Opinion is divided over the urgency of addressing the issue. While some developers feel the 25-year lifetime of modules offers plenty of time to prepare an action plan, other industry voices claim Indian-made products don’t last half that long and one recent report pointed out waste is already piling up thanks to defects and faulty installation.

Research institutes have moved quickly to emulate the successes observed in a test installation at Jodhpur as India races to meet an ambitious target of doubling agricultural income by 2022.

Take-up has been slow considering the nation’s mammoth agricultural industry but, as a packed session on the topic at the recent REI show illustrated, attitudes may be changing in a nation which is already installing solar greenhouses.

The $1 million Gandhi Solar Park was an attempt to signal to the world India is committed to renewable energy. The 50 kW array features one panel for each UN member state.

Legal decision is the latest blow to new chief minister Jaganmohan Reddy’s determined attempt to reverse the clean energy gains made by his predecessor N Chandrababu Naidu.

While some of the industry insiders gathered at REI 2019 have made predictable calls to be free of the restrictions imposed by regulators, others maintained policy support is crucial and audience members voiced concern about India’s lack of recycling rules.

With the power minister hinting a new renewable energy tariff policy could be in the works, the federal agency responsible for solar – which has come under fire after the latest delay to a troubled PV manufacturing tender – has boasted of the volume of clean power it has signed deals for recently.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India has extended the deadline yet again for a procurement exercise originally intended to secure 5 GW of PV manufacturing capacity and 10 GW of generation assets 13 months ago. The deadline for bidding for 2 GW of production and 6 GW of generation capacity is now October 11.

The financial failings of India’s electric companies have once again come to the fore as the power minister warned the seven worst offending states the lengthening debts they owe renewables developers could be recovered via the National Company Law Tribunal.

Decentralized model of solar project development has avoided the need to spend huge amounts on grid upgrades in India’s newest state. With EV charging plans advancing Telangana now intends to change policy to reflect falling solar costs.