RENEWCONNECT - All about renewables & power sector

Solar Street Lighting Systems (SSLs) have moved from pilot deployments in rural India to mainstream public infrastructure. India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has codified technical standards—favoring high‑efficacy white LEDs , LiFePO₄ batteries, dusk‑to‑dawn automation—and layered financing via Central Financial Assistance (CFA) and targeted schemes like PM JANMAN for PVTG habitations. State nodal agencies (e.g., ANERT in Kerala, HAREDA in Haryana, PEDA in Punjab) translate MNRE guidance into actionable tenders and rate contracts. Globally, the EU/IEC framework and US UL/ANSI standards converge on high safety and performance baselines, while market momentum—smart controls, lithium batteries, integral PV—drives costs down and reliability up. [mnre.gov.in] , [anert.gov.in] , [anert.gov.in] , [hareda.gov.in] India’s next leap will hinge on decentralized and hybrid models, lifecycle‑driven procurement, and robust field data. This article synthesizes current polic...

Imagine an electricity system where every impending asset failure is known in advance with perfect precision —time, location, cause, and cascading effects—across transmission, distribution, generation, and behind‑the‑meter devices. In such a world, outages from equipment defects disappear, capital plans re‑optimize around true residual life , spares and crews arrive “just in time,” and regulators recalibrate reliability incentives from SAIDI/SAIFI to assurance of supply under probabilistic risk that excludes random equipment faults. The International Energy Agency (IEA) already frames digitalization as essential to grid reliability and cost control; with perfect prediction, the gains would multiply—reducing outage minutes, deferring capex, and accelerating the clean‑energy transition by unlocking grid headroom without overbuilding . [iea.org] , [iea.org] Evidence from real utilities shows that even non‑perfect predictive analytics deliver 10–20% OPEX savings and 40–60% capex optim...

If the  Consumer-level energy trading—neighbors buying and selling rooftop‑solar kilowatt‑hours directly—has moved from concept to pilot reality in several markets (Brooklyn, NY; Australia; Singapore; and India). Blockchain adds a secure, auditable, near‑real‑time settlement layer that can scale local markets, automate smart‑contracted trades, and provide granular carbon provenance— if the metering, market design, and regulation align. [power-technology.com] , [microgridk...wledge.com] , [ieeexplore.ieee.org] In India, the building blocks are coming together: RDSS smart metering is ramping, state regulators (e.g., UPERC and DERC ) have issued peer‑to‑peer (P2P) guidelines that explicitly allow blockchain platforms, and pilots (e.g., Uttar Pradesh , Delhi) have demonstrated feasibility and consumer value. The near‑term prize is localized balancing and cheaper, greener power with traceability; the long‑term prize is a flexible distribution system where prosumers, communities...