SE July-Aug 2016

SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

Volume III, Issue IV

Pages 56

`200

ISSN 2348-5027

SPECIAL FOCUS: CONCENTRATED SOLAR TECHNOLOGY

POWERING OUR LIVES WITH SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY

OptiTrough 300 p30 Designing Large Parabolic Solar Baskets p40 India’s First Solar Thermal Hot Air Generating System by Megawatt Solutions p44

PRODUCT UPDATES SUNGROW, SMA, MECO, FUTURASUN, RENEWSYS, TROJAN BATTERY, EATON, POWERSTAR

visit www.supersmartenergy.com for latest updates

Complete Renewable Energy Intelligence

SmartEnergy Complete Renewable Energy Intelligence

Editor Santosh Khadtare santosh@supersmartenergy.com

Associate Editor Anisha Ganguli EDITORIAL ADVISER Pragya Sharma Editorial Co-ordinator Varsha Editorial Consultant Dr. Abhimanyu Detha Graphic Designer D. Vaidya Advertising & Marketing Head- Marketing & Business Development Sapna K sapna.smartenergy@gmail.com

Chief Executive Officer Rahul Raj Chandra Support Team Sunil Pawar Bharti Shetty Disclaimer All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy and information in this magazine, opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not neccessarily reflect the vies of the owner/ publisher and the editorial team. Genesis Info-Media shall not be liable for any consequences in the event such claims are found- not to be true

Editor's Note Dear Readers, I am pleased to introduce to you issue IV/ Volume III of Smart Energy Magazine. We have been bringing to you topics covering different aspects of the solar and wind industry in India, enriching your knowledge and giving you fresh perspectives on policies, technology developments, new applications, and national and international scenarios.

The current issue of Smart Energy Magazine focuses on Concentrated Solar Thermal Technology (CST). CST has immense potential in various industries like food, beverage, dairy, textile, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper industries where electricity and thermal energy is required for different processes. A significant amount of the thermal energy needs of these industries can be fulfilled by using CST. Though the technology has immense potential it is still far away from commercial maturity. Today the most popular application of CST is in community kitchens, especially at religious places and institutional canteens, for cooking food for hundreds and thousands of people. Widescale adoption of CST technology will help us in scaling down our dependence on use of fossil fuel and also address concerns over climate and the environment. What the sector needs is policy support from the government, standardization and Indigenisation of CST technology, awareness generation amongst the user industries, improvement in performance and reliability of CST technology and the most important is financial incentives through various schemes.

I am sure you will find this issue interesting, relevant, and informative as always. I also look forward to your valuable contribution in the magazine—in the form of comments, suggestions, and articles, which will help us improve the quality of the magazine even further.

Happy Reading, Santosh K Editor Santosh@supersmartenergy.com

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Printed, published and edited by Santosh Khadtare on behalf of Genesis Info-Media, published at 509, pushp plaza, above snehanjali shworoom, manvelpada road, Virar Dist Thane and printed at M B Graphics, B 28, 3rd Floor Shri Ram Industrial Estate,Wadala West, Mumbai.

4 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

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Content

SmartEnergy 34

48 POLICY UPDATE Draft National Policy on RE based Mini/ Micro grids Draft National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy

Cover Story Powering our Lives with Solar Thermal Energy: Bringing Ideas to Reality

44 SPOT LIGHT India’s First Solar Thermal Hot Air

30 TECHNOLOGY UPDATE OptiTrough 300 Indigenously Designed, Glass Reflector based Parabolic Trough Concentrator Authored By: Vivek Mahajan

28 FINANCE Guidelines for Seeking Financial Support for Installation of CST Based Systems from MNRE, UNDP, and UNIDO-GEF CHS Projects

40 IN FOCUS Designing Large Parabolic Solar Baskets

Generating System by Megawatt Solutions

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News Updates Company Profile Power Stats Tenders Events Watch Advertisers Index

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Authored by: V K Desai

6 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

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News Updates Amplus Energy acquires SunEdison’s roof-top solar assets US private equity (PE) firm I Squared Capital-owned rooftop solar power platform Amplus Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd has acquired American solar power developer SunEdison Inc.’s rooftop solar power assets in India.

“We have concluded the sale of SunEdison’s roof-top solar assets, which marks the first effective sale of SunEdison’s assets in India,” said Sanjeev Aggarwal, managing director and chief executive at Amplus.

Amplus has acquired around 7 megawatts (MW) of SunEdison’s roof-top assets, which gives the firm access to new marquee clients, said Aggarwal.

“The assets that we have

acquired are of their private sector clients, which includes marquee clients like Whirlpool, Intel, Standard Chartered and Delhi Metro,” he said. The portfolio of assets is spread across states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi, he further stated.

Amplus’s existing customers include companies such as Walmart, Yamaha and Hilton Hotels, amongst others. The company now has more than 30 customers and is operating over a hundred sites.

With the acquisition of SunEdison’s roof-top solar assets, Amplus now has a portfolio of around 30 MW, spread across

the country. According to Aggarwal, Amplus is looking at increasing its portfolio to around 150200 MW in the next 24 months.

“We are very clear that over a period of 24 months we want to create a portfolio of 150-200 MW. That is a sizeable portfolio,” he said.

While the company is open to more acquisitions, it is also focusing on Greenfield projects.

“We have an active pipeline of around 100 MW which we are in discussions with several clients.

Most of the MNCs today are looking at green energy as part of their CSR efforts,” he said ■

Ingeteam takes over Bonfiglioli's PV business Ingeteam has reached an agreement with the Italian based company Bonfiglioli Riduttori, to take over its solar PV business. This will allow Ingeteam to strengthen its international positioning in the solar sector, directed at increasing its product sales and operation and maintenance business.

Ingeteam has more than 16 years' experience in the PV sector, where it has supplied 5 GW of power at a global level, firmly establishing the company's position as a leading operation and maintenance services provider. Ingeteam manufactures a wide range of solutions for the Solar sector, offering residential, commercial and utility scale grid-connected PV inverters, as well as medium voltage power stations and battery inverters for off-grid and grid-connected operation.

Active in the solar industry since 2008, Bonfiglioli designs, manufactures and supplies grid-tie

8 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

central inverters for solar installations and provides ongoing support throughout the entire installation lifecycle. With an installed base of approximately 3 GW, Bonfiglioli boasts a significant project pipeline for the next few months. Based on this agreement, Ingeteam takes over Bonfiglioli's solar business, including the operation and maintenance activities.

Through this operation, Ingeteam has secured access to a sizable PV project pipeline and increased its operation and maintenance services business by adding Bonfiglioli’s 3 GW to its 6.5 GW of installed capacity under maintenance globally.

"This strategic integration will enable us to significantly strengthen our presence in the United States and India, which are two key markets in the PV sector for Ingeteam", affirmed David Solé, Managing Director of Ingeteam’s Energy Division.

“Ingeteam is strongly commit-

ted to increase its renewable presence worldwide and the management team continues to seek additional opportunities to accelerate growth”, said Javier Coloma, CEO at Ingeteam Power Technology.

“Exiting the solar business is part of the strategic plan to focus on our core business and we saw in Ingeteam the right partner to take it to the next level”, said Tiziano Pacetti, CEO Corporate at Bonfiglioli. “The solar business has been an incredible catalyst in the past decade and the decision of disposing was difficult but, in order to preserve the solar business success, a strong and large partner in the renewable power conversion sector was needed and we are certain Ingeteam is as such”, added Fausto Carboni, CEO Business at Bonfiglioli.

Greentech Capital Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor, and LGA – Lucchini, Gattamorta e Associati as legal advisor to Bonfiglioli ■

 www.supersmartenergy.com

News Updates International Solar Alliance Cell and World Bank Signs Declaration for Promoting Solar Energy On the occasion of the visit of the World Bank President to India, the Interim Administrative Cell of the International Solar Alliance (ISA Cell) and the World Bank declared their intention to promote solar energy globally.

The declaration was signed & exchanged by Shri Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Chairperson, ISA cell and Mr Onno Ruhl, India Country Director, World Bank in the presence of Shri Arun Jaitley Union Finance Minister, Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, and Dr Jim Yung Kim, President, World Bank.

Major areas identified for working jointly include: a) Developing a roadmap to mobilize financing. b) Developing financing instruments including credit enhancement, reduce hedging costs/ currency risk, bond raising in locally denominated currencies etc. which support solar energy development and deployment. c) Supporting ISA’s plans for solar energy through technical assistance and knowledge transfer; d) Working on mobilization of concessional financing through existing or, if needed, new trust funds.

With new VP Asia Markets, Ecoppia looks at India Expansion Ecoppia, global leader in robotic cleaning for large scale solar PV sites, has begun building its Indian and Asian operations, starting with hiring a new VP for the region, Nalin Sharma. The announcement follows a recently signed partnership agreement with Fortune 500 OEM Sanmina Corporation to produce up to a GW worth of robots at a new facility in southern India.

Sharma is a veteran of the Indian solar industry and brings many years of management experience to the role. He was an early employee and Head - Channel Partnership at SunEdison Asia, spearheaded channel strategy at Tata Power Solar and more recently was Vice President Solar at RattanIndia. He started his career with BPCL, a Global Fortune 500 energy company, where he was responsible for annual revenues of $76 million.

He holds a B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian

10 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Based in Delhi, Sharma joins Ecoppia at a pivotal moment for the company's growth. With demand soaring, Sharma will be tasked with scaling up business primarily in India, while growing existing accounts in the region with some of the India's largest energy players.

Commenting, Sharma said, "I'm very excited to be joining Ecoppia - its technology is set to transform the industry, and having the opportunity to spearhead development and growth in this strategic market is very exciting."

As part of a growing presence in India and Asia, Sharma is the first of multiple hires building out Ecoppia's capacity in logistics, operations and project management ■

e) Supporting RE-INVEST events.

In addition, both sides decided to work in other areas and themes as jointly decided. France was represented by H.E Mr Christan TESTOT, Minister Counsellor and Mr. François-Joseph Schichan, Second Counsellor (Political), French Embassy in India.

The Joint Declaration by the ISA cell and the World Bank will help in accelerating mobilization of finance for solar energy, and the Bank will have a major role in mobilizing more than US $1000 billion in investments that will be needed by 2030, to meet ISA’s goals for the massive deployment of affordable solar energy ■

Swelect Energy to build PV panel factory in N Carolina Swelect Energy Systems Ltd., will make photovoltaic (PV) panels in North Carolina. The solar equipment manufacturer plans to create 155 jobs in Halifax County over the next five years. It will invest over USD 4.7 million in a manufacturing facility and an adjacent solar farm, according to the announcement.

Swelect will be looking to hire local skilled employees for its operations in line with current average pay in Halifax County.

The project has been facilitated by a performance-based grant of up to USD 600,000 from the One North Carolina Fund. In order to receive the funds, the company should meet job creation and investment targets. The One NC Fund grants are contingent on financial matches by local governments ■  www.supersmartenergy.com

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News Updates Tata Power acquires Welspun's renewable energy assets Tata Power has acquired the renewable energy (RE) subsidiary of Delhi-based Welspun Energy. It is estimated to be a Rs 9,900-crore deal. Tata Power’s subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL), signed a share purchase agreement with Welspun Energy to acquire Welspun Renewables Energy Pvt Ltd (WREPL).

“This represents the largest transaction in renewables in India,” said Tata Power. It did not disclose the deal size and the seller made no comment. Welspun Energy is itself a subsidiary of the Mumbai-based Welspun

Group, a multinational corporation with interests in energy, steel and textiles.

almost 400 Mw of solar and wind power projects are under implementation, the company said.

The portfolio Tata has bought comprises 990 Mw of solar power projects and about 150 Mw of wind power projects. Of this, 1,000 Mw is operational and the rest in “advanced stages of execution”, said Tata Power.

“Most of the assets (acquired from Welspun) are revenue generating and operating ones,” it said.

After the new purhase, TPREL would have an RE portfolio of 2,300 Mw, making it the largest such in this segment, in India. It had till now 294 Mw of capacity; another 500 Mw of assets were being carved out of Tata Power through a court process. And,

ABB connects power to the Indian grid from one of the world’s largest solar plants ABB has successfully commissioned five substations to integrate a 648-megawatt (MW) solar project at Kamuthi in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to the national transmission grid. The project was awarded by independent power producer (IPP) Adani Group in 2015, and completed on schedule. The solar photovoltaic project – made up of five plants in a single location – is the largest of its kind in the world. 360 MW from the solar project is currently grid-connected and at full capacity this facility will account for nearly 10 percent of the country’s current solar capacity of around seven gigawatts (GW).

The project contributes to India’s vision of achieving 100 GW of solar power by 2022, with the overall aim of diversifying its energy mix to meet growing demand while minimizing environmental impact.

“We are proud to support the country’s clean energy vision

12 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

and push for solar power which demonstrates its commitment to sustainable growth,” said Claudio Facchin, President of ABB’s Power Grids division.

“This project exemplifies our end-to-end power and automation system integration capabilities and reinforces our commitment to the renewable energy sector, a key component of ABB’s Next Level strategy.”

ABB’s project scope included the design, supply, installation and commissioning related to the solar plant electrification and automation systems.

