India

The contraction in Chinese trade flows to the U.S. is likely to result in the dumping in India of Far Eastern electronic and electrical components as well as steel, iron, chemicals and plastic products.

State-owned Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has once again extended the bid submission deadline for its latest 3 GW, manufacturing-linked solar tender, following a tepid response.

Tests by U.S.-based PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) show that monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon PV modules produced by India’s Vikram Solar met and exceeded international quality and performance benchmarks.

Solar-plus-storage could be competitive against gas peaking power plants in Australia within the next five years, as the average solar-plus-storage LCOE across the Asia-Pacific region is set to fall from $133/MWh this year to $101/MWh by 2023, according to a newly released research report.

In a recent survey, an overwhelming 73% of respondents said they remain upbeat about India’s renewable growth prospects, despite recent policy reversals and various other operational challenges the industry faces.

The procurement – for PV capacity at the Dholera Solar Park – attracted bids for just 300 MW as developers shunned a tariff ceiling of $0.039/kWh.

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

After two decades of growth, the amount of newly installed renewable energy capacity is no longer rising and, despite a 7% growth in electricity generation from clean energy sources, global energy-related carbon emissions have risen 1.7%.

Karnataka state 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.

A reduction in solar park charges was not enough to attract developers in the same numbers that flocked to a separate, 500 MW exercise two months earlier. The Raghanesda Solar Park continues to be a headache after a previous procurement was cancelled because the tariffs were deemed too costly.