· tata bluescope steel unveils ilios, a high strength light weight solar module mounting...

4 EQ October 2017 www.EQMagPro.com

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VOLUME 9Issue # 10

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65

INTERVIEWIn Conversation

With Mr.Marc Jarrault, -

Managing Director, Lapp India Pvt.

Ltd.

BOS

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SOLAR INVERTERSAdvanced Technology To Ensure A Better Harmonic Suppression

66

Tata BlueScope Steel Unveils ILIOS, a High Strength Light Weight Solar Module Mounting Solution; at REI 2017

I NTERNAT IONAL

SOLAR PROJECTSValue Of Intelligent Remote Monitoring With Advanced Data Analytics In Solar Asset Management- What Is The Market Risk Involved On Capital Investment Of RoofTop Solar Projects?

HEAD-SALES & MARKETING :GOURAV [email protected]

56

INTERVIEWWith Sunil Dayal, Business Head of Benara Solar

6948STRING INVERTERSImproving Commercial System CAPEX with Longer Strings


54

SOLAR INVERTERSPV Top Runner Huawei Brings New Standard For Utility-Scale Solar In India63

POLICY & REGULATION PM Modi ; Saubhagya Yojna Launched – Solar Power Packs with outlay of Rs.16320 Crores to Electrify 18000+ Unelectrified Villages in 1000 Days

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RESEARCH

QUARTER RESULTS

RESEARCH Total Corporate Funding in Global Solar Sector Comes to $7.1 Billion in First Nine Months of 2017, Reports Mercom Capital Group 50

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INDIASachin Tendulkar and Schneider Electric transform 350 households in UP village with Solar power

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Pg. 08-47EQ NEWS

Pg. 78-79PRODUCT

Strong Chinese Market to Push Annual Global Photovoltaic Demand Above 100 Gigawatts for 2017

JASolar Announces Second Quarter 2017 Financial Results

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MIDDLE EAST ASIASaudi Arabia Gets Cheapest Bids for Solar Power in Auction

SOLAR PROJECTSWaaree Energies Successfully completed 2.29 MW Rooftop project for Mumbai Metro

68JinkoSolar CEO Mr. kangping Chen Cuts to the Chase about Solar Technology Development with Discussion on Half-cut Cells

BALANCE OF SYSTEMAccurate Measurement And Periodical Calibration Of Pyranometer Is The Key For The Bankability Of Solar Pv Projects


Enphase Energy and Waaree Energies Join Forces to Deliver Smarter Solar in India

Suntech Participated in 2017 Renewable Energy India Expo

REI 2017

Enphase Energy, Inc. , a global energy technology company and the world’s leading supplier of solar microinverters, announced that it has partnered with Waaree Energies Limited (Waaree), India’s largest Tier 1 solar panel manufacturer.

aaree will join forces with Enphase to produce an AC solar module (ACM) for the Indian market. Waaree will offer its high quality and high reli-ability monocrystalline solar PV modules with Enphase Microinverters attached to the back of Waaree’s modules. This is the first ACM partner-

ship that Enphase Energy has established in India.The Waaree Enphase ACmodules will be assembled and shipped directly from Waaree’s PV module factory,located in Suratin a 500MW state of the art facility that is one of India’s largest PV module factories.

EI started in 2007, provid-ing business opportunities for professionals in the solar energy and other related fields. More than 30,000 solar energy industry professionals from 40

countries attended the exhibition, with over 1000 leading manufacturers, service provid-ers and suppliers’ participating.At the show, Suntech displayed four signature solar modules:-STP330-24/Vfw 5BB Poly Solar ModuleThis module has excellent efficiency rated at 17.0% and the maximum 1500 V DC can save total system costs. The module is certi-fied to withstand 3800 Pa wind and 5400 Pa snow loads.STP330-24/Vej Double Glass Poly Solar ModuleWith a glass-glass structure this module can extend life span. The lack of grounding re-quirement reduces BOS costs. It also offers

a 12-year product warranty and a 30-year linear performance warranty. Suitable for agriculture and fishing projects.STP305S-20/Wfw 5BB HyPro Mono Solar ModuleWith advanced PERC technology, the cell achieves higher efficiency. This module has excellent efficiency rated at 18.6%. The advanced cell technology and qualified materials lead to high resistance to PID.STP370S-24/Vfh HyPro Mono Half Cell Solar ModuleCompared to normal products, the power output can increase 10W. This module can reduce the hot spots and minimize panel degradation. With excellent weak light per-formance, it can maximize power output. On Sept 21st, Suntech held a customer event in New Delhi, which attracted 200 customers. REI 2017 runs from September 20 to 22. Interested parties may visit Suntech at booth 10.96.

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“Enphase Energy is the first global micro inverter technology company to partner with Waaree to integrate our technology onto their solar modules,” said Nathan Dunn, managing director of Enphase Asia-Pacific. “This is a truly exciting opportunity as it will allow us to extend our presence in India with a market leader insolar modules. Enphase and Waaree share the same philosophy of delivering solar solutions built on innovative technology and quality. Together, we will work toward delivering more affordable solar power to commercial and residential customers in India.”

Enphase Microinverters, promoted through the Company’s Made for India campaign, are designed and proven to operate for decades in harsh climates such as India’s. Enphase offersthe most advanced inverter technology on the market with higher production, greater reliability and intelligence. Installers can get better performance and smarter insights with Enphase Microinverters as they are simple to install, designed for flexibility and lead the industry with their reliability. With Enphase Micro-inverters, installers can reduce their installation and maintenance costs and bring greater value to their customers. The Waaree Enphase ACMs are now available to customers in India from any of Waaree’s distribution channel partners across India.

“The attachment of Waaree solar PV modules with the Enphase microinverter system is a significant win for installers and customers. Not only will they enjoy the quality and performance of industry leading products, our AC solar modules will also be easier and faster to install. We are delighted to be working with Enphase Energy with its strong heritage in energy technology and continued development of quality microinverters that suit India’s unique climate and weather conditions.”

Source: Enphase Energy

“We started to cooperate with Indian clients and supply PV modules in early 2009. India is a large energy consuming country with tremendous prospects for the development of new energy sources, Suntech will speed up the market layout of India and integrate local resources, which will increase market reputa-tion and brand influence in the domestic market.”

- Mr. HE Shuangquan, President, Suntech

Hitesh Doshi, chairman and md, Waaree Energies LTd.


Mr. Gyanesh Chaudhary, CEO and Managing Director, Vikram Solar commented, “Our constant hardwork and efforts are behind our achievement today and we are proud to receive this recognition from REI, which is one of the leading platforms on energy. At Vikram Solar, we uphold the spirit of innovation in every initiative we undertake and are committed towards delivering the best to our consumers in everything we do.”

Gyanesh Chaudhary, MD & CEO, Vikram Solar, shared on the occasion, “It gives us immense satisfaction and pride to successfully commission this project. Despite quite a few hurdles like floods and adverse weather conditions, we have been able to execute the project plan with success. Our commitment towards environment friendly clean energy remains intact and we will constantly strive to build a better, greener, cleaner future for the coming generations.”

Anupam Dhiman, Executive Director – EPC Solar, Vikram Solar shared, “The successful completion of this project reinstates our consistent value of reliability in terms of quality and timely delivery of projects. Going an extra mile has always helped us being at the top of our game and this project will not only help us strengthen our foothold in Gujarat but also enable us in contributing to the overall green energy drive.”

Spread across 385 acres of land, the 80 MW plant has 2,50,429 modules and will have a power generation capacity of 18,86,000 million units.

“This is the second time we have been conferred with this award at this prestigious platform. This goes to not only show the high levels of commitment we have towards the industry, our partners and ourselves but also shows there is always some room for improvement and betterment. As the Indian solar industry expands rapidly and technology evolves, it will be important to increase focus on module quality like never before and quality in anything that we do has always been of utmost importance.”

REI 2017

ikram Solar was recognized as the winner in the Solar Manufacturing category.Mr. Ivan Saha,CTO and BU Head- Solar Manufacturing, Vikram Solar received the award at the ceremony that was attended by Industry leaders & visionaries from across the country.

Vikram Solar conferred with ‘Leading renewable energy manufacturer – Solar Modules’ award at the Renewable Energy India Expo2017

Vikram Solar commissions 80 MW solar project in Gujarat

Vikram Solar, the globally recognized leading solar energy solutions provider was conferredthe ‘Leading Renewable Energy Manufacturer – Solar – Modules’ at Renewable Energy India Expo 2017 (REI). TheAnnual Renewable Energy India Awards was held at the India Expo Center, Greater Noida on 19th of September.

VMR. IVAN SAHA,

CTO and BU Head- Solar Manufacturing,

Vikram Solar

Vikram Solar’s products offer highest standards of quality, reliability and performance; and the manufacturing facility has the finest machinery and equipment imported from leading global equipment manufacturers. Prior to this the company has been conferred with multiple prestigious awards at the ET Bengal Corporate Awards, EPC World Awards, National Excellence Awards, Global Solar EPC Summit to just name a few.


Sungrow ShowcaseD Latest 1500V PV Inverters at REI Expo 2017

REI 2017

Source: SUNGROW Power Supply Co., Ltd

Sungrow, the global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables, has brought its latest 1500V string and central PV inverters as well as commercial string inverters at the Renewable Energy India Expo 2017 in Greater Noida, India. This show, also known as REI Expo, is the must-attend new energy event in India where demands for 1500V products has risen sharply, and Sungrow has shipped over 121MW of 1500V turnkey stations.

he SG125HV, the world’s most powerful 1500Vdc string in-verter rated at 125kW, is proved to work stably in full power operation without derating at 50 degrees Celsius, maxi-mizing the return on investment for project owners. This 1500Vdc string inverter enables up to 5 MW power block design.

Also on show is a sample model of SG2500HV, a 1500V turnkey station, which features high efficiency, energy conservation, and the ability to adapt with severe environments like high temperature, high humidity and high altitude, while its maximum power can still reach 98.8% in most of conditions.

Besides, Sungrow exhibits commercial string inverter SG80KTL de-signed for large-scale commercial applications. It is best characterized by the maximum efficiency of 98.9% and full power operation without derating at 50 degree Celsius.

T “At a time when the 1500V technolo-gies will soon become the mainstream, Sungrow has provided mature solutions for customers in need. So far, we have shipped over 121MW of 1500V turnkey sta-tions to India. We believe these products will significantly lift the power yields and profits for our customers in India”.

Professor Renxian Cao, president of Sungrow


DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions Highlights Proven Solar Materials to Address India’s PV Quality Challenges at 2017 Renewable Energy India (REI) ExpoDuPont Photovoltaics Solutions (DuPont), the industry leader delivering proven power and lasting value for customers around the world, wins the REI award in the “Renewable Energy International Excellence in Materials and R&D” category. DuPont showcasED the highly efficient and durable materials with field-tested reliability at the 2017 Renewable Energy India Expo (REI), India Expo Center, Greater Noida, September 20-22.

he latest solar innovation in its portfolio, DuPontTM Solamet® PV20A, featured at DuPont’s highly engaging booth, 10.42 (hall 10). DuPont leaders will share their expertise on technology advancements, global field studies and industry trends through participation in the 7th Quality Roundtable and technical presentation during the REI conference.

Recent news reports reveal poor quality solar panels are flooding the Indian market and causing significant impact on power generation of some solar plants.

T

“Empirical data obtained from our extensive field studies in India and globally have shown high correlation of poor module performance with the use of unproven, sub-standard PV materials. These in turn can have significant long-term negative impact on financial returns especially in the current context of aggressive tariffs and thin margins”, said Rajaram Pai, Marketing Manager, DuPont Photovoltaics Solutions and Advanced Materials, South Asia & ASEAN.

DuPont has been working closely with participants in the Indian solar market towards sensitizing and educating them on the importance of specifying and using quality materials in PV projects for long term performance and safety of systems and return on investments.

“Winning the prestigious REI Award for ‘RE International Excellence in Materials and R&D’ reinforces the belief that proven, quality and reliable materials are recognized and appreciated by the solar value chain participants and we feel responsible to consistently contribute towards India’s solar growth,” Mr. Pai added.

Customer collaborations with Jupiter Solar and Gintech Energy are highlighted at the DuPont booth and demonstrate how DuPontTM Solamet® photovoltaic metallization pastes have enabled improvement in efficiency, generation of higher power and increased long term return on investment.

Jupiter Solar Power Limited, winner of 2017 REI Award for ‘Best Solar Cell Manufacturer’, has achieved 19.2% multi-crystalline solar cell efficiency by using DuPontTM Solamet® PV20X front side silver paste. Gintech Energy, has achieved 21.6% mono-crystalline solar cell efficiency by using DuPontTM Solamet® PV20A front side silver paste.

DuPont featured Tedlar® PVF films, the industry leader in backsheet material with 30+ years of field proven protection. Collaborations with leading module makers, including JinkoSolar and LONGi Solar, that demonstrate the reliability enabled by DuPont materials, are also displayed at the booth.

DuPont technical experts are available at the booth to recommend methods for testing backsheet weather ability and share the DuPontTM MAST (Module Accelerated Sequential Test) protocols. These protocols simulate actual conditions faced by the modules in the field. DuPont is also exhibiting panels from its extensive field testing program that reinforce why materials matterTM for long-term durability.

Benchmarks In the industry

REI 2017


Heraeus Photovoltaics opens Delhi office to serve India market

German renewable energy technology solutions provider Heraeus Photovoltaics on Sunday announced it has opened an India office here and will bring in dedicated staff at its Engineering and Technology Centre in Singapore to help focus on the Indian solar cells market.

ith the establishment of dedicated local sales team in India, Heraeus will intensify its customer relationship and provide secure supply chain to its customers,” the company said in a release here. “Heraeus will also establish dedicated resources in

its engineering and technology centre in Singapore, to better tailor and further speed up customisation of silver pastes for Indian cell manufacturers,” it said.

“Furthermore, Heraeus will offer its industry recognised cell optimisation consulting to its Indian customers,” it added. Heraeus, specialists in the field of thick film technology for photovoltaics, said it offers products for all solar cell architectures and photovoltaic technologies.

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Mr. Andreas Liebheit, President, Heraeus Photovoltaics

“Energy production from photovoltaic is already the cheapest way to produce electricity in the world and the prices will continue to decrease. Photovoltaics thus offers great opportunities for India to help in solving the very strong growth in energy demand,” Andreas Liebheit , President, Heraeus Photovoltaics said in the statement.

Source:IANS

he company launched the EP-2500-HA-OD central inverter. With 1500V DC voltage, maximum efficiency of up to 99.02% and

2.5MW unit integrated design, the EP-2500-HA-OD helps reduce the initial investment cost and increases the income from power generation significantly. The central distributed inverter displayed at the show has several advantages highly recog-nized by the Indian market, including Multiple MPPT, high yields and low

initial investment and maintenance costs. To respond to the fast-growing household and commercial solar markets in India, Sineng Electric displayed its full range of high-effi-ciency string inverters, which were highly acclaimed for their intelligent features, safety, convenience and elegant design.

Sineng Electric also displayed its leading low-cost and high-efficiency energy storage system, which is considered the preferred energy storage solution for solar PV stations in operation or under construction.

Leading global solar inverter manufacturer Sineng Electric participates in REI 2017

Leading global solar inverter manufacturer Sineng Electric

presented its product line-up at the 2017 Renewable Energy India Expo

(REI 2017) on September 20-22. During the event, the company showcased its

industry-leading 1500V solar inverter series, central distributed inverter,

central inverter, string inverter, energy storage system and power

quality management solution, demonstrating leading its R&D and

manufacturing capabilities.

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“As India is one of the most important PV markets worldwide, our product displays at the expo helped local cus-tomers gain a deeper understanding of our advanced products and tech-nologies, as well as provided Chinese PV firms an opportunity to get a head start on their international expansion. We plan to continue increasing our investments in India and neighboring markets with the aim of supplying customers worldwide with solutions for higher power output and lower costs”, said Li Jianfei , vice president , Sineng Electric.

According to the IHS Markit 2017 Report, Sineng Electric is the world’s sixth largest solar inverter manufacturer. In 2014, following integration with a Fortune 500 company’s PV business, the company became a leader in terms of R&D, management and marketing in the global PV market. Cur-rently, Sineng Electric has completed the establishment of its local sales and service system for the Indian market. Once the new modern facility goes into production in Bangalore, the company’s annual solar inverter production capacity is expected to reach 5GW. Sineng Electric is capable of meeting the diversified needs of its custom-ers with the industry’s most complete solar inverter solutions.

Mr. Li Jianfei , VP, Sineng Electric

REI 2017


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Landis+Gyr & Tata Power-DDL Partner to Deploy Smart Metering Infrastructure in DelhiTata Power-DDL distributes electricity in the north of Delhi, India’s capital city, and serves a population of 7 million, with a customer base of 1.6 million people. It has been the frontrunner in implementing power distribution reforms and is dedicated to using technological innovation to better serve its customers.

n AMI rollout of this size and significance, com-prising smart meters and related infrastruc-ture, will certainly pro-vide the vital backbone

for Tata Power-DDL’s customers to reap the benefits of the smart energy revolution. In the spirit of true part-nership, Landis+Gyr supported Tata Power-DDL through an initial pilot phase to gain the regulatory approval necessary for full roll out.

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INDIA

Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD of Tata Power-DDL, said, “We are dedicated to bringing state of the art AMI technology and solu-tions to our customers in North Delhi. Our

work with Landis+Gyr on India’s first, large scale, smart meter and RF canopy deployment, which covers the full 510 square kilometres of Tata Power-DDL’s area of operation, marks a significant step in our efforts to bring smart grid technology to India. This deployment will not only empower our consumers by utilizing a two-way communication system, but it will also help us to build an important foundation for a truly smart grid, featuring world class power distri-bution infrastructure.”

Ellie Doyle, Landis+Gyr’s Executive Vice President of APAC, said, “Smart metering and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) can bring so many benefits to the end customer, allowing them the opportunity to better

manage and control their energy use. It gives us at Landis+Gyr an enormous sense of pride and accomplishment to be on this journey with one of India’s most innovative utilities. From energy grid technology, to renewable energy initiatives, and on to an online billing and payment system for energy consumers, Tata Power-DDL has been at the forefront in implementing the latest in energy innovation in India. We look forward to supplying this important first tranche of smart meters for them, providing as it will the smart energy data necessary to further deepen the relationship Tata Power-DDL has with its customers.”


inha added that the states are failing to realise the overall impact of their cur-rent bid to renegotiate PPAs in the face of falling tariffs.

“And people unfortunately at the state level…it’s not their re-sponsibility to think about these things because they are concerned about optimising their own state-level activi-ties. So they are not thinking that much about what all of this does to the over-all national investment environment,” he said. The fact that the states refuse to honour PPAs, calls for some amount of caution in the renewable energy sector in the country, Sinha said.

“Renewables is one of the very few sectors in India where investments were coming in… and now all of this uncertainty that is being created, it is going to lead to a lot of negativity and even when the government wants to revive its investments in renewables, people are going to be a lot more cautious now, about investing in the sector,” he said.

While the PPAs under threat are close to about 1,100-1,200 MW capac-ity, states will not have a legal back-ing if they want to rework PPAs, and

that the courts would rule in favour of producers, Sinha said. “I’m totally confident that if I go to the courts even-tually, the courts will rule in our favour. So I’m not worried about it. The only thing is, it’s causing all this needless noise in the system.”

With the government’s plan to gen-erate 175 GW of its electricity through renewable energy, ReNew plans to consistently target 8% to10% of the new capacity added every year in the country. This year, the company will manage about 8% capacity of solar while wind still remains a question as there has been hardly any capacity addition this year, after a record 5,400 MW of wind capacity was added in 2016-17. Source: economictimes.indiatimes

“It’s going to cause lasting damage, to the overall renewable energy investment environment, and not just to renewable energy but also to overall investments in India,” -Sinha told ET.

Power purchase agreements renegotiation to hurt renewables companies : ReNew Power CEORenegotiation of power purchase agree-ments (PPAs) by states will deliver a severe blow to investments in renewable energy, one of the few sectors which has attracted investors, but courts would certainly rule in favour of affected companies if they challenge the move, ReNew Power CEO Sumant Sinha has said.

S

INDIA

he company has planned to add 1 GW capacity this fiscal, ReNew Power Venture Chairman and CEO Sumant Sinha told . It has installed generation capacity of 2.4 GW, at present.

“We are aiming at 5 GW power generation capacity in the next two years time. We have planned to add 1 GW during this fiscal,” Sinha said. “We have sufficient funds to meet our expansion requirement during the current fiscal,” Sinha said.

An estimated investment of Rs 10,000 crore would be required to double the capacity to 5 GW. In April, ReNew Power Ventures had an-nounced doubling its power genera-tion capacity in a year’s time, which crossed 2 GW. The company in-vested Rs 6,700 crore (USD 1 billion) to add 430 MW of solar and 626 MW

of wind capacity in 2016-17. Asked about reasonable solar power tariff in current scenario as solar module prices have started inching upwards, Sinha opined that it should be Rs 2.75 per unit. Earlier this year in May, solar power tariff had dropped to all-time low of Rs 2.44 per unit in the auction conducted for Bhadla solar park.

At that time, industry experts have said that lower borrowing cost and solar equipment prices have pulled down the tariff to historic low of Rs 2.44 per unit. Similarly, the wind pow-er tariff also plunged to Rs 3.46 per unit in an auction for 1GW capacity conducted by the Solar Energy Cor-poration of India (SECI). SECI is in the process of putting 3 GW wind ca-pacities on the block for auction. The SECI is waiting for Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s clarification on the inter-state connectivity trading. In the absence of evacuation facil-ity of power from these projects, the developers are hesitant to go ahead.

Source: PTI

ReNew Power targets 5 GW generation capacity in next two yrs

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Renewable energy firm ReNew Power Ventures targets to double its generation capacity to 5 GW in the next two years, a top company official said.

Sumant Sinha, chairman and chief executive officer, ReNew Power Ventures


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172 MWp Solar Power Plant Commissioned with Arctech Solar tracker systems in India

he tracking systems of this 172MW project were provided by Arctech Solar. Thisproject is the largest solar tracker projectin India till now. The construction was installed integrating linked-row hori-zontal single-axis trackers with unique

redundancy design. According to complex terrain condition in the site,

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Recently, Arctech Solar received a good news from its partner Renew Power,that their 172 MW project has commissioned and started generating power in Telangana, India.

“We are delighted to work with our business partner Renew Power to complete such a magnificent proj-ect alltogetherin India. This project will definitely be marked as one of the most classic cases among all the Indian solar power projects.” indicated by Mr. Allen Cao, Managing Director of the Arctech Solar India.

