Smart Energy Oct-Nov 2014 by SmartEnergy

SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

Volume I, Issue V

Pages 72

`100

ISSN 2348-5027

Complete Renewable Energy Intelligence

Intersolar 2014 Special Issue

Visit us at

Nov 18-20, 2014 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai

A NEW ERA FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY INTERVIEWS

Solar EPC Services Demystifying the Jargon Page No. 22 Net Metering: An Emerging Revolution in Inidan Solar Eco-system Page No. 18

A Shift towards Distribution Generation Methods & Models Page No. 44

Regional Variations in Solar Power Plant Performance Page No. 28

Tracking the Sun An Overview of Single-Axis Solar PV Tracker Page No. 56

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SmartEnergy Complete Renewable Energy Intelligence

Editor Santosh Khadtare santosh@supersmartenergy.com

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

Chief Executive Officer Rahul Raj Chandra Support Team Sunil Pawar Bharti Shetty

Editor's Note Recently the Supreme Court handed out three-landmark energy rulings. The combine weight of these rulings reaffirm one thing- its time to diversify away from Coal. First amongst the three rulings and very important one is that the court found all of the coal block allocations issued since 1993 through 210 to be illegal, cancelling all but four allocations in one stroke. The fallout was immediate, with the financial community concerned over billions of dollar that could be lost in bad loans issued to these stranded assets. As this bad news was not enough the Supreme Court reversed earlier rulings deeming any retroactive changes to tariff structures a no-go. This was in response to Mundra UMMP and other coal-fired power plants struggling with rising coal import prices and seeking to pass on the rising price of coal to the customer via increased tariff. The fallout of this decision is as sweeping as that of the ruling on “Coal gate”. So with this brick wall settling across the road to coal expansion, what is a power-starved nation to do? Diversify to the fastest, cheapest, and most readily available energy resource at hand - Solar. Just as the Supreme Court closed one door, another has remained wide open, thanks to the Indian legal system. Solar companies were facing uncertainty over proposals to retroactively remove subsidies in Gujarat. Here the Indian court system upheld contract sanctity by refusing the government the ability to retroactively change contracts and subsidies for existing solar projects. Investors can certainly continue to plow billions of dollars into a sector facing a highly uncertain and increasingly costly future. But for those who can see the writing on the wall, the future looks much brighter. Indeed, when it comes to future power sector investments in India, one thing is clear: all signs point to solar. Santosh

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

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Printed, published and edited by Santosh Khadtare on behalf of Genesis Info-Media, published at 208, 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 Oct/ Nov 2014

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SmartEnergy

NEWS THIS MONTH

Contents

View this issue online on www.supersmartenergy.com

COVER STORY A New Era for Renewable Energy

EXPERT SPEAK Kyuichiro Kitagawa Director Overseas Operations, Laplace System Co. Ltd.

BUSINESS LEADER Anurag Garg Vice President, Solar BU, Schneider Electric India

Authored by T Sriraman

SPOT LIGHT Net-metering: An emerging revolutionin Indian Solar Eco-system

IN FOCUS Solar EPC services Demystifying the Jargon

EXCLUSIVE Pratik Deshmukh Director, Deshmukh Groups

Authored by Adarsh Das

SPECIAL FEATURE Regional Variations in Solar Power Plant Performance Authored by Dr. Jaya Singh

BY INVITE A shift towards DG Methods and Models Authored by Shubham Sandeep

TECH REVIEW Tracking the Sun

Authored by Solpower Green Pvt. Ltd.

6 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

50 IN CONVERSATION Damji patel Director, JJ PV Solar Pvt. Ltd.

54 FACE 2 FACE Kishorsinh Zala Chairman, Powertrac Solar Projects Ltd.

58. Rajasthan Solar Energy Policy 2014 62. REI 2014 Special Report  www.supersmartenergy.com

NEWS THIS MONTH

India to become a Renewable Superpower: Energy Min India will become a renewable energy superpower, following a large investment in the sector, Indian New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said. "We will be a renewables superpower – you know Mr. Modi's mantra: 'speed, skill and scale,'" Goyal said in an interaction. The minister added that he expected the invest-

ment of $100 billion in renewable energy in India over the next five years. Unlike the previous government's solar energy target number of 20GW by 2022, Goyal said India could aim for adding 10GW per year. As for wind power, the minister believed that adding up to eight gigawatts a year was not a very difficult task for the country ■

As a follow-up to the ‘Make in India’ initiative launched by the Prime Minister, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy ( MNRE) has announced organisation of the First Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo (RE - INVEST) on 15-17 February, 2015 in New Delhi. The central theme of the meet is to attract large scale investments in the renewable energy sector in India. The event is proposed to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi ■

REFUsol India now to be known as Advanced Energy REFUsol, which Advanced Energy acquired in April 2013, will now operate as Advanced Energy in India. Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. is a global leader in innovative power and control technologies for high-growth, precision power conversion solutions. With the acquisition of REFUsol, Advanced Energy incorporated the company's threephase string inverters into its product portfolio as the AE 3TL line. Advanced Energy offers a full suite of inverter products, ranging from single-phase string inverters to award-winning three-phase inverters and utility-scale central inverters. Advanced Energy inverters

are available for worldwide distribution. Advanced Energy India will now showcase a variety of innovative products, including market-leading string inverters and accessories with new names and designs. For example, the monitoring portal, formerly known as REFUlog, will become a part of AE SiteLink monitoring solutions, and the REFUsol 008 - 023K string inverter series will be known as the AE 3TL 8 - 23K. The same standards of quality and technology will be maintained: the AE 3TL inverter series will continue to be distinguished by high efficiency, reliability and ease of use ■

Enerasia 2014, a three-day Global Energy Summit and Exhibition held from Sept 26- 28th at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat had 164 exhibitors stalls, seven seminar and CEO Roundtables and over 13,000 people including the students of PDPU visited and participated in the mega event

8 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

Vikram Solar to Build India’s First Floating Solar Plant Vikram Solar Pvt., an Indian panel maker, won a contract to build the South Asian nation’s first floating solar power plant on a lake in eastern India. The 15-kilowatt pilot plant will be constructed by December on top of a 1,400-square-foot (130-square-meter) platform anchored to the lakebed next to Kolkata’s New Town Eco Park, said S.P. Gon Chaudhuri, a member of the governing body of the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency. The project will study whether situating a solar installation above water helps to boost generation by cooling the panels, he said. Excessive heat can reduce the efficiency of solar modules. The project will also examine the effects of corrosion and evaporation from the lake. The 20,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity generated annually will be sold to the grid at 8.9 rupees a unit ■  www.supersmartenergy.com

NEWS THIS MONTH

DSM inaugurates Solar Technologies Enrich Energy to Set up Demonstration Center in India 60MW Solar Royal DSM, the global Life Scicoating developed by DSM ences and Materials Sciences Advanced Surfaces, significantly Power Project Company, inaugurated its Solar increases the efficiency of solar Technologies Demonstration panels by enabling more light to in Telangana Center at its DSM Engineering enter a solar device. At the demPlastics facility in Pune, India. This state-of-the-art solar technology center has been built to demonstrate and showcase the performance of DSM's innovations in solar technology and will also reduce the plant’s CO2 footprint by using the renewable energy generated by the solar plant to meet 25% of the site’s electricity needs.

onstration center, the coating is successfully applied to panels of different makes and models, validating its performance for the solar industry. The center will also test a new light trapping technology which DSM is developing, which gives solar panels a performance boost utilizing smart 3D structures in a thin plastic foil.

Technology for solar energy will play a central role in a more renewable energy balance of the future – a role that will become even more critical and valuable as the technology becomes more efficient and competitive. DSM aims to help enable the penetration of solar energy by focusing on the development and commercialization of technologies and materials solutions that increase the efficiency and yield of solar modules, thereby increasing the energy generation and reducing the cost of solar electricity.

Oscar Goddijn, Vice President, DSM Advanced Surfaces said, “We aspire to be a world leader in materials based solutions for solar photovoltaic technologies. Our newly commissioned solar energy plant in Pune is the first of our demonstration facilities to showcase our technologies to customers and stakeholders around the world. The demonstration center validates the performance of KhepriCoat®, DSM’s best-performing anti-reflective coating technology as well as our new light trapping technology and will test and demonstrate future technologies from our stable.” ■

KhepriCoat®, an anti-reflective

Solar pumps with Smart Trak Solution Hyderabad-based solar tracking technology solution provider is seeking to spread awareness about the advantages of using solar water pumps fitted with their technology. Smart Trak has sold close to 100 solar water pump sets with their solar tracking technology, which promises to increase the water flow by 75 per cent, when compared to conventional solar water pumps. “Increased amount of water will enable

10 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

farmers to grow three crops instead of two in a year. In the next two years, we hope to sell 1,000 solar water pumps fitted with tracking systems. We have received certification from Nonrenewable Energy Development Corporation (NEDCAP) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for our tracking system pump sets,” said Smart Trak’s CEO G. Bhagawan Reddy in a statement release ■

Enrich Energy Private Limited, Pune based Renewable Energy Company, has got the approval for setting up 60 MW Solar Power Project under ‘Solar Park Concept’ in the newly formed state of Telangana. This would be the first renewable energy initiative by the newly formed state. The ‘Solar Park’ will be set up under Open Offer to supply power to meet the states renewable power obligations. TSTRANSCO (erstwhile APTRANSCO) has issued a `Letter of Intent’ for setting up a 60 MW capacity Solar Park to Enrich Energy under the power purchase agreement at preferential tariff of Rs 6.49 per kWh as per the Open Offer. Mr. Kanchal, Director, Enrich Energy Said, “We at Enrich Energy are committed towards developing the renewable energy sector in India and are happy to partner with the government of Telangana in their clean energy initiative. We are dedicated to providing world class solar energy solutions from concept to commissioning and further hand hold in operations and maintenance during the lifecycle of the project.” Upon completion of the project, Enrich Energy would be India’s number one private solar energy company with an installed capacity of 205 MW. The company also recently won the prestigious “Bharat Udyog Samman Puraskar” and Asia Pacific Achievers Award” from Global Achievers Foundation (GAF) at a function held in New Delhi for outstanding contribution to the nation in the space of renewable energy ■  www.supersmartenergy.com

NEWS THIS MONTH

Rolta Group unit ReGen Powertech to make enters solar power solar inverters with German market technology Rolta Power Pvt. Ltd, a unit of Rolta Group, announced that it is entering the solar power sector. It has set up a 60 megawatt (MW) production line in Mumbai for solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and the plant has started production, the company said in a statement release. The production line has been set up with an investment of around Rs.100 crore from the company’s internal accruals, said Aditya K. Singh, managing director, Rolta Power Pvt. Ltd. Rolta Power expects revenue of about Rs.300 crore over the next 12-18 months from its solar PV operations. “With rise in demand for renewable energy, coupled with promising legislation and the need to enhance energy self-sufficiency, starting a solar energy business was an exciting opportunity for us,” he said. The company was looking to invest in this space in 2010 but due to the sharp fall in prices of solar cells, wafer and PV module it delayed its decision, Singh said ■

City-based wind turbine manufacturer ReGen Powertech has announced further diversification into renewable energy space with its German partner Vensys to make mega wattclass solar inverters.

According to Anirudh Khemka, head-Solar, the company will be focussing on big sized solar projects and the inverter cost would depend on the kind of configuration that a buyer opts for.

"The company would soon come out with hybrid inverter for wind and solar power generation," R. Sundaresh, joint managing director said in a statement release.

He said: "Going forward, ReGen would come out with hybrid inverters targeting the wind and solar power sectors"

"The solar inverters will be made at the company's existing factories at Tada in Andhra Pradesh and Udaipur in Rajasthan where 1.5 MW wind turbines are made with Vensys technology," the statement further added.

"No major additional investment is involved for the project as we will be making the product at the existing factories. The product is also largely similar to the inverters we make for wind power sector," Madhusudan Khemka, managing director, said. ■

ACME Solar to set up 100 MW solar power plant in Rajasthan

Panoramic view of 7.52 MWp Solar PV plant on a single roof - one of the world's largest projects of its kind.The energy generated from this plant is being fed to the local grid through a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with the state distribution company under the New and Renewable Sources of Energy (NRSE) Policy. For this project, L&T employed multi-crystalline module technology and central inverters to optimize efficiency. More than 30,000 panels were erected on the rooftop of the shed spread over 94,000 sq.m area ■

12 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

ACME Solar is planning to set up a 100 MW solar power plant in Rajasthan at an estimated cost of Rs 808 crore. International Finance Corporation (IFC) will support the project through ‘A’ Loan of up to Rs 201.9 crore and possible syndication of up to Rs 388.3 crore. According to IFC's project disclosure report, the power plant will be developed by ACME Solar through its

five wholly owned subsidiaries - Ranji Solar Energy Private Limited, ACME Gurgaon Power Private Limited, ACME Rajdhani Power Private Limited, ACME Mumbai Power Private Limited and Medha Energy Private Limited. The greenfield project will come up at Bari Seer in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan and is expected to be commissioned by April 28, 2015 ■

SunEdison has announced a 241 kilowatts (kW) solar PV micro-grids project to provide electricity to approximately 7,800 residents of 54 villages in India. SunEdison will work with Rural Electrification Corporation, a Government of India organization, and the Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) ■

 www.supersmartenergy.com

(These Picture are just indicative of actual Products)

TVM Power Solar System (P) Ltd. C ONTACT FOR D EALERSHIP / D ISTRIBUTER SHIP / CHANNEL PARTNERSHIP

NEWS THIS MONTH

IEEMA urges need for 24 x 7 SMART ELECTRICITY to Union Urban Development Minister & Power Minister CAt the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association Annual Convention & 67th AGM, IEEMA applauded the vision of Government of India’s ambitious and bold project on 100 Smart Cities. The Scale of this project transcends the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ and ‘Connecting the Rivers’ projects. The whole industry is bullish about the fact that the Government of India is THINKING BIG. This will entail a huge opportunity for the entire industry across – urban development, power, rural infrastructure development, municipality, hospitals, education opportunities and the entire ecosystem of allied industries. It is a given fact that the CEOs of the industry have a big role to play, in planning and deciding the way forward to respond to this project which will unravel immense opportunities of growth in the coming few years. IEEMA is also engaged with the Power Ministry in developing a Standard Bidding Document both for purchases as well as for EPC contracts. This will provide more equitable and fair contractual relationship. Ministry of Commerce has invited IEEMA to partner with the Ministry’s

innovative initiative for creating a ‘Made in India Brand’ for electrical products in overseas markets of relevance. This work is in progress and some results will be visible in the coming months. Mr Raj Eswaran, President, IEEMA said, “India has already lost over 35% market share due to import of sub quality Chinese electrical equipment. Significant underutilisation of installed domestic capacity has resulted in loss of employment of qualified Indian engineers, technicians, workers, etc. There is a dire need of presenting a roadmap and addressing the balance of trade which is grossly tilted currently in China’s favour.” IEEMA echoes the voice of Modi’s Government ‘The economic situation in this country demands that more jobs be provided for young, talented, well-educated skilled people of India.’ Mr. Vishnu Agarwal, President Elect, IEEMA (and to be President on September 22, 2014), said, “IEEMA is looking ahead to partner with the Government on the Smart Cities project which will go a long way to enhancing quality of urban life, and also the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana will provide a huge impetus to strengthen the trans-

mission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas.” IEEMA has partnered with IEEE, which is a world’s largest engineering society with members in over 160 countries, encompassing the field of electrical, electronics, computer engineering and science and related technologies. Together with IEEE we are launching - INTELECT in January 2015 – which will be a technology showcase and conference on future Intelligent Electricity – connecting to and enabling Intelligent and Smart business for a Smart India. This common platform for stakeholders like us present in the hall – is indeed a great opportunity to address the needs of a massive infrastructure and balance required for the success of Empowering 100 Smart Cities for INDIA. IEEMA with IEEE will also host a Concurrent Show: ‘UPTO 11 kV’ in line with Distribution Reforms. This Show will give a unique opportunity for Electrical equipment manufacturers to showcase their latest equipment, technology & services and interact with Utility officials. We intend to meet and nurture the objective of “24X7 SMART Electricity from Street to Home” ■

Encouraging Signs for Intersolar India 2014 Companies in the solar sector and the wider economy are pinning high hopes on the new Indian government that assumed power in May of this year. While the first positive steps toward changes in energy supply are already being seen, the fundamental stance of the new administration and the Indian solar market will form one of the key topics at Intersolar India 2014. From November 18 to 20, around 200 exhibitors will showcase the entire solar

14 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

industry value chain covering photovoltaics (PV), PV production technologies, energy storage systems and solar thermal technologies. Around 8,500 visitors from every corner of the globe are forecast to visit the Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC) for this year’s event. For the first time, the Intersolar India Conference is also taking place there in parallel, and is expected to attract in the region of 700 attendees and 100 speakers.

