India PV News Snippets

• Indian Railways using vacant unused land in its jurisdiction to develop 71.7 MW solar capacity in various states
• ReNew Power and L&T join forces to develop, own, execute and operate green hydrogen projects in India
• RenewSys launches CONSERV® P-7Giga Fast Cure as new encapsulant to its CONSERV series
• IREDA to help BVFCL with techno-financial due diligence of renewable energy, green hydrogen, green ammonia, energy efficiency and conservation projects
• RNESL has completed the acquisition of REC Group from China National Bluestar
• REIL has launched a tender to procure 200,000 solar cells with 4.57 W output each

71.7 MW solar projects for Indian Railways: In keeping with its plan to install solar energy projects on its unused vacant land, the Indian Railways (IR) has now announced firm projects for various states. There will be a 50 MW solar project in Chhattisgarh's Bhilai, 3 MW at Modern Coach Factory in Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli, 2 MW at Haryana's Diwana, 1.7 MW at Madhya Pradesh's Bina and 15 MW at Maharashtra's Buttibori. Responding to a question raised in the Indian Parliament, the Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said the IR is planning to install more such projects in other Indian states including Gujarat, based on their techno-economic feasibility. In August 2020, the IR had announced its ambition to use vacant land under its possession to host 20 GW solar power capacity by 2030 (see 20 GW Solar Power For Indian Railways By 2030).

Green hydrogen for ReNew Power and L&T: Engineering company Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and renewable power producer listed on the NASDAQ, ReNew Power have joined hands to jointly develop, own, execute and operate green hydrogen projects in India. "This partnership will strategically place L&T and ReNew in a position to offer green hydrogen solutions to the industry. We are already looking at some interesting opportunities in the Indian market for green hydrogen and we intend to capitalize on them by developing end-to-end competitive solutions," said Whole-time Director & Sr. Executive Vice President (Energy), L&T, Subramanian Sarma.

New EVA encapsulant by RenewSys: Indian integrated solar PV products manufacturer RenewSys India Pvt. Ltd. has added a new 'revolutionary' product to its CONSERV encapsulant series calling it CONSERV® P-7Giga Fast Cure (GFC) which it claims to bring down the 'curing' stage of module manufacturing by 2 minutes to 3 minutes per module. It will lower manufacturing cost and increase productivity for module manufacturing plants by 10% to 20%, according to the company. The 2^nd combined Market Survey on Backsheets and Encapsulation 2020 by TaiyangNews covers various product innovations. The same can be downloaded on our website for free here.

IREDA & BVFCL sign MoU: The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) and Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). BVFCL is a public sector undertaking (PSU). Under that, IREDA will conduct techno-financial due diligence of renewable energy, green hydrogen, green ammonia, energy efficiency and conservation projects for BVFCL. It will assist BVFCL develop an action plan to create and acquire renewable energy projects for the next 5 years. According to IREDA's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Pradip Kumar Das this collaboration will inspire other chemical and fertilizer companies to cut carbon emissions. It will also enable IREDA itself become more active in the green energy development in the North-East India. IREDA has previously entered similar arrangements with other PSUs as SJVN, NHPC, TANGEDCO and NEEPCO.

RNESL completes REC Solar acquisition: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has completed the acquisition of Norwegian solar cell and module producer REC Solar Holdings AS from China National Bluestar (Group) Co. Ltd. Back in October 2021, RIL had announced its subsidiary Reliance New Energy Solar Limited (RNESL) to take over REC Group (see India's Mukesh Ambani Goes Solar Shopping).

Solar cell tender by REIL: The Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited, Jaipur has launched a notice inviting tender (NIT) to supply 200,000 solar cells with 4.57W each. Technical specifications described mention the requirement of 156mm x 156mm with 5 busbar mono or multicrytsalline silicon solar cell. REIL wants manufacturers to directly deal with it, along with authorized dealers and distributors. The contract period will be valid up to January 31, 2022. Launched on December 2, 2021, the last date to submit bids is December 23, 2021. Details can be found on the government's e-procurement website with Tender ID: 2021_REIL_660768_1.