VOLUME 10 Issue # 10 43
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Disclaimer,Limitations of Liability While every efforts has been made to ensure the high quality and accuracy of EQ international and all our authors research articles with the greatest of care and attention ,we make no warranty concerning its content,and the magazine is provided on an>> as is < 6 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com 54 58 SOLAR PROJECTS SOLAR PROJECTS Plan afoot to install floating solar panels in dams Blockchain in Power Generation, Transmission in Maharashtra and Distribution 28 30 POWER GENERATION ELECTRIC VEHICLES ELECTRIC VEHICLES Global Renewable Energy Government to announce electric EESL hands over first set of Trends GAIL to set up battery char ging stations for e-vehicles vehicles policy soon... Electric Vehicles to PWD... 64 TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions Vikram Solar Commissions GCL-SI Becomes First For- to Highlight Latest... 24 1461 kW Rooftop Solar 26 eign Company to... POWER GENERATION Electricity demand grows 7.4 62 pc in July, thermal PLF lower: ICRA EQ NEWS 14 11 Pg. 07-37 INDIA INDIA PRODUCTS Malaysia takes India to WTO’s safe- BSE seeks licence to set up new guard committee on solar duty power exchange Pg. 74-77 www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 7 JINKOSOLAR (NYSE: JKS) is a global leader in the solar industry. JinkoSolar distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversi- fied international utility, commercial and residential customer base in Chi- na, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and other countries and re- gions. JinkoSolar has over 12,000 em- ployees across its 8 productions facili- ties globally, 16 oversea subsidiaries. 8 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com 伀一䔀 圀伀刀䰀䐀⸀ 伀一䔀 匀唀一⸀ 伀一䔀 䜀刀䤀䐀⸀ 䜀漀氀搀椀 匀漀氀愀爀 攀砀琀攀渀搀猀 眀栀漀氀攀栀攀愀爀琀攀搀 猀甀瀀瀀漀爀琀 琀漀 伀甀爀 倀爀椀洀攀 䴀椀渀椀猀琀攀爀 匀栀爀椀 一愀爀攀渀搀爀愀 䴀漀搀椀ᤠ猀 攀û漀爀琀猀 琀漀 攀洀戀爀愀挀攀 琀栀攀 眀漀爀氀搀⸀ 吀 䐀 吀 䰀 䨀琀洀琀眀∀琀椀䨀琀 昀眀砀眀戀挀琀昀戀琀 圀攀 挀漀洀洀椀琀 漀甀爀猀攀氀瘀攀猀 琀漀 栀椀猀 瘀椀猀椀漀渀⸀ ꤀ ㈀ 㠀 䜀 伀 䰀 䐀 䤀 匀 䄀 刀 倀 嘀 䜀漀氀搀椀 匀漀氀愀爀 倀瘀琀 䰀琀搀 ⠀䘀漀爀洀攀爀氀礀 䜀漀氀搀椀 䜀爀攀攀渀 吀攀挀栀渀漀氀漀最椀攀猀 倀瘀琀 䰀琀搀⤀ 吀漀氀氀 䘀爀攀攀㨀 㠀 㠀㌀㌀ 㔀㔀 吀攀氀㨀 ⬀㤀 ㈀㘀 㜀 㤀㤀㤀 㤀㤀 www.EQMagPro.com 椀渀昀漀䀀最漀氀搀椀⸀漀渀攀 眀眀EQ眀⸀最 漀October氀搀椀⸀漀渀攀 2018 ⌀䜀漀9氀 搀椀匀漀氀愀爀 INDIA Clean energy bids with high tariffs will be cancelled: RK Singh The government will cancel clean energy auctions if the tariffs discovered through competitive bidding are found unreasonable, minister for power and renewable energy RK Singh said, signalling a tough stand against any apparent malpractice in bidding. esponding to questions on a recent cancellation of bids received for Taiwan takes India to WTO’s safe- 2,400-MW solar projects, Singh said his ministry is keeping a watch on global trends that influence clean guard committee on solar duty energy tariffs and hence the ministry in its right can exercise its discretion India had imposed safeguard duty of up to 25 per cent on solar cells to define the maximum permissible imports from China and Malaysia for two years to protect domestic play- R tariffs for solar bids. ers from steep rise in inbound shipments. aiwan has sought consultations with India under the WTO’s safeguard agreement against New Delhi’s decision to impose import duty on solar cells, the global trade “I am here to protect the body said. The consultations, however, people’s interest. We do not fall under WTO’s dispute settle- will accept bids which ment system. India had imposed safe- are reasonable. If I come guard duty of up to 25 per cent on solar across any bids which are t cells imports from China and Malaysia excessive, we will cancel for two years to protect domestic players it,” R K Singh said. from steep rise in inbound shipments. Taiwan says it has a substantial interest as an exporter of the product. Recently, the power minister wrote to the finance minis- The objective of the consultation is to “ex- try alleging a cartelisation attempt by SoftBank-backed SB change views on the proposed measures and Energy to jack up tariffs in a 3,000-MW solar tender floated reaching an understanding on ways to achieve by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which the objectives” set out in an article of the WTO stood partly cancelled after the price bids were submitted Agreement on Safeguards, the WTO said in a by developers. SoftBank firmly denied the allegation and communication. Taiwan seeks to hold consul- said it always abides by the law and acts ethically. Officials, tations “as soon as possible and looks forward however, said bids were rejected only because of high to India’s positive response to this request,” prices. “There is no allegation of any kind. “We found certain bids to be unacceptable and we did According to an expert, seeking consulta- not accept the bids, (on the ground that) the price was high,” tions under the safeguard agreement is a way Anand Kumar, secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable to inform other countries that they are not Energy, said while addressing a press conference ahead of fulfilling their commitments under the WTO its flagship renewable energy event RE-Invest and the first rules. Solar cells — electrical devices that general assembly of International Solar Alliance next week. convert sunlight directly into electricity — are The government and the private sector have recently imported primarily from China, Malaysia, Sin- been at odds following the former’s decision to cap solar gapore and Taiwan. Imports of solar cells from tariffs at Rs 2.5 per unit for solar auctions conducted by Malaysia and China account for more than 90 SECI, with a margin of 18 paise if safeguard duty is being per cent of the total inbound shipments in the factored in. country. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 11 INDIA Impose 50% of solar tariff as penalty for not buying power: Developers to MNRE At a meeting of stakeholders called by the Ministry of New and Renew- able Energy, solar power developers proposed that discoms should be penalised 50 percent of the agreed tariff for the part of renewable energy that they refuse to use. t a meeting of stakeholders called by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), solar power develop- ers proposed that discoms should be penalised 50 percent of the agreed tariff Spot power tariff climbs to for the part of renewable energy that they refuse to use. The ministry had called the meeting of renewable energy 9-year high of Rs 14.25 at IEX projecta developers, bankers and financial institutions and other officials to deliberate on difficulties being faced by the Spot power price touched over nine-year high of Rs 14.25 per unit in investors in view of India’s ambitious target of having 175 the day ahead market (DAM) on Indian Energy Exchange for supply on GW of clean energy capacities by 2022. Thursday, mainly on account of higher demand. “There has been back down of operational solar plants by discoms. The ministry is thinking to impose penalties on discoms to pay 50 percent tariff for units not purchased,” the "Spot power price for supply on Thurs- sources said. day touched over 9-year high of Rs 14.25 The renewable energy project evelopers are facing issues per unit in trading at Indian Energy related to financing of their projects. Some of the banks as Exchange (IEX) on Wednesday," a source well as financial institutions are unwilling to fund the impact said. of safeguard duty on solar equipment. During the meeting, the MNRE has assured that it would explore the possibility of financing impact of safeguard duty ccording to the IEX data, the previous on projects by Indian Renewable Energy Development high was recorded at Rs 17 per unit in Agency Limited (IREDA) as an interim arrangement. August 2009. Experts believe that spot power price soared mainly due to higher “MNRE will explore the interim financing demand and lower supplies as there were buy bids for 386 million units (MU) of safeguard impact. Besides all developers against sell bids of 309 MU in the trading are asked to send a note to the MNRE if the held on Wednesday at IEX. lending banks are not financing. The MNRE aAs much are 290 MU were sold for supply on Thursday, has also assured to take up the issue with the which is highest ever volume of power sold on the exchange CMD of the concerned bank and if required since it came into existence in 2007. They said lower wind with the Ministry of Finance,” the source said. and hydro power output coupled with persistent coal short- ages at power plants led to spike in the spot price. After the shortage of coal at independent power The MNRE also asked all the banks not to impose the plants(IPPs) and captive power plants(CPPs), consum- requirement of module suppliers from Bloomberg Tier 1 list ers in southern part of the country and captive users made and follow BIS approved list of suppliers for loan appraisals a beeline at IEX. The spot power price touched a high of During the meeting it was decided that there would be quar- Rs 14.09 on September 17 due to the same reason. The terly review by the MNRE, banks and developer on financing demand was 265 MU while the supply was 200 MU. In May of renewable projects. this year, the spot power price had touched about five-year Shekhar Dutt, Director General, Solar Power Developers high of Rs 11.41 after starved CPPs started buying power at Association, welcomed the ministry’s step to hold the staek- exchanges. holders meeting. “As renewable energy is one of the fastest In the same month, the government decided to augment growing sector in India, an assurance from MNRE on every coal supplies to centre/ state power plants and IPPs from tariff being discovered in the bids as a viable investment to May 19 to June 30 to overcome shortage of the dry fuel and fund, is a progressive move.” check power crisis. He further said, “With effective implementation of pay- The source said CPPs are still grappling with the issue of ment security mechanism (PSM) by discoms, solar power coal shortage at their power plants. CPPs generate electrici- developers are optimistic about fast track resolutions in RE ty for their own manufacturing facilities like steel, cement and Financing. While India is thriving to achieve the Renewable others. Earlier in the day, Power Minister R K Singh asked Energy target, the SPDA will ensure its continued support to state power generators like NTPC and DVC to strengthen the Ministry by facilitating inputs from the industry.” their coal mining wing and secure more coal mines noting that supply of the dry fuel to power plants is still a concern. 12 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 13 INDIA SoftBank Energy cartelised SC, Maharashtra AAR rulings to to jack up solar tariffs: up solar project cost by 25% The rulings of the Supreme Court and the Maharashtra Authority Minister for Advance Ruling (AAR) on levying 25 percent safeguard duty and 18 percent GST on contract value, respectively, will result in a 25 percent The Union Ministry of Power has accused SoftBank (SB) Energy of at- increase in the cost of solar projects, according to experts. tempting to cartelise and drive up solar power tariffs at the 3,000 MW solar auction in July. he apex court, through its interim order Monday, has nullified the Orissa High n a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Court’s stay order on levy of safeguard duty NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman, and the Finance on imported solar cells and modules. The Minister, Minister of State (Independent Directorate General of Trade Remedies Charge) for Power and New & Renewable En- (DGTR) had recommended levy of 25 per- ergy, RK Singh, said: “It is apparent that there cent safeguard duty on solar cell imports was an attempt for cartelisation. Such a thing from China and Malaysia for the first year, has never happened earlier.” followed by a phased down approach for The Minister was responding to a query on T the second year. In the first six months of the rejection of SB Energy’s bid. The Centre I the second year, a safeguard duty of 20 had rejected most bids that were called by the percent will be payable by exporters to In- Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for dia and in the latter half of the second year, developing 3,000 MW of solar power genera- exporters will pay a safeguard duty of 15 tion projects earlier this year. This resulted percent. The Maharashtra AAR had early in the first ever case of partially cancelling a this month upheld that EPC contracts are tender for developing solar power generation works contract services and hence the tax projects. Thus, the winning bids for 2,400 MW on such works contract service transaction of the 3,000 MW were cancelled. Only Acme would be 18 percent and not five percent Solar, which won a bid for 600 MW, by quoting applicable earlier. the lowest tariff of ₹2.44 a unit, was awarded a project. The bids that were rejected included SB “These two rulings are a major blow to the Energy’s bid for developing 1,100 MW, and sunrise solar industry as it would result in a ReNew Power’s 500-MW bid. Both had quoted nearly 25 per cent increase in the cost of the ₹2.71 a unit. Mahindra Solar and Mahoba Solar project,” Gensol group founder and director (part of the Adani Group) had bid for 300 MW Anmol Jaggi told PTI. He further said that this of solar power generation capacity; each had decision will severely impact a host of small quoted ₹2.64 per unit. The Centre had provided and big players who is bidding for open access no reason for scrapping the bids. However, and rooftop projects. officials had hinted that the difference between “Out of the projects that have been bid out the lowest winning bid and the others was so far, only 25 percent are by the Solar Energy unusually high. Corporation (SECI), while the rest are non-SE- CI bids. While SECI bids assure passthrough, “…Our suspicion is that SB Energy tried to form a those who have bid for other projects will cartel to push up the price. While in previous bids, face a major setback as the cost will increase,” the difference between the rates quoted between added Jaggi. L-1 and the last bidder used to be not more than 10 paise per unit, in the present case the differ- According to another industry expert, the levy of safe- ence came to 27 paise per unit (2.71 – 2.44),” Singh guard duty will have a significant impact but since the prices wrote. of Chinese modules have come down to 26 cents, it will set off the impact to some extent. “Since the prices of modules have come down, the overall impact is 25 percent, which could have otherwise been 30 percent,” the expert added. The letter, seen by BusinessLine, read, “In Domestic module manufacturers, however, opined that with the bid to which SoftBank (SB) Energy is refer- the implementation of the safeguard duty, during the initial ring, the reverse auction took place on July 13, phase, a diversion of around 30-40 percent of the demand 2018. SB Energy was not L-1 in that bid (it was for solar cells and modules towards the Indian manufactur- ACME Power at ₹2.44 per unit), it was not even ers is anticipated. L-2 and it was not even L-3. Even amongst “The imposition is a respite from the uncertainty wit- three companies which came L-4 with tariff of nessed in the recent past. We can now say that domestic ₹2.71 per unit, it was the last. Therefore, their manufacturers have a level playing field, which will address disappointment that their bid has not been ac- the concern of underutilized manufacturing capacity of key cepted is rather strange.” national players. With time, 70 percent of the total demand will gradually be diverted to domestic players,” said Sunil Rathi, director, Waaree Energies. 14 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com INDIA he proposed exchange will leverage on experience and expertise of its stakeholders in their fields knowledge of the power sector, funding of power projects and associated infrastructure, setting-up and running various bourses and platforms in the country, BSE said in a statement Monday. The proposed power exchange will offer the market partici- T pants a credible power trading platform. “BSE along PTC India Ltd and ICICI Bank Ltd have filed a petition with the CERC (Central Electricity Regulatory Commission) on September 7, 2018 for grant of license for setting up a new power exchange,” the exchange said. BSE seeks licence to set up new BSE — formerly Bombay Stock Ex- change- is Asia’s oldest stock exchange and power exchange provides trading in equity, debt instruments, Leading stock bourse BSE along with PTC India and ICICI Bank have filed a equity derivatives, currency derivatives, inter- petition with the power market regulator CERC for grant of license to set est rate derivatives, mutual funds and stock up a new power exchange. lending and borrowing. Dealership Inquiry +91-7226995509/10 PV MODULES SKY Series SPACE Series 60 cells 72 cells 250W -265W 300W-330W 16.30% (Efficiency) 16.65% (Efficiency) Sanelite Solar is a preferred manufacturer of high-quality PV modules ranging from 40Wp to 330Wp.The produccon line is carefully designed ultra-modern line with high efficiency automaac laminator and auto-tabber & stringer machines.The PV modules are engineers with highest grade raw material to get oppmum performance and high efficiency.The end produccon is an aestheecally superior absorber of sunlight-the Sanelite Solar PV Modules. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 15 INDIA Power Min brings Electricity Amendment Bill back on the table The Power Ministry has sought comments on a revised draft of the Electricity Amendment Bill which seeks to separate carriage and content businesses to enable consumers to switch their power suppliers as they do for telecom services. eedback on the revised Electricity Amend- Firms of Australia, Japan keen ment Bill 2018 has been sought within 45 days. The draft has been circulated among all related government agencies, depart- to invest in India’s solar sector ments, regulators, PSUs and industry bod- ies. According to the draft circulated online, : Prabhu the Electricity Amendment Bill 2014 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December ommerce and Industry Minister Suresh 19, 2014 and subsequently referred to F Prabhu Tuesday said many firms of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy. The panel Australia and Japan are keen to invest gave its report in September, 2015. The revised bill is now in India in solar energy sector. And circulated on the basis of recommendations of the panel and there is a need to send market signals consultations. The bill provides for more than one service for attracting more funds into research operator to supply power to a consumer in one distribution and development. area. This will give consumers an option of changing their India has set a target to gener- power supplying company or utility based on the efficiency of C ate 100 GW solar energy by 2022 for their services. increasing share of carbon free energy The bill also provides for ‘Smart Grid’, which it says is an in the energy mix, the minister was electricity network that uses information and communica- quoted as saying in an official state- tion technology to gather information and act intelligently ment. He also said that joint efforts are in automated manner to improve the efficiency, reliability, required to reduce the cost of finance economics, and sustainability of generation, transmission and technology for massive produc- and distribution of electricity. tion of solar energy. The minister was It also provides for medium term power purchase agree- speaking at International Solar Alliance ment. It says that ‘medium term’ means the duration of (ISA) Innovation and Investment Forum power purchase which shall be as notified by the Central here.He said that once the generation government. This will allow stressed power projects to go of solar energy goes up, its prices will for medium term power purchase agreements and run come down. their plants. The bill also provides for renewable purchase obligation under which the ‘polluter pays’ principle applies. Under this, the renewable power purchased would be used to meeting the RPO requirement. It has also made a case for round-the-clock power as envisaged by the government from April 1, 2019. The bill also provides to stricter penalties for non-compliance, theft and other offences. In some cases, penalty has been raised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore. 16 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 17 INDIA 10-70kW Three-Phase Solar Inverters BOOST YOUR Malaysia takes India to WTO’s safeguard committee POWER&PROFIT on solar duty Malaysia has sought consultations with India under the WTO’s safeguard Commercial & Industrial Solar System Solutions agreement against New Delhi’s decision to impose import duty on solar cells, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said today. he consultations, however, don’t fall under Netra, CIPET to work on multi- the WTO’s dispute settlement system. Earlier this month, India had imposed safe- MW floating photovoltaic guard duty of up to 25 per cent on solar cells imports from China and Malaysia for two years to protect domestic players from plants steep rise in inbound shipments. However, NETRA (NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance) and Central Institute on August 13, the finance ministry stated of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET) will work together to accel- T that safeguard duty will not be insiste upon erate the renewable drive by establishing the technology framework for on import of solar cells for the “time being” development & production of floaters for Multi-MW Floating photovoltaic in deference to interim directions passed (PV) plants. by the High Court of Orissa. Malaysia has stated that it has a substantial interest as an exporter of the product. etra, the R&D arm of NTPC Ltd, has “The aim of the consultations is to signed the Memorandum of Agree- exchange views and seek clarifica- ment (MoA) recently with CIPET. tion regarding the proposed measures The team will be working together and reaching an understanding on towards building comprehensive ways to achieve the objectives” set quality plans, to increase the vendor out in an article of the WTO Agree- base and capacity building in the ment on Safeguards, the WTO said in area of Floater production & main- a communication.“Malaysia seeks to N tenance technologies. The MoA hold consultations as soon as possible was signed by Shri Shaswattam, with the participation of representatives General Manager, NETRA and Dr. from India investigating authorities.Ma- M. Abdul Kader, Principal Direc- laysia looks forward to receiving India’s tor, CIPET in the presence of RK response to this request,” it added. Srivastava, Executive Director, NE- According to an expert, seeking con- TRA, PD Hirani, General Manager, sultations to the safeguard committee is a NETRA and other officials. way to inform other countries that they are not fulfilling their commitments under the WTO rules.Solar cells, electrical devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity, are imported primarily from China, Ma- laysia, Singapore and Taiwan. Imports of the cells from these countries account for more than 90 per cent of the total inbound shipments in the country. 18 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com [email protected] www.goodwe.com 10-70kW Three-Phase Solar Inverters BOOST YOUR POWER&PROFIT Commercial & Industrial Solar System Solutions [email protected] www.goodwe.com www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 19 20 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com TECHNOLOGY Huawei Ranks No.1 in the Top PV Inverter Suppliers in the Indian Market Recently, Bridge to India, an Indian authoritative consultancy, released the India RE Map 2018 September. According to the statistics of the projects commis- sioned from October 2017 to September 2018, Bridge to India released the top PV modules, inverters, and EPC enterprises in the Indian market. mong the top PV inverter suppliers, Huawei smart PV inverter surpasses many world-renowned ones with a share of 16.3%, rising to the top of the list. Based on reports released by global consultancies IHS Markit andA GTM Research, Huawei ranked No.1 globally in terms of inverter shipments for three consecu- TOP inverter suppliers in the tive years from 2015 to 2017. The cutting edge Indian market (source: Bridge to India) of Huawei’s inverter will be more obvious this year with a greater overseas market share. In the Indian PV market, the utility-scale PV plant projects dominate the market share, accounting for 90%. In recent years, smart string inverters have become the mainstream among the utility- scale PV plants with the advantages of a high energy yield, high reliability, and low maintenance cost. Huawei has established more than 2 GW of PV plants since it has deeply developed the India market for more than three years. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 21 TECHNOLOGY LONGi Solar: Top 3 Most Bankable PV Module Brand in the World In the latest “2018 PV Module Brand Bankability Report”, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) ranks LONGi Solar the top 3 most bankable PV module brand with 1,025MW of loan-financed PV projects in the past two years. LONGi Solar’s ranking rose four places from the last year. In the same report, BNEF has also featured the “PV Module Reliability Scorecard” released by the authoritative certifi- cation institution DNV GL. LONGi Solar is recognized as a “TOP PERFORMER” module maker by DNV GL for two consecutive years. he ranking demonstrates LONGi strength- ening bankability as more banks provide non-recourse loans for the PV projects specified with the company’s modules. Solar project developers now have the abil- ity and favorable conditions to finance their solar projects with LONGi Solar high ef- ficiency modules. BNEF’s ranking is based t on its database containing 25,455 PV financing projects, involving 57 PV module brands worldwide. The “2018 PV Module Brand Bankability Report”, BNEF also provided Altman-Z scores of the world’s largest PV module makers in 2018-Q1. LONGi Solar ranks ahead of its rivals in the manufacturer credit ratings. The ranking demonstrates LONGi strengthening bank- ability as more banks provide non-recourse loans for the PV projects specified with the company’s modules. Solar project developers now have the ability and favorable conditions to finance their solar projects with LONGi Solar high efficiency Mr. Wenxue Li, President of LONGi Solar, added, “Strong modules. BNEF’s ranking is based on its database containing financials and bankability that are independently veri- 25,455 PV financing projects, involving 57 PV module brands fied by Bloomberg NEF is one of many validations of worldwide. The “2018 PV Module Brand Bankability Report”, LONGi as a reliable company with reliable products. Our BNEF also provided Altman-Z scores of the world’s largest PV strength in product, technology and financial health module makers in 2018-Q1. LONGi Solar ranks ahead of its provides the best guarantee for our customers.” rivals in the manufacturer credit ratings. 22 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com www.EQMagPro.comFinal Final Solar India_EQ.indd 2 EQ October 2018 08-10-201823 10:55:27 TECHNOLOGY The Optimal LCOE Solution In 2018, Huawei launched the optimal LCOE solu- tion – Smart DC System, by drawing on the practical experience of more than 100MW PV plants around the world and the studies on the practice test data of em- pirical bases. The Smart DC System matches the main- No.1 in India, Huawei Unveils the stream star product SUN2000-95KTL string inverter. With an efficiency of up to 99%, the SUN2000-95KTL Leading Solutions at REI 2018 supports 66MPPT circuits/MW. Protected to IP65, it is not configured with fuses and other vulnerable parts. Scheduled from 18th to 20th September at the India Expo Center, Greater Additionally, the system integrates the bifacial module, Noida, the 12th edition of Renewable Energy India Expo (REI) came back in smart solar tracker, and the smart PV inverter through a magnificent way this year. As a global smart PV leader, Huawei has rich the smart chip and AI algorithm. It enables customers experience in such digital technologies as cloud computing, artificial to take the lead in the age of intelligence. intelligence (AI), Big Data, and IoT. In this exhibition, Huawei unveiled its With a maximum input current of 25 A for each latest smart PV solutions, and shared with global customers the success- MPPT circuit, the SUN2000-95KTL fully meets the ful experience and methods in new energy digitization. requirements of increasing the output current for bifacial modules. Multiple MPPT circuits minimize trength in Numbers: World’s Top Shipper for the mismatch loss caused by bifacial modules. The Three Consecutive Years Based on reports most efficient MPP intelligent tracking algorithm in released by global consultancies IHS Markit, the industry is adopted to improve the energy yield of Huawei was ranked No. 1 globally in inverter bifacial modules. The tracker management system is shipments for three consecutive years, 2015 – integrated to intelligently adjust the operating status 2017. According to the latest Utility Solar Map of solar trackers, and added with the intelligent ad- released by Bridge to India, an Indian authorita- justment mode of “strong wind, heavy snow, and heavy tive consulting firm, the grid-connected capacity rain”. Sof Huawei utility-scale PV plants ranks No.1 from October 2017 to September 2018, and The Optimal LCOE Solution FusionSolar Smart PV Solution has been widely The Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis introduced in this recognized by Indian customers. exhibition is developed through AI. With the help of Following the digitization trend, Huawei the Smart PV Management System and the smart displayed the global leading smart PV series PV controller (inverter), you can enable the Smart solutions under the theme “Roads to a Digital I-V Curve Diagnosis function remotely by one click, PV World”, including Utility Smart PV Solution, and perform the full diagnosis of each PV string on- Commercial Smart PV Solution, Floating Smart line rapidly. The function enables the system to quick- PV Solution, and one-click O&M Smart I-V ly identify and locate problems in the early stage of Curve Diagnosis, and FusionSolar Smart PV energy yield loss, and reminds users to replace the Management System. faulty parts in a timely manner, minimizing the en- ergy yield loss and safeguarding investors’ revenues. No professional personnel or device is required. Based on the I-V curve, the system automatically analyzes the fault cause, identifies the faulty string, and automatically generates a diagnosis report. 