In Detail–

Zero-carbon energy sources are a major route to fighting climate change, demanding increased investments in wind and solar energy for Africa.

According to the World Bank, 568 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. In its book: Mini Grids for Half a Billion People: Market Outlook and Handbook for Decision Makers, the bank warns that under the current trajectory 595 million Africans will remain unconnected in 2030.

Findings of a study published in Nature Communications show that under some models, solar energy could dominate electricity production worldwide at such a scale that no further direct support is needed to stimulate solar power.

While solar could be a dominant energy source by 2050, poor countries could be left behind due to inadequate finance, the researchers say. Uncertainties over grid stability, the capacity of supply chains, and political resistance could also inhibit the potential of solar energy.

The World Bank identifies Nigeria’s market-driven approach to mini grid development and Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia’s new regulations and policy that are attractive to private investors in mini grids as examples of making robust business partnerships to support off-grid solar access in Africa.

Femke Nijsse, of the University of Exeter, the study’s lead author, and colleagues, call for increased investments in grids and storage adding that developing countries with experience in renewables, such as Morocco and Kenya, could help support others in setting up financing instruments.

A hybrid network of solar and wind mini-grids has been funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, in a remote area north-east of Africa’s Lake Victoria. The island has no access to the national grid, but the population, mainly fishers, have a source of energy for homes, a school, and a health centre.

“Before we had this plant here, we used chlorine to treat our drinking water. As a student, I can do my studies at night or any time. We don’t have blackouts,” said Sylvanus Ochieng, a student at Kenya’s Kisii University.

In Details – Scientists across the globe are competing to engineer solar cells that most efficiently capture light to turn into clean, renewable energy. In Saudi Arabia, a team of researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has announced plans to bring a new type of solar cell to market, and it could be among the most efficient yet. The cell combines a mineral called perovskite with silicon to maximize both performance and longevity. It has been aptly named “perovskite/silicon tandem.”

Perovskite has been dubbed a “miracle material” by clean energy experts because of its impressive capacity for absorbing light, combined with the fact that it can be manufactured at room temperature, making it much more sustainable and also cheaper. One scientist described it as “sort of like Michael Jordan on the basketball court. Great on its own, but it also makes all the other players better.” By combining perovskite with silicon, the KAUST team said that they had harnessed the best qualities of both materials. The team said that its perovskite/silicon tandem set a record for tandem solar cell efficiency, operating with greater than 33% efficiency. “The market for perovskite/silicon tandems is expected to exceed $10 billion within a decade. KAUST is at the forefront of this revolution, laying the groundwork for affordable, accessible clean energy for all,” professor Stefaan De Wolf, the leader of the KAUST team, said.

He also said: “It’s very exciting that things are moving rapidly with multiple groups.” The most immediate challenges for the team include figuring out how to manufacture the perovskite/silicon tandems at commercial scale, which may involve high costs and hazardous materials. They also must ensure that the cells will be able to withstand various weather conditions, as perovskite is extremely fragile. The future looks bright, though, as solar cells should continue to become more efficient and affordable with the continued development of technology in the field.

In Detail : To fulfill its net zero emissions obligations, the world must rapidly phase out fossil fuels and embrace alternative renewable energy sources. Among the technologies developed over the past few decades, photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are among the most widely implemented worldwide. By harvesting the limitless energy the sun provides, these panels offer a reliable route toward sustainability. This article will explore the latest developments in photovoltaic research.

In Detail : Officials in Burlington, Vermont energized a new solar facility this week. Created by a public-private consortium, it will serve as a research and training facility for University of Vermont students.

The University of Vermont Solar Research and Training Facility is a partnership between the college, the city of Burlington, and McNeil Joint Owners. It was built by Encore Renewable Energy at the city’s McNeil Generating facility site. Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders obtained $150,000 from the Department of Energy for the project.

Burlington Electric Department General Manager Darren Springer explains the research facility has been planned for several years.

“The genesis of this was really that Senator Sanders had worked with the Department of Energy to bring one of five solar test centers in the country to Vermont, I think it was about a decade ago. And that was located originally at the IBM campus. And when that facility was being decommissioned we were able to work with the Senator and the Department of Energy and the University of Vermont and other key partners to have some of that infrastructure and even some of the panels that were in use there come over to this new site for the solar research center at McNeil.”

UVM Junior Emily Ninestein is pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering. She says a lot of the research that is currently done is based on simulations and models and she’s excited to start hands-on research.

“So we do a lot of math. We do a lot of coding. And all of that is really great and we’ve been able to accomplish a lot with that. But to be able to have a real site where we can get Vermont data from is really exciting and it will open up a lot of opportunities for us to explore some new research questions. So to be able to have our own source for solar data is really exciting. And they also have 11 different types of solar panels at the new site. So we’ll be able to test how those solar panels operate in Vermont’s conditions which is something that hasn’t really been done before because Vermont is a unique climate and a unique environment. And we have a lot of solar panels here. So to be able to really understand what kind of solar panels we should be using for the conditions here will be really cool.”

The Burlington Electric Department will purchase all the energy produced by the solar array. Springer says it’s only expected to produce enough energy to power about 11 homes, noting the purpose of the facility is research.

“This isn’t necessarily a significant amount of energy production relative to our overall use. But it is still going to produce some solar energy that we will purchase and benefit from as it also serves as a research hub. We really do have a vision for that entire plant site as being something more like an innovation hub. Obviously we produce an important renewable energy resource with the McNeil Wood Chip Plant. But we’re also working on ways that we can utilize that differently like with district energy, making that more efficient. This is an opportunity to do really interesting work with UVM on workforce training, on solar research. We see future opportunities at the plant as well. So this is really a tangible step towards trying to have that campus being an innovation hub.”

Ninestein says Vermont is a hub and leader for renewable energy and the new facility will help push the envelope of energy technology.

“I think right now we have a lot of ambitious policies for incorporating renewable energy but we don’t have all of the science and the tools yet in order to actually facilitate that transition and we don’t have a large enough workforce really to make that transition possible. So pushing the envelope of technology I think is a combination of having the tools like the McNeil site to study renewable energy and study the problems that we need to tackle but also to inspire students to start getting interested in renewable energy and to study electrical engineering or environmental science or something related to the renewable energy field which will help us all collectively push the envelope together.”

UVM will operate and manage the Solar Research and Training Facility. The city of Burlington and McNeil Joint Owners, which are the Burlington Electric Department, Green Mountain Power and the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, provides its site license.

In Detail : The new UVM Solar Research and Training Facility at McNeil Generating Station was unveiled today, energizing the study of the performance and durability of solar panels under often-challenging Vermont conditions: freezing temperatures, heat and humidity, cloud cover, hail, and having their surfaces covered in everything from bird droppings, snow and ice to dust from agriculture and dirt roads.

