PFCL Floats Empanelment Tender for Metering Infrastructure Service Providers

Solarium Green Energy Receives BSE Nod for Initial Public Offering

Power Transmission Company Kalpataru Projects Raises ₹10 Billion in QIP

Himachal Regulator Approves Tariff for 900 MW Hybrid Power Projects

Daily News Wrap-Up: HPERC Allows DISCOM To Procure 550 MW Solar Power

MES Invites Bids for Maintenance of 1.7 MW Solar Project

Exploring Solar Open Access Potential in Odisha and Haryana

Karnataka Floats EPC Tender for 1.2 MW Solar Project

Himachal Regulator Allows DISCOM to Procure 550 MW Solar Power from SECI

Agri-Solar Solutions Provider GK Energy Files Papers for ₹5.01 Billion IPO


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					</table><p><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/tamil-nadu-cuts-rooftop-network-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission has reduced the rooftop solar network charges for all Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the state by 50%</strong></a> from ₹1.53 (~$0.018)/kWh to ₹0.765 (~$$0.009)/kWh. First introduced in November 2021, the state had imposed a network or wheeling charge of 20% for domestic consumers of up to 10 KW load and 75% for consumers with a load of more than 10 kW. The Commission also issued an order addressing Time of Day (ToD) charges. This directive, originating from the MSME Department, mandates reducing ToD charges from 25% to 15% for LT industries (III-B) during peak hours.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/gujarat-issues-consultancy-solar-park" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (GSECL) has invited bids for a detailed feasibility report (DFR) and detailed project report for a 500 MW solar park in Gujarat</strong></a>. The last date for submission of bids is December 25, 2023. Bids will be opened on December 31. GSECL plans to develop a 500 MW solar park at Great Rann of Harsad, Banaskantha. The specific location for the park will only be disclosed upon the finalization of the tender with the winning bidder.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/railways-invites-rooftop-solar-project-howrah" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Eastern Railway has invited bids to install a 1.125 MW grid-connected rooftop solar power project without battery backup at its Howrah Division in West Bengal.</strong></a> The last date for the submission of bids is January 1, 2024. Bids will be opened the same day. The project will be in addition to and connected with the 2.2 MW rooftop solar project recently retendered. The scope extends to installing, testing, and commissioning solar modules on the rooftops of buildings, shed tops of station platforms, coaching yards, workshops, and all associated works.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/haryana-discom-tender-40-mw-solar-kusum" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has invited expressions of interest to set up 40 MW of decentralized grid-connected ground/stilt-mounted solar power projects</strong></a> under component A of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan program. The projects will be developed on barren/uncultivable and agricultural land falling within a radius of five kilometers from substations notified by UHBVN. They must have capacities varying from 500 kW to 2 MW and be connected to 33/11 kV, 66/11 kV, and 132/11 kV substations.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/railways-indias-first-hydrogen-train-refueling-station-haryana" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Indian Railways has initiated the process of building a hydrogen production and refueling station in Jind, Haryana, to supply the country’s first-ever hydrogen train under the Hydrogen for Heritage initiative</strong></a>. The pilot project will involve retrofitting the Diesel Electric Multiple Unit rake on the Sonipat-Jind section from a diesel to a hydrogen-powered train. Under the initiative, Indian Railways plans to operate 35 hydrogen trains, the first of which will operate on the 89-kilometer stretch between Jind and Sonipat, with an expected flag-off date in 2024.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/ethanol-blended-petrol-saves-india-%e2%82%b9243-billion-in-foreign-exchange" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The Ethanol Blended Petrol program by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has saved public sector Oil Marketing Companies ~5.09 billion liters of petrol</strong></a> during the Ethanol Supply Year 2022-23. This resulted in savings of ₹243 billion (~$ 2.914 billion) of foreign exchange and expeditious payment of ₹193 billion (~$ 2.313 billion) to farmers. The Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameswar Teli, shared the information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/hindalco-%e2%82%b98-billion-battery-foil-manufacturing-facility-odisha" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Aluminum manufacturer Hindalco Industries will set up a ₹8 billion (~$95 million) plant near Sambalpur in Odisha to exponentially increase its manufacturing capacity of aluminum foil used in rechargeable</strong></a> batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems. The company, which is a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group, expects to initially produce 25,000 tons of the foil widely used in lithium-ion and sodium-ion cells. The project will be powered by a 25 MW solar power project and access additional solar energy from a 400 kV national grid connection.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/us-solar-power-capacity-soars-reflecting-35-yoy-rise" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>The U.S. installed 6.5 GW<sub>dc </sub>of solar power project capacity in the third quarter of 2023, a 35% year-over-year increase and a 1% rise from the previous quarter</strong></a>, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Q4 2023 report by Wood Mackenzie and Solar Energy Industries Association. While there is a moderate lag in module supply for the utility-scale segment, the sector experienced a recovery in installation volume due to increased imports, the report said. Solar accounted for 48% of all new power capacity added to the US grid in the first nine months of 2023. Cumulative installed solar capacity now stands at 161 GW<sub>dc</sub>.</p>