24 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com TECHNOLOGY he total PV plant installation capacity in India had been Testimated to be 20 GW. According to Huawei technical experts, Huawei PV inverters, with no vulnerable components such as fuses, are more reliable and have a fault rate of 1/10 of the industry level. The inverters perfectly meet the actual requirements of Indian PV plants, and have been applied in lot of harsh environments with high salinity and high humidity. Currently, the capacity of the inverters operating stably in such environments amounts to 75 GW. he system can also perform a full intelligent diagnosis Tonline for multiple scenarios and PV modules. The actual project application has exceeded 3 GW. In addition, the brand new Floating Smart PV Solution and Commercial Smart PV Solution perfectly match the Indian PV market scenarios and customer requirements, therefore attract- ing a large number of customers. India enjoys sufficient sunlight, and has a huge potential in the PV market. By the end of 2017, www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 25 TECHNOLOGY DuPont Introduces New High-Performance Solar Portfolio at 2018 Renewable Energy India Expo Greater Noida, India, September 20, 2018 — As an industry leader in solar solutions that delivers proven power and lasting value for the industry, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions (DuPont) is highlighting a bigger portfolio of innovative PV materials as well as customer collaborations at booth 3.109, Hall 3, at 2018 Renewable Energy India (REI) show. DuPont leaders shared their expertise on ensuring investor security in next-generation India PV projects at the 7th Quality Roundtable during the REI conference. ith the increasing deployment of solar energy in India, the quality of each and every component matters to help ensure invest- ment stability for all stakeholders to continue investing in this form of energy for long term. Our vast experience in the global solar Windustry enables us to bring market leading PV materials that provide high efficiency, high reliability solutions to our custom- ers.” said Rajaram Pai, business leader – South Asia & ASE- AN, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions. “Winning the REI Award 2018 for International Excellence is of great significance to us as we continue to work together with industry partners to help build a robust quality infrastructure for India’s sustainable clean energy future”, Pai added. One of the new highlights is the clear DuPont™ Tedlar® PVF film, an ideal backsheet material for bifacial modules that can generate greater power output. Compared to a double glass module structure; the DuPont continues to be an industry pacesetter for innova- breathable, clear Tedlar® PVF film based backsheets allow tion in the solar industry by introducing leading performance for higher reliability, lower operating temperature, up to 30% metallization pastes. DuPont scientists were recently awarded lighter weight, and a lower module installation cost. The clear the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Heroes of Chemistry Tedlar® PVF film is expected to be a right fit with most current Award for their invention of the game-changing metallization manufacturing processes for backsheets and modules with paste DuPont™ Solamet®, that greatly improved the energy little if any additional investment in equipment needed for efficiency of solar cells. Solamet® PV21x, the latest front side most manufacturing processes. silver, is designed to enhance most mainstream cell technolo- gies. Solamet® PV21x delivers better contact performance and high aspect ratios that enable cell efficiency enhance- ment >0.1% and maintains high throughput in mass produc- tion. Visitors to the booth can see a multi c-Si cell from TATA Power Solar achieving >19% efficiency. With completion of the merger between Dow and DuPont, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions is proud to broaden it PV offer- ings by integrating the Dow Corning portfolio of solar silicone solutions including sealants, adhesives, potting agents, encapsulants and electrically conductive adhesives. These state-of-the-art solar silicone solutions have enabled reliable solar systems with an increase in durability and efficiency. A successful collaboration comes from the world’s largest solar energy installer, Huanghe Hydropower Development Co., Ltd.(HHSD), a leading clean energy subsidiary of State Power Investment Cooperation (SPIC) of China. A 72-cell, high-power, bifacial module protected by clear Tedlar® PVF film-based backsheet is featured in the booth. 26 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com 13th (2019) International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Exhibition & Conference June 4-6, 2019 ◎Asian Photovoltaic Industry Association / Shanghai New Energy Industry Association ◎Show Management: Follow Me Int'l Exhibition (Shanghai), Inc. Add：Room 902, Building No. 1, 2020 West Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200235, China Tel：+86-21-33561099 / 33561095 / 33561096 Fax：+86-21-33561089 ◎For exhibition: [email protected] For conference: [email protected] www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 27 TECHNOLOGY Goldi Solar Launches New Cor- porate Identity at REI-2018 Goldi Green Technologies has launched their new corporate identity at REI 2018. The name of the company has been changed to Goldi Solar Pvt Ltd. Goldi’s PV module manufacturing capac- ity is currently 500 MW and the company plans to increase that to 1 GW in the near Sungrow Showcased Cutting-Edge future. “The expansion plans of the com- pany are in the advanced stage of comple- Products during REI Expo 2018 tion and the company plans to increase production by the next financial year,” said Sungrow, the global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables, Mr Bharat Bhut, director of Goldi Solar. participates in the Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo 2018 in Greater Noida The company is also exploring high-effi- for 3 days, with world-leading PV solutions for commercial rooftop and ciency PERC cell manufacturing in India. utility-scale PV plants, in a bid to build a comprehensive PV world together with partners and with the mission of “ Clean Power for All ”. urrent scene unfolding before us is quite he SG3125HV containerized solution dramatic and to some extent encourag- integrates PV inverter power conversion ing,” said Mr Chetan Shah, director. “The together with block monitoring, an auxiliary Safeguard Duty will impact the industry in power supply, and Night Static Var Generator a positive manner in the long run. The do- (SVG) function, housed in a standard 10-foot mestic industry will see a boom in coming container. Moreover, the 3-level topology and months due to sliding module prices; the smart cooling design reaches a peak effi- sourcing of modules from other countries ciency of 99% and can work without derating C will get diverted to the domestic manufac- Tat 50 , especially suitable for hot and humid turers. Goldi has placed itself strategically in a manner that it climates in India. Developed for large-scale becomes a win-win situation for all stakeholders – be it cus- 1500V℃ flat ground plants, the product also tomer, government, or Goldi. Our change in name from Goldi features a high DC/AC ratio of 1.5 and flexible Green to Goldi Solar, which is more visible and impactful, is 6.25MW or 12.5MW block design, which signif- one of a few steps in a series of developments to strengthen icantly saves initial investment and upcoming Goldi’s position in the global market,” he added. operating costs. Optimized for ever-growing commercial PV plants, Sungrow showcases Mr. Ishver Dholakiya, MD of Goldi Solar said, multi-MPPT string inverters SG12KTL-M and “Goldi started with a small footprint of a 10 SG110KTL-M. The SG110KT-M focusing on MW module production line in the year 2011, large and medium-scale commercial rooftop plants and best characterized by the maximum achieved a CAGR of 80 percent in first 5 years efficiency of 98.7%, features 9 MPPTs which and reached the current production capacity greatly reducing the impact of shading and of 500 MW.” Many small, medium and large- mismatch issues and adapts to complex instal- scale projects have used Goldi modules and lation applications. It also supports bifacial PV has garnered a good product recall value modules with maximum DC operating current amongst its customers. Goldi customers 13A. include many PSUs, leading EPC companies, India has been endowed with a huge solar and module manufacturers. potential (about 5000 trillion kWh/year energy Recent promotions by various governments for rooftop solar is incident on its lands), which is estimated to projects gave the company a renewed push to reach the account for 9% of future worldwide renewable masses. Goldi’s EPC division, having a professional team of capacity. As India has become a core target engineers, reached out to rooftop solar customers in a timely in PV market, Sungrow recently established manner. Brand penetration has seen a major boost after it the factory in India to provide customers with reached the actual users of its products and services. timely, high-quality, and localized services. This move further proves Sungrow’s ambition Goldi Solar’s entire team is geared up to face the to lead the way of integrated solar solutions new challenges and has shown confidence in the in India. Professor Cao Renxian, Chairman of Sungrow, commented, “Sungrow has always management’s decision to take company to new believed in the long-term potential of PV in heights. The team is prepared for the renewed life Asia and continued to maintain its leading envisaged for the coming years. Incidentally ‘Re- position in India, China, UK, Germany, USA, newed Life‘ is the new tagline of the company. “The UAE, Australia, Thailand, Brazil, Italy, Vietnam, motto is to infuse new life into all the departments Malaysia etc.. Additionally, Sungrow will remain of the company, which will pave the way towards focus on upgrade technologies, providing its complete corporatisation of Goldi Solar,” said Mr customers with high-reliable inverters and con- Brijesh Khanna, head of the corporate communica- tributing in solving global energy problems. ” tions department of the company. 28 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com TECHNOLOGY JA Solar has started mass production of double-glass JA Solar’s IP on Bifacial PERC bifacial PERC modules since the first quarter of 2017. The bifaciality of such modules capable of absorbing lights from both sides, combined with its high resistance Technology Patented in Japan to wear-tear, abrasion and corrosion, and close to zero JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., a world-leading manufacturer of high-performance water permeability, this high-end, high-quality double glass photovoltaic products, announced that its patent application for protecting the bifacial PERC modules are especially suitable for coastal company’s intellectual property of bifacial PERC cell and module technology areas and climatically challenging environments, providing has been granted by the Japanese Patent Office. long-term stability of solar energy generation particularly for utility-scale PV systems. Bifacial PERC technology is A Solar has been a company fully committed to the in- currently regarded as one of the most advanced and cost- novation and advancement of photovoltaic technology effective technical solutions to reduce the levelized cost of since its inception by devoting enormous resources on energy (LCOE) of solar energy generation. its R&D efforts, and has maintained its technological leading position in the photovoltaic industry globally. Dr. Wei Shan, Chief Technology Officer of JA Solar, JA Solar filed an invention disclosure of “A Bifacial commented, “JA Solar has always been focusing Light-Absorbing Solar Cell with Localized AI-BSF and the Method of Making It” to National Bureau of on the research and development, as well as and JIntellectual Properties of China in early 2013, and the patent was the cost-effective production of high-efficiency PV prod- subsequently granted in March 2016. The bifacial PERC technol- ucts. Our industry-leading cell and module technology ogy utilizes the backside of a PERC cell to receive scattered and assures our products’ quality and performance, resulting reflected lights from the ground, resulting in higher energy genera- in our shipments to the Japan market well ahead of our tion on module level. The patent puts JA Solar in a unique position peers as JA Solar was the top module supplier in Japan in to hold the core intellectual property rights associated with bifacial the first half of 2018. We believe that our bifacial PERC PERC cells and modules. The latest approval of this patent ap- technology patented in Japan will further strengthen JA’s plication by the Japanese Patent Office is a manifestation of JA position and expand our market share in the region to bet- Solar’s technological innovativeness, as well as the legal recogni- ter service our customers with high-quality products.” tion and protection for the IP rights in Japan. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 29 TECHNOLOGY Vikram Solar Commissions 1461 kW Rooftop Solar projects for Century Plyboards (India) Limited Vikram Solar, one of India’s leading module manufacturer and a prominent rooftop solar & EPC solutions provider, announced the installation of a 1461 kW Rooftop Solar PV system for Century Plyboards (India) Limited at two locations. he 1056kW at Century Plyboards’ Chennai unit is spread over 11000 square metres across seven factory sheds and 3 evacu- Mr. Gyanesh Chaudhary, MD & CEO, ation points. There are 3300 modules in Vikram Solar, shared on the occasion, operations with a cumulative annual energy “Century Plyboards Limited is a leader in yield of 1.536 million units, which would the industry and it was a privilege for us help reduce 1310 metric tonnes of Carbon to make their vision a reality in their first Dioxide emissions per year. step towards the green energy drive which T Vikram Solar also commissioned a is a valuable and respectful addition in our 405kW Rooftop Solar PV system for Cen- portfolio of leading industrial manufac- tury Plyboards’ Chirai Moti unit near the turers that we have helped go solar. We Kandla Port in Gujarat. Spread over 450 are proud to have showcased a strategic square metres, the project is powering the and technological advantage in concep- complete factory with the power evacu- tualising the project, and upholding our ated at 2 points. The plant is expected to commitment to the client. We hope that produce an annual yield of nearly 6 Lakh this will be a long lasting association and units which would reduce around 500 we congratulate Century Plyboards Lim- metric tonnes of Carbon Dioxide emissions ited for their step towards a Green India”. per year. Mr. Keshav Bhajanka, Executive Director, Century Ply, shared, “Green energy shift Ms. Neha Agrawal – Head- Corporate was always a part of our plan to become a Strategy & Rooftop Business said “Vi- part of the national Green Energy Revolu- kram Solar has a prestigious Rooftop EPC tion and we are glad to have succeeded in portfolio comprising of Private Sector ushering into the renewable hemisphere. clients (SL Group, IMFA, Century Ply, KBL, Our intention was to contribute towards the and Anmol Biscuits to name a few) and Solar Mission of the country and actively Government clients (such as ISRO, IOCL, address the issue of global warming. Vikram SBI, WBSEDCL, and AAI). Solar, with its 12 year old history and steps We are continously working towards undertaken by the company to help other setting rooftop power plants in a timeline industries contribute to the environmental of 1 to 3 months with precision engineer- longevity, played a pivotal role in helping ing that maximises roof space and meets us make this vision a reality. We intend to power demands at least cost. Our team further enhance our renewable footprint ensures that the return on investment on and look forward to having future associa- the rooftop power plants of our esteemed tions with them across different functioning clientele is maximised and the realsisa- units in India”. tion is optimum.” 30 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com TECHNOLOGY PANASONIC and MECASOLAR announce partnership in India MECASOLAR, the multinational tracking manufacturing company, announced today its further expansion in India with a major new cooperation with Anchor Electricals Pvt. Ltd. he two companies are forming a new strategic partnership under Mr. Dinesh Aggarwal, JMD of Anchor by Panasonic India says, which Anchor by Panasonic un- “India is on an ambitious path of adding renewable energy, dertakes to exclusively control especially Solar, wherein from 2.63 GW installed capacity in the production and distribution 2014 has increased to 22GW at present, an eight fold increase. It of the state-of-the-art products has taken on an objective of achieving 175GW by Year 2022. We of MECASOLAR, namely HY- would like to be an integral part of this growth by enhancing PERION-SR and HYPERION- the efficiency of power generation in every possible way. Solar T MR. This set-up is expected to Tracker is very cost effective way of achieving such an efficiency serve the growing demand that and our association with MECASOLAR, a global leader of Track- is experienced in the domestic ing Systems will help us serve India it’s energy needs. With market of India, as well as the MECASOLAR, our Customers will be assured of a highly reliable surrounding region in SE Asia product with a proven technology and high quality standards.” and Africa. The long history of MECASOLAR in the R&D and production of solar tracking Mr. Alexandros Giannis, CEO of MECASOLAR stated equipment combined with the “We are truly proud to establish this production and well-fitted and established pres- ence of Anchor by Panasonic distribution hub in India together with Anchor by in the renewable sector of India Panasonic. Indian market and the surrounding regions reassures the superior value constitute an exceptional area of interest for us and we proposition in terms of product could not imagine a more visionary approach than the quality, vendor credibility and synergy created with Anchor by Panasonic.” production dynamics. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 31 TECHNOLOGY Hybrid wind-solar assets GCL-SI Becomes First Foreign may lower capital costs by Company to Receive BIS Cer- 5-7%: Study tification of Photovoltaic The ministry of new and renewable energy approved the National Wind- Solar Hybrid policy in May 2018 with an objective to reduce variability in Modules generation ybridisation of the wind and solar as- sets is likely to lower the capital cost by 5-7 per cent compared to the cost of standalone wind and solar assets, thus improving the returns for the develop- ers, said a report. The ministry of new and renewable energy approved the National Wind-Solar Hybrid policy in H May 2018 with an objective to reduce variability in generation and to improve the utilisation of common sources like land and evacuation infrastructure. "Apart from the reduced variability in generation for wind-solar hybrid projects compared to standalone wind or solar projects due to the complimentary nature of generation, the hybrid projects would lead GCL-SI has become the first foreign company to receive certification of its to savings in capital cost in view of the im- photovoltaic modules from The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). proved utilisation of common infrastructure he BIS is India’s Standardization and such as land, approach roads and evacuation Certification Authority. It was established in infrastructure,"ICRA group head - corporate 1987 to replace the Indian Institute of Stan- ratings Sabyasachi Majumdar said. dards (ISI), established in 1946, as the statutory national standard and certification authority in India, responsible for certifica- As per ICRA'S estimates, the hybridisation of the wind tion of Indian products. In March 2018, and solar assets would lower the capital cost by 5-7 per GCL-SI cooperated with VDE, Perfect cent compared to the cost of standalone wind and solar as- Care Solution LLP, to formally launch the sets, thus improving the returns for the developers, he said. T Indian BIS certification test. After a long "At a tariff rate of Rs 2.5 per unit and with a wind solar mix test and strict BIS audit, GCL-SI eventually of 50:50, the internal rate of return (IRR) for a wind-solar became the first company in the world to hybrid project is estimated to be higher by about 60-70 bps receive BIS certification. against a standalone wind or solar power project, with other things like funding structure, cost of debt, power purchase agreement terms and operation and maintenance cost Mr. Eric Luo, President of GCL-SI, said: “GCL- remaining same." Majumdar added. SI has been committed to providing custom- Subsequently, the Solar Energy Corporation of India ers with high-quality, high-reliability solar (SECI) has issued a tender for procuring 2500 MW power products. Becoming the world’s first non- from the hybrid plants to be set up anywhere in India and Indian BIS-certified company is a milestone connected to inter-state transmission system (ISTS), under for us. We are thankful to our local project a 25-year power purchase agreement. Icra, however, noted partners, VDE, Perfect Care Solution LLP for that the integration of a higher share of wind and solar their cooperation and support. We sincerely power in the electricity generation mix would pose a chal- hope that the high-quality products inte- lenge to grid security and stability. grated by GCL-SI will serve more customers and ultimately make the world’s environ- "This is owing to the variation in generation from these ment healthier.” sources, given the dependence on wind availability and solar radiation, respectively," it said. In 2018, India incorporated PV modules into compulsory On the flip side, ICRA said, hybrid projects would face certification products, which means that PV modules need to challenges related to selection of sites suitable for both be tested in accordance with IS 14286, IS 61730-I, IS 61730- wind and solar power generation, availability of adequate II and in local BIS-approved laboratories in India. Only after transmission infrastructure, technical challenges in integrat- testing is completed and the modules receive BIS certification ing the two generation sources and setting up systems to can they enter the Indian domestic market. It is only allowed manage the generation from wind and solar resources. to attach the IS label after the manufacturer obtains the certificate. 32 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com TECHNOLOGY FEATURED MATERIALS INCLUDE: • DuPont™ Solamet® pho- tovoltaic metallization pastes – DuPont’s newest front-side silver paste Solamet® PV21A helps improve efficiency, gener- ate more power output, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions HIGHLIGHTED and increase return on investment. Latest Solar PV Innovations at 2018 Renew- • DuPont™ Tedlar® polyvi- nyl fluoride (PVF) films – DuPont™ Tedlar® PVF able Energy India Expo (REI) film, the only backsheet uPont Highlighted high efficiency, high reliability material solu- material vigorously tested tions and key collaborations with leading module manufacturers in the field over 30 years to including, New generation Solamet® Metallization Paste that is improve lifelong perfor- designed to enhance most mainstream cell technologies and mance and reliability. new Tedlar® backsheet material – an ideal backsheet material • DOW CORNING™ brand for bifacial modules. DuPont will also exhibit solar panels from its Silicon-based Photovoltaic extensive field testing program that demonstrate how materials Solutions matter for long-term durability and reliability, as well new sequen- D tial testing standards, and results of third party tests on commer- cial modules by DNV-GL, USA. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 33 ELECTRIC VEHICLES Charging Stations for e-Vehicles Inaugurated in Udyog Bhawan Union Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises,Anant G. Geete in- augurated two charging stations, one for fast charging (DC) and the other for slow charging (AC), in UdyogBhawan, art of the Swachhta Pakhwada celebrations of the Department of Heavy Industry. Eight charging stations have been installed in the Government to announce premises of Udyog Bhawan for facilitating charging of e-vehicles. Of the eight charg- electric vehicles policy ing stations, two fast charging stations have been installed by BHEL and six slow charg- ing stations have been installed by Energy soon, says PM Narendra Modi PEfficiency Services Limited (EESL). AC charger consists of 3 In order to fight the climate change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said outlets, charging 3 cars at the same time with the charging time that government is soon going to bring in a policy to promote the use of from 6-8 hours. DC charger consists of single outlet, charging electric and other alternative-fuel vehicles in the country. one car at a time with the charging time of 1.5 hours. As a part of Swachh Bharat Mission and to continue with the Govern- ment of India’s sustained effort to promote electric mobility in Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the govern- the country, the Department of Heavy Industry has allocated ment will soon put in place a new stable policy regime 455 electric buses to selected cities and special category to promote the use of electric and other alternative- states, through Expression of Interest (EoI) recently.Further, the Department has also approved funding of 130 electric buses to fuel vehicles in the country to fight climate change. Ahmedabad, Himachal Pradesh and Navi Mumbai.The project “We want to build India as a driver in electric vehicles. for 25 charging stations in Bangalore is being funded by the We will soon put in place a stable policy regime Government of India under the Public Fast Charging Infrastruc- around electric and other alternative-fuel vehicles,” ture Network for Electric Vehicles.Government has also funded- Modi said at the launch of the two-day “Move: Global Solar Based Charging Infrastructure for EVs by BHEL.The DC Mobility Summit” here. 001 fast chargers have been supplied and commissioned by BHEL and the Company is also in advanced stages of offering hat not only did India have a strong Infor- indigenously developed end-to-end e-mobility solutions. mation Technology sector, but also its vast Proposal of setting-up 200 charging stations and putting up public digital infrastructure created by the of Solar Based Charging Infrastructure for EVs by Rajasthan unique identity programme Aadhaar.”Our Electronics & Instruments Ltd. (REIL) is also funded by the renewable energy boost will ensure that the Department of Heavy Industry. REIL has already installed 3 environmental benefits of electric mobility solar hybrid chargers in Jaipur. The other locations where EV can be fully realised. We plan to draw 175 charging stations have been installed are: GW of energy from renewables by 2022. TWe are already the fifth largest producer of solar energy and • 18 AC chargers installed at Metro Station, Dwarka, Sector 10, sixth largest of renewable energy in the world,” He said that Delhi under DMRC. India also had a fast growing manufacturing base and a large • 2 DC chargers installed at Shram Shakti Bhawan, Delhi. digitally-literate young population.Calling mobility similar to the • 15 AC chargers installed at various sites under Jaipur Metro Internet in its early days, Modi said that the mobility revolution Railway Corporation (JMRC). was an enabler of India’s growth and development, which was • Installation of 9 EV chargers (4 DC & 5 AC) & 2 EV chargers capable of creating employment for those with doctorates and (1 DC & 1 AC) at various sites of South Delhi Municipal Cor- engineering degrees, to drivers and mechanics.”We should em- poration (SDMC) and BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), Delhi is under process. brace this revolution early and leverage ourselves to lead the mobility innovation ecosystem both for ourselves and others,” Some technology projects including finalization of specifica- he said. tions and draft standards of xEVs by ARAI, Pune, Develop- “My vision for the future of mobility in India is based on 7 Cs ment of Charging Infrastructure Management System By IIT, — common, connected, convenient, congestion-free, charged, Madras, Design & Development of AC-DC Combined Public clean, cutting-edge.” Charged mobility, Modi said, was the way Charging Stations by ARAI, Development of Indigenous forward.”We want to drive investments across the value chain Chargers (AC/DC/Solar) by AMU are alsobeing supported by from batteries to smart charging to electric vehicle manufactur- the Department. To reduce dependenceon fossil fuel and for ing… India’s entrepreneur’s manufacturers are now poised to encouraging cleaner environment, the Department has notified develop and deploy breakthrough battery technology,” he said. FAME India Scheme in the year 2015 under National Electric The Prime Minister also said that India’s economy and reforms Mobility Mission Plan of the Government. The Phase-1 of this were on the move in this direction.”Our economy is on the scheme is being implemented through four focus areas namely move. We are the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Our Demand Creation, Pilot Projects, Charging Infrastructure and cities and towns are on the move. We are building 100 smart Technology Platform and R&D. cities. Our infrastructure is on the move. 34 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 35 ELECTRIC VEHICLES Speaking on the occasion, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, said, “Maharashtra has initiated multi- pronged projects towards transition- ing to an eco-friendly and sustainable transport system. Electric mobility is an attractive, sustainable and profitable solution to mitigate climate change and the threat to public health caused by vehicular emission. Today’s event is an important milestone in our journey towards enabling this transition.” EESL hands over first set Hon’ble minister for Public Works of Electric Vehicles to Department Shri Chandrakant Dada Patil said, “The state government is PWD,Govt of Maharashtra committed to reduce carbon footprint by increasing the use of electric vehicles EESL to lease 1000 electric vehicles in a phased manner; hands over 6 cars and to develop allied technologies. The in the first set government is thinking of long-term nergy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), measures to make drastic changes in the a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry transport sector and related infrastruc- of Power, Government of India, handed ture. We are also going all out to develop over six electric cars to senior officials of the e-mobility and the necessary ecosystem Public Works Department, Government of which needs to be built around it.” Maharashtra. The ceremonial handover of keys took place in the presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis at E Mantralaya. The occasion also marked the installa- tion of five charging stations at Mantralaya Shri Saurabh Kumar, Managing Di- in Mumbai and two chargers in Nagpur, ini- rector, EESL said, “The Government tiating development of a robust supporting of Maharashtra is committed to infrastructure for promotion of e-mobility in enabling new technologies including the state. These five cars are the initial set EVs to reduce its carbon footprint. and a total of 1000 electric vehicles will be The state’s Electric Vehicle and Re- leased out to the Government of Maha- lated Infrastructure Policy highlights rashtra in a phased manner by EESL. its long-term vision of making EVs On May 31st, 2018, EESL had signed a game changing proposition in the a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) transport sector. It is our endeavor to with the General Administration Depart- support this mission of the Maha- ment (GAD), Government of Maharashtra rashtra Government by promoting to lease out electric vehicles and install EV e-mobility and enabling a robust EV chargers in state government offices. The ecosystem.” agreement was aimed at supporting the State Government’s vision of generating investment worth Rs 25,000 crore in EV EESL has been receiving encouraging response on its and component manufacturing, assem- EV programme from multiple states and central government bly enterprises and charging equipment departments. So far, agreements/MoUs have been signed manufacturing in Maharashtra. with central and state government departments in Delhi, The Government of Maharashtra an- Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana. EESL is also in nounced its Electric Vehicle and Related advance negotiations with other state governments across Infrastructure Policy – 2018 with a vision to India. Towards enabling the Indian Government’s e-mobility establish the state as a globally competi- vision, EESL first plans to replace the 5,00,000 conventional tive destination for electric vehicles and internal combustion engine (ICE) cars being used in govern- component manufacturing while simul- ment offices with electric variants. EESL has also established taneously promoting their wide-spread charging infrastructure across all the states where EVs are adoption. being deployed. 