The facility – the result of a partnership between the University and the City of Burlington, the McNeil Joint Owners (Burlington Electric Department, Green Mountain Power and Vermont Public Power Supply Authority), Encore Renewable Energy, and Vermont Gas Systems – includes panels purchased as part of a Department of Energy (DOE)-funded UVM research project in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences as well as a large number of panel donated by Sandia National Labs from the former DOE/Sandia National Lab solar test site in Williston. The array will serve as a core research facilty serving several new research projects and training opportunities and will support the long-term goal of identifying industry partners interested in testing new technologies.

The equipment for the facility was donated by the federal government with the assistance of Senator Bernie Sanders, who also directed $150,000 in Congressional funding to the U.S. Department of Energy to help make the project a reality.

“Our research and education related to sustainability and renewable energy rank among the most important work we do,” UVM President Suresh Garimella said. “I am thankful for Senator Sanders and the rest of our partners on this project for their roles in relocating this array to the McNeil Generating Station, where it will be of great value to our research efforts and provide exciting opportunities for student projects.”

“This partnership is an excellent example of how Vermonters work together to tackle the big issues of our time,” Sen. Sanders said. “We must do all we can to fight climate change, and conducting solar research that will lead to the more effective use of energy from the sun to power our communities is a step in the right direction. I was glad to direct impactful funding to the Department of Energy to help move this important project forward.”

As decarbonization policies continue to go into effect in Burlington as well as at UVM, the electrical grid must include more renewable energy sources – but these sources present challenges, according to UVM’s Mads Almassalkhi, L. Richard Fisher professor of Electrical Engineering and Principal Investigator (PI) of the first major research project to leverage the facility.

“We’re very focused in our research groups on studying the impact of renewables and improving the reliability of the grid by leveraging the capabilities of a lot of distributed energy resources, like batteries, inverters, and responsive loads,” Almassalkhi said.

While solar technologies are certainly not new, many questions remain about how to optimize their efficiency, especially in cold climates. Given that such research can take decades as panels degrade under years of snow, heat and dirt, the question, according to Almassalkhi, is, “how can we speed up our understanding of how solar photovoltaic panels degrade in cold climates?”

One way is to speed up the solar panel degradation process artificially, said UVM’s Matthew White, a professor in the Department of Physics and co-PI of both the solar installation and research projects. “We want this facility to be what we call a quasi-accelerated lifetime test,” White said. “We’re trying to find a stepping stone between the rapid acceleration data from the lab – that really has no correlation to what happens outside – to putting a device outside and watching it for 30 years, which is a very slow process.”

The McNeil facility provides an opportunity to leave the panels “fully exposed to all of the dust, rocks, birds, squirrels – everything that you might expect panels to be exposed to outside,” White said. White and his colleagues plan to control one factor – freezing and thawing – because as White notes, “we think that that’s a fairly critical element to how these technologies will survive in Vermont.” The team is exploring ways of heating the panels above freezing on winter days, then letting them refreeze at night, repeatedly throughout the winter.

The researchers will then have plenty of data to work with, according to Almassalkhi. “We want to sensor the heck out of this facility,” Almassalkhi said. “We want to measure everything, record everything and then study and analyze it and build models that predict lifetime performance.”

In addition to sensors on the panels themselves, a weather station at the site records near-constant data on temperature, humidity, precipitation and solar irradiance – how much sunlight is hitting the panels in real time. The weather data will complement the sensors’ data about the panels’ performance and efficiency, and the researchers can see how weather conditions and energy efficiency correspond at any given moment.

At a lab on campus, meanwhile, White and his student research team will put some panels through a series of rapid freeze-thaw cycles in a purpose-built environmental test chamber that White describes as a “refrigerator-oven.” The chamber also allows researchers to test panel coatings designed to help them shed ice and snow. This is important because solar panels can be more efficient in cold than in hot weather – if the sun can reach their photovoltaic cells. In Vermont, a cold, sunny winter day can mean fantastic solar energy production, provided the panels are not covered in snow.

In Detail : Dedicated social movements can make a difference for pro-social firms and industries, especially where the business climate is unfavorable

As Margaret Mead allegedly said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Not the only thing, perhaps, but there’s growing evidence that social movements — groups of dedicated actors that aim to promote shared social or cultural goals — can have an impact on promoting new firms and industries.

IESE Business School’s Desirée Pacheco and Theodore A. Khoury of Portland State University examine the role of social movements in the development of solar energy in the United States. Specifically, they look at how social movements can successfully create an environment in which firms feel encouraged to enter the market, and in which circumstances they have the most clout.

As countries increasingly accept the need to replace fossil fuels with sustainable energy sources, the environmental benefits of solar energy become ever clearer. Despite this, not all economies have rushed to embrace solar in a timely fashion, leaving much of the groundwork to be covered by social movements.

In the U.S., tech-focused social movements, such as the Acadia Center in Maine or the Energy Trust of Oregon, have lobbied for its adoption in several ways, including:

• awareness campaigns
• training and educational programs
• supporting good ideas, fighting misinformation and finding common ground
• pushing for regulatory reform
• managing programs for swapping or upgrading

All these initiatives help a new industry come across as viable and legitimate. They clarify the unknowns in a firm’s offering, push for legal frameworks that make room for them, and target potential customers.

In the case of solar energy in the U.S., state-level laws define many residents’ attitudes toward the industry. Pacheco and Khoury’s research shows that it is precisely where the regional ecology is least supportive of solar offerings that social movements can make a larger difference.

“Social movements can catalyze expansion in an industry and prevent decline,” says Pacheco. Large social movements can also pave the way for firms to enter an industry when conditions seem complex or unfavorable. Adverse conditions might include a small population of firms with a similar offering, suggesting low awareness among the public, and perhaps a lack of legitimacy.

Significantly, Pacheco and Khoury’s research shows that social movements are not only effective in smaller industries, as is often assumed. Highly populated industries often experience a decline, as entrepreneurs can find entry conditions too competitive. In such cases, social movements can mitigate these pressures by expanding support and demand for the industry.

Mutual support

Though social movements are one path to greater awareness and the perceived validity of an industry, they aren’t the only one. The authors also examined the effect of neighboring or “mutualistic” industries — in this case, the wind energy industry, which is distinct from the solar industry but has clear parallels as another renewable energy source. Entrepreneurs in both areas share similar environmental goals.

Where social movements were relatively weak, the authors observed that the neighboring wind industry had a positive effect on solar entrepreneurship. In other words, the related industry helped to elevate the profile of solar energy in the region. Where there wasn’t a strong wind-energy presence, social movements stepped up and played a much larger role. So, while legitimacy can come from various places, social movements with limited resources may want to concentrate them on where they are most needed.

