SESI Solar August issue 2012

Vol. III s Issue-8 t 1

Vol. III s Issue-7 August 2012

I N S I D E 111th Governing Council Meeting of
111th Governing Council Meeting SESI held on 3rd August, 2012
of SESI held on 3rd August, 2012 1

SESI Team visits Gandhinagar,
Gujarat 2

President, SESI Chairs Session in
Conference on Solar Energy 2

Renewable Energy News 3-7 Mr. Ajay Parkash Srivastava Dr. Ashvini Kumar Mr. Rajinder Kumar Kaura

Editor: Jagat. S. Jawa Mr. Prafulla Pathak Mr. Harinder Jain Mr. Raghvendra Aggarwal
Design & Printed by: Celluloid - 9873798727

T
he 111th Governing Council Meeting was held in the Office of Dr.
Ashvini Kumar, Director of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
(MNRE), New Delhi on 3rd August, 2012. Mr. Ajay Prakash Shrivas-
tava, President, SESI, chaired the meeting. Other members of the G.C.
who participated in the meeting were Dr. Ashvini Kumar, Vice-President,
SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY OF INDIA Mr. Rajinder Kumar Kaura, Secretary General, Mr. Prafulla Pathak,
A-14, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate,
Mr. Harinder Jain and Mr. Raghvendra Aggarwal. The important points
Mathura Road, New Delhi-110044
Telephone: 011-65649864, Telefax: 011-26959759 discussed in the meeting were bidding for ISES Solar World Congress, 2015,
E-mail: dg_sesi@yahoo.com, info@sesi.in, matters relating to ICORE-2012, opening of SESI-FCRA Account in Oriental
Website: www.sesi.in Bank of Commerce, New Delhi, raising of funds for SESI, elections for GC of
Disclaimer: The information presented in this newsletter has SESI for the period 2013-2014 etc.
been gathered from various original and public sources.

S O L A R E N E R G Y S O C I E T Y O F I N D I A ( S E S I ) , N E W D E L H I

2 t Vol. III s Issue-8

SESI Team visits Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Mr. Rajinder Kumar Kaura, Secretary General, SESI and CMD, Bergen Group of Companies, and Mr. Jagat Jawa, DG,
SESI visited Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) and Gandhinagar, Gujarat on 22nd August, 2012 for follow
up action of hosting International Congress on Renewable Energy (ICORE)-2012 on 6-7 December, 2012 at PDPU. In this
regard, the SESI team had discussions with Prof. Paritosh Banik, Director General, PDPU, Prof. T. Harinarayana, Director,
Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute, (GERMI) requesting them to be the co-organizers of ICORE-2012.
The SESI team also had a courtesy call on Mr. D.J. Pandian, Principal Secretary, Energy & Petrochemicals Department,
Govt. of Gujarat and during the discussions Mr. Pandian agreed that GERMI, PDPU and GEDA (Gujarat Energy Develop-
ment Agency) to be the co-organizers of ICORE-2012. Mr. Rajinder Kumar Kaura, had to return to Delhi in the evening of
22nd August, 2012 due to some urgent work.
On 23rd August, 2012 Ms. Vanita Thakkar, Member GC of SESI specially came from Vadodara to take part in the detailed
discussions with Prof. Indrajit Mukhopadhyay, Assistant Prof. Abhijit Ray, Mr. Sunil Gangwani, Project Officer (Develop-
ment), Mr. Kishlaya Misra of PDPU and Dr. Omkar K. Jani, Principal Research Scientist, Solar Energy Research Wing, and
his colleagues from GERMI to discuss various issues relating to ICORE-2012. On the same day we also had a meeting with
Mr. D.P. Joshi, Director, GEDA who assured full support of GEDA for the success of ICORE-2012.

President, SESI Chairs Session in Conference on Solar Energy
Indian Business Knowledge (IBK) Media, Mumbai organized a Conference Solar Market in India on 29th August, 2012 at
Hotel Hyatt Regency, New Delhi where various aspects of solar energy including financing of solar projects were discussed.
Mr. Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary, MNRE, was Chief Guest in the Conference. Mr. Ajay Prakash Shrivastava, President,
SESI and President, Maharishi Solar Technology chaired the session “PV Solar Power Market and REC Market” in this con-
ference. Dr. Ashvini Kumar, Director, MNRE was one of the speakers in the sessions “Solar EPC and New Technologies”.
Mr. Prafulla Pathak, Member, G.C. of SESI and Mr. Jagat S Jawa, DG, SESI also participated in this Conference.

