The days of naming financing as one of the major hurdles for Indian solar appear to be coming to an end in 2017 as record low tariffs were enabled by a newly-attractive fiscal environment. PV Tech caught up with Kuljit Singh, partner, Transaction Advisory Services at EY, to discuss a potential spate of Indian solar IPOs, pension fund interest, Masala bonds and the future of the market.
A subsidiary of Reliance Capital, part of major Indian conglomerate Reliance Group, has signed an agreement to obtain INR3 billion (US$46 million) in funding from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) for lending to renewables and energy efficiency projects.
The Indian government caused quite the buzz last week when it announced the US$2.5 billion "Saubhagya" scheme to provide electricity access to all households by December 2018. 'Power For All' director William Brent discusses why distributed renewable energy solutions must not be overlooked.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has entered a new partnership with the International Solar Alliance and confirmed plans to provide €800 million in financing for small-scale renewable energy project investment across India.
TUV Rheinland India, a subsidiary of the TUV Rheinland Group has opened a new €2.5 million state-of-the-art laboratory at Electronic City in Bangalore, India to provide all testing services under one roof and dramatically reduce turnaround time and accelerate time-to-market for customers.
Indian infrastructure firm Essel Infraprojects (EIL), part of conglomerate Essel Group, has commissioned a 50MW solar project at Jalaun in the state of Uttar Pradesh and a 5MW plant at Bijapur in Karnataka.
Indian megastar Sachin Tendulkar, famed worldwide as one of the greatest ever cricket players, has partnered with Schneider Electric to provide solar home lighting systems to more than 25,000 Indian villagers, in just the first phase of a major programme.
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a tender for EPC services on two 100MW solar PV projects for state-owned mining corporate Coal India Limited (CIL) in Madhya Pradesh.
The Indian solar industry expressed shock recently when it emerged that multiple Chinese PV manufacturers had been reneging on supply contracts to India, but it seems this strategy may have been a comeuppance for historic behaviour on the part of some Indian developers.
