GREEN CORRIDOR Wind Tariff hits Record Low Of Rs 2.64 Per Unit

The wind tariff in India touched lowest level of Rs 2.64 per kWh in the second wind auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on behalf of Ministry of

New & Renewable Energy, Government of India. The tariff discovered is much lower than first wind auction concluded at Rs 3.46 per kWh in February this year. With improving technology and reducing tariffs Ministry is not only confident of achieving the target of 175 GW by 2022 but exceeding it.

Against the 1000 MW capacity SECI received 12 number of bids totalling to 2892 MW capacity of which 9 bids with a cumulative capacity of 2142 MW were shortlisted for e-reverse auction. The auction started at 3 pm on 4 October and continued for over 13 hours. Five winners selected for total 1000 MW capacity wind power projects include ReNew Power for 250 MW projects quoting Rs.2.64/kWh, Orange Sironj for 200 MW projects quoting Rs.2.64/kWh, Inox Wind for 250 MW projects quoting Rs.2.65/kWh, Green Infra for 250 MW projects quoting Rs.2.65/kWh and Adani Green for 50 MW projects quoting Rs.2.65/kWh. These wind projects are to be commissioned within 18 months from the date of issue of Letter of Award by SECI to successful bidders.

As per provisions of scheme additional 100 MW capacity can be allotted to Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) willing to undertake development of inter-state transmission system (ISTS) connected wind power projects at the lowest bid tariff of Rs.2.64/kWh, for which they have to submit their proposal within 30 days from the declaration of results of e-reverse auction.

The power from these projects will be supplied to obligated entities for fulfilment of their non-solar RPO obligation at pooled price of capacity selected.

Killing Obama’s Power Plan Hasn’t Stopped Renewable Boom

For a look at what the death of the Clean Power Plan means for renewable energy, consider this: Since President Donald Trump signed the order to roll back the emissions-curbing rule, almost $30 billion has been spent on solar and wind projects.

In the third quarter alone, clean energy spending in the US hit the highest level in two years, totaling $14.8 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance show.

The investments in solar and wind are a testament to the seemingly unstoppable boom in renewables that has been driven more by economics and state environmental policies than federal regulations. So far this year, US utility giants including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., American Electric Power Co. and Xcel Energy Inc. have laid out plans to collectively spend billions on wind farms that’ll replace aging coal-plants.

“The Clean Power Plan doesn’t make a jot of difference,” said Amy Grace, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“Utilities are installing wind and solar because it is cheaper than running existing plants, and corporations are procuring wind and solar because it’s economic to do so.” To be sure, energy companies are investing in clean power while they still can. Tax credits make building wind and solar farms cheaper than running existing coal and natural gas-fired power plants, Grace said. Some of these breaks, extended through bipartisan legislation in 2015, start rolling off this year, Grace said.

More Countries Join ISA Fiji, Niger and Tuvalu deposited instrument of ratification of the Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in the 5th meeting of International Steering Committee (ISC) of the ISA. In this meeting representatives from 121 prospective member countries, who either completely or partially lie between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of capricorn participated. The meeting was chaired by Anand Kumar, secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) and co-chaired by Ségoléné Royale, ambassador for Arctic and Antarctic Poles and special envoy for the implementation of the International Solar Alliance, Government of France. Till date 40 countries have signed and 11 countries have ratified the Framework Agreement of the ISA. With ratifications by 15 countries, the ISA will become a treaty based inter-governmental international organization.

While welcoming the participants Anand Kumar who is also the chair of ISC thanked the prospective ISA member countries for their continued support. He stated that the ISA is a reflection of our common desire to significantly augment solar power generation in our countries, and make joint efforts towards technology development and mobilization of the required investment to promote energy security and universal energy access. He urged the prospective member countries of the ISA to expedite the ratification process.

Kumar informed that the second edition of the Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo, Re-Invest 2017 will be held from 7 to 9 December 2017. The venue of the three day Global meet, organized by MNRE will be the India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, National Capital Region of Delhi. Elaborating the details of Re-Invest 2017, Kumar said the aim of the event is to develop partnerships with relevant stakeholders including international bilateral and multilateral financing institutions, equipment manufacturers, technology providers, developers, public sector enterprises, central and state governments, research institutions and academia. The Re-Invest 2017 will deliberate upon and evolve strategies for financing renewable energy and also showcase the Government of India’s commitment to the development and scaling up of renewable energy to meet the national energy requirement in a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable manner.

Kumar also stated that the founding conference of ISA and solar summit will also be held on the margins of RE-Invest 2017 on 8 & 9 December 2017. Prime Minister of India, President of France and the Secretary General of United Nations are likely to grace the ISA founding conference.

he co-Chair Ségoléné Royale detailed the actions taken by her government for supporting solar energy projects in ISA countries. She stated that concerted actions undertaken in the context of the Alliance should focus on realizing the objectives enshrined in the Paris Declaration, which included: bringing our efforts together to reduce the cost of finance for solar energy and mobilize up to $1000 billion investments by 2030, and: developing new, cost efficient and reliable solar technologies and applications. On her suggestion the Committee agreed to include a programme on solar supported e-mobility.

Upendra Tripathy, interim director general of the ISA informed about the progress in implementation of various activities under ISA. He specifically mentioned about the progress under the three programmes launched under the ISA “Affordable finance at scale”, “Scaling solar applications for agricultural use”, and “Scaling Solar Mini Grids”. He further informed about the ISA Secretariat’s initiative ” Common Risk Mitigating Mechanism (CRMM)” . The objective of the mechanism is de-risking and reducing the financial cost of solar projects in the ISA member countries. The instrument will help diversify and pool risks on mutual public resources and unlock significant investments. He informed that an international expert group has been working on the blue print of the mechanism and it will be rolled out by December 2018.

International Steering Committee was establishment under the mandate of the Paris Declaration of ISA to provide the guidance and direction to establish the ISA. India has offered a contribution of Rs 175 crore for creating ISA corpus fund and for meeting the cost of ISA secretariat for initial five years.

The ISA is an Indian initiative jointly launched by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France on 30 November 2015 at Paris, on the sidelines of COP-21. It aims at addressing obstacles to deployment at scale of solar energy through better harmonization and aggregation of demand from solar rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.

World Bank Loan For Solar Projects

World Bank financing of$100 million for development of internal infrastructure of solar parks has been planned by Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) under the aegis of ministry of new & renewable energy. The World Bank loan is proposed to flow to the interested solar power park developers (SPPDs) through IREDA.

In addition, the World Bank is providing low cost financing to roof-top solar developers under a $625 million Programme for Results (PforR) to be routed through the State Bank of India. These programmes will increase the availability of debt financing, de-risk commercial financial flows, and build capacity across the solar PV industry to significantly expand the programme of rooftop solar PV across India. The first 100 MW of solar rooftop financing under this loan has just been approved, the Minister added.