India

Avaada Energy has raised the funds from the Asian Development Bank and European development institutions. The PV developer will use the amount to finance 2.4 GW of the 5 GW of solar capacity it hopes to secure over the next two years.

The joint venture has started a prototype manufacturing operation in Pune, India, to design, engineer, manufacture and supply Lithium-ion battery packs for 4-wheeler electric vehicles in India.

The 300 MW solar plant at the Pavagada Solar Park, located in Tumkur district of Karnataka, is ReNew Power’s largest solar plant commissioned in terms of capacity till date. It is said to be the first utility-scale solar plant in India to use high-efficiency mono PERC solar modules.

Suzlon Energy is selling Shreyas Solarfarms and Aalok Solarfarms to Ostro Energy—a wholly owned subsidiary of independent power producer ReNew Power—for Rs 19.87 crore and Rs 9.93 crore, respectively.

ACME Solar installed the largest utility-scale solar capacity in 2018. It also had the largest project pipeline at the end of 2018, closely followed by SB Energy and Azure Power. While modules from China’s ZnShine were used the most, the imposition of the safeguard duty helped domestic manufacturers to capture a larger share of the market compared to 2017, according to clean energy consulting firm Mercom Communications.

An Indian non-profit and a global conservation charity have joined forces to bring solar lighting and heating to off-grid rural areas in Africa – and they are doing it with an army of middle-aged women: the ‘Solar Mamas’.

India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued guidelines for solar PV inverter manufacturers to get their products tested and approved by Bureau of India Standards (BIS) certified labs. These guidelines apply to off-grid, grid-tie and hybrid inverters of capacities up to 150 KW.

Rules on the composition of product containers, production line sample sizes for testing and technical information will come into force for manufacturers and distributors operating across the nation.

In the latest tariff spat to afflict the solar world, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies will investigate a claim steel products coated with aluminum and zinc are being dumped by Far Eastern manufacturers.

“This case is an economic dispute arising from complicated domestic and foreign situations such as India’s 25% security tax and China’s ‘May 31’ Policy. It is not our company’s unilateral breach of contracts. Any economic disputes arising from commercial activities shall be handled by the court and relevant judicial institutions,” said the Chinese PV module supplier a week after India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued advisory against procuring solar modules from CSUN.