Installations

The recently concluded 400 MW renewables auction to supply 24-hour electricity saw winning bid of INR2.90/kWh—a new milestone after peak+off-peak tariff of INR4.07 was achieved in January’s 1.2 GW auction demanding assured power supply during peak demand hours.

Many factors are important in ballasting flat roof systems, such as wind speed and roof shape. In the past, however, wind force has unfortunately been underestimated, says wind expert Hans Ruscheweyh. pv magazine addressed this topic in a recent webinar with initiative partner Schletter, and drew several interesting points from the discussion.

The developer can opt for solar, wind or an hybrid facility alongside an energy storage system to ensure 24-hour power supply.

The country earned a score of 6.3 on a 10-point scale on the basis of its investment, partially usage or plans to use renewable energy in the near future—in a study by UK based analytics firm British Business Energy. The USA ranks first with a score of 7, followed by Brazil at 6.5.

The market for drones in the power and utility industry will grow 23.6% annually, reaching $515 million by 2030—according to a Frost & Sullivan report.
The report, Drones in the Global Power and Utilities Industry, Forecast to 2030, cites ongoing digital transformation, remote monitoring, and the need to optimize operational costs as the factors driving increasing adoption of drones in the power and utility industry.
“Drones minimize the need to send human employees onsite and can be deployed for monitoring, operations, and maintenance services. As the global power and utility industry continues to tackle the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, drones can be potential game-changers in combating the challenges it poses,” as per the report.
pv magazine spoke to Supreeth Srinivasa Rao, Associate Director, Industrial Practice, Frost & Sullivan, to find out the role of drones in the solar sector, especially for India.

The successful bidders shall supply balance-of-system (BOS) and install and commission the solar pumping systems with modules supplied by the Central Electronics Limited. Bidding closes on May 25.

Findings from solar installation sites in Gujarat and Rajasthan and some suggestions to handle the issues.

While the solar and storage pairing is still relatively new, the growth over the next five years will be significant globally. As against just 5% in 2019, by 2025 more than 25% of all behind-the-meter solar systems will be paired with storage.

India Ratings says the power demand declined for March and April 2020, taking a hit on generation from thermal sources as renewables continued to enjoy ‘must run’ status.

A study by the International Energy Agency into the chilling effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy demand states renewables will be ‘the only energy source likely to experience demand growth for the rest of 2020’. The slower the economic recovery, the more the fossil fuel industry will suffer.