Author Archives: Vijayalakshmi Sridhar
About Vijayalakshmi Sridhar
Vijayalakshmi is a staff reporter at MercomIndia.com. She has two decades of experience as an independent journalist and features writer, and her work is featured across various publications and genres such as business, food, and clean energy. More articles from Vijayalakshmi.

Four-terminal Architecture Push Perovskite Cells’ Performance to Over 30% Efficiency
Recent efforts by TNO, TU Eindhoven, imec, and TU Delft, partners in Solliance, a solar research institute in the Netherlands, claim to have pushed the conversion efficiency of tandem solar ...

Brookfield Acquires Scout Clean Energy and Standard Solar for Over $1.5 Billion
Renewable energy investor Brookfield Renewable, together with its institutional partners, has announced the acquisition of two clean energy companies in the United States for over $1.5 billion. Brookfield Renewable will ...

Germany to Adopt Sliding Market Premium Model in Renewable Energy Tenders
The European Commission has approved three additional measures to support electricity production from renewable energy sources in Germany under EU State aid rules. The measures include a change from a ...

EV Charging Infrastructure to be Set Up Along 75,000 Miles of Highways in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plans for all 50 States covering approximately 75,000 miles of highway across the country. With this approval, all States ...

PXIL to Start Trading Daily, Weekly and Monthly Contracts in Renewable Power
Power Exchange India Ltd (PXIL) has introduced the ‘daily, weekly and monthly contracts’ in its proprietary contract system ‘PRATYAY’ for conventional power transactions. Market participants will now be able to ...

Bids Invited for 15 MW of Rooftop Solar Projects in Uttar Pradesh
The Uttar Pradesh New & Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) has issued a notice inviting tender for empanelment of vendors to design, manufacture, supply, erect, test, and commission approximately 15 ...

Glennmont and MN To Invest €700 Million for Renewables Expansion Across Europe
Clean energy fund manager Glennmont Partners from Nuveen, in partnership with Dutch pension fund manager MN announced the launch of the Nuveen European Core Renewable Infrastructure (NECRI) strategy to provide ...

In a First, Wind and Solar Projects Met Over 10% of Global Electricity Demand in 2021: BNEF
The world's wind and solar projects combined met more than a tenth of global electricity demand for the first time in 2021, according to research company BloombergNEF (BNEF). In its ...

Electricity Tariff Hike Could Nudge Tamil Nadu C&I Entities to Adopt Solar Open Access
Commercial and industrial (C&I) consumers in Tamil Nadu are considering switching to solar open access projects under captive and group captive mode as opposed to buying power from the state-owned ...

Terra-Gen Secures $959 Million for a 410 MW Solar and 1.8 GWh Battery Storage Project
Leading independent renewable energy provider Terra-Gen has completed project financing of $959 million for the second phase of its Edwards Sanborn Solar Storage facility in Kern County, California. The second ...

Indian Oil Subsidiary Invites Bids to Set Up Green Hydrogen Unit at its Chennai Refinery
Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL), a group company of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), has issued an expression of interest (EoI) for the design, manufacturing, and commissioning of the electrolyzer and related ...

KKR and Hero Group to Invest $450 Million in Hero Future Energies
Global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and the Hero Group signed definitive agreements to invest $450 million in Hero Future Energies (HFE), the renewable energy arm of the Hero ...

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund Acquires 30% Stake in Mahindra Susten, Plans InvIT
Global investor Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan will acquire a 30% equity stake in Mahindra Susten, a cleantech arm of Mahindra Group, for an equity value of ₹23.71 billion (~$300 million). The ...

A Decarbonized Global Energy System by 2050 Could Result in Savings of $12 Trillion
Transitioning to a decarbonized energy system by around 2050 will save the world at least $12 trillion compared to continuing our current levels of fossil fuel use, according to a ...

Linking Wind Tariff to Commodity Price Indices Could Mitigate Market Volatility: GWEC
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has suggested linking the tariff discovered in reverse auctions to commodity price indices to mitigate any volatility arising from an increase in the price ...

Husk Power Secures $6 Million Debt Facility to Implement Solar Microgrids
Husk Power Systems, which operates solar-hybrid microgrids across rural Asia and Africa, has signed a debt facility of $6 million from the EU- funded Electrification Financing Initiative (EDFI ElectriFI). The ...

EPC Tender Issued for 60 MW Solar Project in Madhya Pradesh
Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) has invited bids to select an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the design, supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of a 60 MW solar power ...

US Solar Panel Prices Dropped 11% in 2021 as Shipments Touched Record-high
The shipments of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules in the U.S. increased to a record electricity-generating capacity of 28.8 million peak kW in 2021 from 21.8 million peak kW in 2020, ...

Ballard to Supply Fuel Cell Modules for India’s First Hydrogen-Powered Trains
Fuel-cell technology company Ballard Power Systems has secured a fuel cell module order from Medha Servo Drives, a rail system integrator, to develop India’s first hydrogen-powered trains. The two retrofitted ...

Rajasthan Lays Thrust on Electric Vehicle Manufacturing in its EV Policy 2022
The Rajasthan EV policy 2022 lays out financial and non-financial incentives and initiatives that would support the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) and seeks to promote EV manufacturing and related ...

Websol, Amp Energy Form JV to Manufacture Solar Cells and Modules
Kolkata-based solar cells and modules manufacturer Websol Energy and Amp Energy India have formed a joint venture to manufacture up to 1.2 GW of mono PERC solar cells and modules ...

Chhattisgarh’s EV Policy Targets 15% of All Vehicles to Be Electric by 2027
The Chhattisgarh State Electric Vehicle Policy, 2022 aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EV), especially in the two-wheeler, public/shared transport, and goods carrier segments. It has targeted 15% ...

Hindustan Zinc to Procure Renewable Power up to 200 MW
Hindustan Zinc has acquired a 26% stake in a special purpose vehicle, Serentica Renewables India 4, for ₹3.5 billion (~$43 million) and executed a long-term renewable power delivery agreement up ...

Electric Vehicle Battery Standards Amended for Enhanced Safety
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has amended battery safety standards to prevent fire incidents in electric two-wheelers (E2W). The amendments provide for additional safety requirements related to battery ...

US Seeks Public Weigh-in for Lithium-ion Battery Recycling Program
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to help guide the implementation of $335 million in investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for ...