This includes two 230 kilovolt (kV) and three 110 kV outdoor switchyards to connect to the local transmission grid and will enable clean power supply for around 150,000 households based on average national per capita consumption ■

“(We) can further enhance the value of these, with (our) operational experience and financial optimisation. This is also a significant step towards (our) objective of having non-fossil fuel-based capacity up to 30-40 per cent of total generating capacity,” said Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Power ■

India to Launch ‘Solar Zones’ Policy Soon According to reports, MNRE is planning to launch a policy that would enable companies to set up solar power generation and equipment manufacturing facilities inside ‘solar zones.’ These zones are expected to be similar to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) already operational in the country. These zones come with several incentives for the investors including tax holidays and infrastructure support.

The policy seems to emphasise on the promotion of solar power equipment manufacturing. India aims to have an installed solar power capacity of 100 GW by March 2022. However, the country has only 5 GW of module manufacturing capacity and 2 GW of solar cell production capacity. Virtually no capacity exists for polysilicon production.

Domestic manufacturing have unable to make any significant dent in the India solar power market which has been, for long, dominated by foreign modules manufacturers ■  www.supersmartenergy.com

News Updates Su-Kam to install Solar Power Plant at the Head Office of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. Su-Kam Power Systems, India’s leading power back up solutions provider has recently bagged a project to install a 1 Megawatt (MW) Grid Tie Solar Power Plant at the Head Office of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. The state of the art 1 MW Grid tie solar Photovoltaic system on the rooftop of the Head Office of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd shall generate over 5000 units of electricity/day, thereby helping the head office, CMRL to save over Rs. 1,12,00,000 lakh rupees in electricity consumption annually! The entire system comprises 20 Nos. of 50 Kw Grid Tie String inverters fitted with 3200 Nos. of 315Wp solar panels.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. VenkatKanna, Assistant Manager, Solar Projects, Su-Kam, said “Solar rooftop PV systems are fast gaining huge acceptance amongst various corporate and govt. bodies. The rooftop solar PV system is being seen as a cost effective way to drastically

reduce one’s electricity consumption along with reducing carbon footprint. These systems which offer quick ROI and long term returns and benefits are the next possible step in green energy propagation that is being adopted by institutions across India.”

“We are happy that Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. has commissioned Su-Kam to install 1 Megawatt (MW) Grid Tie Solar Power Plant at their head office. We believe solar energy is going to play a major role in addressing the energy crisis that the country is currently faced with. Su-Kam has played a key role in helping organizations go solar and we have been working closely with TEDA, Engineering India Ltd. (EIL) Gurgaon, Punjab Engineering Collage Chandigarh, College of engineering Trivandrum, Municipal Corporation in Agartala and many other colleges, govt. bodies, hospitals etc. pan India to offer energy efficient solar solutions.” he added ■

Trina Solar considering setting up of manufacturing unit in Visakhapatnam Buoyed by the better-thanexpected growth in India, world's largest photovoltaic module and Solar Panel Company Trina Solar Limited is considering setting up a cell and module factory in Visakhapatnam. The company has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh government for this.

"Yes, we are looking at a manufacturing possibility (in India).

We are doing a feasibility study.

Actually, we have already identified the land in Visakhapatnam but we are still discussing the

14 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

solar market in India. We are looking at what will be the cost of the product and where do we sell it. We already have a MoU signed with the AP government (for this)," said Helena Li, president – Asia Pacific and Middle East – Trina Solar.

She said the global solar panel major would look at building 700 megawatt (mw) capacity for solar cells and 500 mw capacity for solar modules in the first phase. She estimated the cost for such a factory to be roughly around $200-300 million

Hartek Power bags 330-MW solar EPC orders in its kitty in Q1 IRiding on the solar wave, Hartek Power Pvt Ltd has announced that it has bagged substation orders for 330-MW solar projects across the country in the first quarter of the current financial year. With these orders in its kitty, Hartek Power is poised to connect 500-MW solar power projects to the grid in financial year 2016-17.

The 330-MW solar EPC orders bagged by the company include 10 substation projects of up to 132 KV spread across six states, including Punjab, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Specialising in executing high-voltage turnkey substations and power infrastructure projects, Hartek Power will provide complete turnkey solutions for these projects and execute post-inverter works covering the design, engineering, supply, installation, automation and commissioning of the power plant electrification.

“Given the upbeat market sentiment, the renewed focus of the government on solar power and our unmatched expertise in providing grid connectivity to solar projects, we are expected to cruise to this target quite smoothly. Our commitment to quality and timely execution of projects has won us the trust and admiration of key developers in the Indian solar space,” said Hartek Power Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Hartek Singh.

Starting the year on a positive note by bagging 330-MW solar EPC orders in the first quarter itself, Hartek Power is looking to build on this momentum to accelerate its growth ■

 www.supersmartenergy.com

News Updates REC trade surge 157% to 4.68 lakh in June The number of renewable energy certificates (RECs) traded on exchanges jumped 157 per cent to 4.68 lakh in June compared with 1.82 lakh in May in monthly auction.

"A total of 3.86 lakhs RECs were traded in the REC trading session held on 29th June, 2016 at IEX. The market saw 264 per cent increase in trade over 1.06 lakhs RECs traded in May 2016. In the same month last year, 1.51 lacs RECs were traded, about 39 per cent of RECs traded in June 16," IEX said in a statement.

It further stated that in the first quarter of fiscal 2016-17, IEX has traded 7.53 lakh RECs, an increase of over 54 per cent over 4.88 lakh RECs traded in the first quarter of fiscal 2015-16.

Another power exchange PXIL said: "The total cleared volume on the exchange was 82,430 RECs that led to PXIL having a market share of 17.5 per cent. In this month clearing ratio was 1.61 per cent due to low demand side participation from obligated entities to fulfill their RPO." "During this trading session, the prices in the solar and non-solar categories have remained at the floor level. Prior to the auction more than 1.70 crore RECs were available in the market for trade" ■

Tata Power Renewable wins 30 MW solar project in Maha. under NSM Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power company, announced that the Company’s 100% subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd. (TPREL) has won Solar grid connected photovoltaic project of 30 MW in Maharashtra. The projects have been awarded in the DCR category under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) Phase-Il Batch-IlI Tranche-l under ‘State Specific Bundling Scheme’.

TPREL has received the Letter Of Intent to develop the projects and will sign a 25 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. Commenting on winning the project, Mr. Rahul Shah, CEO & ED-Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd, said, “This is the third LOI received by TPREL in recent months and brings our solar bid wins to 145 MW. Receiving this Letter of Intent for 30 MW of non-fossil fuel energy will further add to our total generation capacity, thereby, significantly increasing our green footprint. This move is line with the Government’s set target of 100 GW from solar energy by 2017. As a company, we will continue to grow our capacity through organic and inorganic means over the next few years to contribute to Tata Power's aggressive target of 20,000 MW of total capacity by 2025.. ” The JNNSM, launched in January 2010, is a major initiative of the Government of India that aims to establish India as a global leader in solar energy by creating favourable policy conditions for its diffusion across the country. JNNSM had initiatilly set a target to 20 GW of solar installations by 2022, that was reset to achieve five times more at 100 GW by 2022■

SBI signs agreements with World Bank for US$ 625mn facility The State Bank of India (SBI) and The World Bank (WB) has signed agreements for a facility of US $625 Million for supporting Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Program.

This facility will help SBI in financing Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic (GRPV) projects at very competitive rates. This in turn will catalyse the market and support Government of India to faster achieve its target to generate 40 GW of electricity from widespread installation of rooftop solar photo-voltaic installation.

16 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

The eligible beneficiaries under the facility would be developers, aggregators and end-users, who wish to set up solar PV projects mainly on commercial, industrial and institutional rooftops.

Through this initiative at least 400 MW solar capacity will be created across the country. The variety of financing mechanisms on offer under this program will represent a major innovation for the rooftop market. These solar PV installations will provide clean, renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing thermal generation.

Onno Ruhl said that “With around 300 days of sunshine every year, India has among the best conditions in the world to harness solar energy. The rapid expansion of solar power can improve the quality of life for millions of Indians, especially for its poorest citizens. It can also create thousands of jobs in the solar industry and underpin progress in all areas of development, helping the country fulfil its dream of becoming the ‘India of the future” ■

 www.supersmartenergy.com

BIS must for solar water heaters The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is working on a ‘quality order’ to make it compulsory for all solar water heaters installed in buildings to be certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). This follows a BIS announcement on the quality standards for evacuated tube collectorbased solar water heaters, which have rapidly become the design of choice for such water heaters. Though there is no exact time frame that he MNRE is looking at as there are many formalities and technicalities that have to be negotiated. With work in progress it is likely to happen very soon than later.

The Indian government used to subsidise solar water heaters, but stopped the practice in September 2014, leading to an increase in imports from China, which offered products up to 50 per cent cheaper than

Indian alternatives.

“Prior to the removal of the subsidy, Indian manufacturers used to import only the tube used in the ETC-solar heaters,” Jaideep Malaviya, Secretary General of the Solar Thermal Federation of India, said. “Now they are importing the full product. The imports became so cheap that the local manufacturers could not survive.”

“In some cases the price differential is almost half,” Mr. Malaviya further added.

“Where it costs about Rs.15,000 for a 100 litre solar water heater, the Chinese products are selling at Rs.8,500.” While this may seem to double the cost of such water heaters for Indian customers, domestic manufacturers say that the poorer quality of the Chinese products results in a higher replacement and repair cost, which makes up the difference in the upfront price of the product ■

CleanMax Solar in collaboration with SECI powers BIAL CleanMax Solar has partnered with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) to develop solar rooftop and generate clean electricity for its operation. CleanMax Solar has installed 500 kWp rooftop solar plants on 2 acres of unused rooftop area across 6 buildings of the international airport. The project was carried in collaboration with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The plant is now fully operational and is designed to generate approximately 7,50,000 kWh power annually and will reduce the airport’s carbon footprint by 700 tons annually.

“Sustainability drives our airport operations. Adopting renewable energy is part of this green strategy and we are pleased to partner with CleanMax in enabling this vision,” said Hari Marar, president Airport Operations, BIAL. “These rooftop solar plants have added to BIAL’s energy mix and we hope to achieve 40% of our energy needs through this project by March 2017,” Marar added. “We are committed to exploring more opportunities to make KIAB a greener facility.” ■

Solar capacity in India shoots past 7.5 GW The cumulative solar installations in the country topped 7.5 GW (giga watt) in May, with about 2.2 GW installed so far this year - more than all of the solar installations achieved in 2015.

According to global clean energy market tracker Mercom, there are more than 22 GW of solar projects in the pipeline. Of this, projects for 13 GW are under various stages of construction, while request for proposal has been invited for another 9 GW. At the end of 2015-16, solar accounted for 2.5% of the net installed capacity in the country, up from 1.4% a year ago, and was the fastest-growing new energy source. Solar accounted for 17.4% of all renewable energy

generation in 2015-16 against 10.5% in 2014-15.

"The Indian solar market is growing in size but infrastructure and systems have not kept pace with auction announcements. For the sector to move from 2 GW to a 10 GW-a-year market, work still needs to be done," a Mercom's report quoted its co-founder and CEO Raj Prabhu as saying.

Low bidding levels through reverse auctions have been a major concern at a time when the Indian banking sector is going through its own challenges, which could make borrowing much more difficult in the short term. But according to Prabhu, there is no set rule which

says tariffs below Rs 5 cannot be financed. Some banks are seriously looking at projects in the Rs 4.5-5 tariff range, but financing depends on sound project economics, borrower credibility, a strong balance sheet and the developer's ability to service debt.

According to the Mercom report, creating a 'reserve backstop fund' against non-payments or delayed payments by discoms using NCEF funds could take care of late tariff payment problems, rooftop subsidy delays and have an immediate positive impact by eliminating offtaker risk, reducing interest rates and increasing lending ■

17

July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

News Updates Equis commissions a 108MW wind project in India Equis Pte. Ltd. (Equis), Asia’s largest independent renewable energy developer and investor, has announced the commissioning of a 108-megawatt (MW) wind project in Fatanpur village, Dewas District, Madhya Pradesh, India.

According to a release from Equis, the FTP Project was developed by Energon RJ Wind Power Pvt. Ltd. and is the 26th project Equis renewable energy has commissioned since October 2013, with another 56 projects under development and construction. Energon is one of Asia’s largest independent power producers focused on wind power generation and is an Equis investee company.

Equis has financed 737MW of Indian renewable energy with an additional 300MW pipeline under development.

The FTP Project brings Equis’ operating renewable energy portfolio in India to eight (8) projects totalling 464MW comprising 368MW of wind projects and a 96MW run-of-river hydro project ■

Gamesa, Siemens to Combine Wind Turbine Business German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG and Spain's Gamesa Corporació n Tecnoló gica SA have agreed to merge their wind power operations in a binding deal that would create one of the world's largest wind- turbine makers.

The company release said, Siemens would take a majority stake of 59% in the planned combined entity, while Gamesa's existing shareholders would hold a 41% stake. As part of the deal, Siemens would also provide Gamesa shareholders with a cash payment of €3.75 a share, to be distributed directly following the completion of the merger.

"This is the best possible combination that creates value for customers, shareholders and, of course, employees," Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser said of the deal structure in a statement released.

The companies said they expect synergies on annual EBIT— earnings before interest and taxes—of €230 million in the fourth year after the closing of the deal.