With events spanning four continents, Intersolar is the world’s leading exhibition series for the solar industry and its partners. It unites people and companies from around the world with the aim of increasing the share of solar power in our energy supply. The event’s exhibition and conference both focus on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies ■

 www.supersmartenergy.com

Suzlon goes large on Powerica to market Vestas blades wind turbines Indian manufacturer Suzlon has produced the first 54.8-metre blade for its S111 2.1MW wind turbine.The S111 evolved from the S88 and S97 2.1MW family and is engineered to deliver a 20% increase in annual energy production over the S97, the statement from the company said. Project manager Laurens van der Sande said: “The first SB54 blade is the longest and cleanest aerodynamic profile Suzlon has ever produced. Suzlon Group chairman Tulsi Tanti added: “We believe in offering optimal energy solutions to our clients, which is why we continue to leverage on our technological edge and create products that derive maximum energy yield. The S111/SB54 blade is based on previous Suzlon designs with innovative and optimized improvements.” ■

IIn its new avatar in India, Danish wind turbine major Vestas has turned to its Indian customer, Powerica, for marketing. Powerica will sell Vestas turbines in India and also take care of servicing the machines. Vestas will only make and sell the windpower turbines. Powerica, which makes about 1,800 MW of diesel gensets a year, and has sold over 10,000 machines, is also the owner of 102 MW of wind power. It has wind farms in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and uses only Vestas turbines.

The Danish major is coming back to India at a time when the wind market is looking up. In 2013-14, the industry added 2,126 MW of wind turbines, exceeding expectations; it surprised everybody by installing 800 MW in March alone. The government has said it will bring back the ‘accelerated depreciation’ benefit, which will encourage profit-making companies to set up wind turbines to save tax. This move is expected to give the wind power industry a boost ■

Gamesa India Signs 90mw Wind Power Project with the Hero Group in Karnataka & Rajasthan Gamesa Wind Turbines Private Limited, a technology leader and wind farm developer has signed a 90 MW Wind Power Project Order with Hero Future Energies (HFE). HFE is a new venture of The Hero Group. The company caters to providing renewable power. Under this contract Gamesa will supply 25 units of G97-2.0 MW turbines at Kavital site, Karnataka and 20 units of G97-2.0 MW turbines at Gunga site, Rajasthan. The commissioning is scheduled for completion by March 2015. Gamesa would be responsible for the complete scope of site development, supply, and commissioning of the turbines. The agreement also includes a 10-year comprehensive Operations & Maintenance contract. Commenting on this order the Chairman and Managing Director, Gamesa India. Mr. Ramesh Kymal said, “We are privileged

to join hands with The Hero Group. The strategic decision from the Hero Future Energies, to have wind energy as the one of the main business verticals along with Solar energy, proves the importance of wind energy in satisfying the energy needs of our country and calls for an appreciation”. He added, “This project will stand as a significant collaboration in Gamesa’s growth trajectory, and we are confident to deliver the maximum return on investment for the group through our cutting edge technologies”. Mr. Rahul Munjal, Managing

Director of Hero Future Energies quoted that “We are expecting our partnership with Gamesa to go a long way in achieveing our ambitious plans to add one gigawatt of renewable energy projects by 2017. We expect that they will live upto to the Hero Group’s ‘Customer First’ strategy. Global experience and superior quality products of Gamesa should add significantly higher value to our asset base.” ■

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

NEWS THIS MONTH QUICK TAKES NATIONAL AICA enters south Indian green energy market The Australia-based AICA Group announced that its Engineering division - AICA Engineering India Pvt. Ltd will enter the South Indian market with solar products to tap the renewable energy market in the region.

Coal India plans $1.2 Billion of Solar initiative Coal India Ltd. (COAL), the biggest producer of the fuel, is considering building 70 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) of solar projects to compensate for carbon pollution. The company is in talks with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for a combined capacity of 1,000-megawatts. Earlier this month, coal and power minister Piyush Goyal described Coal India and power producer NTPC Ltd. as “massive polluters” and said they “must give back to the society.”

India to double next solar tender batch to 3 GW The Indian government will double to 3,000 MW the target for the second batch of its National Solar Mission’s Phase II, minister for coal, power and renewable energy Piyush Goyal said. The capacity will be divided in three tender tranches of 1,000 MW and each will target projects in a single Indian state. Andhra Pradesh might be one of them, as Telangana has also expressed interest in the programme.

Solar panels to be made mandatory for new buildings in Hyderabad The Telangana government is planning to make installation of roof-top solar panels mandatory for new buildings in Hyderabad, to provide for better and efficient energy needs.

16 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

Speaking at a workshop organised by the Administrative Staff College of India and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on “Transforming Indian Cities to Smart Cities”, a prelude to the 11th Metropolis World Congress 2014 scheduled to be held from October six to ten, Telangana Minister for Information Technology and Panchayat Raj, K T Rama Rao said Hyderabad already has such a mandate and directed the GHMC to enforce it strictly.

AP targets 9150 MW renewable energy capacity IThe Andhra Pradesh government has set a targeted to achieve 9150 MW capacity power generation through renewable energy and realizing substantial energy savings through energy efficiency projects by 2018-19. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is confident that this will go a long way in making the state a solar hub and a centre of excellence for the country. According to him providing excellent service to the consumer and quality electricity is the key focus point in power sector. He has reiterated that `Power For All’ (FPA) 24X7 PFA programme is his dream project.

Jain Irrigation launches solar-powered micro irrigation system Jain Irrigation has launched integrated solar powered micro irrigation systems for small farmers, which will ensure reliability of water and power supply. "The integrated solar powered micro irrigation involving different components like development of on-farm water source (farm ponds, solar pumping systems, piping and micro irrigation systems) would ensure reliability of water and power supply to small farms, especially in developing countries like India, Africa and other countries in Asia," Jain Irrigation President Dilip Kulkarni said

in a media release.

Tata solar Power wins order from JNNSM Tata Power Solar (TPS) has won one of the largest orders of JNNSM phase-2 batch-1. The company will supply the entire module requirement for the 20 MW (AC) project to be built by ACME Solar, a leading solar power developer in India. The 1,00,000 modules, constituting 60,00,000 cells, needed for the project will be manufactured at TPS' state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Bangalore

INTERNATIONAL India agrees up to USD 1bn in US clean energy funding The governments of India and the US have agreed on the provision of up to USD 1 billion (EUR 794m) in financing that will help the South Asian country in its attempts to become a low-carbon and climateresilient energy economy. The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and the Export-Import Bank of the US have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the matter during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit with US president Barack Obama, according to a press release. The pact also envisages increasing US renewable energy exports to India

Airlight Energy & IBM developes a Super solar pv system Together with Airlight Energy Manufacturing SA, IBM developed a dish-based photovoltaic system that increases the sun’s radiation by up to 2,000 times, and converts up to 80 per cent of them to produce 12kW to 20kW of electricity— enough for several houses—from multi-junction InGaAs solar cells ■

 www.supersmartenergy.com

SPOT LIGHT

Article Authored by T Sriraman Founder & Managing Director Soltech Equipments

NET-METERING

An emerging revolution in Indian Solar Eco-system

et-metering solar PV systems are among the most recently promoted schemes for wider adoption of solar power at domestic and commercial scales in the country. It has already been adopted by several states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttarkhand, West Bengal, Punjab and Delhi. The concept has been a massive success in several countries like Germany and has seen a significant positive response here in India as well. As a direct incentivization method wherein consumers who produce a part of their power needs are promptly rewarded with reduced electricity bills and power credits that can be carried forward into the subsequent billing cycle, net-metering systems have a pivotal contribution to make towards propelling a growth in adoption of solar power across the country.

projects facilitate the self-consumption of electricity generated by the rooftop installation and allows for feeding the surplus into the network of the distribution licensee. The type of ownership structure for installation of such net metering based rooftop solar systems becomes an important parameter for defining the different rooftop solar models.

Self-owned, net-metering based rooftop PV In a self-owned, net metering based rooftop PV model, the rooftop owner, who is also the electricity consumer for the utility

Grid Power AC IN

18 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

Load Demand AC Out

100% solar to Load*

What is Net-metering? Net metering based rooftop solar

installs the rooftop solar system, either on its own or with the help of a system supplier and installer. The electricity generated by the system is first used to service consumer’s captive load within the rooftop owner’s premises. The solar power generated in excess of the owner’s electricity consumption is fed into the grid through a net-meter, which is a bi-directional energy meter capable of registering both import and export of electricity. This net generation is then credited to the owner’s account and adjusted subsequently against imports from the grid.

Solar Availabality

Working of a hybrid Solar PV system (Source: Studer Innotec SA)

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connection framework for netmetering shall address parameters including connecting voltage level, any minimum technical standards for interconnection as indicated by the Commission Capacity Limits The capacity of an individual rooftop PV system would be the available capacity of the service line connection, i.e. the sanctioned load of the consumer. The installation of net metered rooftop solar systems on consumer premises will utilize the same service line for excess power injection into the Grid which is currently being used by the consumer for drawing power from utility network. Interconnection arrangements Net-metering facility shall be extended to the solar power system installed in establishments /consumers connected to the electrical grid. These consumers are the â&#x20AC;&#x153;eligible consumersâ&#x20AC;? for the purpose of net-metering. Inter-

Restrictions on level of overall or local grid penetration Net-metering based rooftop solar systems are small capacity systems and can be expected to proliferate fast when the policy and regulations are conducive. The

impact and level of proliferation of net-metering based rooftop would have an impact on the local grid which has to address technical, safety and grid security issues arising out of possible reverse flow of electricity in the local grids. The distribution licensee shall provide net metering arrangement to all eligible consumers as long as the cumulative capacity to be allowed for a particular distribution transformer shall not exceed 15% of the capacity of the distribution transformer.

Metering Two meters would have to be installed by the solar power generator. One is for measuring solar generation and the other is for Import/Export measurement. The first meter, the solar generation meter, has to be installed at the generator end after the inverter at the ground floor of the premises to facilitate easy access for meter reading. The point of

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SPOT LIGHT energy drawn by the consumer from the date of COD to the end of the financial year. The carry forward of excess energy generation will be allowed from one billing cycle to the next billing cycle up-till the end of the same financial year and above capping shall apply therein to allow for seasonality in generation.

Working of a Solar hybrid inverter with net-metering facility (Source: Ten Sources Solar Electricity Ltd.)

solar power injection may be in between the load and the Import/ Export (Bi-directional) meter. The second meter is a bi-directional meter (single phase or three phase as per requirement) and is accepted for commercial settlements. These meters should be MRI and AMR compliant. If the consumer wishes to have a record of the reading taken, he shall be allowed to do so by the licensee. This meter will replace the existing consumer meter. The first and the second meter have to be installed at the same location where the present meter for consumption is installed. The cost of these meters shall be borne by the consumer. For connectivity at 11 kV level, the HT bi-directional meters with harmonic measurement provision available shall be provided.

Energy Accounting Electricity generated from a solar rooftop system shall be capped cumulatively at 90% of the electricity consumption by the eligible consumer at the end of settlement period which shall be the relevant financial year. In case of COD during the year, the 90% capping shall be on the

20 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

Any excess generation (above 90 per cent) at the end of the financial year would be considered as free energy and not offset against the consumer’s consumption.

Billing and Payment The consumer shall receive a net import/export bill indicating either net export to the Grid or net import from the Grid. In case of net import bill, i.e. electricity supplied by the distribution licensee exceeds the electricity generated by the eligible consumers solar rooftop system, the distribution licensee shall raise invoice for the net electricity consumption after taking into account any carry forward from previous billing periods in the same financial year. The consumer shall settle the same as per existing norms. If it is a net export bill, then credit amount shall be carried forward to next month for adjustment against next month’s import bill. No interest will be payable on this credit forward amount. Net credit available in account of the consumer will be finally adjusted in April of the next year, subject to the cap stated above. If the eligible consumer is under the ambit of time of day tariff, the electricity consumption in any time – block peak, off-peak or normal shall be first set off with

the solar generation in the same time block. Any excess generation over consumption in any time block, over and above the usage in that time block shall be adjusted at the lowest applicable tariff across all the slots. This will safeguard the interest of the utility.

Perspectives and Way Ahead The biggest pulling factor for installation of net-metering systems is the opportunity of reducing electricity charges applicable to the consumer. This feature attains considerable significance in the case of commercial and upperend domestic consumers who get to step down the electricity tariff applicable to them. Ironically this is also the single biggest painpoint for distribution companies who rely on the tariff arbitrage to cross-subsidize power for rural and low-consumption groups. However, taking into account the fact that the additional capacity addition comes at relatively minimal capital spend by the discoms, at the point of consumption and that the power generated can be set off in their RPOs, it seems like the growth of net-metering systems will be unconstrained in the long run. The new government has proclaimed its ambition to address the massive electrification problems in the country through solar programmes and bring solar power to every home before 2019. Consequentially, it is safe to assume that the concept of net-metering systems is a significant step towards realization of the goal and we can expect several constructive additions to the policies around them. As a rule of thumb indicator, the extremely quick adoption of the net-metering concept for rooftops throughout 2013-14 by various state governments is a positive sign of things to come in this direction ■

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IN FOCUS

Solar EPC services

Demystifying the Jargon Authored by Adarsh Das Co- Founder & CEO SunSource Energy Pvt. Ltd.

India’s Energy Demand-Supply Mismatch India is a country of multitudes. Diversity prevails here in every way that one can imagine. One of which is geography. The terrain varies across the length & breadth of India, so does the amount of sunlight incident across it, and the weather conditions that present them. Diversity notwithstanding, one generalization we can easily make is that India is blessed when it comes to solar irradiation. With Kanyakumari just eight degrees away from equator & Tropic of Cancer running right through the middle of the country, India has a favourable spot on the globe.

