Indian solar energy industry - Buoyed by the quite impressive performance of India’s renewable energy sector and especially in the solar space in recent year.
Read more: https://goo.gl/7rbkw9
India renewable energy sector opportunity analysisRajesh Sarma
“India Renewable Energy Sector Opportunity Analysis” Report gives detailed overview on the following aspect related to renewable energy sector in India:
Significance of Renewable Energy for India
Renewable Energy Potential & Installed Capacity by Source
Government Support & Incentive Framework
Current Scenario of Decentralize/Off Grid Renewable Energy
Emerging Sources of Renewable Energy: Hydro, Geothermal & Tidal energy.
Policy & Regulatory Framework
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
Future Outlook for Renewable Energy
Supporting the Scale up of Solar Pumping in India through Remote Monitoring Satya Kumar DV
Presentation by DV Satya Kumar in Session 24 on
"Food, Water and Energy Nexus : Perspectives from Asia"
Asia Clean Energy Forum, 2016
India is known for 100GW solar target by 2022, low solar tariffs and competitive bidding. India added 3GW solar in 2015-16 adding to a cumulative capacity of 8GW and will be adding 10GW in 2016-17. Another success achieved in solar in Inida, is in the offgrid solar pumping program in Rajasthan which realised the Food - Water - Energy nexus and provided a holistic solution for the farmer's livelihood. Rajasthan's Horticulture Department, under the leadership of Dr Dinesh Kumar Goyal, introduced a composite irrigation package through creation of water harvesting structures, recharging ground water, pumping with solar pumps and irrigating through drip. Some farmers' income levels increased four-fold and even young MBA graduates were inspired to take up farming.
To support the scale up of solar pumping program, we developed a project for "Remote Performance Monitoring and Outsourced Service Management of Solar Pumps and Off-grid Solar PV Plants" which was recently selected for funding by PACEsetter Fund in India, which is a joint initiative of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt of India and the US State Department.
The presentations aims to explain the outlook for Solar PV for 2017.
The key trend is the falling demand from China which would lead to an overcapacity in the module manufacturing space eventually leading to a lower pricing power.
Financing India's Solar Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges at 8.30PM Wed, Jun 17, 2015
The Webinar is hosted by SolarPlaza and the speakers are Jasmeet Khurana (BRIDGE TO INDIA) and Satya Kumar (Shri Shakti Alternative Energy Ltd). The webinar is a precursor to the Solar Trade Mission to India that SolarPlaza is arranging from Oct 5th to 9th, 2015.
Satya Kumar's presentation is centered around two big questions?
1) Can India achieve the target of adding 100,000MW Solar Power by 2022 ?
2) Can the Hon'ble Minister Piyush Goyal deliver when he says "I want to kill 10 birds with one stone" ?
If you wish to see the webinar recording go to http://www.solarfinancetourindia.com/webinar
Solar Power 2020: India On A National Solar MissionHIMADRI BANERJI
India can now make 700 megawatts of photovoltaic modules each year, according to the plan. The aim would be to make 20,000 megawatts of solar cells annually by 2017 and to establish expertise in solar thermal technologies.
Total costs would be 85,000 and 105,000 crores ($18.5 billion to $22.8 billion) over a 30-year period. To help finance the project, the plan foresees a significant tax on gasoline and diesel — fuels the government currently subsidizes.
India needs to grow its power generation 5x to 5,000 TWh a year in the next 20 years in order to develop. Where will this enormous amount of power come from? There are only two realistic options: a "coal-heavy" and a "solar-heavy" scenario. This presentation looks at these options and shows how solar could become the solar market opportunity of lifetime.
Vibrant Gujarat Summit Profile for Energy Spectrum SectorVibrant Gujarat
• Policies at the central government and state government level are the main growth drivers of solar energy sector
• Regulations like Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs) inclusion with favourable policies play a major role in growth of the solar sector
• Gujarat was the first state to release the solar policy in year 2009. In 2010 MNRE launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National solar Mission (JNNSM) with the objective to add 20 GW of solar power projects by the year. State wise split of solar power projects (MW) JNNSM Capacity addition target 2022.
