Six weeks of the nationwide lockdown necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, and India’s economy is set to take a hit that could have significant ramifications for the country’s growth prospects. The World Bank expects India […]

As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, industries worldwide are shutting down operations due to lockdowns announced to contain the virus. Solar power plants, although classified under essential services, are also bearing the brunt […]

The floating offshore wind (FOW) segment holds the key to an inexhaustible wind resource waiting to be tapped across the globe. In Europe alone, about 80 per cent of the entire offshore wind resource is […]

In June 2018, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced its offshore wind energy targets of 5 GW by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030. This announcement was made after the first-ever invite […]

At the beginning of 2018, the government indicated that it may set up 10 GW of floating solar capacity by 2021. While considered far too ambitious by industry experts, the initiative was a step in […]

The world market for floating photovoltaic (FPV) has witnessed increasing growth over the past few years, with the installed capacities of individual projects rising year on year. The two largest FPV systems of 150 MWp […]

The solar power segment has been going through a rough patch over the past one year. With the rapid scaling up of solar deployment, numerous concerns have emerged. These issues have dampened investor interest. Chief […]

With the growing deployment of solar power projects and increasing portfolio sizes, proper operations and maintenance (O&M) of these plants is attracting greater interest from developers. While solar O&M was limited to module cleaning, plant […]

The emerging electric vehicle (EV) market is expected to significantly impact both the road transportation and the power sector. On the one hand, the increasing penetration of EVs will reduce the dependence of the transport […]

Governments across the world are deploying a carrot-and-stick strategy to drive auto sales towards electric vehicles (EVs) and India is not far behind. With a target to integrate 30 per cent electric vehicles (EVs) in […]

By Khushboo Goyal Rapid urbanisation and changing lifestyles are increasing the electricity demand in Indian towns and cities. Many utilities are facing difficulties in keeping up with the rising power requirements, especially in summer months […]

Solar cities are being developed across the country, including eight in the north–eastern region in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. While the cities of Guwahati and Jorhat in Assam are to be developed […]

Mounting structures are the backbone of a solar power plant as they provide support to modules. These support structures raise solar panels at appropriate angles to ensure that they receive maximum solar irradiation. Without these, […]

Mounting structures are more than just racks for panels. They form the backbone of solar power plants. They adjust the tilt of the panels to ensure maximum irradiation per unit area. The tilt determines the […]

Running parallel to the evolution of the renewable energy sector is the innovation in energy storage technologies, which has caught the attention of the industry as well as policymakers across countries. The importance of efficient […]

In a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, meet climate change targets and reduce pollution in urban areas, the government has announced ambitious plans to introduce electric vehicles (EVs) and thus also change the face […]

Renewable Watch recently organised a workshop, “Offtake Risks for Re-newable Energy”, to examine the financial health of discoms, discuss the risks and challenges pertaining to power offtake, study the alternatives and propose solutions. The workshop […]

As part of its efforts to meet the 175 GW renewable energy target by 2022, the government has released a series of central- and state-level tenders over the past few years. However, the actual capacity […]

The cost of solar energy has changed dramatically over the years, with module prices plummeting from $4 per watt in 2008 to $0.34 per watt in October 2017. Similarly, solar operations and maintenance (O&M) practices […]

Shrinking revenues owing to low solar power tariffs are exerting a downward pressure on developer margins. This calls for a change in project development strategies at all levels in order to reduce costs and improve […]

The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) was launched on September 25, 2017, with the aim of providing electricity to every willing household in rural and urban areas by March 2019. The scheme […]

It is pitch dark as we near Nagwa village, 150 km from Varanasi. No lights emanate from any of the hamlets that we cross. Then, we see a bunch of barefoot boys and girls emerge […]

In March 2019, the Ministry of Civil Aviation introduced the National Green Civil Aviation Policy, 2019 to create an ecosystem for the sustainable development of the aviation sector in India. The aviation industry is one […]

Indian Railways (IR) plans to be a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030. To this end, it intends to increase the use of renewable energy in its operations. This presents a huge potential for renewable energy […]

By Anita Khuller Distributed generation (DG) refers to a variety of technologies that generate electricity near the end users. Some of the DG technologies are solar panels, and combined heat and power (CHP). They may […]

The rooftop solar segment is set to grow because of the benefits it offers and the government’s increased focus on promoting the development of decentralised sources of energy through various rooftop programmes supported by comprehensive […]

