon supplies including ingots, and a joint push behind the 210mm cell standard, an even larger cell than the 182 mm standard being promoted by some other key manufacturers in China. The announcement follows the announcement of a joint initiative by three other China -based manufacturers, Jinko Solar, Longi Solar and JA Solar to push forward with the 182mm standard for large sized cells and modules. Making the announcement on November 17, the latest agreement will see Trina Solar collaborate with Tongwei subsidiary Sichuan Yongxiang Co., Ltd, to upgrade their 210 industrial series modules that will help secure a stronger supply chain ecosystem going forward. Trina has already been one of the earliest manufacturers to launch a 600 Watt module on the back of the 210mm cell. Gao Jifan, Chairman of Trina Solar, said: “Joint ventures and cooperation among strong players, who complement each other as well as Trina Solar and Tongwei Group do, will always create great advantages.” The partnership will see the two enterprises work together on four key project areas. The first includes a highpurity crystalline silicon project with an annual output of 40,000 tons, as well as an ingot project expected to produce an annual output of 15GW. There will be a wafer-cutting project with an annual output of 15GW, and a high-efficiency crystalline silicon cell project, also with an annual output of 15GW. Total investment in the venture is estimated to be worth US$ 2.3 billion, with Trina Solar gaining a shareholding ratio of 35%, and the total registered

capital contribution has been set at US$ 32 million. Wu Qun, secretary of the board of directors of Trina Solar, said “Trina Solar and Tongwei both have outstanding advantages in their roles for the industrial chain. They have reached a consensus on 210 series modules, and this cooperation will further strengthen our strategic partnership. Through the joint efforts of all industry partners, the 210-product industry chain has matured, and is now more conducive for deeper integration.” By the end of 2021, Trina Solar plans to have a photovoltaic module production capacity of no less than 50GW, most of which will be at 210 module production capacities. In the future, the company will continue to strengthen its scale advantages of advanced module production capacity based on large-size cells. As part of the agreement, Trina Solar will purchase approx. 72,000 tons of polysilicon products between January 2021 and December 2023 from a number of Tongwei Group subsidiaries including Sichuan Yongxiang Polysilicon Co., Ltd., Sichuan Yongxiang New Energy Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Tongwei High Purity Crystal Silicon Co., Ltd., and Yunnan Tongwei High Purity Crystal Silicon Co. Ms. Chen Ye, Assistant Vice President of Procurement Supply Chain Management of Trina Solar, said: “This

long-term procurement will facilitate timely and effective responses to changes in the market, ensuring the long-term stability of Trina Solar’s supply chain, and will provide strong support for the production capacity of Vertex Series 210 ultra-high-power modules.” Trina Solar’s collaboration with Tongwei Group follows the signing of further procurement deals by the company in recent weeks. On November 2, Trina Solar signed a 20GW silicon wafer procurement contract with Wuxi Shangji Automation Co., Ltd., and on November 15 signed an 85 million square meter photovoltaic glass procurement contract with Changzhou Almaden Co., Ltd. The new wave of cooperation among Chinese manufacturers points to two inescapable conclusions. The era of larger modules is here, as the largest manufacturers will shift to a portfolio made up of these now. Secondly, chinese manufacturers are reacting to efforts elsewhere, including in India, to manufacture domestically, by raising the stakes when it comes to the trade off between quality and price on one hand, and domestic sourcing on the other. New manufacturers, unless they invest heavily in to the latest manufacturing equipment and new standards, will struggle to find export markets for their products

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BHEL Tenders for Supply of Multi-crystalline Solar PV Cells

he Solar Business Division (formerly Electric and Photovoltaic Division) of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has issued a tender for the supply of multicrystalline solar photovoltaic (PV) cells (157 mm-5BB-4.62 Wp) as per BHEL technical specification. It has been specified that the cells must be 157×157 ± 1.0mm in dimensions and 220 microns thick ± 20 microns. They must be five bus bars long, and the acceptable multiple wattages for the cells will be in the range between 4.52W and 4.82W. BHEL is looking to procure 2.86 lakh cells to be used in its solar projects. Further, the cells should be free of visual defects, chipping, cracks, printing defects, misalignments, finger knots, grid line interruptions, fingerprint interruptions, paste smudges, or stains on either surface. They must have a homogenous silicon nitride coating without any colour variations. The bus line silver must not be tarnished or oxidised. The last date for bid submission is December 4, 2020, and

the techno-commercial bids will be opened on the same date. The date and time of opening of the price bids will be intimated to the technically and commercially cleared bidders at a later date. To be eligible for participating in the bidding process, the bidders must have an in-house crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing capacity of (at least) 60

MW per annum. And they must have previously supplied PV cells to reputed module manufacturers who have been certified by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). They must also have previously supplied four million pieces of M2-sized multicrystalline cells to Indian module makers outside the vendors’ country of origin.