Siemens and Gamesa had agreed in principle to combine their wind businesses but the tie-up was delayed because the Spanish company needed to renegotiate part of an offshore wind joint venture, known as Adwen, with French nuclear-engineering company Areva SA.■

HAL inaugurates wind energy power plant at Harapanahalli In a significant move to harness wind power and promote renewable energy source, T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL, inaugurated a 6.3-MW wind energy power plant at Harapanahalli near Davangere. The power generated from this plant would be used for captive energy consumption in Bengaluru.

"We are glad that with this green initiative, HAL will reduce its carbon footprint by around 10,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum.

This project would cater to about 15 per cent energy consumption at Bengalurubased divisions," said Raju.

The plant comprising three wind turbines installed in collaboration with Suzlon Energy Ltd has the potential to generate 150 lakh units per annum with an estimated annual savings of approximately `9 crore to the company, he added.

This is the first-ever megawatt scale renewable energy project that HAL has set up at a cost of about Rs. 44 crore ■

18 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

TN urges PM to speed up work on power corridor Asserting that Tamilnadu has already met its Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) and was in a position to sell 1000 MW of wind power to other States, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speed up the process of establishing the inter-State Green Energy Corridor (GEC).

In a letter to Modi, a copy of which was released to the media, she said, "Many States in India who are unable to meet the RPO, are now approaching Tamilnadu for assistance. To facilitate the sale of surplus wind power to the States in need of renewable energy, it is important that a dedicated inter-State Green Energy Corridor is established."

"Our goal is to add a further 4500 MW of wind power and 5000 MW of solar power over the next five years", she added ■  www.supersmartenergy.com

Awards

NATIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR ROOFTOP SOLAR POWER PROJECTS GOES TO…

G

overnment of India has set an ambitious target of 40 GW of Roof Top Solar power as part of Clean Climate commitments. To achieve this target, the Central and state government have undertaken several initiatives and promotional measures.

A National Workshop on Rooftop Solar Power was conducted on 7th June 2016 with an aim to act as a helpdesk and felicitate people in installing rooftop solar projects. The workshop was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, Shri Piyush Goyal and saw 1,400 participants in attendance. The National Excellence Awards 2016, instituted by MNRE for the first time, were presented on 7th June’16 at the National Workshop on Rooftop Solar Power.

Delta Electronics bagged the National Excellence Award for Rooftop Solar Power Projects in the Solar Inverters category.

Vikram Solar won the National Excellence Award 2016 for Roof Top Solar Power Projects in the Domestic Solar Module Manufacturers Category.

Chemtrols Solar Private Limited bagged the Award for the maximum amount of Rooftop Solar installations in India.

SMA Solar Technology AG bagged the National Excellence Award 2016 for Roof Top Solar Power Projects in the PV inverters Category.

Waaree Energies bagged the National Excellence Award 2016 for Roof Top Solar Power Projects in the domestic solar module manufacturing category.

CleanMax Solar bagged the National Excellence Award 2016 for Roof Top Solar Power Projects in both the “developer” and “EPC” categories.

 Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited bagged the National Excellence Award 2016 for promotion of Rooftop Solar Programs.

Haryana State received the National Award under the category “State Nodal Agency- General Category States” 

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July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

Inshorts NATIONAL

Solar energy pilot to power PHCs launched

Government contemplates separate auctions for solar projects using local modules

In a bid to strengthen the primary health infrastructure in the country, the Indian Council of Medical Research has piloted a programme to power Primary Health Centres through solar energy.

Partnering with the think tank Council for Energy, Environment and Water, the country's apex medical research body has signed an MoU to study if solar can be an effective solution for almost 33 million Indians who have to make do with primary health infrastructure with no electricity at all.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy contemplates holding separate auctions for solar projects using domestically manufactured modules to help local producers of panels that can tap the sun's energy. For some auctions, the ministry is also dropping a requirement for panel makers to source locally made solar cells.

Although auctions of projects with only domestic equipment have been held earlier, they always required solar module producers to source locally made solar cells.

In some future auctions, this norm will not apply.

OPG Power Invests GBP45.0 Million In Four Indian Solar Projects OPG Power Ventures PLC announced it has invested GBP45.0 million in four new solar projects in Karnataka, in the south west of India, as part of its ongoing growth strategy.

The developer and operator of power generation facilities said together the facilities generate 62 megawatts in solar power, and noted that the projects were secured in a competitive bidding process.

Maharashtra to go solar for agricultural power supply feeder The state government would try to bring the entire power supply feeder for agriculture on solar panels and would try to install energy efficient pumps for agriculture throughout the state. The initiative would bring down money required for cross subsidy for agriculture, resulting in to bringing down power tariff in the state.

20 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

Karnataka to buy 1,000 MW from SECI Karnataka's five state-run utility providers signed a 25-year agreement to buy 1,000 Mega Watt (MW) from Solar Energy Corporation of India under the viability gap fund (VGF).

The central government's Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) will invest Rs 5,000 crore to generate solar power at 60 taluks (subdistricts) across the state.

Gurgaon doubles its solar power target Gurgaon has crossed its installed solar energy capacity target for summer, which was set at 5MW. Officials of the Haryana Renewable Energy Department (HAREDA) said the district's installed solar power capacity has crossed 12 MW (as of last week) and they are all set to achieve the 20 MW milestones by August.

Hyderabad Startup Cygni Energy is First To Benefit From ‘Start-Up India’ Initiative Cygni Energy, a Hyderabad-based renewable energy has emerged as the first start-ups that will avail the benefits offered by the Modi’s government Start-up India Action

Plan.

Founded in the year 2015, the startup is currently in the midst of filling a patent under the fasttrack mode for its inverter-less solar energy technology invention.

Renewable energy to soon get a separate trading platform With the increasing share of renewable energy (RE) in the grid and the likelihood of it disturbing the existing power systems, the government is preparing a separate power trading platform. It is to be jointly developed by the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) and Power Trading Corporation of India (PTC), the latter a joint venture of several entities with the government.

The envisaged platform would help states buy, sell and trade renewable-based power. States with surplus RE generation could sell and those ones which want to meet their renewable purchase obligation (RPO) would get a platform to do so

Barefoot College to have centres in 6 African countries Barefoot College in Tilonia is all set to spread its centres across six African countries-Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Liberia and Burkina Faso by the end of this year. Initiated by social activist, Bunkar Roy, the college runs special programmes to empower women by training them to harness solar energy. These overseas centres will run same courses for semi-literate and illiterate women to empower them for electrifying their houses and to expand their livelihood.

The programme includes six months' training programme for women who do not have any knowledge of solar energy. At present, the centre has women from 10 countries learning the basics to repair the solar panels ■  www.supersmartenergy.com

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Product Updates

Sungrow New Product: SG3000HV-MV

O

ne of the most important areas that Sungrow is pressing forward in is 1500-volt technology. Sungrow is the world’s largest PV inverter manufacturer, with shipments reaching 8.9 GW in 2015, and this volume also included 1500-volt products such as the SG3000HV-MV. The world’s largest PV inverter for commercial applications, Sungrow’s SG3000HV-MV Turnkey

Container Solution, is characterised by a low system cost and high system efficiency.

It is designed to be grid-friendly with full grid support, including LVRT, OVRT, FRT and power curtailment. Its active power is adjustable between 0 and 110% and its reactive power control with power factor can be adjusted from 0.8 leading to 0.8 lagging.

Moreover, it has night-time reactive power compensation capability and intelligent control functions that are compatible with multiple regional utility standards.

The

SG3000HV-

MV Turnkey Container Solution consists of two SG1500HV units.

The SG1500HV is designed with efficient MPPT control for higher yields and a maximum efficiency of up to 99%. Its efficient control algorithm ensures low energy consumption on switch devices, and its temperature controlled air-cooling helps to save energy.

The SG3000HV-MV Turnkey Container Solution is able to operate continuously at rated power from 30 °C to +55 °C. It is also capable of functioning stably in high altitude environments. Sungrow intends to continue strengthening its lead in 1500-volt technology in the future to offer better products, solutions and services to its customers ■

SMA Launches the World’s First Medium Voltage Station for String Inverters

S

MA Solar Technology AG (SMA) has launched the world’s first medium-voltage station in a 10-foot container for Sunny Tripower inverters, the MVS-STP, thereby expanding its portfolio serving decentralized photovoltaic power plants. The turnkey MVSSTP solution, specifically designed for string inverters, considerably simplifies setup of photovoltaic power plants with a decentralized system layout. In addition to quicker transport, the MV station makes cost savings possible thanks to shortened installation and commissioning times.

“In the past, decentralized photovoltaic power plant builders could only create the link needed to connect to medium-voltage grids directly on-site with components that had been delivered individually,” said Boris Wolff, Executive

22 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

Vice President of the Utility business unit at SMA. Adapting the components to each other, organizing overseas and domestic transport and assembly used to mean considerable effort and extremely long transport and installation times for PV power plant builders. “In the MVSSTP, every component needed for connection to the mediumvoltage grid comes completely installed,” continued Wolff. “This single-source principle makes the connection easier without major effort on-site. Thanks to low maintenance effort, PV power plants in

remote, difficult-to-reach regions can benefit from the new MVSSTP. The 10-foot container can be transported by land and sea safely, cost-effectively and easily.”

The SMA MVS-STP is an integrated solution and consists of a transformer, a low-voltage distribution board for connection of up  www.supersmartenergy.com

to 30 Sunny Tripower inverters, a medium-voltage switchgear, and it works with 600 kVA to 1800 kVA of power. Every component comes pre-assembled in a 10-foot container with an optimized cooling

system. This maintains the advantage offered by the decentralized installation of the string inverters, which are still installed directly onsite. The MVS-STP is suitable for global use, particularly for decen-

tralized ground-based PV systems and large-scale commercial roof systems, and is available immediately ■

Contact ‘Smart Buddy’ @ 1800-212-1615 (Toll Free) for all your Solar Requirements

MECO Clamp-On Earth / Ground Resistance & Leakage Current Tester Model: 4680BL & 4680BLC

E

very Electrical Equipment’s, appliance, system must be Earthed or grounded to obtain a low resistance path for dissipation of current into the earth. Earthing plays an important role for safe and proper operation of any Electrical installation.

Ground fault current directly has an impact on human safety. Major accidents happen due to improper Earthing. Leakage current passes through human body and fatality occurs.

MECO Introduce Model 4680BL & 4680BLC at very Low Price having Jaw opening of 65mm x 32mm, which is suitable to take measurement from Earth-

ing Strip or Conductor of Φ 65mm x 32mm approx. This testers are capable of measuring Ground Resistance from 0.010 Ohms to 1000 Ohms (4680BL) and Leakage Currents in TRMS mode from 0.80mA to 30A AC (4680BLC). Data hold, Data Storing Memory, Configurable Alarm, Auto power off & Continuity Loop Test are Key features of 4680BL / 4680BLC. Standard Resistance Calibration Plate provided to verify the calibration check of tester. Substantial time saving and easy operating justify the investment in these instruments.

This is non-contact type innovative solution for measuring Ground Resistance and Leakage Current of any Electrical Installation. This method of measurement completely eliminates the use of ground and auxiliary rods avoiding shutdown. This is an extremely handy instrument especially at place where it is next to impossible to measure Earth /Ground Resistance by conventional methods.

For detail visit : www.mecoinst. com ■ For More Product Information Contact: Prashant Thakkar (Manager Solar Products) Tel. No: 022 – 27673300, M: 9867266639 Email Id: prashant.thakkar@ mecoinst.com

Product Launch @intersolar Europe 2016 #munich

FuturaSun new high efficiency PV modules

A

t Intersolar Europe FuturaSun presents the new high efficiency module FU 300 M and new monocrystalline and polycrystalline modules with a new thinner frame and 4 busbar and the new Energy Station Plus: a compact

lighting and phone charging solution for Off-Grid situations.

It is a special debut for the new FuturaSun FU 300 M module, presented for the first time to the international community.

It's a high efficiency 4 bus-bar

monocrystalline PV module characterized by an efficiency of 18.2%.

The module's dimensions are similar to the classic 60 cells (1650 x 990 mm) poly module widely used in the market. However, thanks to the higher efficiency and higher

23

July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

Product Updates peak output, it is possible to save BOS and installation costs. The product is also ideal for rooftop installation where a greater total peak power can be achieved from a given roof surface.

Thanks to its new 35 mm frame, the module is lighter and thinner than other similar products, but

still offers a high mechanical performance. Thinner modules mean less transport cost: a pallet can contain more modules and the transport costs decrease.

FuturaSun presents also the polycrystalline 4 bus-bar PV module FU 260 P, and FU 290 All Black, a new full black high efficiency monocrystalline module, all with the new thinner 35mm frame.

Moreover the Company presents at Intersolar also the stand-alone PV systems and solar lighting kits,

ideal solutions for places not connected to the electrical grid. Energy Station Plus can light up huts and boats with its 3 LED bulbs and charge mobile phones and other electronical devices with USB port.

The new PLUS version has a new rechargeable battery lithium-ironpotassium with increased thermal resistance and longer life span.

For more information please visit: www.futurasun.com ■

Product Display @intersolar Europe 2016 #munich

Innovative EVA Encapsulants and Backsheets from RenewSys

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enewSys India Pvt Ltd, a quality manufacturer of EVA Encapsulant and Backsheet for PV modules, showcases its latest innovative products at Intersolar, Munich. Based at Bengaluru in India, RenewSys has acquired a major market share of EVA Encapsulant and Backsheets in India and is also expanding its European markets due to its consistently high quality and innovative product development capabilities.

