Policy & Regulation
Guidelines for Implementation of KUSUM Scheme
Scheme aims to add solar capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022 with the total Central Financial Support of INR 34,422 crore.
Component A: 10,000 MW of decentralised ground mounted, grid connected renewable power plants (500 kW- 2 MW) will be set up
- Any Renewable technology is allowed to be setup under component A of the scheme.
- DISCOM or private players are allowed to act as developer in-case farmers are not able to arrange equity to setup the plant.
- Agricultural land is also permitted under the scheme provided that solar plants are installed in raised structure for installation of Solar panels for ensuring that farming activity is not affected.
- Nodal agencies are also given role of coordinating agencies and are given certain % as incentives for total CFA sanctioned.
Component B: Installation of 17.50 Lakh Stand-alone Solar Agriculture Pumps
Component C: Solarisation of 10 Lakh Grid Connected Agriculture Pumps
- For Component B, to ensure quality and post installation services only manufacturers of solar water pumps or controllers or manufacturers of solar panels would be allowed to participate in the bidding process. We believe that this condition will create monopoly of few key players and lot of EPC installers will not be able to participate.
- Only indigenous modules, cells as well as BOS are allowed
- Central subsidy of 30% of the benchmark cost or the tender cost, whichever is lower will be provided. The State Government will give a subsidy of 30%; and the remaining 40% will be provided by the farmer. Bank finance may be made available for farmer’s contribution, so that farmer has to initially pay only 10% of the cost and remaining up to 30% of the cost as loan.
- Central PSUs will carry out the tendering process on behalf of MNRE for Component B, while for component C, central PSU or state implementing agencies will be involved.
- The timeline for land acquisition for wind power projects has been extended from seven months to scheduled commissioning date, i.e. 18 months.
- The window for revision of declared Capacity Utilisation Factor (CUF) of wind power project has been increased to three years. The declared CUF is now allowed to revise once within three year of commercial operation date, which was earlier allowed within one year only.
- The penalty on shortfall in energy corresponding to the minimum CUF, has now been fixed @ 50% of the PPA tariff for the shortfall in energy terms liable to be paid by the Wind Power Generator to the Procurer. Further, the penalty shall be passed on by the Intermediary Procurer to the End Procurer after deducting the losses of Intermediary procurer.
- In cases of early part commissioning, the Procurer may purchase the generation, at full PPA tariff.
- Commissioning Schedule of wind power project has been defined as 18 months from the date of execution of the PPA or PSA, whichever is later.
MNRE issued benchmarking costs for FY2019-20 for standalone solar pumps, solar lighting systems, standalone solar power plants/ packs and solarisation cost of grid-connected agriculture pumps.
Modification in the scheme for “Development of solar parks and ultra mega solar park scheme”
Solar parks approved in FY2018 under Phase 2 of solar park scheme shall be completed within 2 years of date of approval or within 1 year of issue of order no. 320/14/2017/ NSM dated 5th Feb 2019, whichever is later, failing which the approval of solar park will be cancelled and the grants released under the scheme will be returned with interest.
Extension of this timeline can only be given in extreme cases where financial closure has been obtained by the project developer who has won the project under competitive bidding guidelines.
Tenders
SECI amends 2 GW solar tender for state-run power generators
Micro and mini grid-connected projects will also be considered. SECI also notified waiver of ISTS charges and losses and 6-month extension in the commissioning date.
Uttar Pradesh Announces Rooftop Solar Tender for 25 MW
UPNEDA announced tender to install 25 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar photovoltaic projects atop government and semi-government buildings in the state under RESCO model. Bidders can apply for a minimum aggregate bid capacity of 1 MW and a maximum aggregate bid capacity of 10 MW. The bid submission deadline is August 12, 2019, with the bid opening date of August 13, 2019.
CPSU solar tender gets dismal response
Tender undersubscribed by 932 MW. The projects will be developed on Build-Own-Operate (B-O-O) basis. A total of five government entities submitted bids totalling 1,068 MW capacity.
| Developer | Bid Capacity (MW) |
| NTPC | 1,000 |
| NHDC | 30 |
| Assam Distribution | 30 |
| Nalanda University | 5 |
| DMRC | 3 |
Telangana Launches 5.4 MW Rooftop Solar Tender with Net Metering
The cumulative capacity of all the projects amounts to 5.4 MW. There will be 123 projects set up at different locations of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Education Institute Society Schools or Institutions (TSWREIS) under CAPEX (capital expenses) model with a five-year comprehensive maintenance contract.
Shivamogga Smart City Floats Tender for 25 MW of Solar Projects on Tunga Canal
Karnataka’s Shivamogga Smart City Limited (SSCL) has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the construction of 25 MW of solar power generation projects. The SSCL will develop the solar power project on the Tunga canal through a public-private partnership and will supply the electricity to Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM).
