Punj Lloyd Delta Renewables is just four months old. The company has already become the largest Indian engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) player in solar power, thanks to its first mover advantage.
The company, a joint venture between Singapore-based Delta Renewables and Indian infrastructure major Punj Lloyd, has bagged about Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) worth of orders, a majority of which are from the Bihar government. Tariq Alam, CEO, says "our start has been much better than we anticipated. Opportunities coming up are going to be very huge in solar power".
The sun is shining bright for many others players in the solar sector as well. Balaji Lenka, director of Schneider Electric India, agrees. "A clear picture on opportunities in solar will emerge within a few months once the government approves the investments for the first 1,000 Mw," he says.
A few weeks ago, Schneider launched its advanced power electronic products and systems for the renewable power market in India, mainly targeting investments coming up in the solar energy space.
"Incentives offered by the government are irresistible for any business house," says Yash Birla, chairman of Yash Birla Group, which is planning a Rs 2,000-crore (Rs 20 billion) foray into solar power.
No wonder, solar project specialists have lined up huge investments in India in this sector.
After the announcement of the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission -- which aims at a quantum leap in solar power installation in the country -- at least 25 companies have come forward, with investment proposals totalling over Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1 trillion) over the next three to 10 years.
These proposals are from public sector power producers, oil marketing companies and even jewellers like Silver Smith India.
The Mission targets 20,000 megawatt (Mw) of solar power by 2022.
"The outlook for private investment in renewable energy sector, especially solar, appears very promising," says D R Dogra, managing director and chief executive of Credit Analysis and Research.
The capital cost of developing solar energy is about Rs 16-18 crore (Rs 160-180 million) per Mw, which is over four times the investment required in conventional coal based thermal power generation. Solar power also requires huge areas of land to set up such units --- at least 5-6 acres per Mw ---- and land acquisition is a major challenge for any industry in India, according to industry officials.
To make solar power attractive, project developers have been offered many fiscal incentives, including a 10-year tax holiday for photovoltaic (PV) and thermal solar plants set up by 2020, reduced customs duty and zero excise duty on specific capital equipment, critical materials and project imports, besides loans at cheap interest rates.
Additionally, as per the Generation-Based Incentive (GBI) programme, the Government will provide financial assistance of Rs 12 per unit in case of solar photovoltaic and Rs 10 per unit in case of solar thermal power fed to the electricity grid from a grid interactive solar power plant of a capacity of 1 MW and above for a period of 10 years.
Solar equipment makers will also get several incentives as per Special Incentive Package, for setting up integrated solar manufacturing plants.
Last year itself, the government had received about 15 proposals worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore (Rs 1.2 trillion) under the Special Incentive Package Scheme from solar and photovoltaics (PV) manufacturers.
There is enormous potential for off-grid PV deployment in India, based on real needs and benefits, in the areas of rural lighting and electrification, for powering irrigation pump sets, back up power generation for the expanding network of cellular towers across the country, captive power generation, urban applications and highway lighting, notes K Subramanya, chief executive of Tata BP Solar, in a recent presentation.
But amidst the optimism, there are concerns in some quarters on the viability of solar power as a business in the country.
Solar energy itself is in a nascent stage in India, with less than 10 mw of installed capacity. India has a total installed generation capacity of almost 160,000 Mw.
In addition to costs, and land acquisition challenges, manpower and technology capabilities are also areas of concerns.
Moser Baer to commission 2nd solar farm
Moser Baer Photo Voltaic, a wholly owned subsidiary of the global technology company Moser Baer, plans to commission its second solar farm in the country in the next quarter. The 5-Mw farm will be set up in Tamil Nadu, with an investment of around $20 million (Rs 90 crore) and a farm of similar capacity will be set up in Rajasthan after that.
