The lowest solar tariff, of Rs3.17 per unit, was quoted by the NTPC utility and Maheshwari Mining and Energy, for 140 MW and 20 MW of grid connected PV capacity, respectively.

Saurabhbhai Patel, Minister of Energy, Government of Gujarat, has announced that the state will soon issue a 250 MW grid-connected solar tender linked with storage. He also said that Gujarat will add more than 5 GW of new PV capacity in the next three years.

The recent 500 MW grid-connected solar capacity tendered by the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) was oversubscribed by 250 MW. A reverse auction will now be held on October 9. The capacity is part of the previous 1 GW tendered capacity, which was oversubscribed by around 800 MW, but cancelled due to high tariffs

India’s Prime Minister kick started the first Assembly of the ISA, the second IORA Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting, and the 2nd Global RE-Invest yesterday in Greater Noida. The agenda of the day? Universal access to solar energy at affordable rates; securing 40% of India’s electricity generation from non-fossil fuels by 2030, and allocating up to US$80 billion to boost domestic PV manufacturing.

Taiwan has joined Malaysia in requesting consultations with India under the safeguard agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), following India’s decision to impose 25% safeguard duties on imports of solar cells, whether or not assembled in modules.

pv magazine’s Future PV Roundtable, held at the 2018 Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo in Greater Noida, discussed how India can better adopt bifacial solar cell and module technology – the future of power generation. Prominent industry speakers also put forth their views on how standards can catalyze solar innovation for India-specific challenges, and on PV materials and components for enhanced module efficiency and recycling.

pv magazine’s Quality Roundtable at the 2018 Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo, took place in front of a packed audience. It discussed current problem areas; how solar developers and solution providers can improve the quality of Indian solar PV installations; and innovative financial instruments to reduce the cost of debt and scale up infrastructure investment.

If India covers just one third of its major water reservoirs with floating solar installations, it could generate as much as 700 GW of solar power. However, it’s still early days for floating solar in the country, given the lack of technical experience and higher implementation costs.

Of the total 9,538 MW of solar capacity commissioned between October 2017 and September 2018, Adani bagged the lion’s share at 11%, followed by Acme (7.5%) and Renew Power (7.3%), finds Bridge to India. The analyst company also tracks tariff trends between 2016 and now.

By adopting resource efficiency measures, the Indian PV solar manufacturing sector can reduce its material requirement from an estimated 12 million tons to 8.2 million tons by 2030. The resource-efficient approach will also increase efficiency to more than 30% from 6% in 2018, according to a study conducted under the European Union’s Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU-REI) Project.