36 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com ELECTRIC VEHICLES REIL’s Installed AC Charging E-vehicle chargers inaugurat- Infrastructure Inaugurat- ed in Udyog Bhawan The department of heavy industry has allocated 455 electric buses to ed by Minister selected cities and special category states through expression of interest Shri Anant G. Geete, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, (EoI) inaugurated the AC-001 AC Charging Infrastructure, installed by Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited to promote e-mobility and for the convenience of charging e-vehicles, on 06.09.2018 at Dwarka Sec- tor-10, New Delhi in the gracious presence of Shri Vishwajit Sahai, Joint Secretary, Heavy Industry Department, Government of India, Shri A.K. Jain, Managing Director, REIL, Shri Mangu Singh, Managing Director, DMRC and other dignitaries. n this occasion, Hon’ble Minister said that the coming time is of electronic mobility and in order to make it success- ful, the Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India has allotted the responsibility of setting up 200 charging stations at Delhi, Jaipur, and Chandigarh under Fame scheme. 18 charging sta- O tions were set up at Dwarka Sector 10 Metro station under the scheme which will prove to benefit to e-rickshaw drivers.The Hon’ble Minister appreciated the ef- forts of REIL and informed that around 400 e-rickshaws may be charged in one day at this station. He also said that the wo e-vehicle charging stations, one for Department of Heavy Industry has recently allotted 455 elec- fast charging (DC) and the other for slow tric buses to selected cities / special category states through charging (AC), were recently inaugurated the Expression of Interest (EOI). Apart from this, the depart- by minister of heavy industries and public ment has approved the budget to Ahmedabad, Himachal enterprises Anant Geete at Udyog Bhawan. Pradesh and Navi Mumbai for 130 electric buses. Eight charging stations have been installed at the Udyog Bhawan for facilitating charging On thisa occasion, Shri A. K. Jain, of e-vehicles. BHEL has installed two fast charging stations and Energy Efficiency Ser- Managing Director of the Company T vices Limited (EESL) has installed six slow welcomed Hon’ble Union Minister charging stations. and other dignitaries and apprised AC charger consists of three outlets, about various products of the charging three cars at the same time with the Company, especially the meaningful charging time from 6-8 hours. DC charger working system of electric mobility consists of single outlet, charging one car at charging infrastructure and various a time with the charging time of 1.5 hours. other range of commercial products of the Company. As a part of Swachh Bharat Mission and to continue with the Centre’s sustained effort to promote electric mobility in the country, the department of heavy industry has allocated This charging station has been set up by REIL to reduce 455 electric buses to selected cities and special category the dependence on fossil fuels and to promote the clean en- states through expression of interest (EoI) recently. More- vironment. He also said that the Company has so far set up 45 charging stations out of total order of 200 electric mobility over, the department has agreed to fund 130 electric buses to charging stations and the remaining work is in progress. All Ahmedabad, Himachal Pradesh and Navi Mumbai. installed 200 chargers will be connected to the app-based Central Monitoring System, which will provide online informa- The project for 25 charging stations in Bangalore is be- tion of the availability and performance / operational param- ing funded by the Centre under the Public Fast Charging eters of each charger. Infrastructure Network for Electric Vehicles. The government Shri Jain reiterated the commitment of ‘Shaping India has also funded Solar Based Charging Infrastructure for EVs Through Electronics, Renewable Energy and Information by BHEL. The DC 001 fast chargers have been supplied and Technology Solutions’ and said that the innovation is given commissioned by BHEL and the company is also in ad- importance by the Company. REIL is working in the direction vanced stages of offering indigenously developed end-to-end of growth and development of the Indian economy and soci- e-mobility solutions. ety and is bringing technology to the rural mass by aligning The proposal of erecting 200 charging stations and putting with the various missions of the Government of India such up of Solar Based Charging Infrastructure for EVs by Rajas- as National Dairy Plan, Solar Mission, Make in India, Digital than Electronics & Instruments Ltd. (REIL) is also funded by India, Clean India Mission, and Doubling Farmers Income. the department. REIL has already installed three solar hybrid REIL is also covering the urban area through technology. chargers in Jaipur. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 37 ELECTRIC VEHICLES View: Smart mobility will be India’s big leap into future To the millions of Indians intimately familiar with the challenges of trav- eling through our crowded cities and around our extensive nation, it might seem unrealistic, even idealistic, to talk about building a comprehensive, modern transport network that will deploy the latest technologies in electric mobility, clean rapid transit and cloud-based digital controls. he truth of the matter is that these are leapfrog technologies, and they are now poised to change the face of India. Just as mobile telephony revolutionized telecommunications in India and throughout the world, our country is about to experience a rev- olution in mobility. These sweeping T changes will come to pass because these technologies are simply more efficient, more effective and more ac- cessible than the transport systems India can do it of days gone by. n the area of mass transit, the Delhi Metro, of which Phase III Iwill soon be completed, serves as a national benchmark for on- Benefits of smart mobility time project execution and efficiency. With 213 kilometers of track he implications are vast. Given the size and huge and 148 stations along elevated and underground sections, it is the Tuntapped economic potential of India, the creation largest metro network in the country. As it happens, it also uses an of an effective and sustainable transportation system advanced digital technology – supervisory control and data acquisi- has the potential to reduce the country’s dependence on tion, or SCADA,– to gather and analyze real-time data about its oil imports, generate millions of new jobs and provide power system. virtually all Indians with access to opportunities they now The SCADA system monitors and controls the network, connect- lack . A recent study by NITI Aayog, and Rocky Mountain ing the metro’s substations to central and backup control centers. Institute estimates that India can save up to 64 percent The resulting efficiency of the Delhi Metro is such that the United of anticipated energy needs for road-based passenger Nations certified it as the first metro system in the world to qualify transport and 37 percent of carbon emissions in 2030 – if for carbon credits under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism. it develops a shared, connected, electric-powered mobility The same technology now appears in Bangalore’s new metro system. Widespread adoption of EVs could potentially system. For India to benefit fully from the advantages of e-mobility, save the country $57 billion in annual energy costs. the country must enhance its technological capability to connect all modes of public transportation and automate data collection. The nation has already laid the foundation for the transition to Small change can trigger a revolution e-mobility with initiatives like the National Electric Mobility Mis- sion Plan 2020 and the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hy- -mobility technologies are already changing India’s brid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India).The government Etransport network in ways large and small. In Jabal- has also cut taxes on the lithium-ion batteries required by electric pur, cutting-edge solar inverters are being put to good vehicles. These policies will promote the adoption of e-mobility by use by powering electric rickshaws with inexpensive solar reducing costs, establishing charging infrastructure and incentiv- energy. The new solar inverters can be remotely moni- izing technology suppliers. tored from a mobile phone app. Even seemingly small- scale developments like these can add up to big impacts. By converting all of the quarter-million auto-rickshaws in India to electric power, the country could eliminate more Forging connections than two million tons of carbon emissions per day. The et more needs to be done. Increased internet bandwidth gains would be far greater still if the same were done for Yand connectivity have a part to play in India’s transforma- all of India’s fossil-fuel-powered scooters. As underscored tion. Cloud computing and the Internet of Things are a neces- by the NITI Aayog report, even as rapid urbanization has sary prerequisite for modern transport systems. For example, increased car ownership, a great majority of Indians still cloud-connected EV fast-charging stations, among others, rely on non-motorized travel and public transportation. make it possible for travelers to easily locate the closest avail- This circumstance actually simplifies the task of modern- able charging station. For the stations’ operators, the use of izing the transport sector in India, as less investment is tied up in soon-to-be-outmoded systems. For example, advanced connected solutions enables them to create robust India is ripe for new investment in advanced technolo- charging networks that can help them perform key functions gies such as all-electric buses. The latest models of these such as remote monitoring, servicing and billing. e-buses can be recharged at bus stops as the passengers It can even improve grid stability by automatically balancing are boarding – an approach developed that can extend how much power a station is drawing with how much is current- the range, size and reliability of the vehicles, while ly available. By proactively embracing innovative solutions like reducing congestion and pollution. Innovations such as these, India will soon occupy a place of major importance at these are rapidly expanding the potential of e-mobility, the forefront of transport technology. The time to promote and even for the largest and heaviest vehicles on the road. implement these changes is now. All Indians stand to benefit. 38 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com ELECTRIC VEHICLES t is looking at possibilities of GAIL to set up battery char ging stations setting up battery charging stations for e-vehicles at CNG for e-vehicles dispensing stations in a bid to diversify its portfolio beyond gas and petrochemicals. “It is all at drawing board stage. A lot will depend on norms. For example, I we don’t know if rules permit a battery charging facility at a petrol pump or a CNG station. We don’t know at what price we can sell that battery charge,” GAIL wants to insert six new sections in the main objects clause of the memorandum of association of the company to foray into new business.According to a share- holder notice, it wants to invest in “start-ups in core business areas (of natural gas, petrochemicals, and energy) and non-core areas (like health, social and environ- ment, safety, and security) either directly or indirectly.” “The investment can be made through spe- effluent water discharged has increased sig- cial purpose vehicle (SPV), alternative invest- nificantly, GAIL in the notice said the treatment ment fund (AIF), fund of funds (FoF) and trust,” of the effluent water and maintaining of the GAIL India, the country’s it said.The official said there is a necessity to freshwater table is a big challenge and a busi- largest gas transportation adopt new and different pathways to provide ness opportunity. It is also looking to “harness and marketing company, clean, cost-effective and efficient mobility solar power potential available at its various plans to set up battery services that are safe, reduce dependence on sites and installations which can be connected oil imports and achieve more efficient land-use to grid for sale or for own use at other installa- charging stations for in cities with the least environmental footprints tions through wheeling of power.” electric vehicles as well and impacts on human health. In line with its strategy to promote the use as build solar plants as it With the objective in mind, the firm wants to of green fuel, it is contemplating to promote looks to be “future ready” set up “battery charging stations and provide gas appliances in households to increase gas for emerging businesses, charging services” to electric vehicles. With usage and minimise electric usage in hous- a senior company of- the government planning to make a major shift ing equipment and appliances such as gas ficial said. It also wants to electric vehicles by 2030, GAIL feels that boiler, gas-based air conditioner and bathroom to explore the business charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in heater. Operating nearly 14,000-km of natural opportunity in waste- India has not been fully developed yet GAIL gas and LPG pipeline and executing more water treatment plants, with its “pan-India presence through the natural than 4,500 km of new lines, GAIL feels it can water distribution, large gas network is deep-pocketed and has the provide services such as engineering, procure- water pipeline laying as an capability of setting up charging infrastructure ment and construction (EPC), engineering, pro- early mover. “We have the at a faster pace,” he said. curement, construction management (EPCM) country’s biggest network The 34th annual general meeting of the and project management consultancy (PMC) in of pipelines? and gas company is scheduled. With depletion of the field of hydrocarbon pipelines. marketing infrastructure. groundwater and monsoons becoming less “GAIL also has adequate experienced man- We want to leverage for predictable and unreliable, availability and power and infrastructure for providing these emerging business op- utilisation of water are becoming key issues services,” the notice said. portunities,” he said. “We in modern India. Many cities are sourcing the It also wants to “carry on the business of want to be future ready.” fresh water through long-distance transport manufacture, import, distribution, and market- ranging from 50-200 km. ? Stating that with ing of appliances relating to gas marketing and growing population and industrialisation, the distribution, such as gas meter and CNG kits”. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 39 ROOFTOP & OFFGRID China’s Trina Solar launches first PV home kit in India Trina Solar of China, the largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels globally and India’s biggest supplier, launched its Trinahome product here on Friday as the countrys first solar home kit suitable for use in residences, SME establishments and other places like schools and hospitals. Announcing the India launch of the home kit, Trina President (Global Sales) Yin Rong Fang said while Trinahome is currently being imported from China, the company aims to assemble it locally in the coming months. he kit includes all the required solar rooftop components, includes modules, inverter, grid box and mounting system, and comes with a 25-year module per- formance warranty. It is available in ca- pacities of 3 kilowatt (Kw), 5 Kw and 10 Kw and has a dedicated app to enable Responding to reporters’ queries, customers to monitor power generation. Trina Solar India Director Gaurav T Now that we have solidified our Mathur said the price of the home strong position in the utility segment kit would be announced soon. The of the market, we are moving into the company aims to capture 5-8 per cent of the country’s total household and SME (small and medium residential solar market, Mathur said. Mathur noted that enterprises) sector with the launch of of the country’s total solar energy capacity as at the end of Trinahome in India, Yin said. He said the July this year, 21.9 GW came from utility sources and only company is in the process of identifying 1.2 GW from rooftop installations. and approving local component suppli- ers, with the aim of assembling it in the The Chinese company has signed an MoU with the country in the next four to six months. Andhra Pradesh government to set up a manufacturing India is Trina’s second largest market in plant at a cost of Rs 2,800 crore. Around 90 acres of land Asia-Pacific and the third largest in the have been earmarked for the proposed unit at Atchuta- world. We far have cumulatively sup- puram in Visakhapatnam district. plied 3.5 gigawat (GW) which is nearly To a query on the company’s manufacturing plans in 15 per cent of the country’s total solar modules and panels, Yin said. India, Yin said: The company is waiting for right policies so He said the company is in the pro- that manufacturing locally becomes more economically cess of identifying and approving local viable. Also, a manufacturing ecosystem is required like a component suppliers, with the aim of as- developed supply chain to make the product cost-compet- sembling it in the country in the next four itive. to six months. “India is Trina’s second The lack of a developed domestic supply chain means largest market in Asia-Pacific and the that production is not cost-competitive. Nearly 90 per third largest in the world. We far have cent of India’s solar panels are imported, while Indian cumulatively supplied 3.5 gigawat (GW) manufacturers have to depend on accessories from which is nearly 15 per cent of the coun- China. try’s total solar modules and panels,” Yin Source: IANS said. 40 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com ROOFTOP & OFFGRID Azure Roof Power to Elec- BSES energises 1,000 solar trify Government Build- rooftop connections in Delhi BSES energises 1,000 solar rooftop connections in Delhi New Delhi Sep 19 ings in Madhya Pradesh (IANS) In a major achievement on clean energy in the national capital Delhi distribution company (discom) BSES announced it has energised a record over 1 000 rooftop solar connections in the city with a sanctioned solar and Delhi load of over 40 000 KW (40 MW). Azure Power, one of India’s leading independent solar power produc- ers, announced it has won 11.2 MW and 600 KW rooftop solar power projects in bids conducted by Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (MPUVNL) and Indraprastha Power Generation Company Ltd (IPGCL) respectively. zure Power will provide power for 25 year to various Govern- ment establishments in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi which will be spread across approx 600 project sites. Azure Power qualifies for a capital incentive which results in a weighted average levelized tariff ofA INR 4.50 (~US 6.6 cents) per kWh for the MPUVNL project and a weighted average levelized tariff of INR 5.91 (~US 8.6 cents) per kWh for the IPGCL project. For the bid tendered by MPUVNL, World Bank is the technical partner which provided pre-identified project sites with technical due diligence. Azure Power’s win of 11.2 MW is the largest allocation in the bid, which includes approx 90% of the total project sites allocated In a statement BSES said 1077 consumers including and covers Government Buildings like Colleges, Poly- the Lotus Temple and the Maulana Azad Medical College Technic Colleges, Industrial Training Institutes (ITI’s) had been provided rooftop solar connections. The num- and Police Establishments. Azure Roof Power offers ber of rooftop solar connections is likely to cross the superior rooftop solar power solutions for commercial, 2000 mark by the end of the year the statement said. industrial, government, and institutional customers in cit- The highest number of rooftop solar net metering con- ies across India to lower their energy bill and meet their nections are in the domestic segment (604 KW) followed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. With by commercial establishments (262) and educational over 200 MWs of high quality, operating and committed institutions (178). solar assets across 23 states, Azure Roof Power has Vasant Valley School Delhi Public School s East of Kai- one of the largest rooftop portfolios in the country. Azure lash branch Bal Bharti Aurobindo Ashram and organisations Roof Power has a well-diversified customer base with a like TERI have adopted BSES rooftop solar connections. majority of the portfolio contracted with Government of India backed entities. Azure Roof Power customers in- BSES is among very few utilities in India which are clude large commercial real estate companies, a leading engaged in actively propagating the roof top solar in- global chain of premium hotels, distribution companies in stallations through direct marketing efforts the discom smart cities, warehouses, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, said. Indian Railways, a Delhi water utility company and vari- BSES has energised rooftop net metering connec- ous Government of India Ministries. tions ranging from a sanctioned load of 1 KW to over 1 600 KW. Consumers have begun to see the benefits of roof stop solar net metering and how it reduces their Speaking on this occasion, Mr Vishal Jain, electricity bills a BSES spokesperson said. DGM, Azure Roof Power said We are pleased Noting the benefits of rooftop solar connections the state- to partner with IPGCL, MPUVNL and World ment said these allow consumers to generate electricity Bank for these projects. With these wins, we for self consumption and sell surplus if any to the discom. have once again demonstrated our strong Customers are paid for the surplus power sold by them as project development, engineering, and per the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission guidelines. execution capabilities. We are delighted to make this contribution towards the realiza- Domestic consumers also enjoy the benefit of Gen- tion of our Hon’ble Prime Minister’s com- eration Based Incentive (GBI) which at present is Rs 2 mitment towards clean and green energy, per unit BSES said. through solar power generation. Besides consumers opting for the RESCO model do not have to incur any upfront capital expenditure which is borne by the vendor it added. Source: IANS www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 41 ROOFTOP & OFFGRID Tata Power does World’s largest solar rooftop installation on a cricket stadium, at Cricket Club of India, Mumbai through its Solar arm 820.8kWp Solar Rooftop System CCI stadium in Mumbai Goes Green Estimated generation 1.12 million units per annum Offset 840 tonnes of carbon annually Tata Power Solar, India’s largest integrated solar company and Tata Power’s wholly-owned subsidiary, has commissioned 820.8kWp at Cricket Club of India, Mumbai. he project was executed by Tata Power Solar to provide solar rooftop solution for the stadium located at Mumbai and was completed in 100 days. Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra did the inau- guration of the stadium. Tata Power Solar joined hands with Cricket Club T of India to utilise the potential of solar Mr. Ashish Khanna, President, Tata Power energy. The installation of the solar (Renewables), said in a statement, After rooftop project will help to generate executing The World’s largest Rooftop in a over 1.12 million electricity per year single location and India’s largest carport at Cochin Inter- which will lead to 25% of savings in the national Airport, Tata Power Solar has installed The World’s power consumption cost. At present on largest Rooftop in a Cricket Stadium at CCI Mumbai, in a an average (apart from Stadium Flood lights, which runs on DG), the stadium record period of 100 days. consumes 4 lakhs kWh /month, but with solar installation, on an average basis the consumption from the grid would fall to approx. 3 lakhs kWh/ month. CCI will also be able to curb the Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Premal Udani, President, CCI emission of over 840 tonnes of carbon and Mr. Rakesh Kapoor, Vice Chairman of Infrastructure and dioxide annually. Green Technology Committee, CCI said, “We continuously look at projects which promote renewable energy focus, and Mr. Praveer Sinha, MD & CEO, are glad to partner with Tata Power Solar to execute this Tata Power, said, We are delight- landmark project for us. They have delivered on the promise ed to partner with Cricket Club of the brand TATA. We have set an example to use rooftop of India on the World’s largest space in the stadiums to help protect the environment.” solar powered cricket stadium in Mumbai. We continuously seek Tata Power Solar has commissioned more than 1.45 GW to move ahead in our renewable of ground-mount utility scale and over 220 MW of rooftop and sustainability objectives. and distributed generation projects across the country till date. Tata Power Solar has been ranked #1 EPC rooftop With an aim to be environmentally responsible by reduc- solar player consistently for four years by BRIDGE TO ing its carbon footprint, Cricket Club of India initiated a INDIA, a leading cleantech consulting and knowledge project to install 820.8kWp roof mounted solar plant at the services provider. The total installed capacity in the rooftop CCI stadium, Mumbai. segment is over 220 MW as of 31st March 2018 including commercial, residential & industrial sector. 42 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com ROOFTOP & OFFGRID Pathways Group of Schools Collaborate with Godrej & Boyce for Solar Power Plants At Pathways, we strive to promote sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. We are widely ac- colade as the global pioneer in set- ting up green educational campus- es. We are the first and only school chain in the world that has been conferred with the highest accolade for environmentally-responsible design – the Platinum certification Delta Electronics; India’s No.1 leading for Leadership in Energy and Envi- in Rooftop Solar Inverter Solution ronmental Design (LEED-EB) by the Company is proud to associate with United States Green Building Coun- Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd and Path- cil. In our endeavor to further make ways Group of Schools for the 1.5MWp our operations environmentally Solar Rooftop Project. Delta Elec- friendly, we have decided to invest tronics is the Global Leader in Power in setting up solar power generation Management & Thermal Solutions facilities in our Aravali, Gurugram and believes in contributing to the and Noida campuses. We will be Greener Society. Delta is devoted to innovation and system- installing a total capacity of 1.5 atically developing new products and technologies, which MW across the campuses, which is are high-efficiency and energy-saving. We aim to reduce likely to fulfill 70% of all our energy global warming and ensure mankind’s sustainable future needs. Through this investment, with better value and performance. Delta is continuously we expect to reduce our carbon enhancing our engineering capabilities and is committed to footprint by approximately 2124 developing innovative technologies and solutions for a bet- tons per year. Message from the ter tomorrow. Message from the desk of Head – PV Inverter, desk of Director, Pathways Group of Delta Electronics India: Mr. Niranjan Nayak Schools: Mr. Pranay Jain Pathways Group of Schools is a chain of international K-12 and pre-primary schools located in the Delhi NCR region. The schools Trina Solar is proud to partner with follow the Primary Years, Middle Years and Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd and Diploma Programme of the International Bac- Pathways Group of Schools for sup- calaureate Organisation (IBO). plying the solar modules for 1.5MWp Solar Rooftop Project. I am sure this G&B is one of the most trusted project will not only save electricity organization known for comply- for the school but will also benefit ing & maintaining all the quality school children to understand the standards, statutory laws, safety benefits of renewable energy. Trina measures and MNRE standards Solar is a leading global total solutions provider for solar with the timely completion of its energy. Founded in 1997, Trina Solar develops proprietary projects and achieving topmost smart PV solutions for large power stations as well as customer satisfaction & we will commercial and residential solutions, energy storage continue serving the solar Indus- systems and photovoltaic modules. As the world’s lead- try with customized solutions. ing provider of integrated solar energy solutions, Trina Message from the desk of Associ- Solar has taken the lead in evolving into a brand in the ate Vice President & Head – Power world of energy IoT (internet of things) and is committed Infrastructure & Renewable to becoming a global leader in this new and emerging Energy, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. sector. Message from the desk of Director, Trina Solar: Ltd: Mr. Raghavendra Mirji. Mr. Gaurav Mathur www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 43 ROOFTOP & OFFGRID ADB to Help Develop Rooftop Hartek Solar bags 100-kWp Solar Power Systems in Sri solar kit orders from 25 Lanka houses, launches solar van The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors has approved a $50 million loan to help fund rooftop solar power generation systems in Sri Lanka to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the to take services to next level country’s energy mix. Within just four months of launching its customised small-scale solar solutions in the form of plug-and-play rooftop solar kits, Hartek DB will also administer a $1 million Solar Pvt Ltd, the rooftop solar division of the Chandigarh-based technical assistance from the Asian Hartek Group, has bagged orders for more than 100-kWp rooftop solar Clean Energy Fund under the Clean projects from about 25 households in the city. Energy Financing Partnership Facil- ity to help build capacity, increase awareness of stakeholders, and Addressing the media here today, support the project’s implementation Hartek Solar Pvt Ltd Founder-Director in SriLanka. Simarpreet Singh said that heartened A by the tremendous response it has SriLanka’s energy sector has made received from residents, Hartek Solar tremendous progress over the last has now come up with a solar van two and a half decades in bringing equipped with all devices catering to electricity to almost everyone in installation, operation and mainte- the country, said Mukhtor Khamud- nance so as to take its services to the khanov, an ADB Principal Energy next level. Manned by a specialised Specialist. But there is a need to team of engineers, the van offers a diversify the country’s energy mix one-stop solution catering to all the toward more renewable and sus- needs of rooftop solar consumers tainable sources. ranging from cleaning, maintenance, installation and operation to check- ing the efficiency of solar plants and Sri Lanka’s electrification rate stood at 99.3% in 2016 servicing the inverters, compared to just 29% in 1990, showing steady progress in improving access to electricity. However, the country Simarpreet Singh said that though Hartek Solar has remains highly dependent on fossil fuels. In 2016, thermal secured most of the orders from owners of kanal houses, power contributed 67.2% of the total power generation who have started opting for rooftop solar since the UT compared to hydropower’s 24.6% and 8.2% of noncon- administration made solar PV systems mandatory for all ventional renewable sources.This dependence on carbon- buildings with an area of 500 sq yd and above, other house emitting energy sources makes Sri Lanka vulnerable to owners have also started voluntarily opting for the com- fluctuating fuel prices, while hampering the government’s pany’s small-scale solar solutions. While owners of kanal efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% as houses are required to install only 1-kWp systems, most of part of its commitment to the Paris agreement. ADB’s the rooftop plants being installed by us in kanal houses are Rooftop Solar Power Generation Project will boost access in the 5-kWp range, which is an encouraging sign pointing to clean and reliable power in Sri Lanka. towards the greater acceptance of rooftop solar among resi- Specifically, the project will finance rooftop solar power dents in recent months. We are flooded with queries from subprojects equivalent to additional capacity of 50 mega- residents who are keen to install rooftop solar plants atop watts while building capacity and awareness of relevant their houses. With the November 17 deadline set by the UT authorities, private sector partners, and customers. It will administration for installing rooftop plants in kanal houses also develop a market infrastructure and bankable pipe- still two months away, we are expecting many more orders line of subprojects for the solar power systems through to come our way, he said. greater cooperation with private financial institutions and the establishment of technical guidelines and standards Hartek Group Chairman and Managing for the system. Total cost of the project is $59.8 million, to Director Hartek Singh said that going by which the private sector will provide a $9.8 million equity the incredible response it has got in Chan- contribution. The project’s expected completion date is digarh, Hartek Solar would be targeting the end of 2021. ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to at least 100 rooftop solar installations reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive in the city alone in the next six months, economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, covering the residential, commercial and and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB is celebrating 50 years of development partnership in the industrial categories. “Known for its high region. It is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In quality standards and efficient execution 2016, ADB assistance totaled $31.7 billion, including $14 of projects, Hartek Solar will comfortably billion in cofinancing. complete 100 projects by February next year, going by this pace,” he said. Source: adb.org Source: adfactorspr 44 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com ROOFTOP & OFFGRID Cleantech Solar and Cli- Government buildings to mate Fund Managers enter go green with solar strategic partnership Renew, a private solar power promotion firm, has been roped in by NREDCAP (Non-conventional Energy Development Corporation of Cleantech Solar, the leading pan-Asian supplier of renewable energy Andhra Pradesh Limited) to implement roof top solar units in all to corporates has received a USD 50 million equity investment from government sector buildings. Climate Fund Managers (CFM), the climate-dedicated investment manager and manager of the Climate Investor One facility, to support its exponential growth in Asia. he partnership, which will continue to operate under the Cleantech Solar brand, brings together unique and complementary strengths of the two respected organizations. Cleantech Solar will leverage its solar expertise and proven track record in provid- ing world-class solar power plants toT multinationals and leading local corporations in Asia. Climate Fund Managers, with the support of the Dutch De- velopment Bank, FMO, and Sanlam InfraWorks, will bring access to prime, long-term institutional capital, to further s per an agreement, Renew would strengthen the company’s balance sheet and sustain its invest its own funds on executing the future expansion. solar project in government offices. All that the government offices need Raju Shukla, Cleantech Solar Founder and Exec- to do is to provide space for installa- utive Chairman said: Our goal at Cleantech So- tion of solar panels on roof top. The lar has always been to deliver reliable, efficient beneficiaries need not invest a single and long-term renewable energy solutions to rupee. They have to enter into an some of the finest corporations in Asia who are agreementA with Renew and pay the power bill which will be committed to transition to renewable energy in substantially lower than the current bills.However, private the coming years. We are indeed privileged to institutions are urging Renew and even NSEC (National partner with Climate Fund Managers who share Solar Energy Corporation) to extend the same concessions our vision and commitment towards building to private parties too that can provide space for execut- long-term partnerships. Together, we hope to ing solar power projects for popularising the green energy. NSEC too has come forward to finance solar projects on bring tremendous value to our clients and help government building roof tops. The NSEC offer to finance them meet their sustainability goals. the solar projects has come in handy for the institutions which are struggling for financial investments. The NSEC Andrew Johnstone, Climate Fund Managers is giving them soft loans on easy instalments. The life of CEO stated: CFM, having recognised the enor- solar panels is 25 years. Every institution can repay loans mous potential in the commercial & industrial in less than five years. For the rest of 20 years, power sup- solar market, are extremely pleased to partner ply is free of cost. In the context, several private firms and with Cleantech Solar, a leading player in Asia- institutions are urging Renew and NSEC to extend similar Pacific, with a focus on quality and safety. We incentives like investing on borrowed roof tops for establish- are excited to leverage the local expertise and ing solar power plants. resources that they bring alongside financing Even the local JNTU has invited NSEC to set up solar provided by Climate Investor One in order to plant on the roof tops of JNTU university buildings. Krishna provide renewable energy solutions to even Reddy, correspondent of an engineering college, opined that if NSEC and Renew finance their projects, it would set more businesses and organizations with re- the tone for promotion of roof top solar energy on a wider gional manufacturing footprints. scale. The investment will facilitate the growth of Cleantech Solar’s total installed solar capacity in the Commercial and NREDCAP district manager Kodandaram Industrial sector to over 450 MW with a target to generate Murthy told The Hans India that the future over 600 GWh of clean electricity per annum, cutting down belongs to solar and other forms of green carbon emissions by almost 500,000 tonnes per year. This energy. “Every power producer can use the investment comes at a time when the demand for clean green energy for their domestic requirement energy from corporations is breaking new records. This and supply the remaining power to the Power demand is driven by a combination of increased focus on Grid. Every power producer will be connected emission reduction; minimizing risk exposure to volatile to the grid,” energy markets and a unique opportunity to replace grid supplied power with lower cost solar electricity. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 45 ROOFTOP & OFFGRID EESL to facilitate implemen- Azure Power to Electrify tation of 5,00,000 Solar Wa- Hindustan Aeronautics ter Pumping Systems in ISA Limited Azure Power (NYSE: AZRE), one of India’s leading independent solar Member Countries power producers, announced it has received a letter of intent for a Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under 6 MW solar project won an auction conducted by Odisha Renewable the Ministry of Power, Government of India, has been selected by the In- Energy Development Agency (OREDA) for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited ternational Solar Alliance (ISA) to facilitate implementation of 5,00,000 (HAL). Solar Water Pumping Systems. These Solar Water Pumping Systems will be rolled out in ISA Member Countries that are participating in its ‘Scal- ing of Solar Application for Agricultural Use” programme. ESL will be responsible for the over- all successful implementation of the programme in the participating countries that include India, Bangladesh, Sudan, Uganda, Senegal, Mauritius among others. ISA, an alliance of more than 121 countries, has aggregated demand for over 500,000 Solar Water Pump- Eing systems from 13 Member Countries. ISA’s first Programme −“Scaling of Solar Application for Agricultural Use” aims to promote decentralised solar applications he capacity won is 100% of the for agricultural and rural use. total capacity allocated. Azure Power expects to sign a 25-year power Commenting on this development, Sh. Rajneesh purchase agreement with HAL which Rana, General Manager, EESL said We look forward to has a domestic debt rating of AAA by replicating the success of our ongoing solar projects and CRISIL, a S&P company, at a tariff of agricultural pumps programme in the Member Coun- INR 3.13 (~US 4.6 cents) per kWh. tries of ISA. We will leverage the wealth of our experi- The project will be developed by Azure ence in implementing large-scale energy-efficiency and T Power within HAL estate area of ap- renewable energy programmes in India and combine prox 30 acres. HAL is a major domestic that experience with ISA’s long-term vision. Our aim is supplier of aviation equipment to the to help the farmers in getting easy and affordable day- Indian defence sector and is governed time access to irrigation. This is a major step towards under the management of the Indian decentralized power solutions that also help in reduc- Ministry of Defence. ing carbon emission. Speaking on this occasion, ISA, which is an international inter-governmental treaty-based Mr. Inderpreet Wadhwa, Founder, organization headquartered in Gurugram, aims to provide a Chairman and Chief Executive platform for prospective member countries to collaborate and Officer said, We are pleased to address the identified gaps through a common agreed approach. announce our win with HAL and ISA has been envisioned as a dedicated platform that aims to with this, we continue to demon- contribute towards the common goal of increasing utilization and strate our strong project develop- promote solar energy and solar applications in the prospective member countries to help the world transform to a low-carbon ment, engineering, and execution and greener society. EESL is implementing multiple energy capabilities. We are delighted to efficiency projects across sectors including LED, buildings, make this contribution towards smart-meters, streetlights, solarisation of agricultural feeders, the realization of our Hon’ble solar lamps, agricultural pump sets, and electric vehicles. Going Prime Minister’s commitment by the track record of EESL, aggregation of demand and efficient towards clean and green energy, bid management leads to reduction in procurement costs. With through solar power generation. the similar practice, ISA and EESL expect to bring down the cost of Solar Water Pumping System to catalyze scaling up of the Azure Power has been among the most active par- programme and encourage other member countries, as well, ticipants in solar power auctions since the beginning of to submit their demand to ISA for this programme. In addition, the solar power market in India and the majority of the through this arrangement, member countries will also be able Company’s portfolio are with customers that have some of to implement the project effectively through in-built monitoring the best credit ratings in India, most of which are backed - mechanisms and thereby, develop large number of local employ by the Government of India. ment opportunities within the country. Source: edelman 46 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com BUSINESS & FINANCE India’s solar alliance gets major push with EIB funds In a major push to India’s International Solar Alliance (ISA), European Investment Bank (EIB) President Werner Hoyer announced a major prog- ress on tackling climate change globally at the One Planet Summit. nnouncing progress on initiatives hailed as “transformative” that will deliver on the ambitious Paris Agree- Duty-Free Bifacial Modules ment to tackle climate change, he announced to bridge urban financing gap with Global Urbis, launch the from South Africa to Boost Land Degradation Neutrality Fund and expand solar energy through the Floating PV Projects in India A International Solar Alliance. Global Urbis is a ground-breaking partnership to enhance climate Changzhou / Jiangsu Seraphim Solar System Co. Ltd. (“Seraphim”), a action in cities around the world. The Land Degradation world-class solar product manufacturer, announced that its new manu- Neutrality Fund is a unique way to finance climate adapta- facturing plant in East London IDZ, Eastern Cape, South Africa recently tion and land restoration measures through projects that delivered its first production run of high-efficiency, dual-glass solar will benefit some of the most vulnerable communities. In modules. addition, the EIB President pointed to the EU bank’s com- mitment to backing the ISA to support solar energy and the eraphim’s dual-glass product is a frameless exchange of technology. module comprised of two layers of tempered The EIB is partnering with the ISA, bringing its expertise glass. The new design enables a module that and financing to support the expansion of solar energy in In- is more than eighty-percent slimmer than dia and other regions where solar power is one of the most traditional PV modules—but simultaneously abundant renewable energy sources but where technolo- much stronger—plus more resistant to sand, gies, funding and expertise are often lacking. The goal of salt, ammonia, acid, etc. The bifacial mod- the ISA is to raise $1 trillion by 2030 from public and private ule is the perfect fit for “float-o-voltaics”. Ten investors to invest in such solar projects. In 2017, the EIB S percent of India’s territory is covered by rivers provided EUR 1.05 billion of new financing for solar energy and lakes. India has transformed a portion of this space into projects around the world, representing the largest ever an- electricity generation plants, establishing its first floating solar nual support by the EIB to the solar sector, and is currently plant on a lake in Kolkata, in 2014. To date, India has estab- finalising a new EUR 200 million credit line to provide addi- lished a growing pipeline of almost 200 MW floating solar tional financing for renewable energy projects across India. projects, and more than 1 GW are in advanced planning. Over the last five years, the EU Bank provided more than Floating solar projects elegantly resolve the tension between EUR 21 billion for renewable energy investment worldwide, increasing electricity needs and limited usable land. Floating including EUR 2.5 billion in photovoltaic and concentrated projects require premium solar panels to remain functional solar power projects. under harsh conditions. The Seraphim Dual-Glass module is an ideal choice. Double layers of glass reduce micro cracks, snail trails, UV aging, and mitigate vapor penetration, plus are expressly designed to utilize the reflection of sunlight off the water for additional power output. A frameless design also Multilateral cooperation means excellent PID resistance—and lastly, the junction box is the only way to achieve on dual-glass modules features IP67 specs and integrated success in tackling climate diodes to reduce hot spots. Overall, the module’s working life change and sustainable is significantly prolonged to generate maximum power and development, Hoyer said. profit margins. Source: financialexpress www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 47 BUSINESS & FINANCE SenseHawk, drone analytics 400 investors with $32 tril- for the solar industry, takes lion in assets step up cli- flight with $2M investment mate action The consumer market is just the tip of the iceberg for drones, which The Investor Agenda launched here on Wednesday will support inves- have the potential to deploy across a range of different industry verti- tors in accelerating and scaling-up the actions that are critical to cals such as construction or agriculture. tackling climate change and achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement. hat’s the premise behind SenseHawk, a U.S-India startup that specializes in ts launch also demonstrates the significant mo- using data captured by drones to de- mentum already evident, with 392 investors with velop insight for projects within the solar $32 trillion in assets collectively under manage- industry. The startup is currently active in ment, using The Investor Agenda to highlight three markets — its two home countries climate action they are already taking and making and Australia — and now it has raised new commitments. Announced as part of PRI in $2 million from SAIF Partners to push its Person and the Global Climate Action Summit, business and expand into new regions. T The Investor Agenda provides a way for inves- A number of undisclosed angel investors also took part in tors to directly report actions they are taking, the round. The company was founded in December 2015 by I and scale-up their commitment to act, across four key focus Swarup Mavanoor and Rahul Sankhe, who previously spent areas: Investment, corporate engagement, investor disclo- time working for renewable energy company SunEdison. sure, and policy advocacy. Capturing new data, the Investor Mavanoor that the idea for the business came when using Agenda seeks over time to reflect the full breadth and scale a drone to collect data for a construction project. While the of global investor-led action on climate change. Bringing information gathering gave considerably more insight than together and helping drive participation in a broad range of traditional methods of deploying people, the duo found that global investor initiatives, it also supports investors in taking there was no service for extracting specific data required. greater action. This offers benefit to investors, in being able to better manage climate risks and capture low carbon op- We started looking around and, portunities as a result, while also scaling-up the investor-led though lots of people are doing contribution to achieving the goals of the Paris agreement. basic drone data processing, no Showcasing investor leadership on climate change will also one is really looking at this verti- be used as a way to inspire bolder commitment from inves- cal, Mavanoor told TechCrunch tors and their peers, raising the bar and building on existing in an interview. Thus SenseHawk momentum. was born. Investors are showing great leadership to promote climate action in multiple fronts. The company isn’t really a drone business; it’s more of a Their efforts to meet the shortfall in the data and analytics startup. That’s because it doesn’t pilot financial resources required to deliver the drones itself. Rather, it helps companies that own and use Paris Agreement goals, and further building them to get the insight they need for each project. SenseHawk on engagement with high-emitting sectors is developing an AI platform that’s split into different modules, including terrain-based analysis tools, a construction monitor- are a valuable contribution, said Patricia ing and analytics system and thermal analysis. Mavanoor Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United said that clients adopt modules based on requirements, with Nations Framework Convention on Climate some taking all three. Many verticals that involve outdoor work Change (UNFCCC) in welcoming the launch. have the potential for drone-based analytics and services, but SenseHawk is sticking to the industry it knows best for the time The Investor Agenda has already received strong support being. “Our core development is focused on solar because we from influential investors and climate figures alike. are from the industry so have an advantage in terms of our network and understanding of what’s needed. We did look at [other industries like] agriculture, but the worry was where do Progress is on the agenda of the in- you make money. “What you can deliver with a drone is basic vestment community, and today’s an- analytics, but agriculture requires precise data on what to do nouncement is hugely important, but and how to progress,” Mavanoor added. “Ultimately, we decid- this is just the beginning of an extraor- ed that there’s no point in doing 10 things and doing a decent dinary, economy-wide transformation job, versus sticking to one thing and doing an amazing job.” to low-carbon that we must achieve Mavanoor said the startup plans to use the new funds within a generation, said Christiana to develop its core tech and AI platform, including new Figueres, convener of Mission 2020. modules, and expand its business into new regions, such as Europe and Africa. It is also hiring, with its headcount The Investor Agenda calls on global investors to accel- erate and scale up the actions that are critical to tackling is set to expand to around 20 people in the coming weeks. climate change and achieving the goals of the Paris agree- Its engineering team is based in Bangalore, India. ment. Source: IANS Source: techcrunch 48 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com BUSINESS & FINANCE Macquarie eyeing Goldman Sachs’ ReNew Power stake The interest in Renew Power comes in the backdrop of a reported deferment of its IPO, even as India’s renewable energy sector is in a transitional phase acquarie Group is among investors who have evinced interest in buying a significant stake from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Sumant Sinha- founded ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd, said two people aware of the develop- M ment. “Goldman Sachs is interested in divesting some The purchase cemented its position as India’s top renewable stake in ReNew Power. Some energy producer. Founded in 2011 by Sumant Sinha, ReNew investors, including Macquarie, Power has 5.85 GW capacity across wind and solar projects. are looking at it,” said one of Of this, 3.92 GW is operational. The interest in Goldman Sachs’ the two people cited above, stake in ReNew Power comes at a time when the renewable requesting anonymity. Another energy sector in India is going through a transition on account person, who also did not want of low tariffs. The ministry of new and renewable energy is also to be named, confirmed the de- planning to cap India’s solar power tariffs at ₹ 2.5 and ₹ 2.68 per velopment. Spokespeople for unit for developers using domestic, and imported solar cells and Goldman Sachs and ReNew modules, respectively. Power declined to comment. In May 2017, India had achieved a record low solar power tariff of 2.44 per unit. Wind power tariffs had plummeted to a record “We do not comment on market speculation, so (we) low of 2.43 per kilowatt hour (kWh) at an auction conducted by do not have a comment on this,” a Macquarie spokes- state-run Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd last December. In such person said in an emailed response. a scenario, obtaining finance at the lowest cost has become key. Also, India’s wind sector has transitioned from a feed-in tariff The interest in India’s largest clean energy company regime, which ensures a fixed price for wind power producers, to backed by Goldman Sachs comes in the backdrop of a tariff-based competitive auctions. reported deferment of ReNew Power’s initial public offer- India’s clean energy strategy is part of its game plan to ing (IPO). The Economic Times reported on 20 July on reduce its carbon footprint by 33-35% from its 2005 levels by the likely postponement of the ReNew Power IPO. The 2030, as part of its commitments to the UN Framework Con- company planned to raise ₹ 2,600 crore in fresh capital, vention on Climate Change adopted by 195 countries in Paris while existing private equity investors to sell an aggregate in 2015. Deal-making activity is also gaining traction in India’s of 94.37 million shares, according to the draft prospectus. emerging green economy. Recently, Greenko Group called off ReNew Power also counts investors such as Asian its $1 billion plan to buy Orange Renewable from Singapore’s Development Bank, sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi AT Capital Group and investment bank Rothschild Inc. resumed Investment Authority, Canada Pension Plan Investment scouting for a buyer for one of India’s largest renewable energy Board, Global Environment Fund and Japan’s JERA Co. platforms, Mint reported on 11 September. Of the deals being Inc. as its shareholders. These investors, over several in play and reported by Mint, the country’s largest electric- tranches, have invested a total of ₹6,696.5 crore in the ity trader, PTC India Ltd, is exploring the possibility of exiting company since 2011. In February 2017, JERA bought its wind power business and is scouting for investors. Also, a 10% stake in ReNew Power, valuing the company at Fotowatio Renewable Ventures plans to exit its only investment $2 billion. In the run-up to its IPO, ReNew Power had in the Indian solar power space, and Edelweiss Infrastructure acquired 1.1 GW of renewable assets from Ostro Energy Yield Plus Fund, is in talks with Engie SA to buy a significant in April at an enterprise value of around ₹10,000 crore. stake in the French energy firm’s Indian solar business. Source: livemint www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 49 BUSINESS & FINANCE Launch of the Global Green The brown to green shift in cor- porate balance sheets and capex Bond Partnership directions needs accelerated action The Global Green Bond Partnership (GGBP) was launched in San Fran- from the world’s biggest banks, cisco, at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS). This new partnership largest emitters and institutional will support efforts of sub-national entities such as cities, states, and investors. The international green regions, corporations and private companies, and financial institutions bond market is now the platform for to accelerate the issuance of green bonds. this large scale shift, with the target of trillions in new capital mobilised he Global Green Bond Partnership towards climate adaptation and (GGBP) was launched yesterday in San resilience, clean energy and green Francisco, at the Global Climate Action infrastructure, said Sean Kidney, Summit (GCAS). This new partnership CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative. will support efforts of sub-national enti- ties such as cities, states, and regions, The members of the Global Green Bond Partnership corporations and private companies, (GGBP) will work together to scale green bond issuance and financial institutions to accelerate primarily by sub-national entities and corporations through T the issuance of green bonds. The found- targeted technical assistance, capacity building, de-risking, ing members of the Global Green Bond investing, and underwriting support, as well as support- Partnership GGBP include the World ing development of innovative funds and other financial Bank, IFC – a member of the World vehicles to mobilize investor capital. Bank Group, Amundi, European Invest- ment Bank, Climate Bonds Initiative, Ce- Scaling up green finance is crucial to res, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sus- tackle climate change and implement tainability, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) and the the Paris agreement. As the first and Low Emissions Development Strategies largest issuer to date the EIB recog- Global Partnership (LEDS GP). nises the key potential of green bonds to accelerate low carbon investment and enhance investor support. As the In the past decade green bonds EU Bank we welcome the new Global have proven to be a real force Green Bond Partnership that will in driving commercial financ- tackle barriers to green bond issuance. ing into climate-smart invest- Enabling green bonds to be issued for ments and hold great promise the first time by new public and private for further scale up. IFC looks partners, including in emerging and forward to participating in the developing economies, will allow even Global Green Bond Partner- more eligible projects to benefit.said ship and collaborating with Jonathan Taylor, European Investment other pioneers to accelerate Bank Vice President responsible for the issuance of green bonds climate action. and crowd in additional climate finance, said Vikram Widge, The Partnership will coordinate with efforts such as IFC’s Global Head, Climate Finance Green Cornerstone Bond Fund Support Program to compli- and Policy at the International ment the Amundi Planet Emerging Green One Fund and Finance Corporation. other targeted efforts to support the overall growth of the green bond market. The UNFCCC estimates that USD 1.5 trillion of financing needs to be mobilized every year to 2030 to Amundi, as a leading green fully implement the Paris Agreement(1). The Euro- manager and investor in pean Investment Bank and the World Bank pioneered the global clean energy the first green bonds, with EIB issuing the Climate transition, looks forward to Awareness Bond in 2007(2) and the World Bank is- working with Global Green suing its first green bond in 2008(3). The green bond Bond Partnership members market continues to grow at a rapid pace, growing to identify new opportunities from annual issuance of USD 3.4 billion in 2012 to to support the fight against USD 161 billion in 2017(4). As governments and cor- global warming,”said Stanis- porations alike recognize, the green bond market of- las Pottier, Chief Responsible fers significant global opportunities to mobilize capital Investment Officer, Amundi. at scale for low carbon, climate resilient infrastructure and development efforts. 50 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com BUSINESS & FINANCE Additionally, the GGBP members intend to work together on the development of a Green Bonds Readiness Frame- work/Toolkit for potential issuers, designed primarily for ENGIE, STOA tie up to develop sub-national entities and corporations, that will enable them to rapidly assess their readiness to issue green bonds and wind platform in India identify key gaps and barriers to issuance. The GGBP will also collaborate among its members to advance coordinated Power firm ENGIE and French infrastructure and power equity investor provision of technical assistance and capacity building STOA announced a partnership to build a wind energy platform in India activities across the member’s respective green bond activi- with a goal of setting up over 2 GW capacity over the next five years. ties and areas of expertise. The GGBP members will work through existing partnerships and institutions to deliver these services. In addition, GGBP members will seek to engage ENGIE, a leading multinational utility with and provide technical assistance to Signatories of the Green Bond Pledge(5) (GB Pledge) to assist the develop- company and the largest global indepen- ment process around inaugural green issuance. dent power producer, and STOA, a French infrastructure and power equity investor in The World Bank Group regularly innovates new ways to help cities finance low carbon and climate developing countries, announced a part- resilient infrastructure. The Partnership will lever- nership to build a wind platform in India… age this know-how while expanding our reach to through a Joint-Venture detained 50/50 by developing countries and cities eager to use green bonds as a key element of their climate finance the two entities,” a statement said. strategy,” said Ms. Laura Tuck, Vice President for Sustainable Development, who announced the new partnership today at the Global Climate Action Summit. he platform has a goal of setting up over 2 GW of wind energy capacity over The LEDS GP, a global peer-to-peer exchange network, the next five years. Scope will be both will serve as the interim secretariat of the Global Green onshore and offshore wind projects under Bond Partnership. Members will work together to identify central and select state tenders.Earlier concrete outcomes and milestones for the partnership and this year, ENGIE won a capacity totalling hold at least one joint outreach event by the end of 2018. 