Rooftop Solar

Mumbai-based Roofsol Energy has installed a 625 kWp rooftop solar plant at Yachio India Manufacturing Pvt Ltd, the India arm of Japan-headquartered plastic fuel tank producer Yachio.

At the Renewable Leadership Summit 2021 held recently in New Delhi, Dinesh Jagdale, joint secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, also asserted the ministry is working on addressing stakeholders’ concerns to ensure the investments keep flowing into RE capacity expansion and equipment manufacturing. The Summit, organized by Solar Association, also saw Solis launch its new-generation PV plant monitoring platform and off-grid hybrid inverters. 

Solar, like wind, has evolved into a more viable bilateral arrangement business model as prices have decreased and favorable legislation has emerged. Due to significant technical advancements, the solar industry has overtaken wind and has emerged as the favored option.

The Nambiar Bellezea luxury villa community in Bengaluru has got a 160 kW rooftop solar plant installed for its clubhouse, alongside 3-6kW installations on more than 20 villas. The 160kW club installation is powered by 320 numbers of Trina 500 Wp solar modules coupled with 320 Enphase IQ7A micro-inverters.

To achieve the government’s ambitious renewable energy targets, and integrate the two growing sectors of infrastructure and construction and renewable energy, the existing policies and codes for green buildings need to be further enhanced. Most of these rules need to include specific details about energy generation. Right now, these are more to do with energy efficiency. 

Scientists in India developed a mathematical model to predict the output of solar cells and modules in the field. The model was developed and tested using both sun simulator and actual installed modules. The scientists state that their model can be applied to a PV installation anywhere in the world, and that by taking into account module degradation over time their forecasts can be as much as 26% more accurate than existing energy yield models.

The grid-connected solar projects may be set up either as net-metered systems or systems for consumption within premises with no export of power. Bidding ends on November 29.

The grid-connected solar projects, to be installed at Tata Steel’s operating locations in Jharkhand and Odisha, will be a mix of rooftops, floating, and ground-mounted solar plants. 

The solar capacity addition for the calendar year 2021 is expected to touch 14 GW (11 GW utility scale and 3 GW rooftop) if the third Covid wave does not strike between November and December.

The levelized cost of solar electricity generation from a given rooftop area is the lowest in India (US$66/MWh) and China ($68/MWh), with the USA ($238/MWh) and UK ($251/MWh) representing some of the costliest countries, according to an international study based on data available as of 2018. The study also finds China (4.3 PWh/year), USA (4.2 PWh/year), and India (1.7 PWh/year) have the highest yearly potential of rooftop solar energy generation.