Strategic Alliances

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) received a significant boost at the New York One Planet Summit, with European Investment Bank (EIB) President, Werner Hoyer announcing a commitment to back the ISA in its expansion of India’s solar industry and the exchange of technology.

The historic French brand says it will focus on rail, telecom and infrastructure, but environmentalists hoping the move finally heralds a breakthrough for electric vehicles in one of the world’s biggest transport markets appear set to be disappointed.

German solar monitoring company SDS has announced a strategic partnership with developer iPLON India. The established Solar-Log system will help India’s drive to raise quality standards in PV.

Hyderabad-based renewable energy major Greenko Group has abandoned plans to buy AT Capital-backed Orange Renewable.

CLP India will acquire a 49% stake in Suzlon’s 50 MW and 20 MW solar projects in Dhule, Maharashtra. These two projects were won by Suzlon through competitive bidding in auctions by the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI). As per the power purchase agreement signed, the tariff rate is fixed for 25 years at 4.115 INR/kWh for 20 MW and 3.66 INR/kWh for 50 MW.

In 2015, Germany and India signed a deal outlining plans by Germany to provide loans amounting to €1 billion for the development of Indian solar PV plans. Loans are provided through development bank, KfW. On the Indian side, REC issues low-interest loan schemes in conjunction with private sector participation to disperse the funds.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has approved a grant supporting the technical design and project planning work for IL&FS Energy Development Company Limited’s (IEDCL) 41 MW hybrid wind, solar and energy storage power plant in Andhra Pradesh.

Israel-based Ecoppia has partnered with SB Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., to deploy 2,000 robots across its five sites in the Bhadla Phase III and IV Solar Park Project in Rajasthan, India. This announcement follows its recent completion of large-scale deployments with ENGIE and Ostro Power (Actis Group) in the Bhadla park. pv magazine speaks to Ecoppia CEO Eran Meller about the project.

In a significant development, two major international solar coalitions – the Global Solar Council (GSC) and the International Solar Alliance (ISA) – signed an MoU for the cooperation and collaboration of solar growth in all ISA-member countries. Pranav Mehta from the GSC talks to pv magazine about the move.

Underlining India’s commitment to becoming the global renewable energy leader, Shri Anand Kumar, secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said the country plans 500 GW of capacity by 2030. He also underlined plans to become a solar and storage manufacturing hub; and said the International Solar Alliance needs to widen its membership.