Finally, social movements helped smaller, specialist solar providers compete with large general energy firms. Here, the support to accelerate solar adoption and programs to reduce service or product costs (i.e., campaigning for state incentives for solar roof panels) allowed the solar specialists to counteract larger firms’ scope and economies of scale.

Social activism and emerging industries can be closely entwined, with other examples including the craft beer, recycling, and green building industries. And for those willing to take action on behalf of important causes, remember: you can do the most good where support is otherwise hard to come by.

It’s always darkest before the dawn. But with targeted activism, solar panels can be there to catch the first rays.

In Detail : The Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (Anert) on Wednesday for a ‘green power project’ on KAU campuses.

Through this initiative, the KAU is aiming to become the first university in the country to be fully run on green energy. KAU registrar A. Sakeer Husain and ANERT CEO Narendra Nath Veluri signed the MoU in the presence of Agriculture Minister P. Prasad, Revenue Minister K. Rajan, and Electricity Minister K. Krishnankutty.

In the first phase, rooftop solar photovoltaic power plants with a combined installed capacity of 600 kilowatts (expected annual energy yield, 7.68 lakh units) will be installed on the KAU main campus at Vellanikkara in Thrissur district, the College of Agriculture at Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, the Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Tavanur, Malappuram, and the College of Agriculture at Padannakkad, Kasaragod.

In subsequent phases, the university will scale up the capacity to 10 MW, according to KAU VC B. Ashok. Faculty deans Roy Stephen, Jayan P. R., Director of Extension Jacob John, and Professor and Head of Communication Ani S. Das, were also present.

New research from both universities now claims it is viable to produce low-cost, lightweight solar panels that can generate energy in space and will be commercially viable to provide energy to electricity grids around the world. Solar panels have previously been used to power satellites but not to provide energy for Earth.

The discovery follows the first study of its kind in which the researchers followed a satellite over six years, observing how the panels generated power and weathered solar radiation over 30,000 orbits of the Earth.

Researchers from the University of Swansea’s Centre for Solar Energy Research developed new solar cells from cadmium telluride. The panels cover a larger area, are more lightweight and provide far greater power than current technology, as well as being relatively cheap to manufacture, according to the centre.

To complement this technology, scientists from the University of Surrey designed instruments that measured their performance in orbit. The satellite itself was designed and built at the Surrey Space Centre in partnership with a team of trainee engineers from the Algerian Space Agency.

Although the cells’ power output became less efficient over time, researchers involved in the project believe their findings prove that solar power satellites work and could be commercially viable.

University of Surrey Surrey Space Centre professor of spacecraft engineering Craig Underwood said: “We are very pleased that a mission designed to last one year is still working after six. This detailed data show the panels have resisted radiation and their thin-film structure has not deteriorated in the harsh thermal and vacuum conditions of space.

“This ultra-low mass solar cell technology could lead to large, low-cost solar power stations deployed in space, bringing clean energy back to Earth – and now we have the first evidence that the technology works reliably in orbit.”

University of Swansea Solar Photovoltaic Academic Research Consortium project manager Dan Lamb said: “A successful flight test of this novel thin film solar cell payload has leveraged funding opportunities to further develop this technology.

“Large area solar arrays for space applications are a rapidly expanding market and demonstrations such as this help to build on the UK’s world class reputations for space technology.”

Scientists have been working tirelessly to find new ways to get clean energy. Their relentless pursuit has finally paid off with a ground breaking development: the deployment of solar panels in space. This innovative approach promises to revolutionise our access to sustainable power, presenting a potential game-changer for our planet’s energy needs.

According to new research from the Universities of Surrey and Swansea, it’s viable to produce low-cost, lightweight solar panels that can generate energy in space. The first study of its kind followed a satellite over six years, observing how the panels generated power and weathered solar radiation over 30,000 orbits. The findings could pave the way for commercially viable solar farms in space. The satellite was built by the Surrey Space Centre with the help of young engineers from the Algerian Space Agency.

“We are very pleased that a mission designed to last one year is still working after six. These detailed data show the panels have resisted radiation, and their thin-film structure has not deteriorated in the harsh thermal and vacuum conditions of space. This ultra-low-mass solar cell technology could lead to large, low-cost solar power stations deployed in space, bringing clean energy back to Earth, and now we have the first evidence that the technology works reliably in orbit. Professor Craig Underwood, Emeritus Professor of Spacecraft Engineering, Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey,” Professor Craig Underwood, Emeritus Professor of Spacecraft Engineering, Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey, said.

As per a news release, researchers at the University of Swansea have developed new solar cells from cadmium telluride. These cells are larger, lighter, and more efficient than current technology, and they are also relatively cheap to make.

Scientists at the University of Surrey designed instruments to measure the performance of these cells in orbit. The satellite that carried the cells was designed and built at the Surrey Space Centre with the help of trainee engineers from the Algerian Space Agency. Although the cells’ power output decreased over time, the researchers believe that their findings prove that solar power satellites are possible and could be commercially viable.

“The successful flight test of this novel thin-film solar cell payload has leveraged funding opportunities to further develop this technology. Large-area solar arrays for space applications are a rapidly expanding market, and demonstrations such as this help to build on the UK’s world-class reputations for space technology,” said Dr Dan Lamb, University of Swansea.

A bifacial perovskite solar cell, which allows sunlight to reach both sides of the device, holds the potential to produce higher energy yields at lower overall costs, according to scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The dual nature of a bifacial solar cell enables the capture of direct sunlight on the front and the capture of reflected sunlight on the back, allowing this type of device to outperform its monofacial counterparts.

“This perovskite cell can operate very effectively from either side,” said Kai Zhu, a senior scientist in the Chemistry and Nanoscience Center at NREL and lead author of a new paper published in the journal Joule: “Highly efficient bifacial single-junction perovskite solar cells.” His co-authors from NREL are Qi Jiang, Rosemary Bramante, Paul Ndione, Robert Tirawat, and Joseph Berry. Other co-authors are from the University of Toledo.

Past bifacial perovskite solar cell research has yielded devices considered inadequate in comparison to monofacial cells, which have a current record of 26% efficiency. Ideally, the NREL researchers noted, a bifacial cell should have a front-side efficiency close to the best-performing monofacial cell and a similar back-side efficiency.

The researchers were able to make a solar cell where the efficiency under illumination from both sides are close together. The lab-measured efficiency of the front illumination reached above 23%. From the back illumination, the efficiency was about 91%–93% of the front.