The Government is committed to increased use of clean energy sources and is already undertaking various large-scale sustainable power projects and promoting green energy.
We work to strengthen the energy security of the country by aiding the design and implementation of policies that encourage energy efficiency as well as renewable energy. Shakti belongs to an association of technical and policy experts called the ClimateWorks Network. Being a part of this group helps Shakti connect the policy space in India to the rich knowledge pool that resides within this network. For more information visit http://www.shaktifoundation.in/
Vibrant Gujarat Summit Profile for Energy Spectrum SectorVibrant Gujarat
Sufficient renewable energy resources are available to satisfy World’s current and future energy demand. Solar energy alone could meet the existing global energy needs 10,000 times over.
To drive commercialization of wind power, promote research and development in wind power and to support wind power projects in country, Government of India initiated the “Wind Power Program” in the year 1984.
Wind power accounts for 8.5 percent of the total energy mix of India
95 percent of wind power comes from 5 states: Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka.
India renewable energy sector opportunity analysisRajesh Sarma
“India Renewable Energy Sector Opportunity Analysis” Report gives detailed overview on the following aspect related to renewable energy sector in India:
Significance of Renewable Energy for India
Renewable Energy Potential & Installed Capacity by Source
Government Support & Incentive Framework
Current Scenario of Decentralize/Off Grid Renewable Energy
Emerging Sources of Renewable Energy: Hydro, Geothermal & Tidal energy.
Policy & Regulatory Framework
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
Future Outlook for Renewable Energy
Supporting the Scale up of Solar Pumping in India through Remote Monitoring Satya Kumar DV
Presentation by DV Satya Kumar in Session 24 on
"Food, Water and Energy Nexus : Perspectives from Asia"
Asia Clean Energy Forum, 2016
India is known for 100GW solar target by 2022, low solar tariffs and competitive bidding. India added 3GW solar in 2015-16 adding to a cumulative capacity of 8GW and will be adding 10GW in 2016-17. Another success achieved in solar in Inida, is in the offgrid solar pumping program in Rajasthan which realised the Food - Water - Energy nexus and provided a holistic solution for the farmer's livelihood. Rajasthan's Horticulture Department, under the leadership of Dr Dinesh Kumar Goyal, introduced a composite irrigation package through creation of water harvesting structures, recharging ground water, pumping with solar pumps and irrigating through drip. Some farmers' income levels increased four-fold and even young MBA graduates were inspired to take up farming.
To support the scale up of solar pumping program, we developed a project for "Remote Performance Monitoring and Outsourced Service Management of Solar Pumps and Off-grid Solar PV Plants" which was recently selected for funding by PACEsetter Fund in India, which is a joint initiative of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt of India and the US State Department.
The presentations aims to explain the outlook for Solar PV for 2017.
The key trend is the falling demand from China which would lead to an overcapacity in the module manufacturing space eventually leading to a lower pricing power.
Financing India's Solar Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges at 8.30PM Wed, Jun 17, 2015
The Webinar is hosted by SolarPlaza and the speakers are Jasmeet Khurana (BRIDGE TO INDIA) and Satya Kumar (Shri Shakti Alternative Energy Ltd). The webinar is a precursor to the Solar Trade Mission to India that SolarPlaza is arranging from Oct 5th to 9th, 2015.
Satya Kumar's presentation is centered around two big questions?
1) Can India achieve the target of adding 100,000MW Solar Power by 2022 ?
2) Can the Hon'ble Minister Piyush Goyal deliver when he says "I want to kill 10 birds with one stone" ?
If you wish to see the webinar recording go to http://www.solarfinancetourindia.com/webinar
Solar Power 2020: India On A National Solar MissionHIMADRI BANERJI
India can now make 700 megawatts of photovoltaic modules each year, according to the plan. The aim would be to make 20,000 megawatts of solar cells annually by 2017 and to establish expertise in solar thermal technologies.
