INDUSTRY I INDIA OPTION
FIT and 20-GW National Solar Mission lose value in India
India is tipped as one the hot spots of growth for the global solar industry but some still treat the area with caution due to an unsure decision making process that occurs at all levels of Indian politics. Bhupesh Trivedi is the CEO of Mumbai-based solar energy consulting firm REECODE Energy Solutions and he discusses how the changing landscape of political commitment in India has once again moved the goal posts for how companies will operate in the region.
T
here is another game-changer in India. Feed-in-tariffs and the ambitious government-sponsored 20-GW National Solar Mission (NSM) have lost value in India. The change actually will open the floodgates for investments in solar power sector, reduce government’s subsidy burden, and put the country’s solar plans on the fast-track. It is just that the business will become more market-driven, rather than being government subsidy-driven. Across the country, the existing conventional power cost ranges from Rs 7 to Rs 12 per unit for industrial and
34
www.solar-international.net I Issue III 2012
commercial users, against the new solar power benchmark price of Rs 7 per unit at which a company won bid in Odisha state recently.
With falling project costs, bidders wanting to sign PPAs under different government policies may offer rates lower than Rs 7 per unit to supply power to government-owned power distribution companies. At the other end, new and under-construction thermal power plants with a total capacity of 42,000 MW are
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40