Utility Scale PV

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.

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.

Utility-scale solar power capacity will grow by double digits globally in 2019 and 2020, driven by expansions in the United States, Europe, Middle East and China.

While commissioning is expected to slow down in FY 2018-19 due to the impact of the safeguard duty and GST issues, FY 2019-20 is weak due to delay in auction as several tenders got delayed/cancelled. However, FY2019-20 onwards, solar capacity additions are expected to pick up due to several factors including subsiding/removal of the safeguard duty (which would ease cost pressures).

A study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water claims the imposition of goods and services tax on PV projects, safeguarding duty on module imports and late payments from hard-up power distribution companies are all hindering Indian solar.

Brussels-based SolarPower Europe and the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation on operation & maintenance (O&M), installation quality, digitalisation and storage.