Daily News Wrap-Up: Gujarat’s Consultancy Tender for 1.5 GW Floating Solar Park

Indian solar module makers must cut costs to be competitive

May 15, 2023

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Gujarat State Electricity Corporation has invited bids to appoint a consultant to prepare a feasibility report and detailed project report to set up a 1,500 MW floating solar park in the Tapi district. The last date to submit the bids online is June 1, 2023. Bids will be opened on the same day.

With expanding scale of domestic module manufacturing, the industry is incentivized to develop indigenous technologies and know-how, which China currently dominates, Puneet Gupta, Chief Technology Officer at Adani Solar, commented on the sidelines of the Mercom India Renewable Summit 2023. Gupta added that Indian module manufacturers need to reduce their costs to sustain the current surge in exports to the U.S., primarily driven by the extant geopolitical circumstances.

It has become apparent that solar energy will play an essential part in the future of India, and C&I customers across the country are debating whether the reward is worth the investment. Rooftop solar has been gaining popularity among C&I companies because of the promise that it reduces energy costs significantly. Plus, they hope they can profit from the surplus energy by injecting it back into the grid through metering arrangements.

The Union government plans to develop the Indian carbon market with a national framework to decarbonize the country’s economy through the trading of carbon credit certificates. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, and Ministry of Environment, Forest, & Climate Change are jointly developing a Carbon Credit Trading program.

Madhya Pradesh has released guidelines to promote the development of pumped hydro storage projects in the state. These guidelines clarify the methods for allotment of project sites, tax waivers, and project completion timelines. The state has a significant potential of 11.2 GW for pumped hydro storage projects, which can be further increased by developing off-river closed-loop pumped storage projects and retrofitting existing hydropower projects.

Blueleaf Energy and SunAsia Energy have been awarded contracts by the Philippine government to construct and manage what is claimed to be the world’s largest floating solar project with a combined capacity of 610.5 MW. The move is viewed as a milestone in the country’s energy sector with the issuance of Solar Energy Operating Contracts by the Department of Energy for a cumulative capacity of 1.3 GW in floating solar projects.

Energy storage technology and services provider Fluence’s net loss narrowed to $37.4 million for the second quarter (Q2) of the financial year 2023 from a loss of $60.7 million in Q2 2022 on the back of increased deployments of energy storage solutions. Higher energy storage deployments increased Fluence’s revenue by 104% year-over-year (YoY) to $698 million. The company said the revenue growth was also due to a few projects ahead of schedule.

The capacity of coal-fired power plants in the United States could reduce by ~88% from the 2022 levels by 2050, as environmental regulations raise costs and new plants powered by natural gas and renewable energy displace the aging fleet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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