Finance

Solar installations in year 2020 are set to exceed 10 GW after a year hit by political uncertainties, module price increases associated with safeguard duty and a fewer number of awarded tenders. The outlook for battery energy storage installations for solar projects, however, is bleak as such combinations in India can cost 3-5 times more in 2020 than standalone renewable projects.

pv magazine recently attended the opening ceremony of TBEA’s GW-class new energy equipment manufacturing base in Bangalore–the city that also hosted the recent Intersolar India exhibition and conference in the same week as TBEA’s inauguration ceremony.

As part of the transaction, both the parties have agreed to ensure that over 30% of the electricity supplied by Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd will come from solar and wind power plants by the year 2023.

The project—located in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan—is being developed by the Indian developer’s special purpose vehicle Clean Solar Power (Jodhpur).

While stress in the renewable sector can only be averted if long-term viability of the project is intact, prevention of default due to issues temporary in nature is also the need of the hour—says a report by the ratings agency.

The investment raises CDPQ’s equity interest in Azure Power to 49.4% from 41.4%. The proceeds will be used by the developer to fund its current projects.

The revolving credit facility will help the Hyderabad headquartered distributed solar developer finance new projects as it looks to add about 250 MW of capacity this year.

Under KUSUM scheme, the state government will help farmers in setting up an aggregate 75 MW capacity of grid-connected solar plants—in capacities of up to 2 MW—on their barren or cultivable land.

California-based SimpliPhi Power, which designs and manufactures lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) energy storage systems, has brought off-grid power to everything from the giant moon on Conan O’Brien’s talk show set to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, to rooftops for Whole Foods and Airbnb. As the company prepares to enter into India, CEO and President Catherine Von Burg tells pv magazine why their LFP technology is best suited for India and their plans for the country.

The minister’s statement comes at a time when analysts fear that potential disregard of past contractual agreements in Andhra Pradesh, along with the regular curtailment of renewable energy facilities and delayed payments to developers, may drive foreign investors away from India’s renewable energy sector.