India

Two giants in financing and Indian power are collaborating on a clean energy microgrid operation they claim will deliver power to five million Indian households with 10,000 grids over the next decade.

During the initial launch of the facility, SunAlpha Energy wants to target around one thousand homes and businesses with rooftop solar plants.

The latest figures released by BloombergNEF show new solar and onshore wind power plants have reached parity with average wholesale prices in California, China and parts of Europe. The technologies are winning the race to be the cheapest sources of new generation for two-thirds of the world’s population.

PV InfoLink analyzed the key markets of China’s big module manufacturers, as well as product trends, based on export statistics. According to trade figures, the nation’s module exports totaled 34.2 GW in the first half of 2019, up by more than 90% from the corresponding period of 2018. In a nutshell, overseas demand has been strong in 2019.

Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) has issued a tender for a 20MW grid-connected solar project at an old ash dyke, Faridabad, in the North Indian state of Haryana.

Adani has put on hold ambitious plans to invest A$2bn-A$3bn in solar plants in Australia, blaming regulatory hitches that it said were causing delays for renewable operators seeking to connect to the National Grid.

SunPower building 35MW project to supply Chevron's Lost Hills Oil Field. Assam tenders for 25MW solar project. Constant Energy partners Sodexo Thailand

Giving a push to solar power energy, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has floated a tender for empanelment of companies to install 30 MW of grid-connected solar rooftop projects in the range of 1 kw to 1,000 kw.

A study has estimated the cost of PV project soiling may increase from €3-5 billion last year to €4-7 billion by 2023 due to more extensive deployment in high insolation and soiling-affected regions, such as China and India. The authors of the paper outlined the potential of soiling mitigation technologies while stressing more R&D is needed to reduce costs and for the adoption of such measures on a larger scale.

French floating solar specialist Ciel & Terre has completed its first FPV plant in India through its local subsidiary.

With land procurement continuing to hold back India’s PV sector, the government is considering up to 55GW of solar and wind projects along the border with Pakistan where there is an abundance of barren lands.

An AFP newswire report this week said Ministry of New & Renewable Energy secretary Anand Kumar had announced plans for 30 GW of generation capacity in the state of Gujarat and 25 GW in Rajasthan, all of it along a 20-25km strip of semi arid land on the border.

Developers have until November 18 to submit bids for projects anywhere in India. The projects are to be set up on a develop, build, demonstrate and transfer basis.

India's largest utility NTPC has tendered for 1GW of grid-connected solar capacity under the Develop Build Demonstrate Transfer (DBDT) programme.

The first solar power plant was commissioned under the state bona fide entrepreneurship programme at Mundkhar village in the district.