Prime Minister Modi in his recent speech at Madison Square Garden, New York, mentioned that Demand was one of three major assets that India possesses, to bolster its growth prospects. With the government envisioning and facilitating robust economic growth for the coming years, and a large and burgeoning, upwardly mobile population, it is obvious that India’s energy sector will have to expand to meet the Demand that Mr. Modi talked about. After all power & energy are the basis for any country’s charge to modernize and grow. Human societies at a macro level are fundamentally emergent systems that process matter and energy. At a micro level, energy is what allows any

Project done by SSE for a Manufacturing Firm

22 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

human society, and its component units, from families to industries and agricultural sectors, to increase its standards, quality of life, and productivity. At a personal level we have all experienced, directly or indirectly, the visible signs of growing power demand in India, such as the Northern power grid breakdown, which happened not so long ago. There are similar telling examples of how essential power sector has become to carry out our daily work. Let’s look at the demand-supply mismatch closely. As per the Ministry of Power report for the finan-

Rooftop Project done by SSE for a School

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IN FOCUS cial year 2012-13, over the past sixteen years, energy requirement has increased at a year over year growth rate of 5.5% whereas the available energy has increased at a year over year growth rate of 5.4%. At the start of this century, India’s energy demand stood at 480 billion units & energy supply stood at 450 billion units. The shortage was almost of 30 billion units. More than a decade later, at the end of the FY 12-13 the demand stood at 937 billion units & energy supply stood at 857 billion units. This time the shortage was of almost 80 billion units. It does not take an industry expert to make out that the increase in supply of energy supply has not been able to keep pace with the increase in demand of energy. Rather, over a decade, the shortage in supply has almost tripled. This is in spite of major initiatives taken up by the Government to improve energy efficiency, and indeed, notable advances in our economy’s energy productivity. Many will take this demandsupply mismatch as a sign of lagging systems and India’s endemic failure to grow its economy since 2006-2007. But we believe, in the spirit that every challenge hides an opportunity, that for the energy industry in general, the solar energy industry in particular, and for energy consumers across India, our country’s demand-supply mismatch currently presents

an opportunity in disguise. The renewable energy sector has for some time now, strived to bridge this demand-supply gap, especially in areas which are inaccessible or economically unfeasible for conventional sources of energy to reach out to. As of FY 12-13, output from Renewable energy source constituted almost 12% of the all India installed capacity (in mw) of power stations located in the regions of main land and islands combined. This is almost thirty giga watts out of a total of two hundred thirty giga watts (1 giga watt equals 1000 MW).

Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) Industry and the EPC firm’s role Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) industry is a sub-segment of the overall Renewable Energy sector. SPV industry is a category of global businesses that include PV cell and module manufacturing, power electronics manufacturers, system integrator (Engineering Procurement and Construction, or “EPC”), consulting, developers, investors & so on. A Solar EPC company is services-centric in nature. Specifically, an EPC’s scope of work includes designing, procuring, fabricating, installing and commissioning the components and equipment in an SPV power plant on a turn-

key project basis. These components, from solar modules and all other equipment, when brought together by the EPC services provider, become the operating hardware and software for production of solar energy. SPV power plants’ energy output is time & location sensitive, varying according to the time of the year & local solar irradiation, although seasonal variations typically don’t result in very high yearto-year energy yield variability. Solar power plants can be built by end-users of energy or by investors, for self (captive) use, or for selling energy to the grid. Additionally, an internationally accepted business model, which allows the solar power plant owners to use their energy both for captive and selling, purposes, is also starting to come into India. Since solar power plants require significant capital allocation, most buyers, whether solar energy end-users or sellers, need an EPC services firm to come in and integrate the various moving pieces of their solar project, for a fixed price to the extent possible. In executing each SPV project, the EPC firm assigns a Project Team to approach the given tasks. And in each team, one Project Manager will lead the team in project schedule planning, design, procurement & contract administration, construction, progress reporting, commissioning and other tasks. The team usually consists of a Design Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, QC Engineer, Instrumentation Engineer, Electrical Engineer and other supporting staffs where applicable. From the initial design, fabrication, implementation to final commissioning and operation, the experience and capability of the Project Managers and Engineers determines appropriate design, quality execution, and the timely completion of the clients’ projects.

Variations under the EPC

24 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

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scope Under an EPC contract, the EPC firm (contractor) designs the installation, procures the necessary materials and builds the project, either directly or by sub-contracting part of the scope of work. In the cases where the contractor carries the project risk for schedule as well as budget in return for a fixed price, the EPC contract is called Lump Sum Turn Key (LSTK) depending on the agreed scope of work. The ‘keys’ to a commissioned plant are handed to the owner for an agreed amount, just as a builder hands the keys of a flat to the purchaser. This is referred to as “Commissioning”, which is the last step of the Construction, or the C step. (One should recognize that some EPC contracts terminate at Mechanical Completion but before Commissioning while

LSTK contracts always include Commissioning.) Variations on EPC scope are possible, depending on the preferences and in-house capabilities and risk-preference of the owner/buyer. When the scope is restricted to engineering and procurement, this is referred to as an EP, E and P or E+P contract. This is often done in situations where the construction risk is too great for the contractor or when the owner/ buyer does the Construction, or C. Examples of such buyers may include firms that specialize in construction, such as real estate builders, who may still need the EPC player to come in at the project management or commissioning stage for advisory support. Some buyers prefer to give E-C contracts, where the EPC firm only after detailed engineering design, provides the Bill of Materials and

Certified

specifications to the Owner, who then buys the equipment directly on its balance sheet, taking the procurement P, into its own hands. This may happen in the case of buyers with large balance sheets and/or procurement departments that may allow them to better structure payment terms and in rare instances, prices for large purchases. In such case, the EPC firm may then come in after procurement to complete the construction C.

What should I (a buyer) do? Solar power plant buyers and even projects, can broadly be situated into sub-MW and large MW-scale categories for the purpose of this discussion: Sub-MW Category: Commercial and industrial buyers (malls, edu-

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IN FOCUS cational institutions, manufacturing plants etc) are increasingly choosing to build captive SPV power plants in the sub-MW category, often utilizing their rooftops and campus open spaces. For such buyers, it makes much sense to contract with an EPC firm on LSTK basis. The reasons for this are similar to any make vs. buy decision: ›› Typically, solar plants are not a business area, and therefore they do not need to build any expertise in a non-strategic domain, by building specialized teams. ›› An EPC firm will help them with the design, capacity-selection, and feasibility. These analyses are economic in nature - which can be validated by the buyer’s project and/ or procurement teams in terms of financial returns or savings or payback, and do not require specialized teams. Hint: Check your EPC firm’s design team size, abilities, and experience. Check if they can establish your returns for you in clear terms. ›› An established EPC firm will typically have the buying power, and vendor relationships to come up with and buy equipment at the appropriate scale and prices. This is typically passed on to the customer in market competitive prices. Hint: The track record of the firm is a key thing to check when you’re evaluating EPC firms. What type of firms have they worked with? How many sites across India? How many states? How are they working? ›› An established EPC firm will have the design-engineering resources to deal with technical

variability across sites. Hint: Check the variety of sites, rooftops and conditions across which your EPC firm has worked. ›› A good EPC firm will be able to provide you visibility on the expected generation, performance, and warranties on the equipment involved in any given project or site. MW-Category: This is a domain where most developers and investors look at returns from the Independent Power Producer or IPP model, either on ground-mount or rooftop basis, but sometimes may involve owning solar assets on client’s rooftops. This is where all configurations from LSTK EPC contracts to EP, EC can come into play, depending on the mutual comfort and agreeability between the contractor and the Buyer/owner.

Conclusion EPC is gaining importance worldwide. It requires good understanding by the EPC to return a profit. An owner decides for an EPC contract for reasons that include: ›› Reduced stress for owner ›› Easy work and growth of the company. ›› Single point of contact for owner simplifies communications. ›› Ready availability of post-commissioning services ›› Ensures quality and reduces practical issues like logistics, procurement, vendor selection & so on ›› Owner is protected against changing prices for materials,

labor, etc. ›› Cost is known at the start of the project Besides the plant siting, in an EPC contract the owner defines: ›› Scope and specifications of the plant ›› Quality ›› Project duration ›› Cost One main reason an owner may prefer an EPC arrangement is “certainty of cost”. An EPC contract binds the Contractor to deliver the project at a firm; predetermined price regardless of any increase in costs that the Contractor may incur after the contract is signed. However, changes to specifications initiated by the owner (better finishes for example) may be incorporated through a “change order”. Here, the owner and the Contractor negotiate the price to make the changes and these changes/prices are recorded in the change order document. The types of structures for solar power plants are groundmounted, rooftop, superstructure & ballasted as illustrated in the pictures. Superstructure is a raised structure in the form of a shed, also called canopy, on to which the solar panels are further secured. Ballasted mounting systems use weight to hold down the racking and modules instead of attaching them directly to the site surface. Superstructures or ballasted structures become necessary when penetrating rooftops is not a possibility ■

About the Author As co-founder & CEO, Adarsh has helped SunSource create a niche in the solar market. Adarsh holds an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where he concentrated on strategy, finance and sustainability. He holds a masters degree in Solar Energy Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor's degree in Energy Engineering from IIT Kharagpur. He is a Lifetime member of the Solar Energy Society of India.

26 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

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SPECIAL FEATURE

A 5.8 MW solar installation in India

(Photo Courtesy REC)

Regional Variations in Solar Power Plant Performance Authored by Dr. Jaya Singh, BKC WeatherSys Pvt. Ltd.

olar radiation along with local meteorological parameter measurements is the basis for accurately analyzing the performance and financial viability of any solar power project. To the best of our knowledge, in India, a large scale analysis of solar power plant performance has not taken into account environmental parameters. Instead, plant performance measures are based on Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF), which is a crude estimate, at best, of a plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s output with respect to the total installed capacity. Now, we are seeing a shift towards increased demand for more accurate solar and weather monitoring. As plants become operational, people are evaluating performance, and therefore, accurate solar radiation measurements are critical. It serves as the baseline for how much energy a plant can expect to produce, as the amount of solar radiation incident on a panel is almost directly related to how well the plant is able to convert and harness that radiation into energy.

ambient temperatures are not always predictive of high performance and module performance starts to decrease with high temperature depending upon the panel technology as we see in plants in Northern India. We have recently looked at how relative humidity affects plant performance in Gujarat. Wind also impacts the performance of solar power plants and their impact will come to light with time as data from plants in coastal regions of Tamil Nadu become available.

There is also increased awareness that local environmental conditions affect plant performance. The effect of dust on power production of solar plants in Rajasthan and the unanticipated costs associated with cleaning of panels is well known. Likewise, high

Meteorological Parameters Effect Solar Power Plant Performance

28â&#x20AC;&#x201A;SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

In summary, there is increasing awareness that basing investments on solar radiation maps alone may not be the best approach. So we now see an increased demand for solar resource assessment for choosing plant sites. Moreover, customers are commissioning us to measure solar and weather parameters for extended periods before a plant is set-up, as well as once a plant is up and running to arrive at a meaningful measure of plant performance.

As the availability of solar energy is affected by latitude, longitude, elevation, and local weather con-

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Of these five districts, Kutch appears to be the district with optimal environmental conditions for solar power generation: a. GHI values are amongst the highest (Figure 1); b. Ambient temperatures are below 25 °C for almost the entire year, saving the summer months of May, June and July. Even then, temperatures did not exceed the peak of ~27 °C observed in June. These temperatures are close to or within the temperature range of the Standard Test Conditions (STC) specified by most module manufacturers, ensuring high module performance. Lastly, Kutch also appears to have lower values of relative humidity than the other four sites for most of the year. It is no surprise then that 3 of the top five performing plants in this report are in Kutch. While there are multiple contributing factors for performance, local environmental and weather conditions

350

300

250

GHI (w/m2)

We chose the five districts in Gujarat that have the highest number of solar power plants to date: Surendranagar, Kutch, Patan, Rajkot, and Porbander. Modeled GHI, ambient temperature and relative humidity values for sites these five districts have been compared as a function of plant performance.

Solar Irradiance and Other Meterological Parameters

Measured GHI (W/m2)

Relative Humidity (%)

60 50

200

Ambient Temperature (0C)

150

40 30

100

50 0

Apr-13 May-13 Jun-13

July-13 Aug-13 Sep-13 Oct-13 Nov-13 Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14

seem to have a significant impact on plant performance. This article provides a window into showing how meteorological and local environmental conditions may affect energy production. In summary, we can safely

Temp (0C) an Relative Humidity (%)

ditions, we compared irradiation and meteorological parameters for plant sites in five different districts of Gujarat. This analysis was presented in detail in a white paper with RESolve earlier this year. Here, we present a summary of the findings.

conclude that energy yields of solar power plants vary not only according to plant design and technology, but local weather and environmental conditions have significant impact on plant output ■

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COVER STORY

A NEW ERA FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY 30 SmartEnergy June/ July 2014

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The new government in India was elected on the back of an unprecedented surge of aspirations, especially among women and youth, and their dream of 24x7 power in their homes. Achieving 24X7 power is definitely an arduous task but also not impossible. Electricity from renewable resources like solar, wind, biomass is going to play an important role in fulfilling the 24x7 power dream. In this article Rohan Singh takes stock of the first 100 days of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the major announcements, their impact and the future outlook for the sector.

hen the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the maiden budget of the new government in July, it became amply clear that focus on renewable energy would be one of the key priorities of the new NDA regime. In next few days a slew of measures were taken that left no doubts that the government is determined to give the much needed impetus to the renewable energy sector and set the stage for rapid growth in the clean energy. The first 100 days of the new government has infused new hope for the growth in the sector. The Minister of New and Renewable Energy Mr.Piyush Goyal recently said he expects a $100 billion investment in renewable energy in India and a 24X7 power supply to every household in next four years. But achieving these ambitious targets wouldn’t be a cakewalk for the government. It has a tough task to get rid of the policy vacuum that has been ailing the sector for last few years and to ensure a rapid growth. It also needs to strike a balance between meeting the energy needs and ensuring the growth of the domestic manufacturing sector at the same time.

New Measures Within days of taking charge, the new government has taken a number of steps that brings optimism about the future of clean energy in India. While committing to complete the targets of the previous government as scheduled, it has also set a new range of targets for itself. The first budget unveiled a detailed road map for harnessing India’s renewable energy resources. It announced schemes such as setting up ultra mega solar power projects, developing solar parks on canal banks, constructing transmission corridors for renewable energy and financing one lakh solar power-driven water pumps. New and renewable energy has received a very high priority in the new government’s financial plan. The ultra mega solar

power projects are ready to be set up in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. To encourage the setting up of clean energy projects, the new government has also provided excise duty exemptions for raw materials for solar and wind power projects. The industry believes the increased focus on the solar energy sector will give a deserving boost to solar companies to expand generation capacity which is currently a mere one per cent of the country’s total energy production. Further the planned Green Energy Corridor Project promises to integrate channels for evacuation of solar power.

Revamping National Solar Mission The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), under the leadership of Piyush Goyal, is considering revamping the country’s flagship renewable energy program and making it more ambitious. The new government has decided to double the solar mission targets set by the previous government and achieves it in lesser time. The upcoming phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) may have a target of 3,000 MW. If implemented, this will be the largest-ever tender for solar power in the country. The bidding for 3,000 MW will take place in three tranches of 1,000 MW each, and a single destination state at one time. The recent announcement of the government on the draft scheme for solar parks should be seen as a part of this new plan. The minister has expressed hope that India has the potential to deploy 100,000 MW of solar. Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy, says “Our aim is to achieve grid parity in solar by 2017 at least. Large capacity addition and pooling of comparatively costly solar power with conventional power

» Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy 31

COVER STORY ON TARGETS

“

we are looking at more aggressive targets, with better reach across the nook & corners of the country. So much so that we are hopeful of achieving 20 GW of solar power faster than the target of 2022

“

Piyush Goyal

Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, GoI

would bring down the power price and increase overall power capacity in the country,” Second batch of bidding under the second phase of JNNSM aims to achieve 10,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2017. The cumulative target of the mission is to have 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022.