Arctech Solar will keep expanding its local professional team, warehouse storage capacity in India, to further match the Indian market demand and provide better after-sales service for its clients. The largest-scale annual exhibition REI Expo was held in India from Sep 20th to Sep 22th. Arctech Solar brought its flagship product Arctracker Pro, with the world’s first invented redundancy design, going to the exhibition.


ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Karnataka cabinet approves e-vehicle policyKarnataka became first state in the country to have e-vehicle policy in place after the State Cabinet approved the Karnataka Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy recently.

he new policy aims to promote research and develop-ment in electric mobility and grow the sector and offers incentives and concessions in line with the Karnataka Industrial Policy 2014-19 to EV manufacture sec-tor, battery manufacturing and charging equipment enterprises throughout the state. The policy looks at maintaining the lead share of Karnataka as a preferred destination for atracting investments in manufacture of electric vehicles.

Suitably, the government will make needful amendments to building bylaws for providing mandatory charging infrastruc-ture in all high rise buildings like IT Parks, Special Economic

Zones, Commercial Malls, and apartments. The state government through the new policy is expected to target Rs 31,000 crore in investment and create employment for 55,000 people.

TB Janachandra, Minister for Law, Government of Karnataka, told media that the government is also looking at making the vehicles cheaper by introduc-ing a slew of attractive incentives and concessions in line with the state’s industrial policy of 2014-19.

According to sources, the department of commerce and indus-tries was seeking a 100% relaxation on stamp duty for manufactur-ers to set up shop in the state. However, the departemnt of finance has vetoed the proposal and agreed to provide a 50% relaxation in stamp duties after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s intervention.

Source: egov.eletsonline

TAccording to RV Deshpande,

Minister for Industries, Government of Karnataka, The policy aims to create conducive environment for transition to electric vehicle

environment from internal combus-tion engines. The government will also

creat a special purpose vehicle involving local agencies such as Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM), Kar-nataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL), Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) and other agencies to create more changing infara-strucutre in Bengaluru and Karnataka.

First batch of 1000 E-rickshaws ‘SmartE’ flagged off in GurugramShri Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation flagged off a fleet of first batch of 1000 E-rickshaws from Huda City Centre metro station in Gurugram.

he E rickshaw fleet is being operated by Treasure Vase Ventures Private Limited in partnership of Delhi Metro, under the SmartE brand name. SmartE will provide

the last mile transport connectivity in the area. The E Rickshaws have been manufactured in India and are fitted with GPS and tracking system. SmartE has established strategic partnerships with the Haryana government (HSIIDC) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to launch 1000 vehicles in Gurugram and Faridabad in 2017. The E-rickshaws SmartE will provide meaningful self-employment for over 1,00,000 marginalised youths, in next 4-5 years.

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Speaking on this occasion Shri Gadkari said that the E-rick-shaw fleet will not only provide cost effective and pollution free substitute in transport system of Gurugram, but will also generate employment opportunities for marginalised youth. He further said that public transport on electricity is the necessity of the country and his ministry is committed to providing it soon.


PV Powertech

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Volkswagen to electrify entire range by 2030

German carmaker Volkswagen doubled down on efforts to clean up its image tarnished by the dieselgate scandal, vowing ahead of the IAA auto industry show to electrify its entire range by 2030.

y the end of next decade, VW vows to offer “at least one electrified version of each of the 300 or so group models”, the firm

said in a statement. The Wolfsburg-based group owns a stable of 12 brands ranging from VW, Seat and Skoda to Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini - as well as truck and bus makers MAN and Scania and Ducati motorbikes. By 2025, the company estimates that up to one in four of its new vehicles - 3 million per year - could be purely battery powered.

In November 2016, the group announced its ambition to be the world’s biggest electric carmaker by 2025, slashing 30,000 jobs as it frees up cash for invest-ment in research and development into new technologies.

Today’s announcement goes a step further, promising 80 new electric vehicles - 50 of them all-electric and 30 of them hybrids - by the middle of next decade. And VW says it will invest some USD 24 billion in developing new vehicles, upgrading plants, training its workforce, charging infrastruc-ture and battery technology and production.

But the group has yet to give up completely on the internal com-bustion engine, highlighting the clean performance of its latest-generation diesels and suggesting future vehicles could be powered by renewable synthetic fuels.

Source: AFP

The announcement will in future represent “the yardstick by which we measure our perfor-mance,” Chief Executive Mat-thias Mueller said. Mueller was brought in to turn things around after VW admitted in 2015 to manipulating regulatory emis-sions tests on 11 million cars worldwide.

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Mr. Matthias Mueller, Chief Executive ,VW


nergy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the administration of Ministry of Power, Government of India (GoI), will procure 10,000 electric vehicles

from Tata Motors Limited. The com-pany was selected through an inter-national competitive bidding aimed at increased participation. Tata Motors won the tender and will now supply the Electric Vehicles (EVs) in two phases – first 500 e-cars will be supplied to EESL in November 2017 and the rest 9,500 EVs will be delivered in the second phase.

The tender floated by EESL is the world’s largest single electric vehicle procurement. Three leading manufac-turers – Tata Motors Limited, Mahin-dra & Mahindra (M&M) and Nissan participated in the tender and the bids for TATA Motors Limited and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) were opened.

EESL is driven by the objective of

facilitating faster adoption of disruptive technology solutions while balancing economic development and environ-mental sustainability. With this specific initiative EESL seeks to create the market for electric vehicles, a technol-ogy which is poised to boost e-mobility in the country; through its unique busi-ness model of aggregation of demand and bulk procurement. EESL is seek-ing to leverage the immense potential of replacement of existing vehicles in the government departments for initial demand aggregation.

Tata Motor Limited quoted the low-est price of Rs. 10.16 Lakh exclusive of GST in the competitive bidding. The vehicle will be provided to EESL for Rs. 11.2 Lakh which will be inclusive of GST and comprehensive 5 year war-ranty which is 25 % below the current retail price of a similar e car with 3 year warranty.

EESL’s EV programme is a compre-hensive solution to facilitate adop-tion of the disruptive technology in the country. Along with procurement of 10,000 EVs through international competitive bidding, EESL will also identify a service provider agency. This agency, also appointed through competitive bidding, will carry out

end-to-end fleet management of the procured vehicles for the concerned government customer. Apart from continuing to aggregate demand, EESL will also be responsible such as co-ordination between appointed agencies, monitoring and supervision, reporting, complaint redressal and payments. These cars will be used to replace the petrol and diesel cars used by Government and its agencies over a 3-4 year period. The total number of vehicles used by the Government and its agencies is estimated to be 5 lakhs.

As per the report published in May 2017 by Niti Aayog, making India’s passenger mobility shared, electric, and connected can cut its energy demand by 64% and carbon emissions by 37% in 2030. This would result in a reduction of 156 Mtoe in diesel and petrol consumption for that year & at USD 52/bbl of crude, this would imply a net savings of roughly Rs 3.9 lakh crore in 2030. The shift to EVs through this programme will reduce dependence on oil imports and pro-mote power capacity addition in India thereby enhancing energy security of the country and will also lead to reduction in GHG emissions from the transport sector.

EESL to procure 10,000 Electric Vehicles from TATA Motors

El Tender awarded through an International Competitive Bidl Electric Vehicles to be procured in 2 phases; first 500 cars to be on road by November 2017

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

he government will buy 10,000 electric sedans through state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. in its first step toward making all cars electric by

2030. Tata Motors Ltd. and Mahindra and Mahindra will supply 500 cars in the first phase. “India not only needs to consume green, but also generate green. That would require enough electric vehicle manufacturers in the

country,” Sharma said. “Right now, there is just Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra. We need global majors to come in as well so that consumers have a choice.”

ABB India is talks with original equipment makers to supply the elec-tric vehicle charging infrastructure.

“If you are generating and consuming green power, the cost for the infrastructure is going to be very competitive.”

-Sharma said.

RENEWABLE PUSH-

The electric vehicle push ties up with the government’s plan to have a solar power capacity of

100 gigawatts by 2022. The target is to reduce oil imports, the biggest contributor to India’s trade deficit. ABB India sees an opportunity. “Currently, there is just 16 GW of solar power on

the ground. We support our custom-ers with solar invertors. We happen to have the largest share of the market. We help the customers to connect the solar farms to the grid,” said Sharma.

The company is implementing Adani Group’s Kamuthi Solar Power Project, a 648-megawatt solar farm spread over 1,200 acres. ABB is sup-plying solar inverters, automation and grid connection for that project.

The recent fall in solar power tariffs is not much of a concern for ABB. Grid parity should be reached sooner than later when prices of generating one unit with thermal power will be close to the cost of renewable energy, Sharma said.

“That’s where you have a tipping point where renewable energy becomes viable. And that’s where you see the long-term energy players are consolidating. We have not seen any let up in investments.”

-Sharma said.

There are some adjustments, especially in wind generation, due to a slowdown triggered by regulatory changes, he said.

Source: BloombergQuint

ABB India Submits Bid For 4,500 Electric Vehicle Charging StationsThe Indian arm of Swiss power equipment and robotics company ABB has submitted a bid to provide 4,500 charging points as part of the government’s tender to procure electric vehicles to push cleaner transport.

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“We already provide electric vehicle charging in-frastructure in some of the European cities,” Sanjeev Sharma, MD of ABB India, told BloombergQuint in an interview on the sidelines India Economic Summit 2017 of the World Economic Forum in New Delhi.


ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Mahindra Gets Order for 4,000 Electric Cars from ESSL

nergy Efficiency Services (ESSL) had awarded Tata Motors a whooping Rs. 1120 Crore order for the supply of 10,000 electric vehicles last week. Now,

it has been learnt that the state-run agency has placed an offer before the rival Mahindra & Mahindra to pro-vide 40 percent of the total order if it matches the bid of Tata Motors. ESSL had released the global tender for 10,000 electric vehicles in August to replace five lakh petrol and diesel cars used by the government over three to four years in the ministry of power, coal, new and renewable energy.

“We expect the e-vehicles to start coming in by middle of November this year,“ Kumar said.

Source:Autoportal

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“Following due procedure, we have written to Mahindra today, asking them to match Tatas’ bid,“ Saurabh Kumar, MD at Energy Efficiency Services (EESL), said. “If they agree, 40% of the order will go to Mahindra,“ he told ET.

ESSL has given a week’s time to Mahindra to respond as on this basis, the letters of award will be given to the companies. “If they don’t respond in a week, we will send them a reminder,“ Kumar said. “By the middle of this month we should be able to close the deal.“ Tata Motors might not be able to process the entire order of 10,000 electric vehicles if Mahindra decides to lower down its quoted price as then it would be able to retail only 6,000 cars. In the first phase of the procurement, EESL will purchase 500 electric vehicles, while the remaining order will be procured in a second phase.

Tata Motors bagged the order as it quoted the lowest bid of Rs. 10.20 Lakhs per unit, excluding goods and service tax (GST). The ESSL would have to pay Rs. 11.20 Lakhs for one electric car including GST and a comprehensive five-year warranty.

Currently, Mahindra has a fair chance to grab the 40 percent of the total order if it matches Tata’s lowest bidding. The company was the second lowest bidder with quote of Rs. 13 Lakhs for each electric vehicle.

CHECKOUT THE RECENTLY LAUNCHED MAHINDRA TUV300 T10 VARIANT !!!

The company was planning to bring-

10,000 vehicles on the road in Delhi-NCR within the next seven to eight months.


ELECTRIC VEHICLES

ABB powers e-mobility with launch of first 150-350 kW high power chargerAs it continues to roll out high impact Electric Vehicle charging solutions worldwide, pioneering technology provider ABB will launch its new Terra HP High Power Charge system at EVS30 in Stuttgart.

ith the global number of electric vehicles on the road rising to 2 million in 2016*, the demand for powerful and energy efficient vehicle charging stations is ever increasing.

From Stand 43, Hall 1 at the Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition (EVS30) in Stuttgart from 9-11 October, ABB will showcase its newest EV charg-ing solution, the Terra HP, the first 150-350 kW product on the market.

Ideally suited for use at highway rest stops and petrol stations, Terra HP’s ultra-high current has the capacity to charge both 400 V and 800 V cars at full power.

The 375 A output single power cabinet can charge a 400 V car at full 150 kW continuously. The addi-tion of Dynamic DC power sharing

technology, allows a two-power cabinet charging system to charge a couple of EVs simultaneously, with up to 350 kW and 500 A, while dynamically optimizing the available grid connection and the power delivery to the two vehicles. Additional power cabinets and charge posts can be added after installation, delivering a cost-effec-tive and future-proof solution for expandable charge points that can grow as the EV base grows.

To further improve perfor-mance, Terra HP delivers the highest uptime due to redundancy on power and communication, and individually cooled charging cables. Having proven its paces in numerous commercial electric bus field installations, the power cabi-net is also extremely reliable. For charging operators, Terra HP pro-

vides the additional benefit of ABB Ability™ Connected Services, which deliver enhanced functional-ity, including the ability to easily connect chargers to back offices, payment platforms or smart grids systems. More importantly, remote diagnostics, repair and over-the-air software updates, minimize down-time and keep running costs low.

Terra HP delivers a number of additional benefits for consumers, including an intuitive, easy to use touchscreen display and multiple payment options. ABB has pro-vided charging solutions as part of its drive to promote sustainable mobility since 2010 and has sold more than 6,000 cloud connected DC fast-chargers around the world for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Source: International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook

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Commenting on the launch Frank Mühlon, Head of ABB’s Global Business for Electric Vehicle Charging, said: “We are committed to supporting the expansion of electric ve-hicle charging systems across the globe to drive cleaner environments. Creating innovative state-of-the-art and energy efficient solutions which are scalable to expand and flex with our customers’ needs is at the heart of ABB’s philosophy.”


ELECTRIC VEHICLES

India needs large lithium-ion battery plants for EVs push

he Niti Aayog member said that at present lithium-ion battery is not manufactured in India and therefore the country has to depend on

imports from Japan or China.However, he said the “quality” of

imports “would be questionable”.As the end goal of EVs is to fight

pollution, Saraswat said when the country shifts to such vehicles, the power must be from renewable sourc-es of energy such as solar or wind.

The former DRDO chief also point-ed out that the country would need to set up infrastructure for charging EVs.

“Even petrol pumps should be equipped with charging stations and

we will have to use renewable solar energy or bio-fuels for charging of EVs,” he said.

For setting up electric vehicles charging stations, Saraswat said, “We will also have to create electric distribu-tion company and also a regulatory framework would have to be followed.”

To develop low-cost lithium-ion batteries in India, he said, efforts are being made to remodel the battery made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) so that it can be used in e-vehicles. “But, it will take time to scale up production of battery made by ISRO.”

Saraswat’s statement assumes sig-nificance as the cabinet secretariat has

shifted the electric vehicles programme to Niti Aayog from the department of heavy industries.

The government is aggressively try-ing to push the sales and production of electric vehicles in the country through schemes such as FAME India.

State-run Energy Efficiency Ser-vices Ltd (EESL) last month had said it will procure 10,000 electric cars.

According to Piyush Goyal, who held power portfolio till recently, India aims to become 100 per cent e-vehicle nation by 2030. Union transport minis-ter Nitin Gadkari has asked automobile manufacturers in the country to go for eco-friendly alternative fuels, else he would ‘bulldoze’ them.

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India is required to set up large lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) manufacturing plants to become a global player in electric vehicles (EVs) technology market, Niti Aayog member V K Saraswat has said. As the government is looking to give a major push to use of EVs, the main challenge would be in reducing the cost of lithium-ion battery used in such vehicles. India is looking at having an all-electric car fleet by 2030 with an express objective of lowering the fuel im-port bill and running cost of vehicles.“To become a global player in electric vehicles technology, we will have to increase value addition,” Saraswat told PTI. He said that just being an assembler of parts will not help and there is a need to “set up large lithium-ion batteries manufacturing plants in India”.

“We should move towards alternative fuel… I am going to do this, whether you like it or not. And I am not going to ask you. I will bulldoze it. For pollution, for imports, my ideas are crystal clear… The government has a crystal-clear policy to reduce imports and curb pollution,” Gadkari had said.

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co executive vice- president Daniele Schillaci had also recently pointed out that by 2025, the cost of traditional engine car and electric vehicle car will be almost the same.

“2025 will be the tipping point, and probably after that, the growth of sales of electric vehicles will be strong,” the top executive predicted.

Source: PTI


ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Fortum and NBCC agree on developing electric vehicle charging infrastructure across India

Fortum signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NBCC for developing electric vehicle charging infrastructure across India. The agreement will cover all major activities in value chain from planning and designing to making investment and operating the charging infrastructure using cloud based system. NBCC (India) Limited is a blue-chip Government of India Navratna Enterprise under the Ministry of Urban Development.

As a first step, Fortum has installed one 22 KW AC charger as a pilot in NBCC premises in New Delhi, which shall be operated using Fortum’s cloud-based system. The charging station was inaugurated by Finland’s Minister for Housing, Energy and the Environment, Mr. Kimmo Tiilikainen in presence of Dr. Anoop Kumar Mittal, Chairman cum Managing Director, NBCC.

“India is one of the fastest grow-ing economies in the world. While the rapid growth puts strain on the environment, it also opens extensive opportunities. Tech-nological expertise of Finnish companies can be leveraged to support the sustainable devel-opment of Indian economy and energy sector. I am really happy to see Finnish companies bringing in their best technology and solu-tions to India”, Minister Kimmo Tiilikainen said.

“India is an important market for us. Charging solutions with reliable hardware and software as well as responsive customer sup-port are crucial to the end-user experience. We have developed Fortum Charge & Drive to meet these demands, paving the way for the more widespread and efficient use of electric vehicles,” Mr. Arto Räty, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs & Communications, Fortum Corporation said.

India has currently only about 6,000 electric cars. Government of India has target to have only e-vehicles by 2030. Fortum has ventured in India making it the first country outside Europe in the Charge & Drive space. The plans include developing charging infrastructure along with the cloud based system (SAAS). Starting with this pilot in New Delhi, Charge & Drive plan to roll out more than 150 charging stations over a period of next 12–18 months.

Source: Fortum Corporation


inkoSolar’s record-breaking multi-crystalline silicon solar cell was manufactured on a high quality boron doped mc-Si substrate. Advanced texturing, passivation and

anti-LID technologies were inte-grated into the passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) structure to achieve the new 22.04% world record. The new world record was independently confirmed by Fraunhofer ISE Ger-many and broke JinkoSolar’s previous record of 21.63% one year ago.

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“This is the first time that conversion efficiency for P-type mc-Si PERC cells exceeded the 22% efficiency mark which I believe will serve as a guideline developing higher efficiency products. The entire manufac-turing chain is comprised of low-cost industrial processes and will be gradually trans-ferred into mass production. Leveraging our high-efficiency solar cells, we will continue to develop advanced manufactur-ing techniques to reduce the cost of PV products.”

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (the “Company,” or “JinkoSolar”), a global leader in the solar PV industry, today announced that its practical sized (245.83cm2) P-type multi-crystalline silicon solar cells reached the world’s high-est conversion efficiency of 22.04%. It is the second time that JinkoSolar has broken this world record since October 2016.

JinkoSolar P-type Multi-crystalline Silicon Solar Cells Achieve New World Record in Conversion Efficiency Again

TECHNOLOGY

Dr. Jin Hao, Vice President

JinkoSolar


TECHNOLOGY

Trina Solar Rated Top Bankable Module Supplier by Bloomberg

Trina Solar Limited (“Trina Solar” or the “company”), a global leader in photovoltaic (“PV”) modules, solutions, and services, has received a top rating in the latest module bankability report, published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). After having obtained the top spot among all its industry peers in the previous 2016 report, Trina Solar has now once again been rated bankable by 100% of the banks, EPCs, consultants and industry experts participating in the BNEF survey.

or its global module bankability report, Bloomberg New Energy Finance asked banks, EPCs, independent power producers and independent technical due dili-gence firms which PV module brands they considered bankable. Quoting from BNEF’s definition, ‘bankable’ means the willingness of a bank to provide a non-

recourse loan for a project that uses a specific PV module brand. Banks typically decide whether to make a loan to a PV project if they feel comfortable with the product quality of modules and if the manufacturer is financially healthy, so that it can honor the product warranty. Respondents to this latest survey hold approximately 15GW of financed or owned capacity in PV projects, and more than 100GW under inspection by technical consulting companies.

F“This outstanding result confirms Trina Solar’s permanent endeavor in the fields of product quality and reliability, top performance, innovation and solid finan-cial management,” said Rongfang Yin, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at Trina Solar. “We are very proud to be hold-ing the top spot in this renowned BNEF industry report, especially because this rating has come from banks, investors and other parties deeply involved in PV project financing.” Rongfang Yin continued, “It is reassuring to see that consistency pays off in the long run, creating trust in Trina Solar and leaving some premium-brand competitors behind in terms of bankability rating.”

Reflecting the confidence in Trina Solar’s bankability, the latest BNEF report also reveals that Trina Solar holds the largest volume in debt-financed projects among all c-Si module manufacturers, as tracked by the BNEF desktop, with approximately 3GW of its modules installed in such PV power plants around the globe.

JinkoSolar Partners with Enphase Energy to Create Plug and Play AC ModuleJinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (“JinkoSolar”), a global leader in the photovoltaic (PV) industry, today an-nounced its new Eagle AC, an integrated product featuring JinkoSolar’s high efficiency monocrystalline PERC PV module and the IQ6 Microinvter from Enphase Energy Inc.

y integrating the Enphase IQ6 Microinverter onto the backsheet of its PV module, JinkoSolar presents residential installers with a valuable proposition. The Eagle AC simplifies logistics, as install-

ers no longer need to stock, transport, carry, and install separate microinverters onto the roof, which significantly reduces installation time. Once installed on the roof, the installer simply pulls the microinverter into its elevated installed position, which creates a 15 millimeter air gap and ensures sufficient air-flow and cooling. The partnership provides a complete AC solution for a safe solar installation. Customers can also monitor the Eagle AC’s performance through Enphase’s Enlighten app.

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“We are excited to work with Enphase on the Eagle AC, as Enphase’s microinverters already have broad appeal in the market,” said Nigel Cockroft, General Manager of JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. “The Eagle AC is the logical next step in the evolution of residen-tial solar, and we are pleased to offer it to our customers. More information about the Eagle AC can be provided at JinkoSolar’s booth #3965 during Solar Power International.”

“JinkoSolar’s scale, financial strength, and manufacturing expertise make it an excellent partner to build an Enphase Energized™ AC module,” said Badri Kothandaraman, Enphase Chief Operating Officer, “Pairing the #1 global module manufac-turer with the #1 global microinverter manufacturer creates a winning combination.”