Daily News Wrap-Up: Tamil Nadu Cuts Rooftop Solar Network Charges by 50% for MSMEs


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					</table><p><a href="https://www.plugpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Plug Power</a>, a U.S.-based hydrogen fuel cell company, said its net loss widened to $206.6 million for the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2023, compared to $156.5 million as the margins were squeezed by a higher hydrogen molecule costs caused by elevated natural gas prices and supply chain disruptions.</p>
<p>Additionally, the company’s fixed costs rose during the quarter due to the ongoing production ramp at their new manufacturing facilities.</p>
<p>The company’s revenue came in at $210.3 million, a YoY increase of 49%. The sale of equipment and related infrastructure accounted for the largest chunk of the revenue at ₹182.1 million.</p>
<p>Plug Power delivered a higher capacity of electrolyzers at 62 MW in the first quarter compared with the previous full year and added 14 material handling sites.</p>
<p>The company’s operating expenses accounted for $140.4 million, an increase of 35% YoY.</p>
<p>Plug Power&#8217;s Georgia plant is on track to complete commissioning and ramp up liquid hydrogen production throughout Q2, having achieved a construction timeline that sets a new industry standard.</p>
<p>The company will build similar plants in Texas and New York while optimizing its project execution strategy in Louisiana. It said the demand for its containerized electrolyzer systems and large-scale stationary power offerings was growing.</p>
<p>Plug Power said it is scaling up production facilities, with its Vista fuel cell manufacturing facility now producing all GenDrive units for material handling.</p>
<p>The company said it is exploring various options for obtaining low-cost and non-dilutive capital, including completing ongoing projects with the Department of Energy&#8217;s loan program office and assessing asset-backed loan facilities from banks.</p>
<p>The company <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/hydrogen-fuel-plugpowers-revenue-up-in-q4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recorded</a> a revenue of $220.7 million in Q4, a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 36% compared to $162 million during the corresponding period in 2021.</p>
<p>Plug <a href="https://mercomindia.com/plug-powers-net-loss-up-60-yoy-in-q3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recorded</a> a net loss of $170.76 million in the third quarter of 2022, a YoY increase of 60% from $106.67 million.</p>


