Blogs
Global Energy Trends and Implications for India (Part 3 of 5): Carbon intensity of electricity is stagnating, but efficiency and renewables can change that
23 April 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
The global energy system is in a period of rapid transformation: electricity plays an ever more important role, as do renewables, distributed generation and electric vehicles. Energy efficiency is improving. Emissions are a large and growing concern. New technologies and business models are disrupting and challenging a traditionally risk-averse and slow-moving industry. The International Energy...
Will land be the main hurdle for India’s solar dreams?
22 April 2015 | Mudit Jain
The Indian government has upgraded the target of solar capacity from 20 GW to 100 GW by 2022. Of this, 60 GW are to be from ground-based projects. A key bottleneck for achieving this target is suitable land. Many developers believe that the single biggest factor for delay in project execution is the time-consuming process of land identification and acquisition. Even the government’s own plans...
Net-metering is essential for India, but here is why it’s failing – [Part 1 of 2]
21 April 2015 | Gayrajan Kohli
Net-metering can potentially drive widespread implementation of distributed generation by incentivising end-users to adopt localized power generation through technologies such as solar. In theory, net-metering is the proverbial silver bullet designed to help India achieve greater energy security through generation at point of consumption (distributed generation). In addition to helping consumers...
India’s First Rate Performance at the Hannover Fair
17 April 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
This week, Germany was steeped in Indian colors. At the Hannover Fair, India made excellent use of the opportunity of being the official partner country and present itself favorably to a global business community. India’s presentation at the fair was cool and exciting Modi finds the right language and understands investor concerns The international business community is ready to...
Global Energy Trends and Implications for India [Part 2 of 5] : Uncertain Power and Carbon Markets Change Investment Choices
16 April 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
The global energy system is in a period of rapid transformation: electricity plays an ever more important role, as do renewables, distributed generation and electric vehicles. Energy efficiency is improving. Emissions are a large and growing concern. New technologies and business models are disrupting and challenging a traditionally risk-averse and slow-moving industry. The International Energy...
Of bonds, green and not so green
14 April 2015 | Vinay Rustagi
A green bond is a green bond is a green bond – is that true? Unfortunately, “green bond” is not a standard, well defined term. Green bonds come in all shades of green, from the lightest tea green to the darkest ocean green, if you like. A good way to evaluate the “greenness”...
MNRE seeking a rooftop solar target of 10 GW by 2018
13 April 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
BRIDGE TO INDIA understands that based on the rooftop solar target of 40 GW of by 2022, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is in advanced stages of working on a central government supported sub-target of 10 GW for rooftop and other small grid-connected solar projects by 2018. This is expected to further be divided into yearly targets of 2 GW, 4 GW and 4...
Global Energy Trends and Implications for India [Part 1 of 5]: Need to Consume Less Oil
09 April 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
The global energy system is in a period of rapid transformation: electricity plays an ever more important role, as do renewables, distributed generation and electric vehicles. Energy efficiency is improving. Emissions are a large and growing concern. New technologies and business models are disrupting and challenging a traditionally risk-averse and slow-moving industry. The International Energy...
Telangana announces 2 GW of solar
07 April 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
On 1st April 2015, the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited issued a request for selection (RfS) and a power purchase agreement (PPA) for allocating 2 GW of solar PV (refer). This follows the state’s successful allocation of 500 MW late last year and places...
India exploring solar bids in dollar terms to bring down tariffs
31 March 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Based on a recent report (refer), the government seems to be considering to cut solar tariffs in India by offering power purchase agreements through bids in dollar terms. The idea is that the...
500 GW for solar globally in 5 years, 30 GW in India
26 March 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
According to the researchers at IHS, global solar might hit 500 GW in total installed capacity by 2019. This year, 2015, global solar demand is projected to increase to 75 GW alone, a 66% growth rate against 2014. In 2014, the largest markets were China and Japan. The researchers think that they will also remain the largest markets in the next 5 years. India, in their view, will be only the 6th...
Could India’s coal plans derail the global climate?
24 March 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
If India were to grow its electricity system based on coal (as China has done), would it derail the global climate? According to our calculations, under a “coal-heavy” scenario, India would need to increase is coal-fired power generation capacity from the 156 GW in early 2015 to 677 GW in 2035. What would be the CO2 implications of such a strategy? Globally, we have used up 58% of the...
