MNRE

Underlining India’s commitment to becoming the global renewable energy leader, Shri Anand Kumar, Secretary of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said the country plans 500 GW of capacity by 2030. He also underlined India’s plans for becoming a solar and storage manufacturing hub; and said the International Solar Alliance needs to widen its membership.

The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) says the nation will exceed 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity as plans for bidding for 115 GW of renewable power projects to March 2020 were announced. The target for PV parks has been increased from 20 GW to 40 GW with some 41 parks in 21 states – with aggregate capacity of more than 26 GW – already sanctioned.

India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has announced a Scheme for setting up of 2.500 GW Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS)-connected wind-solar hybrid projects.

In the past financial year, India missed its rooftop solar PV targets, although it did exceed those for both grid-connected ground-mounted and off-grid systems, reports the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Bridge to India believes the government’s rooftop targets have been set at the wrong level and that around 10 GW will be installed by 2022, rather than 40 GW.

In a much-awaited move, India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has mandated that, effective April 16, 2018, all solar equipment manufacturers will have to register their equipment with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

2017 was a busy year for India’s solar industry. As of the end of November, the country had installed around 5.5 GW of PV. With its ambitious renewable energy goals, it is paving the way to becoming a world leader in the industry. Overall, the country saw a rapid increase in renewable energy activity, with solar dominating almost 48% share of total capacity installed.

Five Indian solar firms have filed an application for the imposition of import duties on solar cells with the Directorate General of Safeguards in a move designed to boost domestic manufacturing and protect local interests.

India invites suggestions and feedback for its new solar PV manufacturing scheme, which aims to ramp up domestic manufacturing capacity of modules, cells, wafers and ingots, and polysilicon. The scheme is expected to be implemented at the beginning of 2018.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will make available $3.6 billion to distribution companies in India to boost their deployment of rooftop solar PV projects under Phase-II of the National Solar Mission.

The International Solar Alliance has launched three new solar programs: Scaling Solar Applications for Agriculture Use, Affordable Finance at Scale, and Scaling Solar Mini-grids. The programs will be under operations ahead of the ISA’s official accreditation on December 6.