Tom Kenning

Indian megastar Sachin Tendulkar, famed worldwide as one of the greatest ever cricket players, has partnered with Schneider Electric to provide solar home lighting systems to more than 25,000 Indian villagers, in just the first phase of a major programme.

Global solar developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) has selected a joint venture between Acciona Industrial and Gransolar (GRS), led by GRS, to construct the 100MW Lilyvale Solar Farm in Australia.

State-run utility Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) has issued a request for qualification (RfQ) for two solar PV projects each with a capacity of 125MW.

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a tender for EPC services on two 100MW solar PV projects for state-owned mining corporate Coal India Limited (CIL) in Madhya Pradesh.

The Indian solar industry expressed shock recently when it emerged that multiple Chinese PV manufacturers had been reneging on supply contracts to India, but it seems this strategy may have been a comeuppance for historic behaviour on the part of some Indian developers.

The projects in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh will use crystalline silicon cells and the modules will be 310Wp output with the floating structure and anchoring designed by Arka.

Yesterday’s record-breaking bid opening in Saudi Arabia for 300MW of solar has grabbed headlines, including on PV Tech, but while the exact parameters of the RfP remain covert, the bid levels have sparked debate about whether such low prices can be possible without some kind of escalating tariff mechanism or other distortion.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved the allocation of up to US$110 million to the EBRD’s Kazakhstan Renewables Framework, at a meeting in Cairo.

India’s largest utility NTPC has issued a tender for the development of a 15MW ground-mount solar PV project at its own Kayamkulam thermal power plant in the state of Kerala using local content rules.

The project is at around 4,000 metres altitude.