Wind capacity installations in India rose 168% year-over-year to 737.9 MW in the first quarter of the calendar year 2023. Installations grew 222% quarter-over-quarter from 229.2 MW in Q4 2022. The surge in installations is primarily due to the introduction of the Renewable Purchase Obligation and Energy Storage Obligation trajectory until 2029-2030 by the government, which specified that wind RPO will be met only by energy produced from wind power projects commissioned after March 31, 2022. The country’s total wind installations by the end of Q1 2023 stood at 42.6 GW, up 6% YoY.

Amp Energy India, ReNew Vikram Shakti, Hero Future Energies, and ACME Cleantech Solutions have won the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s auction for developing 1,200 MW of the interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected wind-solar hybrid power projects (Tranche-VI) with energy storage and assured peak power supply across India. ReNew Vikram Shakti won the largest capacity of 600 MW by quoting ₹4.69 (~$0.05)/kWh, ACME Solar followed with a capacity of 380 MW at ₹4.73 (~$0.05)/ kWh, while Hero won 120 MW at a tariff of ₹4.72 (~$0.05)/ kWh. Amp Energy won 100 MW by quoting the lowest tariff of all other winners at ₹4.64 (~$0.05)/ kWh.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission has revised its renewable purchase obligation (RPO) and compliance regulations, establishing the RPO trajectory for the national capital territory until the financial year 2025-26. The amendment aligns with the Ministry of Power’s regulations after incorporating wind energy into the RPO and re-categorizing solar energy as ‘Other RPO.’ The new trajectory became effective on April 1, 2023.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla said it will build a new plant in Shanghai, exclusively focused on producing the firm’s energy storage product Megapack. The company announced the move on Twitter. Xinhua, the official state-run press agency of the People’s Republic of China, reported that the company’s new facility will commence construction in the third quarter of this year and begin manufacturing in the second quarter of next year. The plant will start by producing 10,000 units of Megapack annually, an equivalent of roughly 40 GWh of energy storage. These products will be available worldwide.

The Reserve Bank of India has issued a framework for financial institutions to offer ‘Green Deposits’ to customers, address ‘greenwashing’ concerns, and help augment the flow of credit to green activities and projects. The framework, which aims to foster the growth of the green finance ecosystem in the country, applies to all regulated entities like scheduled commercial banks and deposit-taking non-banking financial companies. It will come into force on June 1, 2023.

A recent study by researchers from the School of Engineering at Macquarie University has demonstrated the effectiveness of using microwave radiation as a means of heating during the solar cell manufacturing process. This new method offers several benefits over the traditional oven-based approach, including increased efficiency, reduced energy consumption, and improved recyclability. Specifically, the technique streamlines the annealing process – a key step in solar panel production – which typically involves subjecting silicon cells to high temperatures.