India

The National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) is continuing to step up its efforts to ensure the quality of large scale solar projects. The body is now looking for stakeholder input into its new best practice guidelines for PV power plant projects, as a part of its ongoing Quality Taskforce initiative.

The Japanese multinational lender is making its second investment in the Swedish start-up. The funds will help the company ship its first products next year.

Mounting systems specialist STI Norland said it had surpassed 3GW of cumulative installations with 1.2GW of contracted mounting systems orders expected in 2019.

The state plans to achieve half the amount by 2021-22 under its new draft solar policy. The package also suggests establishing a research hub, privately financed solar parks and encouraging commercial self-consumption of clean energy.

Indian energy giant Adani Green Energy Limited has inked a deal to purchase 205MW of contracted and operational solar assets from Essel Group for an enterprise price of INR1,300 crore (US$182 million).

The state-run fossil fuel giant has partnered with an unnamed foreign start-up to produce electric vehicle batteries using raw materials easily available in India.

New analysis predicts more than 150 GW of tracker capacity will be installed in the next five years – around a third of all ground mount projects up to 2024. Rapid growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and the better cost structures possible from combining trackers and bifacial modules are singled out as key trends.

India’s Maharashtra state has launched a process to procure a major slice of grid-linked solar power, pushing for low prices in line with earlier tenders this year.

India's largest solar panel manufacturer, Waaree Energies said it was closing in on achieving cumulative solar module shipments of 2.5GW as its recent capacity expansions took nameplate production to 1.5GW.

A minister said an unnamed private investor had proposed an 800 MW solar project in the state on top of a 900 MW scheme being carried out with Japan. But the chairman of power giant NTPC said AI and digitization should be used to extend coal burning for decades to come.

The Indian state of Karnataka has snagged the top spot on the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has issued an expression of interest to set up three solar-backed microgrid projects in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The deadline for submissions for prospective developers is Aug. 30.

The fossil fuel giant announced the plan in its latest annual results. The company envisages rolling out electric vehicle chargers at its petrol and diesel stations.

The utility has revealed plans to invest roughly $3 billion in the construction of a 5 GW solar park across two to three locations in the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat. In a separate announcement, the New Delhi-based group opened global bidding to build 1.2 GW of grid-connected solar capacity throughout India.

Trade tensions have flared anew between some of the world’s top solar markets, with the US attempting to quash a complaint from India even as China opened a new dispute.