The consultancy contract, which will extend until one year after the commissioning of the projects, aims to facilitate the smooth execution and operation of these renewable energy ventures.
Interested bidders are required to submit their proposals by April 24, 2024, with bid opening scheduled for April 26. As part of the bidding process, applicants must provide an earnest money deposit (EMD) of INR 50,000 along with a tender document fee of INR 5,000. Additionally, the selected bidder will be obligated to furnish a performance bank guarantee equivalent to 10 percent of the contract value.
The responsibilities of the chosen consultancy encompass a wide range of tasks, including regulatory support, project assessments, and project execution assistance for both solar and wind initiatives. This involves navigating regulatory processes, securing approvals, and facilitating the establishment of generating companies under group captive regulations.
Moreover, the consultant will play a crucial role in guiding project planning, conducting land assessments for solar projects, optimizing project commissioning, and ensuring efficient power evacuation strategies. In terms of project execution and bid management, the consultancy will handle requests for proposals, manage bidder queries, oversee contract documentation, and supervise project execution. Furthermore, the consultant will provide digital energy monitoring and scheduling solutions to enhance operational efficiency and ensure successful project commissioning and operation.
Bidders vying for the consultancy contract must demonstrate prior experience in at least one consultancy assignment with any government entity, involving the setup and substantial completion of a minimum 20 MW solar or 15 MW wind project under the open access mechanism.
Additionally, bidders must showcase an average annual turnover of no less than INR 5 crore over the previous three financial years, along with a positive net worth in the financial year. These requirements are aimed at ensuring that the selected consultancy possesses the requisite experience and financial stability to effectively support the development of the solar and wind projects as per MPJN’s objectives.
The Lucknow Solar Power Development Corporation (LSPDCL) has floated a tender seeking consultancy firm to establish a project management unit to assist in the implementation, execution, and monitoring of both operational and future solar power projects/solar parks. The last date for submitting bids is April 18, 2024. Bids will be opened the next day. LSPDCL was established in 2015 as a collaborative venture between the Solar Energy Corporation of India and the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency. Its primary aim is to strategize, develop, operate, and uphold solar parks in Uttar Pradesh.
Grid Corporation of Odisha has invited bids to procure 500 MW (2,500 MWh) of energy storage capacity with 5 hours of daily peak power support for a period of five years starting April 1, 2026. The energy storage network, which can be technology-agnostic, must be connected to the central or state transmission network. The last date to submit bids is April 23, 2024. The minimum bid size is 250 MWh (50 MW x 5 hours), while the maximum is capped at 1,250 MWh (250 MW x 5 hours). The bidders’ net worth should be greater than or equal to ₹10 million (~$1,219,512)/MW of the quoted capacity on average for the last three financial years.
India’s power system must safely and successfully accelerate the adoption of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) such as solar, storage, and electric vehicles for it to meet its climate and energy goals, the U.S.-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has said. Increased DER integration will curb the country’s emissions and lower customers’ costs, improve system reliability, and present economic opportunities for India’s private sector. At the same time, more DERs mean the state utilities that manage India’s grid must grapple with the potential impacts, such as voltage violations and demand shifts, that DERs may have on the country’s medium- and low-voltage distribution networks.
JSW Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of JSW Neo Energy Limited and a step-down subsidiary of JSW Energy, has expanded its renewable energy portfolio with the ₹1.32 billion (~$ $15.8 million) acquisition of the 45 MW Vashpet wind project from Reliance Power. The company said this transaction has been executed as a going concern on a slump sale basis. The project is located in the Jath region of Sangli District, Maharashtra. JSW Energy’s acquisition of the wind project aligns with its renewable energy expansion plans. With a target of achieving 20 GW capacity before FY 2030 and carbon neutrality by FY 2050, this transaction will help the company advance its renewables-led growth strategy.
Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has invited bids to develop a 100 MW floating solar project and a 1.5 MW hydroelectric project at Morbe Dam in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. The last day to submit the bids is April 2, 2024. Bids will be opened on the next day. Bidders must furnish an earnest money deposit of ₹25 million (~$300,128). The selected bidder must submit ₹325 million (~$3.9 million) as performance security. The declared capacity utilization factor for the floating solar project should not be less than 19% annually and not more than 30% for the hydroelectric project. The floating solar project will be implemented in 60 MW and 40 MW phases.
Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency has awarded contracts to supply, install, and commission 24,484 solar water pumping systems under Component B of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan program. Companies that received contracts for more than 1,000 pumps each were Oswal Pumps (6,471), Shakti Pumps (4,573), AVI Appliances (3,360), Himalayan Solar (1,748), and Rotomag Motors and Controls (1,086). Alpex Solar also received contacts to commission 1,434 solar water pumps. The other winners who secured capacities of less than 1,000 solar pumps comprise 19 companies cumulatively accounting for 5,812 solar pumps.
Wind turbines have little effect on US property values, researchers report.
The values of houses in the United States within sight of a wind turbine drop only slightly and temporarily due to the disrupted view, their new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows.
The effect is smaller the further away the recently installed turbines are and fades over time.
The researcher’s findings shed light on the dynamics between renewable energy infrastructure and local property values, providing valuable insights for sustainable and community-friendly energy development.
“The impact of wind turbines on house prices is much smaller than generally feared: In the US, it’s about 1% for a house that has at least one wind turbine in a 10 km (about 6.2 miles) radius,” explains Maximilian Auffhammer, a professor in the agricultural and resource economics department (ARE) at the University of California, Berkeley and coauthor of the study. “And what really surprised me is that the house value bounces back to the original price over the years.”
The study authors also found that there was no longer any effect for wind turbines built after 2017, which they suggest could be because people have gotten used to these new structures in their environment over time.
Wind power is one of the fastest-growing renewable energy sources worldwide. Yet, the implementation of wind energy infrastructure often faces significant challenges from local communities, partly from the perceived discomfort of having to see wind turbines and the assumed implications for property prices.
To find out whether the construction of a new wind turbine in the vicinity of houses influences the value of homes, scientists from the German Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the Italian Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), and the University of California, Berkeley analyzed the majority of home sales in the US in the last 23 years. The researchers statistically analyzed data from more than 300 million home sales and 60,000 wind turbines from 1997 to 2020 to discern the impact of wind turbine visibility on home values.
“Unlike previous studies, we did not only consider proximity but also the actual visibility of wind turbines,” says Wei Guo, a CMCC researcher and first author of the study. “We calculated whether you can see the turbine—or whether there is a mountain in the way, for example—and if so, how the house value changes compared to other houses in the same area that cannot see the wind turbine.”
The results clearly show that the negative economic effect of wind turbine visibility decreases as distance increases: the value of a house can drop by up to 8% when a wind turbine is built less than 2 kilometers (about 1.24 miles) away. Yet, the researchers note that only a tiny fraction of properties are actually built within this distance: In the US, less than 250,000 buildings are constructed within 4 km (2.48 miles), compared to about 8.5 million properties within 10 km (about 6.2 miles).
Even then, the study shows that the effect diminishes over time along two dimensions. First, the immediate decrease in property value peaks three years after installation and then bounces back to its original value. Second, more recently installed wind turbines have a smaller negative effect on property values. Both findings suggest that people get more and more accustomed to wind turbines.
“Our research responds to some arguments of local opposition against wind turbines, the classic ‘Not In My Backyard’ problem that is a hot topic not only in the US but also in Europe and Germany,” explains Leonie Wenz, PIK scientist and coauthor.
“In the big picture, it’s about finding a balance between the global climatic benefits of renewable energy and the local impacts on communities nearby. Our estimates of how wind turbine visibility affects house values could be a basis for compensating local homeowners. However, our study also underlines that these impacts have been small in the last two decades, and that we can expect them to become even less of an issue in the future.”
This press release was prepared by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Source: UC Berkeley
American homeowners may have been unfairly tarred with the NIMBY brush, with new research showing that wind turbines have a far smaller effect on house prices across the country than previously feared.
Using data from 300 million home sales and their proximity to 60,000 wind turbines, researchers found an impact of just 1% in value for houses that have a view of turbines within 6 miles.
The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that only houses within 1.2 miles of a turbine saw their value significantly affected, at up to 8%. Beyond 1.2 miles, the impact rapidly tailed off.
