Vietnam

Coronavirus disruption has been cited as the chief culprit as imports from China, Thailand and Vietnam slumped from April to January, but safeguarding duty also appears to have had an impact, with unaffected imports from nations such as Myanmar, Chad and Russia on the rise and Malaysian trade keeping steady.

The National Solar Energy Federation of India and Vietnam Clean Energy Association signed the pact to exchange best practices and explore business opportunities in solar energy. 

The analyst said currently, India and Australia are the only Asia Pacific countries where renewable power already costs lower than new-build coal. It predicted the trend would spread to the entire region by the end of the decade, while India and Australia would see renewables becoming further cheaper than coal.

Southeast Asia, when taken as a whole, is a global laggard in the uptake of renewable energy, but some countries are leading the way, such as Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar. And as ‘Angry Clean Energy Guy’ Assaad W. Razzouk argues, policymakers in the region cannot hold back the tide of solar and wind for much longer.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.

The import duty will be levied on Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai solar cells – whether assembled into modules or not – at 14.9% from today and falling to 14.5% in six months’ time. Malaysian products are exempted as their imports have fallen dramatically since the duty was imposed, in July 2018.

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had invited consulting proposals for its ambitious globally interconnected power grid plan called ‘one sun, one world, one grid’ (OSOWOG). The program—taken up with assistance from the World Bank— aims at seamless sharing of renewable energy resources among countries for mutual benefits and global sustainability.

The commercial and industrial solar developer, which commands a significant share in the Indian market, will use the amount to fund rooftop PV installations for corporates across Southeast Asia.

July 6 is the last date to submit proposals for the ambitious ‘one sun, one world, one grid’ plan that aims at seamless sharing of renewable energy resources among countries for mutual benefits and global sustainability. The program has been taken up by the Ministry with assistance from the World Bank.

While China continues to be the top solar module exporter to India, Thailand doubled its module exports to India from $55.05 million in 2018-19 to $110.39 million during the first nine months (April-December) of the current fiscal. Vietnam’s module exports to India also rose sharply from $91.97 million to $127.21 million.