Solar power: India
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Companies that have the documents in place have started working on the project. "The meeting with the Tangedco chairman and other members was a manner of assurance of support and we have started progress on our project. The team is on the site and we are in talks with banks for financing," said T R Kishor Nair, President, Welspun Energy, which is setting up a 60 MW plant in Trichy district. Solar policies in other states haven't made as much progress and capacities also aren't as large as in Tamil Nadu. While Andhra Pradesh has a target of 1,000 MW, tariff is a deterrent for investors as it is fixed at Rs 6.49 with no annual hike. The programmes in states like Punjab (300 MW) and Karnataka (130 MW) are on a smaller scale and are in the nascent stage. What adds to Tamil Nadu's attractiveness is that the state has high solar radiation of 5.6 - 6.0 kWh per square meter with around 300 clear sunny days in a year, the third highest in India. | Companies that have the documents in place have started working on the project. "The meeting with the Tangedco chairman and other members was a manner of assurance of support and we have started progress on our project. The team is on the site and we are in talks with banks for financing," said T R Kishor Nair, President, Welspun Energy, which is setting up a 60 MW plant in Trichy district. Solar policies in other states haven't made as much progress and capacities also aren't as large as in Tamil Nadu. While Andhra Pradesh has a target of 1,000 MW, tariff is a deterrent for investors as it is fixed at Rs 6.49 with no annual hike. The programmes in states like Punjab (300 MW) and Karnataka (130 MW) are on a smaller scale and are in the nascent stage. What adds to Tamil Nadu's attractiveness is that the state has high solar radiation of 5.6 - 6.0 kWh per square meter with around 300 clear sunny days in a year, the third highest in India. | ||
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| + | =Solar power market= | ||
| + | ==2015-16: large corporates dominate== | ||
| + | [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=Solar-power-market-Little-room-for-small-players-09092016021029 ''The Times of India''], Sep 09 2016 | ||
| + | [[File: Leading solar rooftop installers in India.jpg|Leading solar rooftop installers in India; Graphic courtesy: [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=Solar-power-market-Little-room-for-small-players-09092016021029 ''The Times of India''], Sep 09 2016|frame|500px]] | ||
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| + | Sanjay Dutta | ||
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| + | '''Solar power market: Little room for small players under the sun''' | ||
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| + | India's fragmented solar power market is gradually witnessing a build-up of domination by private equity-backed large corporates, with the Adani group putting the largest number of projects in the pipeline and Tata Power leading in rooftop installation. | ||
| + | The shift is indicated by the fact that the top 20 developers account for almost 80% of projects under development.But they account for only 58% of the 8.1GW (Giga Watt) capacity already installed, while the rest is spread among 500 other companies, says a report by global green energy market tracker Mercom Capital. | ||
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| + | The government has set a target of installing 175 GW solar power capacity by 2022 as part of its overall climate management plan. This is one of the factors encouraging big corporates, which have leveraging capacity to raise cheaper funds, to enter the arena. “In a tough market driven hyper-competitive rever by hyper-competitive reverse auctions and low margins, large conglomerates with deep pockets and strong balance sheets that can access financing at much lower rates, private equity-backed firms, and international companies with access to cheaper funding abroad are well-positio ned to dominate the sector.Other than one-off projects, smaller developers will struggle to grow as financing, low bids, and the policy push towards larger projects will make growth challenging,“ the report says. | ||
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| + | Adani has put projects with a total capacity of 2 GW in the pipeline to capture 11% of the market within two years of entering the sector. ReNew Power, a wind and solar company backed by Goldman Sachs, is right behind with a 10% market share. The remaining pecking order is made up of SunEdison, which is slated for acquisition, with 8.5% market share, ACME 8%, Azure Power 5%, Tata Power 3.8%, Suzlon and Hero Future Energies with 3.7% of the market. | ||
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| + | As far as installed capacity goes, Tata Power leads by notching up a 9% share by acquiring Welspun's project portfolio. ACME follows with 7% share, SunEdison 5.5% and Adani 5%. | ||
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| + | Tata Power leads the roof top segment with more than 100 MW capacity , even though the market itself is struggling to take off. By all accounts, only 601 MW rooftop solar projects have been installed so far as available incentives have not been enough to move the market forward. | ||
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| + | One of the reasons is that even though there is net-metering policy and policy proposals in many states, implementation has been tardy . It takes six to eight months in some states just to process paperwork. | ||
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| + | There is no subsidy available for commercial and industrial customers, which make up almost 70% of the rooftop market. | ||
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| + | Accelerated depreciation is set to come down to 40% in 2017-18 from the existing 80%. The government's decision to increase solar parks from 20 GW to 40 GW to make up for slow rooftop adoption indicates that the 40 GW rooftop solar goal by 2022 is not rooftop dependent. | ||
Revision as of 21:00, 11 September 2016
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly
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Contents |
India's solar power capacity
2013: TN leads
Tamil Nadu takes India's solar power capacity up 30%
Sushma U N, TNN | Sep 17, 2013
Tamil Nadu takes India's solar power capacity up 30%
India has 1,759.43MW of grid-connected solar power, with close to 800MW coming from Gujarat. The projects are expected to be ready for commissioning next year.