ICORE-2012
on
6-7 December, 2012
at
Gandhinagar, Gujarat


news Vol. III s Issue-8 t 3

US Cheap credit is nies, they said. Tata Power Solar; which owns and
Since Indian banks offer interest rate operates over 80 megawatts (MW) of
ruining Indian Solar of close to 14 per cent or more, this has solar cell making and over 120 MW
Panel industry: CSE skewed the market in favour of thin- of solar module making facilities, was
film panels imported from US, they founded in 1989 as a joint venture be-
Funding offers at low rates by the said, adding that thin-film had lower tween Tata and BP. The company has
United States will ruin the domestic efficiency as compared to crystalline harnessed solar energy to electrify over
solar photo-voltaic (PV) manufactur- panels. Close to 60 per cent of the pan- 500 villages in Indian and has installed
ing industry, the Centre for Science els installed in India are thin-film type, over 100 solar power plants in the
and Environment (CSE) has said. they added. mountainous region of Ladakh. It also
The US Exim Bank and the Over- According to the US Department of caters to large industrial clients such as
seas Private Investment Corporation State reports of the year 2010 and 2011 railways, defense and telecom.
(OPIC) are offering loans at about on fast start financing, $248.3 million
three per cent interest rates to Indian has been disbursed by the US Exim India’s Smart Grid
solar project developers on the man- Bank and OPIC for grid-connected so-
datory condition that they buy the lar plants in India. The major benefi- Programme Surges Ahead
equipment, solar panels and cells from ciaries in this case have been American
American companies. producers such as First Solar and the India is pursuing its smart grid pro-
Terming this practice as “unethical”, now bankrupt Abound Solar. gramme in right earnest with the gov-
a CSE release on Friday said, “Cur- The CSE researchers analyses the ernment planning support for several
rently, 80 per cent of Indian manufac- state of renewable energy resources pilot programmes. The move is part
turing capacity is in a state of forced and infrastructure in India and the of the recommendations made by the
closure and debt restructuring with no country’s preparedness to meet the So- India Smart Grid Task Force – under
orders coming them, while US manu- lar Mission goals. The Mission’s first the Ministry of Power – to set up pilot
factures are getting orders from Indian phase draws to a close next year. projects in eight different locations in
solar power developers.” the country. Accordingly, the Ministry
Chandra Bhushan, CSE’s Deputy Tata BP Solar appoints of Power is assessing proposals worth
Director General, said “Fast start fi- Rs. 400 crore, and a final decision is
nancing is a $30 billion fund set up Ajay Goel as CEO; expected within a few months. These
under the United Nations Framework rechristens itself projects would be jointly carried out
Convention on Climate Change. The by the Ministry and the concerned
fund, adopted at the Copenhagen cli- That Power, which recently complet- state governments, with both the enti-
mate meeting in 2009, is supposed to ed the buyout of British energy giant ties contributing funds equally. Each
help developing countries deal with BP’S stake in their solar joint venture, pilot project would take about 12 to 18
climate change impacts.” on Thursday said it has hired industry months for completion. These initia-
However, CSE researchers pointed veteran Ajay Goel as its solar division’s tives would focus on various areas of
out that the US was taking advantage of new chief executive officer. the power sector, including integration
a loophole under the Jawaharlal Nehru Tata Power’s solar division said in a of renewable energy sources with the
National Solar Mission (JNNSM), release that it has also changed its name grid and lowering of Aggregate Tech-
which plans to install 22,000 MW of to Tata Power Solar Systems from Tata nical and Commercial losses. The Min-
solar energy by 2022, that mandates BP Solar India. In June, Tata Power istry of Power has also established the
a domestic content requirement, but said it had completed the buyout of BP India Smart Grid Forum- a non-profit
does not mention thin-film PV tech- unit BP Alternative Energy Holdings’ voluntary consortium of public and pri-
nology. 51% stake in the joint venture. vate stakeholders aimed at accelerating
The US Exim Bank and OPIC have Goel, who has two decades of indus- development smart grid technologies
been offering low interest rates and a try experience, had been working in the in the Indian power sector. The Forum
repayment schedule of up to 18 years North American solar industry for the calls for implementation of smart grid
to Indian solar project developers on last five years. He takes up the post va- systems in all state capitals and large
the condition that they buy thin-film cated by K Subramanya. Subramanya cities between 2014 and 2017.
panels manufactured by US compa- had resigned from the post in May. Meanwhile, Puducherry became the


