Monday, May 27, 2013: Under the national solar programs, over 470 MW of solar generating equipment was commissioned. The project under CSP was to be completed by May 2013, but only 60 per cent of the work is over so far. According to reports from Mercom Capital, a consulting firm for energy communications, India is still struggling with the first 50 MW of the project and the rest has been granted an extension of 10 months. Raj Prabhu, Mercom CEO said that the present condition is due to the policy experiments by the Indian Government thereby creating uncertainty at each step of the project.
India has the potential of becoming one of the major producers of solar power in the world, but the global market will have to gulp down disappointing results, courtesy the “please all parties” policy of the current regime. According to Prabhu, government is always forgetting the impact on the key stakeholders of the mission, the consumers.
The report from Mercom also cited the split between domestic content requirement and PV solar power showing the inconsistencies in the government. Further, the report suggests that the policies set by the government are totally disconnected to the original policies of procuring solar power at the minimum cost. One of the various contradictory policy changes is the reverse bidding scheme. Originally, the lowest bids were to be entertained but now governmental efforts ensure that developers can’t access low cost equipment. While they want foreign investment to pour in, they are also scaring them away with dictating where the equipment are to be procured from. The current installation plans of India stands at 1761 MW with 557 MW completed. With most installation being delayed the results are worse than what we had in 2012.
