Coronavirus disruption highlights risk of external dependence
The Ministry of Finance has clarified that projects affected by the Coronavirus breakout would be given relief by way of extensions in project completion timelines under Force Majeure provisions. The...
View ArticlePoor design of procurement schemes would hurt residential consumers
Karnataka andDelhi DISCOMs have recently issued empanelment tenders for installation of residential rooftop solar systems under MNRE’s phase II rooftop solar scheme, also known as SRISTI. Including...
View ArticleSafeguard duty redux
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies, under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has opened a fresh investigation into solar cell and module imports. The investigation follows an application...
View ArticleWaiving bank guarantees not desirable
MNRE is understood to be in advanced stages of waiving requirements for bank guarantees by project bidders. As per a news report, MNRE is proposing that instead of bank guarantees, the developers may...
View ArticleManagement of cooling load favourable to renewables
Indian government’s nodal agency for energy demand management programmes, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), recently named cooling as a focus area for reducing power demand over the next 20...
View ArticleCoronavirus damage impossible to assess
India has been in a near complete lockdown since 22 March 2020. The current three week lockdown is due to last until 14 April 2020. All commercial and social activity including all international and...
View ArticleBankrupt DISCOMs plus Covid-19 a disastrous mix
Coronavirus lockdown and consequent slowdown in power demand are striking at the core of the power sector in India. A cascading series of litigation and payment defaults by end consumers, DISCOMs and...
View ArticleMaharashtra offers relief to rooftop solar
The Maharashtra regulator, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), has made a series of positive announcements for rooftop solar market in the state. It has accepted demand from MSEDCL,...
View ArticleWebinar: impact of COVID-19 on the Indian renewable sector
BRIDGE TO INDIA hosted a webinar on 30 March 2020 to discuss impact of COVID-19 on the renewable sector in India. Speakers from a cross-section of players from the industry discussed impact on...
View ArticleGovernment financial institutions becoming lenders of last resort
The Ministry of Power is supposedly working on a plan to use central government-owned financial institutions (FIs) including Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC)...
View ArticleDraft Electricity Act amendments a lame affair
The Ministry of Power has issued another set of draft amendments to The Electricity Act, 2003. It is the third attempt to amend the Act in as many years. The latest set of amendments focuses mainly on...
View ArticleProject progress grinding down
India added total utility scale solar and wind capacity of 715 and 328 MW respectively in the quarter ending March. These are meagre returns; the combined total represents the weakest quarterly...
View ArticleRTC auction a small step towards firm renewable power
SECI completed auction for its 400 MW round-the-clock (RTC) tender last week. Entire capacity has been awarded to ReNew Power at a tariff of INR 2.90/ kWh. Other bidders included Greenko (400 MW, INR...
View ArticleOil & gas players set to carve a bigger role
Shell, a global oil & gas major, recently announced accelerated goals in a mission to become zero energy business. The company is seeking to completely eliminate all emissions from its...
View ArticleCOVID-19 to cause serious damage to renewables
COVID-19 infections in India, relatively low so far, have started rising rapidly. New cases were reported at 8,380 on 30 May 2020, up 4.6x in the last month. Ironically, the lockdown is still being...
View ArticleReal-time power trading a win-win for power producers and consumers
Power exchanges in India started offering a new ‘Real Time Market’ (RTM) trading window at the beginning of this week. The market features 48 trading slots, half an hour each, during the day for...
View ArticleFinancial bonanza for Adani and Azure?
SECI has approved award of an astounding 12,000 MW project capacity in its 7,000 MW manufacturing-linked project tender. The auction was held back in January 2020 with Adani Green and Azure announced...
View ArticleBorder tension with China does not augur well
This week saw violent clashes between Indian and Chinese armed forces. 20 Indian soldiers have died in reportedly the worst clashes in the last 58 years. These events have revived longstanding...
View ArticleCustoms duty finally on the anvil
After a year of deliberation, MNRE has announced that basic customs duty (BCD) shall be levied on all cell and module imports from 1 August 2020 onwards. The proposal, pending approval from The...
View ArticleNew solar tariff low not a surprise
SECI’s latest solar auction has discovered a new record low tariff of INR 2.36/ kWh (USD 3.1 cent). The company’s pan India 2,000 MW ISTS tender was oversubscribed 2.3 times. Spain’s Solarpack (300...
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