India’s Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has ordered government agencies to reimburse nearly US$30 million incurred by solar power developers as additional capital expenditure under the Goods & Services Tax (GST) laws, which came into effect on July 1, 2017.

State is struggling to hit an ambitious distributed generation target that calls for another 1.6 GW of rooftop capacity within four years.

The projects, in Maharashtra, will be commissioned through a reverse auction with technical bidding to close on December 19. The deadline for the submission of financial bids and the date for the reverse auction after the opening of financial bids, will be published in due course.

India added 1.2 GW of large-scale projects in the third quarter of 2018-19, taking new capacity in the first half to 1.9 GW. The numbers are down 43% and 44%, respectively, on the same periods of the previous year, according to Bridge to India’s quarterly India Solar Compass.

The world is witnessing a major shift in energy demand from advanced to developing economies, with demand growing fastest in India – according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) latest World Energy Overview.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) have locked horns over the power pricing of a 970 MW solar project.

Reeling from a no-show from bidders at various auctions, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has raised the ceiling price for two of its mega tenders by 10 paise (US$0.0014) each.

The leading trio – China, the United States and India – will comprise 70% of the projected 552 GW of solar capacity, which will be added between end-2017 and 2027, finds Fitch Solutions, which has revised down its original forecast for solar capacity growth in China. The curbed growth in China, due to subsidy cuts and restricted access to the United States and India, is expected to squeeze domestic solar equipment manufacturers, but also lead to access to cheaper solar panels in other smaller markets.

India and Taiwan have failed to reach an agreement at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over the 25% safeguard duties imposed by India on solar imports. The talks, however, will continue.

Developers gave short shrift to gloomy predictions about depreciation, protectionism and tax headwinds as tendering and auction figures soared, but they shied away from the tough price caps set for SECI’s procurement exercises.