Leveraging decades of polymer expertise and hi-tech R&D capability, the company has developed various innovative EVA Encapsulants and Backsheets during the last three year.

In addition to regular encapsulants, the company has developed Ultra-Fast Cure and PID Resistant encapsulants with varying UV cutoffs needed in the market. Its PID resistant EVA encapsulant is considered much better than other similar products available in the market, as it exhibits less than 1% power loss when tested as per IEC standard. The latest innovation is Ultra-Thin Encapsulant for MWT modules, developed specially for saving silver paste and thus reducing the BOM cost.

The backsheet range includes Fluoro, non-Fluoro, Aluminium and Copper foil based backsheets in white and black colours.

The company has also developed a wide range of backsheets suiting various PV module technologies like C-Si, Thin Film & MWT.

T: +91 80 33494545 M: +919620717144, E: renewsys@renewsysworld.com

In line with the demand, the company has doubled its EVA Encapsulant capacity in April 15.

RenewSys has ambitious growth plans and a long term vision of the Renewable energy sector. The Cell-making is one of the investments in the advanced stage ■ For More Information Contact:

Product Launch @intersolar Europe 2016 #munich

Trojan Adds J200-RE12V with Smart Carbon to Premium Battery Line

T

rojan Battery Co., LLC, the world’s leading manufacturer of deep-cycle batteries, introduced the J200-RE, the newest addition to its Premium line of advanced lead acid, flooded batteries for renewable energy (RE) applications at Intersolar Europe

24 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

held in Munich, from June 22 –24.

The J200-RE is part of Trojan’s Premium line featuring Smart Carbon™, Trojan’s proprietary carbon additive that helps to reduce the effects of Partial State of Charge (PSOC) in renewable energy applications. Deep-cycle

batteries used in off-grid and unstable grid applications are heavily cycled at PSOC. Operating at PSOC on regular basis can quickly diminish the overall life of a battery, which results in frequent and costly battery replacement.

“The J200-RE is the preferred  www.supersmartenergy.com

12V, 200Ah size battery for use in a number of RE markets,” said Michael Grundke, Trojan general manager for EMEA.

PSOC, Smart Carbon provides improved charge acceptance and faster recharge in PSOC applications.

With batteries being one of the most expensive components of a battery-based RE system, it is critical to maximize the life of the battery bank in order to reduce the total cost of ownership. To address the issue of PSOC, Trojan’s engineering team developed the proprietary Smart Carbon advanced lead acid formula to enhance life and performance of Trojan batteries operating in RE, inverter backup and telecom applications where batteries are under charged on a regular basis. Along with increased life in

Trojan’s J200-RE battery also incorporates a wide range of advanced engineering features of the Premium line, including: ›› Alpha Plus® Paste with T2 Technology™ which optimizes porosity development in the active material enabling the active material to be used more effectively.

This results in sustained battery performance over a longer period of time. ›› D u r a Grid™ Design provides a thick grid structure that resists corrosion, and when combined with the Alpha

Plus Paste with T2 technology, increases overall battery life. ›› Maxguard® XL Separator is exclusively available in Trojan’s Premium and Industrial lines. It features a wide-channel design, which increases acid flow for optimum battery performance, and provides even greater resistance to stratification, a typical mode of failure in batteries used in RE systems. ›› Moss Shield protects the plates from damage. The moss shield increases the battery life by protecting the top of the plates from shorting to the cell strap. ›› Polyon™ container is Trojan’s ultra-rugged case design which protects against damage caused by harsh environmental conditions, such as moisture and dirt buildup, as well as safeguards against potential acid leaks ■

Contact ‘Smart Buddy’ @ 1800-212-1615 (Toll Free) for all your Solar Requirements Product Launch @intersolar Europe 2016 #munich

PROSTAR MPPT™ Solar Charge Controller With Maximum Power Point Tracking

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he Prostar MPPT™ solar charge controller with TrakStar Technology™ is an advanced maximum power point tracking (MPPT) battery charger for off-grid photovoltaic (PV) systems up to 1100 watts.

Maximizes Energy Harvest: using TrakStar MPPT Technology to determine and adjust to the true maximum power point as solar insolation changes throughout the day.

This controller allows multiple modules in series for 12V and 24V battery systems. Detailed battery programming options allow for advanced battery support for the latest Lithium, Nickel Cadmium, and Lead Acid battery types.

High Efficiency: at low, medium, and high power levels.

Key Features And Benefits High Reliability: conformally coated circuit board and corrosion resistant terminals.

systems.

MODBUS Communications: Solar Industry Standard MODBUS communications protocol allows for easy programming, control, remote data access and charge

Data Logging: up to 256 days of detailed power and load data.

Low Noise Design: meets US Federal Communications Commission Class B specifications.

Automatic PV Based Lighting Control: field adjustable, multi-event load control enables powerful options for PV lighting

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July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

Product Updates synchronization.

High Strength: polycarbonate case and extruded aluminum heatsink.

Self-Diagnostics: continuous monitoring and reporting of any errors through its status LED’s, optional display or communication port.

Meter: allows adjustments to charging, lighting, and load control settings without a computer ■

@intersolar North America 2016 #San Francisco

Eaton Power Xpert Solar and energy storage inverters for grid-tied utility-scale projects Power management company Eaton offers a new higher-power models of its Power Xpert Solar and energy storage inverters for grid-tied utility-scale projects.

Eaton Power Xpert 2,000-kilowatt (kW) and 2,200 kW solar inverters and 2,500 kW energy storage inverters provide some of the highest power ratings for gridtied, utility-scale projects.

“Eaton scaled up the size of our inverter platform to provide customers with an even more costeffective solution for large-scale projects,” said Chris Thompson, grid power business unit manager, Eaton. “Over the last few years, Eaton has deployed numerous energy storage and solar solutions around the world and our Power Xpert inverter technology offers customers industry-leading performance and reliability.”

The Eaton solar inverter technology yields best-in-class levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and has an industry leading 98.5 percent efficiency by the California Energy Commission (CEC). The solar inverters are designed and tested to meet the Underwriters Laboratories® (UL) 1741 standard, are outdoor-rated and feature a wide Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) voltage range. A proprietary Eaton control strategy and filter design optimizes the inverter efficiency, while providing ultra-

low output distortion.

Eaton Power Xpert energy storage inverters are designed to increase electrical resiliency in large-scale applications and work with a widerange of battery chemistries to store and transmit power. The inverter design also helps provide precise power ramp rate control and frequency regulation to enhance the reliability of electrical power transmission and distribution.

All Power Xpert inverters include integrated fiber networking equipment, grid protection relay, AC and DC switchgear as well as direct throat coupling to the transformer. Low pressure liquid

cooling supports long component life with minimal parts count. The Power Xpert inverters are a central part of Eaton’s equipment portfolio for solar and storage applications. When combined in package solutions with Eaton’s mediumvoltage transformers and interconnection switchgear, customers can rapidly deploy compact solutions designed to meet a variety of grid service requirements.

Eaton is leveraging more than 100 years of experience and expertise in utility and industrial environments to bring to market the Power Xpert Solar and energy storage utility-scale inverters ■

Contact ‘Smart Buddy’ @ 1800-212-1615 (Toll Free) for all your Solar Requirements

26 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

 www.supersmartenergy.com

Finance

Guidelines for Seeking Financial Support for Installation of CST Based Systems from MNRE, UNDP, and UNIDO-GEF CHS Projects MNRE Subsidy 30% of benchmark cost is available as subsidy from the MNRE for systems based on various types of CSTs. In special category states/ districts, e.g., Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal, Uttrakhand, N-E region, island and districts with international border, 60% subsidy is available to non-profit making bodies.

In addition, accelerated depreciation (80 per cent in 1st year) is available to profit-making bodies.

The present benchmark costs (under revision) are as follows: Single axis automatically tracked CSTs: Rs. 18,000 per sq. m Dual axis automatically tracked CSTs: Rs. 20,000 per sq. m

Non-Imaging CSTs: Rs. 12,000 per sq. m

Generation of Proposals Proposals generated in prescribed format needs to be submitted by the beneficiaries to Director (CSTs), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, B-14, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi110003 either through respective State Nodal Agency or through Channel Partners of MNRE at the following address.

List of State Nodal Agencies and Channel Partners are available on the websites www.mnre.gov.in/ www.cshindia.in.

Whereas proposals submitted through State Nodal Agencies may

require to go through tendering process by them, the proposals generated through Channel Partners will be left to beneficiaries to go or not go through that process.

Sanctioning of Subsidy Proposals received in MNRE (complete in all respect) will be put up for approval to the Project Approval Committee, where after sanctions; it will be issued with the concurrence of Internal Finance Division of MNRE.

Release of Subsidy The subsidy will be released on reimbursement basis after successful commissioning of the system based on 3rd party

Table IA: Details of support available under UNDP—GEF project for different types and sizes of CST-based systems Category

Type & applications of CSTs

Support under CSHP

Demonstration

All types & applications with sizes 500 sq.m &above

20% of MNRE benchmark cost to a maximum of Rs.75 lakh

Replication

All types & applications with sizes below 500 sq.m (excluding Scheffler dishes for direct cooking)

20% of MNRE benchmark cost but not less than Rs. 2 lakhs for projects of sizes 45 sq.m & above on dish and 64 sq.m & above on other CSTs. For projects below that Rs.1.5 lakh will be available.

Space cooling where new VAM is installed * (max. 5 projects)

All types of CSTs with minimum 30 ton capacity of VAM

10% of MNRE benchmark cost in addition to above

Projects in ESCO mode

All types & applications of CSTs

10% more on MNRE benchmark cost to a maximum of Rs. 15 lakhs in addition to above only for systems availing 30% MNRE subsidy and not higher in special areas.

28 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

 www.supersmartenergy.com

inspection done as per prescribed format. The required documents, complete in all respect, should be received in MNRE (Formats available on websites).

UNDP and UNIDO—GEF Support In addition to MNRE subsidy, 20% of benchmark cost from UNDP— GEF project is available. More support is there for space cooling projects with new VAM and projects in ESCO mode. Details of support available under UNDP—GEF project for different types and sizes of CST-based systems is as Illustrated in Table IA .

Soft loans at special interest rates are also available through IREDA under UNIDO-GEF project scheme. Projects availing such loans will not be eligible for additional support from UNDP-GEF project.

Sanctioning of UNDP-GEF Support A copy of proposal prepared in prescribed format (available on www.cshindia.in) and submitted to MNRE for subsidy simultaneously to Project Management Unit (PMU), also of UNDP-GEF CSH project at the following address: National Project Manager, UNDPGEF Concentrated Solar Heat Project, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, B-3, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003 The proposals received will be examined by the PMU and if found complete in all respect will be placed before the Project Executive Committee on bimonthly basis for approval. Following points will be ensured before putting the proposals to the Committee: 1. Details of beneficiary with complete address, contact person's name, designation, mobile, and e-mail address will have to be provided with the application and signed by the head of organization.

2. Manufacturer's letter for providing 5 years guaranty on mirrors to beneficiary is submitted. The mirrors will be of solar grade quality.

3. A minimum of 3 year old systems of selected manufacturer, sanctioned by MNRE/ PMU-CSHP, are functioning satisfactorily with no complaint from beneficiaries.

List of such systems with beneficiary's contact details (mobile and e-mail) will be provided by the manufacturer along with the proposal so as to have verification by the PMU. Approved proposals will then be processed for the approval of competent authority based on which sanctions for providing additional support from UNDPGEF project will be issued to the beneficiaries.

Release Support

of

UNDP-GEF

Sanctioned support will be available on reimbursement basis after third party inspection on completion and commissioning of the system subject to submission of the following. The support may not be released/reduced as per the recommendation of PEC in case of not meeting any of the requirements.

1. Third party inspection report along with 15 days performance data in prescribed format. The inspection will ensure at least the following by the team spending the whole day at the beneficiary's place: (a) Number of CSTs installed with total sq. m of area should be the same as mentioned in the sanction (b) There is no shadow on dishes between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

proposal/ purchase order and the beneficiary is fully statisfied.

2. 5 year warranty for solar mirror/ reflectors given by Supplier.

3. 5/3 years Annual/Operation Maintenance Contract as applicable, including 1 year warranty taken by the beneficiary or an assurance given by him that they themselves will take care of the system without any complaint to MNRE/PMU and keep the system functional.

4. The system is installed as per MNRE specifications available on its website.

5. Online performance monitoring established by installing the instruments, such as 2 pyranometers; with and without shading ring for measuring DNI, flow meter, temperature and pressure sensors, and sim-based data logger as the case will, e.g., Demonstration/ Replication projects.

Online performance establishment for providing data in prescribed format with web link, providing user ID and password to the PMU will be necessary and if not done at the time of third party inspection, only 50% of the support will be released with balance to be released on completion of online establishment.

50% of the support could be released in advance, based on the bank guarantee submitted from any scheduled commercial bank within 6 months, having validity for at least one year, subject to placement of the order to supplier or issuing of MNRE sanction. This could also be released to the supplier, subject to having no objection from the beneficiary.

Final instalment will, however, be released to the beneficiary only ■

(c) All the receivers of various CSTs are fully illuminated with sun rays reflected from dishes not going out of the receivers. (d) Performance data recorded for 15 days is as per that committed by the manufacturer in the

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July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

Technology Update

OptiTrough 300 Indigenously Designed, Glass Reflector based Parabolic Trough Concentrator Authored by: Vivek Mahajan

U

ltra Conserve Private Limited (UCPL) is a solar thermal company focused on increasing profitability of its customers by reducing conventional fuel consumption and increasing thermal energy efficiencies. We manufacture the OptiTrough 300 and execute turnkey projects for Industrial customers.

