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NTPC Invites Bids to Develop 176 MW of Solar Projects in Telangana


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					</table><p>The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (<a href="https://arena.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ARENA</a>) has invited expressions of interest (EoI) for the first round of Community Batteries Funding of up to AU $120 million (~$81.2 million) to deploy community batteries across Australia.</p>
<p>The Community Batteries Funding Program is expected to facilitate the installation of community batteries nationwide to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate strain on the power grid.</p>
<p>ARENA had invited proposals for the first round of the program, which involved a funding allocation of up to AU $20 million (~$13.5 million) to deploy at least five community batteries.</p>
<p>To qualify for funding, every community battery should have a capacity between 50 kW and 5 MW and be connected to the distribution network.</p>
<p>The first round of funding will be divided equally between two separate streams:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Stream A:</strong> This stream is designated for Distributed Network Service Providers (DNSPs), entities responsible for managing the local power distribution network.</li>
<li><strong>Stream B:</strong> The second stream is for all eligible applicants other than DNSPs, such as community groups or businesses.</li>
</ul>
<p>The federal budget announced in October 2022 included a A$200 million (~$134.98 million) allotment for the implementation of the Community Batteries for Household Solar initiative with the goal of installing 400 community batteries in Australia.</p>
<p>ARENA was allotted A$171 million (~$115.41 million) in funding to oversee the deployment of at least 342 of these batteries.</p>
<p>After completing the first round, the remainder of the funds will be utilized for a second round that would cater to projects with longer development timelines.</p>
<p>Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (<a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DCCEEW</a>), which conducted the first round of applications for a similar program under the Business Grants Hub, is expected to deliver the first set of 58 batteries. The department is currently assessing the applications received.</p>
<p>Community batteries are designed to store excess solar energy in the distribution network, which can be used later. By doing so, they help to reduce household electricity costs and alleviate pressure on the local electricity grid.</p>
<p>According to ARENA CEO Darren Miller, community batteries are crucial in continuously optimizing distributed energy resources in the electricity grid.</p>
<p>Deploying such batteries will reduce network costs and alleviate constraints in areas with high solar penetration, leading to lower electricity costs for all consumers.</p>
<p>According to the latest Australian Energy Market Operator (<a href="https://aemo.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AEMO</a><u>)</u> data, the total number of distributed energy resources is over 2.7 million. These resources include solar panels, batteries, wind turbines, and other technologies that generate or store electricity on a small scale, often for individual homes or businesses.</p>
<p>Over 190,527 new solar PV systems were registered across Australia in 2022, representing the largest share of new additions. Other technologies, such as batteries, wind turbines, and electric vehicles, also grew significantly.</p>
<p>As of the most recent update, the cumulative total of registered resources across Australia has reached over 12.8 million. Solar photovoltaic systems represent the largest share of cumulative registrations, followed by batteries, small wind turbines, and other technologies.</p>
<p>The data helps us understand the increasing adoption of distributed energy resources in Australia and the need for community batteries to support the integration of these resources into the grid.</p>
<p>In December last year, ARENA also <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/australia-provide-118-million-battery-projects-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> A$176 million (~$118 million) in conditional funding to support eight grid-scale battery projects nationwide.</p>
<p>Recently, the agency also <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/australia-au29-5-million-university-solar-research" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awarded</a> AU$29.5 million (~$19.5 million) to the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) for research in solar technologies.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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Australia Announces $81 Million Funding for Community Battery Deployment


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					</table><p>The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (<a href="https://arena.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ARENA</a>) has awarded AU$29.5 million (~$19.5 million) to the University of New South Wales’ (<a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNSW</a>) School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) for research in solar technologies.</p>