Total costs would be 85,000 and 105,000 crores ($18.5 billion to $22.8 billion) over a 30-year period. To help finance the project, the plan foresees a significant tax on gasoline and diesel — fuels the government currently subsidizes.
India needs to grow its power generation 5x to 5,000 TWh a year in the next 20 years in order to develop. Where will this enormous amount of power come from? There are only two realistic options: a "coal-heavy" and a "solar-heavy" scenario. This presentation looks at these options and shows how solar could become the solar market opportunity of lifetime.
Vibrant Gujarat Summit Profile for Energy Spectrum SectorVibrant Gujarat
• Policies at the central government and state government level are the main growth drivers of solar energy sector
• Regulations like Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs) inclusion with favourable policies play a major role in growth of the solar sector
• Gujarat was the first state to release the solar policy in year 2009. In 2010 MNRE launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National solar Mission (JNNSM) with the objective to add 20 GW of solar power projects by the year. State wise split of solar power projects (MW) JNNSM Capacity addition target 2022.
The Government is committed to increased use of clean energy sources and is already undertaking various large-scale sustainable power projects and promoting green energy.
We work to strengthen the energy security of the country by aiding the design and implementation of policies that encourage energy efficiency as well as renewable energy. Shakti belongs to an association of technical and policy experts called the ClimateWorks Network. Being a part of this group helps Shakti connect the policy space in India to the rich knowledge pool that resides within this network. For more information visit http://www.shaktifoundation.in/
Vibrant Gujarat Summit Profile for Energy Spectrum SectorVibrant Gujarat
Sufficient renewable energy resources are available to satisfy World’s current and future energy demand. Solar energy alone could meet the existing global energy needs 10,000 times over.
To drive commercialization of wind power, promote research and development in wind power and to support wind power projects in country, Government of India initiated the “Wind Power Program” in the year 1984.
Wind power accounts for 8.5 percent of the total energy mix of India
95 percent of wind power comes from 5 states: Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka.
India’s dependence on coal for energy production is worrying. There is an urgent need to diversify energy sources; it could mean the difference between a robust economy and ones that struggles.
MSLGROUP in India’s latest public affairs newsletter analyses the government’s efforts to establish a renewable energy paradigm.
With solar power prices falling, it is clearly the focus of the push. Wind is another priority area. Ambitious targets have been set but the plan has its flaws. Critics point out that innovative funding models are required, so are tax incentives.
‘Public Affairs Round-up’ also puts under the microscope two landmark legislations – the controversial Land Acquisition Bill and the Insurance Bill. Both have been the subject of intense debate. While industry has lauded both of them, critics say the bills would have an adverse social and economic impact.
Similarly, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) finds itself at the centre of a political storm. A consensus among the states on it was elusive even as the government committed to implementing it next year.
What will they mean for India and will they help achieve the economic resurrection the country needs?
We hope you enjoy reading it. For more information or feedback connect with our India team @MSLGROUP_India or reach out to us on Twitter @msl_group.
Official Document of the J&K Solar policy 2010.
This document is not a work of Headway Solar (http://headwaysolar.com/) and it has been released here for the benefit of the general public.
The consideration of getting green energy or clean energy upheaval is gaining more amazing headway than expected. Solar and wind power have seen outstanding expense declines, and EVs or electric vehicles are surprising the market.
While there is a slight degree of hybrid between clean energy and environmentally friendly power energy, they are not actually something similar. Clean energy is the energy gotten from inexhaustible, zero-emanation sources that don’t dirty the climate as well as save energy by energy proficiency measures.
Govt to revisit, revise power distribution guidelines in National Electricit...Tata Power
“To succeed and survive, Indian Discoms need to quickly embrace digital technology tapping the sophisticated technologies like IoT, analytics, automation and cloud to generate higher efficiency."
- Praveer Sinha. CEO & MD, Tata Power.
The agricultural sector in the country is distressed, water scarcity being a major reason. The agrarian
distress is also intertwined with the woes in the power distribution sector. Of major importance to
development, solving these deeply connected issues will require a holistic approach. The recently
announced KUSUM scheme by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) attempts to address
some of these issues.
