India

The PV plant, in the Bikaner district of the state, is the largest PV power project in India owned and operated at a single location by a developer.

Reliance Industries said its solar unit will buy UK-based sodium-ion battery technology provider Faradion for GBP100 million (US$135 million) including debt, as the Indian conglomerate pushes forward with its ambitious plan to move into the renewable energy industry.

Nexcharge, a joint venture between Indian lead-acid storage specialist Exide Industries and Swiss lithium-ion battery manufacturer Leclanché, has fully automated assembly lines of li-ion battery packs, modules, and cell testing labs in Gujarat. Ketan Chitnis, VP of Nexcharge’s stationary storage business unit, tells pv magazine that the government’s production-linked incentive scheme is attracting investment.

Rooftop installations to the end of September were at their highest for a nine-month period. The nation’s cumulative rooftop PV generation capacity had reached 6.7 GW by that point.

NTPC Limited has selected California-headquartered Bloom Energy’s electrolyzer and hydrogen-powered fuel cell technologies for the nation’s first green hydrogen-based microgrid, which will be powered by a floating solar array.

Advances in solar power and other clean energy technologies have failed to keep up with demand for electricity as economies rebound from the Covid crisis and China and India’s fossil fuel appetite will ensure the world stays well short of what is needed for a net zero 2050 for at least the next three years.

The project was secured by Tata Power in an auction held by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL).

DroneBase has picked up AirProbe’s artificial intelligence solution for aerial solar inspections and proprietary data analytics. The acquisition expands its reach into markets such as India and Europe.

Adani Green Energy has signed power purchase agreements for 5.5 GW of 8 GW of capacity it won in a manufacturing-linked solar tender by Solar Energy Corp. of India.

Bengaluru-based Ayana Renewable Power has commissioned part of its 300 MW solar project in Bikaner, in the Indian state of Rajasthan.