Enfinity Global lands financing for Indian solar and wind projects; Aerem to acquire Spinkraft; Mercom lists top developers and suppliers in solar space; Sineng inverters for Khavda project; Vikram Solar lands 400 MW order; MNRE issues ALMM clarification.
$135 million for Indian RE projects: US-based renewable energy company Enfinity Global has secured $135 million in financing to develop and construct 1.2 GW of solar and wind power projects in India. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) has approved the financing through the subsidiaries of CPPIB Credit Investments. CPP Investments sees this investment as providing a 'promising source of long-term returns.' Enfinity says these projects are spread across the 5 states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. All of these are currently at advanced stages of development and are expected to be commissioned between 2025 and 2026. Once online, this capacity will generate around 2.4 GWh annually. Enfinity says it owns and operates 240 MW of solar PV capacity in India and has another 1.5 GW under development. It seeks to develop and commission renewable energy power plants to supply more than 5 GWh of clean electricity annually over the next 3 years, including through power purchase agreements (PPA).
Aerem invests in solar distributor: An end-to-end platform for distributed solar and solar financier Aerem Solutions Private Limited has announced plans to acquire solar equipment distributor Spinkraft Ventures Private Limited. Aerem has entered a definitive agreement to acquire the company founded in 2021. Aerem says this acquisition will enable it to provide complete solutions to its customers at competitive prices. This suite of solutions includes software tools, customized financing solutions and quality solar procurement for solar EPCs and customers. Blume Ventures, Avaana Capital and Riverwalk Holdings are some of the equity firms backing Aerem.
Mercom's solar leadership board: In its latest edition of biannual publication India Solar Market Leaderboard 2024 report, Mercom India Research provides a list of companies competing for market dominance in the country. The report lists 10 categories and the market leaders in each space in 2023. Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) was the top developer for utility-scale solar projects last year, while NTPC Renewable Energy had the most under-development capacity at the end of the year. Among EPC service providers, Oriano took the top spot, followed by Waaree Renewable Technologies. O2 Power led as the top developer in the solar open access category. Tata Power Solar continued its lead as the top rooftop solar projects developer.
In terms of equipment, JinkoSolar was the largest solar module supplier last year with LONGi Green Energy Technology on the 2nd spot. Among the top 5 module suppliers last year, Waaree Energies was the only domestic supplier. Together, Mercom says the top 10 module suppliers controlled 73% of the market. Arctech Solar was the top tracker supplier, and Goodluck India was the top module mounting structure supplier. Aegeus Technologies dominated the market for robotic module cleaning equipment last year. Sungrow Power was the leading supplier of solar inverters, especially central inverters with TBEA Energy India leading in string inverter shipments. The report can be purchased from Mercom's website.
Sineng strengthens India business: Chinese solar inverter and energy storage solutions company Sineng Electric says it has supplied its inverters for the 641 MW solar project at Khavda, Gujarat. The Adani project is equipped with 2,887 units of Sineng's 275 kW SP-275K-INH string inverters for which the company touts a maximum efficiency of 99.03% and 12 MPPTs. Sineng says these inverters are compatible with bifacial modules and can support up to 24 PV strings, thus lowering costs. The 641 MW project is designed to generate close to 1,900,000 MWh of clean energy annually. It is part of Adani's 30 GW Khavda Solar Park. In February 2024, Adani Green Energy Limited announced the grid connection of 551 MW PV capacity on site (see World's 'Largest' RE Park Starting To Come Online). Sineng operates a 10 GW manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, Karnataka since 2018.
400 MW solar module order: Indian solar module manufacturer Vikram Solar has received a solar module supply order for 397.7 MW from NTPC Renewable Energy Limited (NTPC REL). These bifacial modules with a minimum output of 540 W under domestic content requirement (DCR) will power NTPC's 1.255 GW Khavda Solar Project in Gujarat.
MNRE on ALMM: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a clarification regarding the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM). In the previous order dated March 10, 2021, when the ministry issued the first list of ALMM for solar PV modules, it had said the list would be applicable only to the projects for which the bids are concluded after 30 days of publication of such a list. In the clarification, it has reiterated that the ALMM order List I (modules) will be applicable on all such bids whose last date of bid submission is on or after April 10, 2021. The Indian government also plans to have List II of ALMM, which will relate only to solar PV cells and has not been issued so far. Both these lists specify the models and manufacturers of the respective products that can be used in government, government-aided, government-affiliated and those projects where the government is the offtaker of electricity generated.