LONGi Supplies 273 MW of its Solar Modules for Southeast Asia’s Largest Solar Plan

ONGi, the world leading solar technology headquartered in Xi’an, China, is happy to announce that it has successfully supplied its Hi-MO 4 Series modules for Southeast Asia’s largest solar plant, Phase I of the Xuan Thien Ea Sup Project in Dak Lak, Vietnam. Commissioned by Xuan Thien Group on November 15, 2020, the 600 MWac / 831 MWp utility-scale solar plant is estimated to have an electricity output of 1.5 billion kWh per year. With nearly 2 million solar

panels, 500 kV / 1,200 MVA transformer station and 22.2 km of 500 kV line, this is so far the largest solar power plant in Southeast Asia. The plant, which has been set up at an estimated cost of 20,000 billion dong, has been commissioned five months earlier than the scheduled date of completion due to joint efforts by the developers, logistics partners and equipment suppliers including LONGi. Construction of this plant started in April 2020 and LONGi signed an agreement to supply 273 MW

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of its modules to be used for the project in May 2020. LONGi completed the delivery much before the deadline. Numerous projects to build large solar power facilities are underway in Vietnam, as the country works towards bridging its anticipated power shortage with green energy. Dak Lak province, located in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, is blessed with ample sunshine and abundant idle land — is highly suitable for solar power generation. Xuan Thien Group, therefore, plans to scale up the capacity of this

plant to 2,000 MWac / 2,800 MWp by early 2022, providing about 5 billion kWh per year for the national electricity system. Dennis She, SVP of LONGi Solar, commented, “We are proud as well as excited to be a part of this grand project by the Xuan Thien Group, offering our trusted mono-crystalline innovations. LONGi believes that technology innovations will further drive solar power cost optimization, enabling us to drive a dramatic shift in the regional energy landscape through more such partnerships.”

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Power Sector Employees Protest Against Privatisation of Discoms: AIPEF

ower sector employees on November 26, 2020, held nationwide protests against the government’s decision to privatise Discoms, the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has said. They also demanded the withdrawal of Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020 and scrapping of the standard bidding document (SBD). “Lakhs of power sector employees including engineers, today held nationwide protests seeking the withdrawal of Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020, scrapping of SBD and opposed the privatisation of power distribution companies (discoms) in states and union territories,” AIPEF spokesperson V K Gupta said in a statement. Gupta said protest meetings were held in all the states and union territories, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, among others. He noted that the power engineers did not join the strike called by ten central trade unions and just staged a simple protest to highlight their issues. Gupta claimed that the government is hell-bent on creating private monopolies in the power sector with the sole motive of helping corporate houses. The SBD document proposes that Discoms in all the states and union territories undertake privatisation. The state government will provide subsidised bulk power for the successor entity for making it an independently financially viable entity.

The assets of Discoms will be leased on a token payment. The federation opposes the proposed transfer of public assets to the private sector as this will result in a high tariff for the consumers, he said. The AIPEF also demanded the withdrawal of the process of privatisation of electricity in states and union territories and cancels all existing privatisation and franchises in the power sector. He claimed that the Centre is grossly misleading the public by saying that the electricity will be cheaper after privatisation.

Fill Solar Jobs Advertise with the most read solar magazine in India. To advertise, get in touch with girish.mishra@meilleurmedia.com

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October 2020 | `200

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

DCP LICENSING NO. F.2(S-29) PRESS/2016 | VOL. 5 | ISSUE 02 | TOTAL PAGES 56 | PUBLISHED ON 1ST OF EVERY MONTH

The 5 Growth Drivers That Will Decide Solar Growth Grid Innovations Floating Solar Building Integration Policy Technology

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BrainBox AI

autonomously optimises existing HVAC control systems for maximum impact on energy consumption.

PRODUCT BRIEF:

BrainBox AI’s artificial intelligence system uses data like weather forecasts to predict a building’s thermal conditions, then adjusts its AC or heating output accordingly. Inspired by advances in autonomous cars, the team pursued a related goal of autonomous buildings, and came up with their AI solution that is now working on reducing carbon footprints.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

The Autonomous AI Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) technology claims to be at the forefront of the Green Building Revolution. It utilises self-

APPLICATION:

Autonomous HVAC Controller for Buildings

PRODUCT BENEFITS:

adapting artificial intelligence technology to proactively optimise the energy consumption of one of the largest climate change contributors: Buildings. Using deep learning, cloud-based computing, and its proprietary process, the solution

The firms’AI engine supports a selfoperating building that requires no human intervention. The solutions payback is in it’s offering of over 25 percent savings on energy costs, a 20 to 40 percent decrease in carbon footprint and a 3 month payback with no CAPEX.