No Anti Dumping Duty The government recently dropped plans to impose an anti-dumping duty on solar panel imports from the US, China, Malaysia and Taiwan. This is contrary to what the Commerce Ministry had recommended earlier this year. Dropping the duty may upset the domestic manufacturers. The policymakers however believe that the move would help India in fulfilling its energy needs. Focusing on developing domestic solar industry at the cost of electricity generation would not have been a sensible move for India. Grid parity is possible only if we see a major expansion in solar power generation. Anti-dumping duty would have made this difficult. No Anti Dumping Duty is also in line with government’s flagship ‘Make in India’ initiative – which aims to make India a manufacturing hub by giving incentives to companies to invest in India’s manufacturing sector. This is also being seen as the Government’s incentive to the overseas manu-

32 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

facturers so that they setup their solar manufacturing units in India. The Minster Piyush Goyal said, “The anti-dumping duty issue has been amicably resolved and that impetus would be given to ‘Make in India’ solar manufacturing along with priority for domestic content in solar projects.” The decision has received mixed reaction from the industry. The project developers have welcomed the step but a large section of solar module producers are upset who have been demanding the imposition of anti-dumping duties for a long time.

Fresh Air for Wind Energy The prospects of the wind energy sector in India have increased following the full restoration of subsidies and tax benefits announced by the government this year. Stage is set for the launch of National Wind Energy Mission on the line of the National Solar Mission. The basic customs duty have been halved on forged steel rings used in the manufacture of bearings of wind-operated electricity generators to 5%. The government also exempted SAD of 4% on parts and raw materials required for the manufacture of wind-operated generators. The government has restored accelerated depreciation (AD) benefit to wind-power developers to increase wind generation capacity. AD is a tax benefit scheme that

can be availed by anyone setting up or investing in a wind energy farm. The ad-hoc termination of this benefit in 2012 had resulted in nearly 50 per cent fall in capacity installations in 2013.

Healing the Health of T&D In the 2014 budget, the Indian government also announced plans to establish a series of Green Energy Corridors to facilitate evacuation of more than 30 GW of power generated from renewable energy sources into the national grid. The implementation of Green Energy Project Corridor (GEPC) shall be accelerated to facilitate evacuation of renewable energy across the country. Long-pending transmission projects worth Rs.12, 272 crore have also been cleared. New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal announced is plans, “We have already discussed the plan with 17 states for strengthening the transmission network and we are hopeful that many more would come on board soon. In renewable energy, we are looking at more aggressive targets, with better reach across the nook and corners of the country. So much so that we are hopeful of achieving 20 GW (20,000 MW) of solar power faster than the target of 2022,”He also said the government expects $50-60 billion investment in power transmission and distribution in the next four years.

More funds for Clean Energy- But what is it for? The NDA government has doubled the cess on all forms of coal to support clean energy initiatives. The clean energy cess on coal has been increased from Rs.50 per tonne to Rs.100 per tonne. Since 2010, the government has been collecting around Rs 30003500 crores for the National clean  www.supersmartenergy.com

energy fund (NCEF) every year. So far,a total of Rs. 14000 crores have been collected through the cess, which was meant to be used for renewable energy initiatives in solar, wind and biomass. The concern however is regarding the utilization of this fund. Even after four years of its establishment, very little money from the fund has actually been spent to support clean energy development in the country. According to reports, so far only Rs.1500 crores has been allocated, roughly 10% of the fund, of which very little has been spent by the ministry. With increased cess on coal, the Clean Energy fund will receive around Rs. 7000 crores per year, a good sum that could be used to jump start a number of ambitious renewable energy projects that the government has promised. But for this to become a reality the government would first need to release the funds from the exchequer. The stated objective of this fund is ‘to invest in entrepreneurial ventures and research in the field of clean energy technologies.’ Even though the fund is available, it largely remains under-utilized. Dr. R K Rachauri, the Director General of The Energy Resource Institute (TERI) Says, “We must have a single point of decisionmaking for the utilization of this fund. It is a significant amount. The government should fast track ways for this money to be utilized.

possible if it is used in a focused manner. But sadly even in the new government, the amount from it is now diverted to environment projects, the major one being cleaning and developing inland waterways on the river Ganga. A major amount from it would now go to the Ganga cleaning project, as per the Budget statement. Chandra Bhushan the Deputy Director General of Centre for Science and Environment says “Not much information is available in the public domain. The fund was supposed to support new technologies and also encourage entrepreneurship but whatever information we have clearly suggests it is not meeting its objectives. We have heard it is being used for other projects like planting trees under the green India mission and cleaning polluted sites. This is not a small amount. Investing Rs.7000/- crore per year can revolutionize renewable energy in India. This money is thrice the yearly budget of the Ministry of Renewable Energy itself of Rs. 2500/- crore.” It is indeed ironic that the money in this fund has not increased the budget of the Ministry. Perhaps that’s where the problem lies. Many clean energy projects in India are looking forward to funds from the NCEF, including the ambitious ‘Green Corridors’ project, which aims to provide a separate and efficient transmis-

sion and distribution infrastructure. There is also viability gap funding for solar power project developers under India’s National Solar Mission. A senior Government official in the Ministry of Renewable Energy says, “The money has not even come to the clean energy fund and is still lying with the Ministry of Finance. If the money were allocated we would have had Rs.14000/- crores for various projects under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. But they have complicated the process. Even though the money is available, there is another process to sanction it, which has led to the delay of various projects. “

Solar Cities and Smart Cities-The Next Big Thing in Energy? The ambitious Solar Cities program is certainly a fresh step towards increasing the solar energy contribution in our total energy basket. The government is taking this plan very seriously and this is evident by the fact that just days after taking charge it organized a National Meet on Solar Cities in the city of Chandigarh. The solar cities program has an

Director General of the Delhi based think tank Centre for Science and Environment, Sunita Narain says, “ The move (to increase the cess) is important as it signals the need to make polluting coal more expensive to use. It is even more important as it is money that should be invested in renewable energy projects that meet the needs of the poorest. But this is not done. Instead, the money is frittered away in many small projects” The successful implementation of the clean energy fund is only

Solar Cities and Smart Cities-The Next Big Thing in Energy?

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

COVER STORY ensure its uninterrupted growth.

Fresh Air for Wind Energy: Stage is set for the launch of National Wind Energy Mission on the line of the National Solar Mission

objective to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and advance large-scale solar in India with one consolidated central financial assistance (CFA) based policy that covers all kinds of solar installations, including power, rooftop, and heaters. Cities are required to reduce 10 percent of their fossil fuel-based energy consumption to qualify as a solar city and the national target is to develop a total of 100 solar cities throughout the country that can achieve this feat. The plan for building 100 smart cities is also underway. These cities would have the high standards of energy efficiency and a major part of their energy requirements would come from clean sources. Green Buildings would be an important component of smart cities. The government would need to play a critical role to motivate the market’s investment in energy efficiency through incentives, mandates, and strong building codes.

Energy Future

Efficient

The Government has approved National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) in August 2014 with an outlay of Rs.775/- crore. It will enhance investments for better technology, creation of a venture capital with partial risk guarantee fund, appliance rating system and notification of a new building code for energy conservation. India

34 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

intends to implement a mandatory minimum efficiency building code by 2017. Many states with fast-growing cities, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, have already adopted green building codes. The new government’s interest in the smart energy solutions for India’s energy challenges comes from the Prime Minister Modi’s interest in the sector. Modi has been the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat for over 10 years during, in which he initiated what was then the largest-ever solar program in the country. Under his leadership the state power distribution companies in Gujarat signed agreements to procure electricity from solar power projects with a cumulative capacity of more than 900 MW. Gujarat continues to be number one in solar energy sector with a share of about 34%.

Clearing the clouds

While ensuring major expansion in grid connected solar power generation, the government also needs to support the decentralized Solar Power. With 300 sunny days a year, India has a significant opportunity for off grid solar solutions. The rooftop space in buildings can be used to tap the potential. Use of decentralized renewable energy is key solution to power crunch in cities and providing energy access to all. The current installed power generation capacity of the country is 2,49,488 MW of which renewable constitute 31,692 MW. This is just over 12% of the total generated capacity in India. In order to match up with the rising demand of power, steady investments and manufacture-friendly policies were expected by the new government. It remains to be seen, if the proposed allocations are properly utilized in their sector.

Aiming a Cleaner, Brighter Future The Modi Government faces a test to revive India’s Renewable Energy Sector. With new approach and positive attitude of the government, the sun looks brighter for the clean energy sector in India. India has made an international commitment to take domestic climate actions and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The growth in the clean energy sector will help it to grow as a lowcarbon economy.

The policy vacuum in last few years and financial mess has posed serious challenges for the The government is expecting revival of the clean energy sector. $100 billion investment in the renewable energy sector in the Solar photovoltaic manufacturnext four years as it firms up a new ers are facing serious funds issues. policy framework for the same. The Indian solar power market But considering the vast energy is highly dependent on cheap, needs of the country the new imported solar PV modules. The government will have to travel wind sector has just managed to an extra mile to provide affordresurge after a year of slowdown. able, round-the-clock clean energy The government has a tough supply to all households ■ task to remove the hurdles before the renewable energy sector and  www.supersmartenergy.com

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INTERVIEW EXPERT SPEAK

Kyuichiro Kitagawa Director Overseas Operations Laplace System Co. Ltd.

"We have been ranked #1 monitoring solution provider in the world in terms of GW of projects added last year"

.Tell us more about Laplace System and the products and services you offer in photovoltaics and solar energy field. Laplace System provides two solutions for the PV market – a PV system design and simulation solution Solar Pro and a range of monitoring solutions Solar Link Series.

contributed largely to the promo-

tion of adoption and practice of

Our product, Solar Pro is capable of accurate calculation of expected energy and optimal construction that are needed for a PV system. Our product line, the Solar Link Series have a great share in the field of monitoring for PV systems and can monitor and evaluate the performance of systems by collecting, processing, and analyzing data. Results can be easily understood because of comprehensible graphic presentation and not just enumeration of figures. Since 1990, when Laplace System was established, we have delivered pioneering products in the field of renewable energy. We have

36 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

Solar Pro can be used to design diﬀerent types of PV installations  www.supersmartenergy.com

alternative energy. GTM Research 2014 Report* has ranked Laplace System as #1 in Solar Energy Monitoring System in the world, in terms of GW of projects added last year. *Reference:Brehaut/ SoliChamba Consulting (2014) [GLOBAL PV MONITORING

Solar Pro can show you interactively how shading can aﬀect your PV power generation

2014-2018]

.Briefly tell us more about your PV Design and Simulation software – Solar Pro 4.2 and how is it unique from other similar software? Solar Pro is an advanced PV simulation software that can provide you with very accurate estimate of power generation, economic efficiency and shade analysis that is necessary for optimal construction of any type of rooftop and ground based PV systems. What makes Solar Pro unique to other simulation software is that its powerful simulation engine is combined with a user friendly 3D CAD interface that allows a PV design engineer to create a complete simulation and presentation of the PV system using a single solution. In the version 4.2 we have introduced many new features. Image

files (e.g. PNG, JPEG) or snapshots from Google Earth can be used as reference to draw custom roof plans. A new ‘Tree’ menu allows users to draw trunk and leaves separately and the new ‘Horizon’ menu can be used for drawing 360-degree horizon and reflecting far shading. The logic of irradiance calculation has been upgraded by changing the diffuse irradiance calculation to Hay model and re-examining the shading effect. Users can also use their measured horizontal irradiance data for simulating generation of PV arrays on several roof surfaces. 8 new patterns for printing reports have been included.

.How can students benefit from Solar Pro’s ‘Educational’ version? Please

Screenshot of Solar Link ARCH Dashboard

elaborate. Laplace System with its pioneering products in the field of renewable energy has contributed to the adoption and practice of clean energy in Japan and worldwide. As a part of this initiative to create a better future for our youth we want to play a role in educating the youth by offering our software at special prices to universities and colleges who are providing training in renewable energy. Solar Pro’s simulation and presentation capabilities can help students to study real world scenarios inside computer labs and help to sharpen their skills in depth by simulating a variety of environment and PV system design. In India, Solar Pro has been recently introduced as a part of the Energy Studies in a lead-

NovLink 2014 SmartEnergy Screenshot ofOct/ Solar ARCH String Information

INTERVIEW EXPERT SPEAK ing university and its affiliated institutes.

.Tell us more about your monitoring solutions, the Solar Link Series? The Solar Link Series consists of four products: Solar Link Viewer, Solar Link ARCH, Solar Link ZERO and Solar Link ZERO Terminal. Solar Link Viewer is a PC-based photovoltaic monitoring and presentation system. With its eye-catching display functions in addition to its accurate monitoring functions it is bundled with well designed graphic content that can be customized to get maximum attention. Solar Link ARCH is a PC-based remote monitoring system for photovoltaic power generation plant, helps users to collect and analyze field data from anywhere, such as megasolar plants in backwoods to scattered roof-rental systems. Users can control data through internet by ASP service. We provide simple interface so users can easily figure out the condition of their generation plants without visiting the actual place. Solar Link ZERO is software to monitor and display the status of a PV system using a compact size CPU terminal. With its small body, it has a wide variety of functions including data collection, output of graphics into a large-sized display, and connection with networks. Solar Link ZERO Terminal can measure inverters, power meter, and cubicle condition. It is very small

Solar Link ZERO Triton Terminal (RS-232C/RS-485)

38 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

but can measure 3 lines in total. Measured data will be uploaded to cloud server through internet and users can remote monitor by ASP service. By expanding measuring function and improving endurance, it becomes usable in megasolar plants.

these regions can expect to channelize their efforts better.

.Can you share some success stories of companies who have benefited from using your simulation and monitoring products? In recent years the Japanese government has taken an initiative in large scale deployment of renewable energy and has already achieved grid parity. Our company has been a leading provider of simulation and monitoring products in Japan and last year we have been ranked #1 monitoring solution provider in the world in terms of Gigawatts of projects added last year.

.What is the marketing strategy that Laplace is going to adopt to market the new product in India? Laplace System is currently dedicating its resources to localize its upcoming releases of Solar Pro and Solar Link Arch. Apart from direct selling to customers we plan to bundle our simulation and monitoring solutions with products and components supplied by inverter and switchboard manufacturers. We have been approached by some large scale EPC contractors to get into a partnership. We are open to form such alliances with Indian companies. We will be providing different pricing models for different customer categories and in India we have for the first time introduced a special package for students.

.Do you have a technical support team in India? Users in India will be provided local support by our distributor Rogress Techno Pvt Ltd. The India team will have access to R&D centre of Laplace System for issues that need special attention.