KUSUM is presented as a scheme that primarily aims at benefiting farmers.
Softer Solar Landings: Options to Avoid the Investment Tax Credit CliffGW Solar Institute
Federal tax policies have been an important driver for solar’s recent remarkable growth, but without action during the 114th Congress, the 30-percent investment tax credit (ITC) for solar and other clean energy technologies will expire at the end of 2016. If Congress were to allow this policy shock to occur, the economics of solar investments would worsen, reducing solar deployments in 2017 and beyond. Solar jobs would be lost, and solar cost reductions would be delayed. While these negative impacts of current law are undeniable, their magnitude remains an open question. This policy brief estimates the impacts that current law would have on the solar industry. It also formulates several
policy alternatives and estimates their effectiveness at mitigating the negative impacts of the investment tax credit cliff embedded within current law.
PES Wind Magazine - Ingeteam Wind Energy on India's clean energy industryIngeteam Wind Energy
In February 2015, the Indian government announced its plans to almost quadruple its renewable power capacity to 175 GW by 2022 as part of the plan to supply electricity to every household in the country. This includes 60 GW from wind energy. Further, India made a commitment at COP21 to raise the share of non-fossil-fuel power capacity in the country’s power mix to 40% by 2030.
Consequently, these plans and targets make the Indian market a unique fast moving and growing market where competitive companies can have great business opportunities. But, they also come with a complex and unstable legal framework where manufacturers find many obstacles on the way.
Similar to India’s Solar Race toward Next Decade (20)
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Generating a custom Ruby SDK for your web service or Rails API using Smithyg2nightmarescribd
Have you ever wanted a Ruby client API to communicate with your web service? Smithy is a protocol-agnostic language for defining services and SDKs. Smithy Ruby is an implementation of Smithy that generates a Ruby SDK using a Smithy model. In this talk, we will explore Smithy and Smithy Ruby to learn how to generate custom feature-rich SDKs that can communicate with any web service, such as a Rails JSON API.
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
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All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
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In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
FIDO Alliance Osaka Seminar: Passkeys and the Road Ahead.pdf
India’s Solar Race toward Next Decade
1. Author
Saur Energy International is the highest read solar energy Magazine in India enjoying the max.
Readership than any other solar power or power focused Media.
Company - Saur Energy
Website - http://www.saurenergy.com/
India’s Solar Race toward Next Decade
Buoyed by the quite impressive performance of India’s renewable energy sector and especially in
the solar space in recent years, the Government of India took a daring move and revised its
ambitious renewable energy targets from 175 GW to 227 GW by 2022.
Following the move, it also aimed to auction 40 GW of renewable energy projects every year for the
next 10 years till 2028 which comprised of 30 GW of solar and 10 GW of wind energy, indicating
huge potential for domestic manufacturers and developers.
2. Undoubtedly! This is the welcome step taken by the Indian Government in order to fulfil its dream of
achieving sustainable development goals promised at the COP 21 Summit in Paris. To achieve such
ambitious targets, the Government needs to work on war footing and to take some decisive actions
such as it has finally took the call and imposed safeguard duty on solar imports from China PR and
Malaysia for two years.
Now, the move has clear the clouds of uncertainty on solar imports which haunted the entire solar
industry for a long time.
Besides, there are a few other hiccups and challenges such as transmission and grid etc. in the
solar industry which, too, needs to be taken care of on priority basis to live the country’s solar
dreams.
In my journey of exploring about the current scenario of solar space in India, its growth &
development, hindrances related to the policies, and its future as per the government’s ambitious
plans for the sector; a few among the wellknown industry veterans – Basant Jain, CEO, Mahindra
Susten; P. Vinay Kumar, MD India Renewables, Brookfield Asset Management; Guru Inder Mohan
Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Amplus Solar; and Maxson Lewis, MD, Magenta Power, discussed
extensively about their expectations from the government in the near future as well as their concerns
they hope will soon be addressed for the brighter future of solar in the country…
Government is mulling to auction 40 GW renewable energy including 30 GW for solar and 10
GW for wind every year till 2028. In your view, is the government’s target feasible?