AVAILABILITY:

Find more details on availability at the firms’ website.

Yakima CBX Solar

Crazy Cap

PRODUCT BRIEF:

one to purify water from taps or public fountains, the other for streams and ponds—a potential godsend for hikers and campers accustomed to boiling their water or adding foul-¬tasting drops.

The Yakima CBX Solar rooftop cargo box removes the condition for a camping/ outdoor trip to be completely off the grid. It is a multipurpose cargo box for camping/outdoor trips that comes with retrofitted solar panels on top which power the two output ports.

APPLICATION:

PRODUCT FEATURES:

Topped with durable Sunflare solar panels, the USD 1,299 carrier is equipped with two USB ports and can power your campsite on an overnight trip or keep your devices charged—without having to use your car battery. The firm teamed up with Sunflare to create the solar panels, which deliver 36W/5-volt output for when you’re adventuring off the grid.

APPLICATION:

Cargo Box

PRODUCT BENEFITS: Beyond the applications of the solar panels, the product with its 16 cu. ft. of storage space has more than enough room to hold your skis, snowboards, hiking gear or that last duffel you can never quite manage to squeeze into the trunk. AVAILABILITY:

TThe product is available for purchase on the firm’s website, and retails for USD 1299.

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Water Purifier

PRODUCT BENEFITS:

PRODUCT BRIEF:

For those who want a more sustainable way to hydrate on the go, Rakesh Guduru sat CrazyCap has created a bottle cap that uses UVC light to sanitise water in just 60 seconds. The integrated Deep UV LED light purifies water and with it also sterilises the bottle that is being used.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

The device has two modes,

The cap is rechargeable and¬ ¬compatible with most reusable bottles. And the rechargeable battery lasts up to 7 days on a single charge. The product i.e. the cap is just 2 inches in height and will fit most standard bottles.

AVAILABILITY:

The product is available for purchase on the firm’s website, and retails for USD 59 and USD 69 with the firms bottle.

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Heliogen Helioheat Solar Water Solutions’ Solar Desalination System

which concentrate sunlight in the direction of a 40-m-tall tower. There, a hot spot gets up to 2,000°F, where the heat can be harnessed to melt steel or make cement or electricity.

APPLICATION:

PRODUCT BRIEF:

The Heliogen HelioHeat cleans up the process of creating tons of steel and concrete with massive amount of heat from burning dirty fossil fuels, by replacing it with sunlight. The system uses power of sun by directing it through a field of mirrors to heat up and melt steel, create cement, generate electricity and perhaps in the future create hydrogen.

FEATURES:

The solution uses a field of 100,000 motorised, computer-¬controlled mirrors

CLIP PRODUCT BRIEF:

The CLIP is a friction-drive motor that easily attaches to the front wheel of a normal bike, with its roller helping to rotate the wheel and thus speed up a normal bike around faster than a person can pedal. The product is perfect for those who want to experience e-bikes but don’t particularly want to ditch their bikes.

APPLICATION:

Friction-drive motor of normal bikes

Clean Energy Solution for Fossil Fuel Operations.

PRODUCT BENEFITS:

The firm is cost-effectively replacing fossil fuels to solve the world’s CO2 problem. The firm’s patented technology powers historically dirty processes with clean, renewable sunlight and is also capable of transforming sunlight into fuels like hydrogen and syngas.

AVAILABILITY:

Find more details on availability at the firms’ website.

PRODUCT BRIEF:

Building a clean-water infrastructure in remote places is not only costly—it’s dirty, with many filtration systems fueled by emission-spewing diesel generators. So Solar Water Solutions created the Adaptive Nozzle Valve System (ANVS), a technology that purifies water by leveraging only the sun’s renewable energy.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

FEATURES:

The desalination system runs only on solar power without any batteries or diesel, and purifies water in bulk using the patented ANVS® technology. The watermakers are designed to function autonomously in off-grid locations, and thus making them one of the most useful and critical products in regions with a severe lack of quality drinking water.

The product weighs less than 10 lb., and is still the capable of helping riders reach speeds of up to 15 m.p.h. It has a 450 W motor that is powered by a Li-ion 4Ah battery pack, with the entire system monitorable using firms’ application that connects over the bluetooth.

