White paper For MiniStry oF neW and reneWable energy (Mnre)

dr. tobias engelmeier, Managing director,
bridge to india spoke about the ways
of reducing the cost of solar power in
the context of international companies
looking to enter the indian solar market.
participants networking during
lunch break.
the identiFied challengeS
During the discussion, key challenges
were identified:
• High capital costs
• Need for an improved manufacturing
base and R&D services
• Need to fill the gap of long term
finance schemes for solar projects
• Better qualified project developers
Many solar projects fail to attract
sufficient attention and funding. Also,
most of the developers and financiers
the identiFied opportunitieS
All participants agreed that the market
offers interesting opportunities
such as:
• On-grid projects with different
off-take opportunities for PV
• Long-term potential of CSP
• Off-grid potential in fields such as
commercial rooftops or telco towers
India has 300 sunny days per year
and receives an hourly radiation of
200MW/km2. The usage of 10% of
the land for harnessing solar energy
can produce 8,000GW of installed
capacity. Solar power, therefore, can
easily address India’s long-term
power requirements.
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
under the Renewable Purchase
Obligations (RPO) have the potential
to provide a significant demand-side
pull for solar energy. RECs have
FolloW-up: White paper For
MiniStry oF neW and
reneWable energy (Mnre)
The key inputs from the roundtable will
be compiled and sent to the MNRE to
ensure that policy makers are aware of
industry concerns.
© BRIDGE TO INDIA, 2011 | Press Release
lack prior experience as solar is
still an upcoming energy resource.
This, in conjunction with poor solar
irradiation data, has made banks
hesitant to provide debt finance. The
experts at the round table emphasized
on the transparency required in the
bidding process of the solar projects.
This, according to them, would help in
procuring qualified project developers
to execute the solar projects in
a professional manner.
become a second viable off-take option
for developers. They can choose to
either sell their solar power through
preferential feed-in-tariffs under the
NSM or generate RECs.
Reverse bidding of tariffs under
the NSM has made MW scale grid
connected plants risky due to low
tariffs. This makes the diesel offset
market of 50GW more viable as this
market is self sustainable and does not
need government subsidies.
The roundtable proved to be a
successful endeavor in not only
highlighting various recommendations
that may prove effective in benefitting
the Indian solar market, but it also
provided a forum for people from the
government, think tanks and media to
consider these issues together with
industry experts.
There will be a follow up event to this
at ORF centre which will be held on
Friday, 5 th of august 2011.
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