Here are some noteworthy cleantech announcement of the day from around the world:

BELECTRIC has secured a contract to develop the 250 MW solar project in Rajasthan from Fortum Solar Plus Private Limited. The company will be a construction and commissioning partner and provide operation and maintenance service to the large-scale solar project on behalf of the owner Fortum Solar Plus Private Limited.

AYRO Corporation and Karma Automotive’s Innovation and Customization Center have formed strategic manufacturing, engineering, and design partnership. Both companies have plans to deliver over 20,000 light-duty trucks and electric delivery vehicles over the next three years, valued at more than $300 million. Both companies will initially serve consumers in North America, but the supply chain capabilities and resources of the two companies can be leveraged to satisfy demand across global markets in the future.

SkyPower, a global solar project developer, has signed a power purchase agreement with the Société Nationale d’Electricité, and the national energy of The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for 1 GW of solar projects, under the framework of a SkyPower Green Giant Public-Private Partnership. The DRC Green Giant project is expected to provide an estimated $2.3 billion contribution to the country’s gross domestic product and approximately 30,000 new job opportunities.

Ameren Corporation, a U.S.-based power company, has set a net-zero carbon emission goal by 2050 across all its operations in Missouri and Illinois. As a part of its Integrated Resource Plan, the company will invest nearly $8 billion in renewable energy over the next two decades. It will add 3.1 GW of renewable generation by 2030, reflecting a combined investment of approximately $4.5 billion. The company set an objective to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and 85% by 2040, based on the 2005 level.

The University of Birmingham said that HydroFLEX, the first hydrogen-powered train, would run on the United Kingdom mainline on September 30, 2020. The train trails have been supported with investments worth £750,000 (~$ 961,908) from the Department for Transport, following almost two years’ development work and over  £1 million (~$ 1.28 million) investment by the University of Birmingham and Porterbrook. The Department for Trasport also commissioned a plan to understand the Tees valley hub’s feasibility and how it can enhance the United Kingdom’s hydrogen ambitions. The £23 million (~$ 29.48 million) Hydrogen for Transport program also includes funding worth £6.3 million (~$ 8.07 million) for a green hydrogen refueling station and 19 hydrogen-powered refuse vehicles in Glasgow.

Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) has signed a performance-based Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Power, Government of India, detailing various targets to be achieved by PFC during FY 2020-21. The Government of India set a revenue target of ₹360 billion (~$ 4.88 billion) along with various performance-related parameters such as operating profit as a percentage of revenue from an operation, PAT as a percentage of average networth and non-financial parameters.

Germany installed 409 MW of solar capacity in August 2020, a decrease of 28 MW from July 2020, according to the latest numbers announced by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). Germany had installed 322 during the same month last year. As per the federal agency’s data, the total cumulative capacity at the end of August 2020 reached 52.38 GW.

NITI Aayog and the Embassy of Netherlands have signed a Statement of Intent to support decarbonization and energy transition agenda for accommodating more clean energy. Through this collaboration, NITI Aayog and the Dutch Embassy seek a strategic partnership to create a platform that enables comprehensive cooperation between stakeholders and influencers, including policymakers, industry bodies, private enterprises and sector experts.

NTT Limited has unveiled its plans to expand its chain of data center facilities in India, with the launch of a new hyper-density and hyper-scale data center in Mumbai. The company also launched its first 50 MW solar photovoltaic power project in Solapur, Maharashtra. The project is built in partnership with Tata Power. The 50 MW solar project is expected to satisfy 83% power needs of Mumbai data centers.

Massader, a development arm of Palestine Investment Fund, has floated a tender to procure an Owner engineering firm’s services to support implementing a national program to install rooftop solar systems on around 400 public schools across Palestine. The last date for the submission of bids is October 30, 2020. The scope of work includes development, finance, design, engineering, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, ownership, and operation and maintenance for the project.

RWE Gas Storage West GmbH and CMBlu Energy AG have initiated a collaborative project to investigate how RWE can utilize the salt caverns currently used for gas storage as large-scale, organic flow batteries. These underground caverns could potentially store capacities of up to several GWh of electricity from renewable sources. To use the salt caverns as batteries in the future, both companies are planning to fill them with an organic electrolyte solution, which will then serve as a primary energy source.

ELECTRIFY.SG has completed the test of its peer-to-peer trading power platform Synergy Alpha across its city-wide grid in Singapore. The trading power platform connects a network of solar photovoltaic systems to energy users through the main grid. The platform featured a total of 15 sites – 12 consumers and three prosumers and showcased the user experience from initial account creation up to the billing. The energy trading platform will enable prosumers to earn stable revenue from their excess electricity. On the other hand, consumers will be offered a more extensive selection of energy options at fairer prices.

Polaris Corporation has signed a 10-year partnership agreement with Zero Motorcycles to develop off-road vehicles and snowmobiles. The exclusive partnership is a part of Polaris’ long term strategy to strengthen its position in powersports electrification.  Through this partnership, the company aims to offer consumers an electric vehicle option within each of its core product segments by 2025, with the first vehicle available by the end of 2021. According to the 10-year exclusive agreement, Polaris will develop, manufacture, and sell ORVs and snowmobiles using Zero’s powertrain technology, hardware, and software.

Here is our previous daily news wrap-up.