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

8minute Solar Energy has executed a 15-year power purchase agreement with Clean Power Alliance for a 300 MW solar project. The 400 MW Rexford 1 solar and storage facility in Tulare County includes 180 MW/540 MWh of energy storage to supply constant renewable energy.  The project is expected to become operational in 2023. The project will satisfy the energy needs of over 370,000 Californians while reducing 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. The project will contribute over $200 million to the local economy over the life of the project.

Landmark Group, a retail and hospitality conglomerate in the Middle East and India, has signed a 2.6 MW solar agreement with Yellow Door Energy and AMANA Investments. The project will provide clean energy to Landmark Group’s OMEGA DC Warehouse facility in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The project will be equipped with more than 6,000 solar panels to generate 4.2 GW of clean energy while reducing 1,700 tons of carbon emissions annually. The construction of the project is expected to be completed by the spring of 2021.

Titagarh Wagons Limited, a passenger and freight train manufacturer, has signed a power purchase agreement with Fourth Partner Energy to procure 4.8 MW of solar energy for its steel foundries at Titagarh and its state of the art passenger coach and propulsion unit at Uttarpara. This will satisfy around 25% of the current annual electricity demand for facilities. The company said its procurement of clean energy is in line with the government’s vision of net-zero carbon emissions in Indian Railways by 2030.

Volvo and Stena Recycling subsidiary Batteryloop have collaborated to revamp batteries from electric buses. After the batteries are removed from Volvo’s buses, they are reused as energy storage units in building and charging stations for several years. Batteryloop and Volvo Buses previously joined hands with Stena Fastigheter, whereby bus batteries are used as energy storage units to provide electricity to the Fyrklovern residential area in Gothenburg.

South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, has welcomed the concurrence notice by the National Energy Regulator to the second Section 34 Ministerial Determination issued in February 2020. Section 34 Determination enables the department to undertake the procurement of additional electricity capacity in line with the Integrated Resources plan. The capacity determined 6.8 GW to be generated from renewable energy sources, 513 MW from storage, 3 GW from gas, and 1.5 GW from coal. This will enable the development of an additional 11.81 Gw of power from the year 2022.

Here is our previous daily news wrap-up.

Harsh Shukla is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.

More articles from Harsh Shukla.