Plug Power’s Q1 Loss Widens to $ 207 Million on Higher Natural Gas Prices


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					</table><p>Researchers at the École Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (<a href="https://www.epfl.ch/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EPFL</a>) have invented a solar-powered device that is capable of harvesting water from the air for conversion into hydrogen fuel.</p>
<p>The research team at EPFL has developed the system by combining a semiconductor-based technology with novel electrodes.</p>
<p>These electrodes allow the device to maximize contact with water in the air. Since it is transparent, it maximizes sunlight exposure of the semiconductor coating.</p>
<p>“To realize a sustainable society, we need ways to store renewable energy as chemicals that can be used as fuels and feedstocks in industry. Solar energy is the most abundant form of renewable energy, and we are striving to develop economically competitive ways to produce solar fuels,” said Sivula, Principal Investigator of the study.</p>
<p>The researchers said they took inspiration for their device from the process of photosynthesis in plants which converts sunlight into chemical energy using carbon dioxide from the air.</p>
<p>The device’s transparent gas diffusion electrodes when coated with a light-harvesting semiconductor material act like an artificial leaf &#8212; performing artificial photosynthesis which is able to store the sun’s energy in the form of hydrogen bonds.</p>
<p>The researchers said the semiconductor-based technology is scalable and easy to prepare.</p>
<p>“Since each step is relatively simple and scalable, I think that our approach will open new horizons for a wide range of applications starting from gas diffusion substrates for solar-driven hydrogen production,” Marina Caretti, lead author of the work, said.</p>
<p>The team of researchers as well as other research groups had previously shown that it is possible to perform artificial photosynthesis by generating hydrogen fuel from liquid water and sunlight using a device called a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell.</p>
<p>A PEC cell is generally known as a device that uses incident light to stimulate a photosensitive material, like a semiconductor, immersed in a liquid solution to cause a chemical reaction.</p>
<p>But this process posed practical difficulties.</p>
<p>The team said they wanted to show that the PEC technology can be adapted for harvesting humidity from the air instead, which led to the development of their new gas diffusion electrode.</p>
<p>The researchers are currently focusing on optimizing the system to advance this technology and develop new ways to convert hydrogen into liquid fuels.</p>
<p>In December 2022, researchers from EPFL <a href="https://mercomindia.com/swiss-researchers-say-raised-perovskite-cells-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> a method that improves both power conversion efficiency and stability of solar cells based on pure iodide as well as mixed-halide perovskites.</p>
<p>Last September, researchers at the University of Melbourne <a href="https://mercomindia.com/melbourne-university-researchers-build-device-to-generate-hydrogen-from-air/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> a way to generate hydrogen directly from the air, eliminating the dependency on freshwater resources.</p>
<p>Image: EPFL</p>


Researchers Produce Hydrogen Fuel from Air Using Solar Power

<p>Here are some noteworthy cleantech announcements of the day from around the world:</p>
<p><strong>Indian Railways Organization of Alternative Fuels has <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1743631" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invited</a> bids for hydrogen fuel cell-based trains on the Indian Railways network. </strong>Indian Railways aims to retrofit the diesel-powered diesel-electric multiple units into a hydrogen fuel-based train, saving ₹23 million (~$309,718) per year. The invitations are in line with &#8220;Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Batteries&#8221; and &#8220;National Hydrogen Mission,&#8221; two flagship programs of the government to curb the country&#8217;s greenhouse gas emissions. The technology will be tested on the diesel-electric multiple units on the 89 km Sonipat-Jind section of the Northern Railway. Initially, two diesel-electric multiple units&#8217; rakes will be converted, and later, two hybrid locomotives will be converted based on hydrogen fuel cell power movement. There will be no change in the driving console. The tenders will be opened on October 05, 2021.</p>
<p><strong>Renew Power has </strong><a href="https://renewpower.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ReNew_Power_PPA_SECI_RTC_V6-NJ.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>inked</strong></a><strong> a purchase power agreement (PPA) with SECI to supply 400 MW of round-the-clock (RTC) renewable power. </strong>The 25-year PPA has a tariff of ₹2.90 (~$0.039)/kWh for the first year. The price will increase by 3% annually for the first 15 years and stabilize for the remaining ten years. Renew had secured the bid to supply RTC power in 2020 through a tender held by SECI in 2020. ReNew would need 900 MW of wind capacity and 400 MW of solar, supplemented by battery storage to service the contract. The project will be designed to operate at an 80% average annual plant load factor. It will have a minimum capacity utilization factor of 70% monthly. ReNew will set up this capacity through wind and solar farms across Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan at the cost of around $1.2 billion.</p>
<p><strong>Italian oil and gas company Eni, through its subsidiary Eni gas e luce, </strong><a href="https://www.eni.com/en-IT/media/press-release/2021/08/eni-acquires-be-power-expands-electric-charging-services-offering-italy-europe.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>acquired</strong></a><strong> Be Power, the operator of the second-largest electric vehicle charging network in Italy.</strong> Be Charge, a subsidiary of Be Power, has over 5,000 electric vehicle charging points on public land. The company manages its charging stations and those of other operators through a proprietary technology platform. Be Charge provides charging services on its own or third-party charging stations through a dedicated app. The transaction is a part of Eni&#8217;s energy transition strategy and commitment to achieve total decarbonization by 2050.</p>
<p><strong>The 400 MW Dumat al-Jandal wind farm in Saudi Arabia has been </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/MoEnergy_Saudi/status/1422677375842668551" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>connected</strong></a><strong> to the grid and began producing carbon-free electricity. </strong>Dumat al-Jandal is developed by UAE clean energy firm Masdar and France&#8217;s EDF Renewables in Al-Jouf emirate. The wind farm will supply electricity under a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Saudi Power Procurement Co., a subsidiary of Saudi Electricity Co. The project is expected to be completed in 2022 and will offset about one million tons of CO2 annually.</p>


