Grids & Integration

The Indian Ministries of External Affairs and Power, in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), organized the South Asia Power Summit 2018, held recently in New Delhi. The daylong conference highlighted that diversity of energy resources in South Asian countries brings the opportunity to provide affordable, low-carbon energy in the region. The business case for enhanced energy trading in the region, and challenges faced in inter-country electricity trading were important elements of this discussion.

Controllable, distributed battery storage systems can help avoid bottlenecks in power distribution networks. That reduces the cost of grid expansion, but to turn this use of storage systems into a business model, a number of conditions still have to be met.

The projects, in Maharashtra, will be commissioned through a reverse auction with technical bidding to close on December 19. The deadline for the submission of financial bids and the date for the reverse auction after the opening of financial bids, will be published in due course.

Following the launch of Greensmith Energy’s new Gridsolv standardized storage solution, which integrates software helpers and standardized architecture for easy installation, pv magazine caught up with CEO John Jung to discuss the state of the storage market and the role of digital services.

Big players such as Acme, ReNew, Adani, Azure, Hero Future and Aditya Birla Solar are likely to stay away from procurement which requires 3 GW annual manufacturing commitment, says industry insider Gopal Lal Somani.

Analysts are weighing into the debate over the MNRE’s big solar plans, but pointing out that even a partial victory would set the foundation for future solar triumphs.

The World Energy Council, in partnership with PwC, has interviewed 39 top level management energy leaders to find out if blockchain is driving an evolution or a revolution in the energy ecosystem.

The bid submission deadline for the national 10 GW, inter-state PV project plus manufacturing tender is now November 12. According to officials, there are amendments to be made in the tender requirements, for which it is awaiting a ministerial mandate.

The lowest solar tariff, of Rs3.17 per unit, was quoted by the NTPC utility and Maheshwari Mining and Energy, for 140 MW and 20 MW of grid connected PV capacity, respectively.

Saurabhbhai Patel, Minister of Energy, Government of Gujarat, has announced that the state will soon issue a 250 MW grid-connected solar tender linked with storage. He also said that Gujarat will add more than 5 GW of new PV capacity in the next three years.