Highly bankable: 455 MWp of Trina Solar’s field-proven utility-scale Tallmax modules have recently commenced operations in this PV park in Andhra Pradesh, India.


PROINSO partners with OMRON to launch TURNSOLE, the fully-integrated single axis solar tracking system

ROINSO, the leading global distributor, integra-tor and technology company in the solar market, has partnered with the Japanese conglomer-ate OMRON to develop a fully integrated solar tracking system. Leveraging significant combined

experience in tracker development and power electronics, TURNSOLE Powered by OMRON ensures an optimised performance focused on longevity and reliability. As the so-lar tracker market has matured over the past decade there is a growing demand for fully integrated tracking solutions.

Leveraging over 10 years of tracker experience and over 2.7 GW of PV footprint, TURNSOLE has been developed in strategic partnership. OMRON (TSE: OMRON Corp) the Japanese conglomerate is the world leader in power electronics and #1 PV inverter manufacturer in Japan. OMRONs expertise in power electronics was utilised in synergy for development of the state-of-art control system.

P “Solar trackers have demonstrated a strong technological advancement in the recent years, with power electronic playing an ever increasing role. We are excited about strengthening our posi-tion in the global PV market with this new product and look forward to the next steps of ourlong-term strategic partnership with PROINSO.”, noted Akira Enami, Deputy General Manager at OMRON.

“PROINSO recognised the benefits of setting up manufacturing operations in India and two-years ago relocated its structures manufacturing in line with PM Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” plan. The tracker market is expected to exceed USD 7billion by 2023 with a CAGR of over 17%, so there is a tremendous opportunity in this market segment. We are confident that our unrivalled global distribution and Qualified Installer Network coupled with strategic partnerships will help us reach a primary position in this PV market segment by 2020.” -said Kunal Chandra, PROINSO’s MD.

TURNSOLE Powered by OMRON, is fully integrated, using world-class solar PV components (modules, inverters, BOS) with horizontal single axis solar tracker at its core. TURNSOLE offers up to 25% increase in energy production (compared to fixed struc-ture installations), while reducing installation and maintenance costs. With PROINSO’s Qualified Installer Network offered to customers as an added-value service, TURNSOLE Powered by OMRON is the ultimate plug-and-play tracking system.

Jolywood N-type Bifacial Module, Breakthrough for Investment on PV Market in India

ccording to the agreement, for this time, Jolywood offered 72-cell N-type Bifacial Mono Transparent Modules with efficiency of 370W. It is the first time that India has such a great scale of application of N-type

Bifacial Solar Products, which can bring higher investment return comparing to the conventional PV products. India has become one of the most popular overseas markets for Chinese PV enterprises. With the advantageous location and abundant solar radiation resources, the Indian Market has great opportunities for renewable energy, including solar. Mr. Modi, the Prime Minister of India, gave a broader proposal about achieving 100GW solar installation by 2022, in order to solve the power demand of over 100 million people in the countryside. This bid plan could be an important catalyst for the growing of Indian PV Industry. International Energy Agency (IEA) reported the annual growth of electricity demand in India Market would be increased by 5%, meaning triple-size electricity system will be required by 2040. Modi showed his confidence in the solar energy being the key solution for power consumption issue in India, and released an ambitious solar plan right after he took office.

A Mr. Ankur commented, “N-Bifacial Product can bring over 20% additional generation gain, which can highly increase the IRR of solar plant. It’s not only a solution to lower the LCOE, but also a brand new solution can deal with the electricity shortage in India. Really worth trying, that’s why Jolywood is our first choice this time.”

“The cooperation with ACME is only our first step in India Market,” said Mr. Liu Yong. “Double-side generation, zero LID, lower working temperature, with these features, Jolywood N-pert Products are very competitive for a high temperature environment such as India. We truly believe that our products can bring 10% or even more additional power for every solar plant, to lower the LCOE and also increase the IRR. We are looking forward to having a further cooperation with ACME, working together to expand more application of N-pert products, not only to bring lower LCOE and higher IRR for the investors, but also to provide affordable energy for India Market.”

Ankur also showed, with confidence and expectation for future cooperation, that the two parties may have complementary advantages in power plant development.

Jolywood (Taizhou) Solar Technology Co., Ltd (‘Jolywood’) entered into an agreement with ACME Clean-tech Solutions Private Ltd. (‘ACME’), a renewable energy developer in India, to supply Jolywood N-type High-efficiency Bifacial Mono-crystalline Solar Modules. This not only marks the first large-scale use of N-type Bifacial Solar Products in India, but also a remarkable milestone for Jolywood to start an expanding. Mr. Lin Jianwei, the chairman of Jolywood Group, Mr. Liu Yong, the general manager of Jolywood Solar, and Mr. Ankur, CSO of ACME, attended this signing ceremony.

TECHNOLOGY


eraeus will also establish dedicated resources in its engi-neering and technol-ogy center in Singa-pore, to better tailor and further speed

up customization of silver pastes for Indian cell manufacturers. Furthermore, Heraeus will offer its industry recog-nized cell optimization consulting to its Indian customers. The cell optimization consultancy aims to provide world class technical expertise to Indian manufac-turers so that they can compete with the best in the world and turn the “Make In India” vision to reality.

Heraeus specializes in silver metal-lization paste production and offers products for all solar cell architectures and photovoltaic technologies, ranging from n-type, black silicon and PERC to double printing and knotless screen. Heraeus Photovoltaics holds several efficiency records in these technolo-gies and is constantly increasing the efficiencies of its products with photo-

voltaic experts in its five R&D centers all around the world. India’s govern-ment has determined the energy sector as one of their main focus in the next 15 years plan. Energy will be one of the driving forces for the country’s objec-tive to build a modern industrialized economy, to develop its rural areas and to triple its GDP by 2035.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi,

announced the goal to boost photo-voltaic installations from currently 12.5 gigawatts (GW) to 100 GW by 2022. This corresponds to the capacity of around 100 nuclear power plants in just over five years. India’s long term goal by 2040 is to achieve 340 GW by renew-able energies; nearly four times as much of current global PV installations in the whole year of 2017 (estimated 95 GW).

Heraeus launches customer initiatives to boost Indian Photovoltaics Industry

JinkoSolar Ranked as Top Solar Brand Used in Debt- Financed Projects and Most “Bankable” PV Manufacturer by Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Heraeus Photovoltaics, a provider of technology solutions for the renewable energy industry launched major local customer initiatives to support an efficiency boost of the Indian Photovoltaic industry. With the establishment of dedicated local sales team in India, Heraeus will intensify its customer relationship and provide secure supply chain to its customers.

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (“JinkoSolar” or the “Company”) (NYSE: JKS), a global leader in the photovoltaic (PV) industry, today announced that, in addition to being ranked as a top solar brand in debt financed projects, it was named the most “bankable” PV manufacturer by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) among 52 module brands.

H

TECHNOLOGY

“Energy production from Photovoltaic is already the cheapest way to produce electricity in the world and the prices will continue to decrease. Photovoltaics, thus offers great opportunities for India to help solving the very strong growth in energy demand. This however requires a good and technologically leading partner for the Indian solar market. Heraeus is convinced that it can be this partner,” said Andreas Liebheit, President of Heraeus Photovoltaics.

Energy demand in India is set to grow very strongly by 4.2 percent per year and thus double until 2035. That’s faster than that of all major economies in the world. With more than 2,800 hours of sunshine annually, more than 300 sunny days a year and average 1.9 kWh/m² global radiation, solar power has an incredibly high potential for India’s efficiency performance.

Source:ANI

he rankings are based on BNEF’s global survey to key PV stakehold-ers on which module brands used in projects are most likely to ob-tain non-recourse debt financing from commercial banks. Survey

respondents include banks, technical consul-tants, EPCs, and independent power producers (IPPs) from all around the world. Considering product quality, long term reliability, field de-ployment performance, and the manufacturer’s financial strength, 100% of survey respondents considered JinkoSolar as bankable. Align-ing with JinkoSolar’s high bankability score, BNEF’s database also shows that projects using JinkoSolar’s modules has secured more debt financing than any other brand since July 2015.

T “The result of this survey confirms that Jinko-Solar is the most preferred brand by banks, the top brand that industry players are most willing to use in their projects, and also the top brand that source of finances are most willing to fund,” said Kangping Chen, CEO of

JinkoSolar. “We maintained our leading posi-tion as the largest manufacturer of PV modules

in the world by delivering 4.9GW module in the first half of 2017 thanks to our continuous endeavors in

quality and technology improvements. We will continue invest in quality to assure delivery of power and performance in the field with a higher level of product quality and reliability as we pursue further growth both in established markets and emerging ones.”


ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

Commissioning of Rooftop Solar Power Plant at Kaeser Compressors

Kaeser Compressors India Private Limited, a subsidiary of global leader, supplier of compressors and compressed air products KAESER KOMPRESSORENSE, Germany announced commissioning of 120kWp captive Rooftop Solar PV power plant at their state of the art manufacturing facility at Pune in state of Maharashtra.

Solar power plant installation at our manufacturing unit portraits our company’s philosophy of energy efficiency, energy savings and also reflects our long term commitment towards Clean, Green and sustainable environment.

- Mr. Nitin Yadwad, General Manager,

Kaeser Compressor India

he whole concept of solar installation was to help Kaeser Compressors in energy sav-ings and reduce its dependency on the grid energy, although the available roof space at Kaeser plant was more compared to the installed capacity, Enerparc with its team of

expert engineer’s carried a detailed capacity analysis in terms of hourly and daily load consumption of the factory and narrowed to a capacity number of 120kWp with net metering, so that the excess power generated during the weekly off days can be exported back to the MSEDCL grid thus giving Kaeser Compressor, further benefit in addition to savings in energy tariffs.

Overall the solar plant will generate approximately 200 MWh annually and help displacing 175 tons of Carbon emission.

T


decision in this regard was taken in a meeting of New and Renewable Energy Department, chaired by the Chief Minister Manohar Lal

Khattar here. The CM also sanctioned installation of roof-top solar power plants on the buildings of 110 commu-nity health centres and equal number of primary health centres.

Directing the department to en-sure maximum utilisation of the green energy, Khattar asked the officials to identify blocks other than the dark zones and install solar water pumps in phased manner. He directed the department to initially install 25,000 solar water pumps and gradually increased this number to one lakh, an official release said. The department had requested to the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for allocation of 20,000 solar pumps to the state for the financial year 2017-18. In the first phase, during the year 2016-17, as many as 750 solar water pumps of two horsepower (HP) capac-ity (surface and submersible) and 5HP (submersible) were to be installed in

the Shalawas block of Jhajjar dis-trict and in other 23 safe blocks in terms of ground water exploitation in other districts. The work order for 750 pumps has already been issued by the concerned districts for the first phase and these pumps have been received at sites out of which 700 pumps have already been installed and commis-sioned whereas remaining are under installation. During the second phase to be implemented in the year 2017-18, 2,300 systems of 2HP to 10HP capacity would be installed for which e-tenders have already been invited.

The CM directed the power depart-ment to ensure the availability of net metres, billing through software on net consumption within a week under the solar rooftop programmes. The Union Ministry of New and Renew-able Energy in a review meeting held recently has considered Haryana as the leading states in the solar roof top programme. He said that he would soon convene a meeting of concerned departments regarding the setting up of Solar Park with 500 MW capacity in the state.

The solar park is to be developed by the SUN Haryana, a joint venture of Haryana State Industrial and Infra-structural Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and Haryana Power Genera-tion Corporation Limited (HPGCL).

It was informed in the meeting that survey of all government buildings in the state has been completed for the installation of rooftop solar plants so as to meet their power requirement for daily use. The department has prepared a scheme to provide solar toilet lamps to the beneficiaries at a very nominal cost of 10 per cent of the total cost by providing 90 per cent state subsidy or funds under Corpo-rate Social Responsibility (CSR) from various organisations to meet the light requirement in the toilets constructed under Swachh Bharat Mission. Source: PTI

Haryana aim to install one lakh new solar water pumpsThe Haryana government said it has decided to install one lakh new solar water pumps in the state for irrigation purpose, of which 25,000 would be set up by the next year.

AManohar Lal Khattar, CM, Haryana

ROOFTOP & OFFGRID

Azure Roof Power to Electrify Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Facilities Across 5 StatesAzure Power, a leading independent solar power producer in India, announced that it has won a 1.3 MW solar rooftop project in an auction conducted by NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

zure Power will provide power for 25 years to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Gov-ernment of India facili-ties in the states and

union territories of Delhi, Puduch-erry, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam. The power will be sold at a tariff range of INR 3.19 – 4.11 (~US$ 0.05- 0.06) per kWh based on location. In addition, Azure Power qualifies for a capital incentive which is expected to result in a weighted average levelized tariff of INR 5.29 (~US$0.08) per kWh.

Azure Roof Power offers superior rooftop solar power solutions for commercial, industrial, government, and institutional customers in cities

across India to lower their energy bill and meet their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. With over 150 MWs of high qual-ity, operating and committed solar assets across 20 states, Azure Roof Power has one of the largest rooftop portfolios in the country. Azure Roof Power has a well-diversified cus-tomer base with majority portfolio contracted with Government of India backed entities. Azure Roof Power customers include large commercial real estate companies, a leading global chain of premium hotels, dis-tribution companies in smart cities, warehouses, Delhi Metro Rail Cor-poration, Indian Railways, a Delhi water utility company and various Government of India Ministries.

A Mr. Inderpreet Wadhwa, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Azure Power said, “Azure Roof Power offers tremendous value to our custom-

ers across various segments. We are pleased to announce our latest win with NVVN to electrify Ministry of Health and Family Welfare facili-ties across five states. With this win, we have once again demonstrated our strong

project development capabilities and are delighted to make this contribution towards the realization of our Hon’ble Prime Minister’s commitment towards clean and green energy, through solar power generation.”


Adobe Bengaluru Campus Fulfills 100% of its Power Demand Through Renewable Energy

Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj Airport will soon go solar

With this, Adobe furthers its commitment towards implementing best practices to drive environmental sustainability.

Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj Airport will soon switch over to solar energy.The power will be sourced from a plant whose foundation stone was laid.

dobe India, announced that its Bengaluru campus has become among the first in the state of Karnataka to meet 100 percent of its power consumption requirements through renewable energy. As part of this initiative, Adobe has signed a 2.5 MW grid-scale solar

power purchase agreement (PPA) with CleanMax Solar to operate off-site solar farms located in the Tumkur and Bel-lary districts of Karnataka. Covering the company’s Benga-luru campus’ annual energy demand, the farms will gener-ate 3750 MWh of solar power supply per year, which will go directly into the electricity distribution grid and become a part of the pool of energy that ultimately provides power across Bengaluru and other parts of the state.

he plant will have capacity to generate one megawatt (MW) power and it will help the airport save around Rs 80 lakh every year on its electricity cost.

While laying the foundation stone for the solar plant, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan also hoisted the national flag on the newly in-stalled 100-feet high mast, which will remain illuminated for 24-hours, in the campus of Raja Bhoj Airport.“Airports Authority of India (AAI) is going to install the solar plant with the help of Madhya Pradesh Energy Development Corporation.

Chief Minister said that AAI Chairman Gururprasad Mohapatra, who was present in the programme, has informed him that four new flights are to be

launched soon from Raja Bhoj Airport.“The airports in Mumbai and Delhi are overburdened.

We have to hover around the airport in these cities to get the permission for landing. But, the capacity of Raja Bhoj Airport is under utilised.

Chouhan said “I was informed by AAI chairman that four flights are going to be started soon from here.All the facilities are available to develop the airports at Bhopal and Indore as international air-ports. We have all the facilities required for an international airport at Bhopal and Indore. State government is ready to extend every possible support. I spoke to AAI chairman and will also talk to the minister (civil aviation) to start interna-tional flights from Bhopal and Indore.”

Madhya Pradesh Energy Development Corp. chairman Vijendra Singh Sisodiya later told PTI that electricity used in almost entire outer part of the airport would come from these solar panels. The work of installing the solar panels would be completed within next three months.

A T

Commenting on the announcement, Sanjeev Sethi, Director, Global Workplace Solutions, Adobe India said, “At Adobe India, we stand committed to building workplaces that are resource-efficient

and environment-conservative. Today, we are excited to further our commitment to

sustainability by announcing that our Bengaluru campus now meets 100 percent of its power consumption require-ments through renewable energy. The solar power gener-ated from this initiative will contribute towards cleaning up local air and lowering emissions in the environment where our employees live and we do business. With this initiative, we at Adobe are happy to play a role in ensuring that the city of Bengaluru and the state of Karnataka burn less coal for their local power needs, and enabling India’s goal of transi-tioning to renewable energy.”

With over 5,200 employees in India, Adobe has implemented a wide range of activities to further its sustainability charter. The com-

pany’s three campuses across Bengaluru and Noida have been certified as ‘Gold’ Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) buildings by U.S. Green Building Council.

To ensure environment-friendly transportation facilities for employees, Adobe has also imple-mented green fleet of electric cars across its

campuses. The company has also adopted several green practices across its campuses – including imple-mentation of LED lighting, use of reusable beverage cups, and following a waste reduction policy. Adobe’s sustainability practices have helped the company reduce water and power consumption year on year, despite fast expanding operations in India and steady growth in employee headcount.

“This will generate 1 MW of electricity. Use of renewable solar energy will save our environ-ment. This will also cut the annual electricity cost of the airport by around Rs 80 lakh,”

Mr. Chouhan said while addressing the programme. Chouhan also expressed happiness over installation of 100-feet tall mast for national flag. National flag signifies a sense of patriotism and self-

respect. The tricolour reminds us of our revolutionaries, who

sacrificed their lives for a free country.”

Mr. Gururprasad Mohapatra,

Chairman, AAI

Source: PTI

ROOFTOP & OFFGRID


Lightway


Mumbai-based rooftop solar platform Oorjan Cleantech Pvt Ltd has raised $450,000 (Rs 2.9 crore) in seed funding led by online venture capital firm Globevestor, a media statement said.

group of senior directors from banks and financial services companies, including Sayandev Chakravartti, Aditya Sharma, Nisha Pillai and Mayur Bhat,

also participated in the round.

“There is no doubt that solar is the way of the future. India is witness-ing a joining of forces and commit-ment from government, industry, manufacturers and entrepreneurs, which has brought momentum to the sector and makes now a great time to invest in it.”

- Ankur Shrivastava, partner and co-founder, Globevestor

Oorjan was founded in November 2014 by IIT Bombay alumni Roli Gupta and Gautam Das. Prior to

starting up, Gupta worked as business development manager at US-based solar products manufacturer AREVA Solar, while Das earlier worked at Citibank.

The company said it will use the funds to scale operations, augment sales ef-forts, and further build its technology advantage.

“The current fundraise will enable us to invest in making the customer experience seamless. We’re building a core technology moat across lead generation, pre-sales experience, smart CRM and engagement, as well as in leveraging solar data at scale,” IIT Bombay alumni Roli Gupta said in the statement.

A

The company’s integrated, managed platform brings together all stakeholders of rooftop solar photovoltaic systems, including suppliers, installers and financiers. It also offers consumers a single space to interface with the stakeholders. Oorjan oversees the design, installation, financing, approvals, ongoing monitor-ing, and maintenance of a solar system for its customers.It already has operations in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Chennai and claims to have completed around 70 projects till date. Oorjan estimates revenues for FY2017-18 at Rs 15 crore.US-based Globevestor operates a hybrid of micro-funds and an online platform to invest in startups in the US and India. In past three years, Globevestor has made 32 early-stage investments across diverse sectors, of which 21 are based in India. Some of its investments include self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar, ed-tech firm Flintobox, test preparation platform OnlineTyari, financial products marketplace Rubique Finance, and ed-tech startup Springboard to name a few.The renewable energy space in India has witnessed a lot of ac-tivity. In July this year, Warburg Pincus had invested up to $100 million (Rs 645 crore) in Mumbai-based rooftop solar projects developer CleanMax Enviro Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd.In March, Oriano Solar, a Mumbai-based startup that special-ises in turnkey solar solutions, raised Series A funding worth $3 million (around Rs 20 crore) from the Samridhi Fund, which is managed by SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd, a wholly-owned subsid-iary of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private-sec-tor investment arm, has emerged as a large investor in the space. Last year, it had invested $125 million in Hero Future Energies. In May this year, IFC said it plans to invest $40 million (Rs 260 crore) in Tata Cleantech Pvt. Ltd. It has also previously provided debt funding to solar energy service provider Azure Power and Actis-backed renewable energy platform Ostro Energy.Some of the world’s biggest pension funds, including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Caisse de dépôt et place-ment du Québec, are also scouting for deals in India’s solar power sector.

Rooftop Solar Startup Oorjan Raises $450K Led By Globevestor

Source: vccircle

ROOFTOP & OFFGRID


YSUN, India’s leading roof-top solar platform focused on providing end to end solar solutions, and GCL System Integration Technology Co. Ltd., a group company of Golden

Concord Holdings Ltd., Hong Kong, a USD 20 billion enterprise engaged in manufacturing of PV material and clean energy equipment, today announced a strategic partnership. The com-panies jointly announced the launch of ‘GCL G-Home rooftop solar kits tailor-made for the Indian market. The companies plan to trans-form the way solar systems are bought and sold today through a combination of high quality and innovative solar products as well as a unique customer experience through first-of-its-kind packaging, delivery, installation, service and consumer financing. ‘GCL G-Home Kits are de-signed with standardized, modular components that speed installation, enhance performance and safety, and are built to last.

GCL, the world’s largest renewable energy company, is synonymous with high quality manu-facturing of solar materials and products and the development, construction and operation of new energy projects. The company has presence in the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and many other areas in the world.

M

Speaking on the newly unveiled partnership, Mr Krishan Mehta, CEO and Country Head GCL India commented, “After a phenomenal response globally, we are really excited to bring these plug & play Solar Kits to a high potential market like India. These kits are specifically designed for home consumers. In MYSUN, who lead the home solar market in India, we found just the right partners to achieve our very ambitious plans for this product line.The products would be mar-keted under the brand G-Home- Powered by MYSUN.”

GCL and MYSUN partner to launch high quality Solar Kits for Indian Homes

l Jointly launch ‘G-Home Powered by MYSUN’ – A packaged retail solar solution in multiple configurations starting with 3kW Grid-Tied as well as Li-Ion storage based Hybrid systems

l A unique customer experience tailored for the residential Indian market

“Keeping our focus on the end consumers, especially the residential consumers across India, we have introduced this unique product in the market. We are committed to redefine the way solar energy is bought and sold in India and bring in the concept of ‘retailisation’ in the solar industry. In We are quite excited to partner with GCL, a global market leader in the solar industry, to offer our home consumers in India advanced technology solar products and a unique customer experience.”

