Is India ready for solar waste mountain?
Opinion is divided over the urgency of addressing the issue. While some developers feel the 25-year lifetime of modules offers plenty of time to prepare an action plan, other industry voices claim Indian-made products don’t last half that long and one recent report pointed out waste is already piling up thanks to defects and faulty installation.
Longi demonstrates 20% bifacial boost
In a white paper published this week, Chinese module maker Longi Solar shares six months of data from a testing site in India that was built in cooperation with German testing institute TÜV Rheinland. The results show energy yield gains of around 20% for both bifacial mono PERC and n-type modules.
Solar electricity can retail for $0.027-0.036/KWh as renewables close in on global grid parity
The latest figures released by BloombergNEF show new solar and onshore wind power plants have reached parity with average wholesale prices in California, China and parts of Europe. The technologies are winning the race to be the cheapest sources of new generation for two-thirds of the world’s population.
Promising soiling mitigation solutions should not be left to gather dust
A study has estimated the cost of PV project soiling may increase from €3-5 billion last year to €4-7 billion by 2023 due to more extensive deployment in high insolation and soiling-affected regions, such as China and India. The authors of the paper outlined the potential of soiling mitigation technologies while stressing more R&D is needed to reduce costs and for the adoption of such measures on a larger scale.
Enel leaps up solar developer global ranking after project spree
The Italian fossil fuel company is not hanging around when it comes to diversifying into PV, with almost 1.5 GW of generation capacity plugged in since the start of last year. Canadian Solar has disputed Wiki-Solar’s positioning of First Solar as the world’s biggest PV developer.
India plans 55 GW of renewables capacity along Pakistan border
An AFP newswire report this week said Ministry of New & Renewable Energy secretary Anand Kumar had announced plans for 30 GW of generation capacity in the state of Gujarat and 25 GW in Rajasthan, all of it along a 20-25km strip of semi arid land on the border.
Indian fossil fuel giant NTPC tenders 1 GW of solar capacity
Developers have until November 18 to submit bids for projects anywhere in India. The projects are to be set up on a develop, build, demonstrate and transfer basis.
Sub-standard PV equipment worries Bangladeshi solar developers
Visitors to this year’s Solar Bangladesh Expo have called for the implementation of quality standards on solar imports – action which the government is currently pursuing – with one industry insider rubbishing Indian-made products.
Electricity regulator steps in to Indian state’s attempt to renegotiate signed PPAs
The latest blow in the political battle between clean energy project developers and an anti-renewables state government has seen the electricity regulator order power distribution companies to honor PPAs signed after a public tender.
AC Energy, UPC Solar set up new Asia-Pacific joint venture
Philippines-based AC Energy will work with UPC Solar Asia Pacific – the solar energy unit of Hong Kong-headquartered UPC Renewables – to build more than 1 GW of solar in the coming years, with an initial focus on Asian markets such as India, South Korea and Taiwan.
