India’s Solar Capacity Addition Slow in H1 2018: Experts

Consulting firm Bridge To India’s latest report says that solar capacity of utility scale witnessed an addition of 1.2 GW in the said period.

The unpredictability in the solar industry caused by fluctuating tenders, lackluster response to auctions coupled with the issues related to GST and safeguard duty have caused a slowdown in the July-September period of 2018, experts have said.

Consulting firm Bridge To India’s latest report says that solar capacity of utility scale witnessed an addition of 1.2 GW in the said period, taking the total capacity addition in H1 FY 2018 to 1.9 GW.

Bridge To India’s Managing Director Vinay Rustagi said that “Indian solar market has grown spectacularly over the last four years but is struggling to sustain because of policy and execution challenges. The slowdown is worrying for all stake-holders.”

“These numbers are down 43 per cent and 44 per cent over respective periods in 2017,” the report further claimed.

Vinay Rustagi further mentioned that the “industry is witnessing increasing volatility in tender issuance, auctions and capacity addition because of poor coordination between different government agencies and constraints in transmission capacity and land acquisition.

Commenting on safeguard duty and on the issues created by the GST Rustagi said that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has “not helped matters by failing to decisively address GST and safeguard duty issues”.

He further mentioned that, “Arbitrary ceiling tariffs and poor tender design have resulted in tenders getting routinely cancelled and/or undersubscribed. As a result, gap between tenders issued and auctions completed has been widening in 2017.”

Source: IANS