Gautam Solar expands manufacturing capacity: Indian solar modules maker Gautam Solar has expanded its annual manufacturing capacity to 250 MW, increasing it from 120 MW. Speaking with TaiyangNews, Gautam Solar's MD Gautam Mohanka said his company is focused on manufacturing mono and poly panels going by the high demand for these products from its Haridwar located fab. He said the company is manufacturing large module sizes of up to 400 W. In the future, Gautam Solar may consider further expansion to cater to demand from its target clientele of system integrators. Manufacturers like Gautam Solar are seeing potential to expand capacity with the Production Linked Incentive Scheme of the Indian government. "Prior to announcing the new PLI scheme, the Indian government had already declared to impose 40% basic customs duty on solar modules and 25% on solar cells from 1st April 2022. This move would make imports costlier and encourage local manufacturing," said Mohanka.
CDC Group invests in Fourth Partner Energy: UK based CDC Group will be investing INR 2.5 billion ($33 million) in Indian distributed solar power company Fourth Partner Energy in the form of non-convertible debentures. It marks CDC's foray into India's commercial and industrial (C&I) solar segment. Fourth Partner Energy will deploy this mezzanine capital to grow its solar portfolio across India and South Asia to support close to 217 MW greenfield renewable power generation in India, to displace primarily thermal power generation. Fourth Energy Partner currently manages a portfolio of 550 MW across its distributed and open access solar portfolio, and has expanded to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia. The Indian company aims to achieve 3 GW of solar capacity across all its verticals by 2025.
ReNew Power to use Israeli robotic cleaning solution: ReNew Power has signed up Israel based Airtouch Solar to provide its robotic cleaning solution for 3 of its new solar power plants in Rajasthan. All the projects will be commissioned by early 2022. Airtouch Solar will supply, install and maintain its technology for 25 years under the $7.6 million contract. The Israeli company said it will supply its waterless cleaning systems from its production plant located in Israel and its manufacturing plant in India that is currently being established.