Centre Extends Deadline For Laggard Solar Scheme & others-14

MP: Indore Civic Body To Launch Green Bond IPO On Feb 10 To Raise Funds For Solar Plant

In a first-of-its?kind initiative in India, the Indore Municipal Corporation in Madhya Pradesh will launch green bonds in the form of public issue on February 10 to raise capital for setting up a solar power plant, an official said on Friday.

The civic body of the country's cleanest city aims to raise Rs 245 crore through the bonds to set up a 60 MW capacity solar plant, the official said.

"The IMC is the first urban body in the country to introduce green bonds as a public offering for a solar power plant," city mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava told PTI. " At least Rs 245 crore raised through green bonds will be used to set up a solar power plant, and the power generated from it will be used to pull water from Narmada river in Jalud village in neighbouring Khargone district, situated about 80 km away, and supply it to Indore, he said.

The total expenditure on setting up the solar power plant is estimated to be Rs 300 crore, the official said.

The civic body has been spending Rs 300 crore every year to bring Narmada water to Indore by running motor pumps at Jalud, he said.

"When the proposed solar power plant at Jalud recovers its cost, the civic body will save Rs 7 crore every month in the exercise of pulling Narmada water from there to Indore," the official said.

The tender for the construction of a solar power plant has already been floated and once awarded, it will take two years to be built, he added.

Centre Extends Deadline For Laggard Solar Scheme

The deadline for a key scheme by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to install 30,000 MW solar power capacity in rural India by 2022, has now been pushed to March 2026, Power Minister R.K. Singh said in written response to a query in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The PM-KUSUM, under which ?34,422 crore will be spent by the Centre, has three parts: Having farmers or farmer groups install solar power plants worth 10,000 MW; installing 20 lakh solar-powered agriculture pumps that aren't connected to the grid and, converting 15 lakh agriculture pumps, already connected to the grid, into solar.

As of December 31, 2022, only 88.46 MW of solar capacity had been added; 181,058 solar pumps had been installed and 1,174 grid-connected pumps converted.

"The pace of implementation of the PM-KUSUM was significantly affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and State implementing agencies sought extension in the time-line for execution of projects under the scheme. Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has also conducted third party evaluation of the Scheme and based on the recommendations, the Scheme has been extended till 31.3.2026," said Mr. Singh.

Rajasthan, with 62.5 MW, led the States with installed power plants by a wide margin while Himachal Pradesh finished second with 19.7 MW. Rajasthan also had the most 'off-grid' pumps at 54,195, followed by Haryana at 40,216, and it also led all States with 1,144 grid-connected solar pumps.

China ban would slow, not halt, Western solar push

Beijing may ban the export of technology used to make solar panels, an industry which China dominates by controlling at least 75% of its global supply chain.

Beijing's curbs, which have yet to be detailed, would cover technology and machinery used to produce solar panel components such as large wafers, black silicon and ultra-efficient silicon ingots, Chinese media have reported.

The ban would not extend to China's solar panels themselves, protecting an export market worth $40 billion in the first 10 months of 2022, sector data shows.

Losing access to Chinese solar technology, such as furnaces for melting silicon, would not be an insurmountable problem for the West.

True, the People's Republic dominates most of the industry's supply chain: it manufactures 79% of solar panel polysilicon, 97% of solar wafers and 85% of photovoltaic cells, according to the International Energy Agency.

Industry experts say Europe, which has less than 10 gigawatts of photovoltaic industrial capacity against about 300 GW for China, would already need to spend 1 billion euros for each additional GW of solar panel manufacturing capacity.

Building a new factory to make polysilicon, would take a couple of years, experts say, while creating an entire solar supply chain could take four times as long.