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While Africa has emerged as a dynamic, fast-moving hub, Asia leads in capacity deployment with its total capacity more than tripling to nearly 4.3 GW in 2017 from 1.3 GW in 2008, finds IRENA. Particularly, in India, a strong policy has pushed deployment of off-grid solar for agriculture and public end-uses.

The proposed safeguard tariffs on imports from China and Malaysia are expected to generate a number of painful short-term impacts. Overall they are not expected to change much in the market, however, says TrendForce. What will have a bigger effect is the EU’s final MIP decision, due in September.

The two-year period of the recommended safeguard duty is very short, discouraging any investment in setting up new solar manufacturing capacity, say analysts and companies pv magazine spoke to. At the same time, for solar project developers, the duty will impact tariffs to the tune of 12-15%, posing an immediate threat to viability of projects under execution, they add.

The independent power producer has continuously expanded its project pipeline, routinely winning multimegawatt tenders. The latest winning bid relates to a pending PPA at Rs2.64 per kWh.

Phased import tariff would fall to 20% 12 months after introduction and 15% for final six months of a proposed two-year period. Industry watchers say the cost of Indian solar energy could rise by up to 30%.

Dr Rashi Gupta, Director at Vision Mechatronics discusses the EV landscape in India, particularly focusing on the potential for battery manufacturing. While there are currently many challenges, like a lack of raw materials and infrastructure, the opportunities are immense.

India’s solar rooftop sector continues to disappoint with the first quarter of FY 2018-2019 achieving just 155.77 MW against the 1,000 MW EoY target.

Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL), an arm of Tata Power, has won a contract to develop 250 MW (50 MW x 5) of solar projects in Tumkur district of Karnataka.

An Indian court has issued a nearly US$16 million arbitral award to Chinese PV company LDK Solar Hi-Tech following its dispute with Indian renewable energy company, Hindustan Clean Energy (formerly Moser Bear Clean Energy) over a solar panel supply agreement. The amount is to be paid within 30 days from the date of the award, and includes the balance of purchase price, liquidated damages and legal fees.

India’s government must create a complete ecosystem to ensure the effective on-ground execution of its ambitious solar program, says Chakradhar Byreddy, Director–Renewable Energy, UL, Asia Pacific, during an interview with pv magazine. This includes investing in laboratory infrastructure, and skills for technical due diligence, energy yield assessment and forecasting.