Policy

An analysis by India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) says improvements in PV panel designs and costs, lower financing costs, and state-specific sectors such as the location’s solar potential and certain waivers have driven the decline in Indian solar tariffs.

With this, green hydrogen (hydrogen produced using renewable energy) would become cost-competitive with hydrogen from fossil fuels in certain industrial applications such as ammonia production for fertilizers.

A new report looks at the rising dependence of India’s DISCOMs on electricity subsidies, despite concerted bailout efforts by the central government. It assesses various states’ performance in reining in DISCOMs’ financial losses and enhancing their overall efficiency over the last five years. Building on these findings, the study suggests reforms in the distribution and design of subsidies to increase power companies’ revenues as consumption surges.

Gopal Lal Somani, a former director at the Jaipur-based Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Ltd (RRECL), says distributed solar systems with storage are the key to achieving India’s mission of supplying clean energy at an affordable cost to all. In this article, he dwells on the benefits and techno-commercial feasibility of these systems for the nation.

A new report says that the nation would require an estimated annual battery capacity of 158 GWh to realize its 2030 electric vehicle (EV) adoption target. Meeting this potential demand would require investments exceeding INR 85,900 crore (US$ 12.3 billion) in case battery manufacturing is 100% indigenized.

India Ratings says innovative measures to mitigate financing risks, optimize financing costs, and reduced currency risks leading to higher equity returns and better coverages provide international renewable energy players an edge over domestic peers.

The nation is already firmly positioned to lead the world in the clean energy revolution. Consolidating this position would unlock significant economic growth and competitiveness by attracting domestic and foreign investment, creating jobs, and improving public health.

The minimum solar tariffs discovered fell by 131.5% over the last five years, with an 18% drop achieved in the last five months alone.

A recent GOGLA report indicates an increasing trend towards hybrid power solutions that integrate DC solar with AC grid power, and appliances that integrate both AC and DC power. In particular, the sales of hybrid solar inverter UPS in India is growing at 25% annually, much faster than conventional inverters’ 10% annual market growth. 

The regulator has sought a detailed study after it received requests for reconsidering the useful life and capacity utilization factor (CUF) of solar projects as notified in draft regulations 2020.