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India should have crossed atleast 60 GW of Solar Power Capacity as against
40.08 GW as on 31 March 2021. India need to increase Solar Power by
commissioning by nearly 65 GW to reach the capacity of 100 GW by fiscal
2022, to meet Hon. Prime Minister dream. Which now seems not in achievable,
however even if we add 20 GW by year end it will be phenomenal but that to
is a over expectation. You can call a pandemic effect or DCR initiatives are
concerned. It still falls short of the National Solar Mission target by a
huge margin.
We expect an additional of another 15 to 20 GW max by year end Which
makes the total capacity to around 45-50 GW. Just half even less of our
Prime Ministers ambitation. Further the Atamanirbhar Bharat initiative
making DCR compulsory for Govt. Agency partnered Companies Power plants, has
certainly slowed down the coming up of Plants. Things are not going to be
easy even after reaching 50 GW.
India then imposed a 20% levy on imported solar modules, cells and
inverters from August 2020, replacing the current safeguard duty. Numerous
local reports state the levy was proposed by Indian power minister RK Singh
during a call with industry representatives, confirming that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's government intended to impose a Basic Custom Duty (BCD) of
20% on imports.
That BCD, which comes as part of the 'AtamaNirbhar Bharat' initiative
designed at stimulating domestic manufacturing, was replaced by another set
of regulations which got effective from August 2020.
The update serves as confirmation of duties first teased within the Union
budget earlier this year, which at the time set no particular time frame for
the introduction of such levies. It would also seem to remove any confusion
over potential exemptions for components or equipment, as were suggested a
month later.
It also comes amidst a push from India's Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy to rekindle domestic renewable manufacturing having witnessed imports
struggle with logistics issues posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on
going conflict with China. All this augurs well for future of solar in
India. With corporate giants like Ambani showing interest it may not be long
that India becomes one of the leaders solar energy.
In May 2020, the government said that it had designated
Solar PV Manufacturing, as well as advanced battery manufacture as 'Champion
Sectors' of national self-reliance and would be supporting both with
incentives.
In addition, Union Minister for Power Mr. RK Singh also confirmed that an
approved list of PV manufacturers for use in government-backed solar
projects would be published by the end of this year, having been pushed back
from the original date of April following the onset of the pandemic. While
expected, the news will come as blow to Chinese inverter manufacturers which
have come to dominate India's rooftop solar inverter market.
Softdisk believes that lower the PPP lesser is the possibility of the
project development company to survive, and more importantly the PPP
negotiated with various Governments should revisited and allow higher PPP.
The rates such as Rs 2.44 per unit as these will never allow the 500 MW
plant to recover its money in 15 years time leave alone profits, by that
time maintenance and reduced yield will become focus area. Already the PPA
executed by Uttar Pradesh Govt. was at 2.88 per unit.
India will not be able to achieve its ambitious target of generating 100
GW Solar Power by 2022. In a report, Softdisk research wing said that in the
best-case scenario, the country will touch 65-70 GW, against the current
capacity of 35.12 GW as on June 2020. But the pandemic reduced it further
to 50-55 GW.
"We are more confident that projects with the Solar Energy Corp. of India
(SECI) will be executed faster; their projects are better able to deal with
evacuation concerns (i.e. connection to the national grid)," said Salil
Chatterjee, head
Softdisk Research. SECI also cancelled 950 MW of solar tenders in July,
unhappy with the tariffs that developers were bidding.
"The government must be live with the outcome of bid price; it should go
ahead with these projects even if tariffs are higher than what they like," Salil said.
"It's hard to say which tariff is unreasonable; it's hard to
predict whether module prices will go up or down in the future. If bids are
scrapped, you'll further delay the overall program." India is the world's
third-largest energy consumer after the US and China. Its renewable energy
program is ambitious where as it stands far from it now.
Since 1st April 2022 - 40% BCD on solar modules and 25%
BCD on solar cells will be applicable. Now how under development projects
will be completed with out escalation in price.
 This
will ensure that PM announces another ambition plan to increase by 50GW i.e
to have 150GW by 31st March 2025, which may ensure that this 100 GW (1st
Ambition) at least gets fulfilled & crossed.
Solar PV industry analysts and project developers in India feel that
imposing BCD will be a negative step in the overall goal for de-carbonizing
the energy sector in India, where tremendous progress has been made in the
last four years.
Levying such duties will drastically affect solar power developers and
capacity addition targets set by the government of India.We have been
advocating for quite some time that there should be a level-playing field in
terms of uniform taxation and levy of duty for every manufacturer in the
country, including both who are inside SEZ and DTA, he lament.
