Featured
Our PV Testing Laboratory Can Test 100 Modules in Eight Hours: UL
Chakradhar Byreddy,Director – Renewables, UL - Asia Pacific With expanding preference of solar panels as a source of renewable energy, the need to test the photovoltaic modules before installation is critical for project developers and purchasers. PV test laboratories in India are making this process easier, helping investors to identify authentic PV modules. Dr. Chakradhar Byreddy, Director – Renewables, Underwriters Laboratory (UL) – Asia Pacific, a global safety certification company explains to Baishakhi Dutta of the Electronicsforu.com Network how UL’s mobile PV testing laboratory can support this cause and can make PV testing even simpler. Q. What was the idea behind launching the Mobile PV Testing Laboratory? The primary reason for launching the Mobile PV Testing Laboratory was the demand on the project developers’ side for a solution to address performance issues of modules onsite on an ongoing basis. Developers can now not only reduce downtime and optimize production but can also quickly replace faulty or underperforming modules by availing product claim warranties. Further, the laboratory helps them meet the contractual obligations for supplying power to distribution companies (discoms) and meet financial obligations with their lenders. Q. How do you manage the feasibility of the laboratory while delivering quality testing services at reasonable…
UL’s role in India’s growing renewable industry
Chakradhar Byreddy,Director – Renewables, UL - Asia Pacific “How do you see the progress in India's renewable energy industry over the last 10 years?” To understand the renewable industry in India, it needs to be broken down into three segments – wind energy, solar energy and grid infrastructure. In solar energy, India has come a long way to become one of the biggest growth markets and has held strong amidst challenges to grow year-on-year. The wind energy segment has seen tremendous growth too given that it has its origins longer than solar energy in the country. However, this segment has taken a slight hit because it competes directly with solar energy. Yet, one of the biggest advantages of wind is the larger rotors coming into play that help in reducing the amount of land used to execute the project when compared to solar. While favorable policies and conducive market conditions have helped the renewables sector through the last decade, the last couple of years have seen a modest slowdown in targets and tariffs due to the non-viable financial models and delayed execution of projects. Further, to achieve India’s growth targets of 175 GW, the green corridor transmission needs to keep…
Towards the Sun – Why India’s solar industry needs to focus on Technical Due Diligence
Chakradhar Byreddy,Director – Renewables, UL - Asia Pacific India is eyeing pole position in clean energy transformation, with renewable energy emerging as a major source of power in the country along with the Government’s push to achieve 175 GW installed capacity of renewable energy by financial year 2022. As of August 2018, India is world's third largest producer and fourth largest consumer of electricity in the world, with the country’s power sector regarded as one of the most diversified. Underlining India’s commitment to becoming the global renewable energy leader, last year the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced the nation’s plan of reaching 500 GW of capacity by 2030. Reports estimated that as of last year, solar energy contributed to 21 GW of the renewable energy mix, with a need to add about 12-15 GW every year to realize India’s solar dream. The country is also building multiple large solar power parks similar to China, but much larger in scale. While it is a welcome move by the Indian Government to position its renewable energy market as a global leader, what is needed is a complete ecosystem to achieve this. Solar Industry looking at Consolidation The last financial…
The Next Stage Of Evolution Will Be To Strengthen The Regulatory Framework Through A Conformity Assessment programme
Byline Article Srinivasa Desikan,Sales Director– South Asia at UL India’s domestic manufacturing and design environment for electronics and the IoT is improving consistently. As new players and investments come in to enrich the ecosystem, adherence to standards, quality and safety regulations has to be ensured through thorough testing. Srinivasa Desikan, sales director – South Asia at Underwriters Laboratory (UL) talks to Rahul Chopra of the EFY Group about how third-party testing facilities are gearing up for this situation, and what the industry can do to prepare for the challenges down the line. EB: How would you explain UL’s line of business to a non-technical senior business decision maker (from the electronics or IoT domains), and the gamut of services it offers? With our global expertise and presence, we help brands achieve their key business goals like demonstrating safety, certifying compliance, enhancing sustainability, strengthening security, delivering quality and performance, managing transparency, protecting brand reputation and building workplace excellence, to gain a competitive edge and earn the trust of the market and consumers. EB: How is UL different from its peers and competitors, and what are its unique strengths? We partner businesses, manufacturers, trade associations, international policy makers and regulatory…
A tale of two fires and what it means for India
Recent fire accidents have taught us about the need for augmenting fire safety compliance in the country In the recent past, two major fires in cities on either ends of India – the Crystal Tower fire in Mumbai, the Bagree Market fire in Kolkata – have defined an urgent need for a different approach to fighting fires and saving lives. First, let us examine the fire at Crystal Towers, a 16-storey residential building in Mumbai’s upscale Parel area. The incident claimed four lives and injured 20 others. Fortunately, the Crystal Tower building had open balconies, which made it possible for the fire brigade to use their hydraulic elevated platforms for evacuation. Swift rescue operations with the cooperation of the public limited the number of casualties. However, this incident has raised a pertinent issue - rescue personnel must re-examine the decision to use lifts to douse a fire in a high-rise building, even in seemingly desperate situations. The structure of the lift acts as a natural chimney for the smoke to fill. In emergencies like the Crystal Tower fire incident, firefighters should completely avoid using lifts. A stark reminder of the danger of riding up elevators, is the incident in Thane…
Blue LEDs Will Have a Significant Positive Impact On Lighting Costs & the Environment
Byline Article Gautam Brahmbhatt, Head, Quality Engineering at UL The role played by phosphorous material in the effectiveness of blue LEDs, improvements in the efficiency of this material will ensure better performance of LEDs cites Gautam Brahmbhatt, Head, Quality Engineering at UL in conversation with Jyoti Gazmer, Sub-Editor, BISInfotech to further analyze the impact of Blue Lights in the LED Industry today. 1) Can you take us through the major advantages of Blue Lights over the white LED lights? LEDs emit far less power in comparison to incandescent and fluorescent lamps: Light Source System Level efficacy (lm/W) Typical Life (hours) Incandescent lamp 8 – 18 1000 Tubular fluorescent lamp 50-70 5000 Compact fluorescent lamp (CFLs) 50-75 8000 LEDs based lamp 80-120 25000 * * The life of weakest component in the system define the life of whole system. In the case of LEDs, the control gear is considered the weakest link. There are two ways of producing white light using LEDs. One is to use individual LEDs that emit three primary colours-red, green, and blue, and then mix the colours to produce white light. The other method is to use a phosphorous material as a coating to convert…
India should focus on green procurement strategy: Sudhir Zutshi
Sudhir Zutshi,, UL director policy, South Asia GPP brings about the most efficient use of resources ensuring organizations that adopt such a policy procure only the necessary products At a time when government pushes for digital innovation to procure farm produce through its e-Marketplace initiative for better transparency and faster execution, Global safety certification company UL, which also delivers business solutions and conducts independent research and shares scientific knowledge, talks about ‘Green Public Procurement’ policy, a mix of both technology and transparency, that can revolutionise the future of procurement in India. Sudhir Zutshi, UL director policy, South Asia tells Ajay Kumar Shukla how the Green Public Procurement (GPP) policy implementation can positively affect all aspects of the triple bottom line – people, planet and profit. How do you see the government’s e-Marketplace initiative? How can the digital programme help in streamlining the procurement process going forward? The Government of India took giant strides when it launched the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) in 2016 to transition its procurement to digital thereby making it cashless, paperless and contactless. Today, the government of India, its various departments, most state governments, their departments, public sector undertakings can save time, resources and money, bring in transparency, discover and standardize specifications for…