Mr. Gagan Vermani, Founder & CEO,

MYSUN

Exclusively available to be purchased via the online platform www.itsmysun.com, the premium quality ‘G-Home-Powered by MYSUN’ solar kit is a complete and comprehensive packaged singular solution for anyone looking to install rooftop solar PV plant. The Kit provides all the equipment including solar panels, Li-Ion batteries and other necessary accessories including fitments for installing customer rooftop solar power units. ‘G-Home-Powered by MYSUN’ Solar Kits are available in four standard sizes. The kit will also offer options for hybrid solar systems with highly reliable and long life Lithium-Ion batteries and hybrid inverters suitable for the Indian residential consumers looking to use solar power during night hours.MYSUN will facilitate and undertake design, installation, com-missioning and aftersales services and shall be the one point contact for the customers for the lifetime of the system. GCL and MYSUN are of the belief that a retail focused approach would enhance the customer experience by reducing the customer decision making time as well as the installation time. With these kits, the companies would be able to reduce the delivery and installation period for solar systems from about 3 months today to a week or even a few days.

ROOFTOP & OFFGRID


BUSINESS AND FINANCE

IREDA’s Green Masala bond raises Rs 19.5 bln by listing on SGX

Vikram Solar Launches New Monocrystalline Product Line SOMERA

By Gurdip Singh Singapore, - The IREDA, India’s government- owned renewable energy entity has raised Rs 19.5 billion through a five-year Green rupee-denominated bond by listing on the Singapore Exchange.

“We look forward to continue supporting IREDA’s capital raising initiatives in the bond market, which has offered investors an opportunity to participate in the fast growing Indian renewable energy markeT.welcoming the inaugural Green rupee-denominated or Masala bond listing of the IREDA. We are pleased to welcome IREDA’s de-but Green Masala bond, and are encouraged by the strong investor interest it received particularly within Asia.”

Tng Kwee Lian, Head of Debt Capital

Markets at Singapore Exchange (SGX)

ndian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), a government company, raised Rs 19.5 billion (USD 300 million) through a five-year Green rupee-denominated bond, offering an annualised coupon of 7.125 per cent, SGX said in a press release.

IREDA was established in 1987 as a Non-Banking Financial Institution and is a Mini Ratna (Category Â– I) Government of India Enterprise under the administrative control of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

To date, it has financed more than 2,380 renewable energy projects in India.

he new products will help in utility PV cost reductions. These products are equipped with Passivated Emitter Rear Contact Technology (PERC) cells providing high module area efficiency upto 19.05% (for 60 cells) & upto 18.45% (for 72 cells).

Mr. Ivan Saha, CTO and BU Head– Solar Manufacturing, Vikram Solar Limited, stated

“The new modules are suitable for operation under higher system voltage upto 1500 V. They are constructed with high efficiency PERC cells, having extremely Low Light-Induced Degradation and lower temperature coefficients

leading to higher energy yield, compared to other modules. The new monocrystalline mod-ules are conditioned to withstand 2400 Pascal Wind load, 5400 Pascal Snow load and Dynam-ic Wind load, making them the best option even for harsh geographical conditions. Tests have revealed that SOMERA line can offer 5 – 10% higher energy generation output than that of any industry average polycrystalline modules.”

SOMERA Grand Series (72 cell modules ranging from 340 to 365Wp) and SOMERA Prime Series (60 cell modules ranging from 280-310Wp) are products available for the Indian market. SOMERA Grand Ultima Silver Series (72 cell modules rang-ing from 340 to 365Wp), SOMERA Ultima Silver Series and SOMERA Ultima All Black Series (60 cell modules ranging from 280-310Wp) will soon be available for the international market.

I T“IREDA is fully committed to helping achieve Indian Government’s vision of 175 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022,” said Kuljit Singh Popli, Chairman &

Managing Director at IREDA. The Green Masala Bond is a significant milestone for IREDA in this regard, as we embark on the next phase of renewable and sustainable energy led expansion, said Singh. This is another step towards our Honourable Prime Minister’s (Modi) commitment

to the Paris agreement on Climate Change. The overwhelming response to the issue is a testament to the confidence of global investors in IREDA and the Indian renewable sector in general.”

With this new listing, 75 percent of listed Masala bonds by Indian issuers are now listed on SGX. Today, more than 80 per cent of listed offshore bonds by Indian issuers are listed on SGX, raising about USD 66 billion.

Source: PTI Source: dnaindia

The new module line ‘SOMERA’ falls under the Monocrystalline solar PV module category, which is a new addition to the company’s product portfolio. 60 cell (SOMERA Prime series) & 72 cell (SOMERA Grand) series modules in this product line are out on the market post REI.



"This transaction is another example of Mytrah's ability to build our business without diluting shareholder equity. Our story so far has been one of rapid growth enabled by cost effective funding, rigorous project execution and the efficient operation of our portfolio of power generating assets. Attracting an investor of Piramal's stature reaffirms the quality of Mytrah's operating portfolio and the resulting strong, stable and well diversified cash flow it generates. This transaction also simplifies our financial structure, improves trans-parency and provides resources to underpin our future growth."

Mytrah Raises USD 277 Million NCDs From Piramal Group

he NCDs have a 7-year tenor and are invested into Mytrah Energy (India) Private Limited (approximately USD 150 million, unlisted NCDs) and Mytrah Ujjwal Power Private Limited (approximately USD 127 million, NCDs listed on the BSE). The proceeds will be used to replace existing investments from IDFC Alternatives Limited, AION Capital, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, with part of the facility also providing growth capital to the Company.

T - Mr. Ravi Kailas Chairman, Mytrah Energy Ltd.

Mytrah, the

India-based renewable

focused Independent Power

Producer, is pleased to

announce that Piramal Group has

invested approx. USD 277 mn (INR

18 billion) into Mytrah's Indian

subsidiaries in the form

of non-convertible

debentures ("NCDs").



Adani Enterprises to demerge renewable power businessAdani Enterprises on Saturday said that it will demerge the “Renewable Power Undertaking” into Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL).

he company said that the move will result in listing of AGEL on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India. According to a company statement,

the scheme will simplify the business structure providing the shareholders of AEL direct shareholding in AGEL.

“Transaction is expected to unlock the value of renewable power undertaking currently embedded in the value of AEL by eliminating holding company discount and providing financial flexibility for raising capital for sustainable growth of renewable energy business,” the statement said.

The company added that transac-tion contemplated under the scheme is expected to close by the first quarter of 2018.

Source: business-standard

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Reliance Commercial Finance inks agreement with IREDA for Rs 300 crore loanThe company also provides financial assistance for developing infrastructure and other projects targeted towards the government initiatives on renewable energy. Mumbai: Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd on Monday said it has signed an agreement with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) for Rs 300 crore loan.

n a statement, the company said the IREDA loan will be used to lend to renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. The Reliance Commercial Finance is a subsidiary of Reli-ance Capital while IREDA is a central public sector under taking under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.I

“Reliance Commercial Finance Limited is already a strong known name in

the renewable energy funding space,

especially related to solar and wind energy. Our partnership with IREDA opens new opportuni-ties for us to create solutions for renewable power sector,” Devang Mody, Executive Director and CEO, Reliance Commercial Finance was quoted as saying in the statement.

“With the funding we are confident that RCFL (Reliance Commercial Finance) will provide solutions and help fill any gaps in financing the Renewable Energy sector,” Mr. K.S. Popli, Chairman & Managing Director, IREDA, was quoted as saying in the statement.

According to the company statement, Reliance Com-mercial Finance has funded wind and solar energy sec-tors of more than 1,800 MW. The company also provides financial assistance for developing infrastructure and other projects targeted towards the government initiatives on renewable energy.

Source: IANS


European Investment Bank partners with International Solar Alliance and confirms EUR 800 million support for Indian renewable energyThe European Investment Bank (EIB) today agreed a new partnership with the International Solar Alliance to mobilise finance to develop and deploy affordable solar energy in solar rich countries. The EIB also confirmed plans to provide a record EUR 800m for renewable energy investment across India.

he Joint Declaration was formally exchanged by Andrew McDowell, EIB Vice President and India at the 14th India – European Union summit. The ceremony was attended by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, Donald Tusk, Presi-dent of the European Council and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, and other senior political representatives from India and the European Union.

New cooperation with International Solar Alliance

Under the agreement the EIB, one of the world’s largest lenders for renewables energy and the world’s largest international public bank, will work with the International Solar Alliance to mobilize

financing for development and deployment of affordable solar energy in ISA member countries.

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“Global cooperation is essential to tackle climate change and closer cooperation between the International Solar Alliance and the European Investment Bank will mobilise international climate finance and improve sharing of technical experience. This new agreement reflects our shared commitment to successful implementa-tion of the Paris Climate Agreement and ensuring that solar rich economies can harness solar power to increase the supply of affordable clean energy.” said McDowell, European Investment Bank Vice President.

“Closer cooperation between the European Investment Bank and the International Solar Alliance demonstrates the shared commitment of Europe and India to tackle climate change. Solar power has huge potential to provide affordable and clean energy in solar rich countries. Working with international financial institutions is crucial to mobilize climate finance and share technical expertise. The EIB’s unique experience of successfully supporting renewable energy expansion around the world will enhance the efforts of the ISA in the years ahead.” said H.E. Upendra Tripathy, Interim Director General of the International Solar Alliance.

The ISA is a global grouping of 121 countries and financial institutions established to harness solar energy. It was jointly launched by Indian Prime Minister Modi and French President Hollande at the COP 21 Paris climate conference.Expected record EIB support for renewable energy investment across India. The EIB also confirmed than an expected EUR 800 million backing for small scale renewable energy projects across India had already been signed and approved in 2017, representing the EIB’s largest ever support for energy investment in Asia. This includes renewable energy financing in partner-ship with the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and the India Infrastructure Finance Company approved earlier this year.

First EIB Backing For Indian Solar Investment With Private Bank Approved

The EIB is currently finalising a new EUR 200 million credit line to provide ad-ditional financing for renewable energy

projects across India in cooperation with Yes Bank. Solar schemes are expected to represent the largest renewable energy sector backed by the programme. This first renew-able energy partnership with a private bank in India is expected to be finalised in the coming months. The European Investment Bank is one of the world’s largest financiers of climate action and over the last 5 years provided more than EUR 21 billion for renewable energy in-vestment worldwide, including EUR 2.5 billion in photovoltaic and concentrated solar power projects.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

Source: eib.org



opli described the listing as a step towards Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi’s commitment to the Paris agreement on Climate Change. “The overwhelming response to the issue is a testament to the confidence of global investors in IREDA and the Indian renewable sector in general,” he said. IREDA, a state-owned non-banking financial institution, has a remit to promote, develop and ex-tend financial assistance for renewable energy and energy efficiency conservation projects in India. The company pro-vides financing for hydro, wind and solar energy projects, new and emerging technologies and for bio energy sectors.

Advancements in technology and a drop in the price of solar and wind energy have set India on the course to not only achieve its renewables target, but exceed it, he noted. The new green bond

is certified by Climate Bonds Initiative, an international, investor-focused not-for-profit, which helps build robust and transparent assurance frameworks around green bond investment. It marks the fourth green bond by an Indian issuer to be issued on London Stock Exchange. Axis Bank and NTPC joined in 2016, raising respectively USD 500 million and USD 300 million equivalent. In June this year, the Rural Electrifica-tion Corporation (REC) raised USD 450 million. London Stock Exchange claims to be the largest Masala Bond centre globally, with 42 bonds listed in total with an equivalent value of over USD 6 billion.

P

“Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is fully committed to helping achieve Indian Government’s vision of 175 GW renewable energy capac-ity by 2022. The Green Masala Bond is a significant milestone for IREDA in this regard, as we embark on the next phase of renewable and sustainable energy led expansion,” said Kuljit Singh Popli, Chairman and Managing Director of IREDA, at a special market opening ceremony at the London Stock Exchange.

“The IREDA Green Masala Bond illustrates government of India’s commitment towards fostering the renewable and sustainable energy sector. Renewable energy will increas-ingly become the dominant force in energy generation, as we strive for ‘Electricity for All’ and achieve our mandate of 175 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022,” said Anand Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

“The London Stock Exchange is the largest, and greenest, in Europe and has helped position Britain as a world-leader in green finance,” said Jo Johnson, UK Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation.

“There is an indisputable shift in momentum in green and sustainable financing across the world and London Stock Exchange Group is proud to be spearheading the growing global green and sustainable financing movement, develop-ing innovative products and services in partnership with our customers.”

mR. xavier Rolet, CHIEF eXECUTIVE OFFICER, London Stock Exchange Group

Source: PTI

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency lists Green Masala Bond in UKThe five-year dated bond raised approximately USD 300 million (Rs 19.5 billion), with a coupon of 7.125 per cent, and became the first Green Masala Bond to be listed on the International Securities Market (ISM). The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency launched a new Green Masala Bond on the London Stock Exchange’s new International Securities Market to raise funds to finance renewable energy projects across India.


aunched during the ‘Innovation for Cool Earth Forum’ in Tokyo, Japan, IRENA’s Electricity Stor-age and Renewables: Costs and Markets to 2030

assessment of electricity storage in stationary applications also found that global storage capacity could triple if countries double the share of renew-ables in the energy system.

“As storage technology improves and prices decline, both utility-scale and small-scale, distributed applications could grow dramatically, accelerating renewable energy deployment” said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin. In this dynamic, low-carbon energy environment, now is a crucial time for storage tech-nology. This research demonstrates that the business case for renewable energy continues to strengthen,” continued Mr. Amin, positioning it firmly as a low-cost and secure source of energy supply.”

The report, which is focused on stationary applications, highlights that while pumped-hydro systems currently dominate total installed power stor-age capacity, with 96% of the installed electricity storage power globally, economies of scale and technology breakthroughs will support the accel-erated development and adoption of alternative storage technologies, such as lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and flow batteries.

Stationary electricity storage can directly drive rapid decarbonisation in other key segments of energy use, such as in the transport sector where the viability of battery storage for electric vehicles (EVs) is improving fast. At the end of 2016, the cost of Li-ion batteries had fallen by as much as 73 per cent for transport applica-tions from 2010. While Li-ion batter-ies in stationary applications have a higher installed cost than those used

in EVs, in Germany, small-scale Li-ion battery systems have also seen their total installed costs fall by 60 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2014 and the second quarter of 2017.

By 2030, the calendar life of Li-ion batteries could also increase by ap-proximately 50 per cent, while the number of full cycles possible could potentially increase by as much as 90 per cent. Other battery storage technologies also offer large cost reduction potential. High temperature “sodium sulphur” batteries could see their costs decline by up to 60%, while the total installed cost of flow batter-ies could potentially fall by two-thirds by 2030. Although they are subject to higher up-front costs compared to other technologies, flow batteries often exceed 10,000 full cycles, balancing the costs with very high lifetime energy throughputs.

Source: irena

ENERGY STORAGE

Battery Costs in Stationary Energy Could Fall by up to 66%, Grow 17-Fold by 2030, Says IRENA

Energy storage capacity to triple by 2030, if countries double the share of renewables in the world’s energy system . The cost of battery storage for stationary applications could fall by up to 66 per cent by 2030, according to a new report published today by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The falling price of batteries could stimulate 17-fold growth of installed battery storage, opening up a number of new commercial and economic opportunities, the report highlights.

L “The growth of lithium-ion battery use in electric vehicles and across the transport sector over the next 10 to 15 years is an important synergy that will help drive down battery costs for sta-tionary storage applications,” said Dolf Gielen, Director of the IRENA Innovation and Technology Centre and an author of the report. “The trend towards electrified mobility will also open up opportunities for electric vehicles to provide vehicle-to-grid services, helping feed a virtuous circle of renewable energy and storage integration. Stor-age technology will deliver service flexibility to the grid and elec-tricity storage to small-scale rooftop solar applications in markets where commercial and residential electricity rates are high, and grid feed-in remuneration is declining,” concluded Mr. Gielen.


Toshiba Develops Next-Generation Lithium-ion Battery with New Anode Material

New battery realizes driving range of electric vehicles boosted to 320km on 6-minute, ultra-rapid recharge, triple that possible with current lithium-ion battery. New anode material, titanium niobium oxide achieves double the capacity of the anode of current lithium-ion batteries.

oshiba Corporation (TOKYO:6502), an industry leader in lithi-um-ion battery technol-ogy, today announced the development of its

next-generation SCiB™, which uses a new material to double the capacity of the battery anode. The new battery offers high- energy density and the ultra-rapid recharging required for automotive applications, and will give a compact electric vehicle (EV) with a drive range of 320km*1 after only six minutes of ultra-rapid recharging—three times the distance possible with current lithium-ion batteries.

Toshiba launched the SCiB™ as a safe, long-life, fast charging lithium-ion battery in 2008. Since then, the company has constantly refined the technology and improved real-world performance. For its next-generation SCiB™, Toshiba has developed a ti-tanium niobium oxide anode material that has double the lithium storage capacity by volume of the graphite-based anodes generally used in lithium-ion batteries.

The new battery also offers high energy density and ultra-rapid recharging characteristics, and its titanium niobium oxide anode is much less likely to experience lithium metal

deposition during ultra-rapid recharg-ing or recharging in cold conditions—a cause of battery degradation and internal short circuiting.

Toshiba’s current SCiB™ employs a lithium titanium oxide anode, and is known for excellent operating charac-teristics in respect of safety, long life and rapid charging. It has found wide use in vehicles and industrial and infrastructure applications, including automobiles, buses, railroad cars, elevators and power plants. The high energy density of the battery,

and its rapid recharging, have made important contributions to enhancing the convenience and promoting the spread of EV.

Building on this heritage, Toshiba has developed a proprietary method for synthesizing and disarranging crystals of titanium niobium oxide and storing lithium ions more efficiently in the crystal structure. The anode of the next-generation SCiB™ realized through this approach has double times the capacity of the anode of current lithium-ion batteries.

T

“We are very excited by the potential of the new titanium niobium oxide anode and the next-generation SCiB™,” said Dr. Osamu Hori, Director of Corporate Research & Development Center at Toshiba Corporation. “Rather than an incremental improvement, this is a game changing advance that will make a significant difference to the range and performance of EV. We will continue to improve the battery’s performance and aim to put the next-generation SCiB™ into practical application in fiscal year 2019.”

ENERGY STORAGE

Rigorous testing of a 50Ah prototype of the new battery has confirmed that it retains the long life cycle, low-tem-perature operation, excellent safety and rapid recharg-ing characteristics of the current SCiB™. The energy density by volume of battery is twice that of the current SCiB™. The next-generation SCiB™ maintains over 90% of its initial capacity after being put through 5,000 charge/discharge cycles, and ultra-rapid recharging can be done in cold conditions, with temperatures as low as minus 10oC, in only ten minutes.

Toshiba will continue to develop higher energy density batteries that extend the range of EVs and support ultra-rapid recharging, and aims to commercialize the next-generation SCiB™ in fiscal year 2019.Part of the research work on the next-generation SCiBTM was subsidized by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

*1 A compact EV with a 32 kWh next generation SCiB™ in JC08 test cycle

Toshiba says this new anode material, titanium niobium oxide achieves double the capacity of the anode of current lithium-ion batteries.


Enerparc Energy Constructed 5.5 MWp Solar Power Plant for Technique Solaire inaugurated by French Ambassador

The Ambassador of France to India H E Mr. Alexandre Ziegler inaugurated a 5.5MWp Solar Power plant at village Maheshwari in state of Uttarakhand. The power plant which was commissioned in March this year was awarded to JLTM Energy India Private Limited, an Indian subsidiary of French company Technique Solaire under the UREDA with UPCL as the power off-taker.

“This is the first solar power plant project for Technique in India and its commissioning validates the commitment and position of Technique Solaire towards development of solar energy in India” said Manu Bishnoi – Director, Technique Solaire, India.

“With completion of this project Enerparc has again demonstrated its strong project development, engineering and timely execution qualities, coupled with high standards of workmanship” said Amit Barve – Vice President, Business Development at Enerparc Energy.

he project with its own set of challenges including stringent time line for completion of 31st March and 2.6Kms of underground transmission line till substation, was engi-neered, constructed and commissioned in record time of 2 months, by Enerparc team

in India. The 5.5 MW plant with modules mounted on seasonal tilt type structures, covering an area of approx. 25 acres will generate 9 million units of energy annually and help in reduction of 6000 tons of CO2 emission.

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Hareon Solar and Renew Power Commission 172 MW Dichipally Plant in Telangana, India

areon Solar Technology Company Limited (SSE: 600401), one of China’s largest solar

energy companies, and ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd. (“ReNew Power”), India’s leading renew-able energy Independent Power Producer, announced the com-missioning of their 172 MW (143 MWAC) solar project in Dichipally, Telangana, India.

The 172 MW solar power plant is spread over approximately 1100 acres of land, and is connected to the Dichipally substation in Telangana via a 220 kV transmis-sion line. Hareon Solar supplied more than 520,000 high efficiency multi-crystalline silicon solar modules for this project and the energy generated from this proj-ect, will be sold under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to the Northern Power Distribu-tion Company of Telangana. This project is the largest joint-venture project between Hareon Solar and ReNew Power and was commis-sioned ahead of schedule.

H

Speaking on the occasion, Parag Sharma, Chief Operating Officer, ReNew Power said, “We are pleased to strengthen our leadership position in the state of Telangana and contribute to its mission to tap into its solar potential. The Dichipally solar farm was commissioned in partnership with Hareon Solar and is the largest solar plant in Telangana. The successful com-missioning of this project will go a long way to enhance our already successful relationship with Hareon Solar, one of our valued partners since 2015.”

Dr. Jie Zhang, CEO of Hareon International said “India is one of the world leaders in the renewable energy revolution, and we are proud to collaborate with our trusted partner Renew Power. With the successful commissioning of the Dichipally Project, Hareon’s PV power plant investments outside China have exceeded 600 MW, across 9 countries, in four continents. We look forward to expanding our global col-laboration with ReNew Power in this very dynamic industry.”

Dr. Rubin Sidhu, Director of Hareon Solar India added “The successful commissioning of this 172 MW solar project is another step forward

in our fight against pollution and climate change. Hareon Solar is proud to

be a part of the clean energy revolution in India.”

ReNew Power and Hareon Solar have collabo-rated to jointly develop, build and operate solar projects of approximately 300 MW generation capacity over the last two years in Adoni, Cumbum, Mandamarri, and now in Dichipally.

SOLAR PROJECTS


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SOLAR PROJECTS

Essel Infraprojects commissions 55 MW capacity solar projects in two states

ith this move, the company has adopted a proac-tive approach towards realising the governments’

clean energy mission, through which it is already managing 165 MW capacity so-lar projects in India. Essel Infra has com-mission a 50 MW capacity solar project in Jalaun situated in UP and remaining 5 MW solar project in Bijapur, Karnataka. The company will also commission an additional 60 MW capacity project in Karnataka in the next forty five days.

