India poised to join China as global leaders in renewables: Report
New Delhi, May 22: India is poised to join China as the two global leaders in the renewable energy technology-led transformation, a US-based research institute said on Tuesday.
India doubled solar installs to 10 GW in 2017-18 and is rapidly up-scaling capacity to strive towards the ambitious and transformational 100 GW of solar by 2022, Director of Energy Finance Studies of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) Tim Buckley said.
India's "scheme for development of solar parks" is becoming a successful model to attract foreign capital, says the report "Solar is Driving a Global Shift in Electricity Markets".
The world's largest solar project to-date at 2,225 megawatt (MW) is under construction at the Bhadla Industrial Solar Park in Rajasthan.
This is more than double the largest fully operational solar park in India, that being the 1,000 MW Kurnool Ultra Mega Solar Park in Andhra Pradesh.
The year 2017 saw the commissioning of the world's largest floating solar project Sungrow's 40 MW development in Anhui Province in China.
But as an illustration of the rapid scaling up of solar, two 150 MW floating solar projects are due for commissioning in China in 2018.
Given land constraints, India's new policy target for 10,000 MW of floating solar nationally is a logical and commendable initiative to leverage this new innovation to enhance solar application and value proposition, said the report.
The report details some of the world's largest utility-scale, concentrated solar power, rooftop solar, floating solar, solar with battery storage projects, corporate renewable power purchase deals and utilities that lead on the renewable energy front.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports global solar installations total 98 GW in 2017, 31 per cent more than the previous year.
China installed 53 GW in 2017, over half the global total deployed in 2017.
"As major corporations sign on to such deals, they continue to look to 'green' their entire supply chains, many of which sit in emerging markets. This activity helps expand access to capital in markets, which is often a key constraint," co-author Kashish Shah said in a statement.
India's National Electricity Plan aims to reduce thermal power from 67 per cent of capacity in 2017 to just 43 per cent by 2027.
Experts say major solar energy tenders are occurring every week in India at prices now consistently 10-20 per cent below the cost of existing domestic thermal power generation and 50 per cent below new imported coal-fired power.
In a major endorsement of India's solar mission, Tata Power this month embraced renewables as the way forward with a $5 billion plan, like the NTPC.
"Banks clogged with thermal power plant bad debts won't keep lending to this stranded asset sector; painful for India, but a positive for the transition to renewables," Buckley told here.
Coal plants by NTPC and Adani are being retrofitted with pollution emissions controls and end of life polluters are being shut, 7 GW in the last two years alone.
The largest power plant in India, Adani's Mundra 4.6 GW import coal plant has been turned off since February 2018, unviable to run along with Tata's Mundra 4 GW import coal plant, a $9 billion stranded asset.
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NDA govt created 'unnecessary controversy' over Manmohan Singh's cremation, memorial: Ashok Gehlot
Jaipur (PTI): Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday accused the NDA government of creating an "unnecessary controversy" over the cremation and memorial of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Gehlot claimed that it was under public pressure that the BJP government announced plans to build a memorial for Singh in the future.
Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Thursday night. He was 92.
"The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has created an unnecessary controversy over the cremation and memorial of a great personality like Dr Manmohan Singh," Gehlot said on X.
He further stated, "The people of the country have expressed their displeasure over this step of the government, and then, under the pressure of public sentiment, the BJP government announced to build a memorial in the future."
He added that the Government of India is conducting the cremation of a respected personality at Nigam Bodh Ghat instead of any special place.
"In 2010, after the death of former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, without any demand from the BJP, the Congress government spoke to his family and immediately allotted a special place for his last rites in Jaipur, and a memorial was built there," Gehlot said.
After the death of Bal Thackeray in Maharashtra in 2012, the Congress government allotted a special place in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park for his last rites, he noted.
The former CM said that while Congress has always given respectful farewells to leaders of all parties, such behavior by the BJP toward Manmohan Singh is "unfortunate".
The mortal remains of Manmohan Singh reached Delhi's Nighambodh Ghat crematorium for last rites on Saturday. The procession carrying Singh's mortal remains reached the crematorium at around 11.30 am, where the last rites will be performed shortly.
