A lack of clarity around India’s recently enforced Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill has caused a PV tender delay in the state of Gujarat and prompted the nation’s energy storage alliance to write a letter of appeal to the government.
India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill was enforced on 1 July bringing in a 5% tax on solar PV modules, but there is still uncertainty around taxes on other solar equipment, according to consultancy firm Bridge to India.
India’s solar manufacturers have said that roughly 2.25GW of module manufacturing capacity that was previously reported as functional is either obsolete or too old to be counted as operational, according to consultancy firm Mercom Capital Group.
Plenty of uncertainty surrounds the potential effects of India’s forthcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, but the cost of solar could go up by as much as INR4.5 million/MW (US$67,000), according to a new study from the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
Plenty of naysayers have warned about unrealistic bidding and various delays damaging the Indian solar sector, but the head of ACME Solar, one of the largest developers India, approaching 1GW of installed capacity, has a very positive outlook on the industry's future. PV Tech caught up Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, the founder, chairman and managing director of ACME Group at the company offices in Gurgaon, New Delhi, to discuss delayed PPAs, transmission infrastructure, the approaching Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill and a unique point of view on India's Ultra Mega solar power parks.
India is expected to add more than 9GW of solar PV capacity this year, but its long-term renewable energy future requires adding transmission capacity and removing bottlenecks immediately, according to the latest quarterly solar market update from consultancy firm Mercom Capital Group.
