Indian Railways to set up 3 GW solar plants on vacant land
The projects—to be developed in three phases of 1 GW each—are expected to be completed by year 2022-23. While the first and the third phases will be developed under public-private partnership basis, the second phase will be on the ownership model of REMCL and eligible for capital subsidy under the CPSE scheme.
Solar costs have fallen 82% since 2010
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.
Bridge To India lowers renewable outlook for 2020-24
The Indian renewable energy market is poised for a significant contraction during the five-year period due to weakening power demand growth, deteriorating financial condition of Discoms and further constraints in debt financing.
SunSource Energy bags another IndianOil project
The new rooftop solar project will be the EPC provider’s third project for Indian Oil Corporation. It will cover ten buildings across the state-owned fossil fuel giant’s flagship Gujarat Refinery and its residential township.
Covid delayed 63% of India’s utility-scale solar in first quarter
Covid-19-prompted disruption severely impacted solar installation during January-March, 2020 as the country added only 689 MW of utility-scale PV against 1,864 MW scheduled to be commissioned.
Modi calls for a rooftop-solar-powered city in every state
The prime minister again emphasized the need for India to develop a domestic solar manufacturing industry and also urged officials to get on with plans to make Ladakh carbon-neutral.
Integrating agriculture and solar energy production
A study by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems has evaluated the feasibility of horticulture PV at the site of Paras in Akola district of Maharashtra, where the state utility Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd (Mahagenco) is considering to install a ground-mounted solar system on more than 100 hectare (ha) of arable land.
Italian homeowners can now install PV systems for free
The Italian government has raised the tax breaks it offers for building renovations and energy-requalification projects – potentially including storage-backed rooftop PV systems – to 110%. The new measure is part of the Relaunch Decree, which is a package of guidelines aimed at reviving the Italian economy in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
India’s new solar capacity addition to fall by 23% in 2020
Capacity additions will, however, rebound in 2021 to exceed 2019 levels as the majority of delayed solar projects come online.
Odisha’s Konark sun temple and town to go 100% solar
The central government plans setting up of a 10 MW grid-connected solar project and various off-grid applications like solar trees and solar drinking water kiosks to meet all the energy requirements of Konark town.
