Asia

The state has decided to withdraw almost all incentives available to open access solar, including exemption from electricity duty and distribution losses for projects injecting power at 33 kV or below. The policy reversal—clearly to appease state discoms—is likely to impact capacity addition.

The committee is constituted for overall monitoring, sanctioning and implementation of the scheme, according to an order of the Department of Heavy Industries.

As part of the viability gap funding scheme for 12 GW of new solar, SECI has invited bids for setting up of 2 GW of grid-connected solar PV projects. The projects, to be developed on ‘build, own, operate’ basis, can be located anywhere in India for self-use or use by government entities at maximum fixed tariffs of Rs 3.50/kWh. The deadline for bid submission is May 3.

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL) has partnered with European firms Enedis, Schneider Electric, Odit-e and VaasaETT to implement a 1MW smart grid pilot in India, which would be insulated from any blackout in the main grid.

The latest government initiative that offers central financial assistance for Group Housing Societies and Residential Welfare Associations would help better adoption of rooftop solar among residential power consumers, which account for only around 9% of the total rooftop solar systems installed in the country (against almost 70% by industrial and commercial users).

GE Renewable Energy will implement, in the state of Rajasthan, an advanced grid management project that will provide real-time data monitoring to better understand current and future energy usage and enable transmission of renewable energy based on demand.

The municipal council of Karimnagar has mandated rooftop solar on new buildings of a certain size as part of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy’s Smart City Mission, which requires 10% of municipal energy to be generated from solar.

Delhi based Avanze Inventive will set up the Lithium-ion cells manufacturing unit in the state of Andhra Pradesh with the help of the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB). The plant, with total size of 1 GW, will entail a total investment of Rs 1800 crore (US$ 256 million).

India needs a manufacturing policy that is scalable, secure, strategical and supportive and promotes both the growth and spread of solar while protecting the interests of domestic manufacturers.

The President of India has sanctioned financial outlay of Rs 11,814 crore for phase II of grid-connected rooftop solar programme to achieve ‘40 GW by 2022’ target.