Bidders have until February 28 to lodge their interest in developing grid-connected, ground-mounted solar plants in sizes of 2-10 MW in various districts of Maharashtra. The ceiling tariff is fixed at INR 3.10/kWh.

The budget presented today by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocates an extra INR19,500 crore (US$2,602 million) to the production-linked incentive scheme for solar and notifies basic customs duty of 40% on foreign-made solar modules and 25% on cells, from April.

The Chinese manufacturer will supply its 3.125 MW central inverter solution SG3125HV for the 75 MW solar power project being set up by state-owned hydropower producer SJVN Limited.

Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited has invited bids to set up an aggregate 166 MW of grid-connected solar plants in Gujarat. The plants shall come up at locations around GETCO substations in Kutchh, Morbi, and Surendranagar districts. Bidding closes on February 25.

The State Bank of India has set up a dedicated centralized cell that will process loan applications for commercial and residential solar projects sourced across India by Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd.

Players in the electric mobility sector call for a reduction in goods and services tax on electric vehicle (EV) batteries, easy access to low-cost finance for EV buyers, and expansion of FAME Scheme subsidy to ICE-to-EV conversion kits. They also expect the government to enhance the manufacturing capacity and financial layout under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced-chemistry battery cells.

The Chinese solar manufacturer has signed a deal with Indian developer Clean Solar Power to supply 250 MW of BIPRO series bifacial modules for a solar project in Rajasthan.

Philippines-based AC Energy and Hong Kong-headquartered UPC Renewables’ solar energy arm are jointly building a 300 MWac (420 MWp) solar farm in Madhya Pradesh. The plant, when completed, will be the joint venture’s third and largest solar project in India to date.

Power minister RK Singh recently met with renewable energy developers and industry representatives to discuss the draft Policy on energy storage systems. He informed the participants the government is looking to delicense the setting up of energy storage systems not co-located with renewable energy generation facilities.

The NASDAQ-listed Indian renewable energy developer has sold off its 117 MW/138 MWp of distributed rooftop solar portfolio to Hyderabad-based Fourth Partner Energy for INR 6.72 billion (US$89.9 million), ensuring its increased focus on higher-return, larger-scale projects.