Blogs
Weekly Update: MNRE receives funds for sanction of capital subsidy for a rooftop capacity of 25 MW
19 August 2014 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
After a long delay, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has finally received a budgetary allocation to go ahead with sanction of 30% capital subsidy for a 25 MW rooftop solar capacity under the Central Financial Assistance (CFA) scheme (
Weekly Update: India mulls doing away with reverse bidding
12 August 2014 | Akhilesh Magal
Mr. Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced at a conference last week that India might look at following Germany’s lead by going ahead with fixed Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) as...
Solar capacity additions – A vapid year for JNNSM while the non-policy market perks up
07 August 2014 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
Going from a nascent market with a mere 22 MW of total installed PV capacity in 2011 to over 2.5 GW in 2014, the Indian solar market has held up to its promise for being one of the most exhilarating markets. This has been achieved largely due to the flagship JNNSM scheme of the Indian government as well as state policy driven projects. India added 171 MW of PV capacity in the last quarter,...
Interactive design course on On-Grid PV Systems by GSES
06 August 2014 | Gayrajan Kohli
The participants of the training were a mix of a retired homeowner, an entrepreneur, an investment banker and a former political consultant and many others from this field of work, all these people got together for one purpose – a desire to gain strong technical capabilities to design grid-connected solar systems and update themselves on the latest MNRE schemes. The training was fairly...
Weekly Update: Uttar Pradesh releases RfP for 300 MW
05 August 2014 | Akhilesh Magal
The state of Uttar Pradesh released a Request for Proposal (RfP) for 300 MW of solar PV last week (click here to access). This is a part of Uttar Pradesh’s solar policy announced last year that targets 500 MW by 2017. In March 2013, the state had...
Weekly Update: The Indian government wants to fix the RPO mechanism
30 July 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana
Last week, the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) under the new minister held a meeting with the Forum of Regulators (FoR) to discuss ways to revive the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) mechanism (refer). Until...
6 reasons why we fail to act on climate change
23 July 2014 | Tobias Engelmeier
There are no reasonable doubts that man-made climate change is happening and that it is likely to have a devastating effect on the planetary ecosystem, which includes us. Almost everyone knows it. And yet, collectively and individually, politically and privately, we fail to act. I am no exception. Why is that? The blog contains a personal list of hypotheses. The cost of fighting climate...
Weekly Update: India announces bids for 1,500 MW under the National Solar Mission
22 July 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana
Last week, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) released a draft document outlining allocation process for another 1,500 MW of solar PV capacity under phase two of India’s National Solar Mission (NSM) (refer). Allocations will be made...
Why this may be the decade for Indian power sector equities
17 July 2014 | Akhilesh Magal
The recent railway price hikes indicate that the Modi government is capable of taking tough decisions that are unpopular but in India’s long-term interest. This augurs well for the entire economy and in particular for the power sector. Power prices need to be deregulated. This will mean prices go up in the short-term, but in the long-term that will ensure a more stable grid The Minister...
Solar modules costs in India fell by 3-6% in the last year, inverter costs by 8%
16 July 2014 | Mudit Jain
The costs for key solar equipment have fallen moderately in India over the last year. Chinese tier-1 crystalline modules came down by 3%, thin film modules by 6% and inverters by 8%. Cost reductions were thus much more moderate this year than in the year before. Nevertheless, a continuing fall in solar costs is essential for unlocking the grid parity market. This progress will now likely be...
Weekly Update: Solar manufacturing in India: can the new government make it happen?
15 July 2014 | Jasmeet Khurana
In the budget, presented last week, the new government took further measures to support solar manufacturing by eliminating the ‘inverted duty’ structure. ‘Inverted duty’ meant that while there was an import duty exemption on finished solar modules, there was no similar exemption on raw materials and components used in module assembly, thus putting Indian manufacturers at a disadvantage...
What does the new budget mean for India’s solar market?
11 July 2014 | Mudit Jain
Finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the new budget for the financial year 2014-15 on 10th of July. The Indian solar sector was looking forward to it as the new administration had signalled strong support and ambitious plans for the industry. Unfortunately, there is very little in the budget for the solar sector. It is, perhaps, still too early, in the new administration, for game-changing...
