Policy

India’s leading infrastructure finance company IL&FS expects up to Rs 80 billion from wind and solar asset sales.

With the announcement of a National Energy Storage Mission expected this month, 2019 is set to be a year of manufacturing and research and development opportunities in India’s storage sector

Products and companies which fail to make the list will be excluded from a wide range of government-backed projects. The list is set to apply from the end of March 2020 but new tenders will incorporate listing requirements from now on.

Of the colossal sum, 350 GW would be for solar. India currently has installed renewable energy capacity of 75 GW with a further 46 GW under implementation.

India contributed to one-third of the global sales of distributed solar products during January-June 2018. Indian manufacturers can further leverage the International Solar Alliance (ISA) platform to engage with the global market, says Viraj Gada, GOGLA’s India regional representative and spokesperson for The India Distributed Energy Forum and Expo (IDEF), in an interview with pv magazine ahead of the event on January 30 and 31 in New Delhi.

Under the new Solar Policy 2018 announced on Thursday, Andhra Pradesh has set a minimum target of 5 GW of newly installed PV power capacity over the next five years.

With the Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council’s new recommendation of a concessional 5% GST on just 70% of the gross value of contracts coming into effect yesterday, the government and solar developers have again locked horns over taxation norms.

Tariff ceilings, safeguard duties, a falling rupee and mandated manufacturing capacity turned 2018 into a year of annulled tenders, and no shows by bidders.

2018 has been a volatile year for the Indian solar industry, with several hits and misses. They include the government yo-yoing over safeguard duties, annulled tenders, confusion over Goods & Services Tax (GST), record installation figures, yet predictions that the country will not meet its ambitious target of achieving 100 GW solar capacity by 2022.

Having reflected on the year gone by, it is time to turn attention to the coming year. Many predictions may not fully, or even partially, bear the fruit they promise – and the unexpected is always lurking in the background – however they can be a useful indicator of certain pathways and growth areas. With this in mind, the pv magazine team has compiled a list of the top 14 solar PV and energy storage trends expected to characterize 2019. What do you think? Have we missed anything?