Procurement

The Biden administration has upheld an exclusion for bifacial panels in its new extension of Section 201 tariffs, while ramping up the annual tariff rate quota for cells to 5GW.

Norway’s Scatec, which has a 50% stake in Acme’s 900 MW solar project in Rajasthan, cited a lack of domestic solar panel supply and the 40% import duty on solar panels effective from April as the reasons for putting the PV project on hold.

German engineering association the VDMA has reported increasing orders and sales for PV equipment suppliers in the third quarter. China accounted for around 80% of PV production equipment demand during the period.

The industry body wrote the State’s new bill to redetermine solar tariffs will render the already operating projects unviable and power producers will find it difficult to repay their loans. It sought the law minister’s intervention in highlighting their concerns to the President with whom the Bill is presently pending approval.

With 7.4 GW of new solar already installed in the first nine months, the year 2021 is headed to become one of the best years on record for new solar installation in India.

The successful contractor will install the arrays in blocks of 2-10 MW and will carry out all stages of installation, from site surveys through to 12 years’ operation and maintenance.

The gains from the bundling of cheaper renewable energy with high-cost thermal will be shared between the generator and distribution companies on a 50:50 basis.

A new study proposes an ‘extended producer responsibility’ based regulatory framework for end-of-life (EOL) solar PV management in India. Under the framework, the Government of India (GoI) works as the nodal agency, defining the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders and regulating the overall supply chain. The onus of EOL solar PV take-back, transportation, storage, recovery, and destruction lies on the manufacturers, with the entire system cost borne by an executive committee formed by the manufacturers.  

After the ravages of Covid-19, electricity shortages in China have now raised costs for its solar manufacturers, with knock-on effects for developers in India too, again highlighting the dangers of relying on a single solar supply chain.

A new report finds the current credit rating mechanism for power distribution companies in India is highly linked to their operational and financial performance. The report highlights the need to revise discom ratings to reflect their green mandates, decarbonization plans, and tariff implications to resolve the challenges of payables (and receivables).