India

The global off-grid solar appliance market began an uneven recovery from the worst ravages of the global pandemic in the second half of last year, according to market body GOGLA, but more finance and policy support must be made available to have any chance of achieving universal electricity access this decade.

Companies can apply for incentives to set up gigawatt-scale solar factories in India. Applications can be submitted until June 30 and the list of successful recipients will be announced on July 26, with letters of award to be issued four days later.

Researchers led by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have projected the waste expected from end-of-life solar panels and related components. They assumed 347.5 GW of total installed solar generation capacity would be reached this decade. The academics said the waste would include critical metals worth around $645 trillion, 70% of which could be recovered.

India’s Aegeus Technologies has developed an autonomous, water-free cleaning bot for rooftop solar installations. The bot weighs 5 kg (with battery) and can be operated remotely through a web-based app. It uses an air wash technology to clean the panels, ensuring no need for water or any harmful chemicals.

Poor and piecemeal implementation of net metering policies is a major roadblock for the uptake of rooftop solar system in India, according to a new report by Asian Development Bank.

India achieved the highest score of 62.7 for solar in the latest edition of Ernst & Young’s renewables attractiveness index. It ranked third for overall renewable energy investment. 

In the 2020-21 fiscal year, India installed 3.5 GW of utility-scale solar projects, down about 39% year on year.

The 14.7 MW project, developed for Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) Limited, relies on 37,632 390W PV panels occupies an area of 15.6 hectares.

ReNew Power has revealed plans to build a vertically integrated factory in the Indian state of Gujarat that will eventually produce 2 GW of mono PERC solar cells and modules per year. Production is expected to start from the next fiscal year.

India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies, an entity under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has said that domestic manufacturers have provided sufficient evidence to warrant an investigation into the alleged dumping of solar cells.