Before constructing the cell, researchers relied on optical and electrical simulations to determine the necessary thickness. The perovskite layer on the front of the cell had to be sufficiently thick to absorb most of the photons from a certain part of the solar spectrum, but a perovskite layer that is too thick can block the photons. On the back of the cell, the NREL team had to determine the ideal thickness of the rear electrode to minimize resistive loss.

According to Zhu, simulations guided the design of the bifacial cell, and without that assistance the researchers would have had to experimentally produce cell after cell to determine the ideal thickness. They found the ideal thickness for a perovskite layer is around 850 nanometers. By comparison, a human hair is approximately 70,000 nanometers.

To evaluate the efficiency gained through bifacial illumination, the researchers placed the cell between two solar simulators. Direct light was aimed at the front side, while the back side received reflected light. The efficiency of the cell climbed as the ratio of reflected light to the front illumination increased.

While researchers estimate that a bifacial perovskite solar module would cost more to manufacture than a monofacial module, over time bifacial modules could end up being better financial investments because they generate 10%–20% more power.

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office funded the research.

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC.

India : DBS and Financial Times (FT) Longitude surveyed over 1,225 senior executives from Commercial and Finance/Treasury teams of organisations across 22 markets on their digital transformation journey. The survey sheds light on corporate ambitions, successes, and lingering concerns, while revealing that Indian companies have reported the highest impact from digitisation at 65%.

The survey reaffirms that India has firmly entered the digital age with the determination of an economic powerhouse. India’s drive for digitalisation is embodied by the government’s Digital India program and the rapid rise in internet users to 700 million. The findings revealed that the most important goals of digital transformation are boosting efficiency and enriching customer experience (40% respectively). This is followed by improving collaboration across functions and teams (33%).

The research found that for Indian businesses, cultural elements that most support digital transformation are collaboration across functions (47%) and diversity in transformation teams (38%). Sales and marketing (38%) and supply chain/procurement (21%) emerged as critical areas of an organisation that urgently need digital transformation. The survey further enlightens the growing role that treasury and finance play in enabling change and innovation.

Indian businesses see cloud technology as essential to realising digital transformation within the treasury and finance function. The research shows that Indian companies (72%) are more likely to prioritise it than the global average of 67%. It is interesting that nearly three-quarters of the respondents contend that migration to the cloud is a crucial aspect of the transformation journey, showing positive signs for India’s cloud technology sector, which is expected to be worth $13.5 bn by 2026. Respondents also showed confidence in advanced analytics (38%) and APIs (36%) as tools to transform treasury and finance. Within treasury, financial reporting (51%) is the top priority for digitalisation, followed by investments (45%) and procurement (34%).

It further reveals that strategic partnerships are likely to be a prominent feature of digital transformation, with banks (36%) and fintech partnerships (34%) being the most popular among Indian respondents. For example, DBS Bank India recently partnered with Gofrugal Technologies to help SMEs digitise their supply chain and expand sales channels via ONDC.

Divyesh Dalal, Managing Director & Head – Global Transaction Services, DBS Bank India said, “The DBS-FT Digital Transformation Survey reaffirms that companies in India recognise the benefits of digitisation. Indian companies have seen the highest transformation success among all the countries at 65% over the global average of 58%. The survey mirrors our interactions with companies in India that are looking for increased efficiency and improved customer experience as the goals of digitisation, as well as their challenges while adopting emerging technologies. At DBS Bank India we have been at the forefront of enabling customers to embrace digitalisation through intelligent banking solutions. We are well positioned to lend our expertise to enable greater collaboration between commercial and finance teams so that digital adoption is scalable.”

Although India’s digital transformation is accelerating, a few areas for improvement exist- including the professional skill gap and data privacy. According to the research findings, the skill gap (47%) and data privacy concerns (38%) are major roadblocks for organisations. Given the significant outcomes accrued by companies through digitisation, working on these areas will be a key priority.

The research survey also identifies businesses based on their performance in digitalising their businesses. They are categorised into ‘transformation leaders’, ‘developing leaders’ and ‘transformation laggards’. 12% of Indian respondents are transformation leaders, the second highest proportion of leaders among Asian respondents. Additionally, 30% of Indian businesses are in the developing leaders’ group, which indicates that the country’s overall count of transformational leaders is poised to increase. However, India’s transformation leaders currently are lower than the laggards (14%).

The findings give a deeper understanding of the digital transformation trends in India and will be useful for companies aiming to offer digital solutions that help organizations address these challenges and achieve business priorities. Digital transformation is a continuous endeavour, adapting to new technology, revising internal processes and enhancing skills to adopt digital solutions at scale.

About the research

1,225 respondents completed the survey between June and August 2022, from 15 industry sectors and 22 markets worldwide. Respondents were 50% C-suite and 50% C-1, with 50% from finance/treasury and 50% from commercial functions, including sales and digital transformation teams, focused on customer engagement. The majority (60%) of respondents were from $1 bn+ businesses.

About DBS

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia across 19 markets. DBS is known for its global leadership, being recognised as the “World’s Best Bank” thrice by Global Finance since 2018. DBS was also recognised as the “World’s Best Bank” by Euromoney in 2021 for the second time in three years and “Global Bank of the Year” by The Banker in 2021. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking with its recognition as the “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney in 2021 and the world’s “Most Innovative in Digital Banking” by The Banker in the same year. Apart from these accolades, DBS has been accorded the “Safest Bank in Asia” award by Global Finance for 14 consecutive years from 2009 to 2022. Additionally, DBS Bank was ranked among the top 3 on Forbes’ list of the World’s Best Banks in India for three consecutive years, from 2020 to 2022.

DBS Bank has been present in India for 28 years, opening its first office in Mumbai in 1994. DBS Bank India Limited is the first among the large foreign banks in India to start operating as a wholly-owned, locally incorporated subsidiary of a leading global bank. DBS provides a range of banking services for large, medium, and small enterprises and individual consumers in India. In 2016, DBS launched India’s first mobile-only bank, digibank, which now has ~1 million savings accounts. In November 2020, Lakshmi Vilas Bank was merged with DBS Bank India Limited. The bank now has a network of ~530 branches in 19 Indian states.

DBS provides a full range of consumer, SME, and corporate banking services. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of business in the region’s most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers and positively impacting communities. It established an SGD 50 million foundation to strengthen its corporate social responsibility efforts across Asia by supporting social enterprises: businesses with a double bottom line of profit and social and environmental impact. In 2020, DBS introduced the “Towards Zero Food Waste” initiative as part of a global sustainability practice to encourage a shift in behaviours and mindsets to reduce food waste. In 2022, DBS committed an additional SGD 100 million to deepen the ability to create an impact beyond banking, catalysing the bank’s various philanthropic and crisis relief measures.

