India

The New Delhi based lender—which has funded over 45 MW of distributed solar energy assets—will use the new investment to catalyze the growth of residential and commercial solar systems, solar pumps, floating solar and solar cold chains in India.

These solar plants—installed for eleven nagarpalikas (municipalities) in the State—would generate approximately 2,835 KW power, saving Rs 2.94 crore in the electricity bills.

The utility-scale PV project, which Belectric built for Fortum Solar India across five sites, is the largest amount of solar capacity that the German EPC services provider has commissioned in the country thus far.

The Climate Investment Platform launched by three multilateral bodies in September is now open for business and renewables companies in developing nations across 14 regions including south Asia could qualify for help with clean energy facilities, renewables-related grid improvements and energy efficiency schemes.

Lobby group the National Solar Energy Federation of India has welcomed the move and asked the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to extend any such measures to existing contracts to help developers meet working capital requirements.

March 27 is the last date to bid for ground-based, grid-interactive solar power plants ranging from 500 kWp to 2 MWp or more at various locations/sub-stations of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL). Bidding for 100 kWp to 500 kWp grid-interactive rooftop solar plants in Uttarakhand closes on March 21.

An application seeking continued imposition of the safeguard duty for a further period of four years was filed by Mundra Solar PV, Jupiter Solar Power and Jupiter International, through the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA).

Developers are also expected to drag their heels over project completion during the first half of the year as the safeguarding duty applied to imported Chinese and Malaysian solar products is due to expire at the end of July.

While China continues to be the top solar module exporter to India, Thailand doubled its module exports to India from $55.05 million in 2018-19 to $110.39 million during the first nine months (April-December) of the current fiscal. Vietnam’s module exports to India also rose sharply from $91.97 million to $127.21 million.

The International Water Management Institute is promoting the Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) initiative to expand the use of solar irrigation systems throughout Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Proponents of solar irrigation pumps say that they can have a strong positive impact on groundwater.