Sunsure commissions 20MW solar project in Karnataka

23 April: New-Delhi headquartered EPC firm Sunsure Energy has commissioned a 20MW solar project in the Harpanhalli Taluka of Davangeri District, in the Indian state of Karnataka.

The project, split between 15MW and 5MW systems, is spread across 30 hectares.

Power produced will be delivered to BESCOM and HESCOM - two of the largest distribution companies (Discoms) in the state.

Sunsure will be deploying its operations & maintenance systems at both the sites in FY19.

"Working in Karnataka has been a great learning experience and we aim to continue building solar plants in the State. The lessons learned in this journey will be enablers in our next phase of growth in the State and Nationwide," added Shantanu Faugaat, director of operations at Sunsure Energy.

Power for all scheme comes to Meghalaya

21 April: The Saubhagya scheme to bring electricity to every household in India has been launched in the state of Meghalaya by Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh.

A total of 139,000 households of Meghalaya will be connected with electricity under the scheme.

Singh said the target for electrifying every household, which was initially 1 April 2019, has now been fixed on December 2018. The Union Government will connect all the remaining un-electrified villages, including those in Meghalaya, by 30 April.

Acciona launches the second round of accelerator for infrastructure and renewable energy startups

17 April: Acciona has invited applications for the second round of its corporate accelerator for startups, the I'MNOVATION Startups programme, seeking to identify and promote entrepreneurs who are developing innovative technologies and methods that are applicable to the infrastructure, renewables and service sectors.

Selected startups, which will be announced in the last week of May, will work together with Accionna experts for three months to develop pilot projects that demonstrate the viability of their ideas at full scale. When this period is over, Acciona experts will evaluate the possibility of extending the relationship with the startups.

The challenges proposed for this year are related to:

• Designing the electricity networks of the future, using technologies such as blockchain to ensure energy traceability, manage demand, and improve safety in the supply chain and efficiency in the guarantee of origin.
• New technologies for energy storage, developing new solutions that use power electronics instead of large lithium batteries.
• New materials applicable to photovoltaic technology that make it possible to optimise resources, reduce costs and increase added value through more sustainable modules.
• Advanced management of operation and maintenance in wind and infrastructure facilities, taking into account such aspects as predictive maintenance and workflow management.
• Connected Projects that gather real-time information to make just-in-time decisions on the basis of each infrastructure project's execution process.
• Smart mobility, i.e. analysis tools to manage supply and demand in advanced urban mobility services.
• Semantic analysis and Big Data techniques applied to project documentation to extract value and generate knowledge in ACCIONA.
• Solutions that provide traceability for legal and technical documentation throughout the life cycle of a facility or infrastructure.
• Advanced robotics applications for Acciona businesses.