<p>Researchers at SPREE will use the funding across nine projects to study the streams of cells and modules, the balance of the system, and operation and maintenance mechanisms that are targeted to better the solar cells and their stability along with improved energy efficiencies.</p>
<p>The extensive research will help researchers reduce the levelized cost of solar photovoltaics (PV) and improve the efficiencies of cells and solar modules.</p>
<p>ARENA has awarded UNSW a total of AU$41.5 million (~$28 million) to conduct studies and experiments that will support commercialization activities primarily aimed at reducing the cost of solar.</p>
<p>The funding includes an AU$3.7 million (~$2.4 million) grant for the Rear-Junction p-type PERC/ TOPCON Hybrid Solar Cell project.</p>
<p>By combining two solar technologies conceived at UNSW, the project aims to lower the costs of commercial solar cells by improving their performance through conducting experiments.</p>
<p>The second major component of the funding is worth AU$4.8 million (~$3.2 million) for a project that improvises on a decade of singlet fission technique which is a photophysical process that could help researchers exceed the limit of 30% efficiency while maintaining low manufacturing cost.</p>
<p>Further, a grant of AU$3.7 million (~$2.4 million) has been provided to study the optimal O&amp;M strategy and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE)-modeling for ground-mounted PV. The project aims to significantly improve solar power measurement and financial prediction for optimal performance.</p>
<p>A project to assess the silver-lean screen printing for sustainable low-cost industrial PV manufacturing at a terawatt scale will receive a grant of AU$3.3 million (~$2.2 million). The project is aimed at addressing the amount of silver consumption in the production of terawatt-scale solar, which cannot be solved by end-of-life management as the sector grows.</p>
<p>The other five projects for which grants have been sanctioned include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>AU$3.1 million (~$2 million) for a project on efficient and stable chalcogenide-si tandem cells: integrating commercialized PV technologies</li>
<li>AU$2.8 million (~$1.83 million) for daytime inspection solutions for advanced operation and maintenance of solar farms</li>
<li>AU$2.7 million (~$1.8 million) for Industrial high-throughput inspection methods for high-efficiency multijunction solar cells</li>
<li>AU$2.5 million (~$1.68 million) for a project on the balance of system, machine learning applications for utility-scale PV</li>
<li>AU$2.4 million (~$1.6 million) for low-cost and sustainable PV systems for the terawatt scale project</li>
</ul>
<p>UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research &amp; Enterprise, Nicholas Fisk said, “These awards announced today will further enable our researchers to help solve the world&#8217;s shifting and dynamic energy needs as we move post-haste to a sustainable energy paradigm.”</p>
<p>Recently, ARENA <a href="https://mercomindia.com/australia-funds-research-silicon-perovskite-tandem-tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awarded</a> AU$2.78 million (~$1.9 million) in funding to the University of Sydney which has partnered with Australian solar technology company SunDrive to research and accelerate the commercialization of silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells.</p>
<p>Last October, engineers from UNSW <a href="https://mercomindia.com/unsw-engineers-claim-diesel-can-run-hydrogen-fuel-mix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> a dual-fuel injection system that allows a diesel engine to operate on a Hydrogen-Diesel hybrid fuel with 90% hydrogen in the mix.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gourav Mishra</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gourav,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="89" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourav</a> is a staff reporter with Mercom India with over six years of experience in various roles with NewsX, The New Indian Express, IBTimes India, and U.S., Republic, and Analytics India Magazine. Gourav has a Master&#8217;s in journalism from Jain University, Bengaluru. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav Mishra</a></div>
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Australia Awards AU$29.5 Million to University for Solar Technology Research


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					</table><p>A new report commissioned by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (<a href="https://arena.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ARENA</a>) with inputs from the continent’s three alumina producers has identified four key decarbonization technologies that can potentially eliminate alumina refining emissions in Australia.</p>
<p>Global consultant <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Deloitte</a> prepared the report with inputs from alumina producers <a href="https://www.alcoa.com/global/en/who-we-are" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alcoa</a>, <a href="https://www.riotinto.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rio Tinto</a>, and <a href="https://www.south32.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South32</a>.</p>
