Blogs
SECI receives bids for 602 MW capacity for a 500 MW rooftop solar tender
04 July 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has received bids totalling 602 MW for a 500 MW tender where SECI proposes to provide 30% capital subsidy to the lowest cost bidders. The tender is restricted to rooftop solar projects for residential and institutional segments (
New push needed for net-metering implementation
27 June 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
As the Indian solar sector continues to gather more momentum by the day, one area that often feels relatively neglected is rooftop solar. India’s rooftop solar capacity is currently estimated at 740 MW, only about 10% of total solar PV capacity in the country. Delays in approvals, undefined responsibilities and accountability, unavailability of meters, restrictions on system sizes are some...
Delhi can become a model for rooftop solar implementation across India
22 June 2016 | Jyoti Gulia
The Delhi government approved its first solar policy on June 6, 2016. The policy understandably focuses on rooftop solar development because of shortage of available land space in the city. It has many innovative provisions and provides for exemptions and simplification of procedures for rooftop system installation. The policy introduces ‘Group Net Metering’ for the first time in India,...
Successful sale of solar assets driving confidence in the sector
20 June 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
As the Indian solar sector grows, there has been growing pressure on Indian project developers to churn their capital. The merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the sector is gathering pace and it is believed that as many as 3,000 MW of projects are on sale right now. Last week, a report quoted that IDFC Alternatives, an Indian private equity fund, is in advanced discussions to buy 275 MW...
Indian corporates assert themselves as bidding intensity comes down
13 June 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Results were announced last week for 1,050 MW of projects tendered by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in Karnataka (950 MW) and Chhattisgarh (100 MW) under the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme. These projects will be set up outside solar parks and will have no module sourcing restrictions. Adani (350 MW), Hero Future Energies (200 MW), Energon (100 MW), Acme Solar (160 MW) and Solar...
India issues a credible draft of mini and micro grid policy
06 June 2016 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a draft national policy for mini and micro grids (refer). The policy aims to create up to 500 MW capacity in the private sector in the next five years. India has a terrible record on providing reliable grid...
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...