Basant Jain
3. India has been adopting and implementing Solar exponentially and the installed capacity has grown
YoY at approximately 98.5% and 130% from 2015-16 and 2017-18 respectively. However, looking at
the aggressive 2028 plan, the 2017-18 installed solar capacity stands at 10 GW which is only 25% of
required annual capacity of Governments 2028 plan. On a global outlook, only China has been able
to install more than 15 GW annually and stands modest at 53 GW installation in FY2017.
Even when EPC companies like ours have scaled up their workforce to achieve more installation
capacity in view of rising demand of PV installation, it is admittedly a welcome but aggressive target
by the Government.
P. Vinay Kumar
It is often too easy to ridicule and be sceptical about the ambition and scale of the government’s
audacious 40 GW bidding goal every year.
But look at the flip side of the macro picture. Renewables today are mainstream, and they are no
longer the exotic fringe of the power sector. They form the core of the power sector today and
probably eclipse the old workhorses viz., coal and gas soon. If we take this perspective and revisit
this goal, it does not at all look ambitious.
But the key to achieving this, is to tackle transmission and Grid bottlenecks. The flagging interest, in
the bids, of late has been largely attributed to the lack of clarity on the allocation transmission
capacity and paucity thereof on the ISTS. This could play spoil sport, to the bidding goal, if not
tackled on war footing.
Guru Inder Mohan Singh
Given the current state of affairs in the renewable energy sector and the challenging revised target
of 227GW by 2022, the government has to focus on creating an enabling environment involving all
stakeholders to actively participate and contribute towards achieving this goal.
An ecosystem of supportive policy and regulatory framework, increasing demand to match supply,
improving financial stability of discoms and augmenting the transmission and distribution network to
accommodate RE generation are some of the enablers that will help in pushing the capacity to meet
the target. Maxson Lewis
At the outset, we are happy that the government has set target’s. Ambitious or not, these targets
push for action on the ground and rightly so. To answer your question, 30 GW in a year would mean
4. close to 80 MW of solar power plants going on stream daily, every day of the year for the next 10
years.
Even if we were to assume that installing these capacities is achievable, given the pace of increase
in manufacturing capacities, the challenge to reaching this goal lies elsewhere – ‘Evacuation of
Power’. Our current grid is incapable of handling even if half of the targeted capacities go online.
This becomes especially serious on two counts:
1). Most solar plants are setup at remote locations and the lack of a grid connectivity makes
the project unviable. Also, solar power generation on that scale does not have a shelf life, a
day of generation lost means that production cannot be recovered, unlike conventional
systems where you can save the fuel to be used later.
2). Secondly, even if available, the grid stability and availability is another critical issue since
solar power evacuation is close knit with grid uptime.
What can be the roadblocks that Indian Government may face in achieving its renewable
goals and what are your suggestions on this?
Basant Jain
The renewable energy industry faces an unusual degree of policy uncertainty. Tax reforms and solar
trade cases have slowed wind and solar deal activity.
The latest recommendation of Safeguard duty by DGTR for period of two years has again left
manufacturers specially in SEZ and developers in grey as the recommendation is open for
inferences and does not come out very clear. Additionally, as renewable source of energy is not
primary source of generation Government should indicate plans to tackle grid imbalance in view of
aggressive renewable targets.
P. Vinay Kumar
Land, transmission and financial health of the discoms remain as the quint essentia bottlenecks. We
can speed up capacity roll outs if government partners with private sector both on the land and
transmission. WE need to incentivise private solar parks and speed up implementation of
government solar parks. Solar parks tie up the land and transmission pieces in one go.
Land pooling and streamlining of Revenue land allotments to the sector will go a long way. Similar is
the case of allotment of forest lands. Land conversion policies are patchy across the country. While
5. states like AP and Telangana have deemed conversion provisions, many other states need to
spruce up their land conversion procedures.
