All Posts in "solar"

Should India pursue manufacturing of solar equipment?

India’s solar sector is riding on a wave of optimism. The auction mechanism is working and tariffs are getting more and more competitive. The much talked about “grid parity” has since long been realized. Even tariffs of less than Rs.2.50 per kwh no longer raise eyebrows. Though India currently has around 16 GW of grid-connected capacity, which is far less than the targeted 100 GW by 2022, there is a plan in place that gives a feeling that we are indeed working towards a goal and not merely wishing things to happen. In the next two years, the plant to auction as much as 80 GW has been formulated and government appears resolute in its implementation plan.

Venugopal Pillai by — December 18, 2017 in Renewable Energy 0
Protecting generators in this era of falling tariffs

Competitive bidding in the renewable energy space has never failed to surprise. Solar tariffs had their share of excitement with falling tariffs, and now it is the turn of wind energy. The very recent wind energy auction by SECI, its second, saw tariffs of Rs.2.64 per kwh, much lower than the Rs.3.46 per kwh seen in the first auction in February 2017, which by itself was an incredulous figure.

There are reports that NLC India (formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation) encountered similarly surprisingly low quotes for its solar energy cum battery storage projects. Mahindra Susten (the renewable energy arm of Mahindra & Mahindra Group) has emerged the L1 bidder with a quote of Rs.298.8 crore for a 20-mw solar power project equipped with a battery storage system. NLC India was expecting quotes upward of Rs.500 crore and there were five bidders (including Adani Group, Sterling and Wilson, etc) that quoted below this benchmark figure.

Venugopal Pillai by — October 13, 2017 in Renewable Energy 0