Blogs
Touring the solar world: Delhi to Munich to San Francisco to Beijing
28 June 2012 | Tobias Engelmeier
A recent visit to from New Delhi to Intersolar Munich has shown that the solar world is still buzzing. The main threat to the industry is not the current mismatch of supply and demand and slowing growth rates, but a disturbing trend towards protectionism and provincialism that can be observed in all major markets. Changing our energy set-up has always been a global challenge and a global...
Why the recent hikes in power tariffs are good for solar energy in India
19 June 2012 | Akhilesh Magal
The recent hikes in power tariff by the distribution company B.E.S.T. comes amidst a trend of increasing power prices throughout the country. Rising power tariffs drive up the cost of energy procurement and reduce the overall profitability of industries and commercial consumers. With the economy slowing down, this can only add to the woes of the industrial and the commercial sector. Such...
Quo Vadis, India I: A debt burden putting pressure on growth
13 June 2012 | Tobias Engelmeier
WRITTEN BY OLIVER HERZOG & DORJE WULF – QUO VADIS, INDIA SERIES 1/4 The Euro-crisis has further sensitized investors for sovereign debt levels in the wake of slowing economic growth. As one of the most promising emerging markets following China, India has witnessed a string of negative macroeconomic news recently: Real GDP growth slowed to 5.3% in the fourth quarter (ending March...
Protectionism will not solve the problems of Indian manufacturers
07 June 2012 | Jasmeet Khurana
Worldwide manufacturing capacity of PV cells has grown over four fold since 2009. Most of this new manufacturing capacity has come up in China. The global module manufacturing industry is heavily driven by large production capacities that have been developed in China. Allegedly, Chinese equipment makers get free power for manufacturing, free land, incentives for exports and cheap...
Projects under the National Solar Mission: NVVN review finds discrepancies in commissioning dates
04 June 2012 | Jasmeet Khurana
The National Solar Mission (NSM) has faced controversy with reports arising in the media of discrepencies in the dates of commissioning of some projects. Project commissioning dates are crucial as delays are penalized heavily under the policy. The NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN), the implementation agency of the NSM, has concluded an investigation into the controversy and has a released the list...
Introducing the INDIA SOLAR NAVIGATOR: The first online business intelligence tool on the Indian solar market
30 May 2012 | Jasmeet Khurana
BRIDGE TO INDIA is launching the INDIA SOLAR NAVIGATOR. This online, analytical tool is designed to provide you with up-to-date, in-depth business insight on the Indian solar market. It will cater to international investors, companies and institutions looking to leverage the Indian solar opportunity as part of their long term growth strategy. Look at the introductory video above to...
We’ll be at Intersolar Munich!
25 May 2012 | Tobias Engelmeier
BRIDGE TO INDIA is scheduled to exhibit at the world’s largest solar fair – the Intersolar Europeat Munich, Germany between June 13th – 15th 2012. At this fair, which invites more than 80,000 trade visitors, BRIDGE TO INDIA will introduce the INDIA SOLAR NAVIGATOR, the first comprehensive online tool to analyze...
US-China solar trade war to have a positive impact on India
22 May 2012 | Tobias Engelmeier
The US Department of Commerce has announced preliminary anti-dumping duties ranging from 31 percent to 250 percent on crystalline silicon solar cells from Chinese manufacturers. This will help India become an alternative manufacturing destination. The move to protect US manufacturing against Chinese competition is short-sighted Chinese manufacturers are expected to look for offshore...
The Indo-German Energy Forum: Bringing together natural partners
04 May 2012 | Tobias Engelmeier
BRIDGE TO INDIA attended the 3rd Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) on “Cities & Energy”, held on 2nd & 3rd May, 2012 at New Delhi, India. The IGEF aims to facilitate conversation between German technology providers and the Indian government through a series of meetings The topic of this meeting was “Solar & Cities” and looked at rooftop PV, solar thermal applications and...
Round-up of ISIT Day 1
19 April 2012 | Jasmeet Khurana
The India Solar Investment & Technology Summit Day 1 saw 15,000 people gather to view the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi ‘dedicate 600MW of solar power to the nation’ at the inauguration of the Charanka Solar Park near Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The event was held amidst political fanfare in the middle...
Karnataka allocates 80MW of projects under state solar policy
19 April 2012 | Akhilesh Magal
Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd. allocates 20MW of solar thermal and 60MW of solar PV under the Karnataka solar policy Lowest winning bid was submitted at a tariff of INR7.94/kWh CSP loses out to PV on account of project size allocation by KREDL The Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd. (KREDL) has announced the ten winners of the solar bidding it held in November...
Demystifying Performance Ratio (P.R.) and Capacity Utilization Factor (C.U.F.) for a solar plant
10 April 2012 | Mohit Anand
The worldwide standard for measuring a solar plant’s performance is the Performance Ratio (P.R.). However, most project developers, investors and EPC contractors in India use the Capacity Utilization Factor (C.U.F.) as the standard of measuring the performance of a plant. Our team sat down and attempted to demystify these differences. But soon enough, we realized that quite a few people in...
