Parliamentary committee wants ease of RE financing: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy has recommended the government to proactively explore innovative financing mechanisms for the renewable energy sector. It would be in the form of alternative funding avenues as Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF), Infra Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InVITs), Alternate Investment Funds, Green/Masala Bonds, crowd funding etc. It has also advised for the Indian Renewable Energy Agency (IREDA) to be given a special window for borrowing from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at repo rate. This would ensure the renewable energy sector has access to low-cost financial resources. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) must engage with state governments to avoid any unilateral cancellation or renegotiation of power purchase agreements (PPA). Other recommendations include ensuring timely payments and compensation for delays in payment from discoms to the developers, and increasing the limit of loans under private sector lending for the industry.
SBI & Tata Power for solar financing: Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd. and Indian state-owned bank State Bank of India (SBI) have launched a dedicated centralized processing cell to finance solar power projects of up to 1 MW capacity. The Surya Shakti Cell, literally meaning sun power, is based out of Mumbai's Ballard Estate and will process all loan applications from across the country. Loan applications will be accepted from businesses and from households. While providing solar loans at competitive rates, the duo said they will also provide necessary support to the applicants in choosing the right equipment, resolve technical issues at their door steps and get expeditious approvals of their loans.
SECI's 1.2 GW tranche-X solar auction winners: The Solar Energy Corporation of India's (SECI) 1.2 GW interstate transmission system (ISTS) connected solar power projects tranche-X has achieved the lowest winning bid at INR 2.36 ($0.0316) per kWh. According to Mercom India Research, Ayana Renewable Power's Project Eight Renewable Power quoted this tariff to win 300 MW capacity. SolarOne Energy of Finland's Fortum secured another 300 MW for INR 2.37 ($0.0317) per kWh. SECI plans to auction the remaining capacity on February 4, 2022. Mercom explained the reasons for the rather high tariffs – it is a substation-based auction and there is the impending basic customs duty (BCD) on imported solar modules along with increase in Goods & Services tax (GST) as .
INR 3.59 per kWh for solar on GTAM: The average monthly price for solar power under Green Term-Ahead Market (GTAM) on the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) for the month of January 2022 was INR 3.59 ($0.048) per kWh, while the average monthly price for non-solar was INR 3.96 ($0.053) per kWh. IEX said under GTAM, 82 million units (MU) were sold in the reporting month with 44 participating companies. Key distribution utilities from States including Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Daman & Diu, and Bihar as well as several industrial consumers participated in the Exchange's Green Market during the month, it added.
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