Recently, the company commissioned its largest Thin Film solar farm with an installed capacity of 1 Mw at Chandrapur in Maharashtra. This project was awarded by Mahagenco, a government of Maharashtra power generation company, and Moser Baer signed a consortium agreement with Germany-based SunEnergy Europe for this project. The farm has been set up using amorphous silicon thin film technology and is connected to the 33 KVA local grid.
"The government has announced its solar mission and we are setting up these grid connected solar farms as part of this. We started with a 1-Mw farm but in future, the capacities will be between 5 Mw and 15 Mw," said Yogesh B Mathur, CFO, Moser Baer. However, the company has not collaborated with any foreign partner for the Tamil Nadu plant.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
BARC comes up with solar desalination system
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai has developed a desalination system based on solar heat and light.
Solar energy-based small and community level reverse osmosis unit has been developed for producing safe drinking water, Saly T Panicker of the Desalination Division of BARC said.
In the RO unit, the feed water is passed through the membrane with the help of a DC (direct current) pump connected to the Photovoltaics panels without any batteries.
The unit can be operated for 9 to 10 hours on a sunny day, which can cater to the drinking and cooking requirements of three to four families at an average rate of five litres per person per day, Panicker said.
"It contains a filter cartridge and a spirally wound RO membrane element," he said, adding there was no significant variation in the rate of power production from the PV panels.
"Thus, the pump is able to maintain its pace, keeping the rate of drinking water production constant," Panicker, who has developed the technology along with scientists K L Thalor and P K Tiwari, said.
Explaining the system, he said the RO is a pressure driven process, where pure water is continuously drawn from salty water through a semi-permeable membrane.
Highlighting the importance of solar-powered system which will be useful especially in remote areas, Panicker said integrating desalination with renewable energy sources is also important for addressing the issues related to adverse impacts of climate change.
The source of solar energy is inexhaustible and is free.
Also, no harmful gases like nitrogen oxide, mercury, carbon dioxide or sulphur dioxide are emitted, he said.
About the cost, he said, 'with the improvement in PV efficiencies and the subsidies available, the solar-based desalination system would become more cost effective.'
Solar energy-based small and community level reverse osmosis unit has been developed for producing safe drinking water, Saly T Panicker of the Desalination Division of BARC said.
In the RO unit, the feed water is passed through the membrane with the help of a DC (direct current) pump connected to the Photovoltaics panels without any batteries.
The unit can be operated for 9 to 10 hours on a sunny day, which can cater to the drinking and cooking requirements of three to four families at an average rate of five litres per person per day, Panicker said.
"It contains a filter cartridge and a spirally wound RO membrane element," he said, adding there was no significant variation in the rate of power production from the PV panels.
"Thus, the pump is able to maintain its pace, keeping the rate of drinking water production constant," Panicker, who has developed the technology along with scientists K L Thalor and P K Tiwari, said.
Explaining the system, he said the RO is a pressure driven process, where pure water is continuously drawn from salty water through a semi-permeable membrane.
Highlighting the importance of solar-powered system which will be useful especially in remote areas, Panicker said integrating desalination with renewable energy sources is also important for addressing the issues related to adverse impacts of climate change.
The source of solar energy is inexhaustible and is free.
Also, no harmful gases like nitrogen oxide, mercury, carbon dioxide or sulphur dioxide are emitted, he said.
About the cost, he said, 'with the improvement in PV efficiencies and the subsidies available, the solar-based desalination system would become more cost effective.'
Solar airplane completes maiden flight
Solar Impulse, a prototype of an airplane designed to fly around the world using only solar power, made its first real flight on 7th April 2010.
Powered by 12,000 solar cells, the aircraft, flew for 87 minutes to an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet above the Swiss countryside.
Wednesday's flight follows six years' work by 50 engineers and technicians led by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard on the Solar Impulse project.
Belgian chemicals company Solvay, Swiss watchmaker Omega and German banking giant Deutsche Bank are the three main sponsors.