.How important is the Indian Market for Laplace in terms of growth and opportunities? With the launch of the new product, what is the market and growth that you are looking at? Indian market is very important to us. It is an emerging market and one the top five of the world's biggest economies. We expect this market to grow at a very fast rate over the next few decades, especially in the renewable energy sector. We are hopeful that the current government’s initiative to promote clean energy will provide positive results. Keeping in perspective the long tradition of amiable relation between India and Japan companies from both

.Where do you see Laplace Systems in India 2 to 3 years from now? Laplace products have been widely installed in Japan and we are the market leader in PV simulation and monitoring solutions. We have big plans for India. We think India will be our biggest market after Japan. In order to see greater distributorship of our software we have a few objectives that are to be met in the near future. To start with, we are developing a dedicated centre for installation of monitoring systems and technical support locally for our Indian customers. We have tied up with an Indian IT company who will also assist us with development of quality assurance of our software and a call centre facility. We will be positioning India as one of the global service delivery units which will not only service our Indian customers but also provide support to our customers in USA and Malaysia ■

 www.supersmartenergy.com

INTERVIEW BUSINESS LEADER

Anurag Garg Vice President, Solar BU, Schneider Electric India

"We want to keep on supporting the solar industry the best way possible"

.We are at the 8th Renewable Energy Exhibition and we would like to know about the new products that you have launched at the exhibition, a brief about technical details and their applications? We have introduced two new solar inverters- Conext CL and Conext XW+- while Conext Cl is the new level inverter of three-phase string inverters and Conext XW+ is the newly created version of the Conext XW hybrid inverters. Both this inverters will be manufactured at our manufacturing facility at Bangalore and will be targeted both at local and global

40 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

markets.

this new Context ComBox.

Conext CL supports high flexibility with the incorporated wiring box along with five configuration options. The lightweight, of around 45 kg inverter and 16 kg detachable wiring box, helps in easy installation and service. It offers high ROI of 98.4% peak efficiency and high reliability with its electrolyte-free design, which works in harsh environment as well.

The Conext CL will serve as a perfect customer solution for commercial buildings, carports and decentralized power plants and Conext XW+ would serve as a single solution for grid-tie backup and off-grid solar for homes, businesses and communities.

While, Conext XW+ is the nextgeneration version of the Conext XW hybrid inverter. With its power distribution panel, AC coupling compatible with PV inverters, integrated Conext MPPT solar charger controllers and monitors battery resources with the New Context Battery Monitor, it makes it easy to work on the system installation task. It is also possible to monitor and organize the entire system using PC or a tablet device with

 www.supersmartenergy.com

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INTERVIEW BUSINESS LEADER

.With the launch of these products what is the opportunities in terms of growth that you are looking at? I would only say that, without putting any percentage of growth or figure to that, we expect these products will help our customers in different parts of the country wherever rooftop projects are coming . In India the rooftop market is such that it has space for everyone to survive. The rooftop market in India is growing leaps and bounds and is likely to continue to do so in the future. .

.What is the initial feedback that you are getting from the visitors? The response is pretty good on the product as well as on the expo. We are seeing lot of enthusiasm in the people and the turnaround is pretty good. The people are curious to know of the new features in the products. We are looking forwards towards great uptake for our product and better returns of this launch through this expo.

.Could you brief us about the other products and solutions from Schneider Electric those available for the solar market in India? Schneider Electric has a big bandwidth of products for solar. The products and services offered by Schneider Electric in Solar can broadly be classified under 2 Categories i.e. Utility Scale and Large commercial (USLC) and Rooftop, Small Commercial and Off –Grid(RSC&OG). In USLC, we offers Large Central Inverters starting from 540KVA to 680KVA with highest efficiency in its class, Solar SCADA, Array Junction Boxes, Transformers for Solar Application, HT Panel and Ring Main Units, UPS, DC Cables Harness with Connectors etc. For USLC Segment, we also offer a very unique Plug N Play solution of Solar Inverter Sub-stations (SISS)/ PV BOX which helps Developers

42 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014



With Grid prices and Diesel prices increasing, it is evident that Solar shall be competitive against Grid over a period of time in most of cities against commercial tariffs



and EPC complete solar projects within a short cycle time with many other benefits of reduced site activity, elimination of the need for coordination with various supplies. SISS/ PV Box is a fully integrated factory tested solution, which has Inverters, Transformers, RMU, UPS, Ventilation System, LV Aux Control Panel and Scada Control with all these products and components pre-connected and tested at our plant. For Rooftop & Off Grid Segment, we have offers which cover various solar needs of Off Grid and On Grid with MPPT Charge Controllers of Various Ratings, Inverters suitable for Battery based and Non-Battery system for single and three phase system. We also have unique solution for Solar Agricultural/ Commercial Pumps, which can be used for AC Pumps.

.The rooftop market in India is mainly confined to large commercial buildings and government offices, what steps do you suggest the government needs to take to promote wide acceptability of rooftop solutions in the market? The government is already doing its bit by giving subsidies to the projects commissioned on the rooftop by the MNRE listed channel partners. The subsidy, which was earlier, not disbursed due to some financial issues for the past one and half years, the government releasing the subsidy has given the impetus and confidence to the people installing the rooftop systems. Announcing subsidies and not releasing it in time is really a major hurdle hindering the growth of the

rooftop solar industry. Customers, installers and integrators have been fed up with the delays in getting the subsidy released on time. The government can do more good by removing subsidy altogether and either provide generation based incentive, or probably cheaper loans to the customers.

.Express your views on the competitiveness of solar manufacturing industry in India and the government’s decision not to impose ant-dumping duties on imported panels? The government not imposing duties on imported panels is good news for the solar industry. The government has assured the industry that whatever capacity we have will be consumed; now it is up to the industry to accept the challenge and increase the capacity. Coming to competitiveness, by virtue of choice you have no choice but to become competitive. We have to understand that the whole objective is to make solar energy competitive than conventional power and the whole supply chain has to align to make it happen. Gujarat when it started, the price of solar power was at Rs. 19/- and now we are at around Rs6.5/- which means that the cost has reduced by almost 50% in less than three years. Definitely there is the potential to be competitive because the good thing is that the cost of conventional power will go up.

.What are the emerging applications within solar that are likely to drive growth in the future?  www.supersmartenergy.com

India is very well positioned for growth in both USLC and Rooftop and Off Grid. As we know government of India has plans to install 10 GW by 2017 and 20 GW by 2022, growth is evident. As regards Rooftop and Off Grid, considering the length and breadth of the country and also the population, with many parts of country still without power or with power only for few hours using diesel or with grid power being more expensive than solar, it is very clear that this segment has huge potential of growth in India. With Grid prices and Diesel prices increasing, it is evident that Solar shall be competitive against Grid over a period of time in most of cities against commercial tariffs.

.Could you elaborate on the post sales services from Schneider Electric? After sales service is the strength for Schneider in India as we are



We spend a good amount on R&D as a company to be aligned with the need of the market and think ahead of what is required present in India since decades. We have a dedicated service setup and service is core of our strategy. You can have a very good product but if you are not able to service the customer at the right time, especially in solar where it is a generation linked product, you may not be able to have a repeat customer. We at Schneider are at advantage of having the service setup closed to the customers across the country. We have already aligned our service set up and our customers are very happy on this aspect.

.What are going to be the key focus areas for Schneider Electric over the next 3 to



4 years? We will remain focused on Solar as one of the growing business opportunity. Schneider is a recognized brand in the sector we serve and the products we provide. We are an innovative company, we spend a good amount on R&D as a company to be aligned with the need of the market and think ahead of what is required. Our area of focus in Solar would be to bring out sustainable, innovative, competitive and energy efficient products through R&D. For us solar is more strategic than a volume game, from the Schneider perspective we want to keep on supporting the solar industry the best way possible ■

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

SPECIAL FEATURE

A Shift Towards Distribution Generation Methods and Models Authored by Shubham Sandeep Co-Founder & Director, Aeon Solaris Pvt. Ltd.

ven as a significant contributor to India’s economic development, the country’s power sector is crippled with many challenges, owing to dated approaches and technologies. The country’s reliance on the fossil fuel based power generating systems and inefficient transmission and distribution network shows that there have hardly been any remarkable interventions in the sector for decades. Fossil-powered electricity with over 70% share in the Indian market is neither a financially nor an environmentally sustainable solution. India currently has a coal deficit of approximately 150 million metric tons that is met through imports and which is projected to triple over the next 5 years leading to a rising current account deficit and escalating electricity prices. In order to meet the rapidly increasing electricity demands, especially in remote areas, India needs to invest approximately USD 35 billion to significantly upgrade its transmission and distribution networks. Transmission and distribution losses in India are approximately 24% and these networks account for around 40% of the cost of delivered electricity on average.

44 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

This even results in commercial level solar projects not being as effective in solving the energy shortage as they should be. So when people in India are losing close to a minimum of 25% from electricity received via the grid and have to face power shortages throughout the day, especially in the summer months when the demand is highest, it becomes a no-brainer to start exploring the distributed generation model that has proved to be a roaring success in countries like USA and Germany. A Distributed Generation System is an electric power source connected directly to the distribution network or on the customer site of the meter. The advantages of distribution generation are manifold. A distributed generation source can employ a range of technological options from renewable to nonrenewable sources and help us diversify from the unclean and expensive fossil fuels. It can operate either in a connected grid or an off-grid mode. The engineering benefits of distributed generation include lower grid losses, better fault management and reactive support, thus ensuring increased power quality. Renewable energy

based distributed generation has minimal environmental impact and improves the bottomline by controlling electric supply and costs. Rooftop Solar power is the most obvious choice for distributed generation due to the modularity of the systems, no fuel-price volatility and abundant reliable generation throughout the year. The ease of installation and low maintenance further enhance its viability. From the consumer’s perspective, rooftop solar plants help consumers lower their energy bills, save on taxes, fulfil their CSR responsibility and if required, help them comply with their renewable energy obligations. It also generates goodwill amongst the masses and helps in building an improved market image and reputation. The tremendous potential of the rooftop solar market is driven by grid-parity of solar installations for corporates and industries across the country. Grid integrated systems are the way forward for rooftop solar systems with net metering and banking facility allowed for corporate consumers. These systems avoid the use of storage and batteries lead www.supersmartenergy.com

BY INVITE ing to lower cost and lower system losses. This ensures a better and more robust solar system with lower maintenance and operational costs during the lifetime. Target clients are top tier hospitals, hotels, educational institutes, corporate offices, industries and factories, malls, warehouses and cold storages that have a huge electricity requirement and a sizable rooftop area available for solar power plant installation. These entities pay the highest electricity rates in the country and would be the first adopters of distributed solar as they would start saving on their energy costs from day 1. An analysis by Aeon Solaris shows that assuming a realistic adoption rate of 0.75-1.0%, the market potential for distributed market driven by grid-parity of solar installations for only corporates and industries is around 6-8 GW in the next 5 years, which at today’s prices translates to a US$ 8 billion market. However, even though the

Project Financing

Client gets full ownership of the project after x years of paying tariﬀ

Complete Project Development

Module Equipment Suppliers

Clients pays a ﬁxed tariﬀ per month for electricity generated from project

prices have fallen by 50% over the last 3 years, customers are reluctant to invest in solar, because of initial capital or technological concerns. Financing solutions aimed at alleviating these consumer concerns and helping them reduce their operating energy costs are the answer to ensure rapid proliferation of distributed systems. This is where companies such as ours are trying to innovate by bringing in private solar Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), system leasing, asset financing

BOOT Model

and debt financing models to the Indian distributed generated market. In this Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, the developer invests and installs a solar power plant on the customer rooftop. They sign a long term lease; during which the developer operates and maintains the plant with the customer, who pays us a below grid rate for the electricity he consumes and subsequently the asset

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

BY INVITE design of the buildings needs to be undertaken before installing solar and if required, the building roof should be strengthened to be able to take the additional structural load of the solar power system.

gets transferred to him at the end of the contract term. The developer identifies the projects, conducts due diligence on them and provide comprehensive solutions including engineering, financing, permits, installation and maintenance and payment collection. Due to a policy stasis on the matter, distributed generation remains an underutilised mechanism, while subsidized prices of fossil fuels is leading to artificially created low electricity rates in the country. This is reflected in the dismal financial condition of many state discoms in India. The Indian Government needs to create a policy where customers are incentivized to adopt rooftop solar energy through feed-in tariffs by implementing net metering and creating a smart grid, where customers can sell the excess electricity they generate back to the grid. The government needs to draw inspiration from the German Renewable Energy Act of 2000, which is now accredited with Germany producing almost a quarter of its power from renewable energy sources in 2013. Rooftop solar is a great investment opportunity with higher returns and lower risks as compared to other asset classes. From an investment perspective, rooftop solar power’s long-term contracts and relative insulation from fuel-price fluctuations are proving increasingly attractive. Securitisation of assets coupled with asset based financing and lower cost of capital helped drive

46 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

the rooftop solar markets in USA and Germany. Institutional investors, insurance companies, and major banks became more comfortable with the risks (such as weather uncertainty and the reliability of technology) associated with long-term ownership of solar assets and this is the need of the hour for its widespread adoption in India. Loans against solar assets only similar to auto and house loans and bonds backed by the cash flows coming from multiple solar projects consolidated together are a couple of great ways to increase financing to the rooftop solar sector to ensure it thrives even more. Grouping of smaller projects to reduce execution and financing costs and low cost debt would also increase the attractiveness of the market for investors. The major deterrents to the sector are the long term tenure (typically 15-20 years) of these PPA contracts which results in a higher risk of payment default and the structural instability of the buildings for that period. The risk of non-payment of dues post installation can be mitigated by the choice of credit-worthy consumers and financial guarantees and strong legal contracts. Involving the respective financial institution of each electricity purchasing company in solar financing should be encouraged as they would be better placed to make a decision on the credit rating and financial strength of that organisation. A diligent analysis of the structural

Inspiration needs to be drawn from rooftop solar companies like Elon Musk’s Solarcity, Sunrun and Sungevity. These companies have become roaring successes in the US domestic solar market which is reflected in the meteoric rise of their installations and subsequent valuations over the last few years – Solarcity is currently valued at over $6 billion. As a distributed solar utility firm, Aeon Solaris is stepping on the toes of anyone supplying electricity to corporate consumers the government utilities (though these rooftop solar systems work in conjunction with the grid electricity), various other solar firms as well as third party electricity generation companies relying on other sources of electricity. Large established companies usually dominate the power industry and don’t want the status quo to be disturbed and hence will try to suppress any emerging idea with all their might. But this motivates us more to try and affect a change to the county’s power sector. For distributed generation to achieve its true potential in making India an energy secure nation, it is critical to address the sector’s needs at the technical, financial, regulatory and policy levels ■

Shubham is cofounder and Director of Aeon Solaris. Aeon Solaris, founded by IIT alumni is a full service solar company and provides end to end solutions from engineering, financing, permits, installation and remote monitoring for on-grid distributed solar projects in India, focusing on the rooftop segmen

 www.supersmartenergy.com

MANUFACTURER OF SOLAR PANEL  We Manufacture High Efficiency Crystalline Solar Panel of International standard quality with highly advance and & automated production facility in collaboration with European technology providers  We produce the range of solar panels between 3 Wp to 327 Wp.  Our Solar panels will be catering to the Rooftops, On grid and Off grid electrification, solar power projects, Our team has decades of experience and expertise in design and manufacturing solar modules. A unique development approach & innovative proprietary processes that enable us to deliver leading edge solar module performance while cutting the cost of the PV value chain.

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Solar Street Lights

DESHMUKH SOLAR ENERGY PVT. LTD. Gat No - 104, Vinchur Gavli Road, Opp Adgoan Substation, Nashik - 422 003 Maharashtra, India I Tel: 9225530444 email: info@deshmukhenergy.com I web: www.deshmukhenergy.com

NEWS THIS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW MONTH

Pratik Sampatrao Deshmukh

Jitendra Vasudev Lokhande

Director, Deshmukh Groups

Director, Deshmukh Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd.