4 t Vol. III s Issue-8 news
first city to launch the smart grid pilot Unique Solar Tile The notable feature of the June trad-
project in March this year. The proj- ing session was the spurt in the sale
ect, which would cover 87,000 houses
Developed of solar RECs from 10 to 342. On the
in the town, would be completed in Researchers at the Amrita Centre for other hand, the price fell marginally to
four months. The new advanced me- Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine Rs. 12,750 on IEX and Rs. 12,506 on
tering infrastructure will allow cus- in Kochi, Kerala have developed an in- PXIL. In the case of non-solar RECs,
tomers to view their electricity billing tegrated solar power storage tile using while the price on IEX remained the
in real-time and better manage their super capacitors aided by nanotech- same as in May (Rs. 2,402), on PXIL
consumption. Smart meters will also nology which can harvest and store it increased to Rs. 2,460. In June, for
enable the electricity board to detect power at the same time. Called ‘Amrita non-solar RECs, supply (3,61,000)
electricity thefts. The Delhi Electricity Smart’, the patented concept uses spe- exceeded demand (3,49,000) for the
Regulatory Commission (DERC) has cial electronics to integrate the solar first time since the start of trading.
also decided to introduce smart meters cell with the storage device. The solar The cleared volume for non-solar
in the state. Meanwhile, Bangalore has modules, when exposed to the sun for RECs was 2,36,485. In the third ses-
launched a programme that aims to four hours can charge laptops and mo- sion of solar REC trading in July, only
install one million smart meters over bile phones in two hours and have stor- 179 solar RECs were sold, compared
the next year. Maharashtra recently age capacity of seven days. According to 342 in June. The market clearing
announced a US$25 million smart grid to the researchers, besides recharging price on both power exchange rose to
programme covering electricity distri- laptops and cell phones, the device can Rs. 12,800. For non-solar RECs, the
bution networks in eight cities in the also be used for building-integrated market clearing price on IEX and PXIL
state including Mumbai. Maharashtra solar storage without the need for ex- was Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 2,202 respec-
has commissioned the German compa- pensive battery systems. The product tively, down from Rs. 2,402 at IEX and
ny Siemens to install smart grid tech- weighs only 200 gms and is expected Rs. 2,460 at PXIL in June.
nologies in the state to tackle issues to be marketed in 1-2 years. During March 2012 – the last trad-
such as outages and electricity theft. ing session for the year before the end
REC Trading Gathers of the compliance period – demand
MNRE’S Solar Initiative fell sharply by 17% over the previous
Pace month (February 2012), coming down
for Ladakh from 3,89,000 to 3,23,700. The volume
Trading in Renewable Energy Certif- traded also came down to slightly below
The remote areas of Ladakh region icates (RECs) has once again picked up 2 lakhs, a threshold which was crossed
which hitherto had remained off the steam after slackening briefly at the be- during the February trading session.
grid is seeing ‘brighter’ days, thanks to ginning of the second compliance year, The price at IEX was Rs.
the Ladakh Renewable Energy Initia- i.e. April 2012. (Trading takes place on 2900, which represented a fall of 5%
tive launched in 2010 by Ministry of the last Wednesday of every month at from the February price, whereas at
New and Renewable Energy, GoI. The both the Indian Energy Exchange and PXIL the price increased to Rs. 3,100
project that entails a cost of Rs. 473 Power Exchange of India Ltd). The (the highest so far), from Rs. 3,051 in
crore will provide heating and lighting May trading session saw the entry of February as well as January 2012.
solutions via the solar route to rural solar RECs into the market, with a sale
households, institutions and defence of 10 RECs. The market price for solar Solar Power ‘Lights’ up
establishments. About 28 villages and RECs in both the exchanges was Rs.
78 institutions have so far been electri- 13,000, while the market price for non Himalayan Express
fied, with about 930 households having –solar RECs was Rs.2,402 at the IEX The heritage Kalka Shimal Himala-
installed solar water heaters, and over and Rs. 2,150 at PXIL, compared to yan Express became the first train in the
1,800 solar-based greenhouses con- Rs. 2,201 at both the exchange in April country to be installed with solar light-
structed for growing vegetables during 2012. The demand for non-solar RECs ing systems. This is a first-of-its –kind
the harsh winter months. The project jumped significantly to 3,65,331 com- initiative in India, where all coaches of
also aims to provide solar cooking sys- pared to 2,63,913 in April 2012, giving a train have been equipped with solar
tems and solar dryers. a clear indication of the strong growth panels. Each of the coaches have been
potential of the REC market in India. fitted with a 100 W solar panel at a cost