With its extensive network of operations in Asia and emphasis on engaging and empowering its staff, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. The bank acknowledges the passion, commitment, and can-do spirit of our 30,000+ staff representing over 40 nationalities.

Source: dbs

In their peer-reviewed publication, published on Monday, the researchers detailed the development of a solar-powered reactor that can transform captured CO2 and plastic waste into sustainable fuels and other valuable chemical products.

In their experiments, researchers successfully converted CO2 into syngas – an essential component for producing sustainable liquid fuels. Additionally, they were able to transform plastic bottles into glycolic acid, which is widely used in the cosmetics industry.

In their latest experiment, the researchers took CO2 from industrial exhaust or directly from the air – unlike their previous experiments where CO2 was taken from different sources – and converted it into sustainable fuel.

Researchers say more improvements are required before this technology can be used at an industrial scale, however, it can be highlighted as an important step towards producing clean fuels that can power the economy without relying on environmentally destructive oil and gas extraction.

“We’re not just interested in decarbonisation, but de-fossilisation – we need to completely eliminate fossil fuels in order to create a truly circular economy,” Erwin Reisner, one of the researchers said in a news release accompanying the study. “In the medium term, this technology could help reduce carbon emissions by capturing them from industry and turning them into something useful, but ultimately, we need to cut fossil fuels out of the equation entirely and capture CO2 from the air.”

This innovation has been inspired by photosynthesis – the process by which plants convert sunlight into food – using artificial leaves which have the ability to produce fuel from CO2 and water using just the power of the sun.

The researchers were also inspired by carbon capture and storage (CCS) techniques, which involve capturing CO2 and subsequently injecting and storing it underground, according to the release.

“CCS is a technology that’s popular with the fossil fuel industry as a way to reduce carbon emissions while continuing oil and gas exploration,” explained Reisner. “But if instead of carbon capture and storage, we had carbon capture and utilisation, we could make something useful from CO2 instead of burying it underground, with unknown long-term consequences, and eliminate the use of fossil fuels.”

HOW DOES THE TECH WORK?

In their experiments, researchers made adjustments to their technology, enabling it to work with flue gas or directly from the air. This adaptation allows CO2 and plastics to be converted into fuel and chemicals using only solar power.

Then, through the process of bubbling air into an alkaline solution, the researchers selectively captured CO2 and allowed other gases like nitrogen and oxygen to escape harmlessly.

The system has two compartments—in one compartment, the captured CO2 solution is converted into syngas, a basic fuel. In the other compartment, plastics are transformed into valuable chemicals solely using sunlight.

“The plastic component is an important trick to this system,” co-first author Dr Motiar Rahaman explained. “Capturing and using CO2 from the air makes the chemistry more difficult. But, if we add plastic waste to the system, the plastic donates electrons to the CO2. The plastic breaks down to glycolic acid, which is widely used in the cosmetics industry, and the CO2 is converted into syngas, which is a simple fuel.”

Source: PTI

SINGAPORE : The share of renewable energy in global power generation hit 30% last year after record growth in solar, but little progress has been made when it comes to decarbonising the heat and fuel sectors, according to a research report published on Tuesday.

Though heating and fuel account for more than three quarters of global energy use, both remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels, with renewable sources accounting for just 3.6% and 9.2% respectively, the Paris-based REN21 think tank said.

With heat and fuel included, renewable sources accounted for only 12.7% of the world’s total energy supply, said Rana Adib, REN21’s executive director.

“What we are currently witnessing is a power transition rather than an energy transition, as most policies and regulations have mainly focused on developing renewables in the power sector,” she said.

“There are 179 countries with renewable power targets – only 46 have renewable heat targets and 49 renewable fuel targets,” she added.

Heat provision makes up 49% of global energy demand, with fuel accounting for 29%, but the failure to diversify renewable energy technologies beyond wind and solar power is holding back efforts to meet climate goals, the REN21 report said.

The low prices of fossil fuels have also held back the development of renewable heat and fuel technologies. Subsidies for fossil fuels also soared to more than $1 trillion in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency, with oil subsidies up 85%.

Global renewable capacity reached 3,481 gigawatts in 2022, with growth driven largely by China, which was responsible for 44% of new capacity additions over the year.

China also invested $274.4 billion in renewables over the year, accounting for 55% of the global total, REN21 said.

Source: zawya

Despite significant efforts and some progress, the world continues to face a dramatic energy access gap, according to the report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

The report cautioned that the world remained off track to ensure clean and affordable energy access for all by 2030 — one of the so-called Sustainable Development Goals set by all UN countries in 2015.

The world has seen “a recent slowdown in the global pace of electrification,” World Bank vice president for infrastructure Guangzhe Chen said in a joint statement.

While the number of people living without electricity has been cut in half in the past decade, from 1.1 billion in 2010, 675 million people were still doing without in 2021, the report said.

Around 80 percent of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, where the electricity access deficit has remained basically unchanged since 2010, the report said.

It highlighted progress elsewhere though, in particular the increased rate of using renewables in the power sector, but warned this progress was “insufficient” to reach the UN-set targets.

“While the clean energy transition is moving faster than many think, there is still a great deal of work needed to deliver sustainable, secure and affordable access to modern energy services for the billions of people who live without it,” Fatih Birol, IEA executive director, said in the statement.

Citing IRENA data, the report also cautioned that public financial flows supporting clean energy in poorer countries had been decreasing even before the Covid pandemic hit.

It also found that the current mounting debt levels and rising energy prices were worsening the outlook for meeting the target of ensuring universal access to clean cooking methods and electricity within the next seven years.

Current projections show that without scaling up efforts further, the world is on track to see 1.9 billion people still living without access to clean cooking methods and 660 million without electricity access in 2030.

That would be bad news for global health.

According to the WHO, 3.2 million people die each year from illness caused by the use of polluting fuels and technologies.

“We must protect the next generation by acting now,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the statement.

“Clean cooking technologies in homes and reliable electricity in health-care facilities can play a crucial role in protecting the health of our most vulnerable populations.”

Source: AFP

The report assessed ADB’s support for the CAREC Program from 2011 to 2021, which aimed to promote regional cooperation and integration (RCI) across 11 countries, comprising Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People’s Republic of China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

“The subregion is one of the least integrated in the world, with more difficult preconditions for RCI than other developing regions,” ADB Independent Evaluation Department Director General Emmanuel Jimenez said. “However, it also has an enormous potential for RCI, given its strategic location as a land bridge connecting some of the world’s significant and fastest-growing economic centers.”

The report found that the CAREC Program exceeded its transport output targets, covering investments in roads and railways. ADB’s support has increased the quality of travel, travel speeds, and traffic volume along the transport corridors. Energy connectivity across some countries also improved and will continue to increase as projects are completed and commissioned.