"We are committed to achieve and enhance satisfaction level of customer by continual improvements in all areas of operation"

.To begin with, tell us in brief about the genesis of formation of Deshmukh Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd. (DSEPL), its core operating philosophy and the different products you manufacture and market in India? Deshmukh group is 30 years old group active in Maharashtra in diverse fields. In the year 2007 we established Deshmukh Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd. as a sister concern of Deshmukh Group of Companies. We started by establishing fully Automatic Multi Crystalline Solar Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing Unit at Nasik with initial capacity of 25 MW expandable up to 100 MW. We are one of the prominent importers, exporters and suppliers of Solar PV products. Our product range is from 3 watt to 327-Watt solar panels, which we sell in both domestic and international markets like Europe, Africa and Emirates. We take pride in

48 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

using premium quality raw material in our manufacturing process. We have successfully installed around 300 solar water pump and executed more than 200 solar off grid and on grid projects in various School and Government hospitals.

.Shed some light on the manufacturing facilities at Deshmukh Solar that ensures products of utmost quality is delivered to the customers? We at Deshmukh Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd. believe in “Quality First” and are committed to achieve total customer satisfaction by manufacturing and supplying Solar Photovoltaic Systems and other products at reasonable price, within stipulated time frame as per requirement of the customer. We have tie up with the European Technology for the turnkey solu-

tion of manufacturing the solar panels, We have the latest Tabbing & Stringing machine and can manufacture solar panels from 30 watt to 327 watt through the automated process which gives us consistence quality and speed to match the customer demands.

.With India getting more aggressive with its solar energy plans, what is the growth and opportunities that Deshmukh Solar is look at in the near future? Yes India is getting more aggressive with its solar plan, and we at Deshmukh Solar are prepared to make the most of the opportunities in the domestic market. We feel that this sector is going to explode in coming years with new segments and attractive returns. We have tie up with the various state nodal agencies where we  www.supersmartenergy.com

are working very aggressively and trust to grow in the market with our quality products.

are able to gain a major market share in ruler areas.

.What are your views on the Anti-dumping duty investigations being conducted by the Ministry of Commerce against module manufacturers from certain countries? We support the Anti-dumping duty investigation against Module manufacturers from certain countries, as there are huge capacities of Module manufacturing in India to cater to the need of the domestic market. It will help the Industry to flourish and avoid cheap and below grade modules from being dumped into India. However, we do not support the investigation of Anti-dumping against Solar Cell manufacturers as there are not much producers of good quality cells in India and also capacities are not available.

.With rural India emerging as a major market for solar products, what are the key drivers and emerging applications for solar products that is likely to aid growth in this segment? As we know there are load shading of almost 16 hours in rural areas and we see it as a major market for solar products. We have a wide range of products from solar streetlight, solar lantern, solar water pump, solar off grid system etc that caters to rural market. With our quality products and user-friendly application we

.What is the marketing strategy of Deshmukh solar and how are you planning to grow your market? Today the customer is the king and we have realized that “ getting closer to the customer “ is crucial to growth. We have tie-up with state nodal agencies in different states and operate one sales office in that particular state with our sales representative looking after the marketing activities in that state. This ensures that the marketing department can use customer feedback to drive tailored marketing campaign and strengthen relationship between the company and the customer. We participate in various National and International Exhibition, which give us more exposure in the market. We have already started exporting our products to the countries in Europe, Africa and Emirates.

.What differentiates Deshmukh solar from its competitors and how do you keep ahead of your competitors?

Prashant K Yewalekar Head Operations - Solar PV Division, Deshmukh Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd.

As the world moves towards the much dreaded energy crisis, we at Deshmukh solar Energy Pvt. Ltd urge everyone to do their part to reduce their dependency on nonrenewable resources of energy. We at Deshmukh Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd. are committed to achieve total customer satisfaction by manufacturing and supplying Solar Photovoltaic Systems and Solar water heating systems and other energy efficient products at reasonable price, within stipulated time frame as per requirement of customers. We are committed to achieve and enhance satisfaction level of customer by continual improvements in all areas of operation ■

Deshmukh Solar’s State of the art Fully Automatic Solar Photovoltaic Module Manufacturing Unit at Nasik in India

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

NEWS THIS IN INTERVIEW MONTH CONVERSATION

Damji patel Director, JJ PV Solar Pvt. Ltd.

"We want our capacity to be 75 MW to 100 MW after 3 to 5 years with a record of installing more than 1500MW across the globe"

.To begin with tell us more about JJ PV Solar, its core areas of operations, its work philosophy and its collaboration with European technology providers. JJ PV Solar being a manufacturer of High quality poly crystalline panels, which not only aims for the benefit of one but also for the benefit of the FUTURE world. The upcoming or we can say as the next generation is going to complain us (present generation) about why we never tried to save the earth? Why we always only believed in polluting the earth? It is than when you will not have a answer to this questions. So answering to the question to be raised by the future Earth I am proud to say that we have highly advance technology and automatic production facility in collaboration with European technology provider for the manufac-

50 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

turing of this world in a better way. A unique development approach and innovative proprietary process, enables us to deliver leading edge solar module technology and performance while cutting the cost of PV value chain. Also looking for clean and green production facility, our products meet all the standards like: IEC 61215, IEC 61730, and IEC 61701 standards and certified by TUV InterCert, Germany and tested & Recognized by Eurofins Modulo Uno SpA, Italy. We follow and certified with ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 standards. Also we are recognized by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in India and accredited status of Channel Partner to participate in ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). With a STRONG vision to be a global leader in providing renew-

able energy products and solution to contribute maximum possible green energy to earth and making our customer save cost and energy efficient, we at JJ PV Solar strongly believe in quality products and total customer satisfaction at all times. Global presence of JJ PV SOLAR with premium quality, timely delivery, cost effectiveness and customer satisfaction, we have now became recognized supplier in India and all over world and growing at a very faster pace to meet the goal of our organization.

.Could you share with us the relation between performance of a PV Panel and its cost? With increasing performance do you expect the cost of PV to decrease further? “How to get maximum output” is a big question being asked by

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INTERVIEW IN CONVERSATION most of the manufacturers in this industry. Just before 1 or 2 years 14 to 15 % efficiency cells were available in the market, whereas now we are getting between 17 – 18% efficiency solar PV cells, which mean higher capacity modules with more power efficiency at cheaper cost. India is very much dependent on international market (especially China) regarding the cost of solar PV cells, as we don’t have much technology available in our country. No doubt, India and Indian government is surely working hard and fast to improve solar technology as well as its awareness among the commoner. We hope that with the new and improved technology we get better performance with lower cost.

.Quality and customer satisfaction are of utmost important for a manufacturer, how do you at JJ PV Solar ensure quality of the product and customer satisfaction? Modern management experts agree that the frontline manufacturing worker›s skills and experience are vital to an organization›s competitiveness. At JJ PV Solar, we surely believe in Quality & Customer Satisfaction as everyone does, but the difference in us and others is that we trust our every worker working for JJ PV Solar to do the best for the company to satisfy its customers for the product as well as its services it provide. So for that we do not skip any of our quality check process at any cost. Right from cell testing till the simulator test, each and every panel has to go through all the tests and all records are maintained properly. In future if any of our customers face any problem related to panel performance we just need its serial number of panel from which we can check all the details right from the date of manufacturing, quality reports to date of dispatch and date of

52 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

operation.

.Could you highlight the key challenges faced by the PV manufacturer in India today? What step do you suggest to overcome these challenges? AWARENESS... In today’s life the main hurdle to these whole industry in India is awareness – about being responsible – being productive for the world – about renewable energy and most of all awareness of saving for the future. Looking at the personal scenario of Solar industry in India, we could say that these industry needs many changes to make it more compatible and better for people to understand and to implement in their daily life. I am sure in the new government this will be achieved, as the government which is working very hard to make Solar power reach each home, each office and each building in India.

.How do you look at the government’s decision to not impose duties on imported solar panels? How is this likely to affect the PV manufacturer in India? If we talk in a general case, every industry in India would suffer if there product doesn’t sell in India Market. It is more of similar in Solar Industry. Also as it is a new and upcoming industry which is taking on in the market at a very fast growth rate, government should surely impose some duties on import of solar modules to encourage the Indian manufacturers. This will not only profit the manufacturer but also to the commoners/ peoples/end-users and government. The government will make a better economy with more production in the country itself and the end-users will be sure of the product they are purchasing and will have a place to make complain which will be solved faster and better.

Let us see the car industry, where on import of a car, the customer has to pay 120% of custom duty. This scheme has forced the manufacturers of cars to come to India and manufacture to make more sell at cheaper price. Similarly if there is some duty on import of solar module this industry will have a better future.

.With the government allocating Rs. 400crore towards solar power driven water pumps, how is JJ PV Solar positioned to make the most of this opportunity and what is the growth that you are looking at in this segment? Budget has special allocation of INR 400 Cr. for the agriculture water pumping system in 201415. We have surely grabbed this opportunity and participated in tender to install 10,000 solar water pumping systems for irrigation purpose. This scheme has been implemented by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) throughout the country. This scheme, I can say is surely going to change many lives and make it easy for many farmers throughout India. I surely appreciate and encourage government for such schemes where common people can be encouraged to use renewable energy at its best. Also Government has introduced a scheme for installing 17,500 pumps in different states like Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and others. This will also help a lot to promote solar energy to the people who are suffering because they don’t have electricity.

.What according to you are the reasons behind the notoriety of Solar Street lights in India? The key differentiator of JJ PVs Solar streetlight from those available in the market? Solar streetlight is one of the best technology that has been produced. No doubt there is a

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little bit of notoriety in that like theft of batteries and breakage of panels, but there are solutions. JJ PV Solar is working with different solutions to prevent this notoriety. There can be lock to prevent battery theft and shock system for panels and battery but our R&D is still working on it for a proper solution to this.

.Shed some light on JJ PVs global presence? What are the newer geographies that you are looking at for opportunities and growth? Globally scenario for solar energy seems very bright and prosperous as whole world has started understanding the necessity of renewable and especially solar energy. We have already started collaborating with different companies around the world starting with Africa, Middle East, USA and some of the Latin American countries. Very soon you will see our international office addresses on our

website.

.What are the EPC projects that you are currently working on? What are the challenges of timely delivery of a project and how do you overcome these challenges? Currently we are doing EPC of many Rooftop systems in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and many more at small scale. For large scale we are soon going to start 30 MW power plant project in Assam. There are many challenges which come up unexpectedly, as we all are, all the time surrounded by machines and no one can guarantee a machine to ‘never stop working’. But that’s like a part of life and we at JJ PV Solar bring up solutions and make sure for timely delivery and satisfaction.

.How do you define success for yourself and your company? Where do you see JJ PV

Solar 3 to 5 years from now? The famous saying “Slow and steady wins the race”, has been modified for my personally use to “Fast and furious wins the trophy”. For JJ PV Solar also I believe the same and whole of JJ PV family believes in the best at the shortest time possible. Every day at the end of the day, I ask myself if I worked ‘hard’ or ‘hardly’ today. It’s a small question but with a deep meaning to understand. JJ PV Solar is a new and upcoming company, but we see our self at a height where we will be known as an iconic brand. In coming 3 to 5 years we aim to run, The seed we had sawn before 4 years has started giving us the fruits. We aim for a higher growth ratio compared to last four years. As on date our production capacity is 25 MWs per annum, and we want our capacity to be 75 MW to 100 MW after 3 to 5 years with a record of installing more than 1500MW across the globe ■

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INTERVIEW FACE 2 FACE

Kishorsinh Zala Chairman, Powertrac Solar Projects Ltd.

"We would like to reach a turnover of Rs.200 crore by the end of the year 2018"

.To begin with give us a brief insight into Powertrac Solar Projects, its core areas of operation, the different products you manufacture and supply in the Indian market? Powertrac Solar Projects Ltd. is one of India’s multi discipline manufacturer, supplier and service provider group having factory and Head office in Surendranagar and Corporate office at Ahmedabad and branches in Vapi and Maharashtra. In the year 2008 we started manufacturing of Air Ventilators and Chemical Earthing. In 2010 we expanded our business in renewable energy projects. Powertrac has commissioned more than 100 MWp of solar power projects in Gujarat, Rajasthan and MP. We also offer comprehensive solar products i.e. Solar Street Light, Roof Top Plant, Home Solar Light, Solar Fencing, Solar Water Pumps, Solar Bag & Solar Module Clamp. We also pro-

54 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

vide Solar EPC Turnkey contractor for KWp to MWp Solar PV projects.

.Powertrac Solar was started in the year 2008 with ventilator and chemical earthing manufacturing, what was the strategic thinking behind diversifying into the renewable energy sector? We see sustainable energy development as Crucial to both economic diversification and meeting the growing energy needs. The electricity rates have been rising, largely driven by volatility in coal prices and increased cost of coal-fired electricity. We see renewable energy technologies with prime focus on solar energy will re-define country’s future and developments within energy sector. We started our renewal energy business in 2008 with Wind ventilators, which is our wind energy

based products.

.With the mushrooming of Solar EPC players, how does Powertrac addresses the concerns of timely completion and quality of the projects? We are successfully commissioning more than 100MWp solar PV plant. We are having expert team and all the resources to provide best service in EPC. Also the inhouse manufacturing of Solar PV Panels, modules and mounting structure along with our highly qualified and technically sound team helps us in timely completion of the project.

.What according to you is the true potential of off-grid market in India? What policy support you suggest to realize the true potential on ground? We see huge potential for off-

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grid market in India. The off-grid market is likely to grow exponentially as solar power becomes economically viable alternative with price parity. According to some projections the Distributed Generation market is likely to reach 4 GW by 2020 and increase rapidly to more than 10 GW over the next three to four years. However conducive regulations and policy measures is required to promote off-grid market in India. We see infrastructure, security and theft as the measure challenges that would require innovative solutions.

.The government has allocated Rs.100 crore for solar power projects on canals, what according to you are the challenges in installation of solar structure for such projects and how is Powertrac Solar preparing itself to make the most of this opportunity? The government allocating Rs.100 crore for solar power projects on canals itself speaks of the immense opportunities in this area. Solar power projects on canals will not only generate clean energy but will also prevent evaporation of water from the canal. The cost of per megawatt of solar power, in this case, is likely to be much less. The government will also not have to spend much on creating basic infrastructure, including land acquisition. The major challenges for such projects are in installation, civil foundation and logistics.

.With the government launching a scheme for solar powered driven agriculture pump sets, what are

the opportunities, in terms of growth and market share, that you are looking at? What differentiates the solar pumps manufactured by Powertrac from those available in the market? Yes, we are in solar irrigation pump business, the low cost retrofit technology provided by us helps save new pump erection cost.

.In addition to the solar bag what are the other similar products that you are currently working or are looking to launch in the future, what are the opportunities for such products in India? In addition to Solar Bags we are working on many such similar products like solar medicine spray pump, solar mobile charger, solar torch etc. Going forward we see huge potential for such products in India.

.Quality is one of the major reasons that is hindering the widespread adoption of solar street lights in India? What steps do you take to ensure the quality of streetlights lights?

What are the special features of the solar street lights that Powertrac manufactures? The major issues affecting the widespread adoption of solar streetlights are theft of batteries and solar panels. We at Powertrac have developed new technology based solar street lights called “Sandwich solar street light” where battery, Solar panels & LED lights are cover in one Housing thereby eliminating the problem of theft of battery and solar panel.