The researchers note that fewer than 250,000 buildings in the U.S. sit within 2.5 miles of a wind turbine, with 8.5 million homes and structures within 6 miles of one.
“Our research responds to some arguments of local opposition against wind turbines, the classic ‘not in my backyard’ problem that is a hot topic not only in the U.S. but also in Europe and Germany,” says Leonie Wenz, a co-author of the study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), who suggests the findings could also be used as a basis for compensating affected homeowners.
“Our study also underlines that these impacts have been small in the last two decades, and that we can expect them to become even less of an issue in the future,” she adds.
The U.S. is investing heavily in renewable energy generation, with the Department of Energy describing wind power as “one of the fastest growing and lowest-cost sources of electricity in America.” But even as the Inflation Reduction Act helps incentivize the development of clean energy generation across the country, negative perceptions about wind turbines have in some areas led to strong local opposition to wind projects, causing them to be abandoned.
Notably, the study is the first of its kind to take into account not just of the proximity of homes to turbines, but whether the turbines were within sight of those homes. That’s significant, as Wei Guo of the Italian Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), and a co-author of the study, explains.
“Unlike previous studies, we did not only consider proximity, but also the actual visibility of wind turbines,” Guo says. “We calculated whether you can see the turbine, or whether there is a mountain in the way, for example, and if so, how the house value changes compared to other houses in the same area where residents cannot see the wind turbine.”
That consideration reveals an important detail: any negative economic effect of a wind turbine was found to decrease rapidly as distance from the turbine increased. Furthermore, the researchers say, the effect diminished over time, with any reduction in value peaking at three years following the installation of the turbine, and subsequently falling away.
“What really surprised me is that the house value bounces back to the original price over the years,” says Maximilian Auffhammer, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a study co-author, who also notes that for turbines installed after 2017, any negative effect was “indistinguishable from zero.” In sum, Auffhammer says, the findings show that “the impact of wind turbines on house prices is much smaller than generally feared.”
American homeowners may have been unfairly tarred with the NIMBY brush, with new research showing that wind turbines have a far smaller effect on house prices across the country than previously feared.
Using data from 300 million home sales and their proximity to 60,000 wind turbines, researchers found an impact of just 1% in value for houses that have a view of turbines within 6 miles.
The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that only houses within 1.2 miles of a turbine saw their value significantly affected, at up to 8%. Beyond 1.2 miles, the impact rapidly tailed off.
The researchers note that fewer than 250,000 buildings in the U.S. sit within 2.5 miles of a wind turbine, with 8.5 million homes and structures within 6 miles of one.
“Our research responds to some arguments of local opposition against wind turbines, the classic ‘not in my backyard’ problem that is a hot topic not only in the U.S. but also in Europe and Germany,” says Leonie Wenz, a co-author of the study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), who suggests the findings could also be used as a basis for compensating affected homeowners.
“Our study also underlines that these impacts have been small in the last two decades, and that we can expect them to become even less of an issue in the future,” she adds.
The U.S. is investing heavily in renewable energy generation, with the Department of Energy describing wind power as “one of the fastest growing and lowest-cost sources of electricity in America.” But even as the Inflation Reduction Act helps incentivize the development of clean energy generation across the country, negative perceptions about wind turbines have in some areas led to strong local opposition to wind projects, causing them to be abandoned.
Notably, the study is the first of its kind to take into account not just of the proximity of homes to turbines, but whether the turbines were within sight of those homes. That’s significant, as Wei Guo of the Italian Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), and a co-author of the study, explains.
“Unlike previous studies, we did not only consider proximity, but also the actual visibility of wind turbines,” Guo says. “We calculated whether you can see the turbine, or whether there is a mountain in the way, for example, and if so, how the house value changes compared to other houses in the same area where residents cannot see the wind turbine.”
That consideration reveals an important detail: any negative economic effect of a wind turbine was found to decrease rapidly as distance from the turbine increased. Furthermore, the researchers say, the effect diminished over time, with any reduction in value peaking at three years following the installation of the turbine, and subsequently falling away.
“What really surprised me is that the house value bounces back to the original price over the years,” says Maximilian Auffhammer, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a study co-author, who also notes that for turbines installed after 2017, any negative effect was “indistinguishable from zero.” In sum, Auffhammer says, the findings show that “the impact of wind turbines on house prices is much smaller than generally feared.”