PRODUCT BENEFITS:

The CLIP comes of and goes on a bike very easily and can thus be removed and recharged after a long trip for the ride back. It also has a range of 10 to 15 miles, which is often long enough to get most commuters to and from the office, or weekend riders across town and back.

AVAILABILITY:

Find more details on availability at the firms’ website.

APPLICATION:

Water Desalination System.

PRODUCT BENEFITS:

They system is fully automatic with no need for adjustments, so there is no need to have professionals around. The product will work on its own, and from time to time need its filters and membranes to be replaced by any user. The product runs completely on solar, and it’s completely off-grid.

AVAILABILITY:

Find more details on availability at the firms’ website. Each of the products featured this month have been recognised by TIME Magazine as a part of the 100 Best Innovations of 2020, which they believe are changing the way we live. Check out the full list here /- https://time.com/collection/best-inventions-2020

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SAUR ENERGY INTERNATIONAL S AUR E N E R GY. C O M

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Director - Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW)

Renewable Energy Procurement Leader (Amazon India)

The CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF) by CEEW is a nonpartisan market observer and driver that monitors, develops, tests, and deploys financial solutions to advance the energy transition. It aims to help deepen markets, increase transparency, and attract capital in clean energy sectors in emerging economies. The firm is recruiting for the position of Director, CEEW Centre for Energy Finance.

Amazon, the largest e-commerce company in the world has set a target of being 100% renewable energy powered by 2025, by developing potent renewable energy strategies that can become industry standard and further execute power purchase agreements in complex energy markets. In line with which Amazon Data Services India Private Limited (ADSIPL) is looking for a resultoriented individual to join the ADSIPL Infrastructure Energy Team in India.

Location: New Delhi Job Description: The CEEW-CEF is looking for a Director to lead it, and further develop its work on financing the energy transition in emerging economies. This is a leadership role and the ideal candidate would create a strategic vision for the role that CEEW-CEF can play in accelerating the flow of private capital into clean energy markets in emerging economies, as well as the experience and expertise to run a multidisciplinary young team. The role combines strategy, research, team and programme management, communicating to stakeholders, as well as fund raising.

Eligibility Criteria: • Specific research skills should include experience in developing financing mechanisms and business models for new energy transition sectors, specifically renewable energy, sustainable mobility and energy storage. • Beyond research rigour, experience in project management, understanding of India’s clean energy market, strong analytical skills, and a network and engagement with the financial sector and government stakeholders is essential. • Master’s or PhD degree with specialisation in finance, management, engineering, economics, public policy, law or related field.

Apply: https://bit.ly/2JfNI7y

Location: Mumbai Job Description: In this role, the candidate will develop strategies for delivering cost-effective, renewable energy for the Amazon portfolio. The candidate will need to be able to identify key opportunities in India to deliver on ADSIPL’s renewable energy procurement strategy in support of our renewable energy goal. Further, they need to structure power purchase agreements (PPAs) that reduce cost, minimise risk and leverage opportunities that benefit ADSIPL and work with utility regulators to develop policies and guidelines that enable broader AWS strategies and objectives.

Eligibility Criteria: • Excellent analytical skills: comfort with financial modeling, developing valuation tools for energy assets, utility tariffs, and power contracts. • Experience working with developers, utilities , renewable energy auctions • Experience working with public utility commissions and other energy regulators in APAC countries • 8+ years in structuring PPA negotiations for renewable energy project for large projects ( at least 50 MW)

Apply: https://bit.ly/2Juvsae

Project Manager - Renewable Energy by Design (The Nature Conservancy) The Nature Conservancy, a global non-profit organization with a million members, is dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. The firm is shifting its strategy for greater impact in the world—seeking to address some of the most complex challenges facing people and nature—issues such as climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient and sustainable. The firm is recruiting for the position of Project Manager- Renewable Energy by Design (RED).

Location: New Delhi

Job Description:

Eligibility Criteria:

To advance its work, the firm is seeking a Project Manager-RED (Renewable Energy by Design) to lead its work on Renewable Energy in collaboration with the Conservancy’s subject matter experts on spatial planning and conservation. The Project Manager will be responsible for overall planning, coordination and implementation of this comprehensive program. The daily routine to ensure smooth functioning of the project involves project management, outreach, budget management, fundraising and strategy support. This position is funded for a tenure of three years and reports to the Program Lead – India Lands Program.

• Master’s degree and at least 7+ years of related work experience. • Working knowledge of current government policies and trends on renewable energy development in India will be highly desirable. • Familiarity with renewable energy regulatory and/or finance environments, as well key individuals working in this space, is a plus • Demonstrated experience working for, or with, multilateral and bilateral institutions and mobilizing funding support.

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Apply: https://bit.ly/3qeA2tT

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