We provide solar thermal energy solutions to manufacturing setups for their process heat requirements, catering to temperatures up to 3500C using a variety of heating media like water, steam, thermic fluid or air. Each solar thermal energy system is engineered for the specific operating conditions of the customer.

UCPL’s OptiTrough 300 is an indigenously designed Parabolic Trough Concentrator, conceptualized and designed, by its Founder and Director, Mr Siddharth Udas.

The OptiTrough 300 is approved

by MNRE for Capital Subsidy.

OptiTrough 300 The OptiTrough 300 is a single axis tracking, fully automatic, high efficiency Parabolic Trough Concentrator.

At the heart of the OptiTrough 300 are parabolic shaped glass mirrors that move with the sun, focusing the Solar Radiation onto a tubular absorber. The circulating fluid (water/oil) inside the absorber gets heated and carries this heat to the process. Peripherals such as pumps, storage/expansion tanks and temperature/pressure sensors complete the thermal loop.

This entire solar thermal energy system is automatically controlled and monitored remotely using our Performance Monitoring System (PMS).

Salient Features Fully Automated Solar Tracking Of foremost importance to any client is the ease and minimal recurring cost of operation. Keeping this in mind, the system is designed for complete automated functioning, with all the requisite controls in place (pyranometer, flowmeter, RTDs, pumps, Control Panel) such that no manual intervention is required after the system is commissioned.

The energy consumed by the system is as low as 0.1 kWh per OptiTrough 300 module per day, keeping the operating cost low as well.

Lightweight Understanding the area constraints for any Manufacturing setup, the system has been designed as a lightweight system, so that it can be installed on RCC rooftop, Metal Sheet rooftop and ground as well. Overall Weight distribution of the system is around 40 kg/m².

On-line Remote Monitoring System (RMS) It is critical that the customer knows the heat output from the OptiTrough 300 modules installed.

Hence a Remote Monitoring System (RMS) has been incorporated in the Solar System. The

30 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

 www.supersmartenergy.com

Snapshot of the on-line RMS

RMS is a combination of instrumentation; communication hardware and software, culminating in graphically represented data, on-line.

System, Tracking, System On/Off, Pump On/Off, Flow-rate etc) for the customer, from the system health and the system heat output perspective.

This is critical information (Hourly Kcal Output, DNI, Temperatures at various points in

Shown above is a snapshot of the on-line RMS. Graphical representation for analysis is also

SmartEnergy Complete Renewable Energy Intelligence

For more information on advertising and editorial opportunities call +91 250 606 8789

available.

Safety features The system has in-built safety features like Manual over-ride, Auto Focus/De-Focus controls, Safety Valves, Tracking limit switches,

Âť

Technology Update High temperature controls, Oil Level Indicators, Stand-by pumps to ensure safe and efficient working of system.

Before CST Augmentation

Boiler

Materials used The OptiTrough 300 is built using the best solar technology components sourced from leaders in their respective fields. These key components such as curved glass mirrors, metal absorber tubes and tracking drives have a long and proven history of sustained performance in the field. This is what differentiates the OptiTrough 300 and ensures optimal performance over the entire 20-year life cycle of the solar thermal system.

Radiator Air Inlet at 300C Air Outler at 1800C

integrated with the existing air heating process. This is done by installing a Solar Air heater before the existing Steam based Air Heater. The two Air Heaters are placed in series, thus ensuring maximum utilization of solar thermal energy for the process.

Thermic Fluid circulated through the OptiTrough 300 collectors is heated up to 180 deg C using solar energy and flows though the Solar Air Heater, thereby heating the air required for the process.

The air is effectively pre-heated before entering the Steam based Air Heater, thus reducing steam consumption for the process.

By integrating the Solar Thermal system in this way, closely with the Air heating process, its operating efficiency is maximized.

Case Study: Process Air Heating for Biotechnology Company, Zytex Biotech Pvt. Ltd, Baroda.

UCPL has commissioned a system comprising 4 OptiTrough 300 modules with PMS, for their client M/s Zytex Biotech Ltd. The client requires air at 1800C for their Spray Drying process.

Prior to UCPL’s installation, this heat was generated by heating ambient air with steam produced by an LDO fired boiler.

We have designed a system to cater to 75% of the heat requirement for this process. Our solar thermal heating system is fully

The cost of the system to the client was ~ Rs 27 Lakhs, supported with MNRE subsidy of Rs 6.48 Lakhs and a support of Rs 2.0 Lakhs under UNDP-GEF project.

After CST Augmentation

The payback of the system is expected to be less than 4 years ■

Thermic Fluid Outlet at 2000C

Boiler

Air Outlet at 170~ 1800C

About the Author:

Thermic Fluid Inlet at 1500C

Radiator

Radiator

170~ 1800C

32 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

Air Blower

Air Inlet Air at 300C Blower

Vivek Mahajan is Director, Ultra Conserve Private Limited (UCPL). With key skills in the areas of Solar, Chemical and Mechanical Engineering, UCPL aim to provide not just Solar thermal products, but completely engineered renewable process heat solutions, that are in tune with your applications.

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Cover Story

T

he industrial sector is the leading source of energy consumption and within the industrial sector twothird of the energy consumed is used for producing steam, heat or for cooling purposes. While 90% of this comes from burning fossil fuel the remaining 10% comes from electricity. While the policy makers have mostly overlooked this critical aspect in the overall scheme of things where the focus of the discussion has always been on increasing the generation of electricity.

For a country like India, which is growing fast and where a large section of the population have no or limited access to electricity it becomes important to find an alternate source of energy generation for these industrial applications. This becomes even more significant when India has pledge to reduce the amount of

34 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

carbon dioxide it produces by 35% by 2030 and that 40% of the total installed generation capacity would be from non-fossil fuel sources.

While many people associate solar energy with electricity- producing photovoltaic (PV) panels, solar can also be used for generating heat, steam and for cooling purposes. Industry’s role as the largest consumer of energy in the nation, its large heat requirements, and its heavy reliance on fossil fuels, present tremendous opportunity for application of solar thermal technology.

Solar: Electricity Vs Thermal Solar thermal collectors and solar PV panels comprise the two main types of solar energy. PV panels

convert solar radiation into electricity, whereas solar thermal collectors convert the sun’s rays directly into usable heat. Once the collector converts the sun’s rays into heat, that heat can be used for a variety of purposes spanning all sectors of industry.

Solar energy is converted to electricity and heat at different rates. Solar conversion efficiency is the ratio of energy produced from the panel or the collector to the energy content of the sunlight itself. Solar thermal conversion efficiency is approximately 70% compared to PV panels, which converts light to electricity at roughly 17% efficiency. Despite a high conversion rate and wide ranging application, solar thermal energy is virtually absent from the industrial sector. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), solar thermal energy is a practical technology with much room for  www.supersmartenergy.com

POWERING OUR LIVES WITH SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY

Solar Thermal or CST has huge potential in various industries where the heat generated from this technology can be utilized for various applications like cooking, heating, drying, there by helping us reduce the consumption of conventional fuels and GHG emissions in the atmosphere. In this article Anisha Ganguli apprises us about CST as an alternative to conventional fuels, its applications, the technical and economical barriers for its adoption and suggestions for realizing its true potentials in India. innovation which has been largely unexploited for industrial needs.

Solar Thermal Application Solar Thermal technology can fulfill a substantial amount of heat demand in industrial and agricultural food processes within any given country and irrespective of the geo- graphical location. In developed economies, concentrated solar provides technically about half of this energy consumption by supplying hot water and steam in a temperature range of up to 400°C.

In developing countries, especially in those where agriculture, the textile, brick and food processing industries are important sub-sectors, solar thermal energy can provide hot air and hot water needed for sterilizing, pasteurizing, drying, hydrolyzing, distillation and evaporation, washing and cleaning, and polymerization where very high temperature is not a requirement.

Industrial Process heating systems The energy yields from solar thermal process heating systems can be significantly above those of

standard systems in certain cases.

The potential for solar thermal energy systems in the area of process heating is enormous: Around 30 per cent of industrial heating demand is within a temperature range below 100 °C. Solar thermal energy can be supplied either at a supply level (industrial hot water or steam network) or at process level.

In general, there are three groups of solar thermal technologies that are useful for industrial process heat: solar air collectors, solar water systems, and solar concentrators.

Solar air collectors are found

» July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy 35

Cover Story primarily in the food processing industry to replace gas or oilbased drying or to reduce food spoilage due to open air drying.

They can be built locally, and their cost depends on local building materials and labor.

Conventional solar water systems, like flat-plate collectors (FPC) or evacuated tube collectors (ETC), are primarily used in residential applications, but they can readily be installed on industrial rooftops to provide heat demand of up to 125°C. More than one hundred of such systems exist around the world. A small number of large international companies sell these technologies, but the majority of solar water heating systems are manufactured locally by smalland medium-size enterprises. This is especially the case in countries like Brazil, China, South Africa and Turkey where the costs are three to ten times lower than in

Steam Cooking System for 10000 people using Scheffler Dishes at New Sai Prasadyala, Shirdi the United States or in European countries.

A number of more advanced FPC and ETC designs are currently on the market and can generate temperatures of up to 250°C; however, they are also more expensive than conventional FPC and

ETC. Solar concentrators include parabolic dish collectors, linear parabolic trough collectors and linear Fresnel collectors. In India, local manufacturers sell mainly parabolic dish collectors that can generate temperatures of up to 400°C. Around 80 commercial projects are installed in India, mostly

Clique Solar: Commercializing the use of solar thermal in Industrial Process Heating Clique Solar is India’s first solar boiler company and a pioneer in the field of concentrated solar thermal technologies. Its patented technology, ARUN, is the only technology in the domain of Concentrated Solar Thermal that has been innovated and developed in India.

ARUN technology is based on the basic principles behind a magnifying glass and a sunflower. A magnifying glass concentrates sunlight at a single point with the help of parabolic lenses. Similarly, ARUN uses an ingenious, fresnelized mirror arrangement scheme to get a 3-dimensional parabola effect. Like a sunflower, ARUN automatically tracks the sun from sunrise to sunset on both East-West and North-South axes to intercept maximum sunlight throughout the year, irrespective of the installation location. ARUN dish is mounted on a single column, thus occupying ground area of less than 3m x 3m.It can be operated in various thermic media including steam, water, hot oil, hot air etc and reach temperatures and pressures of up to 300°C or 20 bars respectively. The lifespan of an ARUN dish is greater than 25 years.

The receiver of ARUN is designed to operate at temperatures up to 300°C. Thus, it works as a solar boiler, substituting the consumption of conventional fuels such as Furnace Oil, High Speed Diesel (HSD), Piped Natural Gas (PNG), coal, etc. which are polluting and becoming increasingly expensive. Having installed the ARUN system for varying applications in diverse industries such as dairy, automobile, chemical, etc, at reputed clients such as Mahindra, NTPC, ITC, Chitale Dairy, Akshardham, TVS Group, etc, Clique Solar has become particularly skilled in integrating the solar thermal system with the existing industrial processes.

Currently Clique Solar offers three variants of the ARUN dish: ARUN®160, ARUN®100 and ARUN®30.

36 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

 www.supersmartenergy.com

for community solar cooking. The other two types of solar concentrators are similar to those used to produce concentrated solar power. Around twenty commercial systems currently exist around the world.

Solar Air Heating: Solar air heating technologies are mainly used to prevent spoilage and lengthen shelf life, maintain or enhance product quality and facilitate transportation of natural food products (and are referred to as solar dryers), or to pre-heat air for boilers. Although solar air heating technologies have been used for centuries, new developments in convection design and thermal energy storage are increasing the range of applications for this technology, especially to replace traditional biomass or fossil fuels as a source for drying purposes in developing countries.

The simplest and most commonly used method for food applications is drying in the open air (also called sun drying). Under these circumstances, however, food products are susceptible to spoilage, infestation, contamination and animal attacks.

A number of industries use gas or coal to dry their products, but this ends up accounting for around 50% of their operational expenses. Solar drying technologies can address some of these issues by providing a cheap resource and a more consistent and higher temperature air flow to dehydrate products. However, they also require capital investments, maintenance and a backup heating system to ensure drying when sun is not available.

Solar Heat Collectors: Solar process heat installations used for industrial use are similar to

those used in residential buildings, especially for those applications where only low to medium temperatures are required. For higher temperatures, more advanced or concentrated solar collectors are required. Solar thermal systems that use reflectors, lenses or other optical elements to redirect and concentrate solar radiation onto an absorber are called “solar concentrating collectors”.

Solar Cooling: Besides heating applications, solar thermal systems can also meet cooling demands. In this case, solar thermal cooling systems can be used to replace gas-driven or electricity-driven absorption/ adsorption chillers or to replace electricity-driven, vapour-compression air conditioning systems.

In India, as of 2014 around ten projects providing solar cooling, mostly for spaces cooling are operational.

Integration of Solar Heat into Industrial Processes: Most industrial processes require both heating of a fluid stream and heating of some reservoir (e.g. ovens, liquid baths). Existing heating systems for industrial process heat are based on steam or hot water from a boiler, which mainly uses fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal or electricity generated by different sources. Solar process heating systems can supply up to 20%



Opportunities for solar thermal in India

SEED has so far successfully developed about 70 products using fruits, vegetables, Non-Timber forest produces, spices, herbs using solar dryers on a commercial scale of heating demand of a plant. A limiting factor for solar thermal integration is often roof space.