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, one of two Swiss polytechnical universities, is the scientific advisor.
The wingspan of HB-SIA is 208 feet, that's about 10 feet more than Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the airplane weighs only 3,500 pounds loaded for flight, about 499,000 pounds less than the 787.
The aircraft, known by its identifier HB-SIA, has a wingspan of a jumbo jet yet weighs the same as an average sedan.
During the flight, HB-SIA lifted off Solar Impulse HB-SIA took off from Payerne, Switzerlandat just under 30 mph and a relatively short takeoff run.
The four 10-horsepower electric motors are expected to deliver enough power for a cruise speed of around 40 to 45 mph.
The project's budget is 100 million Swiss francs ($94 million).
It took six years to build the carbon fibre aircraft, which has the wingspan of an Airbus A340 (63.4 metres) and weighs as much as a mid-sized car (1,600 kg or 3,527 lb).
Powered by 12,000 solar cells, the aircraft, flew for 87 minutes to an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet above the Swiss countryside.
Wednesday's flight follows six years' work by 50 engineers and technicians led by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard on the Solar Impulse project.
Belgian chemicals company Solvay, Swiss watchmaker Omega and German banking giant Deutsche Bank are the three main sponsors.
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, one of two Swiss polytechnical universities, is the scientific advisor.
The wingspan of HB-SIA is 208 feet, that's about 10 feet more than Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the airplane weighs only 3,500 pounds loaded for flight, about 499,000 pounds less than the 787.
The aircraft, known by its identifier HB-SIA, has a wingspan of a jumbo jet yet weighs the same as an average sedan.
During the flight, HB-SIA lifted off Solar Impulse HB-SIA took off from Payerne, Switzerlandat just under 30 mph and a relatively short takeoff run.
The four 10-horsepower electric motors are expected to deliver enough power for a cruise speed of around 40 to 45 mph.
The project's budget is 100 million Swiss francs ($94 million).
It took six years to build the carbon fibre aircraft, which has the wingspan of an Airbus A340 (63.4 metres) and weighs as much as a mid-sized car (1,600 kg or 3,527 lb).
Thursday, March 25, 2010
This company is doing great
Since I belong to Telecom world, i always dream of making this world a pioneer in energy saving mechanisms. This is keeping a fact in mind that even a small server digests many many KWA per hour.
See any system which you prepare as a solution, the power consumption is a major factor. I always use to ponder that how do we solve it. There are so many initiatives from IBM, HP, etc they all design ATCA systems or some say we have ATCA compliant systems but there is some lacking of serious efforts it seems.
But I found one organisation which has really found a path breaking solution.
It is Vihaan Networks Limited; company based out of Gurgaon, India.
They have technology called WorldGSM™ which is a new approach to delivering profitable mobile services to rural markets. It’s the first example of microtelecom, the re-engineering of telecommunications to meet the needs of rural and remote communities.
As they put it on their website;
It uses:
#Low-power — at less than 100W per Base Station, the entire system can be run on solar power. No power grid or generator necessary.
# Low cost — a fraction of the cost of traditional GSM Base Stations; profitable at very low densities and ARPUs.
# Self-deploying — an entire WorldGSM™ Base Station packs into two carts and is easily installed by unskilled field staff who may not be able to read or write. No buildings, power, air conditioning. Just point it South and turn it on.
# Near-Zero Maintenance — update software remotely and perform simple swap repairs if needed.
# Cascading Star Architecture™ — a unique, modular architecture optimised for low-cost rural expansion; with local switching to minimise backhaul.
By some estimates, India alone already uses over 1.8 billion litres of diesel fuel every year to power Base Stations when the grid is not present or not available. This does not include the fuel needed to transport fuel to the mobile sites.
WorldGSM™ is the lowest power mobile infrastructure ever invented — by an order of magnitude. This not only directly reduces its carbon footprint, it also allows the system to be entirely solar- and/or wind-powered.
