Solar Power Installed Capacity Crosses 4GW-Milestone

Grid-connected solar power installed capacity has crossed the 4 GW-mark, according to data released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.Against a target of 1,400 MW for 2015-16, the achievement in the first four months of the financial year was 358 MW, or 25 per cent. On the basis of projects awarded in the recent months, both under the federal and States’ schemes, solar industry experts are confident that installations in the current year will exceed 2,500 MW. This contrasts favourably with the 1,112 MW installed in 2014-15 and 948 MW in the previous year.Solar capacity reaching the 4-GW milestone is said to be creditable considering that as recently as in 2010, India had only 12 MW of solar capacity.

The MNRE has set a target of 100 GW of solar capacity to be achieved by 2022. An ambitious target, and the big question is whether it would be met.A Citi group report, titled Energy Darwinism II, has projected that India’s solar installations in 2020 would be 26,523 MW— a respectable number, but way below the target. Such installed capacity would make India the fourth largest solar market, after China (148,141 MW), Japan (64,863 MW) and the US (64,133 MW).

Wind industry

Wind installations in the first four months of the current financial year were 412 MW, according to the MNRE data. Wind industry experts feel that, due to a variety of factors, the target of 2,400 MW for the full year is not likely to be met.The Citi report forecastsIndia’s wind capacity at 38,690 MW by 2020. The government’s target for 2022 is 60,000 MW. 

Source: BL

1st Airport In World To Go 100% Solar Is In India

   www.aws-india.co.in

 Originally published on Solar Love.

Cochin International Airport Limited in Kochi, Kerala (India) has become the first airport in the world to be powered entirely by solar power. A 12 MW solar PV plant, spread over 50 acres, was inaugurated two days back near the airport’s cargo complex.

The power plant took 6 months to complete and has come up at a cost of  ₹620 million ($9.5 million).

Technically speaking, the airport is now grid neutral, as it will give back more than it consumes from the grid. The newly installed solar power plant can generate between 50,000 to 60,000 kWh per day.

The airport has another 1 MW solar PV plant in addition to a smaller grid-connected 100 kW rooftop system, both of which were installed in 2013.

The electricity generated from the system will be fed into the power grid and the airport will use equivalent power from the utility. The plant is expected to produce much more than what the airport would consume, and for this purpose a PPA has been signed with Kerala State Electricity Board to sell any surplus power.

The 12 MW system was executed by Bosch’s Energy and Building Solutions team in India. This is the largest project for the company to date.

About a year back, the Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi took the solar plunge with a 2.14 MW plant.

Incidentally, the combined capacity of solar installations at Cochin Airport (12+1.1 MW) is more than the solar PV system installed at the Indianapolis International Airport, which holds the record for world’s largest solar plant at an airport. However, to be fair, Indianapolis has a single 12.5 MW ground-mounted system.

According to the German company Enerparc, which had commissioned the Delhi system, the only special requirement for putting up a solar plant at an airport is the glare analysis for the solar panels. Solar glare is a concern among pilots, but technology advancements have led to a substantive reduction in the reflective index of panels.

Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, which seems to be the next in line to install a MW-scale solar plant, is said to have sanctioned a 2 MW solar PV unit. Though, if themedia reports are to be believed, the airport is eyeing a 15 MW ground-mounted solar power plant over 60 acres of land.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI), which operates 125 airports across the country, including the Cochin and Kolkata airports, has decided to build solar power plants at about 30 of its airports.

AAI has plans to install 50 MW capacity plants in the first phase (by 2016), which would be enhanced to 150 MW over a period of time. The plants would be established on surplus land available at these identified airports or on the large rooftops of the airport structures.

A MoU was signed between AAI and Solar Energy Corporation Of India (SECI) for construction of these solar plants.

India has 136 airports, some of which are spread over vast pieces of land. For example, the Hyderabad International Airport is spread over 5,400 acres, while the one at Chennai sits over 4,000 acres. Large-scale solar plants are possible on many of these. The one at Hyderabad, for instance, can house a 25 MW system.

