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

Tata Power and Apollo Tyres announced a strategic partnership to deploy public charging stations across India. These charging stations will be deployed at Apollo Tyres’ commercial and passenger vehicle zones spread across the country. Tata Power has a presence across all segments of the EV charging ecosystem and has deployed all types of chargers – DC 001, AC, Type2, Fast DC chargers up to 50 kWh and up to 240 kWh chargers for buses based on location. This classification of chargers will support EV charging for two-wheelers & four-wheelers, respectively. As per the agreement between Apollo Tyres and Tata Power, the latter will initially set up charging stations at 150 branded retail outlets of Apollo Tyres. In addition to the customers visiting these tire retail outlets, the charging stations would also be open for use by the public.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified mass emission standards to introduce alternate fuels to promote eco-friendly means of transportation and decarbonize the transport sector. The ministry introduced alternate fuels such as blends of ethanol with gasoline ( E-10, E-12, E-15, E-20), flex-fuel (E 85) or (E 100), and ethanol blend for diesel vehicles (ED 95), biodiesel, bio-CNG, liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol M15 or M100 and methanol MD 95,  dual fuel, M85 and dimethyl ether (DME or D100), hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, hydrogen CNG.  As per the third Biennial Update Report submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in February 2021, the total greenhouse gas (GHGs) emission from the transport sector in 2016 was 274.43 million tons of CO2 equivalent, which is 9.67% of the total GHG emissions of India.

The Government of Kerala signed a memorandum of understanding with Social Alpha to work together in innovative, clean energy technologies that integrate with the initiatives and programs of the Government of Kerala. This collaboration will also facilitate Kerala in curating innovative technologies for deployment through government initiatives for addressing the challenges in the power sector and energy access for all. The jointly set-up incubation center will leverage the labs and infrastructure already set up by the collaborating agencies.

JERA Co and West Holdings Corporation (West HD) are set to form a business alliance that could develop up to 1.1 GW of solar projects in Japan by 2026.  JERA and West HD have entered into heads of agreement that outlines their partnership. The two companies aim to sign a final deal by the end of March. Until then, they will continue to discuss certain aspects, including JERA’s capital participation in West HD, power exchange between the partners, and joint solar-related business opportunities for third parties. The current idea is that West HD will prioritize solar projects for JERA at both new sites and former power plant sites in Japan.

According to the Ministry of Steel, the Indian steel industry substantially reduced its energy consumption and carbon emissions by adopting the best available technologies. The average CO2 emission intensity of the Indian steel industry has reduced from around 3.1 Ton/ton of crude steel (T/tcs) in 2005 to about 2.6 T/tcs by 2020. To mitigate and adapt to the adverse impact of climate change, India has introduced various measures under the umbrella of the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) is one of the eight missions under NAPCC. The Perform Achieve & Trade (PAT) is a flagship scheme under NMEEE. It is a market-based mechanism for enhancing energy efficiency, under which specific energy savings targets are set.  The steel sector has achieved the total targeted energy savings from PAT Cycles PAT-I, PAT-II, and PAT-III for the period from 2012-20 to the tune of 5.5 million tons of oil equivalent and a corresponding CO2 reduction of 20 million tons.