Source: zeebiz

WEssel Infraprojects – a part of Essel Group on Thursday commissioned 55 MW capacity solar projects in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

In the statement, Essel Infra said, “The company is aiming to increase its share in green energy through construction of massive solar projects in the states of UP, Odisha and Karnataka of 520 MW capacity in the near future.”

Such move is also in tune with the governments’ target of generating 100 GW power through solar projects by the end of the year 2022.


nce inaugurated, this will be the largest PV project in the world to be constructed in a single generating power plant.Spain. September 12,

2017. Ingeteam Power Technology has been awarded the supply contract for the world’s largest photovoltaic plant, being built by Sterling and Wilson, one of the leading global solar EPC companies. The Sweihan PV project, which is to be constructed in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), is to have an installed power of 1,177.36 MW. Once inaugurated, this will be the largest PV project in the world to be constructed in a single generat-ing power plant.The energy produced is to be purchased by ADWEC (Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Company), the Emirate’s electricity company, a subsidiary of ADWEA (Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority), for sub-sequent transmission, distribution and trading.The consortium of companies responsible for the development and operation of the Sweihan PV project, awarded the engineering and con-struction work to the Indian company Sterling & Wilson, which then selected Ingeteam’s technology for this project.Therefore, in early 2018, Ingeteam will start to supply its new 1,000 Vdc INGECON® SUN PowerMax B series central inverters, capable of deliver-ing a power output of up to 2,330 kW. These units are known as dual

inverters due to the fact that they combine two power blocks with a com-mon AC busbar, facilitating the direct connection with the medium voltage transformer. The solution provided in power station format comprises two dual inverters together with the other devices required for low to medium voltage conversion. Namely the LV/MV transformer together with an enclosure housing the medium voltage cells, auxiliary services transformer, low voltage switchgear, UPS and a cooling system with air conditioning. The solu-tion developed by Ingeteam, known as the Inverter Station, incorporates two 2.33 MW photovoltaic inverters for the supply of 4.66 MW. These new dual in-verters are suitable for outdoor instal-lation, being specifically designed to withstand extreme climate conditions, such as those present at Sweihan in Abu Dhabi.Moreover, Ingeteam has purchased a chamber to conduct dust and sand tests in accordance with the IEC 60068-2-68 international stan-dard. This chamber makes it possible to conduct additional tests, such as the inverter response to sandstorms, which are extremely common at sites of this type. It has been used to check the correct operation of the inverter, as well as the efficiency of its “sand trap” system to prevent the ingress of particles into the inverter, while collect-ing the grains of sand and facilitating their subsequent removal. Thanks to this system, Ingeteam’s PV inverters

have been certified by an external body as able to withstand sandstorms,

as described in standard IEC 60068-2-68.The Management of Ingeteam Power Technology expressed its satisfaction with the contract award, emphasis-ing the fact that “the signing of this contract is the fruit of all the hard work put in right from the

outset, marking yet another success in the company’s bid to enter the Middle East market”. Further-

more, the Management highlighted the fact that “this contract is yet another example of Ingeteam’s ability to develop ambitious large-scale projects”.The commissioning of the plant, for which Ingeteam is also responsible, is set to take place at the end of 2018. Once commissioned, the plant will save around 7 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

Scope of supply For this project, Ingeteam is to supply:- 201 power stations with a power output of 4,660 kWac. Each fitted with all the neces-sary equipment to inject medium voltage power: dual PV inverters, LV/MV transformer, medium voltage switchgear, auxiliary services trans-former, UPS and low voltage switch-gear.- 402 dual photovoltaic inverters, each with a rated power output of 2,330 kW, pertaining to the 1,000 Vdc INGECON® SUN PowerMax B Series family.- Commissioning of the system.- Service level agreement, guarantee-ing a 99% operational availability of the equipment supplied by Ingeteam during the first two years of the plant operation.

Ingeteam Ingeteam is a leading company specialising in the design of power and control electronics (fre-quency converters, process automa-tion and control systems), electric machines (generators and motors), electrical engineering and generating plants. To date, Ingeteam has supplied 46 GW in power converters for renew-able energy plants and is amongst the TOP 10 companies dedicated to the operation and maintenance of renew-able plants, with a portfolio of more than 10 GW.The company operates in all continents, and has a headcount of 3,900 employees around the world. Ingeteam invests 5% of its annual turnover in R&D, which is the back-bone of the company’s business activity.

SOLAR INVERTERS

Ingeteam to supply 1.17GWp of inverters for the world’s largest PV plantIngeteam Power Technology has been awarded the supply contract for the world’s largest photovoltaic plant, being built by Sterling and Wilson, one of the leading global solar EPC companies. The Sweihan PV project, which is to be constructed in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), is to have an installed power of 1,177.36 MW.

O


ith an efficiency of almost 100 percent, the IEC- certified prod-

uct can withstand dust and heavy rains. It can work at a low voltage of 80 to 450 volts in DC and 150 to 280 volts in AC and would generate solar power even during low periods of sunshine.

The inverter can be connected to GSM remote monitoring application which enables a customer to monitor the system from any-where in the world. Besides, the customer can keep a record of up to 25 years. It is

equipped with an LCD screen that helps to regulate moni-tors with input and output voltage units of electricity. The inverter ranges between Rs. 52000 and Rs. 86000 depending upon the capacity.

Su-Kam launches Solar Grid-Tie inverter with low voltageTo overcome low voltage and erratic power supply in India’s major cities, Su-Kam has launched the Solar Grid-Tie Inverter that can get powered by mains as well as solar energy.

W “Equipped with state- of the art technology, the product is a viable op-tion not only for com-mercial establishments but also for home- own-ers if their state has an active net-metering policy and pays a good price to residents for feeding excess solar electricity back to the grid.”

The battery-less system saves a customer from the hassle of regular maintenance. The product can also be connected to a bi-directional metre that enables the user to monitor units of electricity being fed back into the grid if there is an active net-metering policy in his state. Source: news.webindia123

SOLAR INVERTERS

Kunwer SachdevManaging Director

Su-Kam

rowatt New Energy Tech-nology Co. Ltd., global manufacturer of high effi-ciency solar inverters, today

announced its partnership with Tigo®, pioneer of the smart modular Flex MLPE platform, to bring its first suite of Smart Inverters to the solar mar-ket. Tigo’s Cloud Connect Advanced (CCA) datalogger powers Growatt inverters(US model) to work compatibly with all Smart Modules. Growatt now of-fers 48 Smart Inverters with a range of 1kW to 60kW for both commercial and residential markets. Tigo recently vali-dated operational compliance between all TS4 Platform covers and these 48 Growatt Smart inverters.

Growatt Announces First Smart Inverter Suite To Work Seamlessly with All Smart PV ModulesIntegrating Tigo’s most advanced datalogger into 48 Growatt inverters Integrating Tigo’s most advanced datalogger into 48 Growatt inverters enables top-of-the-line features with a new level of cost-efficiency.

G Together, Tigo’s Flex Mlpe Technology Enables The Following Features:

“Growatt’s Smart Inverters increases our global reach with Tigo’s TS4 platform and validates our leading technology in the MLPE industry,” says Zvi Alon, CEO of Tigo. “We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Chinas’ largest inverter exporter to promote this safe and reliable Smart technology.”

• Fully integrated monitoring (For US model) – Unified online platform reports all components with alert and fleet management on demand from multiple geographies, anytime.

• UL-listed Rapid Shutdown compliancy – Tigo’s certification covers tier 1 module manufacturers for both NEC 2014 & 2017 690.12 requirements.

• Compatibility with ALL Smart PV Modules – Custom-ers can choose any Smart modules from more than 30 international distributors.

• Greater installation savings (For US model)– BOS costs are lowered by installing only one component on the ground with monitoring included.

• Scalability for residential & commercial – Installers can choose from 48 Smart inverter types ranging from 1kW to 60kW for any design site.


SOLAR INVERTERS

or instance, an array of 120 modules will typically be installed in 4 strings of 30 modules, and the “homerun” cables could

be around 335 feet for each array. In addition, a fuse combiner box would be needed to connect all of the strings. Installing strings that are twice as long, would reduce the number of strings and therefore the amount of required cables and eliminate the need for a fuse combiner box. Because of the potential for cost savings, the industry has begun the race towards enabling longer strings.

Understanding that longer strings can improve the bottom line of the system is only half the battle. Knowing how to technically increase string length is much more complicated. There are two standard ways for increasing string length. The first way to increase string length is to reduce the maximum operating voltage of each module. This is done by using certain types of module-level electronics. An example of this would be a 72-cell (280-watt peak), with 45 open circuit voltage. A traditional system with 1000V would allow for 22 modules in a string. However a system with a reduced maximum panel voltage of 35 would allow for a string of 28 modules. It is important to note that reducing panel voltage does not necessarily mean clipping of power. While this is a 30% increase in string length, the commercial market needs a more competitive solution.

The second way to increase string length is to change the current code and increase inverter input voltage to 1500v, which is a new direction that is currently being introduced to the market. This higher voltage allows for strings up to 50% longer than strings of 1000Vdc. In order to implement this, components of the system all need to comply with 1500 V, such as the modules, inverters, cabling, and connectors.

While longer strings offer an important advantage for commercial systems, this specific direction suffers from numerous

disadvantages and limitations, such as higher component costs,more difficult sourcing, safety concerns, electrical codes, equipment availability, and unknown effects to modules, such as PID. Additionally, working at 1500 V requires special, non-standard testing equipment (megger, iv-curve, etc.), which is also more expensive and harder to source. Furthermore, higher voltage systems pose higher safety risks and added complexity as in most countries they require specially qualified electricians and special regulatory approvals.

A completely different way to reach longer strings is with fixed-string voltage. Fixed voltage mode is an advanced operating mode for string inverters. It requires power optimizers to match current level drawn from the inverter, while the inverter maintains string voltage at optimal voltage for DC/AC conversion – regardless of string length or temperature. This means that string length is no longer governed by voltage, but by power. And in fact, it allows for 100% longer strings than standard string inverters, while also keeping the voltage below 1000. Using the same components as mentioned in the previous example, a 1500V inverter could allow up to 45 modules. This is a 15 panel increase over a traditional 1000V system. However, a fixed-string voltage system, like SolarEdge’s

solution, can increase string length to a total of 60 modules in this example.

Increasing string length is not the only impact that inverter selection has. In fact it reaches far past this. Approximately 25-30% of total costs of commercial systems originate from inverter selection. In terms of upfront expenses, inverter selection impacts EBoS, inverter, and labor costs. But in terms of ongoing costs, the inverter also impacts operation and maintenance activities. Systems that have reduced maximum modulevoltage require module-level power electronics,

so high-resolution monitoring is available, even though the strings do not benefit from a significant gain in length. On the other hand, 1500V systems which have a better improvement in string length, still use a standard inverter without module-level management or power electronics. This is why the fixed-string voltage inverter system is the best of both worlds – it offers longer strings and module-level management and monitoring. This not only helps to reduce O&M costs, but also increase system uptime and energy yield, thus further increasing revenue.

So, while 1500V systems are a new technology that the market is betting on to offer longer strings, a smarter choice is fixed-string voltage inverter systems that have already been field proven.

Improving Commercial System CAPEX with Longer Strings As commercial PV systems are becoming increasingly prevalent in India, the competition is increasing in terms of the system RoI. One method to improve system RoI is to decrease the CAPEX/upfront costs of the system. Since modules and inverters are decreasing in price, BoS costs, which make up about 10% of commercial rooftop costs, have been identified as the next optionfor decreasing these CAPEX/upfront costs.

F

By : Lior Handelsman, VP- Marketing & Product Strategy and Founder of SolarEdge

Lior Handelsman, VP of Marketing and Product Strategy, founded SolarEdge in 2006 and currently serves as our Vice President, Marketing and Product Strategy where he is responsible for SolarEdge’s marketing activities, product management and business development. Prior to founding SolarEdge, Mr. Handelsman spent 11 years at the Electronics Research Department (‘‘ERD’’), one of Israel’s national labs, which is tasked with developing innovative and complex systems. At the ERD he held several positions including research and development power electronics engineer, head of the ERD’s power electronics group and manager of several large-scale development projects and he was a branch head in his last position at the ERD. Mr. Handelsman holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (cum laude) and an MBA from the Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology in Haifa.


ith China’s contribution, the annual global PV demand is also projected to cross the 100-gigawatt

mark for the first time in 2017, coming to a 100.4 gigawatts. Compared with 2016, this year’s global PV demand will advance by about 26%. As the Chinese government continues to support its domestic solar sector, the annual global PV demand is expected to top 100 gigawatts through to 2019. Booming China to represent nearly half of the 2017 global market.

EnergyTrend Analyst Rhea Tsao pointed out that China’s PV demand for this year has been far ahead of expectations. The country’s cumulative grid-connected system installations

for the first eight months of 2017 is estimated to have reached 39 gigawatts. “Going forward, the Chinese market during this year’s remaining four months will be

influenced by the completion of projects related to the second phase of the Top Runner Program and the first phase of the PV Poverty Alleviation Project,” said Tsao. “At the same time, the market is also being affected by rumors that the Chinese government will cut feed-in tariff (FIT) rates for distributed PV systems at the start of 2018. This prospect will likely trigger another wave of urgency to complete installations in the short term.”

According to EnergyTrend, China’s distributed system installations (including those related to the PV Poverty Alleviation Project) are expected to come to 22 gigawatts this year. The country’s total installed capacity for 2017 is estimated around 48 gigawatts, while its cumulative installed capacity is projected to reach 125.42 gigawatts by the end of the year.

This July, China’s National Energy Administration revised the country’s installed capacity target under the 13th Five-Year Plan, earmarked a total of 86.5 gigawatts for the period from 2017 to 2020. Though the Five-Year Plan is mainly to support the building of ground-mounted PV plants, distributed PV systems, including those under the PV Poverty Alleviation Project, have also benefitted in terms of subsidy and grid connection precedence. Hence, the outlook is bright for China’s distributed PV system market, with annual demand reaching the 15-gigawatt level from 2018 to 2020. By the end of 2020, China’s cumulative installed capacity is forecast to total around 250 gigawatts.

Annual PV demand in the U.S. to retreat 15% this year, but Suniva’s petition is generating uncertainty-driven demand

The strong Chinese market will propel the global annual PV demand to 100.4 gigawatts this year – a new historical high. EnergyTrend’s ranking of the top regional markets by the share in the global demand shows that China will remain the leader. U.S. follows in second place with its annual demand reaching 12.5 gigawatts this year. India’s annual demand for 2017 is estimated around 10 gigawatts, making the country the third largest market. Japan is expected to take fourth place

with an annual demand of 6.8 gigawatts. Together, the top four regional markets are going represent more than 75% of this year’s global demand.

The U.S. solar market has undergone adjustments during 2017 in response to the extension of the Investment Tax Credit, and the country’s annual PV demand is projected to fall by about 15% from the 2016 level. For now, the outlook of the U.S market for 2018 is very uncertain because the country’s International Trade Commission may affirm Suniva’s petition and recommend relief from all solar imports under Section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act. Annual PV demand in the U.S. for 2018 could range from a low of 5.5 gigawatts to a high of around 10 gigawatts.

India has formally surpassed Japan as the world’s third largest market this year and is expected to see steady increases in its annual PV demand. While Japan has dropped to the fourth place in the regional market ranking, the changes in its FIT scheme will keep its PV demand stable. Under the revised FIT scheme, which took effect at the start of Japan’s fiscal year of 2017 (April 2017), PV projects must complete grid connection before the end of the fiscal 2019 in order to be eligible for FIT. There are currently around 20 gigawatts of projects around Japan that need to be connected to the grid within these three fiscal years.

Tsao added that China has made Asia the priority focus of the solar industry. Furthermore, the PV supply chain has gained significantly this year on account of the strong Chinese demand and the uncertainty resulted from Suniva’s petition. For the remainder of 2017, the solar market will enter its least active period in the third quarter. Stock-up activities will slow down a bit from the end of September to the middle of October. Nonetheless, demand across the supply chain will generally be above average despite the seasonal headwinds to the end of the year.

Source:EnergyTrends

Strong Chinese Market to Push Annual Global Photovoltaic Demand Above 100 Gigawatts for 2017China will again take the leading share of the total annual photovoltaic (PV) demand worldwide in 2017, says the latest Gold Member Solar Report by EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce. China’s solar demand for this year has surpassed earlier expectations due to the surging in-stallations of distributed PV systems.

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RESEARCH & ANALYSIS


MIDDLE EAST

Saudi Arabia Gets Cheapest Bids for Solar Power in AuctionSaudi Arabia received offers to supply solar electricity for the cheapest prices ever recorded, marking the start of a

program to diversify the oil producer’s domestic energy supplies away from fossil fuels.

he energy ministry said Abu Dhabi’s Masdar and Electricite de France SA bid to supply power from a 300-megawatt photovoltaic plant for as little as 6.69736 halalas a kilowatt hour, or 1.79 cents, accord-ing to a webcast of the bid-opening ceremony on Tuesday in Riyadh. If awarded, that would beat the previ-ous record for a solar project in Abu Dhabi for 2.42 cents a kilowatt-hour.

Saudi Arabia and its neighbors are among Middle Eastern oil producers looking to renewables to feed growing domestic consumption that’s soaking up crude they’d rather export to generate income.

While the offers submitted are remarkably low, the actual cost of power coming from the projects may be inflated by terms within the contracts that aren’t yet published, according to Bloomberg New En-ergy Finance in Zurich.

T “There is great pressure in the Middle East to come up with an impressive headline number, and these are becoming increasingly divorced from the reality of payments.”

- Jenny Chase, Chief Solar Analyst

for BNEF in Zurich

SOLAR LAGGARDS

The Middle East, rich in oil and natural gas, is trailing most other regions in developing renewables such as solar and wind. Gov-ernments from the United Arab Emirates to Iran and Saudi Ara-

bia have spent the past two years sketching out incentive programs and regulatory changes needed to jump-start their clean-energy industries, which remain a fraction of the scale built up in places like Japan and Germany where energy is scarce.

$50 Billion


MIDDLE EAST

FIRST AWARD

The plant will be the first awarded under the renewables program, which targets 9,500 megawatts of electricity

generation capacity using solar and wind by 2030. The project is set to start producing power by June 2019, according to the bid.

Saudi power-plant developer ACWA Power made the second-lowest bid at 8.7815 halalas per kilowatt-hour,

and a group led by Marubeni Corp. made the third-lowest bid. Masdar, officially named Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co., and EDF are already partners in an 800-megawatt project in Dubai.

Prices for solar projects in the Middle East have set successive records with first Dubai and then Abu Dhabi coming in with all-time low power pricing. A combination of improving and less

costly technology, free land earmarked for the plants, connections to the national power grid and favorable financing have helped cut the costs.

The large size of the projects being offered has also played a key role, as developers have been able to bid lower prices for electricity because of anticipated economies of scale.

Even so, the announcement is a milestone in Saudi Ara-bia’s nascent solar program.

The country that gets less than 1 percent of its power from renew-ables currently plans to develop 30 solar and wind projects over the next 10 years.

Officials at the ministry’s Renewable Energy Project Devel-opment Office will review all the bids presented before awarding a power-purchase contract, ac-cording to the webcast. It plans to make a final decision on who will build the solar plant at Sakaka in the country’s north in January, according to an emailed statement from the office.

Saudi Arabia’s price may reflect a “base rate” paid at periods of peak demand or a price that applies only for part of the project’s life. It also could include a payment to the winning developer, land grants or other incentives to get the solar industry started in Saudi Arabia. I don’t think this is possible as an all-in price of electricity from a 2019 PV project, particu-larly given the rising cost of debt in Saudi Arabia,” Chase said.

» Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy program is part of a broader project to wean the economy from its reliance on oil exports.

» The government is seeking to build new industries such as petrochemicals, manufacturing and tourism.

State crude giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, is preparing to sell a stake of about 5 percent in an initial public offering that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said could value the company at about $2 trillion and provide cash to help diversify the economy.

Source: Bloomberg


PM Modi ; Saubhagya Yojna Launched – Solar Power Packs with outlay of Rs.16320 Crores to Electrify 18000+ Unelectrified Villages in 1000 Days

PM launches Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana “Saubhagya”. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has launched a new scheme Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana –“Saubhagya” to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country in rural as well as urban areas.

POLICY & REGULATION

he total outlay of the project is Rs. 16, 320 crore while the Gross Bud-getary Support (GBS) is Rs. 12,320 crore. The outlay for the rural house-holds is Rs. 14,025 crore while the GBS is Rs. 10,587.50 crore. For the urban households the outlay is Rs. 2,295 crore while GBS is Rs. 1,732.50 crore. The Government of India will provide largely funds for the Scheme to all States/UTs.

The States and Union Territories are required to complete the works of household electrification by the 31st of December 2018.

The beneficiaries for free electric-ity connections would be identified

using Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data.How-ever, un-electrified households not covered under the SECC data would also be provided electricity connec-tions under the scheme on payment of Rs. 500 which shall be recovered by DISCOMs in 10 instalments through electricity bill.

The solar power packs of 200 to 300 Wp with battery bank for un-electrified households located in remote and inaccessible areas, comprises of Five LED lights, One DC fan, One DC power plug. It also includes the Repair and Mainte-nance (R&M) for 5 years.

T


POLICY & REGULATION

For easy & accelerated imple-mentation of the Scheme , modern technology shall be

used for household survey by using Mobile App. Beneficiaries shall be identified and their application for electricity connection along with applicant photograph and identity proof shall be registered on spot.

The Gram Panchayat/Public institutions in the rural areas may be authorised to collect application forms along with complete documentation, distribute bills and collect revenue in consultation with the Panchayat Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies. The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC) will remain the nodal agency for the operationalisation of the scheme throughout the country.

PM launches Pradhan Mantri Saubhagya Yojana; dedicates Deendayal Urja Bhawan to the nation.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or Saubhagya, at New Delhi. The aim of this scheme is to provide power to all homes.

On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, the Prime Minister also dedicated a new ONGC building – the Deendayal Urja Bhawan.

The Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation, the Booster Compres-sor Facility in Bassein Gas Field.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister gave examples of the success of Jan Dhan Yojana, insurance schemes, Mudra Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, and Udan, to highlight how the Union Government is implementing schemes which benefit the poorest of the poor.