For the first time, mobile communications come without the associated environmental impact.
American magazine FastCompany has come out with a list of most Innovative companies, The only other Indian company the top 50 in the list is Indian technology start-up, VNL.
VNL-article on rediff
More can be read about the company at:
VNL official website
See any system which you prepare as a solution, the power consumption is a major factor. I always use to ponder that how do we solve it. There are so many initiatives from IBM, HP, etc they all design ATCA systems or some say we have ATCA compliant systems but there is some lacking of serious efforts it seems.
But I found one organisation which has really found a path breaking solution.
It is Vihaan Networks Limited; company based out of Gurgaon, India.
They have technology called WorldGSM™ which is a new approach to delivering profitable mobile services to rural markets. It’s the first example of microtelecom, the re-engineering of telecommunications to meet the needs of rural and remote communities.
As they put it on their website;
It uses:
#Low-power — at less than 100W per Base Station, the entire system can be run on solar power. No power grid or generator necessary.
# Low cost — a fraction of the cost of traditional GSM Base Stations; profitable at very low densities and ARPUs.
# Self-deploying — an entire WorldGSM™ Base Station packs into two carts and is easily installed by unskilled field staff who may not be able to read or write. No buildings, power, air conditioning. Just point it South and turn it on.
# Near-Zero Maintenance — update software remotely and perform simple swap repairs if needed.
# Cascading Star Architecture™ — a unique, modular architecture optimised for low-cost rural expansion; with local switching to minimise backhaul.
By some estimates, India alone already uses over 1.8 billion litres of diesel fuel every year to power Base Stations when the grid is not present or not available. This does not include the fuel needed to transport fuel to the mobile sites.
WorldGSM™ is the lowest power mobile infrastructure ever invented — by an order of magnitude. This not only directly reduces its carbon footprint, it also allows the system to be entirely solar- and/or wind-powered.
For the first time, mobile communications come without the associated environmental impact.
American magazine FastCompany has come out with a list of most Innovative companies, The only other Indian company the top 50 in the list is Indian technology start-up, VNL.
VNL-article on rediff
More can be read about the company at:
VNL official website
Friday, October 30, 2009
Can climate change in fact be a money spinner?
There is lots if business in the Green Energy, the Global CEOs also agree.
A recent report by Dalberg, an international consulting firm, titled 'Champions of the Low Carbon Economy -- Why CEOs are ready for a global climate agreement,' undertook a survey of 40 global companies to conclude that business was eager for the opportunities an ambitious deal at Copenhagen would engender.
"The energy revolution is one of the greatest economic opportunities of our time," added SUN Group's Uday Khemka. "It will make the tech sector's growth seem like a minor economic boom."
Suntech's CEO Zhengrong Shi, also interviewed in the Dalberg Report, holds 11 patents and grew his business from a startup to its current size of $2 billion, in just eight years.
The Suntech story has encouraged a slew of companies to join the solar power sector, including Sunvim, a Zhejiang-based textile maker better known for one of the country's popular towel brands.
According to a China Daily report, entire towns in Zhejiang province, the heart of the country's light manufacturing region, are turning from textile production, in which China has long been a world-beater, to polysilicon manufacturing, a key component of the SPV industry.
The report quoted Shen Fuxin, the General Secretary of the Zhejiang Solar Energy Industry Association as saying that the average profits made by companies in the sector were reaching 20-30 percent.
Link to Complete news article
A recent report by Dalberg, an international consulting firm, titled 'Champions of the Low Carbon Economy -- Why CEOs are ready for a global climate agreement,' undertook a survey of 40 global companies to conclude that business was eager for the opportunities an ambitious deal at Copenhagen would engender.
"The energy revolution is one of the greatest economic opportunities of our time," added SUN Group's Uday Khemka. "It will make the tech sector's growth seem like a minor economic boom."