CHENNAI: India's installed solar power capacity is poised to jump 30% with the Tamil Nadu government close to signing power purchase agreements for 700 megawatts (MW) by the end of October.
Once the plants are up and running, Tamil Nadu will have the second largest solar power capacity in India after Gujarat, the pioneer in such projects in the country.
India has 1,759.43MW of grid-connected solar power, with close to 800MW coming from Gujarat. The projects are expected to be ready for commissioning next year.
As part of TN's solar power policy, which aims at installing 3,000MW of capacity by 2015, a total of 52 companies will sign agreements with the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) for capacity totalling 698MW at a tariff of 6.48 per unit (with a 5% increase annually for 10 years).
This comes at a time when the country's national solar policy is tottering. The second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) has been delayed by over five months with no sign of the programme being kick-started any time soon.
Solar power is the most expensive form of renewable energy and rupee depreciation has added to the woes of companies importing high-end photo voltaic panels.
"There has been a lot of uncertainty over solar power companies and negativity had set in. But now there are projects in the pipeline and activity for players across the board will go up," said Madhavan Nampoothiri, founder and director of RESolve Energy Consultants, an energy consultancy firm.
In 2013 Tangedco held individual meetings with solar power developers asking them to submit documents for proof of land ownership and bank guarantees for financing. "Thirty companies are yet to submit the documents and we have given time till October 30. Once this is in place, power purchase agreements will be signed," a senior official from Tangedco said.
Companies that have the documents in place have started working on the project. "The meeting with the Tangedco chairman and other members was a manner of assurance of support and we have started progress on our project. The team is on the site and we are in talks with banks for financing," said T R Kishor Nair, President, Welspun Energy, which is setting up a 60 MW plant in Trichy district. Solar policies in other states haven't made as much progress and capacities also aren't as large as in Tamil Nadu. While Andhra Pradesh has a target of 1,000 MW, tariff is a deterrent for investors as it is fixed at Rs 6.49 with no annual hike. The programmes in states like Punjab (300 MW) and Karnataka (130 MW) are on a smaller scale and are in the nascent stage. What adds to Tamil Nadu's attractiveness is that the state has high solar radiation of 5.6 - 6.0 kWh per square meter with around 300 clear sunny days in a year, the third highest in India.
Solar power market
2015-16: large corporates dominate
The Times of India, Sep 09 2016
Sanjay Dutta
Solar power market: Little room for small players under the sun India's fragmented solar power market is gradually witnessing a build-up of domination by private equity-backed large corporates, with the Adani group putting the largest number of projects in the pipeline and Tata Power leading in rooftop installation. The shift is indicated by the fact that the top 20 developers account for almost 80% of projects under development.But they account for only 58% of the 8.1GW (Giga Watt) capacity already installed, while the rest is spread among 500 other companies, says a report by global green energy market tracker Mercom Capital.
The government has set a target of installing 175 GW solar power capacity by 2022 as part of its overall climate management plan. This is one of the factors encouraging big corporates, which have leveraging capacity to raise cheaper funds, to enter the arena. “In a tough market driven hyper-competitive rever by hyper-competitive reverse auctions and low margins, large conglomerates with deep pockets and strong balance sheets that can access financing at much lower rates, private equity-backed firms, and international companies with access to cheaper funding abroad are well-positio ned to dominate the sector.Other than one-off projects, smaller developers will struggle to grow as financing, low bids, and the policy push towards larger projects will make growth challenging,“ the report says.
Adani has put projects with a total capacity of 2 GW in the pipeline to capture 11% of the market within two years of entering the sector. ReNew Power, a wind and solar company backed by Goldman Sachs, is right behind with a 10% market share. The remaining pecking order is made up of SunEdison, which is slated for acquisition, with 8.5% market share, ACME 8%, Azure Power 5%, Tata Power 3.8%, Suzlon and Hero Future Energies with 3.7% of the market.
As far as installed capacity goes, Tata Power leads by notching up a 9% share by acquiring Welspun's project portfolio. ACME follows with 7% share, SunEdison 5.5% and Adani 5%.
Tata Power leads the roof top segment with more than 100 MW capacity , even though the market itself is struggling to take off. By all accounts, only 601 MW rooftop solar projects have been installed so far as available incentives have not been enough to move the market forward.
One of the reasons is that even though there is net-metering policy and policy proposals in many states, implementation has been tardy . It takes six to eight months in some states just to process paperwork.
There is no subsidy available for commercial and industrial customers, which make up almost 70% of the rooftop market.
Accelerated depreciation is set to come down to 40% in 2017-18 from the existing 80%. The government's decision to increase solar parks from 20 GW to 40 GW to make up for slow rooftop adoption indicates that the 40 GW rooftop solar goal by 2022 is not rooftop dependent.
