India's installed solar capacity hits 1,045 MW by Nov

Nov 19, 2012 - India's total installed solar power capacity reached 1,045 MW as of November 1, with another 1,100 MW scheduled to be up and ready to run in the next six months, according to Mercom Capital Group’s quarterly market update.

The projects to be soon completed include some 275 MW of photovoltaic (PV) installations in the state of Gujarat, 340 MW of PV projects under the National Solar Mission (NSM) and 497.5 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP) projects under the NSM.

Meanwhile, in its recently released draft tariff determination for 2013/14 the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) indicated a starting power off-take prices bid of INR 8.75 (USD 0.159/EUR 0.125) per kWh for PV projects under the second phase of the NSM bidding programme, which is seen to be announced by the end of the year. Mercom Capital expects actual bids during the phase II to be in the range of USD 0.10 (EUR 0.078) to USD 0.20 per kWh, or among the lowest globally. According to the consultancy, if India adds domestic content requirements in the next phase, it will be more difficult to implement projects at these low tariff levels.

As regards the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) mechanism, which has drawn developers' interest, Mercom notes that it is more attractive than some of the bids for the NSM but the price visibility there is only for a few years. Also, the REC mechanism depends on the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) requirement, under which distribution companies and certain consumers are obliged to source a set percentage of their power from renewables. In India, firms that produce green electricity but do not take advantage of feed-in tariffs receive RECs per MWh generated.

(INR 100 = USD 1.819/EUR 1.425)
(USD 1 = EUR 0.783)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!