However, progress in regional economic competitiveness has been modest, due to continuing challenges in removing nontariff barriers to trade. “ADB’s support in the area of regional public goods is still relatively new, and there is a continuing need for institution and consensus building across CAREC member states,” evaluation team leader Houqi Hong said.

The program has generally appropriate strategies and instruments in place to deliver its primary objectives. However, as it expands into non-infrastructure sectors and areas of critical global and regional public goods, such as climate change issues, the program may put pressure on existing staff and constrain technical assistance resources in the near future.

To improve future performance, ADB should strengthen support for investment climate and trade policy reforms, modernize border crossing points and customs processes, develop multimodal transport corridor networks, scale up climate change mitigation and adaptation, and apply better results monitoring, the report added.

About Independent Evaluation at ADB

ADB’s Independent Evaluation, reporting to the Board of Directors through the Development Effectiveness Committee, contributes to development effectiveness by providing feedback on ADB’s policies, strategies, operations, and special concerns in Asia and the Pacific.

Source : ADB

CHENNAI : India and China are expected to drive the investment in low carbon emissions in the Asia Pacific Region (APAC), Moody’s Investor’s Service said in a report.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that India will spend $53 billion and $87 billion of average annual investment in 2021-25 and 2026-30, respectively, to achieve the Stated Policy Scenario (STEPS) trajectory of emissions reductions, while China will spend $239 billion and $210 billion during the same period, Moody’s said.

Moody’s added that bulk of the estimated investment will be allocated to clean energy and related projects.

Growing availability of green finance, underpinned by diversifying funding channels and manageable costs, will bolster power companies’ energy transition and support their sizable financing requirements, the credit rating agency said in the report.

Sustainable bonds, green loans, project bonds, and green funds are common in the sustainable finance plans of APAC’s power utilities.

“We expect the renewable energy sector will continue to steer growth in sustainable bond markets given the governments’ decarbonisation commitments. Thermal power companies with well-defined energy transition strategies can potentially tap transition finance,” Moody’s said.

“Coal-fired companies in the region face rising carbon transition risk but funding risk will be lower for utilities with credible transition plans. In the medium term, coal fired power will remain critical to many power sectors in the region,” the report noted.

Source: PTI

The study “Gearing Up the Workforce for a Green Economy” was undertaken by the Skills Council for Green Jobs and Sattva Consulting, with support from JP Morgan.

The report highlights the employment potential within India’s green economy and highlights the crucial role of philanthropy in meeting skills needs and ensuring equal access to green jobs. He estimates that the 3.5 million green jobs will be in urban and peri-urban areas.

“Key sectors such as renewable energy, green hydrogen, waste management, electric vehicles, sustainable textiles and green construction are expected to drive India’s green growth and host a significant number of green jobs” , says the report.

The report focuses on two interconnected strategies for creating meaningful livelihoods. First, by capitalizing on the global demand for skilled human resources to help India and other countries achieve their zero emissions goals. Second, by ensuring fair and well-managed transitions for workers in traditional industries who may be affected by these changes.

At the launch of the report, AK Tiwari, Secretary of the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), expressed the government’s commitment to prioritizing green growth and green jobs. He said: “We are fully committed and continuously engaging with industry and other stakeholders to ensure that young people are sufficiently qualified, certified and fully prepared to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry.

The study also describes five important initiatives, called “Big Bets”, which have the potential to generate large-scale employment for people from low socio-economic backgrounds. These initiatives include reskilling and upskilling the existing workforce, training entry-level employees, supporting entrepreneurial models, promoting diversity and inclusion, and ensuring formalization and protection of working conditions in green jobs.

For example, in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, the study recommends the establishment of a network of after-sales services and charging stations led by women entrepreneurs. Likewise, it highlights the need to upgrade the skills of the existing workforce throughout the solar value chain to meet the demand for an expected 12-fold increase in jobs.

Commenting on the report, Kaustubh Kulkarni, Senior Country Officer at JP Morgan India, highlighted the importance of the five identified “Big Bets” in creating an inclusive skills development system that trains both the workforce current and incoming, ensuring a smooth transition to an economy where no one is left behind.

Kolluru Krishan, former Chairman of the Skills Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ) and Chairman of CVC Biorefineries acknowledged the high demand for skilled green workers in the industry. He called for collaborative actions between industry, government and key ecosystem players to deliver targeted skills programs at the scale required.

The study findings were based on extensive interactions with over 85 industry leaders, experts, representatives of the skills ecosystem and over 2,000 young people. Aarti Mohan, co-founder and partner of Sattva Consulting, pointed out that the transition to a green and resilient economy requires new and green skills, not only for emerging and future jobs, but also for existing jobs that are changing.

Source: PTI

A combination of factors like the move towards decarbonization, fuel diversification, geopolitical situations resulting in fossil fuel price hike and climate change affecting solar and wind power provide the base for expansion of nuclear power in the Asia Pacific region, said Moody’s Investors Service.

“Decarbonisation and fuel diversification will drive the nuclear power sector’s share of the energy mix in Asia Pacific,” said Ada Li, a Moody’s Vice President, and Senior Credit Officer.

“Recent disruptions, such as a spike in fuel fossil prices because of the Russia-Ukraine war, and less stable solar and wind performance due to climate conditions, also underpin a greater role for nuclear power in the region’s long-term carbon transition plans,” added Li.

According to Moody’s nuclear power will maintain its 10 per cent share of the global energy mix through 2050, supported by an expanding APAC fleet.

Around 60 per cent of new nuclear units under construction globally were in APAC as of the end of April 2023.

Nuclear power share of APAC’s energy mix will rise from current levels of 5 per cent to 8 per cent by 2050, Moody’s said.

The stability of nuclear power output – compared to solar and wind power — increases its cost competitiveness among low-carbon energy options. Recent disruptions, including from the Russia-Ukraine war and climate conditions, have further increased the appeal of nuclear power.

China, Japan, and Korea will lead APAC’s nuclear power expansion with plans to increase the sector’s share in their power mix to more than double-digit percentages.

China is the largest builder of nuclear units globally, with the aim to double the share of nuclear power in its energy mix by 2035. Surging fuel costs and tight supply have driven Japan’s policy shift to nuclear, with more restarts planned. South Korea relies heavily on nuclear power, with nuclear to contribute 35 per cent of total power in the country by 2036

According to the report, technological advances for safer, structurally reinforced and climate resilient reactors, the gradual commissioning of new generation reactors without material cost overruns and delays, and the provision of safe waste disposal and decommissioning plans should help alleviate policy hurdles and public concerns about nuclear power.

Moody’s said new nuclear power capacity additions, primarily spearheaded by Asia, together with a more open attitude to nuclear power to meet net-zero targets in markets like the UK, will offset retirements and exits of nuclear in markets such as Germany.

