Markets & Policy

The 2,000ha installation, which will surpass in scale a 150 MW plant in China’s Anhui province, will reportedly require a INR3,000 crore investment.

A new report says the imposition of safeguard duties and basic custom duties is only a partial solution to help the domestically produced solar modules remain competitive with imported panels. The government needs to adopt a long-term strategy towards PV manufacturing that supports backward integration and sustained innovation.

Challenges like frequent policy and regulatory changes, high capital costs, low awareness, non-uniformity in approval processes across states, restriction on net metering, and additional charges by DISCOMs need to be addressed for rooftop solar to take off in India.

The financing scheme, available only to Tata Power customers, provides collateral-free loans at an interest rate less than 10% for both off-grid and on-grid rooftop solar connections.

The funds will be used to move about 7,200 km of overhead distribution lines underground. Besides, fibre-optical cables will be installed in parallel to the underground distribution cables to strengthen the communication network for smart metering, distribution automation, etc.

The West Bengal-based solar cell and module manufacturer, which incurred an INR 28.95-crore loss in FY2018-19, has posted an INR 6.56-crore profit for FY2019-20. 

Feeder segregation, i.e., the installation of dedicated electricity supply lines for agriculture, is often celebrated as the solution to the electricity utilities’ pain point of free or highly subsidized electricity supply for agriculture. But does it address the root cause of the issue?

Ankit Kapasi and Kishore Ganesan from SOFIES India are working on Solar Waste Action Plan (SWAP) project in India, which is looking to investigate both the technical and economic feasibility of a PV module recycling system in the country. The pilot has been funded by Signify Foundation and Doen Foundation. The team at Sofies is working closely with technology partner Poseidon Solar and has recently established the first PV recycling pilot plant in September 2020. The duo spoke to pv magazine about their plant’s techno-commercial feasibility and the Indian eco-system’s readiness for PV module recycling.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India, NTPC, NHPC and other state-owned organizations have been directed to reduce RE contracts’ performance security from 5-10% to 3% of the contract value under the Finance ministry’s order dated November 12, 2020

The National Solar Energy Federation of India and Vietnam Clean Energy Association signed the pact to exchange best practices and explore business opportunities in solar energy.