With 8.8 gigawatt (GW) of capacity addition projected for the year ahead, India is set to become the third biggest solar market globally in 2017, overtaking Japan, according to the India Solar Handbook 2017 released by Bridge to India (BTI) on Monday.

Publication: Live Mint

India’s power demand growth may not keep pace with the expansion in solar energy capacity, which may slow down capacity addition from the renewable source in 2018 before it recovers in the following year, consultancy Bridge to India said. In its latest handbook on solar energy, it estimates that solar capacity addition will be a record 7.7 GW (gigawatts) in 2017, but will fall to 6.5 GW the following year. It will recover to 7.5 GW in 2019 , before scaling new heights of 8 GW in 2020 and 8.3 GW in 2021

Publication: The Economic Times

The recent decision of the Supreme Court not to allow a revision of the tariff charged by Tata Power Co. Ltd and Adani Power Ltd for their 4,000MW (megawatt) and 4,620MW Mundra ultra-mega power projects (UMPPs) based on Indonesian coal raises serious concerns about the viability of these projects. In both cases, a decision by the Indonesian government to link the price of coal exported from the country to a benchmark based on international prices of coal has toppled carefully laid plans.

Publication: Live Mint

India plans to drive the internal combustion engine to extinction. The Narendra Modi government has set a sales target of six million electric vehicles by 2020 with an even more ambitious goal of having sales of new oil-driven vehicles ceasing by 2030. It is not clear if these targets include plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles or refer only to electric battery cars. The benefits for a country whose cities are choking on air pollution and one that is considered among the most vulnerable to climate change are obvious.

Publication: The Hindustan Times

India is planning a massive shift to electric vehicles (EVs) in the country over the next decade and a half. It is understood that the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the premier policy think-tank’ of the government of India which provides both directional and policy inputs, has recommended lowering of taxes and interest rates for loans on EVs.

Publication: Autocar Professional 

India’s most influential government think-tank has recommended lowering taxes and interest rates for loans on electric vehicles, while capping sales of conventional cars, signalling a dramatic shift in policy in one of the world’s fastest growing auto markets. A draft of the 90-page blueprint, seen by Reuters, also suggests the government opens a battery plant by the end of 2018 and uses tax revenues from the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles to set up charging stations for electric vehicles.

Publication: The Hans India

India’s most influential government think-tank has recommended lowering taxes and interest rates for loans on electric vehicles, while capping sales of conventional cars, signaling a dramatic shift in policy in one of the world’s fastest growing auto markets.

Publication: News 18

The Supreme Court has stayed trading in Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), whose prices have been reduced by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). REC-generating companies had filed the petition in the court against the CERC action. The court on Monday also stayed the new price regime introduced by the CERC, said sources privy to the hearing.

Publication: Business Standard