<p>The report said while the alumina industry plays an integral role in the Australian economy, it is also one of Australia’s ‘hard-to-abate’ industries.</p>
<p>Australia is the world’s largest exporter of alumina, contributing about AU$ 7.5 billion (~$5.06 billion) to the national economy annually.</p>
<p>But the industry is both energy and emissions-intensive.</p>
<p>Alumina refining is responsible for up to 3% of Australia’s annual emissions. Every year, the continent’s six alumina refineries, four in Western Australia and two in Queensland, consume more than twice the energy consumed by Tasmania.</p>
<p>“Decarbonizing the alumina refining sector can further improve Australia’s international competitiveness, strengthen its position as a leading producer of low emissions alumina and aluminum and secure the jobs and economic benefits from the sector,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller.</p>
<p>He added that the roadmap provides a clear vision for decarbonizing one of Australia’s most emissions-intensive industries through four key technologies.</p>
<h3><strong>Pathway to Cutting Emissions</strong></h3>
<p><strong>Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR): </strong>This method replaces natural gas boilers for steam production in alumina refineries. It can capture, recompress, and recycle waste steam that would otherwise vent into the atmosphere. Renewable electricity-powered MVR could reduce emissions in alumina refining by up to 70%. MVR could be ready for deployment in the late 2020s.</p>
<p>A first-of-its-kind $28.2 million project demonstration of MVR technology in Australia is at work. If proven feasible, Alcoa will deliver a 3 MW MVR module powered by renewable energy.</p>
<p><strong>Electric Boilers:</strong> These boilers powered by renewable energy can replace coal or gas-fired boilers for steam production. Low-temperature electric boilers are a significantly mature technology that could be deployed at some refineries before 2030.</p>
<p><strong>Hydrogen Calcification: </strong>This method replaces the combustion of natural gas in the calcination process with the combustion of hydrogen. Combusting hydrogen with a stream of oxygen produces a pure steam exhaust. The Bayer process can then capture and reuse that steam when combined with MVR.</p>
<p>Rio Tinto is investigating replacing natural gas with hydrogen in the calcination process and retrofitting hydrogen burners in its existing calciners.</p>
<p><strong>Electric Calcination: </strong>This process replaces coal or gas-powered calciners with electric calciners powered by renewable energy. Removing chemically bound water from the alumina crystals also produces pure steam. In combination with MVR, a refinery can capture and reuse that steam.</p>
<p>Electric calcination is still at a low level of technical maturity and will require support to commercialize with potential deployment from 2035 onwards.</p>
<p>In April 2022, Alcoa announced it would demonstrate electric calcination technology at its Pinjarra Alumina Refinery. The project is the world’s first demonstration of electric calcination and aims to demonstrate the technical and commercial feasibility of using electric calcination technology powered by renewable energy.</p>
<p>Miller acknowledged alumina refining had always been a hard-to-abate sector with significant barriers to reducing emissions, but with the continent’s biggest alumina producers coming together with ARENA, things are likely to change.</p>
<p>In October, the Australian government <a href="https://mercomindia.com/australia-commits-16-billion-clean-energy-spending-2026/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">committed</a> AU$25 billion (~$16.9 billion) in clean energy spending over the next four years in the budget for 2022-23 announced recently.</p>
<p>Earlier in the month, Queensland <a href="https://mercomindia.com/queensland-spend-a62-billion-develop-renewable-supply-chain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> plans to spend AU$62 billion (~$41.8 billion) to build a robust renewable supply chain over the next 15 years.</p>
<p>Image of refined alumina | Source: ARENA</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a></p>
</div>
<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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Australia Can Potentially Cut Alumina Refining Emissions by 98%

<p>Here are some noteworthy cleantech announcements of the day from around the world:</p>
<p><strong>Indian solar module manufacturer </strong><a href="https://www.waaree.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Waaree Energies</strong></a><strong> has received approval from markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch its initial public offering (IPO).</strong> In September 2021, the company <a href="https://mercomindia.com/waaree-drhp-ipo/">filed</a> the draft papers with SEBI to raise funds via IPO. The IPO included a fresh issue of shares worth ₹13.5 billion (~$182 million) and an offer for sale of up to 4,007,500 equity shares by the company’s promoter and existing shareholders. The company is expected to use the proceeds of the issue to the extent of ₹9.1 billion (~$123 million) for its solar cell manufacturing facility and ₹1.41 billion (~$19.08 million) for the solar module facility. The remaining proceeds would be utilized for general corporate purposes.</p>