Photo Credit: 12 MW Solar Plant at Cochin International Airport via official website 

India’s tapped solar potential is 

still under one percent: study

India's solar power potential estimated at 749 GW 

while the tapped solar power output is still under one percent

Original Post By: IANS | Updated: August 24, 2015 ( Indian Express)

Not even one percent of India’s total solar energy potential has been harvested till date, a recent study by Deloitte and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has revealed.

All this while the National Institute of Solar Energy has estimated India’s solar power potential at 749 GW.

The study also revealed that installed solar power capacity in India grew from 14 MW in 2010 to 3,744 MW by March 2015.

“There are 300 million people in India without power; 400 million people are supplied erratic power; more than half the population of India does not get proper power,” said Ashish Khanna, CEO, Tata Power Solar.

Speaking at the CII Annual Power Conference here on Tuesday, Khanna lauded the government of India’s ambitious target of achieving 100 GW solar power capacity by 2022 compared to China’s 100 GW by 2020.

The central and state governments have embarked on initiatives like rooftop solar projects, solar parks, standalone mini-grids for rural electrification and off-grid applications such as solar cookers, lanterns and others for producing maximum solar power in India.

About use of solar power in Karnataka, G.V. Balaram, MD, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development, said: “Excluding rooftop solar power generation, plans are afoot to increase solar power generation to 20,000 MW using wastelands by 2020.”

Balaram said 500 MW solar power capacity will be added in Karnataka in the next six to eight months.

“Karnataka’s solar policy aims to install 400 MW solar rooftop projects by 2018. Harvesting solar energy through rooftop installation not only enables flexibility but also reduces dependence on diesel-based captive and back-up generation units for industrial and commercial consumers,” said M. Maheshwar Rao, MD, Karnataka Power Corporation Limited.

The annual power conference will brainstorm on policy issues and challenges, new and emerging technologies, grid evacuation, availability and load despatch and innovative financing models in the solar power sector.

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India’s ‘absolutely power neutral’ airport to inaugurate 12MWp PV project       

Original Post By Andy Colthorpe 

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  Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Airport has 19MW of PV, spread across ground mount, rooftop and carports. Image: SunEdison.
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  Kansai Airpot's 11.6MW solar power plant, Japan. Image: Solar Frontier.

An airport in the Indian state of Kerala will become “absolutely power neutral” when it inaugurates a 12MWp solar power plant onsite next week.

Cochin International Airport will unveil its green initiative on 18 August with Kerala’s chief minister, Ooomman Chandy, in attendance, according to local reports.

The commissioning of the PV plant is the third and biggest move so far in this direction by the airport, which installed a 100kWp rooftop plant in 2013 and another shortly after that with 1MWp capacity. According to the airport this was the first megawatt-scale solar PV plant in Kerala.

The latest move adds 45 acres of ground-mounted array, using 265Wp modules by Chinese manufacturer ReneSola and 1MW inverters by ABB India. The project was executed by German engineering company Bosch.

Cochin International Airport’s press release said that the array, when combined with the existing 1.1MW of installed capacity will “technically” make the airport “’absolutely power neutral’”, meaning the PV plants will produce as much electricity as the entire facility demands.  

Other significant airport PV installations in Asia include an 11.6MW PV plant at Kansai Airport in Japan, commissioned in March 2014 and a 19MW plant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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2020 Annual Solar Installations To Reach 92 GW (Report)

August 12th, 2015 by Adam Johnston 

Originally published on Solar Love.

Global solar installations will rise by to 2020 to 92 GW yearly, according to a new report from Apricum, compared to 42 GW annually in 2014.

The Berlin-based cleantech consulting firm said most of the 50 GW in annual increases from 2014 until 2020 will come from China, the US, and India, with 36 GW combined.

Image Credit: Queen of the Apostles Solar via Flickr Some Rights Reserved

The Middle East/North Africa/Africa (MENA) region will represent 6 GW, the rest of Asia 5.6 GW, the non-US Americas 4.1 GW, and Europe 3.5 GW.

However, Japan expects to see declines yearly  (-5.2 GW) as it looks to slow its hot growth.

Apricum also notes cumulative installations will reach 604 GW, from 178 GW six years earlier.