280 MW in three separate state and cen- tral tenders in India. These three projects, Transformative milestones by the founding members of the GGBP: T which are currently in implementation World Bank Group : Issued one of the first green bonds in 2008(3) stage (200 + 50 MW in one location in Tamil Nadu and 30 MW in Gujarat) will International Finance Corporation (IFC): A member of the World form a part of the platform, it said. Bank Group: First institution to issue a $1 billion global bench- mark green bond in 2013. In March 2018, IFC and Amundi launched the world’s largest targeted green bond fund, which is expected to deploy $2 billion into emerging markets green bonds over its lifetime 4,(6). ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI): ICLEI has supported the development of guidance on green Malcolm Wrigley, bonds for local governments, working with CBI and other Country Manager, ENGIE partners. As a partner of the GCoM, ICLEI provides techni- India, said: Our aim is cal and policy assistance to cities and towns, also help- to respond to the major ing them to access finance and use appropriate finance mechanisms. challenges of the energy transition, in particular Ceres: Issued the Green Bonds Principles in 2014 in fast-growing coun- Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI): tries like India. Climate Bonds has developed a science based, Stan- dards and Certification Scheme used by green bond bond Matthew Saville, STOA’s Managing issuers, governments, investors and financial markets to Director, added: The Indian renew- assess the climate credentials & environmental integrity of ables sector has seen strong growth bonds, loans & debt based based investments. and demand for power across the Amundi: IFC and Amundi launched the world’s largest country will continue to increase. targeted green bond fund to date, which is expected to Wind power generation today of- deploy $2 billion into emerging markets green bonds over fers a competitive solution to lower its lifetime. average power pool prices. We are EIB: Issued the first Climate Awareness Bond bond in 2007. delighted to be working with ENGIE GCoM: Developing, in collaboration with its founding part- to deliver clean and affordable ners, partnerships and tools to accelerate local govern- power to the country. ments’ capacity to access financing mechanisms at the scale and speed needed to meet the Paris Agreement objectives. Source: eib.org Source: PTI www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 51 BUSINESS & FINANCE CLP India and Suzlon en- ter a partnership for two Solar projects of 50 MW and 20 MW in Maha- rashtra Two projects won by Suzlon through competitive bid- ding and CLP India will acquire a stake of 49% in the projects. Joint venture marks CLP India’s second solar project with Suzlon. Mr. Mahesh Makhija, Director, Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has a fixed tariff Business Development and Com- for 25 years at 4.115 INR/kWh for 20 MW and 3.66 mercial (Renewables), CLP India INR/kWh for 50MW. said, Renewable energy has been a Off taker will be Solar Energy Corporation of India key pillar for us in our growth journey. We believe the renew- Limited (SECI). ables sector has transformed over the years and introduced several international best practices that have enhanced ease of doing business and encouraged further investments. CLP India, one of the largest foreign investors in the Indian power sec- We believe in the potential growth of the sector and will tor, and Suzlon, India’s largest renewable energy solutions provider, continue evaluating sustainable projects. announced a joint venture for two solar projects of 50 MW and 20 MW in Dhule, Maharashtra. s per the agreement signed be- We have a long-standing association with Suzlon for tween CLP India and Suzlon Group both our wind and solar projects. We made our foray into on September 10, 2018, CLP India solar energy with them for a 100 MW project in Veltoor. has agreed to acquire 49% stake in This project was recently awarded world’s first solar Gale Solarfarms Limited and Torna- project quality certification, having exhibited the highest do Solarfarms Limited, two special quality standards. We are confident that we will be able purpose vehicles (SPV) set-up by to continue driving operational excellence across all our Suzlon. CLP India has the option to projects. A acquire the balance 51% stake in the future. Suzlon is responsible to provide comprehensive operation and maintenance services for these projects that are already commis- sioned. Mr J.P. Chalasani, Group CEO, Suzlon Group said, We are glad to partner with CLP India for these two solar projects in Maharashtra. We are pioneers in the Indian wind energy and established a successful track record and leadership in Mr. Rajiv Mishra, Managing the sector for over two decades. We are proud to have also Director, CLP India said, In the proven our capabilities in solar with the execution of this 70 last 16 years, we have built one MW solar standalone project. We have commissioned a to- of the most diversified fuel mix tal of 340 MW solar projects including this and completed portfolios in the country and delivery of our entire solar order book. We are committed we are committed to expand- to partner with our customers to enable India’s transition ing our renewable energy port- to a low carbon economy. With our expertise now both in folio on the back of supportive government policies. With wind and solar, we are progressively working towards har- wind energy, we have been able to grow our footprint to nessing the emerging opportunities in Wind-Solar Hybrid. almost 1000 MWs and we are confident of steadily building Our pan-India presence, comprehensive product portfolio, on our solar energy footprint. We already have two wind robust in-house R&D and best-in-class services gives us the energy projects in Maharashtra and we are happy to add competitive edge. another two solar projects here. 52 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com BUSINESS & FINANCE LONGi sets new quarterly shipments, sales and R&D spending records LONGi Green Energy Technology, the world’s largest dedicated manu- facturer of monocrystalline wafers and its subsidiary, LONGi Solar has reported first half year results that included record quarterly shipments, operating income and R&D spending. LONGi Group reported first half 2018 oper- ating income of approximately RMB 10.02 billion (US$1.49 billion approx.), compared to US$995.2 million approx.), in the prior year period, an increase of 59.36%. On a quarterly basis, LONGi reported second quarter operating income of US$956.1 million, compared to approximately US$569.1 million in second quarter of 2017, a 68% increase year- on-year. LONGi reported second quarter operating income of US$956.1 million, compared to ap- PV module shipments reached 3,232MW, includ- proximately US$569.1 million in second quarter ing sales of 2,637MW and 375MW of modules use for its downstream PV project business, which of 2017, a 68% increase year-on-year. included a number of poverty alleviation projects in LONGi reported second quarter operating China. PV module shipments reached 3,232MW, in- income of US$956.1 million, compared to ap- cluding sales of 2,637MW and 375MW of modules use for its downstream PV project business, which proximately US$569.1 million in second quarter included a number of poverty alleviation projects in of 2017, a 68% increase year-on-year. China. Less spectacular than the operating income growth was the net profit in the first half of 2018, he second quarter income exceeded which reached RMB 1.307 billion (US$190.98 mil- LONGi’s previous quarterly record set lion approx.), a year-on-year increase of 5.73%. in the fourth quarter of 2017, when the The company reported a gross profit margin of company reported an operating income of 22.62%. However, LONGi remains one of the most approximately US$874.8 million.Although profitable PV manufacturers. The squeeze on profit the company mirrored many competitors in and margins were mainly attributable to average reporting relatively soft first quarter results, selling price (ASP) declines, initiated by trade tariffs sue to seasonality in key markets, includ- and the late impact of the Chinese Governments ing China, LONGi’s significant increase in ‘531 New Deal’. PV Tech had previously reported T that LONGi surpassed long-term R&D spending shipments of mono wafers and mono PV modules were behind the operating income leaders First Solar and Sunpower for the first time growth. The company reported first half in 2017, having allocated over US$175 million to year 2018 mono c-Si wafer production of a range of R&D activities at the ingot/wafer level 1.544 billion pieces, with 758 million pieces through to cell and modules, which set a new R&D old externally and 786 million pieces were spending record. used in-house, compared to the first half In the first half of 2018, LONGi reported R&D of 2017 when external sales volume was spending in the reporting period to have reached 449 million pieces, and in-house consump- approximately US$105 million, a year-on-year tion was 419 million pieces. In the first half increase of 61.80% and accounting for 7.18% of of 2018, PV module shipments reached operating income in the reporting period, a new 3,232MW, including sales of 2,637MW and industry record. To put this in perspective, First So- 375MW of modules use for its downstream lar’s 2017 annual R&D spending totalled US$88.6 PV project business, which included a million and Sunpower spent US$80.7 million. number of poverty alleviation projects LONGi reported R&D spending in the report- in China. However, the major change in ing period to have reached approximately module shipments came from international US$105 million, a year-on-year increase of sales, which accounted for 687MW in the 61.80% and accounting for 7.18% of operating first half of 2018, 18 times higher than the income in the reporting period, a new industry prior year period. record. Source: longi-silicon www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 53 BUSINESS & FINANCE China welcomes end of EU restrictions on solar panel imports China welcomed the European Union’s (EU) decision to not extend anti- dumping and anti-subsidy measures on imports of Chinese solar panels after they expire. REC seeks shareholders nod he Trade Ministry said in a statement that the decision to remove the measures that to raise borrowing limit to had been in place for almost five years would restore the trade of solar panels between China and the EU in line with Rs 3.5 lakh cr normal market conditions and create a State-run Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has sought its share- more stable and predictable business holders approval to raise its overall borrowing limit to Rs 3.5 lakh environment, reports Efe news. China crore from existing Rs 2 lakh crore. The company at its annual general T has viewed the measure as a successful meeting scheduled on September 25 would also seek vote on changing resolution of trade disputes through discussions, and added name of the company to REC Ltd. that Beijing wants to continue cooperating with Europe to boost global free trade and a multilateral rules-based trading system. The EU had imposed the measures in December “The projected level of borrowing during 2018-19 is 2013 after months-long investigations which confirmed that likely to exceed the presently approved limit. Therefore, Chinese companies were selling solar panels in Europe for the consent of the Members is sought for increasing the prices far lower than normal for the market and were receiv- borrowing limit from Rs 200,000 crore to Rs 3,50,000 ing “illegal” market subsidies from Chinese authorities. crore to cover further requirement of borrowing,” the Source: IANS notice for AGM on September 25 stated. he net amount of borrowing of the Rays Power enters retail company as on March 31, 2018 was Rs 1,98,791 crore and a sum of Rs 60,000 solar segment, plans 70 crore is likely to be borrowed during 2018-19 for lending activities. It is also proposed through a special resolution to stores by 2020 authorise the Board to mortgage /create Announcing its entry into B2C retail segment, solar plant builder Rays charge on immovable and/or movable Power Infra said its group company Rays Future Energy will launch 70 T properties of the Company, both pres- operational stores across the country by 2020. ent and future, for securing loan up to Rs 3,50,000 crore. In another proposal “The company plans to launch around 10 operational the company said that considering that stores in the first year of its operations and expand to over ‘REC’ has become a brand name and 70 stores by 2020 covering major cities in India,” solar is recognised by public at large in India development firm Rays Power Infra said in a statement. and abroad, it is proposed to change the name of the company from “Rural Electrification Corporation Limited” to elhi-based solar Engineering, Procure- “REC Limited”. ment and Construction (EPC) compa- ny, which has commissioned projects over 650 MW, will commence its first It said, “In day to day interactions, discussions, cor- outlet in Gurugram in Haryana by the respondence with statutory bodies, borrowers, lend- end of November 2018. The company’s ers, investors and other stakeholders, the Company is entry into the retail solar power seg- normally using abbreviated names “REC” & “RECL” and ment comes after the government’s these names are well recognized across the industry and D initiative to subsidize rooftop solar market. Further, logo of the Company registered with installations and encourage the use of renewable energy, es- the Trade Marks Registry is also containing the word pecially in the residential and domestic sector. It plans to sell “REC”.” various solar-powered products through a franchise business model. The initial product offering will be standardized solar It pointed out that the name of Company “Rural Electri- solutions for the retail customers, including homeowners and fication Corporation Limited” gives an impression that the small-scale commercial establishments. Rays Solar Experi- company is mainly into the business of rural electrification ence Centers will also be set up to provide plug-n-play, easy to install solar power packs for residential rooftops. Solar power whereas, the company is having remarkable presence in the kits of 2KWp to 20KWp will be the key offering under this ven- financing of all segments of Indian Power Sector viz. gen- ture apart from products like inverters and lights. eration, transmission, distribution, renewable energy, etc. Source: PTI 54 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com BUSINESS & FINANCE EU set to end Chinese solar Leap Green Energy to expand panel import controls in renewable power capacity September to 2 GW by 2020 The European Commission, which coordinates EU trade policy, Clean energy generation firm Leap Green Energy Thursday said it looks proposed dismissing the request for an “expiry review” and received to increase its power capacity to 2 GW from existing operational 751 MW backing from a majority of the EU’s 28 countries, according to EU and also plans fund infusion of USD 300 million. sources familiar with the discussions he European Union will scrap import “Leap Green Energy Pvt Ltd (LGE), India’s leading re- controls on solar panels and cells newable power generation company, plans to increase from China in September, rejecting its power capacity through opportunistic acquisitions a request from EU producers who and setting up green field projects,” a statement said. argue that the bloc will be opening its doors to a flood of dumped products. The European Commission, which he company is expecting to have an coordinates EU trade policy, proposed installed capacity of above 2 GW by T dismissing the request for an “expiry FY2020, it said. The company currently review” and received backing from a majority of the EU’s has an operational capacity of 751 MW 28 countries, according to EU sources familiar with the of wind assets and 400 MW of under discussions. The European Union first imposed anti- construction wind assets. To meet capi- dumping and anti-subsidy measures for Chinese solar tal requirements for expansion, the firm panels, wafers and cells in 2013 and extended them in is planning a fund infusion to the tune March 2017 by 18 months, signalling that they should T of USD 300 million. The state electricity then end. boards (SEBs) and various industrial Chinese manufacturers are allowed to sell solar prod- and commercial corporate consum- ucts in Europe free of duties if they do so at or above a ers form the prospective users of the minimum price that has progressively declined. If sold produced power capacity, it added. The for less than that price, they are subject to duties of up to company intends this robust expansion 64.9 percent. The European Union has faced a delicate encouraged by growing demand. Their balancing act between the interests of EU manufacturers reported revenue was Rs 525 crore and those such as importers and installers pressing for generated in the FY 2017-18 alone. a reduction in the cost of solar power generation. It has also been concerned about the response from Beijing given the two sides were on the verge of a trade war over the issue in 2013. EU ProSun, the grouping of EU producers that launched the initial complaint in 2012, had said there were good reasons for measures to be prolonged. Going forward, wind energy will be our Beijing’s decision to limit installations meant Chinese main focus area with a few ventures producers had some 30 gigawatts of excess capacity to into solar and hybrid energy as well. shift with few markets to sell into after tariffs imposed by We have been very fortunate to be as- the United States and planned by India, the second and sociated with the state of Tamil Nadu third largest markets behind China. The total EU market and are forecasting wind energy for is some 7 gigawatts. the entire state with our new technology. Wind Energy has a great potential in India and we are glad to be part of its Only the EU is at the same time ir- growth journey in India and across the world,” said by Rajeev responsibly dropping all measures Karthikeyan, Founder and MD of Leap Green Energy, said in and inviting Chinese producers to the statement. eliminate European and third-coun- try competition in the EU market, EU Currently, LGE operates in Madhya Pradesh, Rajast- ProSun president Milan Nitzschke han, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat with plans to enter more states immediately. The institutional de- said, adding some companies were mand for wind energy is growing and applicable across considering a legal challenge at the functions including malls and shopping centres, hospi- European Court of Justice. tals and banks among others. In-terms of wind power installed capacity, India is ranked 4th in the World. The SolarPower Europe, which represents those in the solar wind power generation has significantly increased in the industry opposed to duties, has referred to Commission recent years, today India is a major player in the global and EY studies indicating demand could increase by up wind energy market. The current total installed wind to 30 percent, creating about 45,000 jobs if the measures power capacity is 34.293 GW and is going to expand to were removed. 60 GW by FY 2022, it added. Source: PTI Source: reuters www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 55 BUSINESS & FINANCE KKR Closes $7.4 Billion Glob- al Infrastructure Fund KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the final closing of KKR Global Infrastructure Investors III (the “Fund”), a $7.4 billion fund focused on pursuing global infrastructure investment opportunities with an emphasis on investments in OECD countries. KKR will be investing $358 million in capital alongside external investors through KKR’s balance sheet and employee commitments. The current scale of global infra- structure investment demand is simply enormous, and is only growing, with the need outstripping capital available,” said Raj Agrawal, KKR Member and Global Head of KKR’s infrastructure business. This dynamic, coupled with limited pub- lic financing sources, has created a significant need for private capital to provide infrastructure solutions. We believe our sector expertise and global platform uniquely position us to help fill this funding gap and we look forward to our continued growth in, and commitment to, the infrastructure asset class. management. Recent transactions by the Fund include Starlight, which owns a portfolio of approximately 10,200 telecommunication towers across France, and Discovery KR has a risk-based, rather than a Midstream, the largest private natural gas gathering and sector-based, approach to infrastructure processing business in Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg investing. Consistent with this approach, Basin. The Fund received strong backing from a diverse the Fund will focus on critical infrastruc- group of new and existing global investors, including pub- ture investments with low volatility and lic pensions, sovereign wealth funds, insurance compa- strong downside protection where KKR nies, family offices, high net worth individual investors and believes it can leverage its global value other institutional investors. creation resources to tackle complexity K in sourcing, structuring, operations, and execution. By doing so, the Fund aims to deliver attractive returns with a low risk profile from a portfolio that is broadly diversified across a number of different “Since first launching the Fund, we were infrastructure sub-sectors, geographies thrilled to see the incredible momentum and asset types. The Fund has a broad we received from investors – both those investment mandate across infrastruc- who were early and large supporters of ture sectors, including but not limited to: our predecessor funds and also those energy; transportation; water, wastewa- who were first-time investors with us as well as the asset ter and waste; social infrastructure; and class,” said Alisa Amarosa Wood, KKR Member and Head communications infrastructure. The Fund of KKR’s Private Market Products Group. “The enthusiasm will also focus its investment mandate we saw across all geographies and investor types dem- on the OECD countries predominantly onstrates the strong support for our infrastructure team, in North America and Western Europe. strategy and investment performance to date. Addition- KKR first established a dedicated in- frastructure team and strategy in 2008. ally, we have seen infrastructure as an asset class mature Since then, the team has grown to con- and grow in the way investors allocate capital to the space. sist of 25 experienced investment profes- The support for our Fund also speaks to this evolution of sionals and has completed or announced the asset class. We believe this continues to be important 25 infrastructure transactions across a as the need for infrastructure capital from an investment number of sub-sectors and geographies. perspective only grows.” With the closing of the Fund, KKR’s in- frastructure business manages approxi- mately $13 billion in assets under Source: KKR 56 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Air pollution even impacts solar panels’ output After initially collecting data on both the amount of solar radiation reaching the ground, and the amount of particulate matter in the air as measured by other instruments, Ian Marius Peters worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) associate professor of mechanical engineering Tonio Buonassisi and three others to find a way to calculate the amount of sunlight that was being absorbed or scattered by haze before reaching the solar panels. After their detailed Delhi study, the team exam- Eventually, they were able to col- ined preliminary data from 16 other cities around lect data in Delhi, India, provid- the world, and found impacts ranging from 2 ing measures of insolation and of percent for Singapore to over nine percent for pollution over a two-year period Beijing, Dakha, Ulan Bator, and Kolkata. In addi- — and confirmed significant tion, they looked at how the different types of solar reductions in the solar-panel out- cells — gallium arsenide, cadmium telluride, and perovskite — are affected by the hazes, because of put. But unlike Singapore, what their different spectral responses. All of them were they found was that “in Delhi affected even more strongly than the standard it’s constant. There’s never a day silicon panels they initially studied, with perovskite, without pollution,” Peters said. a highly promising newer solar cell material, being There, they found the annual affected the most (with over 17 percent attenuation average level of attenuation of in Delhi). the solar panel output was about Many countries around the world have been 12 percent. moving toward greater installation of urban solar panels, with India aiming for 40 gigawatts (GW) hile that might not sound like of rooftop solar installations, while China already such a large amount, Peters has 22 GW of them. Most of these are in urban pointed out that it is larger than areas. So the impact of these reductions in output the profit margins for some so- could be quite severe, the researchers say. In lar installations, and thus could Delhi alone, the lost revenue from power genera- literally be enough to make the tion could amount to as much as USD20 million difference between a success- annually; for Kolkata about USD16 million; and for ful project and one that fails — Beijing and Shanghai it’s about USD10 million an- W not only impacting that project, nually each, the team estimates. but also potentially causing a Planned installations in Los Angeles could lose ripple effect by deterring others between USD6 million and USD9 million. Over- from investing in solar projects. all, they project, the potential losses “could easily If the size of an installation is amount to hundreds of millions, if not billions based on expected levels of of dollars annually.” And if systems are under- sunlight reaching the ground designed because of a failure to take hazes into in that area, without consider- account, that could also affect overall system reli- ing the effects of haze, it will ability, they said. instead fall short of meeting its intended output and its Peters said that the major health benefits related expected revenues. to reducing levels of air pollution should be moti- vation enough for nations to take strong mea- “When you’re doing project planning, if you haven’t con- sures, but this study “hopefully is another small sidered air pollution, you’re going to undersize, and get a piece of showing that we really should improve wrong estimate of your return on investment,” Peters said. air quality in cities, and showing that it really matters.” Source: ANI www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 57 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Companies that use cleaner energy more profitable: Report Companies that use cleaner and smarter energy are more profitable than their peers, a new report said, underlining the business case for putting sustainability at the heart of corporate growth strategies. he RE100 report with Capgemini Invent, which draws on 2016-17 data from a sample of 3,500 companies, shows RE100 businesses, com- mitted to 100 per cent renewable electricity, consistently perform better than non-members Being energy-smart on two key financial indicators: net profit margin and being business- and EBIT (Earnings Before Interests and Taxes) smart goes hand in margin. The difference is significant — up to 7.7 hand and this has T percentage points — and is true across all sec- to be norm, sooner tors, most prominently for information technology, rather than later to telecommunications, construction and real estate. keep warming well In India, Dalmia Cement, Tata Motors, Infosys, below two degrees Hatsun Agro Products and more recently Mahin- Celsius, The Climate dra Holidays and Resorts committed to transition Group CEO Helen to 100 per cent renewable energy, by joining The Clarkson said. Climate Group’s RE100 campaign. The report comes from Climate Week NYC, where for the 10th year running The Climate Group is con- With the addition of new members and of vening business and government leaders from PVH Corp. (Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Spee- around the world to advance climate action. For do) last week, RE100 now brings together 152 the first time, companies from Latin America and leading companies from a wide range of sec- Turkey have joined RE100, The Climate Group’s tors, representing over $3.8 trillion in revenue. global initiative with CDP for businesses commit- Committed to sourcing 100 per cent renew- ted to 100 per cent renewable electricity. They able electricity for their global operations in are the world’s leading bakery company Grupo more than 120 countries, they are creating Bimbo and leading Turkish menswear retailer and demand for over 184 TWh of renewable energy manufacturer GArmen Group. Global hospital- per year — more than enough to power New ity leader Hilton has joined EP100, The Climate York State and Connecticut combined. Climate Group’s initiative with the Alliance to Save Energy Week NYC is the time and place where the to cut out energy waste. RE100 member Bank world gathers to showcase amazing climate ac- of America has joined EV100, committed to ad- tion and discusses how to do more. ditional charging infrastructure installations. Other Taking place from September 24-30 in New new RE100 joiners include Decathlon (France), York, this is the 10th annual Climate Week Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India (India), Fuyo NYC, run by The Climate Group in coordination General Lease Co Ltd (Japan), Lyft (US) and with the United Nations and the City of New Taiwanese skincare products company TRIDL, York. which also joined EP100. 