The central government along with the states have together issued tenders for 30,059 MW of renewable energy projects, of which a majority are for solar energy, reports Business Standard (BS).
While 4,000 MW will come from wind power projects, 1,800 MW renewable energy capacity will be added through hybrid (solar+wind) projects. The rest 24,749 MW will come from solar power projects. Market players can bid for these projects over the next three months and if completed on time, they can be commissioned by March 2020.
These tenders are part of the NDA government’s ambitious push to generate 1.75 lakh MW of renewable energy by 2020, two years ahead of schedule. The government plans to add more than 2 lakh MW of clean energy by 2022.
Though the government’s commitment to renewable energy is commendable, market players are still sceptical. Costs have soared because of the imposition of GST of five per cent on solar project and safeguard duty on imported solar panels. “Developer sentiment has been negatively impacted by the lack of clarity on several policy issues and arbitrary bid cancellations, which is contrary to a supportive policy stance from the government,” rating agency CRISIL had stated in its latest report.
Jumping Up The Ladder
Over the years India’s renewable energy efforts have attracted global attention. In the second edition of the Energy Transition Index, India improved its rank by two points from last year (2018) to rank at 75, five places higher than China.
Also according to the Climatescope Report 2018, India jumped three places to rank second in terms of overall improvement in the deployment of renewable energy.
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