Installations

The independent solar power producer commissioned over 250 MW in the current quarter alone, which is among the highest installations by a company in this period. With this, its total operational portfolio in India is now over 1,400 MW.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo will use the amount for installation of three solar PV power projects with a total capacity of 35 MW in the three provinces of Karawa, Mbandaka and Lusambo.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has addressed complaints by solar developers about a lack of power evacuation infrastructure by changing its solar park guidelines. Under the new rules, though, developers are likely to incur higher costs.

The deadline for SECI’s latest attempt to incentivize Indian solar manufacturing by offering generation capacity has come and gone. The government body’s attempts to kick-start domestic production have thus far made little headway.

State-run utility Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited will install solar rooftop plants at 30 school buildings, with capacity of one megawatt in all.

The state has decided to withdraw almost all incentives available to open access solar, including exemption from electricity duty and distribution losses for projects injecting power at 33 kV or below. The policy reversal—clearly to appease state discoms—is likely to impact capacity addition.

The committee is constituted for overall monitoring, sanctioning and implementation of the scheme, according to an order of the Department of Heavy Industries.

As part of the viability gap funding scheme for 12 GW of new solar, SECI has invited bids for setting up of 2 GW of grid-connected solar PV projects. The projects, to be developed on ‘build, own, operate’ basis, can be located anywhere in India for self-use or use by government entities at maximum fixed tariffs of Rs 3.50/kWh. The deadline for bid submission is May 3.

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL) has partnered with European firms Enedis, Schneider Electric, Odit-e and VaasaETT to implement a 1MW smart grid pilot in India, which would be insulated from any blackout in the main grid.

The latest government initiative that offers central financial assistance for Group Housing Societies and Residential Welfare Associations would help better adoption of rooftop solar among residential power consumers, which account for only around 9% of the total rooftop solar systems installed in the country (against almost 70% by industrial and commercial users).