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India’s largest private-sector thermal power producer—which ranked as the sixth largest solar player globally in 2019—will invest over 70% of its budgeted Capex for the energy vertical into clean energy and energy-efficient systems to fuel its transformation.

Bidding closes on February 10 for the solar systems that are to be set up on turnkey basis. Completion period is eight months from the award of contract.

The first Indian power plant, with a capacity of 5.5 MWp, was inaugurated in 2017 in the state of Uttarakhand. With the just commissioned photovoltaic power plant of 27 MWp, the developer claims to offer the lowest price of solar electricity in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

The government’s KUSUM scheme helps farmers install standalone solar pumps with a capacity of up to 7.5 hp. There is also support to make grid connected pumps of the same size solar powered. A PV capacity of up to twice the pump capacity in kW is allowed under the scheme.

Under KUSUM scheme, the state government will help farmers in setting up an aggregate 75 MW capacity of grid-connected solar plants—in capacities of up to 2 MW—on their barren or cultivable land.

Launched in November 2015, the alliance aims to collectively address key challenges to the scaling up of solar energy in member countries that fall between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Out of 121 prospective member countries, over 83 have already joined it in a period of just four years.

An Indian Institute of Technology research team analyzed around 300 studies about PV panel waste containing carcinogenic metals. The researchers said solar module recycling is not economically profitable and policy support is necessary to avoid panels being dumped in landfill.

Clean energy investment across 104 emerging markets fell sharply by $36 billion in year 2018 from the previous year, even as their coal burn surged approximately 500 terawatt hours to a record high of 6.9 thousand terawatt-hours. Though the decline in clean energy investments was driven largely by China, inflows to India and Brazil also slipped by $2.4 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively. India, however, emerged as the market with greatest renewables potential.

The Beijing-headquartered Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank—which recently approved a US$75 million loan to Tata Cleantech Capital—sees private-sector investment flowing into the nation’s solar and wind projects next month onwards.

pv magazine reached out to companies that are active in the microgrid segment for details on the market and its latest tech developments. What follows is a look at some of the most interesting projects from across the globe.