2015 was a landmark year for the Indian solar industry, with the 100GW by 2022 target approved and a significant ramp up of deployment. Bridge to India's Jyoti Gulia discusses the challenges ahead regarding project delays, transmission infrastructure and financing.
Developers in India have failed to install 680MW of solar PV projects that were due to be commissioned by December 2015 because of project delays, according to consultancy firm Bridge to India.
Dutch specialist sun simulator equipment provider Eternal Sun has purchased the PV volume production equipment sun simulator business unit of struggling US-based Spire Corp for US$1.5 million.
SolarCity has produced commercials that “reframe” the debate between fossil fuels and renewables in “deliberately practical terms”, comparing the complexity of generating and delivering power from fossil fuel plants against the immediacy of rooftop PV.
Multinational developers are winning solar projects in India by bidding at extremely low tariffs to make a beginning in the Indian market, but with little appetite to bid at the same low levels again, according to a prominent industry figure.
Developers in Japan with large-scale PV projects in the pipeline have been given just over a year to prove their projects will go ahead, or will lose their feed-in tariff (FiT).
Troubled renewables firm SunEdison has continued to come under pressure from hostile investors to change some of its business strategies, remove certain executives and force a sale of the business, as well as further class action law suits being filed against the company.
Indian conglomerate Adani Group and solar developer Azure Power have both been awarded 50MW of capacity with winning bids of INR 4.78/kWh (US$0.07) in the 100MW solar auction in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
