India

With continuous decline in costs of solar power generation, the chorus for shortening the 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) period is growing louder.

Solar installations picked up significantly in the January-March period, with 1.89 GW of utility-scale PV projects providing 76% of the quarterly total. Rooftop PV accounted for the remaining 590 MW of new capacity additions. Looking ahead, Bridge to India expects the uptrend to continue, as the first quarter ended with a record amount of capacity in the national pipeline.

In the second amendment to the tender, the financial and technical criteria have been further relaxed and the bidding deadline extended from June 7 to June 10.

U.P. Khadi & Village Industries Board (KVIB), Lucknow, has invited bids for 12-spindle solar charkhas (spinning wheels), with all fittings and equipment. The complete solar kits include single panels with batteries, control units, motors, luminaires and additional 12 V output ports, with minimum eight-hour backup.

The Mumbai-based EPC contractor and module manufacturer expects its international business to account for more than 15% of its overall revenue. The company’s latest installation, in Vietnam, marks the completion of over 600 MW of solar EPC projects, with an additional 100 MW in its international pipeline.

Solar installations fell 49% year-on-year in the first three months of 2019, with rooftop PV additions plunging as installers struggled to secure approval for projects immediately before the general election, according to new statistics from Mercom India Research.

The Mahindra Group cleantech firm will continue to have majority 51% stake in its subsidiary Marvel Solren, with Mitsui owning the balance. Currently, Marvel operates four distributed solar projects in India with a combined capacity of 16 MW, which the two partners aim to expand to 150 MW by 2023.

The preliminary proposals must reach the ministry by June 30. These will be examined by a committee and the shortlisted parties will be invited to submit final proposal.

Having acted against Turkey, the Trump administration has removed India too from the list of nations exempt from import tariffs on solar cells and modules.

Following Indian utility National Thermal Power Corp.’s proposal for PV projects in International Solar Alliance member countries, the organization has invited bids from companies in such nations with comparable credentials and experience, as long as they own at least 250 MW of solar capacity.