Also the current PPA model, which is purely tariff based needs to revisited. While it has been
successful in driving tariffs down and bringing down the overall cost of power to the consumer, there
is a now a need to review the PPA structure to incentivise other grid services that solar plants can
offer like frequency regulation, peak shaving, capacity on demand etc., Unless we are able to create
a market for Grid services that newer technologies like storage can offer, we may be lagging in
making our Grids smarter and in making them capable of handling intermittent renewable power.
Unless we innovate on these and other technologies like CCS and nuclear — solar and wind will
soon reach a point of “value deflation”, after which additional incremental solar/wind power added to
the Grid will be unwelcome. It is necessary to plan for a future that does not invite value deflation.
The elephant in the room is the financial health of the discoms. While there are no easy answers to
this, the time has come to deal with power subsidies in a transparent manner and grab the bull by its
horns. It is necessary to move subsidies to the government’s balance sheet and free the power
sector of this burdensome legacy.
Some suggestions from the Niti Aayog in the National Energy policy need to be heeded. As they put
it, there is a case of migrating all power subsidies into the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. All
consumers, including agricultural ones need to pay the unsubsidised tariffs for power.
The subsidies can then be deployed in a targeted manner, through DBT or such other transparent
mechanisms. We need the political will to tackle this, just as it has been done in the case of LPG
subsidies. It is often lamented that since Power is a concurrent subject, reform is difficult. This is a
false argument. If we can implement GST (taxes are a concurrent subject), we can do this in Power
too. We need a GST type reform zeal and action in the power sector to tackle the issues.
Guru Inder Mohan Singh
RE in India specifically wind and solar have been experiencing an exponential growth and will add
significant capacity if the momentum is maintained. However, certain recent developments such as
anti-dumping duty and safe guard duty in solar, record low tariffs in wind and shift in focus from wind
to solar tend to dampen the spirit of the sector and creates doubt on long term viability of the sector.
6. India has set up an ambitious target and it can only be achieved if all the stakeholders work together
towards the common goal in a conducive environment enabled by a systematic policy and regulatory
framework.
Maxson Lewis
Like we mentioned earlier, achieving these targets require that the government look at this target
and the green energy intention with a macro view. We can use this solar initiative to drive a revamp
in our power infrastructure. Also, if these capacities come upstream, we will need to plan for the
‘Duck curve’ which will hit the grid in 2-3 years from now.
Another challenge which will need to be addressed is the clarity on the safeguard duties on imported
panels – this has a direct impact on the economics of setting up projects on those targeted scales.
As recently, the Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister asked states to curb the losses
incurred by Discoms. What steps do you feel should be taken by the states in this regard?
Basant Jain
A good way to curb losses can be with implementation of technology like automated energy auditing
software which can provide accurate measurement of line losses. Also peak sharing can be
introduced by virtue of tariff for all consumers not only limiting to industrial consumers.
P. Vinay Kumar
Technical losses require deployment of equipment and technology. Recent APDRP schemes have
shown the way how capex incentives can be tied to loss reduction. It has worked well in some states
and less so in some. There are also deep learnings that these schemes have thrown up over a
period of time, which can be used to come up with innovative and discom centric mechanisms for
reducing technical losses. Loss reduction should be a national goal. We need to reach global levels
here.
Countries like South Korea have shown how this is possible. There are examples that abound and
we can emulate and tailor them to uniquely Indian conditions. The State Gencos and the
Transmission Utilities all over the country play big brother to their Discoms. This does not seem to
be helping. There is a case which can be made out for empowering discoms to handle their own
affairs with effective and light touch oversight by the STUs and Gencos.
7. Commercial losses require administrative will, political support with a dose of technology. The
prescriptions are well known.
Guru Inder Mohan Singh
Financial viability of distribution companies is a major concern and would hamper the growth of RE
in the country. Hence, definitive measures are needed to help discoms recover and become
financially stable. UDAY scheme has really helped discoms reduce their losses by almost 50% in
FY-18 by reining in the cost of electricity generation at state owned power plants, tariff hikes and
digitising the billing and collection process.
