India to implement approved solar module maker list in April & others

World's biggest solar battery becomes operational in South Africa

• World's biggest solar battery becomes operational in South Africa The world's largest solar battery went into operation in South Africa last month, bringing some relief to a country facing daily electricity crisis and rationing by Eskom -- its sole electricity supplier.
• The company said the project was one of the world's first and largest hybrid solar and battery storage facilities.
• "A hybrid solar and battery storage plant integrates solar and battery technologies, overcoming intermittency challenges and bolstering grid stability," Scatec told local media.
• The project involved over 2,600 workers spending almost 18 months installing close to a million photovoltaic modules.
• The team used 9,000 kilometres of cabling, equivalent to the distance between South Africa and Norway.
• Besides this new facility, Statec has more than 448 MW of solar power operating elsewhere in South Africa after it entered the market shortly before the government announced The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme in 2011.

Green hydrogen to play key role in India's net zero journey: Gautam Adani

• Billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday said green hydrogen holds the key to India's journey to net-zero carbon emissions, and its current high cost can be reduced by replicating the solar power model.
• It can be used as a feedstock in industries like steel and oil refineries and as fuel in automobiles and produces water on being burnt.
• Green hydrogen relies on renewable energy.
• And so the production cost of renewable energy must fall faster than green hydrogen's to be viable.
• However, its current cost is high and needs to be brought down.

India to implement approved solar module maker list in April: RK Singh

• solar The Indian government will implement the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) for solar modules in April, Union Minister for Power and new and Renewable Energy RK Singh said, a move that is likely to benefit local producers.
• "We have no plan to extend the deferment of the ALMM norms any further.
• The mandate was extended to the government’s open-access projects as well.
• Currently, 79 Indian manufacturers are on the list.
• However, in March 2023, the government kept the ALMM in abeyance for a year, saying it would not apply to any solar project commissioned before March 31, 2024.