Suntech's CEO Zhengrong Shi, also interviewed in the Dalberg Report, holds 11 patents and grew his business from a startup to its current size of $2 billion, in just eight years.
The Suntech story has encouraged a slew of companies to join the solar power sector, including Sunvim, a Zhejiang-based textile maker better known for one of the country's popular towel brands.
According to a China Daily report, entire towns in Zhejiang province, the heart of the country's light manufacturing region, are turning from textile production, in which China has long been a world-beater, to polysilicon manufacturing, a key component of the SPV industry.
The report quoted Shen Fuxin, the General Secretary of the Zhejiang Solar Energy Industry Association as saying that the average profits made by companies in the sector were reaching 20-30 percent.
Link to Complete news article
Friday, September 4, 2009
EU's ban on incandescent light bulb becomes effective from tuesday.
The ban on the incandescent light bulb can into effect from tuesday ie 1st September 2009.
No one can buy, sell or import/export that bulb. Only existing stocks can be disposed off.
EU believes that they can save €5 billion annually and reduce carbon emissions by around 15 million tonnes.
The new CFLs are considered to be 80% more effecient than the old bulb, which lightened our house for more than a century.
Apart from Europe, there are several other countries in the process of implementing similar orders. In the leage are US, Cuba, Australia and more....
but, it is not so that there is no opposition to this move. There has to be anyways....we are the humans..and changing habits is the last change that we do bring...
Opposition is for emotional reasons...and many industries will come to closure. But i think that they can start fresh in manufacturing of CFL, and many other things which are the future. Infact this blog is about the new opportunities coming out of this Green Revolution.
Read here for more....
No one can buy, sell or import/export that bulb. Only existing stocks can be disposed off.
EU believes that they can save €5 billion annually and reduce carbon emissions by around 15 million tonnes.
The new CFLs are considered to be 80% more effecient than the old bulb, which lightened our house for more than a century.
Apart from Europe, there are several other countries in the process of implementing similar orders. In the leage are US, Cuba, Australia and more....
but, it is not so that there is no opposition to this move. There has to be anyways....we are the humans..and changing habits is the last change that we do bring...
Opposition is for emotional reasons...and many industries will come to closure. But i think that they can start fresh in manufacturing of CFL, and many other things which are the future. Infact this blog is about the new opportunities coming out of this Green Revolution.
Read here for more....
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Akshay Urja Park opened in Gurgaon, India
Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas was celebrated at Gurgaon on August 20.
A state level function was organised on Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas at Gurgaon. Irrigation Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav was the chief guest of the occasion.
The state-level Rajiv Gandhi Renewable Energy Park set up at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore at Gurgaon to create awareness and to demonstrate Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Technologies, was also inaugurated on the same day. The Park has been constructed on Solar Passive building design concepts and has various working models of devices based on renewable sources of energy like sun, hydro and wind.
The park has a 10 KW solar power plant to meet its energy requirements. It also has an energy information centre to provide advisory services to the public on renewable energy and energy conservation related issues.
A Prize distribution function was also organised at the function to give prizes of Rs 4 lakh to Rs 25 lakh to the selected gram panchayats for their outstanding contribution in renewable energy and energy conservation programmes.
Link
A state level function was organised on Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas at Gurgaon. Irrigation Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav was the chief guest of the occasion.
The state-level Rajiv Gandhi Renewable Energy Park set up at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore at Gurgaon to create awareness and to demonstrate Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Technologies, was also inaugurated on the same day. The Park has been constructed on Solar Passive building design concepts and has various working models of devices based on renewable sources of energy like sun, hydro and wind.
The park has a 10 KW solar power plant to meet its energy requirements. It also has an energy information centre to provide advisory services to the public on renewable energy and energy conservation related issues.
A Prize distribution function was also organised at the function to give prizes of Rs 4 lakh to Rs 25 lakh to the selected gram panchayats for their outstanding contribution in renewable energy and energy conservation programmes.
Link
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