Developers rushing to issue green bonds
Indian developers have been rushing out to issue green bonds as liquidity in the Indian financial markets continues to stay stretched. An aggregate amount of USD 2.9 billion has been raised by Greenko...
View ArticleChanges afoot to improve investor risk profile
MNRE has announced various changes to the competitive bidding guidelines for utility scale solar projects. There are broadly two categories of changes – to address offtake risk and improve execution...
View ArticleLack of competitive advantage hurting developers
Last week, SECI conducted auction for a 1,200 MW utility scale solar tender. The tender received bids for full 1,200 MW but the auction was completed for only 960 MW, equivalent to 80% of the bids...
View ArticleWind faces slow going
In a major relief to the sector, MNRE has granted project completion deadline extension to wind projects allocated under SECI auction tranches 1-5. More time has been granted to these projects mainly...
View ArticleTime for grid tariffs to go up
Last week, a news report suggested that Madhya Pradesh DISCOMs have accumulated losses of INR 250 billion (USD 3.5 billion). The DISCOMs have requested the state regulator to allow increase in grid...
View ArticleFall in costs to bring respite to developers
After staying relatively stable in the past year, module prices are on the decline again. Prices of multi-crystalline modules, still the de facto choice for most Indian developers, have fallen from...
View ArticleStates moving away from net metering prematurely
Indian states are turning their back on rooftop solar. Maharashtra recently signalled its intent to join Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu in proposing to withdraw net metering benefit from most...
View ArticleFourth time lucky for the manufacturing-linked tender?
After several cancellations, extensions and modifications, SECI’s solar project development-cum-manufacturing tender finally received a somewhat encouraging response. In its final avatar, the tender...
View ArticleConsolidation underway in solar EPC market
India’s utility scale solar capacity reached 29.7 GW by September 2019, growing 25% y-o-y. A review of the EPC data shows two interesting trends. Contrary to popular perception, share of third-party...
View ArticleAndhra Pradesh and Centre on escalation path
As per news reports, SECI is seeking to invoke its legal rights in the tripartite agreement with Andhra Pradesh and the Reserve Bank of India to claim INR 276 million (USD 4 million) of outstanding...
View Article2019, RE’s annus horribilis
The Government of India is reportedly considering an ordinance to usher in reforms for the power sector in India. As per a news report, the government is seeking to bring about various legislative...
View Article2020 – year of prayer and hope
As we commence the new year, there is much anticipation that 2020 would offer respite from the multitude of problems faced last year. A jump in new installations – from a total of an estimated 11.4 GW...
View ArticleRegulators add to the pain
Maharashtra state regulator, MERC, has recently rejected most of the winning bids in two renewable energy tenders as it viewed the winning tariffs as too high or unreasonable. The two tenders include...
View ArticleComplex tender designs on the way
MNRE has issued a draft scheme for procuring renewable power, blended with thermal power, on a round-the-clock basis with 80% overall availability. The scheme is technology agnostic. Minimum 51% of...
View ArticleGovernment passing the buck to project developers
Last week, we wrote about the proposed MNRE scheme to procure round-the-clock renewable power with blending with thermal power. As we noted, the need for firm, predictable power is all too clear. But...
View ArticleFive charts summarising renewable in 2019
Utility scale solar and wind capacity grew at a healthy 29% and 36% respectively over previous year although performance was well below the record numbers seen in 2017. Rooftop solar growth slowed...
View ArticleNo dearth of equity
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Temasek, and Swedish PE fund, EQT, have announced entry in the Indian renewable power sector with a corpus of USD 500 million. They have set up a new renewable IPP...
View ArticleKing coal here to stay
Thermal power IPPs have put in bids of INR 3.26/ kWh in a 2,500 MW tender issued as part of a Ministry of Power scheme. They would supply power to DISCOMs across the country under 3-year PPAs at...
View ArticleWeak power demand an under appreciated risk
India added 2,770 MW of renewable capacity in Q4 2019. For the year 2019, total capacity addition is estimated at 11,403 MW comprising 7,140 MW utility scale solar, 1,896 MW rooftop solar and 2,367 MW...
View ArticleIndia takes one more step in integration of RE
Eight of the proposed 11 Renewable Energy Management Centres (REMCs) have commenced operations. REMCs were proposed to be set up by the Ministry of Power back in 2017 to aggregate renewable energy...
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