India

India is planning to impose a safeguard duty this year to protect its domestic solar manufacturing sector. Many in the industry earnestly believe that if such duties were to be imposed, then a slowing down in market growth would be inevitable. However, the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) believes this will not be the case. Either way, this duty has created unwanted uncertainty in the market.

The United States blocks India’s request for a panel to investigate Indian compliance to solar cells ruling. Thus, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) has deferred the establishment of a compliance panel. Moreover, U.S. reserves its right to obtain WTO authorization to take countermeasures against India, but there is desire to find a bilateral resolution.

The PV plant will be the nation’s largest once complete, and will be implemented under the International Finance Corporation’s Scaling Solar program.

As of December 31, 2017, Azure power has 1,580 MW operating & committed capacity, an increase of 48% over December end 2016. Revenue for the third quarter was INR 1,739.9 million ($27.3 million), an increase of 83% over the quarter ended December 31, 2016. The company’s adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was INR 1,226.9 million (US$19.2 million), an increase of approximately 76% over the fiscal third quarter 2017.

Clean energy solution provider ACME Cleantech is planning to expand its current li-ion production capacity of 350 MWh to as much as 3 GWh by 2020. The company has also designed a charging plus swapping station for li-ion batteries to provide clean transport solutions.

The renewable energy developer will build a 100 MW solar farm in India’s Tamil Nadu for a major utility, and an additional 60 MW solar plant in Karnataka for an independent power producer.

The KREDL tender for a 55 MW solar project was won by a joint venture between Think Energy and EverStream Capital Management. The JV has also won 23.39 MW of rooftop capacity under a SECI auction.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has stated that Tamil Nadu is India’s national model for low-cost renewable electricity generation. It finds that the state has the capability to increase its solar capacity six-fold in the next 10 years.

Credit Suisse, a swiss financial services firm, is appointed as an advisor for the deal, and the total value of the transaction is estimated at around $180 million.

Solar tops the installation list in 2017-18 with 264 MW of capacity commissioned to surpass wind for the period. Wind power remains leading renewable resource, as of January 31, 2018.