Rural electrification using solar dish collector technology: Typically these dishes are of 10 to 25 kW capacities each and use striling engine for power generation.

These can be developed for village level distributed generation by hybridizing them with biomass gasifier for hot air generation.

Case Study:National Institute of Information Technology (NIT) in Hamirpur, India

» July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy 37

Cover Story all lifetime cost would be lower.

Solar thermal collectors can be made cost effective when tailored to the specific process heating needs of the plant. On the factory level, large scale applications can benefit from economies of scale and lowered investment costs, increasing its economic viability.

On the national level, the IEA estimates that costs can be reduced by as much as 20 percent when a country’s total installed capacity doubles.

Solar energy concentrator at Ramakrishna Mission’s Students Home

The first CST project for cooking purposes was installed in 2011 at National Institute of Information Technology (NIT) in Hamirpur, a solar city in the state. A solar steam cooking system was installed at the Neelkhanth Boys Hostel of NIT for cooking food for 500 students. The project was supported by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. This was the first major initiative taken by NITHamirpur on community solar cooking in Himachal Pradesh.

According to the project coordinator Professor S S Chandel, Environmental Engineering at NIT Hamirpur, the institute is able to save 1.5 to 2 LPG gas commercial cylinders per day which translates into a saving of about `40,000– 50,000 per month. Dr Chandel conveyed that solar steam cooking system was preferred because of its commercial viability as well as its nature as a pollution free, ecofriendly source of energy. Being satisfied with the performance

38 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

of this system, NIT-Hamirpur is now planning to install such systems in all the hostels in a phased manner.

S o la r Thermal: Barriers in Implementation Despite the large potential for solar energy to meet industrial thermal demand, there are several barriers to large scale implementation. The most noteworthy barriers are cost, variability of output, energy storage and process integration.

Cost: The economic viability of solar thermal energy depends largely on two factors: the initial cost of the installation and the price of alternatives. High upfront costs often prevent companies from investing in new technology, like solar thermal, even if the over-

Variability: The reliability of the heating supply is of paramount concern to many manufacturers for whom an unanticipated disruption in production can be economically devastating. Solar thermal energy is reliable but not always available. Therefore, Industries which either do not require constant production, or for whom the sunlight availability can be aligned with heating requirements, may be more confident about integrating solar thermal energy into their production.

The variability of sunlight can be mitigated by conducting statistical analyses of heating requirements vis-à-vis the regional insolation- the irradiance per square meter over a given period of time.

This can be conducted as part of a procedure known as process integration. Another possible solution is to store heat for later use to smooth the gaps in sunlight availability.

Process Integration: Variable energy, like solar and wind, presents a particular challenge for process integration because the supply of energy is non-continuous. Therefore, the nature of solar thermal energy supply must be addressed or it can become unaffordable in some cases. If solar collectors supply all of the energy, the manufacturer must either align production with the energy supplied, or store the energy for later use.

»  www.supersmartenergy.com

Application of "Enclosed Trough" for enhanced oil recover *Photograph Courtesy GlassPoint Solar

However, even if sunlight is not available to meet all of a factory’s thermal energy needs, solar thermal can still play a role by supplying a portion of the total energy required. Under such hybrid systems, solar collectors can provide a baseline energy supply whenever it is available and the remainder can be fulfilled by a complementary fuel source.

Energy Storage Options: Large scale Thermal energy storage is a nascent market but it can compensate for the inherent variability of sunlight. For low and medium temperatures, this can usually be performed by storing the heat in a transfer fluid like hot water or oil. Sometimes pressurized steam is used. For higher temperatures, this becomes more difficult, and costly, and requires an alternative heat transfer fluid and storage material. The most common heat transfer fluid for CSP is molten nitrate salt, which is thermally stable within a temperature range of 220°C to 565°C, below which the salt freezes. The molten-salt system is currently the only practical thermal energy system with hours-long storage potential, and has proven reliable at commercial scales.

Challenges for Con-

centrated Heating Projects in India In addition to the above discussed barriers the solar thermal technology in India needs to overcome the following challenges to become the mainstream technology of use in the process industry. ii Lack of awareness amongst industry and policy makers on the potential of CSH applications to reduce process heat supply costs. ii Limited capacity of the CSH technology supply chain. ii Lack of knowledge of CSH technologies and system factors amongst technical consultants to applicable industries and sectors. ii Limited availability of skilled and semi-skilled technical manpower in the CSH industry. ii Limited interface between the CSH industry and applicable academic institutes. ii Limited interface/interaction between international CSH industry/experts and Indian CSH industry/experts. ii Non-availability of a full range of CSH technology application packages in India. ii Non-availability of performance measurement standards and protocols for measuring CSH systems’ performance. ii Non-availability of testing facilities for CSH technologies.

ii Low payback on CSH investments. ii Lack of incentives based on CSH performance.

Conclusion It has been proven beyond doubt that the solar thermal technologies are capable of cost-effective integration into many commercial and industrial processes and is commercially available to meet demand in lower temperature ranges and can be integrated into the food, beverage, textiles, paper, and pulp industries on a large-scale. Many of the technological barriers can be eliminated through prudent analysis of energy requirements and appropriate mechanisms for energy storage.

In order to achieve higher market penetration, the suggested policy options are: create more awareness of the benefits of solar process heating, especially in industrial clusters of smalland medium-size enterprises; provide financing mechanisms to cover upfront costs; and consider whether support for solar thermal could be an alternative to fossil fuel price subsidies to national industries ■

39

July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

In Focus

Designing Large Parabolic Solar Baskets Authored by: V K Desai

G

od has gifted India with maximum solar insolation.

It is our duty to utilize this for the benefit of entire population by devising appropriate, simple, benign technology to harness solar power.

Solar energy can be harnessed in two ways, one is photovoltic technology of solar panels, which produce electricity instantly from sunshine. Another way is to concentrate solar rays at one particular point and produce heat energy and then utilizes this heat energy for domestic cooking, community cooking or for air heating or water heating and making steam and utilize it in to industries or for power generation by steam engines.

40 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

The most important aspect in this is to concentrate solar rays.

The easiest way to do this is to construct paraboloid of various sizes depending upon the requirement.

In this article I will explain to you how to make cheapest paraboloid.

To design such paraboloids, I have taken the following points in to consideration. ›› Design should be simplest possible so that rural technicians can understand it and can make it independently or copy it easily. ›› Construction cost must be the minimum possible so that rural farmers can afford to purchase it and use it.

The solar baskets designed by

me are cheapest in the world, Only 50% cost of the cheapest available anywhere. The cost can further be reduced by using wood, bamboo etc.

Generally in Western world solar concentrators are costing US$ 300 per sq. mt of reflective surface. As per estimate the solar baskets designed by me will be costing US$ 100 or less per sq. mt of reflector area. ›› Design should be free from any complication of construction material or bending the shaping etc.

Accordingly, I have designed paraboloids with only circles in the horizontal planes and parabolic  www.supersmartenergy.com

strips or parabolic square pipes in vertical planes. In a smaller paraboloids, I have used circles of simple iron rods and in a bigger paraboloids, I have used round pipes. Similarly, I have used 20 x 5 mm iron strips and 40 x 5 mm iron strips. For bigger paraboloids, I have used square pipes in parabolic shape. ›› Focal point of the paraboloid has been kept nearest possible to the bottom of paraboloid. As the focal point is inside the basket, It has a benefit that heat receiver is protected from the wind and convection losses are minimum.

As the paraboloid with short focal length gives shape of a basket, I have named this parabolic concentrators as solar baskets. ›› In order for maximum heat recovery the Solar basket should be moved along with the sun.

Taking this into consideration I have designed solar basket in such a way that the paraboloid revolves on vertical axis passing from the focal point and can also tilt on horizontal axis passing through the focal point. ›› Benefit of this design is that you can revolve or tilt basket in any position, its reflection is always on the focal point. The focal point is completely free from the various position of the basket. The focal point is connected with ground and not with the revolving basket. With this design we can make a permanent structure of heat receiver connected with the ground. We can even make permanent pipelines for heat receiver and heated air or water or thermic oil can be used at any place away from the basket. For example, with this basket, it is possible to cook inside a kitchen away from the solar basket. ›› It should be completely user friendly not involving to set or adjust any technical parameters such as north south direction, adjusting polar axis, knowing latitude of the place, seasonal adjustment etc. So my baskets are completely user friendly for

rural layman or illiterate person. ›› As far as possible, no foundations ishould be required. Accordingly up to 30 sq mt baskets, foundations are not required. ›› This solar basket should be foldable so that transport volume is minimum and assembly at site is also easy. So all my solar baskets are totally folding.

With these special features, I have designed LARGE PARABOLIC SOLAR BASKETS from 5 sq. mt to 120 sq. mt, which are proved to be the most revolutionary tool to produce heat power in farms, in industries and in villages.

Solar Basket 5 sq.mt aperture area, 2.54 mt diameter This basket is the smallest basket.

It does not require any foundation.

Fabricated channel and square plate foundation base frame is provided which can be placed anywhere and basket can be erected in a few hours only. It gives 2 KW to 2.5 KW heat power. Temperature at focal point reaches up to 250 degree C. This basket can cook for maximum 60 people in one hour.

The design of the basket is completely folding for easy transport.

Solar Basket 10 sq. mt aperture area, 3.6 mt diameter This basket is just similar to 5 sq. mt basket. From many experiments we concluded that it gives 4.5 KW to 5 KW heat power. Temperature at focal point reaches up to 490 degree C. This basket can cook for 125 people in one hour.

So for 100 to 500 people, this is quite suitable with 1 to 4 baskets.

From this basket, capacity of any bigger basket can be directly calculated without any need of experiment, as heat power is proportionate to aperture area.

Solar Basket 30 sq. mt aperture area, 6.2 mt diameter As the aperture area is 3 times bigger than 10 sq. mt basket, this

basket will give heat power of 12 KW to 15 KW. This will be suitable for steam generation, air heating and thermic oil heating for industrial heat or power generation. 3 such baskets combined together will generate about 40 KW heat power. This basket frame are foldable and can be erected at the site in one day without any foundation. Where cooking of 300 to 400 people are required, only one such basket will be ideally suitable. With 3 baskets of 30 sq. mt, food can be cooked for 1000 people in one hour. By thermic oil or steam, cooking can be done inside the kitchen.

Solar Basket 60 sq. mt aperture area, 8.8 mt diameter As the aperture area is double than 30 sq mt basket, this basket will give heat power of 25 KW to 30 KW. This is suitable for steam generation, air heating and thermic oil heating for industrial heat or power generation. This basket are able to run small steam engine for water pumping or for processing of farm products and for running small industry such as cotton spinning or weaving of cloth. This basket frame are also foldable and can be erected at site in one day but foundations will be required. Where cooking of 600 to 800 people are required, only one such basket will be ideally suitable.

With 3 baskets of 60 sq. mt, food can be cooked for 2000 people in one hour. By thermic oil or steam, cooking can be done inside the kitchen.

Solar Basket 120 sq mt aperture area, 12.4 mt diameter This is the biggest basket designed by me. This requires RCC foundations and also RCC column to support entire basket. This basket is ideally suitable for cooking of 1000 to 1200 people and with the combination of many such baskets, any number of people can be served. If food is required for 20,000 people everyday, then 15

» July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy 41

In Focus to 16 baskets are required to be installed. Design is modular. All the components are Indigenously manufactured in our factory and are dispatched to the site in CKD condition and erection will be done at site with permanent welding. Each such basket will give heat power of about 50 to 60 KW. So these baskets can be extensively used in industries for heat power and to some extent for electrical power generation also.

Uses of Solar Baskets India consumes over 100 million tones of oil every year for various uses. Out of this, almost 40% is being consumed in the industrial sector alone. Further, 40-50% of this consumption is in thermal form alone with temperature range below 2500C which comes to around 15 million tones of fuel oil per annum.

This baskets can be used in various industries for drying, heating, cooling and for generating process heat. Mentioned below are some of the application areas of this baskets. ›› Mass cooking in student hostels, hotels, hospitals, schools, factories, temples, marriages, food caterers and food business, army camps, refugee camps, jails, religious and social organizations etc. ›› Many of the world’s most important crops need to be dried to remove moisture as part of the production process. Removing the moisture from crops such a coffee beans, tea leaves, cocoa, oil seeds, nuts, fruit, rice, spices, corn, etc is an essential process that helps transform the raw goods into the final product. For better quality and storage for long period, drying of crops by solar baskets will be essential. ›› Mercerizing, drying and finishing in textile industry. ›› Drying, dissolving, thickening, leaching and distillation in chemical industry.

42 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

›› Cooking, drying and canning in food industry. ›› Craft pulping, bleaching and drying in pulp and paper industry. ›› Drying and cleaning in leather industry. ›› Heating and cooling in milk dairy industry. ›› Heat treatment process in mechanical components and various such applications in many more industries.

The working fluid required for these applications is either pressurized hot water, steam or hot air in temperature range of 60-2500 C. ›› This solar baskets can revolutionize many industries requiring heat and power both. Ice plants, cold storages, small dairies, air conditioning and such cooling and chilling can be done through vapour adsorption process.