In this context he mentioned the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, which would provide power connections to all the estimated four crore households which currently did

not have a power connection. The outlay for this scheme would be over Rs. 16000 crore. These connections would be provided free of cost, the Prime Minister said. Speaking to the accompani-ment of a presentation, the Prime Minister recounted how he had set a target of electrifying over 18000 unelectrified villages within 1000 days. He said less than 3000 villages are now left to be electrified. He explained how coal shortages have become a thing of the past, and capacity addition in power generation has exceeded targets.The Prime Minister also spoke of an increase in renewable power installed capacity, towards the target of 175 GW by 2022. He mentioned how the power tariff in the case of renewable energy has been reduced significantly. A consider-able increase has also been made in transmission lines. The Prime Minister mentioned how the UDAY scheme has brought down losses of power distribution companies, describing it as an example of cooperative, competitive federalism.

Explaining the impact of economies of scale in the UJALA scheme, the Prime Minister said that the cost of LED bulbs has come down significantly. The Prime Minister said that New India will require an energy framework that works on the principle of equity, efficiency and sustainability. He said the change in work culture in the Union Government is strength-ening the energy sector. This in turn, will positively impact the work culture of the entire country, he added.

Source :pib.nic.in

The expected outcome of the Scheme is as follows:(a) Environmental upgradation by substitution of Kerosene for lighting purposes(b) Improvement education services(c) Better health services(d) Enhanced connectiv-ity through radio, television, mobiles, etc.(e) Increased economic activi-ties and jobs(f) Improved quality of life especially for women


Total Corporate Funding in Global Solar Sector Comes to $7.1 Billion in First Nine Months of 2017, Reports Mercom Capital GroupMercom Capital Group, llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released a new report on funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) activity for the solar sector in the third quarter of 2017 and the first nine months of 2017.

otal corporate funding (including venture capital funding, public market and debt financing) in the first nine months (9M) of 2017 was slightly lower compared to the same period in 2016, with about $7.1 billion raised compared to the $7.5 billion raised in 9M 2016. There were 143 deals in 9M of

2017 compared to 125 deals in the same period of 2016.Looking at just Q3 2017 data, Mercom found that cor-

porate funding in the solar sector grew 74 percent com-pared to Q2 2017, with $2.4 billion raised in 45 deals. In Q2 2017, $1.4 billion was raised in 37 deals. Year-over-year (YoY), funding in Q3 2017 was about 19 percent lower compared to the $3 billion raised in Q3 2016.

Global VC funding (venture capital, private equity, and corporate venture capital) for the solar sector in 9M 2017 rose a slight seven percent to $985 million from $925 mil-lion raised during the same period in 2016, largely due to a strong first quarter in 2017.

In Q3 2017, VC funding for the solar sector doubled with $269 million raised in 23 deals compared to $128 million raised in the same number of deals during Q2 2017. Most of the VC funding raised in Q3 2017 (72 percent) went to solar downstream companies with $193 million in 13 deals.

The Top VC deal in the third quarter of 2017 was the $100 million raised by Indian rooftop installer CleanMax Solar. It was followed by the $56 million raised by Singa-pore’s Sunseap Group, the $21 million secured by Sol Voltaics, and Ampt’s $15 million. Ubiquitous Energy also raised $15 million. A total of 35 investors participated in solar funding in the third quarter of 2017.

Solar public market funding was approximately 12 percent lower compared to the first nine months of 2016, with $1 billion raised in 9M 2017 compared to $1.2 billion raised during the same period of 2016. Public market financing fell significantly in Q3 2017 with just $79 million in four deals, down from $473 million raised in six deals in Q2 2017.

T“Debt financing activity outside of the United States helped bump up corporate funding in the third quarter as financing activity in the United States was muted ahead of the Suniva anti-dumping case decision,” commented Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS


During the first nine months of 2017, debt fi-nancing activity accounted for $5.1 billion in 51 deals, which was almost six percent low-

er compared to the first nine months of 2016, when $5.4 billion was raised in 55 deals. In Q3 2017, an-nounced debt financing rose steeply to $2.1 billion in 18 deals compared to the $798 million raised in eight deals during the second quarter of 2017.

In the top debt deals, Greenko Energy Holdings raised $1 billion in green bonds in two separate deals, $650 million and $350 million. Cypress

Creek Renewables also received $450 million from Temasek.

Announced large-scale project funding in 9M 2017 crossed the $10 billion mark, with $10.2 billion raised for the development of

117 projects. For the third quarter of 2017 alone, announced large-scale project funding came in at more than $2.8 billion in 36 deals.

Announced residential and commercial solar funds totaled $2.2 billion in 9M 2017, which was lower by almost 35 percent when com-

pared to the $3.4 billion raised during the same period of 2016.

The first nine months of 2017 saw a total of 58 solar M&A transactions, compared to the 48 transactions seen in the same period (9M) of

2016. There were 18 solar M&A transactions in Q3 2017, up from 11 solar M&A transactions seen in the preceding quarter (Q2 2017) and equal to the number of transactions (18) posted in Q3 2016. Of the 18 total transactions in Q3 2017, 13 involved solar downstream companies, three involved PV manufacturers, and there was one transac-tion each by a BOS company and an Equipment provider.

There were 161 large-scale project acquisi-tions in first nine months of 2017 aggregat-ing over 14.6 GW, compared to 145 project

acquisitions totaling just 7.1 GW during the same period of 2016.

Similar to Q2 2017, investment firms and funds were the most active acquirers in Q3 2017, with 26 projects for over 2 GW, fol-

lowed by project developers with 16 transactions totaling over 1.1 GW.

Mercom tracked 296 new large-scale project

announcements worldwide in Q3 2017 totaling 15.7 GW.

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS


Value Of Intelligent Remote Monitoring With Advanced Data Analytics In Solar Asset Management-

What Is The Market Risk Involved On Capital Investment Of RoofTop Solar Projects?

Investors and project developers should be clear about the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), this would represent the average cost of generating energy over the life cycle of a project. At a conceptual level, it is calculated as the net present value of the total costs over a project’s life cycle, divided by the total amount of energy produced over the life cycle. It enables comparison of the cost of energy across different technologies, par-ticularly when capital cost, scale, and project life differ.

rom state wise tariffs for com-mercial consumers across various states, it’s evident that solar tariffs are almost at parity level with commercial tariff across most states. Also, Utilities have been

opposing indirectly on more installations, since this would have direct financial and operational impact. Led to paying-out for sur-plus power fed to the grid and maintaining & balancing the grid becomes complex. GOI is working on the analyzing the following areas like Grid Integration and Regulatory view, Review of Electricity Tariffs DISCOM wise, Operating Layouts, State wise Load Profiling, PV Cost and Design, Market Potential of EPC players, Cost of Energy and Grid Parity, Sup-ply Infrastructure, Environmental and Social Impacts to achieve the goal.

F

SOLAR PROJECTS

Author- Raj GaneshTechnical Support Manager

Solar-Log™ India


Why Solar-Log™?

Solar log being prime player in the solar monitoring industry, sup-porting over 11.9 GW installations across the globe and been 10 years in the business, with the team of experts, with its compat-

ibility over 1700 different inverter models and multi-geographical indus-trial data, its planning to build a platform which sets up a benchmark in industry to define the costings based on remote monitoring, data analysis and asset management excellence to meet the demands in the market.

Why we need to look forward on Asset management maturity? And what solution Solar-Log™ offers through remote monitoring and asset management?

Fixed price O&M contracts are common in the industry, especially during the first five years of a plant’s life, were equipment and workmanship warranties are in place. Using Pay-per-use plan and

fixed O&M contracts would be tough to manage, since the price escala-tion of managing the assets become highly expensive when standard warranties expire. Thus, costs associated with repair, replacement, and maintenance of issues become the plant owner/investor’s financial re-sponsibility. The below listed balls would tell you which position you are managing your assets.

What added value does Solar-Log™ platform offers to EPC’s, O&M services, equipment manufacturers and project developers and owners?

Inverter manufacturer front end software, which provides real-time information, but does not log all the

events, alarms and other maintenance issues. In such cases, there is very little documentation which can help the O&M personnel to identify, diagnose and trace the problems.

Solar-Log™ is providing a value-added service called Solar-Log™ Web4u with a dedicated support team, where the plants are being monitored very closely on all available component level. Failures are detected with minimum down time and notified to the field service team, followed by a brief explanation on the failure with the indicated problem of the asset. Pin-pointing the device failure, along with part failed would help the field tech to carry exact spare which is required to fix the is-sue with minimum time. More importantly the monitoring team would log all events, site characteristics, outages with actual failure, root cause analysis, resolution comments from field services are docu-mented in a ticket, for current & future reference to analyze the performance of the system.

We did a case study with a sample of 100 projects in our fleet during this year, were we could find the actual failure area for system outages, with the number of events associated with revenue loss.

SOLAR PROJECTS


SOLAR PROJECTS

Solar-Log™ provides technical assistance, advices on key insertions defining the O&M scope, contracts and Asset management solutions as some of them listed below to move the system to Asset management excellence to meet out the needs

• Service-level agreements (SLA) –Define specify compliance timeframes to detect and respond to failures to resolve issues. Based on plant condi-tions, equipment type and issue sever-ity level.• Availability or “uptime” guarantees –The percentage of time that a system must be fully able to produce electric-ity. Availability guarantees are typically set at 97-99% per year. This involves a time-based and reliability-centric method for collecting data on equip-ment performance A best suggested practice to approach this with real time data by considering mean time to detect and mean time for restoration to obtain availability guarantees. Given that plant availability is tied to design, workmanship, and equipment reliabil-ity, associated guarantees. This would be validated with the history of failure events and with ground reality in ad-dressing things.

• What role did PM, SM and CM in plant performance ratio and yield guarantees –Plant performance is based on the amount of energy deliv-ered as per measured solar irradiation

at a site, based on system design and modeled plant behavior which can be variable, were Force Majeure events and warranty defects are accounted. We need to make sure that proper Site Maintenance(SM), Preventive Maintenance(PM) and Corrective Maintenance(CM) done time to time as per contracts. We could define check list on all site activity based on contract also track what is done and what is not done. This could be availed with the tracking the site day to day events this play key role in increasing the yield• Feed-In Management - We are in touch with multiple DISCOMS on the feed in management side to the grid. What it brings up is, depending upon the location, the demand will be calculated with the availability of power, this would tell us how much energy we would require on hourly basis through-out the day. This is a biggest plus to the utilities and project developers to avoid unwanted shutdowns or power limita-tions. Also controlling can be done from the inverter level or from a load dis-patch center depending upon the load. In case of any Forced majeure events or unexpected inverter failures a notice

would be sent to the utility companies on how much KW is impacted due to that based on that the power source can be adjusted.• Spare Parts Inventory Manage-ment- General practice is plant owners typically buy a range of equipment spares, either kept on site or at a near-by warehouse, to ensure a high level of plant uptime. However, the number and type of spares maintained and the as-sociated budgets allocated vary based on plant size, geographic location, con-tractual issues, and management phi-losophy. Say, fuses, contacts, SCB’s, wiring, inverter parts (circuit boards, filters, fans, etc.), disconnect switches, and modules as typically considered to be the most critical spares to have on hand. These items can immediately be utilized to mitigate common nuisance and more serious unplanned plant is-sues. which is the critical part in O&M scope, because this could increase or decrease the cost of the O&M as well as the working capital requirement. It is also essential for the timely completion of the several types of maintenance.Depending upon the failure rates and spare usage, we could define Inven-


SOLAR PROJECTS

tory Management based on detailed analysis on the actual failure areas this would in turn help O&M personnel on how much spares on failures and what is available in the inventory, also their quantity at the site warehouse and the lead times for delivery of spare parts from the suppliers would be also listed.• Insurance and O&M and Manufacturers- Insurance touches many aspects of O&M and the manu-facturer, including the costs to insure companies physically working on plant sites, as well as equipment losses from force majeure or other unintended events. Newer insurance products also provide coverage for lower than ex-pected kWh performance, theft policy coverage, and cyber-attacks.» Underperformance: Costs associ-ated with insurance products that cover plant underperformance account for approximately 25-30% of the all-risk premium. Attitudes vary regarding the risk that weather pose to plant perfor-mance, however, these types of insur-ance products can also protect against improper installation and inaccurate modeling estimates, perhaps adding to their perceived value. Another available insurance product provides coverage for revenue shortfalls that lead to liqui-dated damages» Cyber Security and Monitoring Insurance: These products are specifi-cally becoming more popular among the PV segment where the data loss and quality of service provided by the ISP and data loggers is kept in track to initiate this.» Coverage of Additional Contract Claims : These emerging products are targeted at PV equipment manu-facturers and cover additional contract claims when a product defect is being addressed under the manufacturer’s warranty. From an O&M perspective, this coverage provides owners with a backstop for performance guarantees, where module replacement may take longer than anticipated, thereby leading to defaults in power purchase agree-ments.• Warranty- How equipment warranties are handled can significantly impact O&M budgeting. Some O&M service providers manage warranty claims for plant owners while others do not. Internal reporting Warranty claims against inverter manufacturers have been easier to manage than against module manufacturers. To get ahead of equipment issues, a robust commis-sioning process can identify potential

problems and ensure that warranty claims are honored. A suggested best practice is to have a third-party assess a plant’s health before different compo-nent warranties expire. Overall, there is a question about the quality of O&M activities that occur during the war-ranty period, which is the environment in which most of todays installed PV plants, are currently operating. When those warranties expire, what condition will the plant be in, and how much will it cost to address neglected areas of service.• Inverter Maintenance & Replacement- Historically, plant own-ers and managers have anticipated that central inverter equipment will need to be replaced sometime during year 10-12 of a system’s lifetime. However, over the past several years, many have found that, with steady maintenance, central inverters can remain operable for longer than expected, and thus re-sult in over-budgeting. One large O&M provider claims that, for many of its projects, as little as 25% of the funding budgeted for inverter replacement was used by year 11.

Unsurprisingly, in the budgeted replacement year, system owners often struggle with the decision to either pay the inverter manufacturer for an extended 10-year warranty or to simply

replace the inverter (thereby obtaining a new warranty), regard-less of its work-ing condition. Rather than set aside a lump sum of cash for inverter replace-ment, some entities are now opting to instead spread reserves across a fixed-fee maintenance schedule that builds up a cash reserve over time, and in turn, improves a project’s overall cash flow.

Another strategy being employed is to group several maintenance reserves together into a major maintenance reserve, thereby offering more spend-ing flexibility.

The cost-benefit behind string and micro inverters is not well established. Many budget string inverter replace-ment and maintenance like central inverters. However, some have found that string inverters do not come with the same level of warranty and support provided for central inverters.

String inverters will on average, require less service per inverter during the initial 10-year warranty period but by year 10-12 they will likely need to be replaced. At the same time, while the response time for fixing a string inverter failure may not be as critical, as only a small portion of power is lost, more frequent visits may be required overall, incurring higher O&M labor costs in the long run.


EQ: How much BOS have you supplied to India till now, what is the target/expectation in 2016-17 Marc: Lapp has been a driving force for innovation in the photovoltaic (PV) industry. For over ten years, the company has been successfully developing cabling & connectivity solutions for photovoltaic systems. We have regularly brought in efficiency in transmissionwith our intelligent innovations. Since 2012, Lapp India has catered to over 4 GW of grid connected PV projects with an array of highly efficient and reliable products like PV cables, connector, splitters and other accessories. For this financial year (Oct ’16-Sept ’17), we hope to cater over 1 GW of PV projects. At present, we cater to about 25 % of the total 13GW of installed grid-connected PV base in India.EQ: Kindly enlighten our readers on the performance of your BOS in India in various geographic locations, customer

feedback. Marc: Lapp India offers weather-, abrasion- and UV-resistant photovoltaic cables and has supplied close to 40,000kms cables in India. So far, we have offered our

cables and accessories to large PV projects

in locations like Rajasthan, Gujarat,

Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka,

Telangana, Andhra

Pradesh and

Tamil Nadu. We take pride in being amongst the top performer when it comes to reliability and performance, especially in terms of reduced cable lossin the DC side. EQ: Present some noteworthy projects, case studies of solar plants built using your solar BOSMarc: Renewable energy like solar has huge potential to produce clean and green energy to satisfy the ever-rising energy demand of the country. The geographical location stands to benefit India; hence it has tremendous scope of generating solar energy at a low cost and throughout the year. The deployment of solar power ensures in providing clean energy reducing dependency on fossil fuels, thereby reducing CO2 emissionsand put less pressure on non-renewable resources. However, non-renewable resource still has tocontinueto meet the base load requirement.

The current government too has set ambitious target of having 100 GW of solar energy capacities by 2022.Hence, we believe solar will become a crucial component of India’s energy portfolio in the next decade, which presents huge opportunities for both local and foreign players to collaborate and explore possibilities of commercial and technical relationships.

We are also contributing to help add value to our customers in this space. We have had the privilege of partnering forbig projects with organizations like NTPC, NLC, MAHAGENCO, Renew, Today Energy, WANEEP, Solairedirect, Welspun Energy and SunEdison. For some of these projects, we have either supplied our products, mostly PV cables, directly or partnered with the leading EPC’s such as Sterling Wilson, ABB, TATA, Schneider &Waaree.

Amongst our noteworthy projects, Lapp has successfully supplied TUV certified Water Proof PV cables (one of our recent innovation), for a 100kW Floating PV installation at the NTPC plant in Kayamkulam, Kerala. This project holds tremendous potential for NTPC where they have access to large still water bodies. Thisis NTPC’s first of its kind &largest in India. This project was undertaken in collaboration with CIPET (Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology) Chennai. The project called for a reliable solution wherein the cable had to be in constant contact with water and our certified water proof PV cable proved to be the ideal choice in this situation.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

In Exclusive Conversation With Mr.Marc Jarrault

- Managing Director, Lapp India Pvt. Ltd.


EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

EQ: Please describe in brief about your company, directors, promoters, investors, its vision & missionMarc: Lapp Group is a Stuttgart-based ambitious family company that has evolved into a global player and a market leader in cable and connection technology.The Lapp company was founded by Ursula Ida and Oskar Lapp in 1957. Lapp’s initiation was as a small start-up and in less than 50 years they have evolved as a global player. The name ‘Lapp’ not only stands for innovation, strength and quality, but also for continuity. The motto of Andreas Lapp, a member of the family and now in the Board of Directors of Lapp Group has always been to reliably connect the world with high quality and technologically superior products. The third generation of Lapp family has now taken on responsibilities of the company with Matthias Lapp taking over the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of management for Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and U.I. Lapp GmbH. Till date our vision has not just been about developing and producing innovative products and solutions but to promote cooperation and enabling relations with our employees, suppliers and customers. Lapp envisions the future and is already manufacturing tailor-made products for renewable energy, Industry 4.0 and electric mobility.EQ: What is the size of your company in terms of manufacturing capacities, growth chart, future expansion plans, revenues, shipments, ASP’s, financial figures, Marc: The Lapp Group has remained in continuous family ownership since it was founded. In the 2015/16 business year, it generated consolidated revenue of 901.5 million euros. Lapp currently employs approximately 3,440 people across the world, has 18 production sites and over 40 sales companies. It also works in cooperation with around 100 foreign representatives. With our many competent consultation teams around the globe we ensure comprehensive service in every continent. We believe in driving growth for the company not only by increasing our customer base but also by acquiring new companies to meet our customer requirements and address new segments. Last year in October we happily announced the acquisition of companies like CEAM and Fender. CEAM was a leading European manufactures of data cable for Industrial Ethernet and fieldbus network systems

where Fender specialized in cables for alarm and fire protection systems. This facilitated us to expand and venture into newer segment and sector. Along with acquisitions, we have also ventured into markets outside Germany. India is the 2nd largest market where we are growing at double digit. Apart from India we also see China as the crucial market as it is a manufacturing hub and market in US has also proved to be fruitful for us. For every market, we look at customizing the production to meet customer requirements and application demand.

EQ: What are your plans for Manufacturing set up in India, the opportunities and challenges in manufacturing in IndiaMarc: We have two dedicated manufacturing plants in India – Bangalore and Bhopal. Our total investment in these two manufacturing units amounts to 5 Million Euros. About 60% of products sold in India is manufactured in India. With this we are able to offer customized designs for some of the PV projects. Additionally, we are geared up to meet the other signal & AC cable requirements which are part of the e-BOS. Market in India is challenging as it is price sensitive and demands world class technologies at affordable pricing. To meet this challenge, we are starting to manufacture more and more products in India with an exception of some specialized products.Another important challenge is the transportation infrastructure. It is critical that as a country we lay more focus on developing road and rail infrastructurewhich is the key to ensure faster movement of goods.EQ: What is your emphasis on R&D in this segment?Marc: We have a R&D center at Stuttgart, Germany. When it comes to R&D and Innovation, Lapp India has the

advantage of advanced support from U.I. Lapp (parent company) in terms of technical expertise, resources as well as R&D requirements. Lapp is synonymous with ‘Innovation’ and we believe in developing innovative cable technologies that play an important role in addressing customer and industry challenges. Lapp India strives to develop cabling products and solutions that help and assist industries in creating innovative products. We put our products to a test in our laboratory and test facility to ensure they meet the high expectations of the

customer. The demanding requirements for these systems mean that a tailored solution is needed for every application. We thoroughly test even the first samples, and the customer can therefore be confident that the solution is the right one with the danger of costly downtimes of production equipment reduced to a minimum.EQ: What are the top markets for your company in the past, present and future Marc: Lapp Group had foreseen potential of the Indian market in terms of rapid growth in infrastructure and industrialization in the year 1996. India has always been a key focus for us owing to the promising growth opportunities of the country.Lapp India is the second largest company of the Lapp Group; the milestone set here in terms of business and the success garnered in retaining the position in the market has proved to be an example for other Lapp companies located worldwide. Other than India, China too is a critical market as it is the hub of manufacturing. The Chinese market has several OEMs which are key customers for cable a connection technology.For solar, Asian markets including India, show a huge market potential.

EQ: What are your plans for India, your view on the GOI target of 100GW Solar Power by 2022 Marc: Current Government has put renewable energy at the top of its agenda, seeking to reduce India’s overwhelming dependence on coal-fueled electricity. As renewable sources have the obvious advantage of being cost-competitive compared to fossil fuel-based generation, they also help in lowering carbon footprint. India has set a target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, which includes 100 GW of solar power, 60 GW of wind power, 10 GW of biomass-fired power and 5 GW of small hydro power. Our vision is to become the preferred partner for cable and connection technology for our customers across all segments of the industry. We at Lapp India currently enjoy a market share of 25% in grid connected PV projects and aim to further increase our penetration in solar market. To achieve long-term sustained growth,we will continue to cater to different industry segments by offering superior product experience including new technologies.


