Blogs
Weekly Update: New allocations in India for the current financial year to reach 2.5 GW
18 June 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have all recently issued Letters of Interest (LOIs) after carrying out their respective processes for allocation of new solar PV projects. These allocations would cumulatively account for a capacity of almost 1.5 GW. Andhra Pradesh is now looking to allocate a solar PV capacity of 350 MW and not 1000 MW, while Uttar Pradesh planned to...
How can market growth be triggered for solar in India?
17 June 2013 | BRIDGE TO INDIA
BRIDGE TO INDIA has launched the June 2013 edition of the...
The future of RPOs and RECs
12 June 2013 | Tobias Engelmeier
The Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) mechanism in India sits awkwardly between the older generation-based incentives for renewable energies and the coming parity. Half supply side push, half demand side pull, is an incomplete framework in a rapidly changing power market. In the long run, it can become relevant only as a measure of success in implementing renewables in India, not as a specific...
Weekly Update: A capacity of 690 MW to be allocated in Tamil Nadu after a tempestuous process
11 June 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
In December 2012, Tamil Nadu had announced a bidding process for a capacity allocation of 1,000 MW. Issues such as low bankability of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), limited time available for planning and commissioning and the need for developers to meet the lowest quoted tariff for successful allocation caused the allocations to be undersubscribed (
Weekly Update: Market for sale of solar power to commercial and industrial consumers picks up
05 June 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
We observe a trend in the Indian solar PV project development space towards bilateral, open access, contracts (often under the ‘group captive’ model) for sale of power to industrial consumers. Many project developers are keen on the market for bilateral sale of power, while some are already selling power directly to industrial consumers Project developers plan for only a portion of...
Weekly Update: India’s major public sector, conventional power companies ready to go solar
28 May 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
Coal India Limited (CIL) recently announced its foray into the Indian solar power sector with an initial project of 2 MW (refer).CIL is the largest coal mining company in India and accounts for 80% of the coal production in the country. CIL plans to set up solar...
Weekly Update: Andhra Pradesh set to purchase solar power from rooftops of end-consumers, viability remains a concern
21 May 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
Last week, the Andhra Pradesh government announced that it will buy power from rooftop PV systems installed on residential and commercial buildings in the state at a fixed tariff of INR 3.5/kWh (refer). Capital subsidies...
Fixing electricity in India
14 May 2013 | Tobias Engelmeier
The Indian electricity system is in dire need of ‘fixing’ – or, perhaps, of fundamental, paradigmatic reconfiguration? But how can complex systems be changed? This blog piece is based on a very interesting conversation with my friend and a systems aficionado, Anna da Costa, her blog piece and reading suggestion. In changing systems, too much time is spent on ‘fixing’ and too little...
Weekly Update: Penalties for CSP projects likely to be deferred by 10 months as no project is ready for timely commissioning
14 May 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has decided to defer the penalties that are to be levied on delayed solar thermal (CSP) projects. 470 MW were allocated under phase one of the National Solar Mission (NSM) in December 2010 and were to be commissioned in May 2013. However, none of the projects are expected to meet this deadline. No project is expected to reach completion before...
Can Delhi become a solar city?
09 May 2013 | Tobias Engelmeier
Solar capacity addition in India has so far been centered on large, grid connected, ground-mounted PV plants. The lack of space for such power plants in a highly urbanized and congested city like Delhi is a challenge for solar energy. But, this is true only if solar deployment is restricted to large, ground mounted power plants. The potential to install rooftop solar PV in a city like Delhi can...
Weekly Update: SECI launches the second round of competitive bidding for rooftop solar PV projects
07 May 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has announced the second round of biddings for the implementation of large scale, grid connected rooftop PV systems ranging from 100 kWp to 500 kWp for a total allocation of 11.1 MW. A developer can apply for multiple projects for a minimum allocation of 250kWp and a maximum of 2 MWp No Feed-in-Tariff is being offered. Instead, the bidder will...
Weekly Update: Andhra Pradesh changes allocation process, policy instability to hurt investor confidence
30 April 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
The south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh had carried out a bidding process for an allocation of 1,000 MW earlier this year. The state followed a L1 (lowest bid) process, where developers were required to meet the lowest tariff being offered by any other developer for a given sub-station. The policy’s bidding process accounted for different project sizes, land costs and irradiation levels...