So scope of these solar baskets are in millions of numbers. As per my estimate there is a huge scope for at least 10 million solar baskets in India. The use of this solar baskets can create real wealth and prosperity in rural areas.

This Solar Baskets can play an

important role to transform world economy from oil based to soil based.

A 5 sq. mt basket cost Rs 65000/-.

Heat power for 6 hours 14KWH i.e. 11000 Kcal.

A 10 sq. mt basket cost Rs 130000/-. Heat power for 6 hours 28KWH i.e. 23000 Kcal.

A 30 sq. mt basket cost Rs 400000/-. Heat power for 6 hours 84 KWH i.e. 70000 Kcal.

A 60 sq. mt basket cost Rs 680000/-. Heat power for 6 hours 160 KWH i.e. 130000Kcal.

A 120 sq. mt basket cost Rs 1100000/-. Heat power for 6 hours 300 KWH i.e. 250000 Kcal ■ About the Author: V K Desai is a Mechanical Engineer promoting people's own power since last 35 years through rural technology.

He is a staunch follower of Gandhiji and believes in his ideology of Swadeshi.

 www.supersmartenergy.com

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Spot Light

India’s First Solar Thermal Hot Air Generating System by Megawatt Solutions

U

ltramarine Pigments is a leading company based at Ranipet, Tamil Nadu, manufacturing pigments and surfactants. The pigments are used in laundry, cosmetics, cleaning solutions, paints, etc. A lot of energy in the process is required in drying of pigments to reduce its moisture content.

Until now they were following fluid bed based drying procedure, where they used to spread fluid over a flat bed under the Sun, and let it dry under the Sun-drying for days to get pigment to the desired moisture level.

With an intent to save time for drying and improvise pigment quality, Ultramarine management decided to switch over to Megawatt Concentrating Solar Thermal Dishes for generating hot air, which in turn will dry pigment at a much faster rate.

area of the Solar Field is 570m2, in which incoming Solar Radiation on dishes heats up thermic oil at up to 150°Celcuis. This hot thermic oil goes to Hot Air Generator in a closed loop, which utilizes hot thermic oil to generate good quality hot air at up to 110°C. This is a complete stand-alone system, doing complete drying on Solar Thermal Dishes only. System is completely automated, and can be monitored and easily controlled through an Electrical Panel by operator.

in July. This is the first of its kind project in India, where Solar Thermal Dish has been successfully integrated for generating hot air. Drying of a batch of pigment, which earlier took 2- 3 days, can now very easily be dried in less than 6 hours. The project is a classic example of successful integration of Solar Thermal.

Performance:

E: info@megawatttsolutions.in W: www. megawatttsolutions.in

Megawatt Solutions has successfully commissioned the project

For more information contact Megawatt Solutions at T-93, 4th Floor, Gautam Nagar, Behind YusufSarai Commercial Complex, New Delhi- 110049

T: 011-40536349, 011-41047606 ■

Operating Philosophy Project consists of 6 nos. of Dual Axis Tracking based Megawatt M95 dishes with collector area of each dish as 95m2. Total collector

44 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

Hot Air Generator and Tunnel for pigment drying

 www.supersmartenergy.com

Company Case Study Profile

AMPERE POWER ENERGY

A

mpere Energy is a Spanish company that manufactures smart energy management systems that use lithium batteries. Its products incorporate a new tool that connects to the market to purchase energy when it is cheaper for consumption later on, enabling the smart management of both the energy acquired from the grid and the solar power produced by the user. A revolutionary formula that provides users the tool they need to enhance their self-consumption and minimize interaction with the electrical grid.

produced by their solar panels but instead, reach up to 90% of self-consumption. Thus, most of the energy stored and used is completely clean and renewable.

This power supply benefits users as well as the environment as the result of the "smart power purchase" being accumulated

A NEW ENERGY MODEL As a result of self-consumption, most of the energy produced will be decentralized in a few years' time. Losses from transmission are avoided, energy poverty is reduced and the use of clean energy is enhanced. Within this context, Ampere Energy is offering devices that can achieve maximum efficiency in PV production, from the storage and purchase of electricity from the grid, at all times ensuring that energy needs are covered, regardless of the weather conditions.

SUSTAINABILITY Ampere Energy systems favor a more sustainable and responsible energy consumption by combining our EMS with photovoltaic systems to ensure that users will not only consume 30% of the energy

46 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

at night when the energy is cheaper, corresponding with 70% of wind power.

These intelligent storage managers are intended to stimulate self-consumption that undoubtedly is the future tool for a more sustainable world.

BUSINESS PURPOSE Ander Muelas, CEO of the company and his team composed mainly of Spanish engineers, aim with this proposition, revolution-

ize the electric market by offering users the necessary tools to achieve the highest consumption and minimize interaction with the grid.

SMART ENERGY PURCHASE Ampere Energy is a smart energy manager that adjusts to the consumption profile of each user.

Its devices are equipped with a new tool that connects to the electricity market to buy power when it is cheaper and stores it for its subsequent use.

This alternative acts as a support system when PV production is low. Furthermore, thanks to weather forecasts, energy prices and consumption history, the equipment identifies when it needs to connect in smart energy purchase mode. Additionally, this new combination allows users to reduce the initial investment in solar panels.

TURNKEY SERVICE Ampere energy is not only a product; it's an integrated service that allows users to enjoy intelligent power system without worries.

From the beginning, the company guides users through personalized advice, recommending the equipment and capacity to assure a more efficient consumption. Subsequently, Ampere Energy is responsible for recomďƒœ www.supersmartenergy.com

mending the closest installer, depending on the area where the user is located. The installation is done in just a few hours and on the same day it will be connected and ready to work.

In order to implement intelligent purchasing power, the user must have an hourly discrimination rate. Thus, it is always possible an efficient and sustainable consumption, even if the weather does not allow it.

Once the equipment is installed, users form part of Ampere Community and have a permanent monitoring of the system to ensure optimum performance.

In the event that any problems are given, the company will be responsible for contacting the customer and resolving it as soon as possible.

OUR INTELLIGENT APP, AMPi All Ampere Energy products incorporate the software AMPi, which allows having a precise energy control at any time. AMPi does not only manage the user's energy, it carries out personalized recommendations to assure the most efficient consumption.

AMPI monitors the energy that households consume, generate, store and thanks to its predictive system, which will be used during the day. All this data and its historical are available through any smartphone. This information is stored in the user's profile, with consumer habits, weather forecast and grid's demand to achieve maximum energy efficiency.

OUR PRODUCTS Ampere Energy's products are all in one, as they have all the elements necessary to operate autonomously. The equipment includes lithium batteries, a bidirectional inverter, a power and

energy meter and an intelligent operating system (AMPi). The devices are designed to suit each type of user according to their consumption habits, serving for domestic use as well as commercial, industrial, and also for large projects with different storage capacities.

Ampere Sphere has been designed for households with lower energy expenses. The equipment has a storage capacity of 3kWh, which permits a large coverage of the energy consumption of a small apartment and also serves as a support system for a family home with photovoltaic installations. It's perfect for users who seek the latest in energy technology with an innovative design.

Ampere Sphere is Plug & Play, which can be placed anywhere in the house, including in the living room.

To cover higher energy needs, Ampere Square was created with a capacity of 6kwh. This 1m2 unit, 18 cm thick, is ideal for any home that has photovoltaic output that would like to achieve maximum efficiency from their installation.

We also offer the possibility to begin with 3 kWh and expand to 6 kWh. Ampere Tower has a capacity of between 9 and 12 kWh, designed for homes with higher energy expenditure. When combined with photovoltaic production, the installation is able to come close to achieving energy independence. It is the perfect equipment for isolated homes and small businesses with a high level of consumption as several units can be installed in parallel to achieve the required capacity.

Ampere Energy also develops custom projects for large consumption in order to adapt to each user's profile and achieve energy savings and efficiency.

EASY INSTALLATION Ampere energy is an all in one unit that in one single device incorporates lithium batteries, two-way inverter (prepared for PV input) and a switchboard for the AMPi software, in short, every component required for it to operate.

The installation is very straightforward. First the PV panels that work with the inverter are connected and the output current of the unit goes directly to the electric switchboard in the home or business.

The whole process takes barely an hour, with the assistance of certified professional installers.

BACK-UP SYSTEM In case of a failure in the power grid, Ampere Energy's products have a backup system, which responds automatically to the user and ensure continuity in their activity. This system is a great support for both residential use and for large-scale consumers.

During a power outage, the system maintains its power during the following few hours, providing a continuous supply of energy and eliminating the need to seek another temporary solution. In these cases, the owners of these establishments can obtain a great return on their investment and also, ensure the quality and continuity of electricity service.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: AMPERE POWER ENERGY S.L Polígono industrial Campo Anibal Av. del Progrés 13. 46530 Puçol.

Valencia, Spain T: +34 961 42 44 89 / +34 620 802 159 E: marketing@ampere-energy.com W: www.ampere-energy.com

Contact ‘Smart Buddy’ @ 1800-212-1615 (Toll Free) for all your Solar Requirements

47

July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

Policy Update

Draft National Policy on RE based Mini/Micro grids R

E based micro and mini grids with its enormous potential are a promising solution to the access to energy challenge in the country. They offer the benefits of boosting local economy by meeting energy needs of residential and commercial activities thereby supporting enterprise development, generating employment opportunities, raising individual/ household incomes etc. The Ministry in order to support expansion of mini and micro grids on a large scale has issued a draft policy offering likely implementation solutions and approaches for overcoming common issues and challenges that hamper the growth of this sectro.

The objective of the policy is to promote the deployment of micro and mini grids powered by RE sources such as solar, biomass, pico hydro, wind etc. in un-served and underserved parts of the country by encouraging the development of State-level policies and regulations, that enable participation of ESCOs (ESCO means a person, a group of persons, local authority, panchayat institution, users’ association, co-operative societies, non-governmental organizations, or a company that builds, commissions, operates and maintains the mini grid).

Definition of ‘Micro’ and ‘Mini’ Grids: A ‘Mini Grid’ is defined as a system having a RE based electricity generator capacity of 10KW and above, and supplying electricity to a target set of consumers through a Public Distribution Network. A ‘Micro Grid’ system is similar to a mini grid but having a RE based generation capacity of below 10KW.

48 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

System Configuration: 1. A mini grid can be powered by RE sources and can have dieselbased generator as a backup.

2. Hybrid systems using a combination of resources can also be deployed to improve system reliability and for back up.

3. The Distribution Network can be designed to carry either Alternating Current or Direct Current (AC or DC).

Costs, Revenues and Pricing Mechanisms: The cost structure of a mini grid project will have Fixed Costs and Variable Costs.

Fixed costs include cost of project development, generation plant, storage systems (batteries), inverters, distribution network, cost of availing debt including interest charges, fixed taxes and fees etc.

Variable costs include running charge for operation, maintenance and management, energyrelated taxes and fees etc.

Revenue Sources The possible revenue sources for mini grids are fee for connections, sale of electricity, and through grants/ subsidies, if available.

Like any DISCOM grids, mini grids can supply electricity according to the demand of varied type of consumers and that too at a time when they require it. The Electricity tariff can be determined by accounting capital costs, cost of finance, operating expenses, replacement costs and return on investment.

To determine energy tariffs ESOPs can operate varied models

like pay-as-you-go or post paid mechanism, fixed tariff dependent on the anticipated power use and likewise offering different service levels and tariffs maintaining the balance between sustainability and affordability.

Further, the energy and power-based tariffs can further be designed based on Consumer type, Consumption level, Time of day, and Surplus energy.

Grant or subsidies can be in the form of upfront capital funding or grant, or low interest loans, generation- based or operational incentives etc., essentially to support the market for minigrid development.

Therefore tariff can be set in different ways and can also vary across consumers. It should however follow the following principals.

1.Should be transparently set.

2. Should be fixed for at least one year to avoid frequent changes.

3. Should not give more than 16% return on equity if it is a business venture.

4. Should cover cost of battery replacement.

5. Money collected should be displayed prominently in the village for everyone information.

Policy, Regulatory and Implementation level Interventions: In addition to the State Nodal Agencies (SNA), Public Sector Organisations like SECI, Rural Energy Service Providers (RESP), Financial Institutions like NABARD, IREDA, RRB, and Commercial Banks, the Ministry in order to fast track the process is empanel www.supersmartenergy.com

ling ESPOs as RESPs to implement mini grid projects, and envisages RESPs to be one of the predominant vehicles for implementation.

Project Site Identification and Development: In order for easing project development activities the policy proposes Single Window Support Channel. The SNA may act as the Nodal Agency for single window clearance for all mini grid projects which include the task related to issuance and facilitation of desired Government orders, necessary certification and authorization, clearances and right of way, other approvals, provide information on taxes and exemptions etc. in a time bound manner.

Planning and Development: The state government can consider defining a decisive plan or an approach for mini grids in the State and build the necessary confidence amongst ESCOs and investors. States may consider classifying regions/ areas based on their priority for electrification; means (grid, off-grid or both); and or based on the type of government programme viz Unlimited Open Market Approach or State Plus Open Market Approach.

The State may extend certain special privileges or incentives over and above those offered under the programmes of the Ministry.

Clustering and Size of Projects: The Policy favours deployment of large-sized mini grid projects, and recommends ESCOs to deploy projects with capacities above 10KW. For ESCOs interested to deploy micro grids (less than 10kW) the policy recommends that they install projects in a cluster format to improve operational and cost efficiency. The cluster format offers the possibility of interconnecting projects in the future. The same principle may be applied to mini grids (> 10kW), wherever feasible.