58 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com RESEARCH & ANALYSIS India Ratings and Research: Cap on Solar Tariffs Pose Threat to Capacity Addition Plans and Project Viability Any cap on solar power tariffs in future auctions could dampen free market sentiment and prove to be an Achilles heel for the plans of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to achieve the solar power capacity target of 100.00GW by FYE22, believes India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra). onfusion over applicable safeguard duty, increased project cost due to the depre- ciating Indian rupee against the US dollar and a lower margin of safety (due to highly competitive tariffs) remain the key chal- lenges to the solar power industry’s growth. Auctions for at least 3.9GW capacity were scrapped during 5MFY19 compared with C about 11.86GW of fresh capacity auctioned during the period. The major reason behind the scrapping of these bids may be higher quoted tariffs compared with minimum -them, such as the levy of liquidated damages and the tariffs quoted in past auctions. reduction in project tariff due to delayed project execution. In Ind-Ra’s opinion, the whole purpose of doing reverse e-auction for renewables is to create market competition and let competition decide the tariff. Any attempt to tamper the tariff could lead to the non-achievement of the capacity addition target and a negative impact on project viability. Given the solar power industry is still grappling with the significant reduction in solar tariffs post the feed-in tariff regime, any further reduction may be too soon to deal with for participants. Also, lower auction volumes (in case bidders decide against bidding below their threshold level) could lead to sub-optimal volumes available to domestic panel and module manufacturers. This would affect their ability to significantly ramp up their production capac- ity to achieve economies of scale. Under-construction solar power are facing increased cost pressure due to the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dol- lar, considering solar modules are largely imported and It is pertinent to note that the weighted average tariff (as per typically constitute 60.00% of project cost. Please refer to capacity allocated) quoted by winning bidders during 5MFY19 Market Wire: Depreciating Rupee to Pose Challenges to stood at INR2.74/kWh. As observed by Ind-Ra, perceiving a high Economical Solar Tariffs to assess the extent of the impact counterparty-related risk, parties had bid higher tariffs in auctions of the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dol- held by states. Also, in case of the applicability of 25.00% safe- lar on solar tariffs. Project cost and plant load factor (PLF) guard duty, tariffs could further increase by INR0.30-0.35/kWh. remain the biggest sensitivities to equity rate of return and According to market sources, the MNRE is contemplating on debt service coverage ratio. capping the tariff on solar power generated using imported cells and modules at INR2.68/kWh, which includes the safeguard duty amount of INR 0.30-0.35/kWh. This tariff is lower than what bid- ders have quoted in the recent past. If the MNRE decides to go ahead with this capping, it may lead to non-participation by a sig- nificant number of potential bidders in future auctions. This may negatively affect the MNRE’s yearly 30.00GW capacity addition plan until FYE20. The progress on auctions is already lagging due to frequent changes in the policy on the levy of safeguard duty on solar panel and module imports. Any such move by the MNRE will only worsen the progress of future auctions. Also, some solar plants are delaying the import of solar modules until there is clarity on safeguard duty, as it may pose risks to - www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 59 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS By 2023, the World Will Have Plan afoot to install float- 1 Trillion Watts of Installed ing solar panels in dams in Solar PV Capacity Maharashtra It’s time for our regular check-in on where solar PV installations are A state-run agency in Maharashtra has come up with a plan to install headed. Here’s the quick answer: Prices are still going down and capacity solar panels in the backwater of two dams to generate electricity. is going up around the world. Pretty much the same path we’ve been on. ut that path for solar has widened. In fact, within the next five years, the world will likely have over 1 terawatt of solar capacity installed, according to the latest global data from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. That’s a trillion watts. That’s enough to serve more than one-third of America’s B electricity consumption. Our last major capacity projection was one year ago, when the GTM Research team forecasted 871 gigawatts by 2022. The latest projections show higher-than- expected growth for every year after 2018. For example, WoodMac projec- tions for 2020 are 26 gigawatts higher than last year’s forecast. Jayakwadi dam, located in Aurangabad district of Cen- tral Maharashtra, and Ujani dam in Solapur district of Western Maharashtra, will be the sites of the solar power generation project, an official said. The Marath- wada Statutory Development Corporation (MSDC), a body formed by the state government, has come up with a plan to erect floating solar panels in the back- water of the two dams falling under its jurisdiction. Basically, it’s Asia and everyone else. China, Japan and A study in this regard is in an advanced stage at the India will make up 20 percent of the total global market Ujani dam, while the Jayakwadi dam was later added through 2023. Over the next two years, China and Japan to the project, he said. will make up half of annual installations — even with both markets in decline this year. But the long tail of markets is very important. North America and Europe will account for 28 percent of the market by 2023; The Middle East will jump The Jayakwadi dam, like Ujani, has from 3 percent of capacity today to 9 percent; and Latin widespread backwater, which can be America will make up 7 percent of global installations. The used for installing floating solar panels global market is increasingly diverse.The reason for the for power generation. There is ample upward adjustment in capacity is pretty simple. Prices are free space at the tail-end of the dam, ultra-competitive, and falling. More countries are putting in which we are planning to use for (erect- place auction systems — increasingly “subsidy free” — and ing) solar panels, Bhagwat Karad, chair- large-scale solar photovoltaics are winning a lot of bids. Cost man of MSDC, told PTI. drops haven’t kept pace with recent price drops, but Wood- Mac expects costs to catch up. WoodMac analysts simulated 625 auction-tariff scenarios and found a median price of 2 ocated in Marathwada, the Jayakwadi cents per kilowatt-hour by 2022. dam, built on the Godavari river, is lo- “Bid prices will continue their downward march pretty cated near the Aurangabad city and is much everywhere. More sub-2 cent PV bids are likely, a key source of water to the arid region. both in leading low-cost markets and in emerging mar- The Ujani dam, built on the Bhima river, kets that are launching solicitations. By 2022, awarded is located in Madha tehsil of Solapur dis- prices as low as $14/MWh will be old news,” they write trict. It is the state’s largest dam in terms in the report. of water storage capacity. Source: greentechmedia L 60 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com SOLAR PROJECTS Ujani and Jayakwadi dams come under the corpora- tion’s jurisdiction. We have decided to seriously pursue the concept and come up with practical plans for set- ting up solar panels, Karad said. Asked what prompted the corporation to use backwater space of dams for setting up solar panels, he said, Similar projects are in operation in Kerala and West Bengal. Lightsource BP Builds Larg- est PV Project in India with 200,000 High-Efficiency Mono -crystalline Modules supplied by LONGi Solar Lightsource BP announces the completion of its first utility PV project in India. The project, built on 240-acre in Maharashtra in central India deploys 200,000 high-efficiency monocrystalline modules supplied by LONGi Solar. Ujani and Jayakwadi dams come under the corporation’s jurisdiction. We have decided to seriously pursue the concept and come up with practical plans for setting up solar panels, Karad said. Asked what prompted the corporation to use backwater space of dams for setting up solar panels, he said, Similar projects are in operation in Kerala and West Bengal. Maharashtra also has widespread dams such as Ujani and Jayakwadi, which are under Nick Boyle, CEO of Lightsource BP, my jurisdiction. I have asked officials concerned to conduct a study said, We want to support the devel- on possibility of setting up solar panels on dam water. The corpora- opment of public utilities in India tion has held talks with private companies to find out if they are with efficient clean energy sub- willing to invest in this project and operate such facilities, Karad said. products and technologies. When A meeting with officials from the state water resources and officially grid-connected, the proj- electricity departments took place recently in Aurangabad to ect will provide clean electricity to about 20,000 house- discuss the proposed project. We also held talks with some private holds in Maharashtra, greatly improving local lifestyle. companies which are willing to invest in this project and operate it, he said. ith continuous innovations Such projects will reduce the government’s dependence in high-efficiency, high- on acquiring land, which is a long-drawn process, for setting reliability and high-yield PV up solar power plants, the official said. “The biggest relief products and best LCOE is availability of space for setting up solar plants. If similar solutions, LONGi Solar has solar panels are to be deployed on land, then acquisition for gained recognition worldwide such projects would have taken longer time. “Here, it is just with reliable products and an inter-departmental issue and panels have to be set up guaranteed performance. and operated within the joint framework of the WRD (water AsW a global leading monocrystalline module manufacturer, resources department and the state -run power generation LONGi Solar will accelerate the application of high-efficien- company,” he said. Another official said Marathwada is a cy PV products and make continuous efforts towards green suitable region for harnessing solar energy, a clean source production and advancing grid parity. Lightsource BP was of power. “Marathwada has higher solar radiation, which is formed after British oil giant BP acquired Europe’s largest good for setting up solar panels. All we need to study is the solar developer Lightsource. The company is dedicated to up and down movement of water (in dams) during the year building solar projects in the United States, India, Europe and operate panels after ensuring they don’t get damaged,” and the Middle East with plans to deploy more than 8 GW said the official from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distri- solar capacity globally in the next 5 years. bution Company Ltd Source: longi-silicon Source: PTI www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 61 REI 2018 12TH EDITION OF REI EXPO Reiterates Renewed Focus on Clean Energy Sector Keen Global and local participation, Foreign Investments & Technology Breakthroughs marked the show BM India successfully concluded the 12th edi- Commenting on the successful conclu- tion of Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo, sion of the show, Mr. Yogesh Mudras, the three day (18th – 20th September 2018) Managing Director, UBM India said, show at the India Expo Center, Greater Noida. Over the years, REI has duly acquired ThisU year, the show focused on approaching renewables a unique dynamism and influence as a in a more holistic manner, with due consideration to comprehensive global platform for the wind, hydropower and biomass along with solar energy. RE domain addressing these challenges The expo witnessed over 750+ exhibitors participation and aiding India’s green mission. This from 45 countries, with over 1,000 delegates and 225 year was remarkable, with intense global speakers at the 37 conference sessions. The event was participation in the form of renowned well supported by European Union India – Clean Energy forums such as Business Beyond Borders, & Climate Days and Business Beyond Borders (BBB), European Business Technology Center National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Skill (EBTC), European Commission, World Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ), European Business Tech- Business Council for Sustainable Devel- nology Center (EBTC), Euro Chambers, Bloomberg News opment (WBCSD), Indo-German Energy Energy Finance, Bridge to India, World Business Council Forum (IGEF), European Union, and for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Indo-German more. REI also witnessed a pre-bidding Energy Forum (IGEF), Solar Energy Research Institute meet by the Govt. Of Madhya Pradesh for of Singapore (SERIS), Asian Photovoltaic Industry As- its project RESCO and a session – Advan- sociation (APVIA), TFE Consulting GmbH, PV magazine tage Telangana by the Govt. Of Telanga- and Indian Biogass Association and German Biogass na which made it one of the must-attend Association (IBA and GBA), among others, joining in the event for green energy professionals in rich conference domain themed ‘Accelerating Momen- India and across the globe. tum...From Ambition to Action’. The event witnessed new product showcases including charging stations, frameless Nitin Sharma, Raychem RPG said This past glass to glass panels, solar inverters, solar kit solutions, year has been fairly tumultuous and at the bi-facial modules and testing lab facilities. There was an same time exciting for the industry. We increased presence of floating solar equipment makers, are particularly excited by the progress we demonstrating the growing demand for such projects in have made in expanding our portfolio and the country. Business to Business (B2B) meetings were strengthening our partnerships. We commis- facilitated in two separate zones to enable focused and sioned India’s first MW scale Energy Storage well-directed match-making. Various subjects ranging Project – Integrating Grid, Solar and Diesel from viability of manufacturing, large-scale project devel- generator to provide quality and stable power opment challenges caused by land and transmission bot- to load and partnered with Dynapower, USA tlenecks, Rooftop challenges caused by DISCOM’s, low for Energy Storage Power Conversion System bids, payment issues, net-metering, and financing were for technology collaboration. We were nomi- discussed.REI 2018 also showcased bolstering Start-ups nated as Knowledge Partner to International and SMEs with the launch of Sunrisers Pavilion, Session Solar Alliance (ISA) for Energy Storage Sys- on Advantage Telangana, crucial industry dialogues in the tem. We also launched an integrated Small form of CEO Roundtable, Financial Leadership Forum, Scale Energy Storage System – upto 15 KW, Quality & Future Round Table, 5th Indo-German Energy Launched Solar and Energy Storage Kits upto Symposium, EU – India Clean Energy & Climate Days 20 KW installation & eBOS for larger applica- and International Matchmaking, and the 4th edition of tions and engineered solutions like Optimizer, Renewable Energy India Awards to recognize the Inno- DG-PV Controller and other interesting prod- vation & Excellence in the field of Renewable Energy. ucts for customers. Through REI, we connect- ed and demonstrated exciting solution ranges to leap into brighter and sunnier future. 62 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com REI 2018 Mr. Vinay Shetty, Managing Director, Canadian Solar Energy Private Limited said In line with its global policy to offer highest quality premium modules to its customers world wide with a sole objective to make solar energy more and more affordable and continuously drive down the Saurabh Bhandari, Chief Executive Officer, LCOE, Canadiansolar has launched their most SolarMaxx said REI, as in the past, proved to premium highest efficiency module - HiKu be a tremendous platform for the RE sector to series 405Wp Poly PERC Module, HiDM series come together and witness new technology modules - 410Wp Mono PERC Module and and product launches. Our brand, SolarMaxx, 365Wp BiKu series Poly PERC Bifacial Modules once again received an overwhelming re- in REI Expo 2018. sponse from the industry. Our high efficiency To demonstrate their commitment to Indian modules, especially the half-cut cell modules customers, They are the first company to an- were particularly appreciated. We look for- nounce BIS Certification in India for their China ward to many more such events by UBM. and Thailand factory made modules. As per BTI, Canadiansolar Ranks No.1 in India for the period of October 2017 to September 2018. As per Canadiansolar, Poly PERC is more sustainable product compared to Mono PERC, in terms of lower manufacturing cost, systems cost, higher energy yield and lower LCOE. Rajaram Pai, business leader – South Asia & ASEAN, DuPont Photovoltaica Solutions With the increasing deployment of solar energy in India, Mr. Rishi Seth, Joint Managing Director, HPL the quality of each and every component mat- Electric & Power Ltd said, “REI Expo layers an ters to help ensure investment stability for all outstanding platform to showcase our latest stakeholders to continue investing in this form of BOS (Balance of System) product range and energy for long term. Our vast experience in the offerings in renewable energy, along with the global solar industry enables us to bring market hands on experience of our latest technology. leading PV materials that provide high efficiency, REI Expo is also a meeting place for some of high reliability solutions to our customers.” said the major suppliers, consultants and industry Rajaram Pai, Business Leader – South Asia & experts, even what also amazes us is that the ASEAN, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions. relevant people from different states and “Winning the REI Award 2018 for International power utilities are present to witness the Excellence is of great significance to us as we showcased products. continue to work together with industry partners to help build a robust quality infrastructure for In- He further added, “We are showcasing two dia’s sustainable clean energy future”, Pai added. new products at the expo namely Solar home Light Solution and Solar Inverter equipped with latest technology and modern designs. Our Solar home light solution is an energy Mr. Jamie Yang, Director, Can Solar solution which is specially designed for Inc. said At REI 2018, we displayed remote and rural areas. It is a highly portable the Solar Storage system – ‘Solar product that requires negligible maintenance Power Bank for Home’ – 2kW / and perfect for outdoor activities. The second 2.5kWh and a Solar DC combiner product which we are displaying at the Expo, box that doesn’t require wiring. REI Solar Inverter is a transformer less Inverter Expo’s new International Match- with 97% Efficiency. It comes with remote monitoring features enabling the user to making feature helped us set up operate the device wherever they are located meetings prior to the show. Also, and also ensure the greater security & better the visitors that showed up says a performance. This exceptional product has lot about the blooming Renewable a twin MPPT charge controller in order to market in India. optimize sun light utilization at all times and is embedded with IP 65 which makes it suitable for outdoor application. Being a battery less inverter, it is quite cost effective as compared to OFF Grid invertors.” www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 63 Blockchain Blockchain in Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution What is the Opportunity? Article By: tructurally, the economies of scale of large power plants have driven investment in centralized resources (e.g., coal/ gas plants). And these power plants have typically been located far away from population centers because of the Grant Thornton S pollution they produce. The power so generated is shipped across miles of transmission and distribution infrastruc- ture to the end consumer leading to T&D and AT&C lossesof as much as 25%. 64 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com Blockchain We believe the moderniza- tion of energy production and consumption – driven by smart meters/devices, energy effi- ciency devices, renewables, and What are the Pain Points? storage – is already beginning LINE LOSSES. Supplying power across miles of to disrupt the traditional utility wires creates inefficiencies as voltages are stepped model, particularly as custom- up and down, resulting in power losses. We esti- ers seek to engage directly in mate that 25% of total generation actually never power purchase decisions via reaches the final end user – resulting in higher cost self-generation and/or energy for the consumer. arbitrage through storage solutions. The reason for the RELIABILITY. Even if the power reaches rural ar- shift towards renewables now eas they are the first victims of load shedding. The is external economies of scales centralized infrastructure of the power grid leads of the Renewable Energy in- to broad swaths of the population losing power at dustry (especially, solar PV). once. Renewable sources of energy EXPENSIVE POWER TARIFFS. This is by far, deal with both the problems: the biggest pain point for consumers of electricity it is a non-polluting source of in India with rising grid tariffs.The rural market energy and hence, does not cannot afford the electricity tariffs and hence is need to be located away from prone to electricity tapping and theft. A peer to population centers allowing peer network (combined with solar electricity) can for lower losses in energy. Sec- partially solve this problem by doing both- tracking ondly, it is now at par and even who consumes how much and by providing afford- cheaper than power purchased able power. from the grid. Blockchain could further the disruptive potential of these new sources of energy, eventu- What is the current way ally creating an increasingly decentralized means of energy of doing business? consumption where energy us- The electric power grid pairs centralized produc- ers are also energy generators, tion with distributed consumption.Since the ad- transacting directly with each vent of alternating current (AC) transformers in the other in the electricity market. late 1800’s, the electrical grid has been dominated It could give birth or realize the by centralized power generation and long-distance concept of ‘community solar’ transmission infrastructure. where there is absolutely no Distributed resources, particularly rooftop solar, tampering with the energy effectively feed excess power back to the grid un- that has been distributed in der net metering, with credits adjusted in the bills. the community. This is a billing mechanism, used in more than 23 Further, this could poten- states, that credits customers for electricity pro- tially reduce entry barriers for vided to the grid from approved renewable energy becoming an electricity distri- generation systems. Under net metering, credits bution company (with lesser are generated at the prevailing retail utility grid investment and infrastructure rate in most cases and enable consumers to lower requirement). The market their traditional electricity bill; however, no direct could potentially be trans- revenue is generated. We believe that pressures to formed from largely a mo- lower the rate at which net metered power is cred- nopoly to something between ited will continue to increase over time owing to an oligopoly and monopolistic. the business lost by the DISCOMs. This sometimes This would also increasethe is manifested in ways such as the bills don’t have supply of electricity because of adjusted credits so the bills don’t reduce as a result the number of providers, fur- of installing solar. This further leads to consumer’s thering easier and cheaper ac- trust being evaded about Solar PV technology and cess to electricity due to higher its use. So how can competition. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 65 Blockchain STRUCTURAL IMPACT: How does blockchain help? Blockchain drives more distributed grid infrastruc- BUSINESS IMPACT : ture. The ability to transact in the energy markets Blockchain Could Help Create A Decentralized as a localized generator would likely drive a big- Energy Marketplace. In what would be the most ger shift toward technologies that enable a distrib- disruptive scenario for the electricity market, we uted grid. The revolution would not only include believe the combination of blockchain and com- smart blockchain networks and devices, but also munications technology could facilitate se- Internet of Things (IoT) appliances and electric cure transactions and payment between millions vehicles, as well as power resources like rooftop of parties, enabling a decentralized energy mar- solar, energy storage, and even fuel cells.Theoreti- ket place. Simply put, the distributed nature of cally, the more distributed the grid becomes, the blockchain could allow distributed energy users more reliable and efficient itcould be in matching to sell power seamlessly to consumers in their power supply and demand – sending real-time vicinity in a literal localization of energy produc- pricing signals andreducing expenditures on costly tion and consumption. The potential appears real. transmission and distribution infrastructure, among In Brooklyn, NY a startup called TransActive otherfactors. Grid has enabled this type of peer-to-peer energy Policy impact: Blockchain could end the need sales networkbased on blockchain technology for net metering. We believe the adoption rate of whereby homes with rooftop solar sell to neigh- distributed solar has largely benefited from poli- bors onthe same street who do not have solar cies such as net and gross metering,which support installed. the economics of going solar vs. paying for grid Such a mechanism has only been suggested power. However, the longer-term outlook for net in ‘Group Net-Metering’ in Delhi, however, does metering is not certain owing to growing opposi- not make use of blockchain technology and has tion from utilities. We believe distributed energy- also not been implemented yet. Realistically, this producers would embrace an alternative to selling potential exists in small and localized micro- back to the grid – e.g., selling into a localized mer- grids – residential andindustrial – given that the chant market, for which blockchain could provide vast majority of power generation will likely the distributed and secure transactional backbone remain centralized for decades to come. Owing to enable a decentralized marketplace. to the vast potential offered in India by villages POLICY IMPACT: that don’t have electricity access, this application Blockchain could end the need for net metering. could have more value for India than anywhere We believe the adoption rate of distributed solar else in the world. has largely benefited from policies such as net and We also note that significant regulatory gross metering,which support the economics of changes would be requiredfor blockchain to have going solar vs. paying for grid power. However, the a major disruptive impact on the traditional longer-term outlook for net metering is not certain utility business model.On the other hand, the owing to growing opposition from utilities. We be- potential for traction could be higher in off-grid lieve distributed energy producers would embrace opportunities. Forinstance, a startup called Grid an alternative to selling back to the grid – e.g., Singularity is using blockchain to explore “pay- selling into alocalized merchant market, for which as-you-go”solar in developing countries where blockchain could provide the distributed and secu- grid infrastructure is less sophisticated and regu- retransactional backbone to enable a decentralized latoryhurdles may be lower. marketplace. 66 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com Blockchain Challenges to adoption REGULATORY: States have laws that prohibit sales of electricity by non-utility entities. For blockchain to enable distributed energy users to transact directly in energy sales, regulation will need to evolve. This is the largest of all the hurdles. TECHNICAL: Smart blockchain network in- frastructure would be required for devices and meters to transact via blockchain. PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS: Blockchain en- ables secure transaction processing, but power will still need to be physically delivered from one node to another on the grid, which will still need to be maintained by utilities/transmission operators. COSTS: Future cost reductions in distributed energy appear likely given the technology roadmaps of areas such as solar and battery storage. In addition, a reduction in required transmission and distribution investment is favorable for all-in cost considerations in the shift from centralized to distributed genera- Combining blockchain with the Internet of Things tion. So, when such a distributed generation could enable the negotiation of distributed power begins to compete with/ take business away transactions. By using distributed wireless or from traditional thermal generators, there wireline data links in a mesh network (or another would be a rising opposition. more traditional communications architecture), distributed producers could automatically broad- USER BEHAVIOR: While blockchain would cast information on excess power availability along theoretically make transactions seamless and with relevant duration information. Individuals/ automatic, energy consumers have tradition- small companies will function as mini- power ally not been energy generators – and they trading companies. In principle, consumers could have definitely not been revenue generators. automatically respond with their power needs. This would require a dramatic change in seller Using a blockchain-based ledger, machine proxies thinking about the application of energy usage/ of producers and consumers can negotiate pricing consumption in a more widely distributed grid and enter into a power sale transaction based on a environment where market dynamics between smart contract. buyers and consumers become increasingly Smart contract is a digital contract between transparent. two parties who are engaging in a transaction on a blockchain network and this transaction is irrevers- SECURITY: Blockchain would drive the po- ible and incorruptible. tential for millions of transactions on the grid. We believe the Smart Grid use case may offer a This would imply higher risk given the sheer good example of when a public blockchain could be number of points on the smart blockchain net- used to enable secure transactions between users work; however, blockchain’s enhanced security who do not know each other. We can imagine mul- and ability to register participants could poten- tiple “Smart blockchain network” (SBN) being tially strengthen grid security. enabled on a local or regional basis. centralized marketplace. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 67 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Electricity demand grows 7.4 pc in July, thermal PLF lower: ICRA Rating agency ICRA today said electricity demand growth remains strong in July 2018 at 7.4 per cent but thermal plant load factor moderated by pick up in generation from wind and hydro sources. The all-India owever, the ICRA said production and off-take of coal from that the all-India thermal Coal India Limited (CIL) increased electricity de- Girishkumar Kadam, “ plant load factor (PLF) or by 10.7 per cent and 8.9 per cent mand grew by Sector Head and Vice 7.4 per cent in capacity utilisation moder- on a Y-o-Y basis in July 2018. Also, Hated to 55.5 per cent in July 2018 the coal production by CIL is up by President, ICRA Rat- July 2018 on a from 60.7 per cent in June 2018, 14.1 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis for ings, says, “Apart from a year-on-year (Y- few months in between, o-Y) basis as per due to higher generation from wind the first four months of FY2019. and hydro sources, leading to back- However, it said that the average the monthly electricity the provisional ing down of thermal units. Nonethe- coal stock position across the coal- demand growth has estimates of the less, the thermal PLF is higher on a based power plants in the country remained higher than Central Electric- Y-o-Y basis against 54.3 per cent in continued to remain low at 11 days 5 per cent over the past ity Authority July 2017. as on July 31, 2018, against the 15 months, reflecting a (CEA). While the According to the statement, the normative stock level of 22 days, sustained recovery in growth moder- thermal power segment did not due to rising demand and logistical demand. In our view, ated from the witness any capacity addition in the challenges in increasing the coal this demand growth high of 9.1 per first four months of FY2019, while off-take. trend is likely to con- cent reported in the hydro and renewable energy The average spot power tariff on tinue, given the focus of June 2018, it con- segment added 110 MW and 1,742 the Indian Energy Exchange mod- the central government tinued to remain MW, respectively during this period. erated to Rs 3.46 per unit in July on improving rural strong, The ICRA expects the capacity 2018 from Rs 3.73 per unit in June household electrifica- addition from the thermal seg- 2018, which is lower than average tion. Nonetheless, the ment to remain subdued and to be price of Rs 4.76 per unit witnessed thermal PLF remains ” mainly driven by the central and in May 2018. This can be attributed sensitive to the gen- state sector. With an improved tariff to the improved energy availability eration from renewable competitiveness and strong policy with pick-up in generation from thrust, the renewable energy seg- wind and hydro sources and mod- energy sources and coal ment would remain a major driver eration in absolute energy demand supply available from of capacity addition in the power from the levels reported in May domestic sources.” sector in the medium term. The 2018, it added. 