By Sarthak Takyar Captive power plants (CPPs) play a significant role in meeting the power generation requirements of commercial and industrial (C&I) users and reducing their dependence on the grid while optimising energy costs. According […]

By Khushboo Goyal In recent months, a number of renewable-based captive power plants (CPPs) have come up across industries and corporates. In January 2019, Suzlon Energy commissioned an 8.4 MW wind CPP for Hindustan Aeronautics […]

By Ashay Abbhi The search for alternative fuels has led to the largest energy revolution across the world. New technologies for power generation have emerged as all countries move away from fossil-fuel- based sources. Renewable […]

By Dolly Khattar Over the past two decades, hydrogen technologies have experienced cycles of high expectations followed by discontent. However, the situation seems to be changing as a growing body of evidence now suggests that […]

The government has set a target to install 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2022, of which 40 GW is to be achieved by the rooftop solar segment. Several policy measures have been announced […]

India’s rooftop solar segment has grown from a mere 3 MW in 2011 to around 2,300 MW as of December 2019. While this jump might seem significant, it is inconsequential when compared to the growth […]

India’s ambitious targets, record capacity additions and a steep fall in tariffs in 2016-17 have attracted global attention, with domestic as well as international investors and developers expressing interest in the country’s renewable energy sector. […]

With the constantly evolving ecosystem of the Indian renewable energy market, financial instruments too have developed over the years. The government envisages an investment requirement of $100 billion to realise the renewable energy targets over […]

Over the past 12 months, there has been a growing impetus to rooftop solar deployments, which has translated into a sharp increase in installed capacity. According to BRIDGE TO INDIA, the installed rooftop solar capacity […]

Net metering is usually employed using two types of metering arrangements – unidirectional and bidirectional. A bidirectional meter displays both the energy consumed and supplied by the consumer on the same meter. In another metering […]

As India moves rapidly towards its target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022, it is experiencing some hiccups in integrating the new capacity into the country’s underdeveloped grid. Solar plants are […]

Efficient grid integration has assumed prime importance in the country’s energy and power sector, considering the impetus being given to the growth of renewable energy capacity over the next five years. Given the variability and […]

By Dolly Khattar The wind power segment entered a phase of turbulence as it transitioned from the feed-in tariff (FiT) to an auction-based regime in 2017. While the latter has helped bring down wind power […]

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) is the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) arm responsible for holding wind and solar auctions. At a recent Renewable Watch conference, “Wind Power in India”, SECI’s […]

Solar power tariffs saw a steep decline in the recent Rewa Solar Park auction. While this is being seen as a significant achievement in the country’s solar growth story, industry stakeholders are wary of the […]

With the steep fall in solar tariffs, there is an increasing pressure on the solar industry to continuously optimise the cost of various plant components. The past few years have seen a significant decline in […]

Status of sanctioned projects […]

Nearly 20 cent of the country’s solar installed capacity target for 2022 is slated to come from solar parks. These parks have a number of solar power projects with a cumulative capacity of over 500 […]

Solar PV inverter technology has witnessed limited progress in terms of design, size, efficiency improvement and manufacturing cost reductions as compared to other electronic devices like computers and TV sets. The maximum power ratio (per […]

The rooftop solar market in India has been gaining traction in recent years, with the segment reaching a total installed capacity of 1,020 MW as of September 2016. In line with the target of achieving […]

By Khushboo Goyal Reliable and affordable power supply for irrigation is essential for increasing agricultural productivity. However, the power supply situation in the agricultural sector remains dismal as many farmers continue to rely on erratic […]

By Sarthak Takyar The solarisation of pumps will help farmers and the agricultural sector in several ways. First, it will help farmers reduce their dependence on conventional sources of energy supplied by discoms. Second, it […]

Anukriti Despite the slow growth in the waste-to-energy (WtE) segment, there has been an overall increase in the grid-interactive as well as the off-grid WtE capacities in the country. In fact, the capacity addition (16 […]

By Khushboo Goyal  The total installed capacity of bioenergy in India stood at 9.8 GW as of July 2018. Of this, biomass and cogeneration projects contribute 9.5 GW and waste-to-energy (WtE) contributes the rest. In […]

By Khushboo Goyal and  Anukriti As the country moves towards achieving its 100 GW solar capacity target by 2022, the segment is beginning to witness increased capacity additions. The total installed solar power capacity has […]

By Ashay Abbhi The adoption of competitive bidding for project allocation and tariff determination completely disrupted the wind power market in 2017. Tariffs plummeted to Rs 2.44 per kWh, putting huge pressure on developers and […]