There have been announcements of lifetime extensions of existing reactors in developed markets that originally had plans to exit nuclear power, such as Belgium, the report said.

As regards the number of nuclear power units currently under construction in the APAC region, China leads with 19 units totaling 19,805 MW and is followed by India 8 units, 6,028 MW; Korea 3 units, 4,200 MW; Japan 3 units, 4,038 MW; and Bangladesh 2 units, 2,160 MW.

The credit rating agency said construction delays and cost overruns are common in first-of-a-kind projects, especially under tightened safety requirements for new generation reactors.

For example, the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), a third generation nuclear power technology, its debut unit in Finland, Olkiluoto 3, experienced multiple delays and cost overruns. The plant, whose construction began in 2005, started commercial operations only at the beginning of 2023, some 14 years past its original commissioning date.

The EPR at Flamanville in France is planning for commercial operation, estimated to cost over 12 billion euros, compared with its original budget of around 3 billion euros. Although China’s EPRs at Taishan took shorter time to commission, it still took nearly nine years to complete construction and connect to the grid, Moody’s said.

In India, the 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is getting delayed for various reasons. The reactor is first of its kind for India and designed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research ((IGCAR).

“Continuous policy support in the research and development of new civilian nuclear power technologies (for example, small modular reactors (SMRs)) will enhance the long-term competitiveness of nuclear power and cultivate the technical expertise of staff,” Moodya s said.

SMRs are nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW per unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear reactors.

They are intended to have lower initial investment and a shorter construction time than traditional reactors because of their smaller scale, components that can be factory assembled and transported, and lower site requirements.

On the other hand, wider application of SMRs is constrained by their overall economics after incorporating infrastructure costs, for example grid connection.

Currently there are 50 SMRs globally, most being pilot reactors or reactors constructed for academic research purposes. Wider application of commercially viable SMR technologies will be beneficial to long-term nuclear development because, given the smaller scale investment required, they will more likely attract private investors and therefore make it easier to obtain financing, said Moody’s.

That apart countries like China, India, Japan, and others are developing or exploring thorium-based nuclear reactors as an alternative to uranium, with thorium over three times more abundant than uranium. However, extraction costs remain high and there are other challenges in terms of handling the materials and waste.

Source: PTI

”S&P Global Ratings has upgraded its rating by one notch on the company to BB+ rating with a stable outlook from BB with a stable outlook,” Tata Power said in a regulatory filing.

Tata Power, together with its subsidiaries and joint entities, has a generation capacity of 14,076 MW, of which 37 per cent comes from clean energy sources. The company has the distinction of being among the top private players in each sector of the value chain, including solar rooftops and value-added services.

Source: PTI

Dr. Paul Nancarrow, Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering and lead researcher, said that renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy, have a variable supply and require energy storage solutions for their effective utilisation.

Battery technology has advanced energy storage capacity, but there are concerns regarding battery safety and the scarcity of materials used in their production. Therefore, using a combination of other energy storage solutions alongside batteries is essential in the transition towards clean energy.

The team’s focus is on ionic liquid technology, which are salts that can melt at room temperature and turn into liquid. Their wide range of applications is being studied in AUS labs, including thermal energy storage.

“There are theoretically millions of different ionic liquids that can be synthesised in the laboratory, each with different properties. However, lab synthesis is time-consuming and costly.

To overcome this problem, we were successful in developing several new data-driven predictive models to help us narrow the selection of optimal ionic liquid structures to synthesise and test and design new classes of ionic liquids to be used as energy storage systems,” Dr. Nancarrow said.

The work involves designing ionic liquids as phase change materials, which absorb and store energy when they melt at a particular temperature matched to the application, and release the energy again when the temperature drops and they cool and solidify. They can be incorporated into buildings, industrial facilities, electronic devices, and clothing to help control temperature, store energy and reduce energy needs.

Dr. Nancarrow added, “The current systems have many problems that limit their applications including corrosion, loss of efficiency over time, loss by evaporation, degradation, and large thermal expansion. What we are working on is designing ionic liquids with optimal properties for various applications to overcome these issues and provide an additional energy storage solution to reduce energy consumption and complement renewable energy production.

“This will help lead to a faster introduction of clean energy and reduce fossil fuel consumption on a global scale. Our next step in our research is to incorporate the optimised ionic liquid into solar energy systems and analyse the improvement in efficiency that can be achieved.”

The research work was carried out in the labs of the AUS College of Engineering (CEN), with partners at the Trinity College Dublin conducting tests on novel ionic liquids to improve the efficiency of solar energy systems.

Source: gulftoday

Although graphite represents up to a quarter of the weight of the batteries, no one has yet come up with a viable plan to recycle it, according to Vanderbruggen.

The 29-year-old researcher is still fine-tuning her method but has already received an award from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology for her efforts.

As Europe shifts gears from fossil fuel vehicles to electrified cars, recycling graphite as well as other elements in batteries is gradually becoming a major focus.

All the more so as the continent seeks to wean itself off its reliance on countries like China for raw materials.

“Battery manufacturers were not interested” in recycled graphite up until now because “they could get it at a low cost in China”, Vanderbruggen told AFP.

Her method developed at the Helmholtz Research Institute in Freiberg, Germany, involves extracting graphite from “black mass”, a powder that also contains cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese.

“You put the black mass in water and add some chemicals and air bubbles, like in a jacuzzi,” Vanderbruggen, who is from France, said.

“The graphite attaches itself to the bubbles, whereas the metals are hydrophilic and therefore remain in the water.”

Vanderbruggen also works as a consultant for businesses exploring the opportunities that recycling electric car batteries could bring in the future.

Increasing raw material costs and shortages have led to a surge of interest in the field.

The price of lithium has increased by 13% over the past five years, according to Philippe Barboux, a professor of chemistry at PSL University in Paris.

Source: AFP

Methane — a potent greenhouse gas — traps a great deal of heat in Earth’s atmosphere, but also creates cooling clouds that offset 30 per cent of the heat, a “surprising” new study has found.

Greenhouse gases like methane create a kind of blanket in the atmosphere, trapping heat from Earth’s surface, called longwave energy, and preventing it from radiating out into space. This makes the planet hotter.

The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, found that in addition to absorbing longwave energy, methane also absorbs incoming energy from the Sun, known as shortwave energy.

“This should warm the planet. But counterintuitively, the shortwave absorption encourages changes in clouds that have a slight cooling effect,” said Robert Allen, an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in the US, who led the study.

Despite the findings, the researchers noted that methane remains a potent contributor to global warming, and efforts to reduce methane emissions are vital for keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial values.