68 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Growatt is the largest Chinese inverter sup- plier for Indian rooftop power plants in 2018 According to India Solar Rooftop Map released by solar consultancy Bridge to India, Growatt is outstanding in India PV market and become the NO.1 Chinese inverter supplier for Indian rooftop power plants in 2017-2018. RIDGE TO INDIA is a leading consult- ing and knowledge services provider in India renewables, which produces regular market leading research with the objec- Btive of bringing international renewable technology and business expertise to India. The team from BRIDGE TO INDIA has worked on numerous as- signments for top-tier clients including the Indian government, GE, SunPower, AES, Fortum, First roviding a comprehensive range of products and Solar, Bosch, The World Bank, IFC,etc. smart innovative technology, Growatt has been the top The authoritative comprehensive research exporter of photovoltaic inverters. In order to improve report shows that Growatt has a market share of the service system worldwide, Growatt has estab- 8.3% and is the largest Chinese inverter supplier Plished branch offices in Australia, Germany, USA and Holland. for roofing power plants in India. Growatt’s inverters have thus far been exported to more than With abundant solar energy resources and a 100 countries throughout the world and won praise and recog- huge market demand, India has become the third nition worldwide. In the future, Growatt will continue to adhere largest PV market around the world apart from to global business operations and strive to become the world’s China and USA. The new PV installations capacity leading user-side smart energy supplier. in India was 9GW in 2017; While in 2018,the PV construction planning shows that the installations will be 11 GW, 2 GW more than that of last year. India is one of Chinese PV suppliers’ strategic market. Growatt insists on global marketing strategy. It entered Indian market in 2013 and has established a service center to bring local customers closer to our industry-leading products. With powerful research and development and innovation, as well as reliable quality and nice service, Growatt has won wide recognition from the customers. Growatt photovoltaic power projects cover the whole India. India Solar Rooftop Map released demonstrates Growatt’s outstanding performance in the Indian market. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 69 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS AUTHORS : Global Renewable Marlene Motyka Parsippany, New Jersey, Andrew Slaughter Houston,Texas Carolyn Amon Energy Trends Arlington, Virginia Solar and wind move from mainstream to preferred Technological inno- vation, cost efficien- cies, and increasing consumer demand are driving renew- ables—particularly wind and solar—to be preferred energy sources. We exam- ine seven trends that are driving this transformation. Enablers Longstanding obstacles to greater deployment of parity on the grid and at the socket. Second, solar and renewables have lifted, thanks to the three enablers: wind can cost-effectively help balance the grid. Third, rapidly approaching grid parity, cost-effective and new technologies are honing the competitive edge of reliable grid integration, and technological innovation. wind and solar. Demand from energy consumers has Once dismissed as too expensive to expand beyond mostly coalesced around three goals that the first three niche markets, solar and wind can now beat conven- trends have enabled renewables to best fulfill. With tional sources on price while increasingly matching varying degrees of emphasis on each goal, consumers their performance. The idea that renewables present are seeking the most reliable, affordable, and envi- many integration problems in need of solutions has re- ronmentally responsible energy sources. Chief among versed: The integration of solar and wind is beginning these consumers are cities integrating renewables to help solve grid problems. Finally, renewables are no into their smart city plans, community energy projects longer waiting for supporting technologies to mature, democratizing access to the benefits of renewables on but instead seizing cutting-edge technologies to pull and off the grid, emerging markets leading the deploy- ahead of conventional sources. ment of renewables on their path to development, and HAVING only recently been recognized as a corporations expanding the scope of their solar and “mainstream” energy source, renewable energy is wind procurement. These trends will likely continue to now rapidly becoming a preferred one. A powerful strengthen through two mutually reinforcing virtuous combination of enabling trends and demand trends— circles. The deployment of new technologies will help evident in multiple developed and developing nations further decrease costs and improve integration. This globally—is helping solar and wind compete on par will enable a growing number of energy consumers to with conventional sources and win. The first enabler is procure their preferred energy source and accelerate that renewables are reaching price and performance national energy transitions across the world. 70 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com RESEARCH & ANALYSIS I. REACHING PRICE AND PERFORMANCE PARITY ON AND OFF THE GRID The speed of solar and wind deployment and their steeply declining cost curves have sur- prised even the most optimistic industry players and observers. Ahead of projections and de- spite lingering perceptions to the contrary, wind and solar power have become competitive with conventional generation technologies across the top global markets, even without subsidies. Wind and solar have reached grid price parity and are moving closer to performance parity with conventional sources. In fact, the unsubsidized levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for utility-scale onshore wind and solar PV generation has dropped even with or below most other generation technolo- gies in much of the world. While resources such as combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGT) have more Beyond the leading countries, wind and solar flexibility to follow the load curve, increasingly af- price parity is also within sight worldwide as the fordable battery storage and other innovations are cost gap widens between these and other gen- helping smooth the effects of wind and solar inter- eration sources. Except for combined-cycle gas mittency, giving them more of the reliability required plants, the LCOEs of all conventional sources and to compete with conventional sources. From a price nonintermittent renewables have either remained flat perspective, onshore wind has become the world’s (biomass and coal) or increased (geothermal, hydro- lowest-cost energy source for power generation, power, and nuclear) over the past eight years, while with an unsubsidized LCOE range of US$30–60 per the LCOEs of onshore wind and utility-scale solar PV megawatt hour (MWh), which falls below the range have, respectively, fallen by 67 percent and 86 per- of the cheapest fossil fuel, natural gas (US$42–78 cent as the cost of components has plummeted and per MWh). By the end of 2017, onshore wind capac- efficiency has increased—two trends that are project- ity had more than doubled over the 2011 capacity ed to continue. According to Bloomberg New Energy of 216 gigawatts (GW): A total of 121 countries had Finance, onshore wind and solar PV generation costs deployed nearly 495 GW of onshore wind power, have already fallen 18 percent in the first half of 2018. led by China, the United States, Germany, India, In Europe, Japan, and China, competitive auctions Spain, France, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and are a major factor further bringing down costs by driv- Canada—and onshore wind had reached price par- ing subsidy-free deployment at lower prices.Upgrad- ity in these nine countries.In the United States, the ing, or “repowering,” wind turbines in the developed lowest costs are in strong wind regions such as the world is also pulling global average costs downward Great Plains and Texas, while the highest are in the by raising capacity factors. In addition, develop- northeast. Globally, the lowest costs are in the nine ing world costs could fall as global developers and leading countries, as well as Eurasia and Australia. international organizations team up to facilitate project Utility-scale solar PV is hot on wind’s heels: It is the development. Such partnerships are helping resolve second-cheapest energy source. The high end of the resource dissonance created by the fact that solar PV’s LCOE range (US$43–53/MWh) is lower Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom have some than that of any other generation source. A record of the poorest solar resources but are global solar 93.7 GW—more than the total capacity in 2011 leaders, while Africa and South America, respectively, (69 GW)—was added globally in 2017 across 187 have the greatest solar and wind resources, but these countries, bringing the total capacity to 386 GW, led remain largely untapped. As wind and solar capacities by China, Japan, Germany, the United States, Italy, grow, many conventional sources will start operat- India, and the United Kingdom. Solar has reached ing at lower capacity factors, causing the LCOEs of price parity in all these markets except Japan, one both existing and new-build conventional projects of the world’s highest-cost solar markets, primarily to increase. The cost of new solar and wind plants due to high capital costs. As Japan transitions to could eventually be not just lower than the cost of competitive auctions, solar price parity is expected new conventional plants, but also lower than the cost between 2025 and 2030. In the United States, the of continuing to run existing plants globally. This was lowest costs are in the southwestern states and already demonstrated by Enel’s winning bid last year California.8 Globally, Australia has the lowest costs to build a combination of wind, solar, and geothermal for solar PV and Africa has the highest due to invest- plants in Chile that will sell power for less than the ment costs. cost of fuels for existing coal and gas plants. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 71 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Utility-scale solar and wind combined with storage are increasingly competitive, providing grid performance pari- tyin addition to price parity. With the addition of storage, wind and solar become more dispatchable, eroding the long-held advantage of conventional energy sources. While the cost of renewables plus storage is higher, they can provide capacity and ancillary grid services that make them more valuable. Regulatory and market structures determine whether the additional value can be monetized. But even if the services cannot be sold, this com- bination is more valuable because operators can supply more of their own needs and potentially time shift the use of grid-supplied electricity to off-peak, cheaper hours. Renewables combined with storage are also reaching price parity as lithium-ion battery costs have fallen nearly 80 percent since 2010 and solar penetration has increased. All the top solar markets have utility-scale projects that include storage. In the United States, the storage market frontrunner, solar-plus-storage is already so competitive in some markets that developer Lightsource has announced all its bids in the west will include storage. Factoring in the investment tax credit, the United States will see solar-plus-storage projects at parity beginning next year in Arizona, followed by Nevada and Colorado, which will also feature wind-plus-storage at parity. A re- cent RMI study shows that renewables plus storage can be com- bined with distributed resources and demand response to create “clean energy portfolios” that provide the same grid services for less than it costs to build a new gas plant today, and less than it will cost to run an existing one as early as 2026. Utility-scale grid parity is not the only factor, as distributed renewables such as rooftop solar are reaching socket price and performance parity. In this case, price parity is reached when self-generation becomes less expensive than retail electric- ity bills. Commercial solar PV has reached unsubsidized socket parity in parts of all the top solar markets that are at grid parity, except for India. Incentives such as tax credits and net metering have made residential solar PV competitive in these markets too, and mandatory for new construction in California beginning in 2020. Solar installers are increasingly combining battery storage with residential solar. US homeowners deployed as many resi- dential storage systems in the first quarter of 2018 as in the past three combined, mostly in California and Hawaii.Residential solar- plus-storage is currently cheaper than utility retail rates in 19 US states, as well as in several regions of Australia and Germany, where, respectively, 40 percent and 50 percent of residential solar PV systems installed in 2017 included storage. Australia and Europe have more residential and commercial rooftop solar than utility-scale solar capacity, raising the prospect of distributed ver- sus utility-scale solar-plus-storage becoming the defining energy resource competition when grid and socket parity are reached. 72 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Growing shares of wind and solar pair with greater grid reliability and resilience. US states with the fewest II. COST-EFFECTIVE AND RELIABLE GRID INTEGRATION outages are among the top solar and wind states. Over the past decade as wind production increased 645 per- One of the most often cited obstacles to the de- cent in Texas, the state’s grid reliability metrics significant- ly improved. The grids of Germany and Denmark have ployment of solar and wind energy has been their also become more reliable over the past decade, even as intermittency. The situation is reversing: Wind and the latter has seen wind and solar produce 90 percent of solar may soon cease to appear as problems to be the power consumed in its western region for a fifth of the solved, but rather as solutions to grid balancing. year. The interconnected Danish and German grids are Indeed, renewables have not been as difficult or currently two of the world’s most reliable. European data costly to integrate as anticipated. What’s more, shows that unplanned outages form a minority of onshore they have demonstrated an ability to strengthen and offshore wind outages, whereas most coal and gas plant outages are unplanned; onshore wind has fewer grid resilience and reliability and provide essential and shorter outages and recovers faster than any other grid services. generation source. In instances where extreme weather conditions have tested grid resilience, renewables com- The intermittency challenges of wind and solar pensated for fuel-based resource shortfalls. Wind broke may be overstated. Most countries and regions are generation records when the United Kingdom faced a at renewable penetration levels that require minimal natural gas shortage during a winter storm in 2018, and adjustments to the grid: Renewables either barely beat generation expectations in the United States when register at the system level or require only small coal piles froze during the 2014 polar vortex or soaked changes in operating practices and in the use of during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. existing resources. In countries or regions with a high penetration of renewables, requiring more complex Wind and solar can become important grid assets. systemic changes, conventional energy sources are Intermittent renewables are already helping to bal- adjusting to enable more renewables to be integrated ance the grid. For example, wind power helped de- cost-effectively. For example, across the European crease the severity of most of the northern Midcontinent Union, China, and India, operators have retrofitted Independent System Operator’s steepest three-hour load conventional combined heat and power plants to ramps in 2017. But conventional generation still provides produce heat without electricity, and coal and CCGT virtually all essential grid reliability services related to fre- plants to provide additional flexibility and stability. quency, voltage, and ramping. That may change, though, Interconnection with neighboring markets is another as smart inverters and advanced controls have enabled key tool that Northern Europe and regions of the wind and solar to provide these services as well or better United States have successfully pursued, since the than other generation sources. When combined with aggregation of renewables spread over a larger terri- smart inverters, wind and solar can ramp up much faster tory can more cost-effectively smooth their output and than conventional plants, help stabilize the grid even eliminate curtailment. after the sun sets and the wind stops, and, for solar PV, show much higher response accuracy (respond faster Wind and solar place downward pressure on and with the required amount of power) than any other electricity prices. In theory, because solar and wind source. Smart inverters can also turn distributed resourc- have zero marginal generation costs, they displace es into grid assets with minimal impact on customers more expensive generators and reduce electricity and make these resources visible and usable to utilities. prices. In global practice, the deployment of solar has The few jurisdictions leveraging these capabilities have flattened midday price peaks, while wind has lowered mandated them (e.g., Quebec), allowed renewables to nighttime prices.Three-quarters of the top 20 US solar sell ancillary services in their markets (e.g., Italy), and/or and wind states have electricity prices below the US created new services markets (e.g., the United King- national average; a quarter are among the nation’s 10 dom). states with the cheapest electricity, including the wind leader Texas. Wholesale prices in the top European solar and wind market, Germany, have more than halved over the past decade. In Denmark, which has the world’s highest share of intermittent renewables (53 percent), electricity prices exclusive of taxes and levies are among the lowest in Europe. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that once the United States reaches Denmark’s penetration levels of 40–50 percent renewables, some states will see the dawn of “energy too cheap to meter.” www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 73 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS III. TECHNOLOGY FOR AUTOMATED, INTELLIGENT, BLOCKCHAINED, AND TRANSFORMED RENEWABLES New technologies involving automation, artificial The case for blockchain is compelling for en- intelligence (AI), and blockchain, as well as advanced ergy attribute certificates. The electricity sector is materials and manufacturing processes, can accelerate rife with possible applications for blockchain. One of the clearest use cases is energy attribute certificate the deployment of renewables. The technologies range (EAC) markets—predominantly renewable energy cer- from those streamlining the production and operation of tificates (RECs) in the United States and Guarantees renewables (automation and advanced manufacturing) of Origin (GOs) in Europe. EACs are conceptually to those optimizing their use (AI in weather forecasting), simple: Each energy attribute credit certifies 1 MWh improving the market for renewables (blockchain), and of tradable renewable electricity generation. However, transforming the materials of solar panels and wind tur- the tracking process involves a complex, expensive, bines (advanced materials). These technologies support and time-consuming interplay of multiple parties that is exposed to fraud. By providing a shared and trusted the previous two trends by helping to further decrease master list of all transactions, blockchain obviates the costs and facilitate integration. need for registry providers, brokers, and third-party verification. The automated process can become Automation is dramatically cutting time and costs for transparent, cheap, quick, and accessible to small solar and wind production and operations. FirstSolar players. Blockchain EACs would also help resolve the automated its US manufacturing plant last year and tripled many trust and bureaucratic hurdles that are especial- the size of its panels at a cost that undercut its Chinese ly acute in developing countries, which have struggled competitors by 30 percent by transforming production from to get EAC markets off the ground (see Powered by a hundred-step, multiday process to one that takes just a blockchain: Reimagining electrification in emerging few steps and hours. Automation also has significant op- markets). Both startups and established players have erational implications for offshore wind, which accounts for started exploring EAC blockchains, with a power com- more planned maintenance outages per installed GW than pany and stock exchange recently partnering to create any other generation technology. In July, the world’s largest a proof of concept. Meanwhile, two proven concepts offshore wind farm deployed fully automated drones and cut have paved the way for paradigm shifts in the field of the inspection time from two hours to 20 minutes. Looking advanced materials and manufacturing. ahead, crawling robots currently under development will enable automated microwave and ultrasonic inspections of Advanced materials and manufacturing: the internal structure and materials in solar panels and wind Perovskite and 3D printing are poised to revolu- turbines. Automated processes collect troves of data that AI tionize the solar and wind industries. Perovskite has can help analyze for predictive and prescriptive purposes. been the fastest-developing solar technology since its introduction, making efficiency gains that took silicon AI finetunes weather forecasting to optimize the over half a century to achieve in less than a decade. use of renewable resources. Weather forecasting is a In June 2018, a British and German startup demon- key component in the integration of renewables because strated a record 27.3 percent conversion efficiency weather shapes the availability of wind and solar resourc- on perovskite-on-silicon tandem cells in laboratory es, as well as their consumption. On a cold windy day, settings, beating the laboratory record of standalone both supply and demand for wind power might increase, silicon cells. Belgian researchers achieved similar ef- whereas a windy night might see increased supply and ficiency the following month, and both claim that over unchanged demand. An AI system can process satellite 30 percent efficiency is within reach.Perovskite has images, weather station measurements, historical patterns, a simpler chemistry, the ability to capture a greater and data from wind turbine and solar panel sensors to light spectrum, and higher efficiency potential than forecast weather, compare the forecasts against reality, and silicon. Perovskite can also be sprayed onto surfaces adjust its model through machine learning to produce in- and printed in rolls, enabling lower production costs creasingly accurate forecasts. AI systems can process hun- and more applications. Perovskite modules may be dreds of terabytes of data and provide frequent forecasts commercialized as early as 2019. On the wind front, at a highly granular level. National forecasting systems in additive manufacturing is paving the way for the use the leading solar and wind markets have integrated AI and of new materials. Two US national laboratories col- driven significantly improved accuracy and cost reductions laborated with the industry to manufacture the first for operators.For example, the AI-based Sipreolico, Spain’s 3D-printed wind-blade mold, significantly reducing national wind forecasting system, halved the number of prototyping costs and time, from over a year to three errors in 24-hour forecasts in seven years of operation. months. The next frontier is to 3D print the blades. This Hyperlocal AI forecasting models can now be implemented would enable use of new combinations of materials in a week almost everywhere. In addition, IBM is currently and embedded sensors to optimize the blades’ cost working with the US National Center for Atmospheric Re- and performance, as well as onsite manufacturing to search to create the first global weather forecasting model, eliminate logistical costs and risks. Manufacturers plan which will bring AI capability to underserved markets. to start with on-demand 3D printing of spare parts at Another technology that could benefit underserved markets wind farms to reduce costs and downtime for repairs. is blockchain. GE is already using additive manufacturing to repair and improve wind turbine blades. 74 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Demand Cities, communities, emerging markets, and corpora- The biggest: Million-people SRCs. SRCs can tions are increasingly driving demand for renewables be defined as cities with solar and/or wind as they seek reliable, affordable and increasingly power and a smart city plan that includes a clean energy sources. Thanks to the enabling trends, renewable energy component. Table 1 lists the solar and wind power are now best positioned to de- cities with over a million people by their share of liver on all three of these goals. Smart renewable cit- power generation from wind and solar. San Diego ies (SRCs) see renewables as an integral part of their is the global leader. Solar and wind already ac- count for over a third of its electricity mix, and the smart city strategies; community renewable energy city has a 100 percent renewables target by 2035. is empowering consumers to access electrification San Diego is also a locally driven SRC—while or exercise electricity choice; emerging markets are the US government is stepping back from climate embracing solar and wind as the best means to power commitments, San Diego has vowed to continue their development strategies; and corporations are its deployment of renewables. The city also has a procuring renewables to improve their bottom line more ambitious renewable target than California’s while greening their operations. statewide target. Meanwhile, the leading city in Asia, Jaipur, is a nationally driven SRC. India’s national government created a 100 Smart Cities IV. SMART RENEWABLE CITIES Mission that included a solar energy requirement. Jaipur does not have a renewable target, but will SRCs recognize that solar and wind can power their benefit from ambitious state and national targets smart city goals. Most of the world’s population now set this year. Jaipur’s key SRC initiative is rooftop lives in growing cities, some of which have taken solar powering of infrastructure, beginning with a proactive “smart” approach to managing their eight metro stations that will be entirely solar- infrastructure with connected sensor technology and powered during the day. Finally, the European data analytics. The focus of more advanced smart leader Hamburg is a locally and supranationally cities is to enhance quality of life, competitiveness, driven SRC. While Germany does not provide a national smart city strategy or facilitate access and sustainability (see Forces of change: Smart to funding, the European Union provides many cities).Solar and wind are at the intersection of platforms and funding sources supportive of SRC these goals because they contribute to depollution, initiatives. Hamburg has drawn on these to help decarbonization, and resilience while enabling clean position itself as a European hub for renewable electric mobility, economic empowerment, and busi- research and companies in addition to deploying ness growth. SRCs capitalize on this confluence. The renewables. These SRCs share the challenge of biggest SRCs are doing this by transforming their transforming existing infrastructure and systems into smarter, more renewable ones. existing infrastructure, while the newest ones are building it from scratch. The newest: Greenfield SRCs. Unencumbered by legacy development, entrenched interests, and red tape, greenfield SRCs can build a model city that showcases and tests the latest technology. Peña Station Next is an aerotropolis that seeks to capitalize on a strategic location at a train station between the booming city of Denver and its growing airport—two stakeholders in this project. The 382-acre community is powered with an islandable rooftop solar-plus-storage microgrid owned by Xcel Energy and operated by Panasonic, another two key partners in the smart city’s develop- ment. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is also partnering with the city to help create a net-zero energy and carbon-neutral community plan. In Canada, Quayside is a greenfield SRC located within the top-10 SRC of Toronto. Rooftop and wall-mounted solar will power the 800-acre waterfront neighborhood developed in partnership with Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs.Finally, last year the Saudi Crown Prince announced a US$500 billion plan for a 10,000-acre greenfield SRC by the Red Sea called NEOM, with the ambition of becoming an international hub akin to Dubai. The plan envisions a city running entirely on solar and wind power paired with storage, and features a bridge across the sea to Egypt. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 75 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS While first-generation greenfield smart cities were criticized for their ghost town aspect, resulting from a focus on technol- In areas with developed electric grids, ogy over people, these new SRCs seek to weave into the community energy provides shared owner- existing urban fabric, with Peña Station serving as a “living ship or access to wind and solar resources. lab” for Denver, Quayside as a “model sustainable neighbor- Energy cooperatives are the most common hood” for Toronto, and NEOM as a “connectivity hub” for Asia structures and involve shared citizen ownership and Africa. Solar and wind power are integral to their plans. and operation of renewable resources. Ger- While Peña Station and Quayside are small SRCs, they can many is the global energy cooperative leader: provide proofs of concepts for technologies and business Over two-fifths of renewable energy installed in models that can then be scaled in big cities. NEOM can do the country last year was cooperative-owned, the same at a much greater scale. With so much freedom, and Germany recently implemented new rules the challenge for greenfield SRCs is to narrow the options to level the playing field for energy coopera- down to a combination worth exploring. tives to participate in power auctions. Denmark also strongly supports energy cooperatives, requiring a 20 percent local community share V. COMMUNITY ENERGY OFF AND ON THE GRID in all wind projects. The energy cooperatives The original trend toward “community solar” has have contributed to strong citizen engagement and support for the deployment of renewables expanded into “community energy” with the addition in these two countries. Spurred by a national of storage and management systems that allow more competition, the Danish island of Samsø suc- flexibility. The expansion has resulted in new ways cessfully transitioned from an entirely fossil fuel- for community energy to serve off-grid and on-grid dependent market to a 100 percent renewables- areas. In off-grid areas, it can now provide electri- fueled one in under a decade with a community fication at price and performance parity with other energy model. Energy cooperatives are also options. In on-grid areas, its ability to power com- the pioneers of community energy in the United States, as discussed in Deloitte’s Unlocking the munities independently of the grid fulfills resilience value of community solar.Cooperatively owned and self-determination goals. In both situations, utilities, driven by member customer demand, many countries have embraced community energy as account for over 70 percent of US community it democratizes access to the benefits of renewables solar programs, while larger utilities account deployment. for the majority of capacity. Almost half of US households and businesses cannot host a In off-grid areas, community renewable energy solar system for lack of suitable or accessible can provide optimal electrification. Community roof space; community energy enables them to energy in off-grid areas can be defined as community- buy electricity from a shared solar project and owned partnerships that enable electrification and receive a credit on their utility bill. Third-party reinvest profits in the community. Projects mostly con- providers administer two-thirds of community sist of solar-plus-storage microgrids in rural areas with solar capacity, primarily to commercial custom- sufficient population density. The main driver for solar- ers and mostly in Colorado, Minnesota, and powered microgrids is their cost-effectiveness relative Massachusetts, with utilities accounting for the to fuel-powered microgrids, a grid extension, kerosene rest and primarily serving residential custom- lamps, or diesel generators. Renewable microgrids are ers. Low costs, customer demand for renewable also generally more reliable than the grids in developing energy, and resilience concerns are driving the countries. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have strong demand for community energy. The latter primarily initiated and funded these community energy is reflected in Massachusetts’ Community Clean projects. The advantage of community energy over Energy Resilience Initiative (CCERI) grant other electrification models is strong community buy-in program to protect communities from electricity and empowerment. The same rationale applies to many service interruptions. Many communities that island markets and remote areas in developed coun- have experienced blackouts in the aftermath of tries. On the flipside, some communities in developed natural disasters or severe weather events are countries are pursuing community renewable energy as turning to community renewable microgrids as a means to go off grid. This is notably the case in Aus- a resilience tool to protect critical infrastructure. tralia, where community energy grew strongly in 2017. This is the case in Japan, which has a national In an effort to generate electricity that’s more reliable, resilience plan supportive of community energy. affordable, and clean than what their national grid pro- While cities and communities are increasingly vides, communities such as the Tyalgum Energy Project relevant actors in the deployment of solar and are developing self-sufficient renewable microgrids that wind power in developed markets, the national could sell excess power back to the grid or disconnect level is most relevant in emerging markets. from it completely. 76 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com RESEARCH & ANALYSIS VI. EMERGING MARKETS AS LEADING MARKETS The solar and wind industries and markets started and matured in the developed world (defined as the 33 high- As the global leader, China is propelling the ascent of emerging markets in renew- income OECD members), but their center of gravity has able energy growth. China recorded the shifted to emerging markets (all nondeveloped countries). largest solar and wind growth and total installed In 2013, emerging markets surpassed the developed world capacities in 2017 and is the only market in onshore wind growth, and in 2016, solar PV growth; in above 100 GW for both sources. China alone 2017, they accounted for 63 percent of global new invest- accounted for over half of new solar capac- ment in renewable energy, widening the investment gap ity installations as well as two-thirds of global with developed countries to a record high. their cumulative solar PV panel production in 2017. Eight of the top ten solar PV suppliers are Chinese, capacity is on the verge of surpassing that of the developed and the top three Chinese wind companies world (figure 5). Emerging markets have helped bring together account for the largest wind market down the cost of renewables, allowing them to leapfrog share. China is also the only country to rank developed countries in the deployment of renewables, among both the top 10 recipients of emerging pursue less carbon-intensive development, and innovate in market cross-border clean investment and the ways that also benefit the developed world. top 10 investors, and the only emerging market among the latter. From the record cross-border clean investment year of 2015 through the first half of 2017, China invested US$2.23 billion in wind and solar in 11 other emerging markets, and received US$1.34 billion in wind and solar investments from 13 investor countries. Even without China, emerging markets are driving renewable energy growth and have the greatest potential to drive future growth. Emerging markets sans China are not ahead of the developed world in terms of wind and solar capacity added annually, but China’s share of emerging markets’ added capacity decreased from 2016 to 2017 for both wind and solar. In other areas, emerging markets outside of China are leading the way. Auctions for solar and wind capacity hit their most recent records in Mexico and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which, respectively, recorded the world’s lowest bids for wind and solar in 2017. Auctions have helped turn India into the world’s most competitive renewables market, with new players joining the fray. India and Turkey doubled their solar capaci- ties in 2017, and the former recently raised its already lofty renewable energy target to 227 GW by 2022. Emerging markets have accounted for all new CSP capacity over the past two years; South Africa was the only country to bring new CSP capacity on line in 2017, while the UAE an- nounced the world’s largest CSP project, slated to be operational in 2020. The countries with the highest renewable energy investment as a share of GDP are also all emerging markets, including the Marshall Islands, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Guinea Bissau, and Serbia. Finally, the largest untapped market for electrification, Sub-Saharan Africa, presents a huge opportunity for renew- able energy growth. For the most marginalized unelectrified populations in low-density areas, pay-as-you-go solar home systems are often the best electrification option. The International Energy Agency estimates that in the next two decades, most people without electricity will gain access through decentralized solar PV systems and microgrids. www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 77 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS Emerging markets are incubating innovation. De- veloped countries have benefitted from market and product designs that initially took off in emerging countries. For example, renewable energy auctions are a trend that emerging markets embraced first and that has brought steep declines in renewable prices across the globe. Some solar and wind products designed in and for emerging markets are also now being de- ployed in developed markets in a process of reverse innovation. For example, microgrids designed to elec- trify off-grid areas in developing countries have found applications in remote mines in developed countries. VII. THE GROWING SCOPE OF CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT Corporations are procuring renewable energy in new ways, with a growing number of industry sectors involved. Power purchase agreements (PPAs) are becoming the preferred tool as corporations become increasingly concerned about the quality of their procurement: The A corporate compound effect can be gold standard is additionality, that is, assurance that the achieved through aggregation and supply procurement creates measurable, additional renewables chains. Two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies capacity. PPAs provide the greatest additionality, but are have set renewable energy targets and are lead- primarily accessible to large corporations. Aggregation is ing global corporate procurement through PPAs. Many of them have joined RE100, a group of 140 starting to expand access to smaller players. The largest companies (as of September 2018) that have corporations are also requiring and helping smaller com- committed to sourcing 100 percent of their elec- panies to procure renewables as they have encompassed tricity from renewables. These are all positive de- supply chains in their renewable targets. velopments, but the renewable corporate procure- ment momentum can only be sustained if many PPAs are the most rapidly growing corporate procure- smaller companies join the effort and are able to ment tool. Corporations sourced 465 terawatt hours (TWh) access the full corporate procurement toolkit. As of renewables globally in 2017 through self-generation or argued in Deloitte’s 2017 report Serious business: procurement.86 Three procurement tools are available to Corporate procurement rivals policy in driving various extents across the 75 countries where corporations growth of renewable energy, small- and medium- are sourcing renewables: EACs, utility green procurement sized businesses represent the next wave of programs (UGPs), and PPAs. EACs, the most widely used opportunity. Through aggregation, smaller players procurement tool, are available in 57 countries and are can form partnerships to jointly execute a utility- easy to procure. They allow companies to certify compli- scale PPA. Some project developers are now ance with government renewable requirements or voluntary meeting these smaller companies halfway by ag- targets. However, they do not capture the full cost benefit of gregating a series of PPAs. Last year, a Fortune renewables and may not always provide additionality. UGPs 1000 company signed a PPA for 10 percent of are available in 39 countries, mostly in Europe, but are the an 80 MW wind project. The company will benefit least used and least transparent tool. They are often tied to from the project’s economies of scale, while the EACs and share the same drawbacks. PPAs are available developer will benefit from a diversified customer in 35 countries and rapidly spreading. In 2017, corporations base and financial risk pool consisting of several signed a record 5.4GW of renewable energy PPAs in 10 smaller companies. This same company more countries. By the end of July 2018, corporations had already recently collectively purchased 290 MW of renew- far surpassed this record, with 7.2 GW purchased in 28 able capacity with three companies, including a markets. PPAs offer greater additionality and cost savings top procurer of renewables that provided access over EACs and UGPs, but also over typical electricity prices. and favorable PPA terms the other partners would However, they are more difficult for smaller players to ac- not have been able to otherwise secure. The cess. They are a preferred tool for companies with electricity scope of corporate procurement is also growing costs exceeding 15 percent of operational expenditures.89 through supply chains. A third of RE100 compa- Most of these companies actively manage energy procure- nies have expanded the 100 percent renewables ment since it represents a significant outlay. All three tools target to encompass their supply chain. This are available in North America and most European coun- larger scope has the additional benefit of bring- tries. These developed countries continue to be the leading ing multinational corporate expertise and capital corporate procurement markets, and information technology to the renewables sector in emerging markets. A remains the leading sector. However, companies in other leading corporate procurer of renewables recently sectors are increasing renewable procurement as well, and created a US$300 million clean energy fund to emerging markets are making it easier. Emerging markets invest in the development of 1 GW of renewable India and Mexico also offer a full toolkit and are seeing energy in China, a model it hopes to replicate growing multinational and national corporate procurement. elsewhere. 78 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com HAPPY TO OFFER UPTO 50% Discount On Subscription of EQ Magazine in Printed Copy Delivered to Your Doorstep One Year 12 Editions + 1 EQ Solar Map of India Current Price Rs.2400 Discount 10% Two Years 24 Editions + 2 EQ Solar Map of India Current Price Rs.4800 Discount 20% Three Years 36 Editions + 3 EQ Solar Map of India Current Price Rs.7200 Discount 30% Four Years 48 Editions + 4 EQ Solar Map of India Current Price Rs.9600 Discount 40% Five Years 60 Editions + 5 EQ Solar Map of India Current Price Rs.12000 Discount 50% Offer is for Limited Time and Bank Account Details for Cheques/Demand Draft Limited Number of Subscriptions Direct Payment/Deposit can be couriered to the on First Come First Serve Basis. following address Beneficiary First Source Energy India Pvt Ltd Bank Name Bank Of India Address : 95C Sampat Farms, HURRY...SUBSCRIBE NOW. Bank Address At - Bicholi Mardana Branch, Village Barda, Post Ali, 7th Cross Road, Bicholi Mardana, Indore-452001 (M.P) NDIA Indore 452 016 (M.P.) India Subscription Price Includes Account No. 882920110000386 Swift Code BKIDINBBPAL Shipping in India. IFSC Code BKID0008829 MICR Code 452013002 Online Payment by Cred- Payment Can be it/Debit Card at Beneficiary First Source Energy India Pvt Ltd Done by PayTM Bank Name HDFC BANK Bank Address Shop No.9,10,11, Shehnai 2, Kana dia Road, Indore-452016 (M.P) PAYTM Numbers INDIA Account No. 50200011285202 Swift Code HDFCINBB +91 986244496 IFSC Code HDFC0001772 MICR Code 452240008 [email protected] www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 79 MAX50- 80KTL3- LV/MV For Releasing PRODUCT OUTLINE: MAX 50-80KTL3-LV/MV series are equipped with 6 MPPTs, more flexible string configuration and less string mismatch loss. The Anti-PID function automati- cally heals PV module at night and increases long term profit of solar power plant. In addition, MAX 50-80KTL3-LV/MV series provide 24*7 reactive power compensation and increase transformer loading capability, thus save investment. Moreover, the inverter is with excellent capability to handle harsh grid environment which improves inverter reliability and ensures high generation. SITUATION: APPLICATIONS: For roof and mountain solar projects it is common Growatt MAX 50-80KTL3 LV(MV) smart string inverters issue that panels have different orientations or been can transfer DC power to AC power efficiently, ideal for partially shaded this may cause the unbalance commercial roofs and large distribution projects.. MAX between PV strings. When the site environment is 50-80KTL3-LV(MV) inverter has fault waveform recoding harsh, like there is heavy load or impact load, it is function, once inverter goes wrong it will record one and common that inverter will go offline and damage the half period (30ms long, 15ms before or 15ms after the circuit, further it is hard to find out the fault. fault) of waveform, voltage, current and power for trouble shooting purpose. Growatt service engineer almost can SOLUTION: handle 60%+ problems by remote configuration and FW update without on-site service, saving time and cost for Growatt MAX50-80KTL3 LV(MV) inverter’s multiple installers and distributors. Smart string monitoring and MPPTs and wide voltage range can significantly Smart I-V diagnosis are popular among the customers. improve this situation, not only reduce the unbalance between strings but also increase the power genera- PLATFORM: tion. Anti-PID is integrated as a standard configura- tion, no need external anti-PID device, increases MAX 50-80KTL3 LV(MV) smart inverter is particularly system revenue at the same time saves system cost. suitable for for harsh grid environments. If applied in Comprehensive Protections (Lightning protection + commercial roofs and large distribution projects, MAX Fire protection) is safe and reliable. MAX 50-80KTL3 50-80KTL3 LV(MV) demonstrates its maturity and meets LV(MV) smart inverter has low voltage and high these world-class standards with the latest technology voltage models along with sufficient communica- and higher reliability. MAX 50-80KTL3 LV(MV) smart tion methods can perfectly match different on-grid inverter has been tested under all sorts of harsh weather, scenarios mechanical environment, IP rating test and reliability test. 80 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com SofarSolar Has Officially Released a New 3-6KW Power Storage and Hybrid Converter The Solar Group subsidiary SofarSolar has recently launched their new hybrid inverters. This new series of products is said to use only the latest energy-saving inverter technology and makes use of what’s known as the “black technology” of SofarSolar. Its launch has already greatly enriched existing product lines of the company and has enabled a solid foundation to be established for the subsidiary’s eventual international layout. ofarSolar is aiming to establish a firm pres- WHAT CAN THE HYBRID INVERTER BE USED FOR? ence throughout the international storage The latest hybrid inverter can be easily market, which will come as a result of a combined with a number of different exist- S comprehensive industry layout and company ing systems depending on what needs the expansion. This appearance is one of the first ele- consumer are looking to meet. The range ments of a new product range that draws the attention can be combined with the following: the of potential consumers. This new line of technol- photovoltaic off-grid system, off-grid en- ogy boasts a milky-white design featuring a simple, ergy system, photovoltaic grid-connected smooth, rounded shape, complete with a fully function- energy storage system, micro-grid energy al LCD interface display. The all-aluminum body with storage system, and more. All of these one-time die-casting and rounded edges presents a systems can be found within industrial and different surface texture and showcases its generous industrial-intensive factories, which makes craftsmanship. The products have been developed to the hybrid inverter the perfect fit for the provide the most convenient operating experience for industrial sector. users – which is why the built-in LCD is such a notable The price of self-use electricity is much inclusion of the latest range. more expensive than that of the offered The full imported internal components of the prod- internet technology, and so the peak price ucts provide only the utmost professional quality and is also much higher than that of the wave ensure great product lifespan. Likewise, its rational price. This is just one of the reasons as to design has been constructed to reduce any losses. As why the hybrid inverters are so beneficial the inverters use the heat source layout to decentral- – along with providing the leading technol- ize the overall design, this allows the technology to ogy, they’re also going to save consumers money. improve its general heat dissipation and adds further SofarSolar is currently focused on increasing its core technology thermal pasting. To provide consumers a sense of R&D investment in grid-connected inverters, energy storage invert- comfort, all the products also come with an IP65 ers, and its charging pile. With this in mind, they aim to improve the protection level, with free choice of installation to make competitive advantages of their core product range, and provide their experience even easier. further valuable service to their customer base. Their sole aim has Not only does the new hybrid inverter line from So- always been having the company established as a trusted partner, farSolar have an elegant appearance with a functional and it’s well on its way. design, but it also makes use of the latest leading industry technologies. The new hybrids use what’s • THE NEW HYBRID INVERTERS : LCD display known as “black technology” – something that Sofar- • Offer high-yield technology • Easy remote phone and web Solar has a reputation for specializing in. This technol- • Real-time, precise MPPT al- monitoring ogy consists of things such as: off-grid and grid- gorithm for maximum power • Numerous working modes connected systems with flexible switching, advanced generation selection: auto, time-of use, battery management, two-way flow control of electric • Wide input voltage opera- timing, passive, etc. energy, sound and light alarms, MPPT tracking and I/V tion range • PV & storage all in one, curve scanning, and remote intelligent monitoring. • Independent dual MPPT which increases self-con- This latest hybrid inverter also uses the most ad- tracking with flexible solar sumption to 80%+, decreas- vanced storage inverter technology that SofarSolar of- roof system design es electrical grid reliability, fers. It’s another notable breakthrough achievement for • Safety and reliability and reduces costs the extensive Solar Group subsidiary in regards to the • High efficiency with low • Stand-alone mode available market’s product research and development. Overall, energy loss and ensures safe operation SofarSolar has now secured their place as being the • Low maintenance require- of energy loads industry’s leading company for each and every one of ments • Intelligent grid management their product niches. With such a great reputation and • High frequency isolation • Reactive power capability such a big name on the line, SofarSolar makes it their between battery and PV grid • Limits AC output when grid responsibility to ensure the stability, efficiency, and • Advanced battery manage- frequency is out of normal reliability of every single one of its products. To be able ment technology to prolong ranges to do this, the company strictly controls and monitors and protect battery life • Limits AC output when grid the production and development of the various product • Easier operation voltage is out of normal lines. They also carry out industry tests and ensure the • Free site placement selec- ranges standards of the components used within the machin- tion due to IP65 • Optional built-in zero export ery to consolidate stability. • Modern, easy-to-read 4-inch function www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 81 GCL Produces High-Efficiency Module to Power 13 Million Homes GCL System Integration Technology Co., LTD. (SZ: 002506) (“GCL-SI”), put its 370W+ high-efficiency modules into mass production in the third quarter this year. Mass production of the new cast mono module of GCL-SI will drive headway for the world to reach grid parity. he GCL cast mono module stands out with advantages of both polycrystalline and monocrystalline modules. When integrated with other advanced technologies such as Multi- T Busbar technology (MBB) and white EVA, the GCL cast mono module can reach a staggering 370 W+, normally as- sociated with monocrystalline modules. In addition to a high efficiency, it also has a lower temperature coefficient, bet- ter performance in power generation and less light-induced degradation. The new module has already entered mass production and is estimated to reach 3GW in 2019, the pow- er output of which will bring electricity to nearly 13 million households. The cell of the new module has an average ef- ficiency of 21.4% which is made of high-quality silicon wafer and polysilicon materials produced by GCL-Poly. By adopt- ing the ingot casting technology through methods such as thermal field optimization and the addition of seed crystal, the final product comes out with low electric resistance rate, high purity, low oxygen content, better structure and vastly reduced costs compare to mono wafer. “Striving for lower costs and higher efficiency has been a common concern and key objec- tive of the PV industry recently – Our answer to this is technology innovation. As a one-stop system integration solutions provider, GCL-SI offers services and products for the entire GCL has a team of 2500 experts in research and de- industry chain. Starting from silicon materials, velopment for technology innovation around the world. we make a significant, objective approach,” It has R&D centers in Japan, Israel, China, the United States and many others. To date, the team has received said Luo Xin, the president of GCL-SI. 589 national patents and 408 authorization patents. Seraphim and NEP Introduce Integrated Rapid-Shutdown PV Modules Seraphim Solar System Co. Ltd. (“Seraphim”), a world-class solar module manufacturer, introduced a new smart solar module today, a smart DC module integrated with “NEP PV-Guard”, a module rapid-shutdown device made by Northern Electric and Power (NEP). This product is designed specifically for the residential and C&I rooftop markets in North America, and will bring solar projects installed after Jan. 1, 2019 into compliance with NEC 2017 module-level rapid shutdown. hen compared to traditional tenance, reducing losses, plus provid- tion box in order to meet module-level modules, Seraphim’s integrated ing zero power clipping, flexible array shutdown compliance without external rapid-shutdown modules with design, and compatibility with leading boxes; and 2) Option 2 is the NEP PVG- W NEP PV-Guard help optimize inverters. R, a retrofit rapid shutdown solution. It the safety and performance of any The NEP PV-Guard has two options is installed on the system separate from given PV array. Smart modules offer for PV systems. 1) NEP PVG-B is a the modules. The NEP PV-Guard has customers’ real-time monitoring at the junction box-integrated rapid shutdown been tested and verified by leading module level to enable proactive main- function, replacing the traditional junc- string inverter manufacturers. 82 EQ October 2018 www.EQMagPro.com Vikram Solar launches half-cut-cell module at REI 2018 • Innovative and efficient Module to increase output by 15Wp • Designed to minimize Shadow-loss through a series-parallel cell connection ikram Solar, the globally KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW SO- recognized leading solar On the occasion LAR MODULE: energy solutions provid- Mr. Ivan Saha, BU • The module consists of 144 and 120 V er, had launched a new Head- Solar Manu- half-cells instead of 72 and 60 full line of solar modules at Renewable facturing and CTO, cells yet keeps nearly the same di- Energy India Expo, Greater Noi- Vikram Solar com- mension as standard 72 and 60 cell da. The new modules are based modules on the latest half-cell technology mented, “We are • Higher energy yield through lower that increases module output by taking a big step by ~15 Wp per module compared to cell resistance. Half-cell modules standard PV modules. The tech- introducing advanced have a higher fill factor and higher nology also boasts efficiency up of new High-Density efficiency 19.56%. Monocrystalline Mod- • The cells are cut with low tempera- The new high-density module ules using innovative ture and lower kerf depth maximiz- technology is engineered to gen- ing cell yield with no junction dam- erate more power from advanced Cell-Cleaving Technol- age mono-PERC half-cells, thus ogy. The design, supe- • Module power mismatch loss is re- achieving better Levelized Cost rior price performance, duced by a factor of four as power of Energy (LCOE). The innovative loss is proportional to the square of design principle minimizes shad- increased shade ow-loss through a series-parallel tolerance and reduced the current cell connection, when one-half of power loss is expected • No hotspot degradation on the the modules are affected by shad- modules ing. The high efficiency half-cell to make a big splash in • The split junction box provides bet- modules are the perfect fit for all the market.” ter heat dissipation improving the utility and rooftop projects. life of the module What sparks will fly when Solis inverter meets Tigo’s integrated Cloud Connect Advanced Ginlong Solis announced the signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the compatibility of its new Ginlong Solis Inverters to be integrated with Tigo®, pioneer of the smart modular Flex MLPE platform. igo’s inte- Integrating powerline communications (PLC) solar adoption and preserve planet for future gen- grated Cloud control allows Ginlong Solis to offer its custom- erations.” “The Ginlong’s Solis-1P (2.5K-6K2)-4G- Connect Ad- ers various benefits to the TS4-F (Fire Safety) USinverter offers industry-leading 2 MPPTs de- T vanced (CCA) “out of the box” Rapid Shutdown solution. Solis- sign and fan-less natural convection technology. universal data logger 1P(2.5K-6K2)-4G-US inverter was originally listed It has a compact and lightweight design inside a will power Ginlong by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) as a PV Rapid corrosion-resistant NEMA 4X enclosure for indoor Solis inverters as a Shutdown System subassembly equipment, an- and outdoor installations. The 5th generation In- UL-Certified Module- nounced last year. The certification was shared fineon IGB technology, improving the efficiency Level Rapid Shutdown by Tigo after extensive testing with Tigo’s Rapid by 0.5%. High switching frequency at 30KHZ, re- System with all Smart Shutdown solution for NEC 2014 & 2017 690.12 ducing induction loss and noise level.It has up to requirements. The certified System consists 98.1% efficient with an ultra-low start up voltage. Modules. This includes of the Solis-1P (2.5K-6K2)-4G-USinverter with This inverter has integrated Arc Fault Circuit In- the Solis-1P(2.5K- Tigo’sTS4 optimizers with UHD-Core technology. terrupt (AFCI). Like most Ginlong Solis inverters, 6K2)-4G-US and a new “Ginlong Solis has a proven track record of suc- it has a 10-year Standard Warranty with exten- Smart Inverter series cess in the United States since 2009, with over sion options. Ginlong is now shipping its UL-listed for residential, com- 25,000 bankable and reliable Solis inverters in- Solis-1P(2.5K-6K2)-4G-US inverter with Tigo as mercial, and industrial stalled nationwide. We are excited to partner with a Rapid Shut down Solutionin North America and segments with an initial Tigo, a pioneer and leader in Module Level Power will ship the new Ginlong Smart Inverters Solis- focus on the markets in Electronics technologies to offer our customers 1P(6K-10K)-4G-US and Solis three phase invert- North America (U.S., with industry-leading affordable solar system solu- ers integrated with Tigo by Q1’2019. Canada, and Mexico). tions. We are working together to help accelerate www.EQMagPro.com EQ October 2018 83 ADVERTISERS SUBSCRIBE Subscribe “EQ International” at www.EQMagPro.com or INDEX fill your complete address and Email to :- avi solar ...... 25 [email protected] or Call 0731 4222268 Goodwe...... popup Yes! 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