Community

A robust distributed renewable energy ecosystem with a strong domestic industry will help provide good-quality, reliable electricity to rural households and enterprises and thus turbocharge green entrepreneurship—paving the way for a self-reliant India.

The decentralized solar solutions provider shall use the amount to scale up its pay-per-use, solar-powered irrigation, milling, and cooling projects for farmers and to expand its operations. 

India will require large swaths of land for the huge expansion of renewable energy capacity over the coming decades. The energy transition requires planning for proper siting of these plants and solutions like agrivoltaics, distributed energy systems, and offshore wind to reduce land-use conflicts.

UK’s development finance institution CDC will invest $1 billion in green projects in India between 2022-26. Besides, UK has committed a new $200-million private and multilateral investment into the joint UK-India Green Growth Equity Fund that invests in Indian renewable energy.

‘More than 90’ suppliers of appliances such as solar lanterns and home solar panels, as well as mini-grid installers, will be offered low-interest credit by an assortment of government-backed and privately-financed entities.

The adoption of local, community-based energy solutions like rooftop solar and batteries can help make the energy grid more flexible and reliable. Home solar and batteries will enable the growth of ‘prosumers’ who produce and share energy, as well as consume it.

Small and marginal farmers in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar are making productive use of solar energy to reduce their losses and increase income, thanks to an innovative pay-per-use cooling service for perishable horticulture produce. 

The global off-grid solar appliance market began an uneven recovery from the worst ravages of the global pandemic in the second half of last year, according to market body GOGLA, but more finance and policy support must be made available to have any chance of achieving universal electricity access this decade.

Solar power generators have until June 15 to bid for the development of projects on a build-own-operate basis. The ceiling tariff payable for the electricity generated has been fixed at INR 3.10/kWh.

A new report states decentralized solar installations in climate-vulnerable regions of Assam, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan lacked design to deal with future climate risks. The report authors, based on their study, outline considerations for policymakers, implementing agencies, vendors, and funding agencies to build resilient structures.