In this regard following recommendations might be helpful in order to improve the financial health of
discoms and keep the market attractive for investors.
• Effective implementation of UDAY scheme
• Bringing in operational efficiencies which will bring down costs
• Tapping into RE which is cheaper than conventional power which will bring down APPC
(average power purchase cost)
• Technical improvements to curb power thefts to reduce AT&C losses
Maxson Lewis
AT&C losses have been a bane which the governments have been trying to address for decades
now. Positive steps have been taken and we have come a long way from the time when the AT&C
losses were higher than amount accounted and paid for.
But truly solving this issue requires a technical and importantly a socio-political angle to it. Technical
solutions like Smart metering, Pre-paid meters and upgradation of the distribution network are the
easier part to solve and implement. The socio-political interventions will require political will power
and implementation of the rule of the land for erring parties.
Accountability at the state levels was helped by the trifurcation of the DISCOMS, but I believe
somewhere in between we have not forced the accountability with the same intent with which the
trifurcation was done.
As renewable installations surge in India, no. of trade disputes affecting solar too climbed. In
your opinion, what are the issues to be resolved on priority?
Basant Jain
8. A uniform and clear net metering policy needs to be implemented to avoid any future probable
disputes. To have a better demand and supply management, all energy meters to have a common
platform and an automated and transparent metering system.
P. Vinay Kumar
Trade disputes surrounding solar are common across the world and are not unique to India. The
recent imposition of antidumping duties and previous instances where this has been done in the US
and Europe evidence this. It is only natural, as the world’s energy sector is going through a massive
transition to clean and renewable energy. This is a reality we need to live it.
Government needs to understand that while the sector can deal with tariffs, dumping investigations,
WTO compliances etc., and all the things that a rapid energy transition can throw at the sector, what
the sector cannot deal with is – uncertainty, especially long periods of indecisiveness and drawn out
investigations of trade disputes. Trade disputes needs to be resolved swiftly and decisively.
The inordinately long time taken by the government recently in handling the Customs classification
dispute on solar panels, and the ongoing safeguard and antidumping investigations leave much to
be desired. After years of experience in trade facing public policy, we still need to get the basics
right. It is not much consequence whether a levy is fair or unfair, what does matter is the speed and
clarity with which disputes are resolved, and how long term stability can be achieved in public policy.
Policy stability is important and our fondness for constant tinkering needs curbing.
Guru Inder Mohan Singh
The solar sector needs to stabilise in terms of consolidation and disputes affecting the sector so that
capacity addition can be an efficient and smooth process. The recent developments has created a
stir and doubt in the mind of developers and investors alike and government must provide clarity on
the following issues to keep the general sentiment optimistic.
• Pass through of additional duty such as the recent safeguard duty.
• Implementation of anti-dumping duty which keeps coming and going.
India has highly challenging target to achieve and such developments create uncertainty in the
minds of the developer, questions the viability of ongoing projects and might dampen investor
interests.
Maxson Lewis
9. Undoubtedly, the disputes are bound to increase in a fast industry with a lot of entrants whose
intents are purely economic. The entry barriers being low, we find a lot of layers between the lead
agency working on the project and the actual agency working on the ground delivering the
installation.
There are only a few good installers of repute who can take up and execute project end to end.
However, most projects are given out on the basis of the one who can quote lowest, which
effectively is driven by the depth of the pockets involved, and not a view of the technical capabilities.
Clarity on rules regarding land usage for solar installations is another challenge that needs to be
addressed.Our view is that one big set of disputes lie with the obligation of the authorities who are
supposed to make the payments for the power generated.
Large number of unpaid bills for power generated is an issue which is directly hitting the business
cases negatively and projects are turning into NPAs. Indiscriminate PPAs signed with a short term
view to win projects are coming back to haunt the roost. Our prediction is this will be one of the
biggest issues impacting the solar industry in a few months, not years.
Author
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