KPI Green Energy and Juniper Green Energy were declared the winners of Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam’s auction to procure power from 500 MW grid-connected wind-solar hybrid renewable energy projects with the possibility of expanding the capacity by an additional 500 MW through the greenshoe option. KPI Green, which quoted ₹2.99 (~$0.0360)/ kWh, was awarded 50 MW. Juniper won 150 MW at ₹3.04 (~$0.0366) /kWh.

A new program to install rooftop solar systems on 10 million households across India has been announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana initiative. The program aims to reduce the electricity expenditure of poor and middle-class households while enabling India’s self-reliance in the field of energy, the Prime Minister said in a post on the microblogging site X.

Public infrastructure finance company REC Limited recorded a revenue of ₹120 billion (~$1.44 billion) for the third quarter (Q3) of the financial year (FY) 2023-24, a 23.56% year-over-year (YoY) increase from ₹97.12 billion (~$1.17 billion). The company attributed the performance during the quarter to improved asset quality, increased lending rates, and effective management of financing costs.

Waaree Renewable Technologies, the solar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) arm of the Waaree Group, posted a net profit of ₹644.6 million (~$7.7 million) in Q3 of the FY 2024, an increase of 158% YoY from ₹249.8 million (~$3 million). The increase in net profit could be attributed to the increase in the EPC orders won and executed by the company during the period. The company executed ~208 MW of EPC projects during the quarter.

A team of researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia and the University of Maryland in the U.S. have developed a new type of aqueous sodium-ion battery that they claim can last for over 13,000 charge cycles, overcoming a key limitation of aqueous batteries: water decomposition. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, show that the researchers created an alkaline, rather than neutral, electrolyte that suppresses water splitting into oxygen and hydrogen.

The renewable energy sector is experiencing unprecedented growth fueled by environmental concerns and technological advancements. Countries are increasingly prioritizing sustainability, leading to the rapid adoption of clean energy sources like solar, wind, and hydropower. Falling renewable technology costs are making it economically competitive. India exemplifies this trend, aiming to install 500 GW of power generation capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030.

Mercom India is launching its third installment of the “C&I Clean Energy Meet” series in 2024. This series of events, spanning eight major cities, will kick off in Bengaluru on January 24, 2024, at the Peenya Trade Center, with registrations opening at 5 pm. Mercom aims to bring together clean energy solution providers and consumers to engage with each other on issues like power requirements, challenges, opportunities, and sustainable solutions.