The webinar was held by EQ Magazine on 14th June 2022. It was moderated by Mr. Goutam Samanta, Head PV Technology (Moderator). The following webinar was about the optimization of PV technology for lowering the LCOE, in which Mr. Gautam Samanta expertly discussed the advanced and latest LCOE technology, innovations, and every challenge with all the great opportunities from the panellist’s outlook.
Mr. Amresh Mahajan, VP (Technology/QA/HSE – Sustainability) – O2 Power Pvt Ltd Expressed his views on improvement of LCOE with technical advancement, in his opinion, LCOE has changed over the last one and half years with a rapid speed, exceeding the conversation he announced that his company has recently commissioned a project in Jaisalmer, from where they have used 338 megawatts of Bi-facial modules and which is the single biggest project in India. With his experience, he explained that to enhance the LCOE significantly, the manufacturer should start using a Bi-facial module rather than mono perc. So as long as the higher efficiency is justified with the lower cost of modules, the tariff in India will be justified by then. Some technology-heavy companies in India will start using Topcon technology, followed by tracker systems, and if the finance or economics help in getting a lower price module, then the LCOE will be enhanced concerning technology and as well as trackers.
Mr. Rabindran Sundersingh, CTO – Renewables – ACME Group demonstrated the effect of new technology, which is helping in giving the first-mover advantage, and shared his insights about the minimizing of the LCOE. So according to Mr. Rabindran any company which is taking the first steps ahead of others, after evaluating all the risks which are associated with any design change, is getting a very clear benefit in LCOE, if used correctly. In further discussion, Mr. Rabindran revealed the future outline, where people would probably go for Bi-facial modules and tracker also would come out in a very large and innovative way to control the cost.
Mr. Deepak Saxena, Business Unit Head, International Renewable Energy – Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited Shared his perspective about The advanced LCOE technology and stated that, when we talk about LCOE the perspective of thinking should change slightly, and it cannot be CAPEX only, we should think in the terms of 25-30 years. As far as the technology front is concerned, most of the work is done by the scientists and physicists to increase the efficiency of the module and as an application engineer; we are reaping the benefits of what the scientists are doing. But to increase the LCOE on the execution side is something more vital and there is a huge requirement of lots of effort and planning to get the best out of it. Exceeding the conversation Mr. Deepak explained the engineering side, where they have to be more careful about the installation of the plant and whether they are hitting maximum advantage of that or not.
Mr. Sudhir Pathak, Head- Central Design & Engg (CDE) +QA – Hero future energies shared a brief about the components of LCOE, and stated that, Solar Industry is completely a commodity Market and even the modules are also a kind of commodity. In Mr. Sudhir’s point of view, LCOE has broadly 3 components, two on the numerator and one on the denominator, and both are interlinked. As far as the community and CAPEX part is concerned, people have gone into the higher size of a block, and according to Mr. Sudhir now the time has come to focus upon revenue too and for that, there’s an immense requirement of Asset Management.
Mr. Sanjay Narula, Business Head – Indian Solar Business – Hindustan Cleanenergy Limited Expressed his thoughts on Performance Ratio, and spoke about the installation of the plants in the best place, such as the Rajasthan, and Gujarat, but the most important point is how much of the incident life one can convert into Energy, what exactly the conversation Ratio is. Exceeding the discussion Mr. Sanjay revealed that he has been monitoring personally some of the smaller size rooftop plants in the last 3 years and has seen these plants consistently delivering 84-85% PR and suggested replicating them to bigger sizes also. So it is basically transferring that same thing on a bigger scale to exploit the assets adequately.
Mr. Lucky Aggarwal, Managing Director – SolarTech Saarthi Shared a brief about the Solar Tech Saarthi, a company which is a 2-year-old start-up company, working on providing the BOS components to APC companies. In the consecutive conversation Mr. Lucky advised more emphasis on the O&M site for increasing the generation because when the time comes to calculate that LCOE, they consider those 25 or 30 years in the Excel sheets and financial tools. But if the O&M side is not taken care of appropriately for those 20 years, then that calculation also does not hold appositely. According to Mr. Lucky, equal importance should be given to the inverters and tier-one components of modules.
Meher Sidhwa, Vice President-Marketing Strategy – Infinite Solutions Expelled some insightful views on Asset Management and also discussed the importance of Asset management. From a Carbon Market prospective, LCOE is improving very appropriately and as the LCOE is improving bids will get even more aggressive again, and in most cases, a lot of developers try to reduce the difference or the gap by opting for Carbon Revenue. In the further conversation, Miss Meher discussed the blooming factor of the carbon market, as the carbon market is currently trading at about four to five dollars in the international market.
