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

NTPC has declared commercial operation of the first part capacity of 162.27 MW out of the 230 MW Ettayapuram solar PV project on December 10, 2022, in Tamil Nadu. With this, the standalone installations and commercial capacity of NTPC stand at 57,801.27 MW. The group installation and commercial capacity stand at 70,416.27 MW.

Gensol Group is commissioning a 3,085 kW ground-mount solar PV power project at its manufacturing facility in Manali, Tamil Nadu. The project was brought to light amid formidable challenges thrown by the weather in the state and is the third of its kind. It has been engineered using LONGi Solar’s 540W mono PERC solar panels and Solis’s 220 kW-rated inverters. Built to mitigate climate change and achieve grid independence, the project is estimated to save CO2 emissions equivalent to approximately 4,840 tons per year.

Under the PM-KUSUM scheme, over 800,000 standalone solar pumps have been allocated to different states under Component-B, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said. Since the program is demand-driven, no allocation has been made in Andhra Pradesh in the absence of demand. Power Minister R.K Singh said the pace of implementation was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Implementing agencies in the states had sought extension in the timeline for the execution of projects. The program has been extended till March 31, 2026.

Solar company KPI Green Energy has announced it is developing solar power projects of 24.90 MW capacity under the captive power producer segment through KPIG Energia and Sundrops Energia, wholly-owned subsidiaries of the company. Upon commissioning the new orders, the total cumulative capacity of the solar power projects under both CPP and IPP segments will stand at 63.66 MW.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said a total of 57 solar parks totaling 39,285 MW capacity had been approved under the program for developing solar parks and ultra-mega solar power projects as of November 30, 2022. The funds released for developing solar parks between 2019 and 2022 amount to ₹5.03 billion ($60.91 million). All the solar parks under the program are scheduled to be completed in FY 2023-24.

Saudi ACWA Power has partnered with nine Chinese entities to finance, invest, and construct the utility provider’s global clean and renewable energy projects in Saudi Arabia and the Belt and Road Initiative countries. The memorandums of understanding were signed during the 1st China Arab Summit on December 9, 2022. Saudi Arabia and China have also signed several other deals in sectors like green energy, information technology, cloud services, transportation, and logistics.