India

U.K. thin-film PV specialist Power Roll is testing a new solar+storage system that can be manufactured for just $0.03/W. It can be deployed on a wide range of non-load-bearing buildings, including agricultural structures and warehouse rooftops.

The world’s sixth-largest solar player in 2019 has risen to the top spot by securing a contract from Solar Energy Corp. of India to develop 8 GW of PV capacity.

The Internet of Things (IOT)-enabled solar tree — using 35 solar PV panels with a 330 Wp capacity each — is especially useful for the agricultural community in providing electricity for high-capacity water pumps, e-tractors and e-power tillers. It can also allow precision agriculture through IoT-enabled features such as real-time humidity, wind speed, rainfall prediction and soil health monitoring.

A new study by the CEEW Centre for Energy Finance assesses China’s advantages over India, but presents ways for the South Asian nation to build a competitive PV manufacturing sector.

India’s solar tariffs are some of the lowest in the world, but they’re almost double the Gulf region’s tariffs.

India’s Solar Power Developers Association said that the one-year safeguard duty extension has already driven up capital costs. Any additional tariff barriers would jeopardize the Indian government’s “100 GW by 2022” target, it claimed.

Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) has invited bids to set up an aggregate 110 MW of grid-connected solar power plants at several substations operated by Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited. Bidding closes on September 16.

Plus, analyst WoodMac says a fall in the cost of power generation in Japan during the public health crisis will help drive renewables investment and the Indian government has relaxed borrowing rules for its financially crippled electric utilities.

Pandemic-related disruptions hit solar project construction in the second quarter, according to Bridge To India. Activity will likely rebound over the coming quarters, with 4,720 MW expected to be commissioned in the second half.

Epsilon Carbon has commissioned a new production facility to manufacture synthetic graphite anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. It plans to invest US$70 million over the next five years to increase the plant’s capacity to 50,000 tons.