Narendra Modi

National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) founder and chairman Pranav Mehta died on Dec. 15, leaving a void in the industry. His vision helped establish India as a global solar leader and his contribution to the sector laid the foundation for the world’s fastest-growing solar economy.

Following a disappointing COP27 climate change summit in November, solar industry veteran Philip Wolfe reviews the contribution utility-scale PV is starting to make to emissions reduction.

The latest global PV industry outlook published by trade group SolarPower Europe, has indicated tight supply of the solar panel raw material is expected to persist this year but the trade body said it would be unlikely to drive further price rises.

An ambitious, $19.5 billion, five-year expansion of a previous domestic industry spending program includes money to attract investment into the sustainable energy and transport technologies.

Covid-19 hits to demand and bill payment collection have worsened the plight of the nation’s already debt-crippled power distribution companies, prompting the government to order an exceptional relaxation of lending limits.

Negative second-quarter updates from China and uber-low new-solar figures from India, however, show the world is far from out of the woods yet.

The prime minister again emphasized the need for India to develop its own solar manufacturing industry and also urged officials to get on with plans to make the region of Ladakh carbon-neutral.

The nation’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has reiterated that clean energy projects have not been affected by falling electricity demand as a billion citizens have been ordered to stay at home.

An AFP newswire report this week said Ministry of New & Renewable Energy secretary Anand Kumar had announced plans for 30 GW of generation capacity in the state of Gujarat and 25 GW in Rajasthan, all of it along a 20-25km strip of semi arid land on the border.

Talk of ‘grid-parity’ and ‘subsidy-free’ solar has had industry figures cherishing the ideal of a sector that can operate free of the caprices of government but a peer behind the latest global PV funding figures demonstrates just how dependent on policy the solar industry remains.