Blogs
Fourth time lucky for the manufacturing-linked tender?
04 December 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
After several cancellations, extensions and modifications, SECI’s solar project development-cum-manufacturing tender finally received a somewhat encouraging response. In its final avatar, the tender was issued for 7,000 MW inter-state transmission system (ISTS) connected project development...
States moving away from net metering prematurely
03 December 2019 | Surbhi Singhvi
Indian states are turning their back on rooftop solar. Maharashtra recently signalled its intent to join Uttar Pradesh,
Fall in costs to bring respite to developers
26 November 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
After staying relatively stable in the past year, module prices are on the decline again. Prices of multi-crystalline modules, still the de facto choice for most Indian developers, have fallen from USD 0.23/...
Time for grid tariffs to go up
19 November 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Wind faces slow going
12 November 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
In a major relief to the sector, MNRE has granted project completion deadline extension to wind projects allocated under SECI auction tranches 1-5. More time has been granted to these projects mainly because of delays in land allocation and completion of transmission infrastructure. A total capacity of 7,200 MW was allocated by SECI in these auctions between Feb-2017 and Sep-2018, but only 1,825...
Lack of competitive advantage hurting developers
05 November 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Last week, SECI conducted auction for a 1,200 MW utility scale solar tender. The tender received bids for full 1,200...
Changes afoot to improve investor risk profile
01 November 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
MNRE has announced various changes to the competitive bidding guidelines for utility scale solar projects. There are broadly two...
Developers rushing to issue green bonds
22 October 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Indian developers have been rushing out to issue green bonds as liquidity in the Indian financial markets continues to stay stretched. An aggregate amount of USD 2.9 billion has been raised by Greenko (USD 1.3 billion), Adani (USD 862 million), ReNew (375) and Azure (350) in the last seven months. The spurt in issuance comes after a lull 2018 when no bonds were issued. Prior to that, a total of...
Sector reform essential to build growth momentum
15 October 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
A mini-controversy broke out last week with Indian credit rating and advisory company CRISIL issuing a report claiming that India would under-achieve the 175 GW renewable capacity target for March 2022 by 42%. MNRE immediately issued a
Improving prospects of residential rooftop solar market
11 October 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Last week, Amplus Solar announced a foray into the residential rooftop solar market. The company, so far focused only on C&I consumers, plans to offer standard rooftop solar solutions backed by a long-term warranty and...
Project execution slowdown to continue
01 October 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Utility scale renewable capacity addition has been in a slow mode for the past eighteen months. We estimate Q3 2019 capacity addition at only 2,549 MW (solar 2,114, wind 435), about two-thirds of scheduled capacity addition. Since touching a record high of 5,111 MW in Q1 2018, quarterly capacity addition has averaged at less than 2,000 MW, substantially behind the implementation schedule and...
Rooftop solar O&M needs urgent policy intervention
26 September 2019 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Indian rooftop solar market grew at an estimated CAGR of 83% over past three years. While the market grows rapidly, operation and maintenance (O&M) provision is often ignored. Specialist rooftop solar O&M business segment has not taken off yet in India and remains a disorganized, underdeveloped market. Key reasons include low consumer awareness, tendency to