The Policy empowers SNAs as

supervising organisation keeping records of all mini and micro girds in the state. The SNAs will also provide help and guidance wherever necessary.

The policy assumes more active role for the village Panchayats and proposes that the Panchayat constitute a Village Energy Committee (VEC) to ensure participation and commitment of the community, from the conception phase of the project itself.

In case where the DISCOM grid arrives later, the DISCOM may preferably choose to use the Public Distribution Network (PDN) of the ESCO if it conforms to the standards by paying appropriate charges or the ESCO is offered to sell the PDN to the DISCOM. For exit options where the mini grid opts to sell power to the DISCOM girds, the project to be compensated in accordance with the National Tariff policy.

Regarding the operation and maintenance of the mini grid the ESOP will be entrusted with the responsibility for the service and maintenance over the life of the projects.

In cases where mini grids connect with the DISCOM grid to sell surplus power, the ESCO will have to enter into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Distribution Company.

Exit Options, and Interaction and Distribution Company

Financial Assistance and Other Incentives:

For safeguarding the mini grid projects and investments, the policy proposes that the States should offer flexibility and choice to operational ESCOs. In areas where the DISCOM grid pre-exists Or Areas where the DISCOM grid is yet to arrive - the ESCO will be allowed to:

The Ministry shall continue to provide the upfront capital subsidy it offers for deploying mini grid projects under it various programme.

1. Continue supplying to its consumers and exist in parallel with DISCOM grid, or 2. Continue to supply to its consumers and sell excess or unsold electricity to DISCOM grid 3. Supply all electricity generated to the DISCOM grid at the interconnection point The ESCO: 1. Will be allowed to work in and migrate to an operating option of its choice 2. Will abide by the tariff norms as prescribed under the existing policy or programme of the State.

Financing for mini grids through institutions like NABARD/ IREDA is also encouraged.

The central subsidy would be channelled from NABARD/ IREDA through to the Regional Rural, Scheduled or Cooperative banks.

The State governments may consider waiving certain taxes in order to promote the sector.

ESCOs are encouraged to provide energy for ancillary services such as internet, medical and educational services, potable water, skills and training, shops selling mobile phones, cable connections etc. within the community. Such services can be provided at a fee that can be mutually determined in between the ESCO and the end user ■

3. Will be allowed to charge a tariff mutually determined with the consumers, if operating in an open market option 4. May be offered to undertake the role of a Distribution Franchisee, wherever feasible

49

July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

Policy Update

Draft National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy V

arious Studies have revealed that solar and winds are almost complementary to each other and hybridisation of the two technologies can help in minimizing the variability apart from optimally utilizing the infrastructure including land and transmission system. Recent studies in India have shown that the existing wind farms have scope of adding solar PV capacity and similarly there may be wind potential in the vicinity of existing solar PV plant.

In order to utilize the opportunity that the combination of these technologies offer and in order to provide the necessary support for optimum and efficient utilization of these technologies the MNRE has come up with a draft National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy.

The main objective of the Policy is to provide a framework for promotion of large grid connected wind-solar PV system and to encourage new technologies, methods and way-outs involving combined operation of wind and solar PV plants. In doing so the policy has set a goal to reach windsolar hybrid capacity of 10 GW by 2022.

Implementation Strategy: The policy details the implementation strategy that depends on different configurations and use of technology as either Wind-Solar Hybrid- AC integration or WindSolar Hybrid- DC integration.

The existing wind power or solar power projects, willing to install solar PV plant or wind turbine generators (WTGs) respectively to avail benefit of hybrid project, are allowed to do so with following Conditions: 1. The hybrid power injected in to the grid will not be more than the transmission capacity/grid

50 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

connectivity allowed/sanctioned for existing wind/solar project.

2. No additional connectivity/transmission capacity charges to be levied by the respective transmission entity for installing the solar PV/wind turbine generators considering that same transmission capacity is being used.

3. Assessment of solar and wind power injected in to the grid to be done through the main meter installed on LT side in case of AC integration and in case of DC integration on the basis of readings of DC meters installed at the DC output of the wind and solar PV plant.

The additional solar/wind power generated from the hybrid project can be used for captive purpose or may sold either (a) to the distribution company through FIT determined by the respective state regulator or the lowest bid discovered by SECI or any other government agency or (b) to the respective distribution company at APPC under REC mechanism and avail RECs. In case of new wind-solar hybrid projects, the developer have option to use the hybrid power for captive use or third party sale or may sell the hybrid power to Distribution Company (ies) at a price determined by the respective SERC for that hybrid power project. The hybrid power

so purchased by Distribution Company may be used to offset both solar and non-solar RPO. The hybrid power may be procured through a transparent bidding process under different mechanisms. Parameters that may be considered for bidding could be total capacity delivered at grid interface point, CUF and unit price of electricity.

Incentives: The draft policy extends all fiscal and financial incentives available to wind and solar power projects to hybrid projects. In addition the policy proposes low cost financing for hybrid projects to be made available through IREDA and other financial institutions including multilateral banks.

The policy also proposes government support for the technology development projects in the field of hybrid systems. Besides, supporting development of standards for hybrid systems â–

ďƒœ www.supersmartenergy.com

Power Stats Programme/ Scheme wise Physical Progress in 2016-17 (& during the month of May, 2016) Sector

FY- 2016-17 Target

Cumulative Achievements

Achievement

(as on 31.05.2016)

I. GRID-INTERACTIVE POWER (CAPACITIES IN MW) Wind Power

4000.00

106.40

26932.30

Solar Power

12000.00

559.78

7568.64

Small Hydro Power

250.00

1.80

4280.25

Bio-Power

400.00

0.00

4831.33

10.00

0.00

115.08

16660.00

670.98

43727.60

Waste to Power Total II. OFF-GRID/ CAPTIVE POWER

(CAPACITIES IN MW)

Waste to Energy

15.00

0.00

160.16

Biomass(non-bagasse) Cogeneration

60.00

0.00

651.91

-Rural

2.00

0.00

18.15

-Industrial

8.00

0.00

164.24

Aero-Genrators/Hybrid systems

0.30

0.00

2.69

100.00

2.07

325.40

1.00

0.00

18 18.71

186.30

2.07

1341.26

1.10

0.00

48.55

-

0.00

8.90

Biomass Gasifiers

SPV Systems Water mills/micro hydel Total III. OTHER RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS Family Biogas Plants (numbers in lakh) Solar Water Heating – Coll. Areas(m. m2)

State-wise details of total current commissioned capacity of solar energy State

Capacity (MW)

State

Andhra Pradesh

864.192

Madhya Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

0.265

Maharashtra

Chhattisgarh

93.58 1120.363

Gujarat

Capacity (MW) 780.37

State

Capacity (MW)

Uttar Pradesh

143.495

385.756

Uttarakhand

41.145

Odisha

66.92

West Bengal

7.772

Punjab

430.063

Delhi

14.28

Haryana

15.387

Rajasthan

1285.932

Chandigarh

6.806

Jharkhand

16.186

Tamil Nadu

1267.414

Puducherry

0.025

Karnataka

146.462 146

Telangana

785 785.843

Kerala

13.045

Tripura

5

Daman & Diu Others:Rooftop

4 58.311

Total commissioned Solar Capacity as on 31/05/2016 is 7564.863 MW

51

July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

Tenders

TENDER 101 Organisation Name

Solar Energy Corporation Of India Limited

Organisation Type

Public Sector Undertakings

Tender Ref. No

SECI/Cont./02/2016/2.5

Tender Title

design, manufacture, supply, erection, testing and commissioning including warranty, operation & maintenance of 5 years of Grid connected Roof Top of 2.5 MW of Solar PV power system in delhi state

Contact Details

Shri Sanjay Sharma/ www.seci.gov.in

TENDER 102 Organisation Name

Solar Energy Corporation Of India Limited

Organisation Type

Public Limited Company

Tender Ref. No

ECI/C&P/PMC/NIT/2016/THDCIL/50

Tender Title

Design, engineering, procurement & supply, construction & erection, testing, commissioning & comprehensive operation & maintenance for 10 years of 50 MW (AC) Solar Power Plant at Kasargod Solar Park, Kerala

Contact Details

Shri Sanjay Sharma/ www.seci.gov.in

TENDER 103 Organisation Name

Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited, INDIA

Organisation Type

Public Sector Undertakings

Tender Ref. No

SECI/SD/NIT/2016/THDCIL/50 MW

Tender Title

Design, manufacture, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of of 50MW (AC) Grid connected Solar PV Power Plant along with associated interfacing at 33kV/110 kV Voltage system on turnkey basis

Contact Details

Shri Sanjay Sharma/ www.seci.gov.in

TENDER 104 Organisation Name

Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited, INDIA

Organisation Type

Public Sector Undertakings

Tender Ref. No

SECI/NSM/P-2/B-4/RfS/AP/072016/A

Tender Title

RFS document for 150 MW grid connected solar PV power projects under NSM PHASE-II BATCH-IV TRANCHE-IV IN kadapa solar park, AP

Contact Details

Mr K Ramesh Kumar

TENDER 105 Organisation Name

Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited, INDIA

Organisation Type

Public Sector Undertakings

Tender Ref. No

SECI/NSM/P-2/B-4/RfS/AP/062016/B

Tender Title

RFS document for 500 MW grid connected solar PV power projects under NSM PHASE-II BATCH-IV TRANCHE-IV IN kadapa solar park, AP

Contact Details

Mr K Ramesh Kumar

52 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

 www.supersmartenergy.com

EVENTS WATCH Event: 10th Renewable Energy India Expo Date: 7-9 Sept, 2016 Venue: India Expo Centre, Greater Noida.

Contact: +91-11-66517605

Event: Intersolar Middle East Date: September 19-21, 2016 Venue: DWTC, Dubai, UAE. Contact: www.intersolar.ae

Event: 17th Regulators & Policymakers Retrea t 2016 Date: September 22 - 25, 2016 Venue: Hotel Lalit, Goa, India.

Contact: Divya Parthasarathy/ divya@ippaimail.org

Event: Roadmap for Innovations in Solar Energy - RISE 2016 Date: September 22- 23, 2016 Venue: Hotel Taj - Santacruz, Mumbai.

Contact: +91 22 65220770 / 71

Event: PV Guangzhou 2016 Date: September 26- 28, 2016 Venue: China Import & Export Fair Complex, China.

Contact: Eve Cheng/ grand.ev@ grahw.com

Event: Intersolar India 2016 Date: 19-21 Oct, 2016 Venue: BIEC, Goregaon, Mumbai, India.

Contact: Swapna Kulkarni, +91 224255 4729, swapna.kulkarni@ mmi-india.in

Event: Africa Renewable Energy Leaders' Summit Date: 02- 03 November, 2016 Venue: Intercontinental Nairobi, Kenya.

Contact: Taslima Esha Amin/ +971 4 445 3656

Event: Solar Middle East 2017 Date: 14- 16 Feb, 2017 Venue: Dubai, UAE. Contact: info@solarmiddleeast. ae/ +971 4 4072472

Event: RenewX Date: 16- 17 Feb, 2017 Venue: HITEX, Hyderabad.

Contact: +91-11-66517605

Event: India Smart Grid Week 2017 Date: 08- 10 March, 2017

Event: Solar South 2016 Date: 26- 27 Nov, 2016 Venue: Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Contact: Mr. Vivekanandhan. D/ +91 9600095109

Venue: Manekshaw Centre, Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi.

Contact: +91 9990979287

Event: 2nd Solar India 2017 expo Date: 10- 12 May, 2017

Event: Solar-tec 2016 Date: 04- 06 December, 2016 Venue: Cairo International Convention Center, Egypt.

Venue: Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

Contact: +91 9873440261

Contact: Annash Ahmed/ + 971 (0) 4 4072535

Event: Energy Storage India 2017 Date: 12- 13 Jan, 2017 Venue: Nehru Centre, Mumbai.

Contact: Shradha MalikS@md-india.com

Malik/

53

July/ Aug 2016 SmartEnergy

ADVERTISERS INDEX 10th REI Expo 2016

IBC

Apar Industries Ltd.

09

Energy Storage India 2017

27

Exide Industries Ltd.

IFC

Gangadan Energy Pvt. Ltd.

BC

Gerber Technology

05

Intersolar India 2016

11

Intersolar Middle East 2016

21

IPPAI 2016

33

Meco Meters Pvt. Ltd.

03

Mersen India Pvt.Ltd.

07

RenewX 2017

15

Solar India Expo 2017

45

Solar Middle East 2017

43

Solar South 2016

13

54 SmartEnergy July/ Aug 2016

 www.supersmartenergy.com

World-Wide Wind Energy Solution with European Technology Collaboration Gangadan’s Services: • 3rd Party verification & consultancy services • Site analysis & Techno-Commercial assessment • Turnkey EPC Solution • Project finance & Re-finance • Purchase and sale of used & new Wind Turbine • Refurbishment • Installation, Commissioning & Dismantling • Operation & Maintenance with 24X7 support

Gangadan Energy Pvt. Ltd. 128, Patrakar Colony, New Power House Road, Jodhpur, 342001, India

Contact Us

Phone : +91-(0)291-2611177 | 9166111999 Mail : gangadanenergy@gmail.com Web : www.gangadan.in