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

NTPC REL, the renewable energy arm of NTPC, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the union territory of Ladakh to set up the country’s first green hydrogen mobility project. Under the pact, NTPC will support Ladakh in developing a carbon-free economy based on green hydrogen sources. The company aims to first ply five hydrogen buses in the region and follow it up with a solar project and a green hydrogen generation unit in Leh.

Ballard Power Systems, a provider of innovative clean energy fuel cell solutions, has received a purchase order for fuel cell modules to power 15 Tata Motors buses. The 70 kW FCmove^TM HD fuel cell modules would power Tata’s zero-emission fuel cell electric buses. The buses are slated to be deployed in Faridabad in the National Capital Region. Ballard aims to complete the delivery of all the modules by 2022. The 15 buses will be supplied by Tata to the Research & Development Centre of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).

Solar PV module maker Canadian Solar has been awarded the first utility-scale battery storage project in Colombia. The 45 MW/45 MWh project was awarded in the public tender launched by Colombia’s Ministry of Energy and Mines. Located in Barranquilla in northern Colombia, the project will consist of a 45 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system. The project is granted with a 15-year revenue structure with the Colombian government and indexed to the country’s inflation or producer price index. Expected to reach commercial operation by June 2023, the project would strengthen the electricity transmission network in the Atlántico Department in northern Colombia.

American renewable and thermal energy service provider Babcock & Wilcox and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have signed a pact, giving Babcock & Wilcox exclusive rights to negotiate a licensing agreement that would allow it to market an advanced, particle-based thermal energy storage technology currently in development. Babcock & Wilcox is part of NREL’s research team that is developing an innovative electric particle heater, pressurized fluidized-bed heat exchanger, a long-term thermal energy storage system that stores energy up to 100 hours, and other technologies. The innovations would allow power producers to store solar or wind energy to generate continuous, reliable, grid-scale power. Babcock & Wilcox’s pressurized fluidized-bed boiler technology would help advance this expertise to commercial operations.

China-based Zhongnan Group (Renesola) is set to build a solar production plant with an annual manufacturing capacity of 5 GW. The company aims to manufacture solar PV modules, to be sold under the premium brand EVERSOLA, in this new factory. The firm had announced the move in December 2020. A ground-breaking ceremony for the project was held in Hai’an Economic Development Zone in Jiangsu Province, China. Zhongnan Group is the main investor behind solar project developer and operator ReneSola and sells solar PV modules globally.

Tech firm Capgemini has announced that it has joined the electric vehicle (EV) 100 global initiative, a global initiative that brings together companies transitioning to EVs. Capgemini will now only order hybrid and electric cars and vans for its 12,000-vehicle company fleet. The move is in line with the firm’s aim to switch to a fully electric fleet by 2030. The initiative supports its ambition to achieve carbon neutrality for its operations by 2025 and attain net-zero by 2030. Around 13% of the most polluting cars in Capgemini’s fleet would be discontinued this year and a further 24% in 2022. By the end of 2022, over 50% of the group’s fleet is slated to be hybrid or electric, and 100% by the end of 2025.

Srinwanti is a copy editor at Mercom India, where she writes and edits news stories across the clean energy spectrum. Prior to Mercom, she has worked in book publishing at Macmillan Publishing House and Integra and honed her editorial and writing skills in both online and print media such as Reuters, Times Group Books, The Times of India, and Pune Mirror, covering local to international stories. More articles from Srinwanti Das.