<p><strong>ITM Power GmbH </strong><a href="https://itm-power.com/news/grant-award-in-germany-for-sinewave-project" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>announced</strong></a><strong> that its project SINEWAVE had been approved for a €1.95 million (~$2.21 million) award as part of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s hydrogen flagship project H2Giga.</strong> The SINEWAVE project is expected to bring together necessary scientific and technical skills to close research gaps in the series production of electrolysis systems. The research project is dedicated to exploring the process of engineering, material science, and digital sub-disciplines to construct efficient integrated large-scale proton-conducting membrane electrolysis systems. This would help produce large quantities of green hydrogen cost-effectively in the future.</p>
<p><strong>The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has </strong><a href="https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/62b84889-f2c2-4b01-98f6-f5d42b934f42.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">granted</a><strong> a trading license to SJVN Limited for interstate electricity trading. </strong>The Commission said that SJVN satisfied the Act and Trading License Regulations requirements to grant an inter-state trading license. SJVN said it aims to be a one-stop source for any generator and consumer wanting to trade power in the country and contribute to evaluating India&#8217;s robust and competitive electricity market. The company has a portfolio of 41 projects with 16,432 MW capacity, and it bagged 1,670 MW of solar capacity through a competitive bidding process.</p>
<p><strong>On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has </strong><a href="https://arena.gov.au/news/40-million-funding-round-to-drive-ultra-low-cost-solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>announced</strong></a><strong> up to $40 million in funding to support research and development </strong>that aims to support the Government’s ultra-low-cost solar stretch goal. Ultra-low-cost solar is added as a priority technology in the Australian Government’s Low Emissions Technology Statements, which targets $15/MW for solar, around one-third of today’s cost. It would also be a key input to scaling up the production of low-cost green hydrogen.</p>
<p><strong>Thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers has </strong><a href="https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/pressdetailpage/thyssenkrupp-to-install-200-mw-green-hydrogen-facility-for-shell-in-port-of-rotterdam-125812" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>signed</strong></a><strong> a supply contract with Shell for the large-scale project ‘Hydrogen Holland I’ in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.</strong> As per the contract, the company would engineer, procure, and develop a 200 MW electrolysis project based on their 20 MW alkaline water electrolysis module. The construction work for the electrolyzers would begin in spring 2022. Shell’s final investment decision to build the ‘Holland Hydrogen I’ is expected this year; after that, the project will start production in 2024. The center of the “Hydrogen Holland I” hydrogen project facility will be a hall covering 2 hectares, the size of three football fields. Green hydrogen will be produced for industry and the transport sector, with electricity coming from offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust (Noord). Net-zero is a number one priority for the plant: Reusable construction materials will be applied wherever possible and solar panels will be incorporated in the outside walls of the plant.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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Daily News Wrap-Up: SEBI Approves Solar Module Manufacturer Waaree’s IPO Proposal

<p>The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (<a href="https://arena.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ARENA</a>) has announced a $100 million competitive funding round for grid-scale batteries with advanced inverters to support the grid.</p>
<p>Expressions of interest (EoI) will open in February 2022, with a due date of March 31, 2022. Selected bidders will be invited to submit a full application later in 2022.</p>
<p>The large-scale battery storage funding program will cater to 70 MW or larger energy storage projects operating in the National Electricity Market or Western Australia&#8217;s wholesale electricity market. The funding would also be available for existing grid-scale batteries seeking to retrofit advanced inverter capability.</p>
<p>The funding round will support three projects with a maximum grant of $35 million per project. Applications will be open for all battery storage technologies equipped with advanced inverters for the competitive funding round.</p>
