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

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the village of Modhera in Gujarat as India’s first 24×7 solar-powered village in a recent event organized. The Prime Minister pointed out that solar energy would help power all house lights, agricultural needs, and vehicles in the village. The first-of-its-kind project realizes the Prime Minister’s vision of the solarization of the sun-temple town of Modhera. It involved developing a ground-mounted solar power project and more than 1,300 rooftop solar systems on residential and government buildings, all integrated with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Once completed, the project is expected to demonstrate how India’s renewable energy prowess can empower people at the grassroots level.

Tata Power announced its plans to develop up to 8 GW of utility-scale projects, 1 GW of rooftop solar, and install 150,000 solar pumps in Rajasthan over the next five years. The announcement was made at the recent Rajasthan Summit. The company has commissioned 2,066 MW of capacity in Rajasthan to date, and around 2,873 MW of solar projects under construction are expected to be completed in the next 12-24 months. Tata Power plans to have a renewable power portfolio of 10 GW in the state in the next five years. The company plans to install 10,000 public electric vehicle (EV) charging points in the state over the next few years.

Hartek Solar, the rooftop solar division of Hartek group, bagged an order for a 2 MW floating solar project from Chandigarh Renewal Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society. The plant will be situated at Sector 39 Water Works, which supplies water to Chandigarh. This project is expected to generate 2.8 million units of electricity annually and save 80,000 tons of CO2.

Goldwind, a Beijing-headquartered wind turbine manufacturer, secured a deal with Masdar, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, to supply 111 units of GW155-4.5MW turbines to the Zarafshan wind farm in the Navoi region in central Uzbekistan. The project delivery is scheduled to be started in the third quarter of 2022 and completed by the end of 2024. Once in operation, it would help power 500,000 Uzbekistan households, displacing 1.1 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. The project is expected to help Uzbekistan achieve the goal of increasing the proportion of green electricity to 25% by 2030.

Ilmatar Energy, a Finnish independent power producer, announced that it would develop a 200 MW wind farm in the Vermassalo area of Virrat in Northern Pirkanmaa. The areas are owned by the Finnish forestry and natural capital company Finsilva. The planning and permitting process for the Vermassalo wind farm will begin toward the end of 2022. The construction work is expected to occur in 2025–2026, and the electricity generation will begin around 2027–2028. The Vermassalo wind power project is in Northern Pirkanmaa, approximately 10 km from central Virrat, west of Vehmasjärvi. The tentative size of the project area owned by Finsilva is roughly 3,200 hectares, allowing 20–25 wind turbines to be placed in the area. The company also recently received a grant of €19.5 million (~$18.92 million) from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment to implement a renewable energy hybrid park. Ilmatar is already in the process of building a large-scale wind farm in Alajärvi. The farm will comprise 36 wind turbines and have a capacity of 216 MW. The new project that was granted aid will add a new industrial-scale solar farm in the immediate vicinity of the wind farm. The solar farm will have a capacity of 150 MW and a 50 MWh battery storage offering flexibility.