Daily News Wrap-Up: Indian Railways Invites Bids for Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Based Train

<p>Researchers at <a href="https://www.rice.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rice University</a> in the United States of America have created a low-cost device that can split water to produce hydrogen fuel.</p>
<p>The device is developed by the Brown School of Engineering lab at Rice University. The research team led by scientist Jun Lou integrated catalytic electrodes and perovskite solar cells; when this was triggered by sunlight, producing electricity.</p>
<p>According to the university’s release, the current flows to the catalysts, which can split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with a sunlight-to hydrogen efficiency as high as 6.7%.</p>
<p>The scientists claim that the laboratory packaged a perovskite layer and the electrodes into a single module that, when dropped into water placed in the sunlight, will produce hydrogen.</p>
<p>Lou said, “The concept is broadly similar to an artificial leaf. What we have is an integrated module that turns sunlight into electricity that drives an electrochemical reaction. It utilizes water and sunlight to get chemical fuels.”</p>
<p>Perovskites are crystals with cubelike lattices that are known to harvest light. The most efficient perovskite solar cells produced so far achieve an efficiency above 25%, but the materials are expensive and tend to be stressed by light, humidity, and heat, the report stated.</p>
<p>“Even when there’s no sunlight, you can use the stored energy in the form of chemical fuel. You can put the hydrogen and oxygen products in separate tanks and incorporate another module like a fuel cell to turn those fuels back into electricity,” Lou added.</p>
<p>According to the lead author and Rice postdoctoral fellow Jia Lang, the key component may not be the perovskite but the polymer that encapsulates it, thus protecting the module and allowing it to be immersed for long periods.</p>
<p>“Others have developed catalytic systems that connect the solar cell outside the water to immersed electrodes with a wire,” he said.</p>
<p>Further, Liang said that the patterned film allows sunlight to reach the solar cell while protecting it and serves as an insulator between the cells and the electrodes.</p>
<p>The researchers claim that with proper system design, one can potentially make a self-sustaining loop.</p>
<p>Previously, researchers at <a href="https://www.stanford.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stanford</a> said they had developed a <a href="https://mercomindia.com/new-water-based-battery-stanford/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">water-based</a> battery that can provide a better solution than lithium-ion for storing solar and wind energy.</p>
<p>Recently, Mercom had reported that Australian scientists, led by the <a href="https://excitonscience.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ARC Center of Excellence in Exciton Science</a>, had published a research paper that stated that they have succeeded in <a href="https://mercomindia.com/semi-transparent-perovskite-solar-windows/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">producing</a> semi-transparent perovskite solar cells that can generate electricity. The breakthrough could allow windows in buildings and automobiles to generate electricity.</p>
<p>Image credit: Oregon Department of Transportation / CC BY (<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Solar_panel_%286330197214%29.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2.0</a>)</p>


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