Though methane generally increases the amount of precipitation, accounting for the absorption of shortwave energy suppresses that increase by 60 per cent, the researchers said.

Both types of energy — longwave (from Earth) and shortwave (from Sun) — escape from the atmosphere more than they are absorbed into it, they said.

The atmosphere needs compensation for the escaped energy, which it gets from heat created as water vapour condenses into rain, snow, sleet, or hail, according to the resaerchers.

“Essentially, precipitation acts as a heat source, making sure the atmosphere maintains a balance of energy,” said study co-author Ryan Kramer, a researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland, US.

The researchers found that methane changes this equation. By holding on to energy from the Sun, methane is introducing heat the atmosphere no longer needs to get from precipitation.

They explained that methane shortwave absorption decreases the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface. This in turn reduces the amount of water that evaporates.

Generally, precipitation and evaporation are equal, so a decrease in evaporation leads to a decrease in precipitation, according to the researchers.

“This has implications for understanding in more detail how methane and perhaps other greenhouses gases can impact the climate system, Allen said.

Shortwave absorption softens the overall warming and rain-increasing effects but does not eradicate them at all,” the researcher said.

The team discovered these findings by creating detailed computer models simulating both longwave and shortwave methane effects.

Going forward, the researchers would like to conduct additional experiments to learn how different concentrations of methane would impact the climate.

They noted that methane emissions are also likely to increase as frozen ground underlying the Arctic begins to thaw.

“It’s become a major concern. We need to better understand the effects all this methane will bring us by incorporating all known effects into our climate models,” said study co-author Xueying Zhao, from UCR.

Source: PTI

The group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements. “Fitch Ratings has affirmed India-based port operator Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited’s (APSEZ) Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BBB-‘. The Outlook is Stable,” it said. The Hindenburg report alleging significant governance issues for the Adani Group has triggered a sharp fall in Adani Group entities’ equity and bond prices.

“The affirmation reflects its view that the Hindenburg report alleging governance issues at the Adani group has a limited near-term impact on APSEZ’s cost of funding and access at the current rating level,” Fitch said. The rating agency said it expects APSEZ’s financial flexibility to remain supported by its robust portfolio of seaports, which comprises strategically located assets with best-in-class operational efficiency and an adequate liquidity position.

“APSEZ’s internal cash surplus is sufficient to cover its near-term operations and debt obligations as well as its budgeted capex,” Fitch noted. According to Fitch, about half of APSEZ’s cargo is sticky, which includes contractual take-or-pay cargo, cargo that is unlikely to be diverted to other ports due to infrastructure restrictions, such as the lack of facilities to handle crude oil and cargo from joint-venture partners. It noted that APSEZ has timing flexibility in its expansion projects.

Source: PTI

Aggressive tariff bids in reverse auctions1 since fiscal 2017-18 has been one of the key reasons impacting the sector’s growth. The process led to discovery of irrationally low tariffs that were favoured by the consumer (the state distribution companies, discoms), but compromised returns and left little incentive for developers to complete the projects. To boot, there were also delays in land acquisition and setting up of evacuation infrastructure.

Only 41% of projects awarded by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) during fiscals 2018-21 got commissioned till December 2022, while ~23% were cancelled and the balance delayed on account of issues in land acquisition, and evacuation and supply-side constraints. Thus, while India added solar capacity at an average of 8.3 GW per annum in the five fiscals through 2022, wind capacities grew a meagre 1.6 GW per annum average. All that could change now with the MNRE introducing four key policy measures in January:

First is setting a goal to award 8 GW of wind tenders per annum. This is significant because wind tendering has been low at just 3.3 GW per annum2 in the past five fiscals. This can propel capacity growth at a faster rate if executed well. Second, the ministry has replaced the reverse auction process with a single stage, two-envelope closed bidding3. This should curb irrational bidding. We expect tariffs to rise 20-30% over the recent Rs 2.89-2.94 per unit4 (to provide more than 10% internal rate of return), on account of change in bidding process, resource variability at newer sites, etc.

Third, to ensure that higher wind power tariffs are conducive for state discoms, MNRE has mandated that all discovered renewable tariffs for each state will be pooled and offered to discoms at an average pooled tariff by an intermediary such as SECI. That would lower the risk for wind power project developers because SECI fares significantly better than state discoms in terms of payment of dues. Fourth, to ensure discipline in terms of timely project completion, the ministry has notified that bank guarantees of developers will be revoked if they delay project completion by more than a year beyond the scheduled commissioning date. Also, developers delaying projects beyond 18 months could be barred for 5 years.

Says Ankit Hakhu, Director, CRISIL Ratings, “Basis our discussions with developers, considering 8 GW of bidding in fiscal 2024 and 20-24 months to commission, around 6-8 GW capacity can be installed every year starting fiscal 2026. This factors in policy push by the government. The annual installations could be on lower side than the tender volume if the historical issues such as project cancellations, delays because of land acquisition and setting up of power evacuation etc. persist, that may be beyond the control of developers.”

The step-up in wind power generation is crucial to India’s energy transition goals despite being costlier than solar. That’s because wind projects can provide electricity even during the night to meet peak power requirements, which balances out day-centric solar generation on the grid. Hence, it forms an important part of round-the-clock electricity supply set-up as desired by discoms — till more economical and scalable storage solutions are available. Our estimates remain sensitive to the ministry coming up with wind energy bids of 8 GW per annum with stringent conditions on delays and the bids being successfully subscribed by developers at viable tariffs.

Source: crisilratings

The current process of developing nanometric thin films of metal oxides mainly nickel oxide-semiconductors used in advanced architecture silicon solar cells is expensive as the equipment required for production has to be imported and the precursors used for the development of the films, such as nickel acetylacetonate, are also expensive, a statement issued here on Monday said.

The researchers have developed a low-cost process to produce ultrathin films of metal oxides from cheaper materials by using aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition technique to deposit nickel oxides thin film on silicon substrate, it said.

The whole process, including the equipment, has been developed in-house. The team used nickel nitrate to produce nickeloxide films with a thickness of approximately 15 nanometres with properties suited for fabrication of solar cells, . Associate Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, Dr Kunal Ghosh, who led the research team, said.

This research will enhance the fabrication process of advanced architecture silicon photovoltaic devices such as solar panels, reducing the cost and complexity of commercial techniques.

Ghosh said that “our research shows that it is possible to develop a cost-effective and scalable process for the production of metal oxide layers for solar cells”.

“This new method has the potential to revolutionise the solar industry by reducing the cost and complexity of current production techniques,” the professor said.

The results of this work are published in the journal Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, co-authored by Ghosh and his Ph.D scholars Syed Mohd Hussain and Md Sadullah from IIT Mandi.

Source: PTI