news
Vol. III s Issue-8 t 5

of Rs. 1.25 lakhs, and the conventional • The capital cost of the transmission mini/micro/small hydel schemes,
fluorescent tubes have been replaced system for evacuation of power to the project developer shall be allowed
by LED lights, which further helps in nearest grid/ sub-station including to use canal water, fall or river wa-
cutting energy costs. The coaches have all metering and protective instru- ter flow subsequent to the approval
also been provided with solar power ments shall be borne by BSES, pro- and agreement with Water Resources
charging sockets. vided the project developer offers to Department, Government of Bihar.
According to senior officials, this supply BSEB/Distribution Licensee • In order to ensure availability of
green initiative would result in energy at least 50%- subject to a minimum biomass and sustainability of such
saving to the tune of Rs. 4.35 lakhs per of 2 MW- of power generated from projects having aggregate capacity
annum. Besides, the railways will also New and Renewable Energy Proj- of more than 2 MW, SIPB shall not
earn carbon credits through this initia- ects. Otherwise, the entire project approve any other biomass-based
tive. A major advantage of this track is cost of the transmission system for project within a radial distance of 25
that since it traverses areas enjoying evacuation of power, shall be borne km from the approved project.
salubrious climate, no air-conditioners by the project developer.
or even fans are needed, thus saving • Captive power project developer
electricity costs substantially. may sell the generated power to the MNRE announces off-grid
It may be recalled that 2012-13 Rail- state grid / BSEB after the captive PV subsidies
way Budget had proposed many green consumption, if the power available
measures including the establishment is more than 1 MW. Ministry of New and Renewable En-
of 72 MW of wind capacity in Andhra • The project developer will have to ergy (MNRE) has announced details of
Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, commission the project within 24 subsidies for off-grid solar photovol-
and West Bengal; setting up of 200 re- months from the notification of this taic (PV) generation. The ministry is
mote railway stations as ‘green energy policy or issue of the State Investment providing a 30% subsidy for the bench-
stations’ powered entirely by solar en- Promotion Board (SIPB) approval, mark costs of PV systems, as well as
ergy, providing solar lighting system at whichever is later. The SIPB may ex- loans limited to 5% interest annually.
1000 manned level crossing gates, etc. tend the time schedule for commis- The subsidies will be capped accord-
sioning and provide the new sched- ing to type of installation, with systems
Bihar Announces RE ule if the project developer makes purchased by individuals limited to 1
an application by giving convincing kW, except for pumps for irrigation
Policy reasons for delay in completion of and community drinking water, which
The Government of Bihar announced the project at least 30 days before the are limited to 5 kW. Subsidies for non-
the ‘Bihar Policy for Promotion of New expiry of the prescribed period. commercial entities are limited to 100
and Renewable Sources 2011’ on 26th • All New and Renewable Energy kW per site, except mini-grids for rural
June, 2011. Earlier, in 2003, the state projects will be entitled to avail the electrification, which are limited to 250
government had issued ‘Policy Guide- facilities available under prevalent kW. Finally, industrial and commercial
lines for Private Sector Participation Industrial Incentive Policy, and such entities have similar caps, however,
for Developing Non-Conventional En- other policies of the Govt. of Bihar. commercial entities can receive ei-
ergy Sources’, which ended in 2008. The electricity generated from the ther the subsidy or low-interest loans,
The salient features of the policy are as New and Renewable Energy projects but not both. MNRE will also provide
follows: shall be exempted from electricity funding to primary lending institutions
• The project developer shall neces- duty. to make loans for such systems at an in-
sarily offer to supply to Bihar State • BSEB/Distribution Licensee shall terest rate of 2% annually or less, pro-
Electricity Board (BSEB)/Distribu- endeavor to procure and supply the vided that such loans are passed on the
tion Licensee a minimum of 25% of power from New and Renewable purchasers of solar systems at 5% an-
power generated from the respective Energy Sources, more than the mini- nual interest or less. The subsidies are
New and Renewable Energy project, mum quantum prescribed under the also capped by watt, with a cap or INR
except for captive projects. The ac- RPO obligations by BERC, with the 90 (USD 1.66 per watt) for systems
ceptance of such offer for supply of approval of the Government, in line with battery storage, and INR 70 per
power shall be at the sole discretion with tariff approved by BERC. watt (USD 1.29 per watt) for systems
of BSEB/Distribution Licensee. • In the case of power generation from without battery storage. Standalone