Softdisk believes that if a measure promotes domestic manufacturing then
we should definitely do that. When we talk about domestic manufacturing, we
should also keep in mind to be independent of imports not just on modules
but cells, wafers, and ingots, and device strategies to strengthen domestic
supply chains for the same. Vertical integration is essential and should be
definitely done.
Some reports suggest that renewable energy projects already commissioned
might not be able to take advantage of the 'grandfather clause' to import
any solar equipment from China. Since the grandfathering was announced, we
have collected information of all the projects that are in the pipeline. So,
we have collected information on 111 projects with 30-GW capacity in the
pipeline. Immediately after the announcement came six months back, we stood
up with the Government for 'grandfathering' because we believe that there
are still a lot of pending claims for the 'change in law' compensations for
safeguard duty and GST from 2017 and 2018. Those compensations have not been
awarded.
Recently the Minister in statement said that it is not possible to
'grandfather'. But, we believe that grandfathering will go a long way to
help developers because it will ease them from the additional burden of the
safeguard duty (SGD) or basic customs duty (BCD). Secondly, even though
'grandfathering' is not possible then the ministry should consider a mode of
compensation mechanism which would not get dragged over time and the claims
by developers are compensated as early as possible.
The minister has said that it will be in line with the coal-based cess
where, at present based on the increase in the coal cess or surcharge, the
generators are able to claim the increase directly through the intermediary
and they will get a post-facto regulatory approval. In principle it looks
fine, provided it is implemented in this form where the developers can get
benefit right from day one.
The reason behind it is that we have an ambitious renewable energy target
and it requires a lot of capital. And when we have BCD, it is the direct
equity of a company that is going into paying these additional costs. That
means that this money, which was supposed to go into new projects, is going
in paying these duties which is not good for our target and solar
proliferation. So, there should be enough liquidity with the industry both
in terms of payments receivables from the discoms as well as these
compensations that come up due to certain 'change in law' so that the
industry does not suffer a cash crunch.
If it is in the interest of the country or if it is taking us in the path
of energy security, while we are transitioning to new energy forms, then no
one will be against such trade barriers. However, if there are no enabling
policies in place for promoting domestic manufacturing, then BCD might not
do justice for providing domestic manufacturing as they should.
More incentives should be provided for developers and large-scale plants
for using domestic products because otherwise it will be very difficult to
ensure demand for Indian modules. The government has also come up with
domestic content requirement schemes such as KUSUM. If fully implemented, it
will help uptake of about 25,000 MW domestically-made cells and modules.
That is a huge demand, almost twice the module demand of our current
capacity.
According to our reports the Govt. Will be soon launching a Solar
Manufacturing Facilitation Programme.
This is aimed at creating a platform to bring domestic and foreign
investors, and Indian industry together along with providing information
related to manufacturing incentives in every state of the country. Exporting
renewable power among states should be welcomed as it is a very good trend
and it will come up more in RE rich states. It is a historic move by Andhra
& Tamil Nadu.
On the global front, we already have the International Solar Alliance
(ISA), which any country can join now, and we at Softdisk believe that the
ISA and its programmes will be a good arena for taking Indian businesses
into countries where we did not have any chance to penetrate.
All said and & done Softdisk believes that Govt. should take all
positive step to help companies setup Solar Cell Manufacturing facilities on
large scale. For this a lot of investment should come from government side
without which having large projects will merely remain a dream. It will
require very high end players to accomplish such projects independently.
Which States Have the Highest Solar PV Power Installed In India?
The solar energy generation in terms of installed Solar PV power
generations systems have been listed.
However potential in a specific area can be assessed based on factors
like availability of land, solar radiation etc. The National Institute of
Solar Energy (NISE), an apex institute of Ministry of New & Renewable Energy
(MNRE), has estimated the potential of solar power in the country to be
around 750 GWp. However, India has just reached an aggregate installed
capacity of grid-interactive solar energy at 40.08 GW as of 31st March,
2021.
 The
top ten states in terms of the installed power generation in India along
with their installed s potential of power generation capacity are as
follows :
Karnataka
Karnataka are in No 1 position in the list of states with largest
installed base till 31st March 2021, Karnataka's cumulative installed
grid-connected solar power generation capacity too grew significantly to
7,355.17 MW (or 7.35 GW) as on March 31, 2021. Karnataka has performed
well in terms of installation as compared to all the other states having
a higher potential of solar energy generation. The state has until
recently, offered one of the better open access regimes for renewable
power, which has also helped it moved ahead with the highest solar
energy production in the country. Karnataka's total estimated solar
energy generation capacity is close to 24.70 Gwp.
