Blogs
How to make money in the Indian solar market
18 February 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
India has 3+ GW of solar installed. On the basis of that, in the last years, the country has built a broad ecosystem of manufacturers, installers, project developers and financiers. This sounds like a healthy launch pad for a big jump in capacity addition (perhaps even to an incredible 100 GW) – but it isn’t. Very few players in the market so far have made a good return. A common concern in...
Much fanfare and interest, but few specifics at RE INVEST
18 February 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
On Sunday (15th February 2015), India’s first government organised renewable energy investment summit got underway. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the event at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, in the presence of Indian and global industry stakeholders. Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, called it a ‘historic day’ that will pave the way for making India the...
Default over Design: How India will really grow its solar industry
18 February 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
Can India achieve 100 GW of solar in five years? Technically: yes – if politicians are willing to put enough support behind it. Realistically: not likely – there is still no strategy in place for achieving this number. Does that matter? No. As solar becomes ever more viable and India’s energy demand rises rapidly, the mountain will come to the prophet. However, it will be a market by...
166 GW of solar investment interest in India in the coming years
10 February 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
In the build-up to the government-sponsored renewable energy investment summit, RE-INVEST 2015 (refer), the organizers asked participating companies to provide non-binding investment indications for the Indian renewable market. The results show a general willingness to set up a whopping 166 GW of solar power generation capacity...
India is getting its solar fundamentals right but the policy is still a ‘work-in-progress’
03 February 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
On Saturday (31st January 2015), the Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, called for a meeting with solar developers and manufacturers to discuss various aspects related to structuring of accelerated depreciation (AD) mechanism to ensure a level playing field for developers. The minister announced that the government is considering...
USTDA to invest USD 2 billion in India for renewable energy projects
29 January 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
In a US-India joint statement released yesterday (26th January 2015), the US reiterated its intent to support India’s proposed targets on clean energy and climate change. The statement includes seven measures: expanding Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R), expanding Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment (PACE-D), accelerating clean energy...
Rooftop Revolution: Uncovering Patna’s solar potential
23 January 2015 | Tobias Engelmeier
In 2011, the per capita electricity consumption of Patna, the capital city of Bihar, was only 601 kWh[1] and even though it is a capital of one of India’s largest states, this is 23% lower than the national average of 780 kWh
Is India’s 100 GW solar road map feasible?
20 January 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Ever since the new government was sworn in, India has been making all the right noises about its ambitions for solar power. Both Prime Minister Modi, and the Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Mr. Goyal, seem determined to achieve an ambitious target of 100 GW by 2020. After the headline items have been absorbed and expectations have risen, it is now time for delivery. They have their work...
MNRE released the draft guidelines for 3,000 MW reflecting a shift away from solar park
14 January 2015 | Mudit Jain
The revised guidelines have been issued for implementation of tranche-I of batch II under phase II of NSM for 3,000 MW (see here). The development of the solar park in Andhra Pradesh is delayed due to land...
Time for the distributed solar segment to grow
14 January 2015 | Gayrajan Kohli
Since the beginning of India’s push for solar energy and the launch of the National Solar Mission in 2009, two segments of the solar market have been in focus for both corporations and national and state governments – utility scale and distributed segments. The former’s realizable potential has been estimated by BRIDGE TO INDIA at 53-69 GW by 2024 and the latter at 57-76 GW
How will ‘Make in India’ work for solar?
13 January 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
At the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015, Adani Enterprises and SunEdison have announced a partnership to explore building an integrated solar manufacturing facility worth USD 4 billion at Mudra, Gujarat (
India to revise the rooftop solar subsidy mechanism
06 January 2015 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
On the very first day of 2015, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has notified proposed changes to the rooftop solar subsidy (refer). The two major changes are: reduction of subsidies from 30% to 15% and a lower priority for...