6 t Vol. III s Issue-8 news
rural PV plants with batter storage as the State faced with a shortfall of 24 SBI install solar power
part of microgrid will be provided with million units per day, it is in the process
INR 150 per watt (USD 2.76 per watt) of finalizing long-term bids for procure-
systems as back up ATMs
subsidies, and a 5% loan. ment of 2,000 MW on long-term basis. In an attempt to tap renewable en-
ergy sources, State Bank of India,
Tiruchi, has installed solar power sys-
Gujarat CM invites Japan ISMA plead for anti- tems to provide back-up power sup-
to invest in green project dumping duty for import ply to five automated teller machines
(ATMs) in the city. The five ATMs,
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
of SPV cells functioning on the branch premises,
Modi, during his recent visit to Japan, The Indian Solar Manufacturers’ As- would now be powered by solar en-
invited Japan’s companies to invest in socation (ISMA) has approached the ergy, though as a back-up to start
the ‘Go Green project’, under which government of India for imposing an- with to keep the machines functional
the state is planning to generate 5,000 tidumping duty on the import of solar at times of load shedding. The bank
megawatt solar power by installing so- PV cells from China. Malaysia, Taiwan would gradually move towards using
lar panels on the Narmada Canal. Ac- and the US. The association has stated solar power for the machines fully.
cording to Modi, Gujarat is also setting that domestic solar cell manufacturers Currently, the bank has rented out a
up Asia’s biggest desalination plant in are being adversely impacted due to solar system for the ATMs and hopes
Dholera to recycle seawater for indus- the low prices offered by foreign com- to achieve substantial savings on
trial use according to the state’s new panies. Consequently, the demand for power expenditure. Another ATM at
desalination policy. He said, his state domestic cells is decreasing. According Nannilam has been functioning fully
is preparing hazard-free shipbuilding to estimates, most solar cell manufac- with solar power.
and ship-breaking infrastructure, a gas turers in India have been functioning at
grid, and broadband connectivity as only 10 to 15 per cent of their optimum
part of NextGen development. capacity. The association has further BHEL commissions solar
stated that Chinese solar equipment power plant in Karnataka
manufacturers get benefits like free
AP govt. to encourage power and other incentives for export of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has
solar, renewable energy solar cells, thereby helping them offer commissioned a 5-MW solar power
lower prices vis-à-vis Indian players. plant in Karnataka. Located a Shi-
projects vanasamudram near Mandya in
The Andhra Pradesh Government Karnataka, the plant has been set up
has decided to allow solar photovoltaic 100 solar power stations by BHEL for Karnataka Power Cor-
power plant developers to avail them- to be set up in Tripura poration Ltd (KPCL). The company
selves the facility of Renewable Energy has set up 15 MW of solar power
Certification for solar power genera- Tripura government is proposing to plants in various parts of the coun-
tion. The Government proposes to in- set up a total of 100 solar power plants try during 2011-12. For the Shiva-
vite competitive bids with upper ceil- in Tripura within October this year. Rs. nasamudram project, BHEL’s scope
ing on cost. However, developers will 3 crore will be invested to set up power of work included design, manufac-
be allowed pooled cost plus the facility plants with capacity of generating 1 to 3 ture, supply, erection and commis-
to access renewable energy certificates. KV power in different parts of the state sioning of the solar power plant. In
While the State has sanctioned 97.5 to electrify schools, offices and market addition, BHEL will also operate
MW of solar plants, about 26.5 MW places in the remote areas of the state. and maintain the solar power plant
has been commissioned thus far. The The government has also decided to for three years. The plant is oper-
State regulator has permitted a tariff of provide Rs. 20,000 to each beneficiary ating satisfactorily since synchro-
Rs. 17.91 a unit with AP Discoms of- to set up 500 biogas plants in the state nizing with the main grid and DC
fering Rs. 5.50 and Ireda Rs. 12.41 a and added each plant would cost Rs. power generated by the solar panels
unit. However, for new plants the new 22,000 and the expenditure of setting is converted into AC by inverters
approach of pooled cost and certifica- up the plants would be jointly bourne and fed into a 66-kV grid through
tion approach has been adopted. With by Centre and state government. transformers.


AZISINDIA2012_SESI_180x240:Layout 1 06.08.12 15:07 Seite 1

November 6–8, 2012
India’s Largest Exhibition
and Conference for the Solar Industry
Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai

350 Exhibitors
20,000 sqm Exhibition Space
10,000 Visitors

www.intersolar.in

SESI Solar August issue 2012

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