Rajasthan
Rajasthan are in No 2 position in the list of states with second
largest installed base till 31st March 2021, its total installed
grid-connected solar energy generation capacity stood at merely
5,732.58 MW (or 5.7 GW approx) as on March 31, 2021.
In recent times, the state has moved ahead with a more aggressive
solar expansion plan, ensuring it remains a key contributor to the
national goal of 100 GW solar by 2022. With the highest solar energy
production in the country. It is having an aggregate solar power
potential of 142.31 gigawatts (Gwp).
Tamilnadu
Tamilnadu are in No 3 position in the list of states with third
largest installed base till 31st March 2021, its total installed
grid-connected solar energy generation capacity stood at merely
4,475.21 MW (or 4.4 GW approx) as on March 31, 2021. In recent times,
the state has moved ahead with a more aggressive solar expansion plan,
ensuring it remains a key contributor to the national goal of 100 GW
solar by 2022 with the highest solar energy production. It is having an
aggregate solar power potential of 140.23 gigawatts (Gwp).
Gujarat
Gujrat are in No 4 position in the list of states with large
installed base till 31st March 2021, the state's total installed
grid-interactive solar power generation capacity stood at 4,430.82 MW
(or 4.4 GW) as on March 31, 2021, and represent the state with quite
satisfactory numbers as compared to other higher potential states with
its contributions in solar energy production in the country. Its total
potential solar energy generation capacity is calculated at 35.77 Gwp.
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh are in No 5 position in the list of states with large
installed base till 31st March 2021, Andhra Pradesh's total installed
grid-connected solar energy generation capacity reached 4,203.00 MW (or
4.2 GW) as on March 31, 2021. If there were not policy-related hurdles
in the recent past these numbers could be much higher. with its
contributions to solar energy production in the country.
Its aggregate solar power potential is estimated at 38.44 Gwp.
Telangana
Telangana are in No 6 position in the list of states with large
installed base till 31st March 2021,Telangana's total installed
grid-connected solar energy generation capacity, including rooftop and
ground-mounted, stood at only 3,953.12 MW (or 3.96 GW) at the end of
March 2021. With its high level of industrialization, this central
Indian state has the potential to be a game-changer for the entire
energy mix for the country. With its contributions to solar energy
production in the country.
Its aggregate solar power potential capacity is calculated at 35.20
Gwp.
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh are in No 7 position in the list of states with large
installed base till 31st March 2021 the state's cumulative installed
grid-interactive solar power generation touched 2,463.22 MW (or over 2.4
GW) While, Madhya Pradesh has done more installations as compared to
Maharashtra and Jammu & Kashmir, thanks to the progress of its massive
REWA solar park. However, the state's recent signing up for more thermal
projects will definitely disappoint those expecting better things from
the state. With its contributions to solar energy production in the
country.
Its total solar energy generation capacity is estimated at 61.66 GWp.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra are in No 8 position in the list of states with large
installed base till 31st March 2021. Maharashtra's total installed
grid-connected solar energy generation capacity, including rooftop and
ground-mounted, stood at 2,289.97 MW (or 2.3 GW) at the end of March
2021. With its high level of industrialization, this central Indian
state has the potential to be a game-changer for the entire energy mix
for the country.
Its aggregate solar power potential capacity is calculated at 64.32
GWp.
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh are in No 9 position in the list of states with large
installed base till 31st March 2021. While the state's total installed
grid-interactive solar energy capacity touched 1,172.50 MW (or nearly
1.1 GW) at the end of March 2021. Uttar Pradesh has also picked up the
pace and is targeting now over 10 GW of renewable energy capacity
addition including solar in the state. The state has a tough battle
ahead if it is to overcome its reputation of high potential and low
actualization.
It's aggregate estimated solar energy generation capacity stood at
22.83 Gwp.
Punjab
Punjab are in No 10 position in the list of states with large
installed base till 31st March 2021, Punjab's total installed
grid-connected solar energy generation capacity, including rooftop and
ground-mounted, stood at only 9,59.50 MW
(or 0.95 GW) at the end of March 2021. With its high level of
industrialization & Agro based industry, this northern Indian state has
the potential to be a big contributor for the energy mix with its
contributions to solar energy production in the country.
Its aggregate solar power potential capacity is calculated at 20.05
Gwp however there are chances that its solar power potential capacity
can be increased by using floating solar technology.
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