Solar jackets to make next summer cooler

Enjoy the chill in air for the time being instead of fretting over the sultry summer that will follow the brief winter season in city. By the time summer sets in, you may have a new jacket in your wardrobe to save yourself from the heat. Solar expert SP Gon Chaudhuri and scientists of the SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences are working on the final stages to introduce solar jackets some time next month.

Gon Chaudhuri, the former advisor to the state power department, said the prototypes had already been prepared and will be launched officially in the first week of January. "We will do an extensive research on how to give these jackets a smart look. One city-based company has already approached us to have a look at the prototype," Gon Chaudhuri said.

The price of the jackets also will also be very reasonable. They will be priced anything between Rs 1,400 and Rs 1,800.

"It has to be seen how we can maximize the possibility to providing comfort to the users. The SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences will conduct a study on this," Gon Chaudhuri said. He has already spoken with Kolkata Police top brass so that traffic police officers, who need to stay in the heat for long hours, can wear these solar jackets during hot summer days.

Before collaborating with SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences to work on the prototypes of solar jackets, Gon Chaudhuri, who has done various researches on solar power technologies, had been doing a research on the concept of solar jackets at the Arka-Ignou Community College of Renewable Energy.

Explaining the technology of the jackets, Gon Chaudhuri said they will be nothing but 'portable electricity". One wears a jacket in the winter to feel warm. The solar jacket will do just the opposite by making one feel cool during hot summer days. The jacket will have two layers that will have thread-like wires. They will be integrated with solar cells. Once solar cells get activated, mini computer-operated fans will start functioning. This will bring down the temperature inside the jacket. The user will feel at least 5 to 6 degrees cooler than outside temperature.

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Global solar power plant development company, Rays Power Experts has signed agreement for setting up 5 new projects totalling 15 MW of solar power capacity before March 2014 with an estimated investment of $27 million.

The projects are mainly in the in the Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR).

Targeting to complete 150 MW of solar power capacity by the end of this financial year, Rays Power Experts has set its eye to become a leading player of the solar power industry.

In a statement issued here, Rahul Gupta, Director, Rays Power Experts said the company was in the middle of acquiring many more such projects across different verticals of the industry. “Rays Experts is targeting for 250 MW of installed solar power plants producing electricity for more than 5 million households per year,’’ he added.

The company has successfully accomplished all its committed projects of 29 MW for 11 projects in 2.5 months by end of September 2013. Over Rs. 750 crores have already been invested to get to this great number of 100 MW achieved so far.

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Godawari Solar Thermal Plant Generating Above Stated Capacity

Godawari Power (GODPI) & Ispat Ltd.’s solar-thermal plant, Asia’s biggest, is generating more power than expected, allaying criticism that the technology was failing in India, a government official said.

Godawari’s 50-megawatt project is at times generating 10 megawatts more than its stated capacity, said Tarun Kapoor, head of solar policy at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

“People were saying that solar thermal was not going to work out in India,” Kapoor said at the Intersolar conference in Mumbai today. “That has now been proven wrong.”

Godawari’s plant is the first of seven solar-thermal generators planned in India. The remaining six have had their deadlines extended to February from May, Kapoor said. Plants by Reliance Power Ltd. (RPWR) and Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd. should be finished soon, he said.

Solar-thermal technology focuses sunlight on liquids to produce steam to run conventional turbines. The other way to generate power from sunlight is to use photovoltaic panels to convert the rays directly to electricity.

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DVC seeks WB funding for 1,000 mw solar plan

Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), owned jointly by the centre, West Bengal government and Jharkhand government, has lined up plans to reach up to 1,000 mw of solar generating capacity by 2022, which would entail a cumulative capital investment of nearly Rs 8,500 crore over this period and it is seeking a 30-year long-term World Bank funding to reach its goal, top DVC officials told Financial Chronicle.

DVC is anyway required to scale up its solar capacity to a minimum of 235 mw by financial year 2017, in line with its solar RPO (renewable purchase obligations) obligations for the existing distribution business of the company. The solar PV potential of the company in the command area is 410 m

w across irrigation canals. DVC also has additional utilisation potential in terms of dams with a combined length of 16,538 meters, reservoirs with combined top of gate area of 362.92 sq km and possession of barren lands, TG hall roof-top etc.

Significantly, taking a cue to the success of 1 mw canal top solar power project set up by Gujarat state electricity board (GSEB) over 1 km long stretch of Narmada branch canal, DVC has already initiated 15 mw canal top solar power project on DVC canal, for which DPR has been done and EOI has been floated and NIT has also been floated. It is expected that the ordering for the project will be done by this month and the plant is expected to be installed by the end of 2014.

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ACME partners French co to set up solar projects

ACME Cleantech Solutions, an energy generation, management and conservation company, on Thursday, announced it joined hands with French renewable energy giant EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) to set up 200 MW solar power projects in India.

“EDF EN, the renewable energy arm of French state-run electricity utility Électricité de France S.A., and natural resources saving group EREN, will acquire 25 per cent each in ACME Solar to set up large scale solar projects in India,’’ an official statement by ACME Cleantech Solutions said here. ACME Solar will thus be a joint venture between ACME Cleantech, EDF EN and EREN. At present, ACME Cleantech has a 17.5 MW of solar generation capacity.

The company is developing a 25-MW project in Madhya Pradesh and another 25 MW in Odisha.

The joint venture plans to set up an initial portfolio of 200 MW of solar power projects in various phases.

“We believe EDF EN & EREN partnership will help us scale solar energy generation, and play an important role in the renewal sector,’’ Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, Chairman, ACME Cleantech said in the statement.

EDF EN CEO Antoine Cahuzac said the new partnership would establish themselves in the solar power market in a country with high level of demand for renewable energy.

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Escoms want your surplus solar power

The five electricity supply companies (Escoms) in Karnataka are working out modalities to tap the surplus solar power available with industries and domestic consumers. They are planning to approach the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) to fix the tariff for such power generators.

Many individuals and industrialists have installed solar panels in their homes and factories.

During an interaction on Saturday with bulk consumers in the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) jurisdiction, Principal Secretary of Energy Department Amita Prasad said that smart meters and hybrid power are the way forward. “Excess energy from rooftops can come to the grid,” she said while responding to a suggestion from an industrialist in this regard.

She said that alternative energy sources, especially solar power, will be considered in the light of the ban on development works in the Western Ghats, which has the potential for several mini-hydel power projects.

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