Egypt has inked seven memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with global companies for the advancement of renewable energy and green hydrogen ventures in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), as per an official statement.
The MOUs are anticipated to result in investments amounting to $12 billion for the pilot phases and $29 billion for the initial phases, with total investments exceeding $40 billion over the next decade.
The agreements were endorsed in the presence of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and involved entities like the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone, New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), as well as Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC).
The partnering international companies include Pash Global (UK), Smartenergy (Switzerland), Gama Construction and Meridiam consortium (France), SK Eco Plant and CSCEC North Africa consortium (South Korea and China), Gila Al Tawakol Electric (Egypt), AmmPower (Canada), and United Energy Group (Hong Kong). Detailed information on project types, capacities, and specific investments remains undisclosed.
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Mahatma Phule Renewable Energy and Infrastructure Technology (MAHAPREIT) has invited bids for the selection of a project management consultant for 3.31 MW grid-connected distributed solar power projects with a net metering system for 20 rural, regional water supply programs of Zilla Parishad Chandrapur.
The last date for submitting bids is February 20, 2024. Bids will be opened on the same day.
The work has to be completed within six months.
Bidders must submit ₹10,000 (~$120.39) + ₹1,800 (~$21.67) as the cost of the document and furnish an earnest money deposit of ₹10,000 (~$120.39).
Additionally, bidders are liable to pay ₹50,000 (~$601.98) as a retention security deposit.
The chosen bidder is prohibited from utilizing individuals who were previously under contract and had worked for MAHAPREIT.
Additionally, the chosen bidder is not allowed to subcontract or outsource any aspect of the specified work to an agency designated by MAHAPREIT, nor can it sublet the assigned tasks. Failure to disclose such affiliations may result in the termination of the agency.
Bidders must have experience in implementing solar projects or providing project monitoring consultancy for solar projects with a cumulative capacity of at least 1,500 kW. This should include a single project with a minimum capacity of 600 kW.
They should have a track record in executing solar projects or offering project management consultancy for solar projects related to water supply schemes in rural areas of Maharashtra.
Bidders must demonstrate experience in collaborating with government departments for distributed solar projects in the context of rural water supply.
They should have an average annual turnover of at least ₹20 million (~$240,791) in any three years from financial year (FY)18-19 to FY22-23 and a positive net worth. They must submit a turnover and net worth certificate signed by a statutory or certified chartered accountant.
The bidders’ technical team must include at least one member with a professional degree (BE/BTECH) in fields such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, energy systems, and solar engineering.
Earlier, MAHAPREIT had invited bids to empanel consultants to develop 10 MW of distributed solar power projects under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana.
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The biggest clean-energy investor in private markets is widening its lead, tapping into rising demand for wind and solar power and a push by big companies to reduce emissions.
The biggest clean-energy investor in private markets is widening its lead, tapping into rising demand for wind and solar power and a push by big companies to reduce emissions.
Infrastructure investing giant Brookfield Asset Management said it hopes to raise more than $25 billion for two new private funds investing in clean energy. The firm said Monday it has taken in $10 billion for its latest energy transition fund and will continue fundraising for it. Brookfield expects to raise billions more in an emerging-markets-focused fund.
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Infrastructure investing giant Brookfield Asset Management said it hopes to raise more than $25 billion for two new private funds investing in clean energy. The firm said Monday it has taken in $10 billion for its latest energy transition fund and will continue fundraising for it. Brookfield expects to raise billions more in an emerging-markets-focused fund.
The latest cash infusion gives Brookfield firepower for climate projects that only the largest investment firms and energy producers such as BlackRock and NextEra Energy can match. It also shows investor confidence in the sector, despite the permitting, construction and cost challenges facing many clean-energy developers.
Across all its funds, Brookfield says it has deployed over $100 billion in renewable-power and energy-transition investments. That figure has surged in the past few years.
Demand for renewable energy continues to climb, with cities and companies looking for cleaner ways to power everything from data centers to manufacturing plants. The growth is being supercharged by tighter climate regulations, along with generous government incentives in the U.S. and other major economies.
