The long read: Case for optimization
While India’s solar potential is unquestionable, progress has been uneasy and race-to-the-bottom pricing has held back the adoption of technologies such as MLPE. However, that is beginning to change, writes Prasidh Kumar, CEO of Soreva Energy, as grid modernization requires proactive monitoring and optimization technologies.
Solar made up 50% of India’s new power capacity in 2018
The level of new solar capacity – 8,263 MW – however, was 15.5% down from the 9,782 MW added in 2017 owing to safeguarding duty and GST taking a toll on large-scale PV. While utility-scale solar declined 23% year-on-year, rooftop PV remained a bright spot, and registered impressive growth of 66%.
Schneider Electric pulls out of utility-scale PV business
The French power electronics specialist is pulling out of the utility-scale segment to strengthen its profile in the residential and C&I space.
A solar decade: From 9 MW to 28 GW
There is widespread doubt about whether India can achieve its 100 GW solar target by 2022 but, having started from a base of only 9 MW of capacity 10 years ago, it would be foolish to write off the prospects of this solar superpower.
Government approves Rs46,000 crore for KUSUM and rooftop solar
The government of India has approved central financial support of more than Rs46,000 crore by 2022 to promote solar among farmers and in the residential sector. The KUSUM scheme for farmers has been allocated Rs34,422 crore and the rooftop solar program Rs11,814 crore.
Q4 utility-scale solar down 46%: Bridge To India
India’s utility-scale solar capacity addition during October-December 2018 went down 46 per cent over the corresponding period of 2017. In contrast, rooftop solar grew strongly at 47 per cent.
Magenta Power and Mahindra Susten partner to offer customised rooftop solar solutions
Magenta Power, a Mumbai-based solar power and electric vehicle charging solutions provider, and Mahindra Susten, renewable arm of US$20.7-billion multinational Mahindra Group, will jointly work towards developing technological solutions and rooftop solar power installations.
The long read: The untapped potential of the MENA region
The region’s climate, developing economies and demographic growth are driving increased electricity demand in the Middle East and North Africa. However, as a hub of conventional energy supply, the region has been slow to embrace PV. To capture more of the value chain and deliver the full potential of solar, there are increasing calls for distributed generation deployment to play a bigger role.
Will solar power take root in India’s smallest state?
Subsidies from central and state bodies will help photovoltaics get within reach of similarly sponsored conventional electricity, which begs the question, why not remove subsidies for both?
By 2030, solar tariffs in India could fall below Rs 2 per unit
The cost of wind would fall to Rs 2.3-2.6/kWh, while solar tariff would reduce to Rs 1.9-2.3/kWh. The cost of storage will fall by about 70%, according to a report.
