India

Solar capacity addition in the fiscal year 2021-22 will surge, led by a strong project pipeline. Tariffs will go up amid rising module prices but will remain competitive at below INR 3/kWh (US$ 0.040/kWh).

With projects in many PV markets ageing past the 10-year mark – with major leaps in technology having occurred in that time – revamping is a popular topic among asset owners. Pv magazine spoke with Asier Ukar, general manager of the Spanish subsidiary of German testing company PI Berlin, to uncover the benefits of revamping PV projects with new components and also to examine the challenges and risks involved.

Smart Power India (SPI), a subsidiary of US-based impact investor Rockefeller Foundation, has supported the setting up of more than 300 renewable energy mini-grids cumulating to 9.2 MW of capacity across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand, the largest such cluster in India. Jaideep Mukherjee, chief executive officer at SPI, spoke to pv magazine about the role of mini-grids in rural upliftment and the barriers to overcome.

The American business is looking for module manufacturing partners as it plans to bring its ‘direct wafer’ production technique to India. The company uses molten silicon to form wafers rather than sawing ingots, thus eliminating dust waste and speeding up the process.

India’s Aegeus Technologies has developed an autonomous, water-free cleaning bot for rooftop solar installations. The bot weighs 5 kg (with battery) and can be operated remotely through a web-based app. It uses an air wash technology to clean the panels, ensuring no need for water or any harmful chemicals.

Poor and piecemeal implementation of net metering policies is a major roadblock for the uptake of rooftop solar system in India, according to a new report by Asian Development Bank.

The federal government will provide $131 million of soft loans for a $177 million, 100 MW solar park near the Jamuna river in Bangladesh’s Jamalpur district, where a second park of a similar size is being planned by Dhaka and a Chinese partner.

Developers have until May 27 to submit bids for state-run power producer NTPC’s projects anywhere in India. In a separate development, company BHEL has issued a global tender seeking module supply partners for an aggregate 750 MW of panels.

New Delhi-headquartered Uttam Group of Companies has purchased California-based Catalina Composites as it positions itself for a surge in demand for clean energy solutions, including hydrogen. The company will invest at least $20 million in staff, equipment, and research and development of high-pressure cylinder production for hydrogen and compressed natural gas.

India had installed 6.8 GW of cumulative rooftop PV capacity by the end of 2020, with consumer-owned systems accounting for about 72% of the total, according to Bridge to India.