India

The tender was launched by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), an energy service company owned by the government of India.

Solar developers have until Feb. 10 to bid for the capacity, which will be awarded through international competitive bidding, followed by a reverse auction.

India’s PV capacity additions fell 38% year on year in the first eight months of fiscal 2020-21 (to the end of November), as pandemic-driven disruptions constrained new project development.

The 2,000ha installation, which will surpass in scale a 150 MW plant in China’s Anhui province, will reportedly require a INR3,000 crore ($409 million) investment.

Simarpreet Singh, director at EPC firm Hartek Group, speaks to pv magazine about the impact of the Covid pandemic on India’s rooftop solar sector, technology trends shaping the market, and the outlook for 2021.

The 919.73 kWp captive solar plant at the module manufacturer’s Falta unit in West Bengal uses multiple PV technology advancements, including its own SOMERA monocrystalline, half-cut and full-cut cell panels.

The solar electricity price in India has dipped further to an all-time low of INR 1.99 ($0.0269)/kWh in a recently held 500 MW Gujarat auction, which is 0.5% lower than the previous record of INR 2.00/kWh set a month ago.

An analysis by India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) says improvements in PV panel designs and costs, lower financing costs and state-specific sectors, such as the location’s solar potential and certain waivers, have driven the decline in Indian solar tariffs.

The Indian rail operator aims to set up a PV project in Dahod, Gujarat. It will be awarded via a competitive bidding process. Western Railways will serve as the off-taker for a period of 25 years.

A cost decline of more than 50% by the end of the decade could make green hydrogen cost-competitive with hydrogen from fossil fuels in certain industrial applications, such as ammonia production for fertilizers.