<p>ARENA said the funding round aims to incentivize private sector investment and overcome barriers to developing advanced inverter technology. The agency will provide valuable insights into advanced inverters&#8217; operations and emerging capabilities by funding advanced inverter technology at scale.</p>
<p>Advanced inverters allow grid-scale batteries to provide system stability traditionally provided by coal or gas. This would enable the grid to operate with a higher share of variable renewable power.</p>
<p>The latest funding round builds on ARENA&#8217;s previous grid-scale batteries and system security investments. ARENA’s CEO Darren Miller said the funding round would support grid-scale batteries that can provide system stability during periods of very high renewable generation. Miller added, “We’ve seen promising signs that advanced inverters can support system stability, but it’s clear public sector investment is still needed to prove the technology at scale. We’re confident that ARENA funding will help drive the uptake of this technology and provide valuable lessons that will benefit the industry as a whole.”</p>
<p>ARENA said it had funded six grid-scale batteries since 2017. The Energy Storage for Commercial Renewable Integration project funded by ARENA is Australia&#8217;s largest grid-connected battery using advanced inverter technology.</p>
<p>In July 2021, Lumea, a commercial arm of TransGrid, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/lumea-eoi-battery-storage-australia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> an EoI to develop a 300 MW grid-scale battery storage system in Victoria, Australia. The company planned to develop the project without using government funding.</p>
<p>Early this year, AGL Energy, an Australia-based energy company, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/wartsila-fluence-supply-battery-storage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> agreements with energy storage technology companies Wartsila and Fluence to supply up to 1 GW of grid-scale battery storage.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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Australia Announces $100 Million Funding for Grid-Scale Battery Storage Projects

<p>Researchers at <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian National University</a> claim to have produced a more efficient type of solar cell using laser processing. The cell produced is supposedly a true bifacial solar cell with a nearly symmetrical power generation capacity on both surfaces of the device.</p>
<p>The research team claims to have set a new world record in the process by achieving a power output of approximately 29%, exceeding the performance of single-sided silicon solar cells. Laser-doping allowed the research team to achieve a front conversion efficiency of 24.3% and a rear conversion efficiency of 23.4%, representing a bifacial factor of 96.3%.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization</a> has independently verified the results.</p>
<p>Principal Investigator Dr. Kean Chern Fong said the so-called bifacial solar cells easily beat the performance of single-sided silicon solar cells.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have developed what I would call a true bifacial solar cell, as it has nearly symmetrical power generation capacity on both surfaces of the device,&#8221; Dr. Fong said.</p>
<p>&#8220;When deployed on a conventional solar farm, a bifacial cell absorbs direct incoming light while also taking advantage of ground reflection, which can contribute up to an additional 30% power generation. Bifacial solar cells are becoming increasingly important in the roll-out of solar farms and are expected to have a market share of over 50 percent in the next five years. Our work demonstrates the incredible capabilities of this technology,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The team used specific laser doping technology to fabricate the cells.</p>
<p>&#8220;Laser-doping uses lasers to increase electrical conductivity locally,&#8221; said Chief Investigator Dr. Marco Ernst. &#8220;It is a low-cost, industry-compatible process for boosting solar cell efficiency.&#8221;</p>
<p>This performance represents an effective power output of approximately 29%, well exceeding the performance of the best single-sided silicon solar cell.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a world record for selectively laser-doped solar cells and among the highest efficiency bifacial solar cells,&#8221; Dr. Ernst said.</p>
<p>The Australian Government has supported this work through the <a href="https://arena.gov.au/projects/australian-centre-for-advanced-photovoltaics-acap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian Renewable Energy Agency and Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier, Researchers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin <a href="https://mercomindia.com/bifacial-solar-modules-could-reduce-lcoe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that they had developed an illumination model for deploying bifacial solar modules for large-scale solar projects, decreasing the levelized cost of electricity for large-scale solar projects.</p>
