Renewable Energy

Solar panels at the railway coach manufacturer’s three factories in West Bengal will cover approximately 50,000 sq m of roof space and generate around a quarter of the power used by the company each year.

The Rajasthan-headquartered engineering, procurement and construction company commissioned the project as part of a 40 MW solar park in Bhiwani district. The business has an ambitious renewables plan for the state with 150 MW in its two-year pipeline.

The state electric company has issued a call for expressions of interest in installing the residential arrays.

Covid-19 hits to demand and bill payment collection have worsened the plight of the nation’s already debt-crippled power distribution companies, prompting the government to order an exceptional relaxation of lending limits.

A new report by ICRA says large-scale solar in the country will likely achieve the 60 GW target set by the Indian government. Rooftop solar and wind, however, will see a shortfall.  

Almost 10 GW of hybrid generation capacity is already under implementation despite India having only 100 MW of combined wind and PV projects at present, according to analyst Crisil.

July 6 is the last date to submit proposals for the ambitious ‘one sun, one world, one grid’ plan that aims at seamless sharing of renewable energy resources among countries for mutual benefits and global sustainability. The program has been taken up by the Ministry with assistance from the World Bank.

The country earned a score of 6.3 on a 10-point scale on the basis of its investment, partially usage or plans to use renewable energy in the near future—in a study by UK based analytics firm British Business Energy. The USA ranks first with a score of 7, followed by Brazil at 6.5.

The subsidies to renewable energy went from a high of Rs 15,313 crore in FY2017 to Rs 9,930 crore in FY2019. At the same time, government subsidies for oil and gas went up from Rs 40,762 crore in FY2017 to Rs 67,679 crore in FY2019. Unprecedented resource crunch post-Covid-19, however, presents a good opportunity for the government to rein in specific fossil fuel subsidies while creating more fiscal room for promoting renewables and other welfare schemes—according to a new report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).

For one of India’s largest foreign investors, it’s time to invest in renewables.