Mumbai:Intersolar is the world’s leading exhibition series for the solar industry and its partners. The exhibition and conference series focuses on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage systems and solar thermal technologies. Since being founded, Intersolar has become the most important industry platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners in the global solar industry. With 25 years of experience, Intersolar has the unique ability to bring together members of the solar industry from across the world’s most influential markets. Intersolar exhibitions and conferences are held in Munich, San Francisco, Mumbai, São Paulo and Dubai. These global events are complemented by the Intersolar Summits, which take place in emerging and growing markets worldwide.

INTERSOLAR INDIA, October 19–21,2016 India’s Largest Exhibition and Conference for the Solar Industry was held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC),Mumbai .From October 19–21, around 230 exhibitors – 15% more than last year – showcased their products and services to visitors at India’s largest exhibition and conference for the solar industry. The Intersolar India Conference and ees India  brought about innovations in the battery storage industry concurrent with Intersolar Intersolar India for the second year in a row.The exhibition was accompanied by the Intersolar India Conference, where the Indian solar market and private roof-mounted installations are the center of attention.

The intensive Solar PV course gave attendees the chance to take the White House Solar Certification exam. The course was led by Sean White, a leading professor of solar energy and author. The session “India’s Emerging Domestic PV Market – A Reality Check“  explored the government’s plans to install around 100 GW of solar energy by 2022. The conference paved attention towards performance measurement and financing models in its session on Project Development: What Makes a Project Successful?, developers and consultants shared their experiences about what has made past projects succeed or fail.In the presentation series Project Financing with Indian Characteristics, financial experts appraised the current challenges in the area of project funding and outline funding opportunities presently available. The internationally renowned exhibition for wind energy, HUSUM Wind, got parallel representation with a shared booth at Intersolar India.A day of the specialist conference was dedicated to different aspects of wind energy with international experts alongwith Dr. Robert Habeck, Minister of the Energy Transition, Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Areas for the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Dr. Florian Wessendorf, Managing Director, Solar Promotion GmbH, Germany

Bhupinder Singh, Chief Executive Officer & Member of the Management Board, MMI India Pvt. Ltd., India

The session titled Residential Rooftop Systems – System Design and Field Experience in India offered visitors the opportunity to find out more about private roof-mounted installations. Experts, market analysts, architects and decision makers all set to share their experiences with regulations, client expectations and technical problems.

Another conference highlight: Experts from operations and maintenance discussed on the question Operation & Maintenance – a Burgeoning Business in India? it  addressed uncertainties, risks, challenges and other factors which companies in this field face in the Indian solar market.

A central focus of Intersolar India was smart renewable energy I.e the combination of energy generation, storage, grid integration and energy management.The Presentation on Smart Renewable Energy emphasized on Microgrids – Serving Unconnected Remote Village Communities to Grid Connected City Consumers. Sushil Reddy, a graduate of the IIT Bombay Energy Science Department was the stalwart at the presentation. In summer 2016, he traveled 7,000 km through five Indian states on his solar-powered electric bike to raise awareness of the potential of solar energy.

For the second time, the Canopus Foundation is joining forces with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE to honor projects that supply communities in developing countries with electricity. Two important award ceremonies were held at Intersolar India 2016. The Solar Today Awards 2016 was presented by global business magazine Solar Today. The prize pays tribute to companies that perform pioneering work for the solar industry and is awarded in 16 categories.

Dilip Nigam, Director, National Solar Mission, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), India and Veena Sinha, Director at the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy opened the discussion on Business to Government Forum. The Narendra Modi government announced an incredibly ambitious plan for India’s fledgling solar sector.

From the current solar power generation capacity of 4 GW (gigawatt), it wants to produce as much as 100 GW by 2022—with a target of attracting a staggering $100 billion into the sector over the next seven years.

Taking in consideration Japan’s SoftBank, along with telecommunication major, Bharati Enterprises, and Taiwan’s electronic goods manufacturer, Foxconn, Shri Devendra phadnavis and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced plans to invest $20 billion for setting up 20 GW of solar power in the country.

Other firms, including Adani Power, Reliance Power and SunEdison,have also committed investments worth more than $5 billion for setting up solar power plants in India.

Meanwhile, with the evolving solar industry, products and services offering Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities will play a large role in driving down costs and increasing productivity, states Dan Bigelow, Senior Director of Infiswift, a company in enterprise IoT solutions for solar companies.