In regards to cumulative installations, China will lead with 180 GW, followed by the US (83 GW), Japan (57 GW), Germany (46 GW), and India (41 GW). Concerns over air pollution and climate change will help China with its steady growth.

Meanwhile, the US will see continued growth as more regions hit socket parity and grid parity. Apricum predicts a good 2015, followed by a drop in utility-scale installations as the federal tax credit drops from 30% to 10%, due in 2017.  However, strong rooftop demand, thanks todeclining solar prices will continue to bolster US markets, Apricum suggests. Recent clean power legislation and Hillary Clinton’s plan of reaching 140 GW by 2020 may also have positive effects.

While China, the US, and India remain strong, Apricum’s report points to new “solar boom zones” within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Africa. Insufficient energy will drive African countries towards solar, while MENA countries including Israel, Morocco, Jordan, and Egypt are going towards cleaner and cheaper solar energy. Competitive tenders have helped keep prices low (with record lows of 4.9 cents/kWh and 5.84 cents/kWh set within the past year).

Brazil’s strong growth through aggressive auctions and many manufacturers setting up shop there will help push Latin America forward as well. In Q2 of 2015, 363 MW of utility-scale solar energy were added. Brazil was fourth in Q2, behind Honduras, Chile, and Panama, according to GTM Research’s Latin American PV Playbook. While Brazil has potential, recent numbers suggest Brazil will need to do more work to reach Apricum’s fearless predictions.

Europe’s PV market will fall, according to the report. On a positive note for Europe, France is expected to increase renewable energy adoption as it closes its nuclear power plants, which could benefit solar a good deal.

In the future, Europe could see another solar growth period after 2020, when battery storage will reportedly hit grid parity in Italy and Germany. This could help advance residential and commercial installations.

Apricum’s analysis of global markets until 2020 is a unique perspective of where solar energy is heading. However, there are always major X factors which could benefit or detract from the growth. This includes the upcoming Canadian federal election, where the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada is leading the polls narrowly against the Conservative Party. An NDP or Liberal Party government would be more inclined to support renewable energy and climate change initiatives than the current Conservative government.

Nonetheless, hotspots like China, India, and the US will remain good places to invest in solar almost invariably, while Latin America, MENA, and Africa are becoming real contenders in the solar energy game. The future looks bright… if also hot. 

India Will Become One Of The World's Largest Solar Energy Producers By 2022

Yesterday, the government approved a decision to increase India's solar energy target by five times. We were gunning for 20 GW by 2022 - now we're aiming for an ambitious 100 gigawatts solar output. We aim to achieve this through residential and large-scale solar projects. 40 GW will be sourced from rooftop installations, while the remainder will come from larger projects putting energy into the grid, including solar farms.

The government's official communique sounded ambitious:  With this ambitious target, India will become one of the largest green energy producers in the world, surpassing several developed countries. Solar power can contribute to the long term energy security of India, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels that put a strain on foreign reserves and the ecology as well.”

Original Blog By Kunal Anand

Indian Railways to Procure 200MW of Solar Power

Indian Railways is planning to float tenders to procure at least 200 mega watt of solar energy in the next two months. Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Kumar Sinha said the Centre is presently working out details of the plan. This tender is part of Railways’ plan to procure 1000 mega watt of solar energy over the next five years.

“We have fixed a target of procuring 1000 mega watt solar power in the whole Indian Railways. We are working on it. We are going to float a tender for at least 200 mega watts in next two months. We have plenty of rooftops available in Indian Railways (to install the panels),” he said.

Railways proposes to harness solar energy by utilising rooftop space through public private partnership (PPP) mode as per feasibility, the modalities of which are being worked out.

According to the plan, Railways plans to install solar power plants of about 8.8 MW capacity at railway stations, railway office buildings and level crossing gates throughout the country under railway funding. These include provision of 10 KWp solar PV modules each at 200 stations under various Zonal Railways, provision of total 4.05 MWp Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) at roof top of 21 railway office buildings and provision of total 1.3 MWp capacity Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) plants at 2000 Level Crossing gates on Indian railways.

The generation of solar supply will help railways supply power at remote locations and save in diesel due to reduced running of diesel generators, officials said.

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Originally Posted on June 24, 2015 by HeadwaySolar