The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) announced that it would re-issue the tender for the unallocated 20 GWh Advanced Chemistry Cell manufacturing capacity under the Performance Linked Incentives (PLI) program. Before allotting the remaining capacity, MHI has announced a stakeholders’ consultation on July 24, 2023, at Jacaranda Hall, New Delhi. The stakeholders are invited to provide written comments and feedback by July 20, 2023. Organizations must RSVP by July 21 to confirm their attendance at the stakeholders’ consultation.

GMR Smart Electricity Distribution, a subsidiary of GMR Power and Urban Infra, won the order to install, integrate and maintain 7.57 million smart meters across different regions in Uttar Pradesh. Two state DISCOMs floated a total of three tenders for the smart meter projects in April this year, Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam for Varanasi, Azamgarh zone, and Prayagraj, Mirzapur zone and Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam for Agra and Aligarh zone.

Electric bus manufacturer Olectra Greentech awarded the contract for the construction of its new greenfield electric vehicle manufacturing facility at Seetharampur in Hyderabad to Megha Engineering and Infrastructures. The proposed value of the contract is ₹3.95 billion (~$48.12 million). As per the contract, the facility will be developed on 150 acres of land at Seetharampur and completed within 12 months from the shareholders’ final approval date, i.e., July 19, 2023.

U.S.-based electric vehicle maker Tesla reported a net income of $2.7 billion in the second quarter of the financial year 2023, a 20% year-over-year increase. The company attributed it to increased vehicle deliveries and other parts of the business, which include energy storage and solar project deployments. The gross profit from the storage and solar segments stood at $278 million compared to ₹97 million YoY.

A substantial increase in hydrogen production capacities, particularly for green hydrogen, is imperative if climate goals are to be achieved, says a recent report by Agora Industry. The report highlights that using electrolyzers powered by renewable electricity is essential to generate hydrogen without any greenhouse gas emissions. The report illustrates the potential disparities in calculating the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH). It also aims to elucidate why real-world projects may exhibit significantly different LCOH values compared to estimates from high-level studies.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhilai, have developed an innovative self-healing polymeric coating material for photovoltaic applications, which demonstrates the ability to heal cracks spontaneously and offers an accessible and cost-effective solution for self-healing coating materials. The researchers said the self-healing coating is designed to repair cracks within solar cells in only five minutes.

Electricity demand in the European Union is expected to reach its lowest level in two decades, marking a significant decline of 3% in 2023, according to the latest “Electricity Market Report” by the International Energy Agency. The report attributes this drop to the ongoing effects of the global energy crisis and an economic slowdown impacting advanced economies. However, while electricity demand is expected to ease worldwide in 2023, overall global electricity demand growth is predicted to increase strongly in 2024.

Following the resounding success in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune, Mercom India is hosting its highly acclaimed C&I Clean Energy Meet 2023 series in Chennai. Beela Rajesh, IAS, Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Tamil Nadu, and Arvind Kumar, Managing Director at Chennai Petroleum Corporation, S.Ilanahai, President, Chemical Industries Association, and V N Shiva Shankar, Vice President, SICCI, will address the inaugural session. The event will be held on July 21, 2023, at Hyatt Regency. Interested entities can register for the event by sending an email to events@mercomindia.com.