“The demand, particularly from corporates for green power, is simply overwhelming,” Connor Teskey, the head of Brookfield’s renewable power and transition business, said in an interview.
Total global investment in the energy transition hit about $1.8 trillion last year, a 17% increase from 2022, according to BloombergNEF. That was still far short of the $4.8 trillion the data provider estimates is needed annually from 2024 to 2030 to meet the world’s climate targets.
Brookfield hopes to fill some of the gap. Its new fund will invest in a range of projects, starting with a wind farm operator in the U.K. and a partnership with a solar developer in India.
The firm’s first energy transition fund a few years ago raised $15 billion. That fund’s investments include U.S. renewable developers, carbon-capture startups and a deal to buy nuclear-power services provider Westinghouse Electric. The new fund is on track to be larger.
Brookfield also uses its energy-transition funds to buy fossil-fuel projects and says that responsible ownership of them is needed to reduce their emissions over time. It recently led a consortium that tried to buy Origin Energy, one of Australia’s largest power companies, for $11 billion and take it private. Shareholders rejected the deal, nearly two years after investors in Australia’s AGL Energy rejected a bid from Brookfield and Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Teskey said Brookfield will consider similar deals despite the setbacks. The firm will also consider putting money from the new fund into industrial companies that need to cut emissions, such as manufacturers, steelmakers and cement producers. Environmentalists say such investments can be an excuse for big firms to keep putting money into polluting sectors.
Brookfield’s energy transition funds are co-led by Teskey and Mark Carney, the former head of central banks in the U.K. and Canada and the point person on climate finance for the United Nations. At the U.N. summit last year, the United Arab Emirates said it was putting $2 billion into Brookfield’s new energy-transition fund and up to $1 billion into the emerging-markets fund.
Teskey also heads Brookfield’s publicly traded renewables unit. That unit puts money into the transition funds, as well as the firm’s infrastructure investment funds.
“What we bring is scale,” he said.
Write to Amrith Ramkumar at amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com
THDC India has invited bids from consultants for the preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) and bathymetric survey of a 100 MW floating solar power project at the Kadra Dam reservoir in Karnataka.
The last date for submission of bids is September 15, 2024. Bids will be opened the next day.
The study’s scope encompasses an in-depth project report, incorporating an evaluation of suitability, engineering surveys, cost estimates, and assessments of technical, economic, and financial viability for solar power projects.
The aim is to formulate a feasible plan for project execution under the engineering, procurement, and construction mode.
The scope of work includes an examination of site conditions such as location, weather patterns, water levels, variations, high flood levels, water and land profiles, shadow-free areas, and site accessibility.
Bidders must furnish an earnest money deposit of ₹106,000 (~$1,277.5). Selected bidders must submit 10% of the contract value as a performance bank guarantee within 20 days after the letter of award is issued.
Bidders must qualify as Class-I local suppliers, defined as suppliers or service providers whose goods, services, or works proposed for procurement have a local content of 50% or higher.
Only bids from Class-I local suppliers will be considered.
The consultant is tasked with the complete responsibility of gathering data and information from the THDC Kadra Dam site and government agencies if deemed necessary.
Any information, data, or reports obtained from government agencies during the execution of the services must undergo thorough review and analysis by the consultant.
Payment stages for the consultancy services are as follows: Initially, 10% of the DPR consultancy charges and 10% of the quoted bathymetric survey cost will be disbursed upon providing evidence of mobilization, with certification by the engineer-in-charge.
Subsequently, upon the completion of the bathymetric survey and the submission of the corresponding report to THDC India, 50% of the quoted cost will be released. The next phase involves the simultaneous release of 40% of the DPR consultancy charges and 40% of the survey cost upon the conclusion of all essential studies, investigations and the submission of the draft DPR, certified by the engineer-in-charge.
Finally, 50% of the DPR consultancy charges will be disbursed upon submission and acceptance of the final DPR, with certification by the engineer-in-charge.
Recently, THDC India invited bids from consultants to prepare a DPR to develop the 1 GW Phase-I ultra mega solar power park within a 2 GW solar park in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
In December, THDC India requested proposals from consultants and expert agencies to create a feasibility report to set up floating solar power projects on reservoirs in the Godavari Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
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