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Blogs


Wind joins pricing race with solar

09 October 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) completed a 1,000 MW wind project auction last week. Tariffs fell to a new low of INR 2.64 (US¢ 4)/ kWh. Winning bidders include ReNew (INR 2.64, 250 MW), Orange Power (INR 2.64, 200 MW), INOX Wind (INR 2.65, 250 MW), Sembcorp Green Infra (INR 2.65, 250 MW) and Adani (INR 2.65, 50 MW). This auction comes 7 months after the

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Renewable developers line up for public offerings

03 October 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

Acme Solar and Sembcorp have announced plans to access capital markets for raising equity capital. Acme has filed preliminary papers for an INR 22 bn (USD 336 mn) initial public offering (IPO) with Securities...

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US trade case resonates in India

25 September 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has unanimously agreed that solar imports have caused “serious injury” to local manufacturers. Suniva and SolarWorld are calling for duties of US¢ 40/ Wp on imported cells and a floor price of US¢ 78/ Wp on modules. But USITC may consider all possible remedies including new tariffs, minimum prices or import quotas. Solar industry in the...

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Spike in spot power prices likely to be temporary

18 September 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

Average clearing price for power on the energy exchange has been inching up from INR 2.61/kWh seen on 2rd September 2017 and spiked up to a high of INR 9.91/kWh last week. Current prices are in the range of INR 5.00 – 6.20/ kWh range. These high prices are in stark contrast to the past two years, when power was selling at near a ten-year low of INR 2.20-3.80/kWh. Exchange prices are...

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Bridge To India

Forecasting and scheduling regulations take hold in India

11 September 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

Andhra Pradesh recently became the latest state to notify forecasting, scheduling and deviation settlement regulations for solar and wind power generation. It joins Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, who have already announced these regulations. Six...

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What is expected of India’s new power minister?

04 September 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

In a major cabinet reshuffle yesterday, India’s erstwhile Minister of Power and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, demitted office to become the new Minister of Railways. R.K. Singh, an erstwhile bureaucrat and now a Member of Parliament, has been appointed as the new minister. During the 40 months of his...

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Is there a case for solar InvITs?

30 August 2017 | Vinay Rustagi

InvITs are infrastructure investment trusts set up pursuant to SEBI Regulations 2014 for investment in infrastructure projects. Money raised from InvITs is used to repay external debt and buy back equity investments in underlying project companies. Recently, IRB and Sterlite power successfully launched the first two InvITs for road and power transmission projects by raising INR 50.3 Bn (USD 775...

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Indian developers caught between a rock and a hard place

28 August 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

Indian solar developers typically factor in a 15-20% annualised fall in the cost of solar modules when bidding for new projects. The assumed price decline may have been even higher in some of the recent auctions. Price increases in the last 2-3 months, therefore, have come as a shock to the sector. Against an expectation of USD 0.28/Wp, prices for the current quarter are being quoted at about...

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Bridge To India

New guidelines for solar power procurement to bring confidence to the sector

24 August 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

The Ministry of Power has issued new “Guidelines for tariff based competitive bidding process” for solar power plants. The guidelines shall be applicable to all projects equal to or greater than 5 MW for supplying power directly/ indirectly to DISCOMs subject to approval from the respective central or state regulator. For the first time in the sector, the government also proposes to issue...

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The Economic Survey’s bizarre logic – social cost of renewables is 3 times that for coal

21 August 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

India’s Ministry of Finance has released a mid-year macro-economic assessment of the country in the form of second volume of the Economic Survey 2016-17. The Survey reflects work of various government departments and provides valuable guidance to future policy making. The chapter on climate change and energy reiterates recent Central Electricity Authority (CEA) projections – capacity...

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India to add 9.4 GW of solar capacity in 2017

14 August 2017 | BRIDGE TO INDIA

We have released our latest report – India Solar Compass – a quarterly update on the Indian solar market. The report contains key information and analysis including tender and project...

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Draft National Energy Policy lacking in both vision and substance

10 August 2017 | Surbhi Singhvi

NITI Aayog, India’s central planning agency, recently released the draft National Energy Policy (NEP). The document sets out national objectives and planning framework for the energy sector for the next 23 years (up to 2040). It comes at an opportune time when India is going through a critical energy transition period. Its main thrust is to let market-based mechanisms guide growth in various...

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