Blogs
Whatever is happening to CSP in India?
12 March 2013 | Tobias Engelmeier
CSP in India has had a bad run over the last two years. The enthusiastic initial party mood was quickly followed by a collective implementation headache with a number of challenges threatening the viability of projects. Now, further allocations have been postponed. At the same time, the focus shifts from large power plants to hybrid models. India is increasingly able to produce large parts of...
Weekly Update: Karnataka launches bids for 130 MW of solar projects
11 March 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
Karnataka has announced a second round of allocations under its state solar policy. In the last round that took place one year ago, 80 MW was allocated (refer). Allocations of 130 MW of PV as well as CSP projects are targeted The policy aims to meet the RPOs of distribution companies, and makes no attempt...
Access to the right financing options will be the key differentiator in the Indian market
04 March 2013 | Tobias Engelmeier
BRIDGE TO INDIA has come out with its latest report, ‘Bankability and Debt Financing for Solar Projects in India‘. The report looks at debt financing for solar projects in India from two perspectives: the lender’s point of view and the borrower’s point of view. The lender’s point of view...
Weekly Update: Kerala announces draft solar policy to focus on decentralized solar
04 March 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
The south Indian state of Kerala has published a draft solar policy (refer). This makes it the ninth Indian state to release a solar specific policy document. The Kerala solar policy has set a target of 500 MW by 2017 and 1,500 MW by 2030 Unlike the NSM, the...
Weekly Update: Expectations of the Indian solar industry from union budget 2013
26 February 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
The finance minister of India will be presenting the union budget in front of the parliament on 28th February 2013. The budget is will highlight the public fund allocations for the next financial year (April 2013-March 2014). Multiple commerce and industry associations have provided suggestions to boost the solar sector in India. FICCI has released suggestions for methods to reduce the high...
Stabilization of module prices in 2013 will be good for the Indian market
14 February 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
Globally, most experts have predicted that module prices will continue to fall in the first half of 2013 as a significant overcapacity still exists. Prices from the last two months, however, suggest a contrary trend: a firming up of prices. On the global front, a price index (PV-Insights) has posted marginal week on week...
Weekly Update: U.S. takes India to WTO against Domestic Content Requirement
12 February 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
The US on Wednesday filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) under India’s National Solar Mission (NSM), which it said discriminates against foreign solar products, including the ones made in the US (
Weekly Update: Kerala moves forward with distributed solar power generation
04 February 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
Kerala’s Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT) has chosen 14 companies to be eligible to set up battery backed 1 kWp projects under the state’s 10,000 rooftop solar power programme (refer). It is expected that more than 4,000...
Weekly Update: Rajasthan solar policy throws up lowest currently valid solar bid
31 January 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
The financial bids for the allocation of 100 MW of solar PV projects in Rajasthan were opened on February 11th 2013. A total of 25 bids worth over 200 MW have been received. The lowest valid solar bid in India of INR 6.45/kWh was submitted in Rajasthan. This tariff only makes financial sense if the developer makes full use of accelerated depreciation benefits The Rajasthan solar policy...
Solar PV tariffs in Tamil Nadu fall to INR 5.97/kWh, but INR 6.8/kWh is more viable
31 January 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
Tamil Nadu today opened the financial bids received for allocations under its state policy. The state had received a subdued response with bids totaling 499MW for a tender of 1,000MW (refer to our earlier blog post to read more). Initial reports suggest that financial bids have been opened for 493MW and the lowest bid has touched INR...
Weekly Update: Draft guidelines for batch one of phase two of the NSM released, serious concerns remain
30 January 2013 | Jasmeet Khurana
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has today announced draft guidelines (refer) for setting up of 750 MW solar PV capacity under Phase 2, Batch 1 of the National Solar Mission (NSM). Viability Gap Funding will be provided with an upper limit of 30% of...
Goodbye NSM 2013?
29 January 2013 | Akhilesh Magal
Mr. Akhilesh Magal is the Head of Project Development at BRIDGE TO INDIA. The government recently delayed announcing the NSM Phase 2 for lack of funds. In this blog post I discuss why the phase 2 may not see the light in 2013. The underlying reasons are: The...
