The Ministry of Power has issued draft tariff-based competitive bidding guidelines for procuring stored energy from existing, under construction, or new Pumped Storage Projects. Stakeholders can submit comments and suggestions by September 6, 2024. The procurer may establish the project at a site specified in the bidding documents. If the government or a government entity owns the site, the project must be developed on a Build Own Operate Transfer basis for 25 to 40 years, as specified in the Request for Selection, to ensure equitable use across generations.

The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity recently annulled an order of the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission on the ground that it overstepped its jurisdiction by intervening in a dispute related to generating and selling electricity across multiple states. This domain falls under the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. The dispute arose when the Solar Energy Corporation of India floated a tender to procure 300 MW of solar power through the Inter-State Transmission System.

Adani Enterprises, Waaree Energies, Matrix Gas and Renewables, and Ohmium were among the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s auction winners to set up 1.5 GW of electrolyzer manufacturing capacities across India. The manufacturing capacities will be set up under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s Tranche II of the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition program. The tender was floated in March this year and was segmented into distinct buckets. Bucket 2B focused on smaller units, with 100 MW also mandated to use domestically developed stack technology.

The Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission has quashed a Tata Power Renewable Energy petition seeking compensation from Andhra Pradesh state electricity authorities for deemed generation losses, claiming that the curtailment was due to insufficient transmission capacity. However, the Commission found no breach of the Power Purchase Agreement by the respondents and concluded that the curtailment was justified under grid security considerations. Tata Power Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Tata Power Company, operates a 100 MW wind power plant in Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh.

The energy-intensive textile industry contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Collectively, textiles are responsible for 4 Gt of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per year, or 5–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than aviation and maritime shipping combined.” The textile sector in India is taking various measures in its manufacturing processes to reduce emissions intensity. Some state governments have done their bit by introducing subsidies to help the textile industry adopt renewable energy to power their operations and lower their energy-related emissions. Last September, the Maharashtra government announced a capital subsidy for textile units installing a solar power project with a maximum capacity of 4 MW.

Renewable Power Corporation of Kerala has invited bids to select a Project Management Consultant to develop a 100 MW grid-connected ground-mounted solar power project with a Battery Energy Storage System at Cheemeni in Kasaragod, Kerala. The last day to submit the bids is September 20, 2024. Bids will be opened on October 3. Bidders must submit ₹8,850 (~$105) as a bid processing fee and ₹500,000 (~$5,956) as a bid bond. The selected consultant must furnish 5% of the contract value as a performance guarantee within 14 days of the letter of award being issued. The Kerala government has allotted 450 acres of land in Cheemeni, Hosdurg Taluk, Kasaragod District, to RPCKL for a solar park.

India Grid Trust, a power infrastructure investment trust, has launched a preferential issue of shares priced at ₹136.43 (~$1.62) to raise approximately ₹6.95 billion (~$82.7 million). This move follows the successful conclusion of an Offer-for-Sale managed by its sponsor, KKR, which saw substantial interest from existing and new long-term investors. The OFS, aimed at reducing KKR’s stake from 21.17% to 3.85%, was oversubscribed nearly two times, reflecting strong investor confidence. This attracted participation from prominent institutional investors such as L&T, HSBC Global Asset Management, SBI Life Insurance, and Aditya Birla Mutual Fund.

Energy solutions provider Gensol Engineering has entered the U.S. market with the launch of its Delaware-based subsidiary, Scorpius Trackers. The launch marks the company’s plans to leverage the vast potential of the U.S. solar tracker market, which deploys trackers aggregating over 25,000 MW annually. Gensol said the U.S. tracker market is growing at a more than 20% CAGR. By 2028, it intends to supply over 2,000 MW of trackers annually. Scorpius Trackers’ first U.S. office will be in California. Scorpius Trackers set up in India in 2012, provides end-to-end single-axis solar tracking solutions.

Canada-based solar module company Canadian Solar ran up a loss of $47.98 million in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024 from a profit of $124.73 million in the same quarter last year. Revenue fell 31% to $1.64 billion from $2.36 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2023. The year-over-year (YoY) decrease was attributed to a decline in module average selling prices and lower project sales, partially offset by higher battery energy storage solutions sales. Depreciation and amortization charges in Q2 were $122 million, compared to $110 million in Q1 and $73 million in Q2 2023. The sequential and YoY increases were primarily driven by Canadian Solar’s continued investment in vertical integration and incremental capacity expansion.