.What are the current projects that you are working on and how does the pipeline looks like? We are having 5MWp Module supply order and having 22MWp EPC Projects in hand.

.How do you define success for yourself and your company, where do you see Powertrac Solar 2 to 3 years from now? Powertrac group toady is a fast growing group and we would like maintaining the rapid growth that we have been experiencing. We would like to reach a turnover of Rs.200 Crore by the end of the year 2018 ■

The off-grid market is likely to grow exponentially as solar power becomes economically vialbe alternative with price parity



Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

TECH REVIEW

TRACKING THE SUN

An Overview of Single-Axis Solar PV Trackers

hroughout the many years of the PV industry, a large range of tracking designs have been deveoped and brought to market. These have included 2 typesof Trackers, viz. Dual Axis Trackers & Single Axis Trackers. Though trackers provide a variety of economic benefits to the owner, the primary focus has been on increased specific energy production or capacity factor, with other benefits being of secondary value. Trackers were thought to be an economic trade-off where complexity and cost in the racking/steel was a substitute for relatively expensive silicon/PV modules. As PV modules decreased sharply in cost, the economic viability of the more costly tracker types diminished. Though there remain some projects that can support the more complex and costly equipment, under current market conditions utility scale PV projects globally will typically only be evaluated for either fixed racks or Single Axis Flat Trackers. For this reason, our discussion will be limited to Single Axis Trackers. All common tracker designs share a set of essential elements: module supports and racks that can be rotated to follow the sun, an electronic control system that determines the correct tilt angle for maximum sun exposure, and an actuator system that moves the modules and mounts. Each of these elements has several variations that vary among the designs.

G10 Quantum Tracker

56 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

In ViaSol’s most current design, the G10 Quantum Utility PV Tracker, ViaSol has introduced unique and never before offered features. This tracker incorporates significant design improvements based on six years of design, construction and operating experience. The G10 Quantum Utility PV Tracker developed by ViaSol Energy Solutions makes use of fluid power drive system that is common in industry and heavy equipment, but unusual in solar. This drive is powerful, relatively fast moving, and achieves the largest single array size and best economies of scale currently offered. The G10 tracker also incorporates a unique, and patent pending “array-balanced” designthat yields very low operating forces and much simplified and safe maintenance.

Single Axis Tracker Economics Like all other PV equipment, large commercial and utility PV tracker equipment has seen significant cost reduction and performance improvement during the past few years. The roughly 85% cost decrease (depending on market region) in solar modules and inverters that has been realized in the PV market since 2006 has been nearly replicated with single axis trackers where market installed cost has decreased approximately 70% and tracker equipment is now offered in the US market at less than USD 0.20/W for medium and large scale power plants. As a rough estimate, a utility size PV power plant installed on

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single axis tracker swill cost 8% 10% more than a same DC size plant mounted on fixed racks. This appears to hold true across a range of markets. In cases where this does hold, the tracking power plant is most likely the superior financial performer. Most solar sites will see a generation increase between 16% and 24% by adding single axis tracking. Though the actual realized output gain is site and weather pattern dependent a rough look at numbers indicates that the output (cash flow) gain is greater than the project cost (Capex) increase and this should be a sound marginal investment. In the current market scenarios, the project owners and financiers are typically evaluating the financial performance of the tracking array against the performance of a fixed array either of the same DC size, of the same AC size, or of the same land area. Our financial analyses across a range of cost and performance conditions has lead us to the conclusion that in nearly all cases where large scale PV (2MW and larger) is being constructed on relatively flat land, tracker array will yield better financial performance. It should be noted that it is critical these analyses make a full accounting of all project fixed and variable costs, as is consistent with textbook project financial analysis. In many cases we have encountered, the owner or EPC evaluates the additional cost of the tracker against equipment cost only and forgets to include very significant fixed project cost e.g. land cost, site civil, security, government permissions, legal expense, construction period interest, allocated overhead, development fees, power evacuation, projected site maintenance, taxes, etc. (In the US, these cost can represent as much as 30% to 50% of total project cost!) Tracking PV projects generate higher cash flows from an entire investment and proper financial analysis mandates they be evaluated accordingly. Concerns about parasitic power

consumption and maintenance cost are also often raised regarding tracker economics. Both of these worries are based on industry experience with decades old test equipment and obsolete designs. Modern single axis trackers have a very low power draw and run intermittently. The worst case estimate for power consumed by the ViaSol G10 Utility PV Tracker is approximately 0.03% - this is negligible and is now typical in the industry. Maintenance cost for current single axis tracker designs is also much lower than for previous equipment offerings. Though each tracker system has its own characteristics, our estimates indicate that even with generous allocations for preventive maintenance and repair, the tracker will add less than 10% to the overall cost to maintain a large PV power plant.

Realizing Value from PV Trackers Though most large PV sites that we have analyzed indicate that one-axis tracker is the super economic choice based on increased capacity factor, there are some that are close contest and others where the tracking power plant is far superior. Typical circumstances where the tracking array is almost assured to be better are: allocation with capped dc size or capped ac size, projects with high development cost, off-take contract for fixed number of units per annum, sites with high land cost. The situation where the off taker has contracted for a fixed number of units per annum is not typical, but in these cases there is usually an immediate cost savings due to reduction in total array size and PV equipment required. Latitude of site has a large influence on potential value of adding tracking to a solar power project. Inside and near the tropics it is common to see sites where adding single axis tracking will increase specific productivity by as much as 24%. At this site, tracking power plants are clearly

advantageous. In large sections of the Middle East, Africa, South America and South Asia PV power plants will realize very large productivity and economic gains by from 1-axis tracking. Secondary economic benefits from tracking are often completely overlooked during project planning. Trackers move during daily operating and this helps to limit soil accumulation. In dry climates like Arizona, module washing is not required. The power output curve from tracking arrays is much flatter and better matched to power demand in hot climates. In locations where snow accumulation may be a concern, the tracker controller can be modified to include a “snow shake” that will prevent snow and ice from accumulating on the modules. Particularly relevant to costal and tropical regions that might be susceptible to extreme weather, trackers can be stowed in a flat position that will help to ameliorate damage from high wind and flying debris. ViaSol’s trackers include a provision that allows for the arrays to be locked down in advance of extreme weather events. In these circumstances, the tracker may be preferred simply because it reduces the overall project risk profile ■ Solpower Green Pvt. Ltd. founded in 2010 is a full turnkey project builder for Utility Scale PV systems as well as Solar Park Developer, equipment supplier with technical and construction partners. Solpower Green Pvt. Ltd. is presently the exclusive market outlet in India for the G10 Quantum Utility PV Tracker developed by ViaSol Energy Solutions LLC (USA). Solpower Green has partnered with Occidental Energy Equipment LLC (USA) to bring the technology, technical support, engineering and design advancements to India and regional markets. For more information on the product contact: contact@solpowergreen.com / yash@solpowergreen.com. You can also visit the website www.solpowergreen.com

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

POLICY UPDATE

All That You Want to Know About the

RAJASTHAN SOLAR ENERGY POLICY 2014

ajasthan Solar Energy Policy, 2014 has been issued in compliance to the announcement made during the Budget Speech 2014-15 to pave the way for establishment of 25000 MW solar capacity in the State. The main objectives of this policy are creation of conducive environment for the investors in the State and ensuring power supply to urban and rural areas along with remote/ less populated areas where there is no power supply. Policy also aims at having energy security at the national level and to overcome the challenges of climate change. In the following paragraphs we analyse the policy and bring to you the key highlights of the policy, all that you want to know about the policy and get going.

RREC as a Nodal Agency Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RREC) will act as a nodal agency for the development of solar energy in the State. As a

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nodal agency RREC will facilitate project developer with registration and approval of the project, Facilitating allotment of government land, Facilitating water allocation for Solar Thermal Power Plants, Facilitating approval of power evacuation plan, allocation of bays, execution of PPAs, accreditation and recommending the solar power project for registration with Central Agency under REC mechanism. RREC will also nominate a State Level Facilitator for all projects of capacity above 20 MW

Highlights and Salient Features of the Policy The following are some of the salient features of the Policy: ›› Easy processing and lower registration fee ›› Availability of government land at DLC rates ›› Provision for setting up solar power project on private land either through purchase of land or by executing lease with farmers ›› Provision for farmers to set up solar farms / power plants

›› Setting up of projects without going through tedious process of land conversion ›› Promotion of development of solar parks ›› Fast track approval of Mega Solar Power Projects by SLEC ›› Final approvals of Solar Power Projects of capacity up to 10 MW by SLSC ›› Adequate power evacuation system ›› REC allowed to Solar Power Projects under the scheme of open access / captive use as per CERC regulations ›› Banking of solar power as per RERC regulations ›› Solar Power Projects are included in “Green category” and the Pollution Control Board will dispose consent application within 15 days Besides these, generation of electricity from a solar power plant shall be treated as an eligible industry under the schemes administered by the Industries Department and incentives available under Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme (RIPS) shall be available to the Solar Power  www.supersmartenergy.com

Project

Registration Fee for projects is as follows:

Solar Parks

Sr. No

Project Capacity

Fee

The State will promote setting up of Solar Parks. Development of the Solar Park may be done in the following modes:

≤10 MW

Rs 50,000 per MW

> 10 MW; ≤ 50 MW

Rs 5 lakh per project

> 50 MW; ≤ 100 MW

Rs 10 lakh per project

> 100 MW

Rs 30 lakh per project

ii Solar Park on Government land by RREC: RREC to sub-lease land to producers for solar projects. ii Solar Park by Private Sector Developers:Solar Park on Private land and government land if such land falls within the park or in its vicinity may be allotted to the developers. ii Development of Solar Parks through JVCs: State may invest equity up to 50% (including cost of land) in Solar Park of capacity 500 MW or more to be developed through JVC

Mega Solar Parks The policy classifies Mega Solar Power Project as solar power pro-

ject of 500 MW or more set up by a single developer at a single location with single or multiple metering arrangements but having common pooling Sub-station.

will also be eligible for benefits/ concessions available under the Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme.

In order to expedite the process of approval of Mega Solar Power Projects, the project proposals along with detailed project reports will be placed by RREC directly before SLEC chaired by the Chief Secretary for its approval.

Roof-top PV Projects

Mega Solar Power Projects

The State will promote development of Roof Top PV Solar Power Plants connected to LT under NetMetering Scheme as per guidelines of RERC. The State Government shall allow the Net-Metering

POLICY UPDATE Timeline for Commissioning of the Project Type of Projects

Completion Time schedule

SPV: ≤ 20 MW capacity

Within 15 months from the date of SLEC approval

> 20 MW and ≤ 50 MW capacity

Within 18 months from the date of SLEC approval

> 50 MW

Within 24 months from the date of SLEC approval

The transmission charges and losses for transmitting power through open access will be as per RERC Regulations Security Deposit for commissioning of a project is Rs 10 lakh / MW(BG)

≤ 25 MW capacity

Within 24 months from the date of SLEC approval

> 25 MW and ≤100 MW capacity

Within 36 months from the date of SLEC approval

Solar Power producers selling power to parties other than State Discoms will have to contribute Rs 1 lakh / MW every year to Rajasthan Renewable Energy Development Fund for the entire life-cycle of the project.

> 100 MW and ≤ 200 MW capacity

Within 42 months from the date of SLEC approval

Penalty Provisions

> 200 MW capacity

Within 48 months from the date of SLEC approval

CSP:

mechanism for grid connected system to the consumer(s) of the Discoms installing such systems subject to technical consideration and execution of net-metering agreement between such consumers and Discoms. The Discoms will develop a suitable and comprehensive consumer-friendly IT application in this regard.

Decentralised and off-grid solar applications The policy promotes and incentivize decentralized and off-grid solar applications, including hybrid system as per guidelines issued by MNRE to meet various electrical and thermal energy requirements for domestic and commercial use. The policy also promotes setting up of local solar grid and stand-alone solar systems to provide electricity to remote villages for which State Government has announced provisions of Rs 100 crore in the Budget 2014-15. The policy will also promote the use of SPV technology as power source for irrigation uses by installation of SPV pumping systems for which State Government has announced provisions of Rs 119

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crore in the Budget 2014-15.

Registration and Fees Any individual can apply for registration of a project. Net-Worth required for the registration of the project is Rs 1 crore / MW.

Penalty provision for delay in commissioning is as given in the table below. SLEC may consider extension beyond 15 months where there is a reasonable certainty of commissioning of the project. In such cases, extended completion schedule & penalties shall be decided by SLEC on case-to-case basis ■

For private solar park the developer needs to submit the application to RREC along with a processing fee @ Rs 5000 per hectare (+ service tax) subject to maximum of Rs 10 lakh (+ service tax) for each Solar Park. The plan of Solar Park will be approved by RREC within a period of 30 days of submission of application. Other than the above charges the following charges are also applicable to a solar project developer. Penalty provision for delay in Commissioning is as under Delay

Penalty

Up to 1 month

Rs 25,000 / MW

Up to 3 months

Rs 50,000 / MW

Up to 6 months

Rs 1,00,000 / MW

Up to 9 months

Rs 1,50,000 / MW

Up to 15 months

Rs 2,00,000 / MW

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TECH UPDATE

Cost savings and improved efficiency by substituting silver with copper in Solar Cells Authored by By Janne Oksanen

rystalline silicon solar cells with a front-to-rear interconnection still offer a lot of potential for economic and technical optimization. Due to the ever increasing price of silver the recent development has focused on reducing the usage of silver paste in the cell metallization process. One approach is to increase the number of interconnecting ribbons on a cell and leave the less expensive copper to do the conducting instead of the silver metallization. In addition to the lower cost, the efficiency of the solar cells is improved. Increasing the number of ribbons from the current three to four or to even six reduces the length of grid fingers, the fine silver lines collecting the electric charges from the cell surface to the ribbon. When the ribbons are closer to each other, the width and the thickness of the silver grid fingers can be reduced without increasing the power losses caused by the electric resistance in them. As in any conductor, the

resistance is directly proportional to the length and inversely proportional to the cross sectional area of the fingers. If the length of the fingers is split in half, like when increasing the number of ribbons from three to six, the cross sectional area of the fingers can be split in half too without increasing the resistance. This means that 50% less silver paste is needed in the grid fingers. In addition to the lower material cost, the narrower grid fingers shade the cells less. This reduces the optical losses caused by them. Typically the width of the grid fingers is 90-120 µm and the area about 6-7 % of the total cell area. With the new advanced printing methods the width of the fingers can be reduced to half of the present while maintaining similar thickness. This increases the efficient area of the cells 3-4 % and more light gets converted to electricity. When the number of ribbons is increased from three to six, no additional electrical loss is caused due to the smaller cross sectional area of the fingers. In addition, when the overall width of the six ribbons remains the same as that of the three ribbons design, the gain of the increased cell area is directly seen as a higher energy output of the cells. Increasing the number of rib-

bons on a cell requires a narrower ribbon to be used in order to not increase the optical loss caused by them. A width in the range of 1.0-1.2 mm could be considered with the four ribbons design and 0.6-0.8 mm with the six ribbons design. The ideal width, however, depends on the width of the silver busbar underneath the ribbon. Using a wider ribbon than the busbar causes additional shading on the cell but a narrower ribbon does not bring any optical advantage either. Aligning a ribbon tab on a 1 mm or as narrow as a 0.6 mm wide busbar is not an easy task to do. Therefore the challenge is finding the straightest ribbon, made to exacting specifications and coiling quality. Luvata can help ■

Janne Oksanen is Technical Manager of LUVATA PV in Asia. His responsibilities relate to the PV process and product development as well as technical sales support for Luvata Malaysia. He also spends one week every month at Luvata Suzhou in China as a PV technical advisor.

