Policy

The 500 MW solar auction cancellation by Uttar Pradesh comes as the latest blow to developers after a similar experience in Gujarat recently. Industry body NSEFI wants the central government to direct the state government to stop cancellation and issue the capacity to winning developers.     

The global off-grid solar appliance market began an uneven recovery from the worst ravages of the global pandemic in the second half of last year, according to market body GOGLA, but more finance and policy support must be made available to have any chance of achieving universal electricity access this decade.

The sheer volume of new power lines which will be required to accommodate the rising tide of solar installations ensures copper has been included by the International Energy Agency on its list of minerals which must keep flowing if the energy transition is to stay on course. And it’s not production that’s the potential bottleneck.

India added 7.7 GW of new renewable energy (RE) capacity in FY2020-21, out of which 5.5 GW (71%) came from solar (grid-scale and rooftop) alone. Overall power generation capacity addition for the year stood at 12.1 GW.

With South Africa holding 63,000 of the world’s estimated 69,000 metric tons of platinum reserves – according to the Statista.com website – and Russia and Zimbabwe a further 5,100 between them, the European Commission has cited the metal as an example of a potential supply chain bottleneck that could handicap its grand plans for renewables-powered hydrogen production.

A new report says the Indian States must develop plans to incentivize investments into the deployment of utility-scale battery storage—just as they did for solar. 

India ranks behind the United States and China in IHS Markit’s latest rankings of most attractive solar markets.

The federal government will provide INR968 crore of soft loans for a INR1307 crore, 100 MW solar park near the Jamuna river in Bangladesh’s Jamalpur district, where a second park of a similar size is being planned by Dhaka and a Chinese partner.

Solar manufacturers who wish to apply for state cash to set up production lines must meet minimum requirements for manufacturing scale and module efficiency, and must produce at least solar cells and modules to be shortlisted. They will then bid for the amount of incentives they want over a five-year period, with extra weight given to applicants who will manufacture more of the supply chain, from polysilicon downwards.

The second wave of Covid-19 reminds us to build a resilient society. Climate Change, not unlike Covid-19, will deliver devastating effects to our planet and disrupt our way of life. So, in this climate decade, India must channel investments into sustainable activities. The first step is to construct a robust “green taxonomy” – a green list of sustainable activities.