<p>In July 2020, researchers at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore <a href="https://mercomindia.com/tracking-bifacial-solar-modules/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that bifacial solar modules that track the sun produced 35% more energy than regular modules and could help achieve some of the lowest levelized costs of electricity in the world.</p>
<p>Image credit: Eric Byler/Australian National University</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Arjun Joshi</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Arjun Joshi,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="86" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Arjun Joshi</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for enterprise resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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Bifacial Solar Cell Using Laser Processing Claims Record Power Output of 29%

<p>Here are some noteworthy cleantech announcements of the day from around the world:</p>
<p><strong>Voltalia, a global renewable energy company, </strong><a href="https://www.voltalia.com/uploads/08_Not%C3%ADcias/Press_Releases/2020/20201117_IPP_Voltalia_PPA_City_of_London_EN.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>said</strong></a><strong> it would develop a 49.9 MW solar facility to supply green electricity to the City of London, United Kingdom.</strong> The governing body of the Square Mile signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to buy all the electricity produced by a new-build 95,000 panel-solar project in Dorset, United Kingdom. The 49.9 MW project will generate enough clean energy that can power around 15,000 homes and will provide over half the City Corporation&#8217;s electricity.</p>
<p><strong>On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) </strong><a href="https://arena.gov.au/news/small-wind-turbines-offer-a-big-solution-for-telecommunications/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>announced</strong></a><strong> $341,990 in funding to Diffuse Energy to demonstrate the effectiveness of its innovative micro wind turbine technology for use on off-grid telecommunication towers and broader remote applications.</strong> As part of the $922,307 project, the Newcastle-based startup will install its small wind turbines at ten off-grid telecommunications towers across various locations in Australia. <strong>SEUZ and bp have </strong><a href="https://www.suez.com/en/news/press-releases/reduction-co2-emissions-by-2030-suez-and-bp-sign-memorandum-net-zero-teesside-uk-first-decarbonised-industrial-hub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>signed</strong></a><strong> a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the feasibility of the United Kingdom&#8217;s first carbon capture and storage project from waste-to-energy.</strong> The Net Zero Teesside Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) project is expected to capture up to 10 million tons of carbon dioxide emission, the equivalent to the annual energy use of 3 million UK households. The agreement paves the way for SUEZ to develop a solution to capture carbon dioxide emissions from one of four waste-to-energy facilities it operates in the Teesside area of the UK. Once captured, the carbon dioxide will be supplied to the bp led Net Zero Teesside CCUS project, to be transported and stored in a geological storage facility beneath the North Sea.</p>
<p><strong>Sunrun, a US-based renewable energy company, has </strong><a href="https://investors.sunrun.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/221/sunrun-signs-virtual-power-plant-agreement-with-southern" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>contracted</strong></a><strong> with Southern California Edison (SCE), a U.S.-based electric utility company, to increase grid resilience and lower power costs.</strong> SCE Will send signals to Sunrun during high demand events such as extreme heat waves when the energy grid is strained. In response, Sunrun will dispatch energy from its solar-powered battery systems installed in the SCE territory, providing 5 MW of energy capacity to support the overall energy system. The same solar-powered batteries will also provide reliable backup power to these households if the power goes out.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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Daily News Wrap-Up: Voltalia to Develop a 49.9 MW Solar Project to Supply Power to London

<p><a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Western Australia’s</a> Oakajee Strategic Industrial Area (Oakajee SIA) has invited expressions of interest (EoI) from corporations and businesses worldwide to produce renewable hydrogen.</p>
<p>The Oakajee SIA is a designated, greenfield strategic industrial area, located 435 km north of Western Australia’s capital city of Perth.</p>
<p>The notice focuses on the domestic production and use of renewable hydrogen, including for industrial processes and products derived from renewable hydrogen.</p>
<p>Industrial proponents looking to produce commercial quantities of hydrogen, established and prospective hydrogen off-takers, infrastructure providers, commercial entities, and hydrogen industry technology providers can participate in this tender.</p>