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

REI 2014 SPECIAL REPORT

Renewable Industry Congregate at REI 2014 UBM India concluded Renewable Energy India 2014 (REI 2014), the three day expo and conference with a consensus; the need of the hour is to drive the Indian renewable sector, optimizing its potential with support of Public- Private interplay. The event witnessed an overwhelming industry response with a 30% increase in attendance over last year. The event witnessed an industry congregation of the renewable energy sector, both, with national and international representation. The initiatives taken by the new government towards expansion and growth in the renewable sector have led to a growing interest in the Indian market, attracting global attention and investment. The increasing international interest in the Indian market was highlighted by the presence of 35 countries at the exhibition.

62 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

JAPAN, CHINA, CANADA , US , ITALY and the European conglomeration were represented by key industry players like Refex Energy, Borg Energy, Enerparc Energy, Proinso, Zeversolar, Dupont, DNV GL, C Sun, Bonfiglioli, Phocos, Waaree, Emmvee Solar, Juwi India, Inox Wind, LTi REEnergy, Kosol Hiramrut, Sova Power, Harsha Abakus Solar, ABB, SAPA Group, Schneider Electric India, Fronius, Canadian Solar, Delta Energy, Moser Baer, JA Solar, Premier Solar, Yingli Solar Centrotherm. The Government’s participation was represented by presence of Mr Anil K Jain ,IAS, Adviser (Energy), Mr Upendra Tripathy, IAS Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Govt Of India , Mr BN Sharma, Joint Secretary ( Distribution ) Ministry of Power, Mr GM Rao, Director IREDA and

Mr SK Bhargava, Director IREDA. The platform proved to be a catalyst of dialogue and action amongst the industry players and policy makers, thus facilitating a productive partnership between the private and public sector. The various sessions on one hand, highlighted the potential in the wind sector which is growing exponentially and on the other hand, demonstrated innovative technologies in energy conservation efficiency along with Geothermal energy as a realistic option for energy security. Up streaming renewable energy, Balance of systems, scaling up of the solar program at the State level, Bioenergy, an unexploited opportunity of India, were some of the key themes discussed and presented by international experts ■

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Ingeteam showcase its new PV inverters in India At the REI 2014 trade show, Ingeteam showcased its innovative 1 MW central inverter. This new INGECONÒ SUN Power Max model provides a maximum AC power output of 1,070 kW up to an ambient temperature of 45 ºC, with a maximum efficiency of 99.1%. Since it was first launched on the market, this model has been

extremely popular all over the world. This is supported by the fact that it is currently being installed in five different continents at the same time. Together with this central inverter, Ingeteam also exhibited its latest string box, the INGECONÒ SUN String Control, which can support an input of up to 20 A per string ■

PW 100 of 2.5 MW wind turbine manufactured by Power Wind Ltd remained the most eye catching product at the India expo Centre

Rays Experts Showcase Solar Rooftop Potential at REI 2014 Rays Experts, one of India’s leading innovative solar solutions and the biggest emerging solar power EPC and development company participated and showcased the potential of Solar Rooftop PV Systems at REI 2014.

Japan Pavallion at REI 2014

Schneider Electric unveils two new inverters at REI Expo 2014 Schneider Electric India launched two products – Conext CL and Conext XW+ – at the Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo 2014, India Expo Centre, Greater Noida in the National Capital Region. Conext CL is a new line of three-phase string inverters, while the new Conext XW+ is the next-generation version of the Conext XW hybrid inverter. Both products come from Schneider Electric Solar Business – a global leader in solutions for solar power conversion chain ■

Commenting on the occasion, Rahul Gupta, Director, Rays Experts stated, “We are happy to be at the Renewable Energy India Expo for the 2nd year as it is an apt stage for us to exhibit our achievements in the solar industry, explore sustainable development opportunities and strengthen ties with our stakeholders. REI is regarded as Asia’s most influential event in the renewable energy sector and it’s focus this year has been on improving the scope of sustainable energy which can mitigate the environmental impact of imbalance of demand and supply of natural resources in India.” ■

TBEA Shines on at REI 2014 TBEA, shined on at REI 2014 with its star product TC630KH inverter in Noida. The TC630KH presented by TBEA at this exhibition is applied for global market with the advantages of high efficiency, high integration, good grid compatibility, high reliability, and easy installation & maintenance, which

has been widely used all over China and overseas with 2GW reference. In India, this 630kW grid-connected inverter also enjoys great popularity; it was installed in Gujarat, Rajasthan and West Bengal solar power stations, all of which are of stable operation now ■

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

PRODUCT REVIEW

RPS Station ICON 20-LV- Accelerating projects from concept to commissioning for the Indian market

ith the ICON 20-LV series, Bonfiglioli introduces a new design standard for turn-key inverter solutions to the Indian market. These inverter stations provide power ratings up to 1575 kWac in a compact 20 ft ISO-container design. At the heart of each station is the proven modular RPS TL inverter series, providing high adaptability to power requirements and string confi gurations. ICON 20-LV stations and RPS TL inverters are pro-

duced in India with the same German engineering that distinguishes all Bonfi glioli inverters, achieving high process quality through a standardized platform design. ICON 20-LV container solutions feature an active controlled forced-air ventilation system that cleans the inlet air through high-performace anti-dust filters, equipped with sand traps and an intelligent maintenance function. Anti-corrosion steel and marinegrade coating guarantee high lifetime in challenging environments. They protect the power electronics equipment and customer auxiliaries from harsh ambients, all the way from shipping through installation to operation. ICON 20-LV stations are delivered ready to connect to an external

medium-voltage transformer and switchgear, that can be optionally supplied by Bonfiglioli according to local standards. Thanks to the integrated mechanical, electrical and cooling design, RPS Station solutions help to signifi cantly reduce the planning and execution times of your PV projects.

Main features ii Inverter station based on 20 ft ISO-container construction standard made in India ii Up to 1575 kWac in compact footprint ii Ready for connection to external medium- voltage transformer / switchgear (optionally supplied) ii Flexibile confi guration of power ratings, ambient control features, PV module technology ii Space for integration of projectspecific auxiliary and communication equipment

SolarCon- New solar charge controller from Sukam

ow, you can convert your existing inverter into a solar inverter and cut down on your electricity bills! Su-Kam has introduced SOLAR CON, an intelligent solar converter that when attached to your existing inverter & battery along with solar panels can help you reap benefits from the power of solar.

Benefits

64 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

›› Generate your own power and earn money ›› The SOLAR CON works intelligently to decide when to charge your inverter from solar or the grid, depending upon the availability of the former. If solar is available, your inverter shall charge its batteries through solar power thereby helping you save hugely on your electricity bills.

›› Enabling you to run your load directly from solar once the battery of the inverter is fully charged (through solar) ›› Savings get displayed on LCD screen For More Information Contact SU-KAM POWER SYSTEMS LTD. +91-124-4170500 For Sales Enquiry contact 1800-102-7555 W: www.su-kam.com

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K-Lite Unveils Solar Street Light

-Lite industries, a unit of ‘Kumbhat Group’ and a leading manufacturer of Lighting Fixtures in India, has launched Solar Street Lighting System with LED (light-emitting diode) luminaire, a Green concept for a greener world. The product has been developed in the backdrop of rising concerns to save the mother earth from the ill effects of carbon emission in the electricity generation using conventional fuel and avoidance of mercury in the manufacture of electric lamps.

The Solar Street Lighting System consists of a solar panel with Photo Voltaic (PV) cells that converts the solar energy into electrical energy. The resulting electrical energy is stored in a battery through a solar charge controller. LED Lighting fixture operates directly from the DC battery. Decorative pole, of any height and in a wide range according to aesthetic requirement, by itself can house the solar panel, luminaire, and the control gear box with battery. The life of the solar panel is twenty years. The wattage rating of the panel and the battery capacity (Ampere hours) depends on the factors: street light wattage required, number of hours it is to burn and the autonomy (otherwise known as the reserve days) for which energy has to be stored as a back up. For instance, for a 20-watt LED luminaire to burn for 8 hours during night and with two reserve days as back up, a 12-volt battery of capacity 120 AHr and a

solar panel of 100 Wp is required. The lifespan of the LED source is nearly 50,000 burning hours as against around 5000 to 10,000 hours of conventional sources such as metal halide/high pressure lamps and 50 times that of GLS (general lighting service) lamps. To obtain the same light output, the power consumption of LED luminaire is just one-tenth of what is required for a conventional GLS lamp. Though the investment on the entire system is higher upfront, long-term benefits due to the energy saving, longer lifespan, lesser maintenance, social and environmental benefits, outweigh. The complete solar lighting system costs from around Rs 20,000 (with 3-watt LED) and goes up to Rs 2 lakh (with 80-watt LED). The dealers of K-Lite, spread across the country and globally in UK and USA, make the product available to its customers of various locations ■

IBC SOLAR enhances IBC TopFix 200 mounting system

BC SOLAR AG, a global leader in photovoltaic (PV) systems, has now enhanced its tried and tested IBC TopFix 200 mounting system for pitched roofs to include the Mounting Plate Duo. The plate is used in photovoltaic installations on trapezoidal or corrugated roofs and enables more static loads to be supported for each roof connecting point. Two hanger bolts or two solar fasteners can be connected to each

other using the new Mounting Plate Duo. The profile rail on which the solar modules are mounted is then attached to the plate. This enables the installer to fix the profile rails on the roof with twice the number of hanger bolts or solar fasteners. The load of the photovoltaic system is distributed to more points and as a result the burden on the individual screws decreases considerably. The Mounting Plate Duo can be used to install photovoltaic systems on buildings in exposed locations where there are large loads of wind or snow. This is especially interesting for commercial photovoltaic systems when it comes to self-consumption: Trap-

ezoidal sheet metal or corrugated roofs represent the majority of roof areas that can be used for photovoltaics on agricultural and commercial buildings. Whoever operates a PV power plant for self-consumption has the security of knowing that electricity is produced over a period of 25 years at constantly low levelized costs A low-maintenance mounting system like the IBC TopFix 200 also ensures that the photovoltaic system has a long service life and offers profitability that can be accurately calculated ■

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

PRODUCT REVIEW

WAAREE Solar Home Light System

aaree Energies Ltd introduced its solar home light system. This system consists of

System unit, solar panel, 2 bulbs, 1 fan, 4 meter cables for solar panel and 5 meter cable for bulbs. This system can be charged either by AC Adapter or solar panel. Once fully charged 1 bulb can work for 10 hours also charges mobile phones. System unit is made from high quality ABS plastic and it is very portable and can be fixed on a wall or on the floor and this makes

it easy companion during camping and for other indoor, outdoor applications. The other variant is Home light and Music system which has Bluetooth connectivity, SD card reader and an optional remote control. This system is available under various configurations of 5, 10 and 20 Watt solar panels ■

WAAREE Integrated Solar Street Light

aaree Energies Ltd introduced its Integrated Solar Street Light. It has a very compact design with built in lithium batteries connected to solar panels and LED. This is a stand alone system which store power during the day time and start producing light after sunset. The PIR motion sensor helps in better utilisation of power during the night. These lights are an ideal choice as street

lamps at construction sites, temporary labour camps, gardens, walkway, streets, children play area etc. These street lights are available with varying pole size of 3 to 12 meters and varying led wattages from 5Watt to 60Watt. Once fully charged the batteries can work for 36 hours ■

Rugged Solar Mobile Charger

aaree Energies Ltd introduced its first rugged solar mobile charger. This charger has a 5000 mAh high grade Li-Polymer battery and can charge two devices simultaneously. It has matt finish solar panel to protect it from scratches with an

anti slip outer cover design. It is water, dust resistant and shock-proof, which makes it an ideal companion for on any outdoor trip. This charger allows you to charge a wide variety of devices like cell phones and tablets. It

takes 12-16 hours to fully charge the battery in sunlight, while 4-6 hrs by Ac/USB adaptor. The vibrant colour and the free cranibier provided make it a fashion accessory to flaunt around the bagpack ■

Send your enquiries to Waaree Energies Limited 602, Western Edge-I, Off.Western Express Highway,Borivali (E) Mumbai 400066, Maharashtra, India Tel: +91-22-664444 44 E: waaree@waaree.com/ Website: www.waaree.com

66 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

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ENERASIA 2014 SPECIAL REPORT

Oct/ Nov 2014 SmartEnergy

NEWS THIS EVENTS WATCH MONTH Event: Power Nigeria Date: 28 - 30 October 2014 Venue: Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos – Nigeria Contact: info@power-nigeria. com/ Tel: + 971 4 336 5161

Event: India Smart Grid Week Date: March 03 - 07, 2015 Venue: Bangalore International Exhibition Center, Bangaluru, India Contact: JoshiS@md-india.com

Event: Intersolar India 2014 Date: 18- 20 Nov, 2014 Venue: Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India

Event: Optimization Of Power Generation In India Summit

Contact: Swapna Kulkarni, +91 22 4255 4729, swapna. kulkarni(at)mmi-india.in

Date: 26th & 27th March 2015 Venue: Ahmedabad, India Contact: +91 80 4963 7000/ shailaja.shet@besummits.com

Event: Energy Storage India Date: 04-05 December 2014 Venue: Kempinski Ambience Hotel, new Delhi, India Contact: Shradha Malik, +91 (0) 11 2690 1659, MalikS@md-india. com

Event: intelect 2015 Date: 02 to 24 Jane 2015 Venue: Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India Contact: Ajay Mahajan, +91 98150 49037, ajay.mahajan@ ieema.org

Event: Solar Middle East 2015

Event: Smart Cities India 2015 Date: 20- 22 May 2015 Venue: Pragati Maidan, New Delhi Contact: sanjayb@eigroup. inmedia.com/ Tel: +91 11 4279 5000

Event: GulfSol 2015 Date: 14-16 Sept 2015 Venue: Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE Contact: David Jones, + 44 (0) 208 638 0619, David@bowheadmedia.com

Date: 2- 4 March 2015 Venue: Dubai International Exhibition Centre, Dubai, UAE Contact: Feroz Parkar, +971 4 407 2406, feroz.parkar@informa. com

68 SmartEnergy Aug/ Sept 2014

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ADVERTISERS INDEX Access Solar Ltd.

Akshaya Solar Power (I) Pvt.Ltd.

Deshmukh Solar Energy Pvt.Ltd.

Energy Storage India

Exide Industries Ltd.

IFC

Gangadan Energy Pvt.Ltd.

Hitachi Zosen India Pvt.Ltd.

Intelect 2015

Intersolar India 2014

JJ PV Solar Pvt.Ltd.

K-Lite Industries

Mersen India Pvt.Ltd.

Middle East Electricity 2015

Power Nigeria

Powertrac Solar Projects Ltd.

Radha Energy Cell

Rogress Techno Pvt.Ltd.

SLT Energy Ltd.

Smart Cities India 2015

IBC

Solar Middle East 2015

Soltech Equipments Pvt.Ltd.

Systemic Electric

TVM Power Solar System (P) Ltd.

Urja Solutions

Vacon Drives & Control Pvt.Ltd.

70 SmartEnergy Oct/ Nov 2014

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