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

United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm launched the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Earthshots Initiative to accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade. The first Energy Earthshot – Hydrogen Shot – seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per kg in one decade. Achieving these targets will supposedly help the U.S. tackle the climate crisis and accelerate the country’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while creating good-paying jobs and growing the economy.

Government-owned GAIL India Limited recorded a turnover of ₹154.72 billion (~$2.12 billion) in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the financial year (FY) 2021 compared to ₹153.86 billion (~$2.11 billion) in the quarter before. The company’s profit after tax (PAT) jumped by 28% to ₹19.08 billion (~$261.37 million) in Q4 FY21 compared to ₹14.87 billion (~$203.71 million) in Q3 FY21. The company said in a BSE filing that it aims to expand in the areas of compressed biogas, ethanol, and renewable energy and is undertaking several initiatives to diversify.

German specialty chemicals company Evonik is part of the ReProSolar project, which aims to develop a highly efficient and special process for recycling end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) modules. The project has been supported by the European Union with a total of €4.8 million (~$5.85 million) through EIT Raw Materials. Under the project, and together with partner companies from the public and private sector operating along the PV module recycling chain, all PV module components are completely separated for the first time. This way, pure silicon, silver, and glass, among other things, can be made available to the manufacturing industry again.

Italian utility A2A and investment company Ardian have signed a non-binding term sheet, setting out the main terms of a partnership in energy generation and supply in Italy. Through the partnership, A2A and Ardian aim to establish the second-largest Italian platform focused on the energy transition. The venture has a decarbonization strategy in line with the objectives set by the Paris Agreement. As per the pact, A2A will contribute full ownership or majority stakes in a portfolio of assets, including energy generation assets, supply business, energy management storage assets, as well as hydrogen projects. The preliminary indicative valuation of the perimeter of assets that will be contributed is around €3 billion (~$3.65 billion).

Greece-based industrial conglomerate Mytilineos will be providing engineering, procurement, and construction services for the Tutly solar project developed by Total Eren. The project has been undertaken through its renewables and storage development business unit in Uzbekistan. Tutly is a 1,313 MW solar farm located in Samarkand, developed by Total Eren. The project is expected to start feeding power to the grid at the end of 2021. The technology used is the single-axis tracking system (3.644 trackers), string inverters (625 inverters), and bifacial modules (about 295,000). The grid connection is through a 220KV high voltage line through an MV/HV substation of 35kV/220kV, including 2x100MVA step-up transformers.

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.