The ministry slammed the business for delays to a planned site in the village of Bhamer but a spokesman for the developer said the scheme was held up for 18 months by the state government of Maharashtra.

Energy Efficiency Services Limited will provide the funding with authorities in the planned city offering up sites and electricity connections under an agreement announced yesterday.

The state has issued expressions of interest for the two forms of battery-powered vehicle which each attract a subsidy for purchasers. The two-wheeler inititiave has been extended from secondary school to college students.

RK Singh told the upper house of the Indian parliament yesterday the nation had added 780 MW of new generation capacity in the last two years. The share of renewables in India’s power mix is rising too, but not fast enough to ensure electricity supply for all.

The move is the latest attempt by the newly-elected state government to reverse renewable energy commitments made under the previous administration.

The deals will pave the way for four new solar parks that are set to be commissioned towards the end of next year.

The annual report has placed EVs at the heart of India’s decarbonization and called for an Indian answer to the U.S. ‘Motor City’ of Detroit, where electric vehicles and the batteries to run them could be manufactured.

Up to Rs7 lakh of funding assistance per megawatt will be available to developers who deploy PV capacity for consumption by public entities. The energy produced will be supplied with a Rs3.50/kWh ceiling tariff and projects will be subject to strict domestic content requirements.

Long regarded as a solar pioneer, the state has now announced grand plans to shoulder the burden of 17% of the nation’s clean energy ambition as India races to install 175 GW of clean energy capacity in just three-and-a-half years.

The state government will defy a ministerial order not to renegotiate signed deals after leadership of the legislative assembly changed hands in May’s elections. Consultancy Bridge to India says the contracts are legally binding but the move will shake investor confidence nevertheless.