India withdraws import duty on solar modules within months of imposition

India has withdrawn its decision to impose a duty of 7.5% (effectively around 10%) on imports of solar modules, and this could give a shot in the arm for the solar power industry, according to India Ratings. The move could also help achieve the government’s target of achieving total, grid-connected solar power capacity of 100 […]

Suzlon completes execution of solar orders; to focus on solar+wind hybrid farms

Suzlon Energy, one of the pioneers of wind power in India, said it has finished commissioning its entire solar order book of 340 megawatt, and will focus on hybrid solar-wind projects going forward. Out of the 340 MW erected, 210 MW was erected in Telangana, 60 MW in Rajasthan and 70 MW in Maharashtra. The […]

Ashok Leyland bets on Israel-based company’s Aluminum Air battery for electric commercial vehicles

Ashok Leyland, the auto arm of the Hinduja Group said it signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Phinergy, an Israel-based company that is developing Aluminium Air batteries for long-range vehicles. Unlike lithium ion batteries, which need to be recharged after 200-500 km, a vehicle that uses aluminum air battery can run for several thousand […]

No new plans to modify National Green Tribunal – Govt

The BJP-led government at the center has said that it has no further plans to amend the powers or constitution of the National Green Tribunal, the quasi-judicial body set up by the previous UPA government for protecting the environment. “There is no amendment proposed in the Constitution and functions of the National Green Tribunal,” Mahesh […]

Orient Green Power sells biomass units; sees the wind turning

Orient Green Power Co, the renewable arm of the Shriram Group, said it has sold much of it biomass power generation business to a unit of its promoter and that its wind power business is benefiting from higher offtake by the Tamil Nadu power distribution company. The company had around 96 megawatts (MW) of biomass […]

6,500 MW of wind projects to be auctioned in 3 months in India

The central government and various state governments will award contracts to set up another 6,500 MW (6.5 GW) of wind energy projects in the next three months, the ministry of renewable energy said. Combined with the 3 GW awarded in the first nine months of this fiscal year, this will take the total amount of […]

SOLAR MISSION: It’s another nail-biter for India in 2017-18

India faces steep odds in its race to meet its solar power addition targets for the current year. Last year, the country had added only 5.53 GW of incremental solar power capacity against a target of 6 GW. This year, the target is 10 GW. However, as of November end, it has added only 3.46 […]

BJP MP seeks solar lights for forest encroachers

Bishnu Pada Ray, the member of Lok Sabha representing Andaman & Nicobar Islands has asked for permission to install solar lighting systems in the homes of forest encroachers who are under order by the Supreme Court to evacuate the forest land. Ray wrote the letter seeking permission to install the lighting system in the homes […]

Stubble Burning: 1,493 Haryana farmers fined Rs 40 lakh

Around 1,500 farmers from Haryana have been fined a total of Rs 39.85 lakh for burning agricultural stubble between July to October this year, the government said. The action was taken to dissuade farmers from burning agricultural waste. Burning of agricultural waste has been blamed for worsening air quality levels in national capital Delhi. Air […]

Uber to deploy Mahindra electric cars in India

Mahindra & Mahindra said Uber, the taxi company, will deploy ‘hundreds of electric cars’ from the company in Delhi and Hyderabad. The partnership will gradually be expanded to other cities, it said. Mahindra’s electric vehicles on the Uber platform will include the ezoPlus hatch and the eVerito sedan. “As part of this collaboration, both the […]

India to see 6 GW of wind power auctioned in 5 months

Inox Wind Limited, the most aggressive player in bidding for new wind power projects, said it expects almost 6 GW of new wind power projects to be auctioned in India over the next five months. In comparison, the country added 5.4 GW of wind power capacity on the ground in the last financial year that […]

Infosys included in Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Infosys said it has been inducted into the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) and is now part of two of the indices — DJSI World and DJSI Emerging Markets. The indices measure the economic, environmental and social performance of companies and are based on the companies’ corporate governance, risk management, branding, climate change mitigation strategies, […]

South India still water-stressed despite decent monsoon

Despite a decent monsoon season, water levels at storage facilities in India continues to be below those of last year as well as the 10-year average. Of particular concern is the situation in South India, only 39% of the total capacity of the reservoirs has been filled so far. Usually, the number should have been […]

India achieves only 14% of rooftop solar power target

Even as India more or less sticks to the target on adding large solar farms under its ambitious Solar Mission project, the other leg of the plan — rooftop solar — remains woefully behind target. Under the solar mission, India is supposed to have put in 5,000 megawatt of solar plants on the roofs of […]

SLOW START: India adds 8.3% of 2017 target solar capacity in three months

India added only 827 megawatt of solar power generation capacity in the first three months of the current financial year, indicating a slow start to the yearly program. The addition of the first three months represents only 8.27% of the 10,000 megawatt that it is supposed to come online this year. According to India’s ambitious […]

ISRO offers space tech to electric vehicle makers in India

Indian Space Research Organization could soon help Indian e-bikes overcome their biggest drawbacks — low mileage per charge and limited speed. Costing between Rs 35,000-50,000, most of these bikes have a top speed of 25 km per hour and a range of 30 to 50 km per charge. That could change soon, thanks to the […]

India to add 34.5 GW of hydroelectric capacity in 10 years

India will set a target of adding 34.5 GW of hydro-power generation capacity in the next ten years, according to power ministry sources. “The target for the 13th plan has been set at 13.31 GW and that for the 14th plan will be 21.15 GW,” said a power ministry official. This will take India’s total […]

Can’t allow NGOs to impede India’s growth: Center to NHRC

The home ministry has written back to the National Human Rights Commission that non-governmental organizations cannot be allowed to work against India’s strategic or economic interest. In it’s response to the NHRC, the home ministry said it cannot allow organizations that take money from outside India to conduct “activities detrimental to national interest ,including security, strategic, […]

Can’t block imports of cheap chinese solar panels – Nirmala Seetharaman

The government of India said it cannot seek to slow down imports of solar power generation equipment from China as it has to watch out for the interests of Indian consumers as much as those of Indian industrialists. Responding to questions from the opposition in Lok Sabha on why India was not taking action to help the […]

After missing twice, India comfortably meets power sector targets for 12th five-year plan

After missing its targets by wide margins in the previous two five-year plans, India is all set to comfortably meet or exceed all its power sector targets for the 12th five-year plan that ends this month. Five-year plans, borrowed from the Soviet Union, are a legacy of Nehruvian policy of setting development targets every five […]