NHDC Invites EPC Contractors for 25 MW of Floating Solar Projects in Madhya Pradesh
NHDC, a joint venture between NHPC and Madhya Pradesh State Government, is on the lookout for an engineering procurement construction (EPC) contractor to set up 25 MW of floating solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity
NTPC’s New Tender Calls for 20 MW of Solar Projects in Uttar Pradesh’s Rihand
The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has issued a tender to develop 20 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects at Rihand, located in Uttar Pradesh. The tender calls for the development of the projects using domestic competitive bidding (DCB) through an open category
Uttarakhand Announces RfP for 52 MW of Grid-Connected Solar Projects
The Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) has issued a Request for Proposal (RfP) to develop 52 MW of solar projects. The RfP is for the procurement of solar power on a long-term basis by Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL). The last date for the submission of bids is August 22, 2019, with the opening of the financial bid slotted for September 30, 2019.
Projects
Renewable Energy Dominates 1st Half Of 2019 With 58% Share In New Capacity
Renewable energy technologies, especially wind and solar power, continued to lead all other technologies in new capacity added in the first half of 2019. In the first half of this year, solar power technology had the largest contribution towards the new power generation capacity added in India. Of the 7.8 GW of new capacity added between January and June 2019, 3.5 GW came in the form of solar power projects.
AGEL plans to add 800 MW of renewable energy projects
Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) plans to add over 800 MW of renewable energy projects in the current financial year and 3300 MW in two more years. Adani Group company has a current project portfolio of 4,560 MW including 46 operational projects and 18 projects under construction.
Avaada Energy to set-up 2 GW open access solar power plants in 5 states
Avaada Energy is in the process of implementing 2 GW of open access solar plants in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Karnataka, and Odisha
Gujarat Approves PPAs for 500 MW of Solar Projects
The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has approved the power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 500 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects which were tendered and auctioned by the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL). The solar PV projects will be developed under Phase III of the state’s Raghanesda Solar Park.
Financing
India’s Greenko Raises $950 Million Through Green Bonds Sale
Greenko Energy Holdings recently raised funds by selling green bonds, for the second time in nearly two years. The bonds were priced at a yield of 5.5% which is highly attractive compared to green bonds issued by companies and entities in the developed markets. As a result, the bond issue saw three times oversubscription.
Other important news
Brookfield’s plan to acquire cash-strapped Suzlon hits a roadblock
Canadian financial powerhouse Brookfield’s plan to acquire Suzlon has hit a roadblock, with the Canadian firm asking Indian banks to take a ‘significant haircut’ on its Rs 10,300-crore debt. The haircut by banks could go as high as 70 per cent — taking into account similar deals with loan defaulters, said the source.
Govt considers norms to cut discoms’ power cost
The power ministry is considering a proposal to allow all generation companies (gencos) flexibility to supply electricity from any plant in their stable, a move that will reduce cost of power for cash-strapped distribution companies (DISCOMs) and ease pressure to raise consumer tariffs. The ministry’s line of thinking has been encouraged by fuel cost reduction of over Rs 300 crore since April due to such flexibility allowed to 49 coal-fired power stations of state-run NTPC, aggregating 56 GW capacity and about one billion units per day of generation.
Major boost for power generators: Payment security and coal cost pass-through
Two latest developments on the policy and regulatory side have significantly boosted the prospects for power generating companies. This includes the centre’s directive mandating the opening and maintenance of adequate Letter of Credit (LC) as payment security mechanism by discoms under power purchase agreements (PPAs) beginning 1 August, 2019.
Renewable energy projects with Rs 21,000 crore debt facing risk
The Andhra Pradesh (AP) government’s latest move to review and bring down the purchase cost of wind and solar energy could aggravate the problem of delayed payments from distribution companies (DISCOMs) and bring under stress about 5.2 gigawatt (GW) of renewable projects with debt of over Rs 21,000 crore.
Gujarat tops India in rooftop solar capacity
Gujarat has emerged as a state with most roof top solar panels installed. According to data tabled in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Gujarat has an installed roof top power capacity of 261.79MW, against 1700.54MW for all of India.
Anti-dumping duty on coated steel will raise solar project costs by 2-4%: Care Ratings
India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has determined that flat steel products coated with aluminium and zinc are being dumped by manufacturers in China at dumping margins of 30-50%, South Korea (20-30%) and Vietnam (10-20%). It has proposed anti-dumping duty based on the same to offset material injury to domestic manufacturers.
Andhra Pradesh seeks to cancel 21 wind energy pacts
The battle between renewable energy companies’ and Andhra Pradesh is getting intense as the state has sought cancellation of 21 wind power purchase agreements with clients of Suzlon Energy and Axis Energy and is not letting the wind plants operate for most hours of day without giving any valid reason.
GST Council slashes tax rates on electric vehicles, chargers
From August 1, 2019, GST on electric vehicles reduced from 12% to 5%. Tax rate reduced from 18% to 5% on electric vehicle chargers.
Two of nine Gujarat wind auction winners agree to cut tariffs
Gujarat awarded 745MW of wind projects to nine developers after an auction in May at tariffs ranging from INR 2.80 per unit to INR 2.95 per unit. The state distribution company asked all the winners to match the lowest tariff of INR 2.80 quoted by Enerfra if they wanted power purchase contracts. The second-lowest winners Powerica Ltd. and Vena Energy agreed to match the lowest bidder. They won 50 MW and 100 MW, respectively, at Rs 2.81 per unit, which is only one paisa higher per unit.