Blogs
Rooftop solar market in India witnessing rapid growth but 2022 target seems elusive
31 May 2016 | Jyoti Gulia
Over the past two years, the rooftop solar market in India has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 90%. As of March 31, 2016 the cumulative installed capacity stands at 740 MW (refer INDIA SOLAR HANDBOOK 2016). This growth is directly linked to the improvement in price competitiveness of rooftop solar power...
Two-year report card: 8/10 on solar policy environment in India for Modi Government
30 May 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
The Modi government recently completed two years in office. Substantial progress has been made in our view on improving overall sector investment outlook and policy environment in these two years under minister Piyush Goyal. There is a very supportive broad policy framework in place; Specific policies and/or plans have either been put in place or are being deliberated upon for each of the...
India may offer direct financial incentives to boost solar manufacturing
23 May 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
In our last weekly update, we discussed the state of domestic manufacturing and Indian government’s efforts to improve prospects of the sector after the domestic content requirement mechanism was challenged successfully by the USA at the World Trade Organization (WTO) (refer). Recent reports suggest...
Curtailment risk imminent for Indian solar projects in the years to come
18 May 2016 | Jasmeet Khurana
With a target of 100 GW, India is hoping to get 8% of its power requirements from solar PV by 2022. In comparison, Germany got around 7.5%[1] of its power consumption from solar PV in 2015 and China is still at around 3%[2]. In Germany, where most of the solar capacity has been deployed in the form of distributed solar...
Solar manufacturing in India; still waiting
16 May 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Earlier this month, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) published an update stating that India’s cell and module manufacturing capacity now stands at 1,212 MW and 5,620 MW respectively (refer). These numbers appear respectable...
Another day, another auction, Indian developers on a winning spree
10 May 2016 | Shaurya Bajaj
Auction results for the NTPC (350 MW) tender in Telangana were announced last week. The capacity was fragmented into 35 projects of 10 MW each and a bidder could apply for a maximum of 10 projects. The tender was not attached to a solar park and hence, land acquisition and transmission would be in the developer’s scope. NTPC has now allocated 2,520 MW out of the total 3,000 MW target under...
UDAY update – well begun is half done
09 May 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Distribution companies (DISCOMs) are the weakest link in India’s power sector with accumulated financial losses of INR 3.8 trillion (USD 57 billion) and debt of INR 4.3 trillion (USD 65 billion) as of 2015 (refer). Government restructuring plan for the DISCOMs, Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana...
SECI hopes that subsidies will help expand the market by 8x in a year
02 May 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has released a tender to allocate 30% capital subsidy for 500 MW of residential and institutional rooftop solar projects across India (refer). This is by far the largest rooftop solar subsidy tender in the country till date....
CEO survey shows huge optimism in the sector but also a reminder of key challenges
25 April 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
BRIDGE TO INDIA has just released results from its first ever survey of the most influential private sector decision makers in the industry as part of the Indian Solar Handbook 2016 report (download your free copy here). Most of the 27 participating CEOs said that they expect their businesses to grow by an average...
RPO mechanism takes another beating
18 April 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
As part of the memorandum of understanding signed under the UDAY scheme, the Ministry of Power has allowed a roll forward of the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) for Uttar Pradesh by seven years (refer). Meanwhile, state power distribution companies in Odisha have got a stay on enforcement of...
Indian solar market running on fumes?
11 April 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
India received 263 GW of private sector renewable investment commitments at Re-Invest last year. New developers continue to enter the market on an on-going basis resulting in over-subscription for most bids and dramatic falls in tariffs. On the face of it, with so much interest in the market, shortage of equity investors should not be an issue. But many developers seem to be bidding for projects...
Haryana announces a highly ambitious solar policy
11 April 2016 | Jyoti Gulia
In March 2016, the Government of Haryana revised its state solar power policy which was launched two years back. The new solar policy is a six-year policy spanning 2016 to 2022. Under the new policy the target is to add 3200 MW of solar power by 2022. This target is in line with central government target to add 100 GW of solar power by 2022 for which the state renewable purchase obligation (RPO)...