“The Sun delivers almost 4 million ‘exajoules’ of energy to the Earth and solar photovoltaics (PV) harness the Sun’s power to generate electricity through sunlight hitting pv cells that free and stir up electrons which then collect on conductive plates to create electricity. Wind and solar — PV energy systems have the highest copper content of all renewable energy technologies – besides being the fastest-growing renewable-based markets, while significant growth is also expected in thermal concentrating solar power. Kolkata-based Tamra company is highlighting use of copper in its “Photovoltaic Ribbon” products for increasing solar module efficiencies in the solar power sector,” according to Kusum Sharma, DGM, Business Development, TAMRA in Gurgaon.

Canada is offering expertise in photovoltaic and solar thermal applications through its various companies and one such is AMP Solar which is seeking to bid/acquire solar projects with Government PPAs, besides being a one-stop-shop for commercial and industrial customers through OPEX mode. Another company – Canadian Solar – with total project pipeline of 13.5 GW and two manufacturing facilities in Ontario, is running its solar modules efficiently in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

From Korea to India comes its ‘Photovoltaic Backsheets’ — comprising ‘Tri-laminated “sandwich” of polyester film between a special white PET and FPE layer called “SPE’ –that displays high performance of maximum permissible system voltage of over 1,500 VDC, high durability against outdoor conditions, according to Vincent Choi, Vice-President, sales & Engineering, SFC Co Ltd, Korea, who also highlighted  three other similar products called KPE, TPT and TPE at the EXPO.

Trees highlight greenery and a solar photovoltaic system called “SMARTREE” was showcased at the EXPO to emphasize its uniqueness for malls, plazas, townships, hospitals, hotels and industries in having a small ground footprint for installation, durability with 5KW capacity, Grid Interactive and Off-Grid solar PV, besides also being used as a hub for street lighting, CCTV mounting, signboards and shades. “It’s a solution for urban India and costs Rs five lakhs with a single access tracker that tracks the sun’s movement, said Siddharth Malik, Managing Director, Megawatt Solutions Pvt Ltd, Delhi.

Brijesh Nair, Deputy Project Director Intersolar India, MMI India Pvt. Ltd., India discussed why exactly is the private sector so keen on ploughing billions into building up India’s solar power sector?

For starters, India simply needs more power. Between April 2014 and March 2015, for instance, the country had to deal with a 3.6% deficit in peak hour energy supply (the period when demand for power is significantly higher than the average supply level).

Power requirement in India is estimated to grow at an average of 5.2% during the 10 years between 2014 and 2024, according to a report by Tata Power. Currently, India requires 1,068,923 million units of electricity annually but the supply falls short by 3.6%.

All of this demand isn’t likely to be met by traditional energy sources. India’s coal-fed power plants—which contribute to nearly 60% of the total production—have been grappling with periodic fuel shortages. Domestic production of coal hasn’t quite kept pace with demand, which alongside expensive imported coal, has made things difficult. “By 2018 several states will achieve parity between grid tariffs for commercial and industrial users and the LCOP (landed cost of power) from utility scale projects, providing an impetus for further growth,” Tata Power’s report said. A utility scale power plant sells power to electric utilities and not end-use consumers.

“Thereafter,” the report added, “we expect that additions under central and state policies will decline with capacity additions being driven by parity.”

Simultaneously, there’s been a steady decline in solar power prices—on the back of cheaper solar panel costs and lower financing costs—that has made the sector increasingly attractive to investors.

By 2019, according to some estimates, India could achieve grid parity between solar and conventional energy sources. That’ll mean that solar power will cost less than or equal to power from conventional sources.

Some 240 GW of this can potentially come from just two states—the western desert state of Rajasthan (142 GW) and Jammu and Kashmir (111 GW) in the north—while others like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashta could produce over 60 GW each.

The chart below lists the states with the most commissioned solar projects and the amount of power they can potentially produce.

Unlike a number of other infrastructure projects, there seems to be no dearth of land for solar power projects, with more than 467,021 sq km of wastelands in the country.

A report by consultancy firm Mercom Capital Group said that the government’s increased targets have “thrilled the sector, but the industry is pragmatic and realises that while 100 GW looks great on paper, the last five years have resulted in only 3,000 MW (3 GW) in solar installations, with last year’s installations at less than 1 GW.”

Between 2009—when India had about 0.006 GW of solar power installation—and 2015, the country’s total solar power capacity grew exponentially. But much of that’s been because of the government throwing its weight behind the sector.

Source : Sachin Murdeshwar