Total corporate funding in energy storage, including from venture capital, public market, and debt financing, amounted to $2.2 billion in 27 deals in the first quarter of 2023, a drop of 83% year-over-year compared to $12.9 billion raised in 27 deals, according to Mercom’s Q1 2023 Energy Storage & Smart Grid Funding and M&A Report. The report noted that LG Energy Solution’s $10.7 billion IPO during the quarter contributed 83% of Q1 2022 funding and skewed funding totals.

POWERGRID Energy Services has invited bids for installing and commissioning an 85 MW solar power project at Nagda in the Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh. The successful bidder will also undertake the project’s operation and maintenance for five years after completing the trial run post-commissioning. The last date to submit the bids online is April 28, 2023. Bids will be opened on May 2.

Kerala government’s Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology has invited bids for 2 MW solar projects at multiple locations of the Travancore Titanium Products company campus at Kochuveli, Thiruvananthapuram. Out of the cumulative capacity, 1.5 MW will be ground-mounted, and 500 kW of solar systems will be installed on the rooftop of various buildings within the campus. The projects will be installed under the Solar City project funded by Smart City Thiruvananthapuram. The last date for the submission of bids is April 26, 2023. Bids will be opened on the next day.

In an exclusive interview with Mercom, Srivatsan Iyer, Global CEO of Hero Future Energies, discussed the company’s strategy to become a comprehensive renewable energy provider by expanding its offerings to include battery energy storage and green hydrogen production. Iyer also spoke about the recent policy changes and their impact on the industry while offering solutions to some of the problems hindering renewable growth in the country.

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal has said it has roped in Siemens Gamesa in India and Casa dos Ventos in Brazil to install wind projects for powering its steel factories to reduce carbon emissions in the high-emitting sector by using renewable energy sources. In the first agreement, ArcelorMittal India partnered with Siemens Gamesa to install wind turbines at its steel facilities. The wind project will form part of a 989-MW wind-solar hybrid renewable energy project in the Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh.

Mercom India will bring together industry experts to discuss the current and future trends in renewable energy will be one of the topics industry experts will discuss at the ‘Mercom India Renewables Summit 2023,’ an exclusive event on April 26-27 in New Delhi. At a session titled ‘Changing Landscape of Renewable Projects ‘scheduled for April 26, 2023, panelists will shed light on the evolution of large-scale projects from vanilla solar to solar with wind and energy storage, catering to the round-the-clock and peak power supply demand from power distribution companies.

The UK government will introduce non-price factors in its Contracts for Difference program for renewable energy projects as a major shift from the cost-only model to ensure the viability of such projects in the long term. The new approach could mean that applicants would have to show how their projects would help improve the supply chain sustainability, address the skills gaps, foster innovation, and enhance the sector’s system and grid flexibility and operability.

Cepsa and Bio-Oils, a Spain-based biofuels subsidiary of Apical, have partnered to boost the production of second-generation biofuels by procuring most of its feedstock from organic waste, including agricultural residue and used cooking oils. The €1 billion (~$1.1 billion) worth facility will consist of two pre-treatment units and produce up to 500,000 tons of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel yearly for land, sea, and air transportation, with adaptable production capabilities.

Scientists at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) claimed to have developed a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell with a record energy conversion efficiency of 33.2%. Certified by the European Solar Test Installation, the efficiency achieved at the KAUST Solar Center has been listed on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Best Research-cell Efficiency Chart. Researchers combined perovskite top cells on industrially compatible, two-sided, textured silicon bottom cells to obtain the tandem solar cell.