India

An Ieefa report has suggested the cost of generating electricity from solar will be near zero in the world’s sunniest regions by 2030-40 – despite what the naysayers at the International Energy Agency might think.

Adani Green Energy is reported to have exercised an option to double the 4 GW of solar generation capacity and 1 GW of cell and module production facilities it secured in a manufacturing-linked solar tender carried out by the Solar Energy Corporation of India in November.

The projects – to be developed in three phases of 1 GW each – will be completed by the end of 2023. While the first and third phases will be developed under public-private partnerships, the second phase will be built under India’s Central Public Sector Undertaking Scheme.

Researchers in Iran have applied the Stackelberg leadership model to determine whether the creation of a closed-loop solar module supply chain – including panel refurbishing – is feasible. According to their findings, a similar supply chain may only be set up with public subsidies, which would ensure that costs for R&D, module production, and recycling are distributed between the government and all the chain’s players.

Module price falls driven by the energy demand slump and Chinese oversupply may reverse at the end of the year, Germany appears immune to the Covid rooftop curse and emergency funding has been offered up to EU businesses affected by the crisis.

The levelized cost of energy generated by large scale solar plants is around $0.068/kWh, compared to $0.378 ten years ago and the price fell 13.1% between 2018 and last year alone, according to figures released by the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Coronavirus-related disruption severely impacted solar installation during the first three months of the year, as the nation added only 689 MW of utility scale PV, against the 1,864 MW that was scheduled to be commissioned.

Scientists in India are seeking to mitigate partial shading with a technique based on the Lo Shu nine-square grid of ancient Chinese mathematical tradition. Their approach features the ‘magic grid’ also used in popular sudoku puzzles, as a guide for reconfiguring arrays.

The prime minister again emphasized the need for India to develop its own solar manufacturing industry and also urged officials to get on with plans to make the region of Ladakh carbon-neutral.

pv magazine spoke to Mark Jones, chief executive of privately-owned clean energy investment company Susgen about where the newly-launched business is looking to spend the cash pile it has allocated for big, early-stage project pipelines.