Legal

In March, the government said delays in renewable energy plant construction on account of Covid-19-prompted supply chain disruption would be considered a force majeure event.

The import duty will be levied on Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai solar cells – whether assembled into modules or not – at 14.9% from today and falling to 14.5% in six months’ time. Malaysian products are exempted as their imports have fallen dramatically since the duty was imposed, in July 2018.

The investigating arm of India’s commerce ministry has proposed continuing to apply the duty levied on solar cell imports from the east at a rate of 14.9% from July 30 and falling to 14.5% six months later.

The country—which meets over 80% of the solar module demand through imports—can turn the present crisis into an opportunity by ramping up domestic manufacturing with measures like fiscal incentives.

A new report outlines key considerations for Indian regulators and other stakeholders when designing behind-the-meter distributed solar-plus-storage system programs, based on evidence from similar programs in the United States.

The government needs to rationalize and ensure uniformity of Deviation Settlement Mechanism (DSM) regulations across the country for the seamless integration of renewable energy. 

Defining energy storage under the Electricity Act could help start ancillary services and frequency regulation through energy storage as a flexible asset. It will also help to enable electric vehicle charging infrastructure, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concepts and microgrids integration with expanded grid connectivity in the long run, according to the industry body.

Module manufacturers in special economic zones would be at a disadvantage when selling in the domestic market as they would be required to pay basic customs duty on the value of solar modules.

The developer wants to cancel the power purchase agreement it signed in 2018 for a 600 MW project awarded at a tariff of Rs2.44/kWh, as it fears Covid-19-affected commissioning of the project will stretch beyond the six-month extension from the scheduled date enshrined in the agreement.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has granted an extension till May 11 for the solar manufacturers and importers to file their responses as it probes the need for continuing with the imposition of safeguard duty on solar cells, whether or not assembled into modules.