Off-Grid

In an unprecedented move, the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has pushed through a rural electrification regulation. Andre Susanto, senior vice president and founder, PT Inovasi Dinamika Pratama, discusses how this regulation provides an opportunity for the private sector to engage in electrifying Indonesia's 12,000 villages currently without any access to electricity.

Major global food company Nestle Group has agreed to have a rooftop solar system installed at one of its facilities in China by Goldman Sachs-backed rooftop PV specialist Asia Clean Capital (ACC).

Two companies are constructing a 1MW solar PV plant in Thailand using various combinations of technologies in order to set up a learning centre and advisory board to help solar developers across the Southeast Asia region.

NLC tendering for 500MW(ac) in Tamil Nadu, Off-grid solar power for 1,000 villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu 500MW utility-scale tender avoided.

Indonesia’s multiple isolated grids represent opportunities for intrepid solar developers, according to Andre Susanto, Clean Energy Consultant at Bluejay Energy.

Choosing good quality solar equipment will be essential to keep the solar industry sustainable in Southeast Asia, according to Wandee Khunchornyakong Juljarern, chairwoman and chief executive, SPCG, the largest solar installer in Thailand.

Household solar systems have taken hold in Laos, but PV deployment on a grand-scale is being held back by a focus on hydropower, according to delegates at the Solar & Off-Grid Renewables Southeast Asia Event, in Bangkok.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced US$4 million in new investments for off-grid solar in Africa during the COP22 conference in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The soon-to-be-merged Tesla and SolarCity have completed a solar-plus-storage microgrid on an island in American Samoa that will reduce the local population’s reliance on costly and cumbersome diesel imports.

India’s installed capacity of solar PV has surpassed the major milestone of 10GW, according to consultancy firm Bridge to India.