India

Waste-to-energy, battery lifecycle solutions and hazardous waste management will make up an increased share of Fortum’s business in future. While solar will continue to be a mainstay for the Finnish clean energy company in India, Fortum wants to deepen its presence in the electric vehicle space with smart solutions, according to Sanjay Aggarwal, the company’s India MD, and Juha Suomi, area director for Asia, who spoke exclusively to pv magazine.

The court appears to have sided with solar developers who are complaining about a revision made late last year which ensured only 70% of the costs associated with PV project establishment would qualify for a discounted rate of goods and services tax.

The procurement – for PV capacity at the Dholera Solar Park – attracted bids for just 300 MW as developers shunned a tariff ceiling of Rs2.75/kWh.

With last year’s embarrassing manufacturing-linked capacity tender limping along, it has been reported that the Indian government – whichever form it takes after the current elections – is considering a new tender to incentivize the establishment of a domestic solar industry.

Policy certainty and more financial subsidies would incentivise the market, as would support for domestic manufacturing and simplifying the net metering application process.

Under the partnership, projects will be sought on nomination as well as through competitive bidding. Exicom shall also help state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to set up electric vehicle (EV) charger manufacturing facility for e-mobility business.

After a detailed review of solar panels manufactured at Vikram Solar’s plant in West Bengal, US-based Black & Veatch concluded that its modules successfully meet the requirements of respective international standards.

The German EPC contractor is also building a 250 MW AC ground-mounted solar farm in Karnataka. Overall, with an already installed capacity of more than 370 MWp and other projects under implementation, it expects to cross 1 GW of installed capacity in India by the year end.

India’s leading solar region has been forced to apply the brakes to new solar with its power distribution companies having fulfilled their renewable purchase obligations for the next two years. Projects driven by federal agencies will continue, however.

As the nation aims for 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022 it is staring at up to 1.8 million tons of PV waste by 2050. A solar waste management seminar organized by consultancy Bridge To India in New Delhi brought stakeholders together to discuss how a PV waste management system could help.