US investor Encourage Capital raises $40 million to fund rooftop solar for Indian MSMEs
The US-based impact investor will invest in specialized financial institutions in India that can develop and scale commercial rooftop solar finance solutions, serving an estimated US$ 9 billion market opportunity.
India and Australia could strike first lithium deal
Mining company Neometals and Manikaran Power have started a jointly funded study into the feasibility of establishing India’s first lithium refinery, which would process ore from the Mount Marion mine in Western Australia.
Europe announces plans for battery gigafactories
In news that will add urgency to Indian government efforts to establish a domestic storage industry, funding has apparently been secured for 16 GWh-plus production lines in Sweden and Germany. Is India at risk of being left in the starting blocks?
Asun Trackers and IIT Delhi design a solar tracker for Indian market
Pitched as a solution between dual-axis and single-axis trackers, the 2-axis solar tracker offers a yield increase comparable with dual-axis trackers at a significantly lower cost.
Japanese firm Mitsui invests in Mahindra Susten to support its solar expansion
The Mahindra Group cleantech firm will continue to have majority 51% stake in its subsidiary Marvel Solren, with Mitsui owning the balance. Currently, Marvel operates four distributed solar projects in India with a combined capacity of 16 MW, which the two partners aim to expand to 150 MW by 2023.
MNRE invites gravity storage, solar-driven hydrogen production research proposals
The preliminary proposals must reach the ministry by June 30. These will be examined by a committee and the shortlisted parties will be invited to submit final proposal.
India set to acquire lithium for EV batteries in 6 months
The acquisition would be made through Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL)—a joint venture of three public-sector mining units—which recently visited the Lithium Triangle countries in South America (Chile, Argentina and Bolivia) to explore the possibility of lithium acquisition.
TERI and Cadmus launch rooftop solar market aggregator program
The I-SMART program aims to aggregate demand for 1 GW rooftop solar systems across four states and two union territories. It simplifies rooftop solar installation by providing a range of services both to the partner installers and prospective customers on a single-window web portal.
Oriano completes 13.75 MW projects for Cleantech Solar across multiple states
Currently, the Mumbai-based solar EPC firm is executing 134.5 MWp project capacity to be commissioned by September 2019. It expects to surpass cumulative installation of 350 MWp by the end of FY 2019-20.
Enertrag, Enel and Leclanché commission German storage project
With Leclanché due to open a module and battery pack assembly line in Gujarat alongside JV partner Exide Industries by the end of next month, the Swiss storage solutions company has been active nearer its home market.