EQ: Technology road map in terms of 1500V and upcoming game changes technologies Marc: Lapp is ready with its range of PV cables designed for use in 1500VDC systems and these productshave been available since last 2 years. These are certified acc. to EN 50618:2014. We are also the first to introduce industry’s first “Water Proof” range of PV cables certified according to EN 50618:2014. These cables are ideally suited for installations which could come under threat of water logging due to flooding, floating PV installations, canal top installations and similar situations.EQ: Kindly comment of Energy Storage as a game changer, its technology, cost trends…etc…Marc: With a potential market size, and the possibility of bringing down the cost of ESS through localization, we believe that Indian market holds the potential to be a game changer for the global energy storage industry. Indian electrical energy storage market is in its infancy however it carries significant market potential. India has few pumped hydro storage facilities with total just over 6,500 MWs of capacity. The India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), which aims to facilitate storage solutions and microgrid deployment in India, identified some of the main applications for storage systems in the country, which are reasonable to be implemented in near future.

Developed countries like USA, UK, Canada, Germany and Japan have already implemented many large-scale energy storage systems. These energy storage systems are basically used for on-site power, ramping, transmission congestion relief, renewable energy time shift and load following. Lot of interesting research is already being witnessed in this space led by industry majors like Tesla.EQ: Explain various guarantees, warrantees, insurance, certifications, test results, performance report of your BOS Marc: The cables that we offer here at Lapp are type tested & approved according to the latest PV standard EN 50618: 2014. Our cables are designed for a service life of 25 years depending upon the projects.EQ: Please share information of some new orders in hand.Marc: With EN certified products, we

are future ready to meet the impending statutory requirement for the industry. We are currently executing project orders of close to 750 MW totaling over 4500 km of PV cables.EQ: What are the trends in new manufacturing technology equipment, materials, processes, innovations etc.?Marc: Lapp as a company is already into 3D Metal printing also called as additive manufacturing techniques in production. This innovative technique helps in building the prototypes many times faster that enables faster product launch. In PV cables, we already have our ÖLFLEX® SOLAR, water proof cables meeting all the stringent latest certification norms making our product one of the industry’s firstcertified Water Proof PV cable.

We are also successful in launching a specially formulated Aluminium PV cable which is flexible with fine wire stranding to meet the demands of cost reduction by the industry impacted by astronomically low tariffs. The product that is designed for 1500VDC application meets the requirement of EN 50618:2014 in terms of all other

specifications and is electron beam cross-linked. The highlight of the product is that it offers up to 30% lower conductor resistance when compared to an equivalent sized copper cable.EQ: What’s your commitment towards the solar sector in India? Marc: Lapp is a long-term player and we have been into this space much before the action caught up on India. We are here to stay and remain committed with our innovative products & solutions. EQ: What will be the cost, technology trends in solar BOS? Marc: While 65 % of the cost is contributed by solar modules, Electrical BoS & Inverters takes about 20 ~22 % and the rest is shared by land, civil, mounting etc. With the advent of 1500VDC systems, the e-BoS cost is bound to decrease along with improvement in efficiency as it would now allow for longer strings due to higher system voltage which means less current, less cabling, fewer junction boxes, fewer connections and hence lower losses.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

EQ: Kindly highlight your product, technology & company USP’s, distinctive advantages etc… Marc: Lapp being an international brand with manufacturing facilities in 18 countries across the globe enjoys high brand awareness recall and acceptance. It is synonymous to reliability and quality. Our products are known for their highest level of reliability and our strong innovative intent puts as amongst the most preferred makes.Our customers can be assured of our products being manufactured with the highest quality of raw materials using the best of the technology. We provide complete connectivity solutions with power, control and data cables across industries. Our range of products in the solar sector includes: • ÖLFLEX® SOLAR XLR/XL WP: These cables are very apt for the cables that are routed through

conduits during installations and are exposed to water for a longer duration and during flood or natural calamity. Thewater proof cable guarantees continuous system.• SOLAR AL FLEX®: These cables are lightweight and cost-competitive solar cables with aluminum fine wire strands conductor. SOLAR AL FLEX® are UV, ozone and weather resistant, double insulated single core cables for outdoor direct current applications. They are used for the fixed installation of photovoltaic systems. • EPIC® CONNECTORS: EPIC® SOLAR 4 Splitter & EPIC® SOLAR 4 Built in socket are pre-assembled solar industrial connectors specially designed for weatherproofing cabling of photovoltaic systems.

We also have developed a new technology for connection and cabling that is highly suited for delicate OPV modules.With products like these we are re-thinking and re-defining the cable and connection technology to meet the challenges of the future industry.


PV Top Runner Huawei Brings New Standard For Utility-Scale Solar In IndiaHuawei collaborated with partners in showcasing FusionSolar Smart PV Solution at 2017 REI in India from September 20 to 22. Huawei choose "building a smart PV ecosystem" as the theme and shared the latest innovations and practical results, including the industry-leading 1100 V 65KTL smart string inverter, the latest industry standard large-scale ground-mounted FusionSolar PV Solution and rooftop solution. REI (Renewable Energy India) is the largest-scale and most influential solar exhibition in India.

he development of key technologies such as the Internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, and big data is accelerating the convergence of the digital world and the real

world. The smart society where people and people, people and things, and things and things are all-connected is blossoming. Huawei has been committed to building the cloud-pipe-device architec-ture for the smart society and to enabling and promoting the development of the smart society. In the renewable energy industry, Huawei Smart PV Solution that combines the digital information technol-ogy, Internet technology, and PV technol-ogy has been widely used in the large-scale ground-mounted PV plants in the Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and has become the industrial mainstream. By now, Huawei Smart PV Solution has 2 GW installed capacity in India.

On the exhibition, Huawei signed a 100 MW contract with Hyderabad based PES Engineers Pvt Ltd., one of India's leading EPC com-panies with a track record of adopting innovative and cutting-edge technology in development of India's Solar PV Plants.

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SOLAR INVERTERS


Innovation solution, building the industry benchmark

Black Technology - Smart I-V Curve DiagnosisBe Customers Most Trusted Partner

The brand new 65KTL smart string inverter uses the efficient multi-topology technology. The maximum

efficiency can achieve 99.0%, leading the industry. By teaming up with indus-try partners, Huawei integrates multiple advanced intelligent technologies, includ-ing PID recovery at night, smart tracker convergence, smart box-type transformer, Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis, smart O&M, smart component (optimizer), and dedicated self-adjustable cable connection design. These technologies decrease the line loss on the entire PV array, continuously increase the energy yields, and reduce the O&M cost and initial investment.

With the Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis technology, the PV plant is scanned remotely, and therefore faulty PV strings are precisely located and the root causes are figured out. This technology helps avoid the waste on the journey to PV plants

and greatly save O&M time and cost. This technology can also be used to evaluate the PV plant health and produce early warnings for risks, which is good to problem discovery and preventive maintenance, prevents the PV plant from becoming subhealthy, and ensures the long-term high energy yields of the PV plant.

With openness, collaboration, and shared

success in mind, Hua-wei will remain custom-er-centered. Huawei will cooperate with partners to forge more innova-tive and competitive solutions and promote the sustainable develop-ment of the PV industry in India.

On this exhibition, Huawei intro-duces the next

generation utility-scale ground 1100 V Fusion-Solar Smart PV Solution which further simplifies the system, reduces the system investment and O&M cost, and improves the system security and reliability. The solution inherits the outstanding fuse-free, natural cooling, and PLCC technology.

SOLAR INVERTERS


Tata BlueScope Steel Unveils ILIOS, a High Strength Light Weight Solar Module Mounting Solution; at REI 2017

BALANCE OF SYSTEM

l ILIOS™ from Tata BlueScope Steel will integrate LYSAGHT® solar structure mounting solu-tions under one roofl Solar module mounting sys-tems will be for ground mount-ing and roof top applicationsl ILIOS™ comes with AL-ZN alloy coated high strength steel that ensures corrosion resis-tance and longer lifel ILIOS™ Solar Module mount-ing structures will be available through established LYSAGHT® network

ata BlueScope Steel an-nounces the launch of its indigenous brand ILIOS™ a Solar Module Mounting Solution to cater, to the increasing demand of the renewable energy sector in

India. With ILIOS™, TBSL would be ad-dressing the demand for quality products under its flagship brand LYSAGHT®, for both roof and ground mounting solutions.

ILIOS™ comes with a wide range of sectional dimensions and thicknesses; mak-ing it suitable for every requirement. These customized mounting structures are manu-factured from cold rolled Zn-Al/Zn coated steel that offers high corrosion resistance, weight optimization and quick installation. The high strength steel ensures better load bearing capacity and longer spans.

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Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Ajay Rattan GM - Sales, Construction & Engineering said, “ILIOS™ is one step forward in consoli-dating our offerings for the solar segment under a single Brand. These specialized solutions enable an integrated approach,

in terms of design detailing, engineering support, installation and material supply. So

far we have been associated with major projects across India, amounting to 1.2 GW capacity. To fulfill the chal-lenging needs of this industry, our R&D team of experts have been constantly improvising on the product offerings with Innovation and Quality at its core.” He further added, “Our strong team of design engineers help in optimizing the weight of mounting structures, thereby reducing the overall cost of the structure and in turn the cost of the Project. One of the most tactical advantage is our manufacturing facilities spread across India, ensuring on-time delivery and faster project completion.”

Mr. Riten Choudhury, Managing Director, Tata BlueScope Steel said, “Solar segment is poised for an exponential growth in the near future. It is essential for us to provide optimised and high quality solutions for bridging the demand supply gap. With ILIOS™, we aim to offer customised solutions suitable for every customer’s requirement.”


Advanced Technology To Ensure A Better Harmonic Suppression1. Harmonic and harms of Harmonic

2. Huawei string inverter technologies applied to control the harmonic

3. On site test of harmonic wave conducted on Huawei string inverter in a 50 MW plant.

As we know, in an electric power system, non-linear electric load will lead to harmonic voltage and currents. Harmonic in the power grid are a frequent cause of power quality

problems. It will increase the current and heating in the connect-ed devices and conductors, and also produce harmonic voltage drop in the grid short-circuit resistance, so as to influence the voltage wave shape. The bigger the absolute value of harmonic current, the greater its influence to grid voltage distortion.Reduc-tion of current and voltage harmonics is considered desirable.

Total harmonic distortion, or THD is a common measurement of the level of harmonic distortion present in power systems. THD can be related to either current harmonics or voltage harmonics, and it is defined as the ratio of total harmonics to the value at fundamental frequency times 100%:

Where Vn is the RMS voltage of Nth harmonic, In is the RMS current of the Nth harmonic, and n=1 is the fundamental frequency.

According to IEC61727 standard, total harmonic current distor-tion shall be less than 5% at rated inverter output. And in the solar industry major inverter vendor will claim in their data sheet that THD<3%.

Two-level topology Three-level topology

How to suppress the harmonic to make a higher quality grid as per standard? Huawei string inverter absorbed and applied advance technologies to ensure a better performance in harmonic control.(1) From inverter algorithm, the output voltage is the sine wave. When there is any distortion to output PWM wave, inverter output harmonic wave and control will be influenced. Increase switching frequency and the number of output PWM level can reduce the distortion rate of PWM wave. The string inverter with high switching frequency and three-level topology will be better than the central inverter with low switching frequency and two-level topology.

As mentioned in the IEC61727 standard, testing harmonic is very problematic, since voltage distor-tion may lead to enhanced current distortion. The harmonic current injection should be exclusive of any harmonic currents due to voltage distortion present in the utility grid without the PV system connected. Type tested inverters meeting the above requirements should be deemed to comply without further testing.

To verify THD when SUN2000 inverter connect-ed to grid, we have both done single THD test (as per IEC61727) and multi THD test on-grid system.

On 23th August, an onsite test of harmonic wave conducted on an Uttar Pradesh 50MW plant, India, witnessed by one of the biggest developers in south India and one of the major EPCs in New Delhi.

(2) The higher the switching frequency is, the broader the control bandwidth, the better to control a wide range of current harmonic wave. To ensure the stability, the control bandwidth of the inverter is normally around 1/10 of its switching frequency. The switching frequency of string in-verter (16 kHz) is much higher than that of central inverter (3 kHz for two-level topology inverter, 9 kHz for three-level topology inverter). The broader the control width, the better to control lower-order harmonic wave. (3) The high frequency part in the current out of the bandwidth should be filtered by the inverter filter. Normally, the string inverter will use LCL fil-ter featured with strong derating capability of high frequency harmonic wave and little influenced by on-grid resistance. Central inverters use LC filter instead to cut down the cost, which will influence the performance. (4) In one PV array, multiple string inverters are at different distances to the step-up transformer, so the line resistance will be different. The line resis-tance can equivalently change the LC inductance in LCL filter and the different filter parameter will change the phase of harmonic wave. When multiple inverters are parallel connected, the har-monic wave can be cancelled because of different phase so as to reduce the total harmonic wave. Except the passive harmonic wave cancellation, Huawei develops active filter mode which can actively reduce the harmonic wave for a smarter grid adaption.

SOLAR INVERTERS


SOLAR INVERTERS

4. Why Huawei string inverter can achieve this?

Huawei communication network and energy equipment are used in more than 170 counties and

regions, serving over one-third of the world’s population. Huawei continuously innovates and accumulates experience in system solutions, circuit topology, control algorithms, and structural design, and has realized the perfect integration of digital information technol-ogy and power electronic technology. As the representative of cross-domain integration, Huawei builds the smart PV solution that features “higher yields, smart O&M, safe & reliable” with the innovative ideology of simple, full digital, and global automatic operation. PV plants have no redundant systems, like inverter rooms and DC solar junction boxes (SJBs), or vulnerable compo-nents, such as fuses and external fans, so that the delivery of simplified and standard solutions is achieved. All the components are able to adapt to vari-ous harsh environments, including high temperature, high humidity, dusty wind, salt mist and high altitude. Zero-touch maintenance for 25 years, guarantee the reliable operation, as well as simpler construction and O&M help PV plant owners and operators maximize their ROI. Huawei string inverters adopt innovative algorithms and HiSilicon-developed chip technologies and can actively adapt to power grid changes by leveraging its advantages including high-speed processing capability, high sampling and control frequency, and control algorithms such as an advanced harmonic suppression algorithm, along with the with high control bandwidth, excellent LCL filter performance. It is worth mentioning that the SUN2000 can intelligently adapt to various power grids even in parallel mode, and can smooth the total harmonic along with the pro-duced power that will be exported to the power grid. Compared with other central and string inverters that do not support the intelligent algorithm, Huawei string inverters better adapt to the various harsh working conditions of different power grids all over the world, help PV plants obtain better grid-connection per-formance, and better improve the grid stability and security.

The success of this test well proves the leadership of Huawei string inverter and smart PV solution.A PV plant with Huawei string inverters is grid friendly and a long-term stable performance.

Below is the overview of the plant:

The test results are shown as the chart below:

The power load ratio during the test period are shown as below:

The field test curve shows that inverter THDi is <2%, much lower than IEC61727 standard.

Test PV Plant Uttar Pradesh 50 MW PV Plant

Inverter Mode SUN2000-43KTL

Supplier Huawei Test type Joint Test with NLC

Test Time 2017/8/23 Test Object 5MW Block (116 Pcs Inverters)

Test Item Current Harmonic COD 10th Jun. 2017

Test device Electric Quality Analyzer-Fluke 435-II

Current probe i430-FLEXI-TF

Test Result The THD does not exceed the threshold. The inverters comply with standard IEC 61727.


EQ: What is the JinkoSolar Half Cell (HC) Product Series? Kangping Chen: The JinkoSolar HC Series is a currently available product line that combines the half cut cell layout with different existing cell technology. The technology has increased the power output of polycrystalline modules to 285 Wp, that of monocrystalline modules to 295Wp, and that of monocrystalline PERC module to 320 Wp. The HC series delivers an increase of 10Wp per panel when compared to its non-half-cell conventional counterparts. When compared to that of from our peers, JinkoSolar’ s half cut cell offerings, on average, have outputs 5Wp higher JinkoSolar is one of the first companies to realize GW-scale mass production of half-cell products. Looking at our product roadmap, by 2018, our HC series will take the power output of a 60 cell monocrystalline panel to groundbreaking new heights of 330Wp.EQ: What main advantages do JinkoSolar half-cut cells offer? Kangping Chen: The primary advantages of JinkoSolar’ s Half Cell series are power boosting and superior price performance, achieving unprec- edented price-performance ratios. The 290-300Wp 120 half-cell (60 regular cells cut in half) mono module has comparable performance to that of the mainstream monocrystalline PERC module, but is far more affordable. In addition, our HC series features minimization of hotspot and increased shade tolerance, enabling enhanced reliability and performance ratio in deployment conditions. Adhering to JinkoSolar’s consistent industry-leading product quality standard, JinkoSolar’ s HC serie also features high anti-PID qualities. EQ: How will the consumer benefit from the half cell technology?Kangping Chen: Half-cell design can improve the efficiency of standard cells, increasing module output by 5-10 W without adding much cost. Customers can now select cost effective solutions without compromising on power output.

EQ: For which markets is the half-cell panel suitable?Kangping Chen: It’ s suitable for both utilities and distributed generation (DG) markets. Half-cell technology has it proven itself in Chinese Top Runner Program, which are governmental demonstration projects requir- ing high module efficiency and performance.

More and more utilities projects are run on tendering models, which call for better dollar per kilowatt hour performance. While there are many technologies that improve cell performance, their relative high costs limit their potential in the market and large scale adoption. When seeking to balance output and cost, half-cell modules present itself as the ideal solution. Since customers become more and more focused on dollar per kilowatt hour, combination of higher efficiency, lower cost and, lower degradation is the common requirement for project decision makers today. Under these conditions, JinkoSolar’ s half-cell technology will be well suited for large scale success due to its relatively low costs, technical value and commercial readiness. For DG market, due to more limited project spaces, users are forced to use more efficient modules to reach the same harvesting potential. Complimentarily, energy policies like net metering and feed-in tariffs (FIT) provide economic incentives for DG users to produce larger energy surpluses. The current standard cell type is reaching its efficiency apex. The higher power and efficiency modules afforded by JinkoSolar’ s half cell technology means that customers will be able to boost their overall energy yield per square meter. These conditions make the HC series

Ideal for the distributed rooftop markets, where installation space is often limited. It is also the best option for technology leading project, such as the Chinese Top Runner Program which sets higher requirement on efficiency, degradation, and LCOE. The increase in power output per m² allows customers to generate the most energy out of their installation, reducing the balance of system costs for installers and system owners and ensuring solar energy remains cost-efficient.EQ: Based on your opinion, what practical technology is next for the solar industry?Kangping Chen: We’ ve talked a lot about technologies, but the underly- ing force that drives everything in the PV industry is still LCOE. Further requirements on lowering dollar per kW/h will continue to drives the industry to seek new paths. Among various innovative technologies, the most fast-developing and latest industry trends across the PV supply chain is half cell technology.

Combining technical maturity and feasibility, increased power generation performance, lowered marginal cost, and increased shade tolerance markets, half cut module is expected to experience the strongest growth and achieve mainstream adoption over the next five years. Judging from where technologies have been heading, the growing popularity of half-cell modules is inevitable. As demand for high power, low degradation, and low cost products continues to rise in the global PV market, half-cell technology will demonstrate a new wave of changes in PV cell technologies and will experience a steady momentum going forward.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

“The future of solar technology is already here, its half-cell technology”

- says Mr. kangping Chen, JinkoSolar CEO

JinkoSolar CEO Cuts to the Chase about Solar Technology Development with Discussion on Half-cut Cells


EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

EQ: Why Solar rooftop project over schools? Sunil: Over the past decade electricity prices are rising and the cost of energy is expected to continue to increase over time. Volatile prices set on the utility market can make it difficult for schools to plan and budget for the future. A clear way to take control of energy costs is to go the autonomous route by installing solar to generate your own power from the school’s rooftop. India is the world’s poster child for solar and so installing rooftop project over schools in the capital of India was an ideal choice.EQ: What PV technology did you utilise here?Sunil: The Solar project utilises India made polycrystalline modules aligning itself with the Make in India scheme of the Government of India. The technology employed ensures a CUF greater than 15% and a performance ratio of more than 75%. Built with an investment of about 12 Crores, the project shall offset approximately 1825 tonnes of Carbon-dioxide emissions in a calendar year. Solar power has become affordable now with the cost of solar panels coming down to about 40 percent less in the last two years. The project shall ensure an IRR of about 18% on the capital invested. EQ: Tell us something about your MoU with South Delhi Municipal Corporation?

Sunil: SDMC in its pursuit to reduce carbon foot-print in the capital of India has come up with several green initiatives viz. installation of rooftop solar, adoption of LED street lighting system. One of them is the installation of 2.5 MW rooftop solar plant on 55 school buildings in Delhi. We at Benara Solar had signed an MoU with SDMC in early 2017 for design, engineering, supply, testing and commissioning of the grid-connected 2.5 MW Solar PV Project including operation and maintenance for a period of 7 years. The solar PV Project covers 55 school buildings under SDMC spread across all the zones of SDMC viz. Central, South, West and Najafgarh. EQ: How much is the power requirement of these schools, payback period and what were the challenges?Sunil: Each school building typically has a load of about 5 to 10 kW. We have provided them with a system of about 40-50 kW each. Thus as a result,

the grid-connected net-metered project not only meets the energy needs of the schools but also is a source of revenue generation for them as the excess power generated is sent back into the grid. Once the payback is reached in the initial 4-5 years, the schools shall have a free power for the next 21 years. Since the power requirement of the schools was just about 5-10 kW therefore the existing service line has to be augmented to support 40-50 kW solar plants with installation of appropriate infrastructure which took considerable time. We appreciate the support from SDMC and discom in establishing the same. EQ: What are the future plans of your company? Sunil: We are in the process of signing MoU with several schools and universities to install rooftop solar PV projects. Benara Solar is contemplating technology-tie-ups in the field of solar module manufacturing with leading manufacturers globally and shall be investing up to INR 200 Crores in next three years towards manufacturing of solar modules.

At the same we shall also be executing PV projects worth INR 600 Crores in the next 12 months. We are also in touch with several schools and universities to set up rooftop solar projects. We aim to be one of the leading solar players in India in decentralised systems in next three years. EQ: Why do you think it’s important for schools to have Rooftop Solar?Sunil: For many students in the modern era, especially in liberal urban environments, the prospect of going to a school or university that is seen as being sustainable and eco-conscious can be a distinguishing factor. Thousands of students seek out schools that will be the best environment to study sustainable practices and green policy, which makes solar-powered universities a very attractive option. Moreover the installed solar projects over their school roof serve as a subject of research and education for them. They can use system performance data to calculate how much electricity is being produced and how much their school is saving. The school’s students can also develop problem solving skills by calculating the effect of generation in morning, afternoon and in evening and also the effect of module tilt on generation of solar energy.

