Vikram Solar

Government of India has made incredible strides in speeding up solar energy growth. Country’s recent initiative to revise the renewable purchase obligation (RPO) goals for up to FY 2012-22 is expected to improve solar adoption scenario. For FY19-20, solar electricity RPO is set at 7.25% and for FY20-21 solar RPO is set at 10.50%. This clearly speaks of Government of India’s intent towards solarizing the country by increasing share of renewable energy within mainstream energy consumption. However, although we should appreciate and celebrate India’s continued support towards solar energy growth, we also need to highlight that RPO compliance has not been up to the mark. Current Scenario Surveys show that most states are behind reaching their set yearly targets, thus making one of the most important policy frame work (RPO) inactive. This has slowed the growth of solar as a mainstream energy source. Introducing more and more solar power plant projects will not make solar the mai...

Gyanesh Chaudhary, MD and CEO of Indian module manufacturer Vikram Solar. China’s National Energy Administration, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance have recently released new guidelines for the country’s renewable energy targets. In this directive, China has terminated approvals for new subsidized utility-scale PV power stations. Since China is the leading force in global solar industry (in 2017, China accounted for 54% of global PV installations) and the biggest supplier of solar equipment in the world, this new renewable energy policy has created a stir in the global industry and posed negative implications for developing countries with budding solar growth, like India. Current scenario and its implications Within this new directive, China has highlighted that the country will cap distributed project size from 19GW to 10GW, reduce its feed-in tariff for projects by RMB 0.05/kWh (US$0.0074), and start auctions to set power...