A new report by the International Solar Alliance has said India is among four achiever countries among 80 ISA member countries with most favourable technical and commercial conditions to facilitate solar energy projects and perceived as the most attractive for investments in solar energy.
The assessment has considered various parameters including policy support for investment in solar, technological feasibility, market maturity, financing etc. The three other achiever countries include Brazil, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
The Asia & Pacific region has three achiever countries and several ‘progressive’ and ‘potential’ countries which can become achievers in future according to the Ease of Doing Solar 2020 report discussed in a webinar by ISA on Tuesday. Along with high levels of solar irradiation, enabling macroeconomic and financing aspects are driving the growth of solar adoption in the Asia Pacific region.
India has set an ambitious target of 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030 with 175 GW deployment by 2022. This is the world’s largest expansion policy according to the report. The National Tariff Policy was amended in 2011 to prescribe solar specific Renewable Purchase Obligations. These obligations have increased from 0.25% in 2012 to 3% in 2022.
RPO is the obligation mandated by the state governments to purchase a minimum level of renewable energy out of the total consumption. Up to 100% FDI is allowed for renewable energy generation and distribution projects. Apart from these supporting policies, India has nearly 372.69 GW of installed capacity of which 47% is owned by the private sector; there are 42 solar parks with aggregate capacity of 23,499 MW up to March 2019; around 60 solar cities have been approved with USD 1.3 billion for setting up 50 solar parks of 40 GW by 2020. There has been growing lender interest in renewable energy, 60 RE projects grew in financing of over 2.5 billion dollars in 2017, nearly 60% of which came from non-banking financial institutions.
{{/usCountry}}RPO is the obligation mandated by the state governments to purchase a minimum level of renewable energy out of the total consumption. Up to 100% FDI is allowed for renewable energy generation and distribution projects. Apart from these supporting policies, India has nearly 372.69 GW of installed capacity of which 47% is owned by the private sector; there are 42 solar parks with aggregate capacity of 23,499 MW up to March 2019; around 60 solar cities have been approved with USD 1.3 billion for setting up 50 solar parks of 40 GW by 2020. There has been growing lender interest in renewable energy, 60 RE projects grew in financing of over 2.5 billion dollars in 2017, nearly 60% of which came from non-banking financial institutions.
{{/usCountry}}In Brazil, owing to relatively high levels of average solar irradiation (GHI) of 5.28 kWh/m2/day and specific yield of 4.27 kWh/kWp/day, strong technical feasibility is envisaged for solar projects. In Saudi Arabia, owing to average of 8.9 hr/day of sunshine, high average solar irradiation levels of 6.21 kWh/m2/day and specific yield of 5.17 kWh/kWp. In comparison, India’s solar irradiation is 5.098 kwh/m2/day and has a yield of 4.322 kwh.
ISA Director General Upendra Tripathy said, “Solar power is the cheapest in India with the tariff going as low as ₹1.30 per kwh for solar rooftop in the past.” He added that cost of solar power is falling in most other parts of the world.
BloombergNEF Head of Solar Analysis Jenny Chase said “Member countries need to provide a stable framework to solar investors. Governments should avoid renegotiating bids and ensure effective grid operation.