<p>The last date for the submission of bids is December 24, 2020.</p>
<p>Western Australia is one of the world’s largest and most efficient mining and downstream processing regions. Western Australia exported nearly 44.1 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2019, and it also accounted for 52% of the global lithium production in 2019. It is also the largest iron ore supplier globally, accounting for 37% of the worldwide supply in 2019. The Western Australian government plans to invest $22 million (~₹1.6 billion) to develop a renewable hydrogen industry in the region.</p>
<p>The current tender is a part of the government’s strategy to develop the area through its renewable hydrogen strategy. The Oakajee SIA’s renewable hydrogen potential is based on its diurnally complementary wind and solar potential, which contributes to the overall renewable energy production capacity of the region. The Oakajee SIA says it has the potential to provide nearly 270 MW of wind power and 1.25 GW of solar power.</p>
<p>Recently, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency <a href="https://mercomindia.com/australian-agency-receives-1-62-billion-to-reduce-emissions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">received</a> a funding package worth $1.62 billion (~₹118.9 billion) from the government to enhance the utilization of low emission technologies to cut emissions across the chain. The new funding package also included a guaranteed baseline funding worth $1.43 billion (~₹105.02) over the next decade, which will help secure the agency’s future beyond 2022.</p>
<p>Earlier, a research team from Newcastle University in New South Wales, Australia, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/australian-researchers-create-green-hydrogen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devised</a> a system that uses solar power to conduct electrolysis on water harvested from air to create hydrogen, a low-cost zero-emission fuel. The new technology pioneered by Professor Behdad Moghtaderi and his team eliminates critical challenges in the production of hydrogen fuel.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rakesh Ranjan</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Rakesh Ranjan,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="77" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Rakesh Ranjan</strong></a> is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, he worked in many roles as a business correspondent, assistant editor, senior content writer, and sub-editor with bcfocus.com, CIOReview/Silicon India, Verbinden Communication, and Bangalore Bias. Rakesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a>
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Western Australia Invites Bids for Production of Renewable Hydrogen

<p>The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (<a href="https://arena.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ARENA</a>) received a funding package worth $1.62 billion from the government to enhance the utilization of low emission technologies to cut emissions across the chain.</p>
<p>According to its press statement, the new funding package also includes a guaranteed baseline funding worth $1.43 billion over the next decade, which will help secure the agency’s future beyond 2022.</p>
<p>ARENA said that the new funding would allow the agency to carry on its work with energy industry participants, research institutes, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and other agencies to support low emission technologies across the innovation chain.</p>
<p>The agency expanded its focus to integrate pure renewable energy generation technologies that support system operation with a higher share of variable renewable energy. The agency said that its investments would focus on combining renewables into the grid, helping the industry reduce emissions, and stimulating the uptake of hydrogen.</p>
<p>“Technology and innovation are critical to energy transition and Australia’s efforts to reduce emissions and create new economic opportunities,” said Darren Miller, Chief Executive Officer of ARENA.</p>
<p>According to ARENA, the agency helped 543 projects with total funding of $1.58 billion, leveraging additional investments worth $5 billion from public and private sectors since 2012.  It has helped improve the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies such as large scale solar, grid-scale batteries, pumped hydro, bioenergy, distributed energy technologies, and hydrogen.</p>
<p>Recently, Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited, a Shapoorji Pallonji Group company, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/daily-news-wrap-up-sterling-wilson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">secured</a> an order worth $218.38 million in Australia. The company bagged orders from two large-scale solar projects in Australia from a global independent power producer, which will have an installed capacity of more than 300 MW.</p>
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<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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