In Exclusive Talk With Mr.Sunil Dayal

“India is the World’s poster child for renewable energy sector and so installing rooftop PV project over schools in its capital was an ideal choice”

- Sunil Dayal, Business Head of

Benara Solar


BALANCE OF SYSTEM

Accurate Measurement And Periodical Calibration Of Pyranometer Is The Key For The Bankability Of Solar PV Projects By: Robin Sharma, Manager -Technical Services, MeaTech Solutions LLP, Gurugram

There are many reasons why renewable energy sources are beneficial to society, some of the important reasons include:

• Abundant availability on earth surface (freely available)

• Increasing Global energy demand

• Continued usage of fossil fuels is damaging our environment and public health

Accurate solar radiation measure-ment for the solar PV industry and for scientific research study

is a major challenge to understand the available resource and how well a solar plant is performing, from pre-construction prospecting and bank-ability, to the day-to-day operation and decision making of the plant during it’s lifetime.

At MeaTech (Measurement Technol-ogies) Solutions LLP, we are focused on providing professional, friendly, and reliable service in the supply of high quality equipment, services and consultancy or advice to clients in the solar industry and beyond, invcluding environmental data, laser scanning, mining solutions, alignment solutions, surveying solutions and wind LIDAR applications.

Site Prospecting and Operation Monitoring:

Accurate solar measurements start with initial site prospect-ing. This process involves using

a combination of satellite and ground based data, in order to choose the best location for a solar site. Instru-mentation selection along with well

planned operation and maintenance play an important role in understand-ing and maximizing the output of the plant based on the availability of the resource. A typical installation will include standard meteorological parameters such as air temperature and relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and rainfall as well as back of module temperature. It can also include either wireless or SCADA con-nected communications custom made to suit the customer needs.

When selecting a sensor suite, it is important to consider the required ac-curacy to achieve the required objec-tives of the monitoring system, which may depend on size or other criteria. Most PV plants use Global Horizontal Irradaince (GHI) and/or Plane of Ar-ray (POA) Irradiance along with other parameters to calculate performance ratio, power loss, or to validate the his-torical satellite or modelled data sets..

Pyranometers, which are sensors used in measuring solar irradiance, have different accuracy and specifica-tion classes, as defined by Interna-tional Standards (such as the ISO). It is important to understand the various classes and what is best suited for a site. The main objective of the user for selecting any of the ISO standard Py-ranometer for the Solar power system is to ensure the accuracy of their data.

MeaTech Solutions, as a proud part-ner of Kipp&Zonen (www.kippzonen.com) for Solar Radiation products and Campbell Scientific,Canada (www.campbellsci.ca) for data acquisition and Meteorological measurements, offers turnkey monitoring solutions for any PV monitoring plant size.

The energy needs of the world are constantly

changing, and as new technologies have be-come available, solar

energy has become the most popular form of

new energy production. In India, solar energy has become a fast developing industry. The Jawaharlal

Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), an

initiative of the Govern-ment of India and Indian State Governments, has targeted generating 100

GW of the country’s national power through

solar sources by the year 2022.


BALANCE OF SYSTEM

Kipp & Zonen, the world’s leading manufacturer of radi-ometers, recommends their solar radiation instruments that are operating in the field to be calibrated at regular intervals, ideally every two years. After a two-year period in the field, the sensitivity of an instrument is slightly altered due to prolonged exposure to the sun, and that can cause some deviation in the sensor’s measurement properties. Pyranometer calibration to an international standard addresses this is-sue, and ensures the data is reliable and intercomparable, guaranteeing its quality for both the Indian solar industry and for international scientific research on solar radiation.

Importance of Pyranometer Calibration:

To facilitate the recommend-ed pyranometer calibrations for clients locally in India,

MeaTech Solutions has teamed up with Kipp & Zonen and Campbell Scientific Canada to install and operate the Indian Calibration Facility for Radiometers (INCFR) in Gurugram. The Pyranometer calibrations are performed accord-ing to ISO 9847 Std, which is an internationally recognized stan-dard related to the calibration of field pyranometers.

A special team from MeaTech Solutions has been trained and authorised by Kipp & Zonen to operate the facility.

In addition to the calibration service, MeaTech Solutions is also offering additional local services to clients, which may include on site field replacement of sensors, spare sensors for swapping, or providing a historical database of past calibrations for client equip-ment tracking purposes.

The joint initiative of Kipp & Zonen, Campbell Scientific Canada and MeaTech Solutions

will allow Indian clients to calibrate their Kipp & Zonen radiometers in order to perform more accu-rate and reliable measurements without the expense or downtime that comes with shipping sensors to foreign calibration facilities. The increased efficiency, decreased cost, and a higher level of service the facility brings will make the INCFR an indispensable resource to Indian clients.

Indian Calibration Facilty for Radiometers (INCFR):


INDIA

Sachin Tendulkar and Schneider Electric transform 350 households in UP village with Solar powerSpreading Happiness InDiya Foundation lights up Badagaon in Barabanki, UP, through solar home lighting systems to support livelihood and local industry.

preading Happiness InDiya Foundation (SHIF) a collabora-tion between cricket-ing icon Sachin Tendulkar and Schneider Electric

India, the global specialist in energy management and auto-mation, today announced that it has empowered 350 households in Badagaon, Barabanki, in the state of Uttar Pradesh with 350 solar home lighting systems. Spreading Happiness InDiya Foundation is committed to pro-viding energy autonomy to rural India through renewable energy and spreading happiness by pro-viding access to energy. Spread-ing Happiness InDiya Foundation is committed to providing electric-ity to around 25,000 households in the country. The Government of India has a vision to provide power for all by 2022. There is a significant scale of work to

be done in terms of reducing the energy and carbon intensity of our economy. Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi’s scheme, Saubhagya, aims to supply electricity to all households by December 2018, by providing free connections to the poor and at very low cost to others. This is a reiteration of the government’s commitment to energy access for the households which are off the grid. Spreading Happiness InDiya Foundation is completely aligned to the requirements of the nation and is committed to support Government’s push for access to energy for all. The work in Bad-agaon is one of a model, along with others, which will be followed in many more villages, Spreading Happiness initiative has provided solar based lighting systems to over 16000 households since its inception and is committed to reach to 25,000 households by 2020.

S

Speaking on the side-lines of his visit to Badagaon to examine the work done there Sachin Ten-dulkar, said, “Our goal through Spreading Happiness is to help citizens who are faced with the challenges of ac-cess, affordability and reliability of power supply. Our foundation’s work in Badagaon gives me the confidence to push ahead and seek to empower more citizens to enjoy brighter lives. If all of us can come together to create meaningful impact in the livelihood of the vil-lagers still facing these issues and enhance the quality of life of communities, it is well worth the effort.”

Sharing his views on the impact in Badagaon, Anil Chaudhry, Country President and Managing Director, Schneider Electric India said, “We believe access to en-ergy is a fundamental human right. We are working at multiple levels to tackle the energy challenge. On one hand, we are developing suitable products and solutions and on the other we are investing in vocational training of the youth to ensure the steady supply of technical resources for the deployment in the remote areas. It is a matter of pride and immense satisfaction that our solar solution has helped transform 350 households in Badagaon with safe reliable and sustainable power.”

Spreading Happiness initiative of Spreading Happiness InDiya Foundation makes available solar based on-demand, clean, bright and affordable electricity which can provide support to the livelihood of many artisans at Badagaon who are engaged in the traditional handicraft work of ‘zardozi’ and handloom weaving. The LED-based lighting system provided by Spreading Happiness InDiya Foundation provides a backup of 6-10 hours for indoor use and can illuminate a room of 12 feet X 12 feet. Prior to this, the Spreading Happiness initia-tive has completed projects in, Maharashtra, Karna-taka, Odisha, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and J & K, which have impacted more than 16000 households till date.


SOLAR PROJECTS

Waaree Energies Successfully completed 2.29 MW Rooftop project for Mumbai Metro

Waaree Energies Limited successfully completed solar rooftop across all 12

stations of Mumbai Metro. This project was very critical as it is a public utility and heavily crowded all the time. Even

though the chances of accidents were very high, Waaree Energies completed

the project with high quality and Zero accidents.

aaree Modules are installed across all the roofs of all the metro stations. The entire rooftop solar power generating system has installed capac-ity of 2.29 MW which is around 30% of Mumbai Metro’s total power usage. This project will pow-erall Mumbai Metro stations with Waaree Solar PV modules. This will also result in the savings of carbon emission of approximate 2700 tons per annum.

W


JA Solar Announces Second Quarter 2017 Results

» Total shipments were 2,389.2 megawatts (“MW”), consisting of 2,147.5 MW of modules and 167.2 MW of cells to external customers, and 74.5 MW of modules to the Company’s downstream proj-ects. External shipments were up 88.3% y/y and 68.3% sequentially

» Shipments of modules were 2,147.5 MW, an increase of 89.3% y/y and 62.1% sequentially

» Shipments of cells were 167.2 MW, an increase of 75.8% y/y and 233.1% sequentially

» Net revenue was RMB 6.0 billion ($878.1 million), an increase of 44.7% y/y and 61.2% sequentially

» Gross margin was 12.9%, a decrease of 240 ba-sis points y/y and an increase of 120 basis points sequentially

» Operating profit was RMB 255.1 million ($37.6 million), compared to RMB 188.0 million ($27.7 million) in the second quarter of 2016, and RMB 80.0 million ($11.8 million) in the first quarter of 2017

» Net income was RMB 134.6 million ($19.9 mil-lion), compared to RMB 164.1 million ($24.2 mil-lion) in the second quarter of 2016, and RMB 8.1 million ($1.2 million) in the first quarter of 2017

» Earnings per diluted ADS were RMB 2.87 or $0.42, compared to RMB 2.87 or $0.42 in the second quarter of 2016, and RMB 0.17 or $0.03 in the first quarter of 2017

» Cash and cash equivalents were RMB 3.2 billion ($477.0 million), an increase of RMB 947.6 mil-lion ($139.8 million) during the quarter

» Non-GAAP earnings1 per diluted ADS were RMB 2.87 or $0.42, compared to RMB 2.04 or $0.30 in the second quarter of 2016, and RMB 0.17 or $0.03 in the first quarter of 2017

Second Quarter 2017 Highlights-

"Second quarter results exceeded our expec-tations. Robust shipments in China, primarily attributable to accelerated activity ahead of subsidy reductions, drove our year-over-year double-digit revenue growth in the quarter. Additionally, better-than-expected average selling price and lower blended costs resulted in 120 basis-point sequential improvement in gross margin. We remain cautious on our business outlook as we enter the second half of 2017, given the slowdown in demand in our domestic market, coupled with the uncertainty around the Section 201 trade case in the U.S. While anticipated changes in incentives is expected to slow the Chinese market in the second half of the year, we continue to believe our balanced global footprint and flexible business model will enable us to adjust to evolving market conditions. Our team remains focused on prudently managing our working capital, strengthening our balance sheet and ex-ecuting our business strategy to provide our customers with high-quality products.”

- Mr. Baofang Jin, Chairman and CEO of JA Solar,

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq:JASO) ("JA Solar" or the "Company"), one of the world's largest manufacturers of high-performance solar power products, today announced its unaudited financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2017.

All shipment and financial figures refer to the quarter ended June 30, 2017, unless otherwise specified. All “year over year” or “y/y” compari-sons are against the quarter ended June 30, 2016. All “sequential” comparisons are against the quarter ended March 31, 2017.

Total shipments were 2,389.2 MW, well above the guidance of 1,550 to 1,650 MW. This is mainly due to stronger than expected pull-in or-ders from the China market. External shipments of 2,314.7 MW increased 88.3% year over year and 68.3% sequentially.

QUARTER RESULTS


2016 Q2 2017 Q1 2017 Q2 QoQ(pp) YoY(pp)China 63.9 % 39.7 % 59.2 % 19.50 -4.70APAC ex-China 12.0 % 44.2 % 24.9 % -19.30 12.90Europe 3.7 % 5.5 % 5.1 % -0.40 1.40North America 9.3 % 8.1 % 8.1 % 0 -1.20South America 9.9 % 0.1 % 0.4 % 0.30 -9.50Others 1.2 % 2.4 % 2.3 % -0.10 1.10

The Company provided an update regarding the July 13 fire at the Company’s cell production facility in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. There were no injuries in the incident. The Company maintains insurance coverage for its production equipment and is in the process of filing insurance claims related to the inci-dent. The cause of the fire remains under investiga-tion. The Company estimates a loss in cell produc-tion capacity of 500 MW per annum as a result of the accident. Therefore, the Company expects its year-end cell capacity to be 6.5 GW, instead of the previous guidance of 7.0 GW. The Company now expects year-end module capacity to be 7.0 GW, in-stead of the previous guidance of 6.0 GW. Year-end wafer capacity guidance remains unchanged at 3.0 GW. The Company expects to restore the lost cell capacity by the first quarter of 2018.

The conversion of Renminbi into U.S. dollars in this release, made solely for the convenience of the reader, is based on the noon buying rate in the city of New York for cable transfers of Renminbi as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as of June 30, 2017, which was RMB 6.7793 to $1.00. No representation is intended to imply that the Renminbi amounts could have been, or could be, converted, realized or settled into U.S. dollars at that rate on June 30, 2017, or at any other date. The percentages stated in this press release are calculated based on Renminbi.

This press release contains forward-looking state-ments within the meaning of the safe harbor provi-sions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "may," "expect," "antici-pate," "aim," "intend," "plan," "believe," "estimate," "potential," "continue," and other similar statements. Statements other than statements of historical facts in this announcement are forward-looking state-ments, including but not limited to, our expectations regarding the expansion of our manufacturing ca-pacities, our future business development, and our beliefs regarding our production output and produc-tion outlook.

These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the indus-try. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

Although the Company believes that the expecta-tions expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that its expec-tations will turn out to be correct, and investors are cautioned that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results.

» Net revenue was RMB 6.0 billion ($878.1 million), an increase of 44.7% y/y and 61.2% sequentially.

» Gross profit of RMB 770.8 million ($113.7 million) increased 22.7% y/y and 77.9% sequentially. Gross margin was 12.9%, which compares to 15.3% in the year-ago quarter, and 11.7% in the first quarter of 2017.

» Total operating expenses of RMB 515.7 million ($76.1 million) were 8.7% of revenue. This compares to operating expenses of 10.7% of revenue in the year-ago quarter, and 9.6% of revenue in the first quarter of 2017.

» Operating profit was RMB 255.1 million ($37.6 million), compared to RMB 188.0 million ($27.7 million) in the year-ago quarter, and RMB 80.0 million ($11.8 million) in the first quarter of 2017. Operating margin was 4.3%, compared with 4.6% in the prior year period and 2.2% in the previous quarter.

» Interest expense was RMB 82.6 million ($12.2 million), compared to RMB 68.8 million ($10.1 million) in the year-ago quarter, and RMB 83.3 million ($12.3 million) in the first quarter of 2017.

» The change in fair value of warrant derivatives was nil, compared with positive RMB 47.4 million ($7.0 million) in the year-ago quar-ter, and nil in the first quarter of 2017. The warrants were issued on August 16, 2013 in conjunction with the Company’s $96 million registered direct offering, and expired on August 16, 2016.

» Earnings per diluted ADS were RMB 2.87 or $0.42, compared to earnings per diluted ADS of RMB 2.87 or $0.42 in the year-ago quarter, and earnings per diluted ADS of RMB 0.17 or $0.03 in the first quarter of 2017.

External shipments breakdown by product (MW)

External shipments breakdown by region (percentage)

Update on Yangzhou Facility Fire and Production Capacity

Currency Convenience Translation

Forward-looking Statements

2016Q2 2017Q1 2017 Q2 2017 Q2 QoQ% YoY%

Modules and module tolling

1,134.2 1,325.1 2,147.5 62.1 % 89.3 %

Cells and cell tolling

95.1 50.2 167.2 233.1 % 75.8 %

Total 1,229.3 1,375.3 2,314.7 68.3 % 88.3 %

As of June 30, 2017, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of RMB 3.2 billion ($477.0 million), and total working capital of RMB 857.2 million ($126.5 million). Total short-term borrowings were RMB 3.3 billion ($491.7 million). Total long-term borrowings were RMB 2.8 billion ($419.4 million), of which RMB 792.1 million ($116.8 million) were due in one year.

For the third quarter of 2017, the Company expects total cell and module shipments to be in the range of 1,600 to 1,700 MW. Nearly all will be ex-ternal shipments. For the full year 2017, the Company is raising its ship-ment outlook. Total cell and module shipments are now expected to range between 6.5 and 7.0 GW, up from 6.0-6.5 GW in the prior guidance. This includes 100-150 MW of module shipments to the Company's downstream projects, down from 200-250 MW in the previous guidance. Revenues will not be recognized for the modules shipped to the Company's downstream projects as required by US GAAP.

Liquidity

Business Outlook

QUARTER RESULTS


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INGETEAM LAUNCHES INGEREV® RAPID 50, ITS LATEST RAPID EV CHARGING STATIONIngeteam is finalizing the launch of INGEREV® RAPID 50, the company’s latest multi-standard rapid charge model for the INGEREV® electric vehicle product range.

NGEREV® RAPID 50 is compatible with the CHAdeMO, CCS and Type 2 AC standards, making it the ideal so-lution for charging all types of electric vehicles. It is available in three dif-ferent models (Trio, Duo and One), depending on the charging standard required. The INGEREV® RAPID 50 offers the possibility of simultaneous AC and DC charging.

Ingeteam has designed its IN-GEREV® RAPID 50 product range based on its extensive experience in the manufacture of power converters, thereby guaranteeing the optimal reli-ability and efficiency of its chargers.

The INGEREV® RAPID 50 fea-tures advanced local and remote communication capabilities via Eth-ernet, 3G and Wi-Fi for integration in local and/or remote control centers, payment platforms and charge man-agers using different versions of the OCCP protocol (customized or stan-dard). Its 7″ TFT color touch screen improves the user interface and also offers an advertising option.

The charger design combines ease of use with maintenance simplicity. Its sturdy steel enclosure guarantees ex-ceptional resistance in even the most adverse ambient conditions.

This inverter will be on show at the EVS30 fair in Stuttgart (Germany) from the 9th to 11th October, and is set go into production in October 2017.

Its key advantage over other char-gers on the market is its reliability and efficiency, thanks to Ingeteam’s extensive experience in the design of electronic power converters for the wind power, photovoltaic, rail and ma-rine markets, amongst others.

Ingeteam offers three different models for this charger (Trio, Duo and One). The Trio model is compatible with all three existing charging stan-dards, CHAdeMO, CCS and AC, the Duo model includes CHAdeMO and CCS, while the One model only in-cludes CCS.

To date, Ingeteam has supplied the market with more than 2,300 chargers from the INGEREV® range, includ-ing AC slow chargers and DC rapid chargers, installed in countries such as Spain, Italy, South Africa, France, Mexico, Turkey, Scotland and Austra-lia.

IPR DUCTS


NEW REACTIVE POWER INVERTER (NOT ONLY) FOR PV SYSTEMSThe blueplanet 50.0 TL3 RPonly from KACO new energy serves yield protection in solar parks and grid management.

n order to support grid stability, German PV spe-cialist KACO new energy introduces the blueplanet 50.0 TL3 RPonly. This unit can feed in reactive pow-er at any time in order to maintain the grid voltage in the specified tolerance range – a key contribu-tion to grid management. To date, no other manu-facturer is taking this approach using a stand-alone reactive-power inverter, which can reduce the load on the solar inverters and prevent yield losses in the solar power plant. When there is a lot of sun-shine, solar parks feed large amounts of energy into the grid; when there is less sunshine, they naturally feed in considerably less and grid impedance can fluctuate accordingly. One useful means of com-pensating for the resulting fluctuations in the grid is to provide what is known as reactive power. This is where the new blueplanet 50.0 TL3 RPonly comes in: this AC-coupled inverter from KACO new energy enables operators of solar power plants, or trans-port networks, to provide the necessary amount of reactive power correction, by day or by night. The correction value applied at the grid connection point is the crucial factor. This is where the park control system “reads” the measured reactive power. If the measured value deviates from the set-point – which can be set to any value between 100% active and 100% reactive – the blueplanet 50.0 TL3 RPonly inverter or inverters will be requested to supply re-active power to the extent that is required to arrive at the target value once more. Since fluctuations in the grid can result from a range of causes, the ap-plication goes beyond solar parks: the blueplanet 50.0 TL3 RPonly can therefore also be used for reactive power compensation in industrial or other large consumer sites.

Reactive power is defined using the phase off-set between current and voltage, and is given as the cosine of the angle difference: if the current and voltage are completely in phase (phase angle Phi = 0 degrees), the cosine of Phi is 1, i.e. 100 per cent active power and 0 per cent reactive power is supplied. In contrast, if the current and voltage curves are completely offset (phase angle Phi = 90 degrees), the cosine of Phi has a value 0, so 100 per cent reactive power is supplied to the grid.

As a “phase-shifting” device, the blueplanet 50.0 TL3 RPonly can supply any value of reactive power between 0 and 100 per cent, current leading or lagging. The power is not given in watts (W) or volt-amperes (VA) but in var. As its name suggests, the inverter can supply up to 50 kvar.

By using the RPonly as a purely reactive-power inverter, solar inverters do not have to reduce their own active power in order to match the grid reactive power. Instead, they can continue to feed in sole-ly active power, protecting the park operator from yield losses.

The blueplanet 50.0 TL3 RPonly can be used in new and existing plants, wherever reactive power is required in grid management, perfectly comple-menting solar inverters from KACO new energy or other manufacturers.

IPR DUCTS

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"

APAR.......................................................................................31

ARCTECH SOLAR...............................................BACK GATEFOLD

AVI SOLAR..............................................................................15

COnFIRmwARE.......................................................................25

HUAwEI TELECOmmUnICATIOn.....................InSIDE FROnT LEFT

JA SOLAR.........................................................FROnT GATEFOLD

JInKO SOLAR.........................................................FROnT COVER

JInCHEn..................................................................................13

JURCHEn.................................................................................21

LIGHTwAY...............................................................................33

LOnGI SOLAR..........................................................POP UP (04)

mICROmAX...............................................................POP UP (03)

PV POwER TECH.....................................................................19

RISEn EnERGY........................................................................41

SOVA SOLAR...........................................................................11

InSOLATIOn.............................................................................17

InTERSOLAR InDIA.................................................................77

SwELECT.................................................................................09

TBEA.......................................................................InSIDE BACK

TRInITY TOUCH......................................................................37

TwInSEL.................................................................................29

VIKRAm SOLAR.......................................................BACK COVER

· tata bluescope steel unveils ilios, a high strength light weight solar module mounting...

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