Blogs
Management of cooling load favourable to renewables
20 March 2020 | Mridul Chadha
Power demand for cooling applications accounts for about 17% (210 TWh in 2017-18) of India’s total electricity requirement. As per a projection by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEF&CC), this demand could increase to 985 TWh by 2037-38 in the business-as-usual scenario. But the Ministry’s
Waiving bank guarantees not desirable
20 March 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
MNRE is understood to be in advanced stages of waiving requirements for bank guarantees by project bidders. As per a news report, MNRE is proposing that instead of bank guarantees, the developers may provide letters of...
Safeguard duty redux
16 March 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies, under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has opened a
Coronavirus disruption highlights risk of external dependence
28 February 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
The Ministry of Finance has clarified that projects affected by the Coronavirus breakout would be given relief by way of extensions in project completion timelines under Force Majeure provisions. The announcement is not a surprise as the resultant business disruption, clearly outside the control of the...
India takes one more step in integration of RE
25 February 2020 | Mridul Chadha
Eight of the proposed 11 Renewable Energy Management Centres (REMCs) have commenced operations. REMCs were proposed to be set up by the Ministry of Power back in 2017 to aggregate renewable energy forecasts and dispatch schedules. They are expected to help optimise scheduling of conventional power plants and maintain grid balance. In late-2018, 11 REMC contracts were awarded by Power Grid...
Weak power demand an under appreciated risk
24 February 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
India added 2,770 MW of renewable capacity in Q4 2019. For the year 2019, total capacity addition is estimated at 11,403 MW comprising 7,140 MW utility scale solar, 1,896 MW rooftop solar and 2,367 MW wind. The total figure is up marginally over 10,683 MW capacity addition in 2018 but substantially lower than 14,031 MW in 2017. Capacity addition numbers are stuck at levels far below...
King coal here to stay
12 February 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Thermal power IPPs have put in bids of INR 3.26/ kWh in a 2,500...
No dearth of equity
06 February 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Temasek, and Swedish PE fund, EQT, have announced entry in the Indian renewable power sector with a corpus of USD 500 million. They have set up a new renewable IPP platform, O2 Power, as a 50:50 joint-venture. The venture...
Government passing the buck to project developers
31 January 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Last week, we wrote about the proposed MNRE scheme to procure round-the-clock renewable power with blending with thermal power. As we noted, the need for firm, predictable power is all too clear. But it is odd that the government is asking the project developers to provide a solution for this. Not only is the scheme...
Complex tender designs on the way
24 January 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
MNRE has issued a draft scheme for procuring renewable power, blended with thermal power, on a round-the-clock basis with 80% overall availability. The scheme is technology agnostic. Minimum 51% of power outcome is required to come from renewable sources – with or without storage solutions. Thermal power may be supplied from existing power plants. Bidders are expected to quote a composite...
Regulators add to the pain
14 January 2020 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Maharashtra state regulator, MERC, has recently rejected most of the winning bids in two renewable energy tenders as it viewed the winning tariffs as too high or unreasonable. The two tenders include a 350 MW solar-wind hybrid tender by Adani Electricity, Mumbai DISCOM, and a 1,400 MW agricultural solar tender floated by Maharashtra State Electricity Development Corporation (MSEDCL, the...
