Azure Power inaugurates 28 MW solar PV plant in Punjab, India

Azure Power (New Delhi, India) on June 3^rd, 2016 inaugurated a 28 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Killianwali village of Muktsar district, Punjab.

The newly operational PV plant was commissioned in a record period of less than ten months from the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement, the company emphasizes.

Simultaneously, the Foundation Stone for a 150 MW solar PV project was laid in the same village.

The two PV plants will generate power to meet the electricity requirements of the nearby villages. The tariffs for these plants range from INR 5.62 (USD 0.084) to 7.33 (USD 0.1095) per kWh.

Apart from electrifying vicinity, these plants are expected to create employment opportunities for an estimated 1.000 local workers.

Azure Power continues to demonstrate its position as a leader in the solar market, with total solar portfolio of 225 MW in the state of Punjab, making the company the largest owner and operator of solar power plants in the state.

The Punjab government’s support through various solar policies under Punjab Energy Development Agency have facilitated in the implementation of these projects.

Azure Power has a total solar portfolio of 980+ MW and has the largest operating solar power project under the National Solar Mission, a 100 MW plant in Rajasthan. 

source: http://www.solarserver.com

Indiana Michigan Power breaks ground on its first solar PV plant

 

Utility Indiana Michigan Power (I&M, Fort Wayne, IN, U.S.), an operating unit of American Electric Power, on June 6^th, 2016 held a groundbreaking ceremony for its first solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Michigan, on a 35-acre site just east of Watervliet.

I&M contracted with First Solar Inc. to build the three Michiana area plants.

The Watervliet solar plant will have more than 50,000 PV panels and generate up to 4.6 megawatts (MW) of solar power. The facility is expected to generate energy equivalent to powering about 650 homes annually.

“I&M is pleased to add solar power to our fleet of emission-free generation sources in Michigan,” said Paul Chodak III, President and Chief Operating Officer of I&M.

“Four decades after our Cook Nuclear Plant began generating carbon-free energy in Michigan, this solar power plant is part of a pilot project that will play a significant role in I&M’s use of the sun to provide energy. I&M already uses wind, water and nuclear energy to generate half of our power, and solar is yet another emission-free energy source.”

The Watervliet plant is one of four solar PV plants in I&M’s Clean Energy Solar Pilot Project. The Deer Creek plant near Marion, Indiana, has been operational since late in 2015.

Construction has already begun at the Twin Branch and Olive plants, both in St. Joseph County, Indiana. All three of the Michiana solar plants will be generating energy for customers by the end of 2016.

Together, the four plants will have the capacity to generate about 15 megawatts of solar power and have the ability to power the equivalent of 2,000 homes
source: http://www.solarserver.com

Meyer Burger sells solar PV equipment and technologies worth around CHF 22 million to the Russian solar company Hevel

Meyer Burger Technology Ltd. (Thun, Switzerland) on June 6^th, 2016 announced a large order from the Russian solar company Hevel LLC for high-end photovoltaic (PV) equipment with a projected total production capacity of around 160 MW.

The around CHF 22 million order from the Moscow-based solar company includes Meyer Burger equipment and technologies for the entire PV value chain, ranging from crystalline solar wafers to cell and module production.

Delivery and commissioning of the Meyer Burger equipment is scheduled for the first half of 2017

The order encompasses the supply of systems for quality inspection of crystalline solar wafers and for performance measurement and sorting of high-efficiency HJT solar cells on the one hand, and the supply of systems for innovative cell coating with heterojunction technology (HJT) as well as the connection technology using SmartWire Connection Technology (SWCT) for high-performance PV modules on the other.

PV modules for the Russian domestic market, the Middle East and India

In future, Hevel LLC will supply the Russian domestic market, the Middle East and India with bifacial high-performance modules. The planned production capacity after upgrading the module factory will be around 160 MW. 

source: http://www.solarserver.com

Sungage Financial lists Vikram Solar as an approved PV module vendor

Sungage Financial (Boulder, Colorado, U.S.), a provider of solar financing solutions, has added the Tier 1 PV module manufacturer Vikram Solar (Kolkata, India) to its approved vendor list.

Vikram Solar PV modules can now be installed in any residential solar system that is using financing from Sungage Financial.

“After Vikram Solar achieved various certifications such as UL and CEC last year, and a PAN file validation was carried out, being listed as a Sungage Financial approved vendor brings us a step closer to making our products available to more customers in the USA,” comments Ken Oatman, Head of Business Development for the Americas.

Vikram has been named a Tier 1 module manufacturer by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and are not subject to anti-dumping tariffs in the U.S.

A leading supplier to the Indian solar market, Vikram exports over 40 percent of its production and was named the #1 Module Exporter of the Year at India’s Global EPC Summit in 2015. 

source: http://www.solarserver.com

New business model could make battery energy storage attractive to UK customers

Costs for residential battery energy storage in the UK remain too high. For storage to enter the mass market, suppliers have to innovate their customer propositions and business models. This is the conclusion of new research from Delta-ee's (Edinburgh, Scotland) energy storage team.

The research shows that the payback for a newly installed PV + battery storage system is more than 16 years.

Julian Jansen, manager of the Delta-ee Energy Storage Research Service, says “with PV + battery storage having been talked up to be the future of the UK's residential PV market, finding ways to reduce this payback and make storage more attractive to customers is crucial to grow the market.”

The payback improves by 2020 but remains over 10 years despite the forecast reduction in storage system costs.

“We expect prices for energy storage systems to fall by around 10% annually,” explains Julian Jansen, “but even by 2020 this may still not be sufficient to allow the UK market to grow above 15,000 units p.a.”

In contrast, the market in Germany is already above this level – as the result of a combination of subsidy, higher electricity prices and a bigger PV market.

New business model approaches like in Germany will be needed in the UK to reduce customer paybacks

But Delta-ee's research also shows that in Germany new business model approaches are being established, and that these approaches will be needed in the UK to reduce customer paybacks below 5 years – the point at which mass market potential becomes realistic. Delta-ee identifies two key options:

• Pay customers to allow third party control of their battery. Typically this involves the third party aggregating many residential batteries and bidding into ancillary services markets.
  
  However, in order to achieve a payback for customers of 5 years in 2020, Delta-ee's modelling shows that customers will need to be paid around GBP 500 per year. To put this into context, UK technology developer Moixa is currently offering payments of GBP 75 p.a. to customers, although in Germany Fenecon / Ampard are already offering customers EUR 400 p.a. (£ 320).
  
  
• Innovative financing approaches, such as leasing / rental models. In this case the customer pays a monthly fee and a utility or third party can take control of the battery systems at times to earn additional revenues.
  
  Thereby the upfront cost barrier for customers is removed and lifetime costs to the customer are considerably lower than if based on an outright purchase of the battery. There are fewer examples to date of this approach, examples including the U.S. Vermont utility Green Mountain Power or German regional utility Entega.

Ultimately, the three factors Delta-ee have identified – cost reduction, additional revenue streams for customers and innovative financing – will all play a role in bringing residential energy storage into the mass market in the UK. 

source: http://www.solarserver.com