GERC fixes tariff for solar power projects

Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) today said that it has fixed the tariff for the solar power projects that will hold for next three years. The control period for the proposed tariff is from January 29, 2012 to March 31, 2015, an official statement said. The levelized tariffs under various categories range from Rs 8.03 per unit to Rs 11.55 per unit,the statement said. In view of the declining trend in the prices of solar photovoltaic (PV) globally, the commission has decided to reduce the tariff by seven per cent every year, during the second and third years of the control period, it said. The seperate tariff determined and proposed by the commission are for solar PV MW-based power projects, solar PV KW-based rooftop power projects, and solar thermal-based power projects. The solar power projects, established with only new plants and machinery, would be eligible for the benefit of tariff determined within the scope of this solar tariff order. In order to promote KW scale rooftop solar projects, no wheeling charges shall apply for wheeling of power, generated by rooftop power projects, it said. No cross-subsidy surcharges shall be levied in case of third-party sale by the solar power projects, an official statement said. The decision of the regulator comes in the wake of the changing trends in the field and keeping in view interest of all the stakeholders, it said. Earlier, the commission had fixed the power tariff for solar power projects to be commissioned between January 29, 2010 and January 28, 2012 vide its order issued in January last year. PTI VKB PD NP 01272207 Copyright 2012 The Press Trust of India All Rights Reserved

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Abound Solar and Solarsis Announce Commissioning of Solar Plant in India

Abound Solar and Solar Integration Systems India Private Limited (Solarsis) has announced the commissioning of a 1MW solar photovoltaic plant in Kadiri, Andhra Pradesh, India. The commissioning officially took place on January 14, 2012 and comes less than a year after the two companies announced a partnership targeting the fast-growing Indian solar market. This project was commissioned under the Rooftop and Other Small Solar Power Generation Plant (RPSSGP) Scheme administered by IREDA under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). It is the first project in the state of Andhra Pradesh to use Abound Solar Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin-film modules. The combination of Abound Solar's low-cost modules, along with Solarsis' homegrown racking and mounting solution, cut down on the overall balance-of-system (BoS) cost of the project. "This plant will generate operational data on different technology performance in Indian weather conditions as this 1MW plant uses 620KW of Thin Film based on Abound modules and 380KW of crystalline silicon with single-axis tracking technology" said Venkat Rajaraman, CEO of Solarsis. "India is a key market for Abound Solar due to our U.S.-made CdTe panel's excellent performance in India's climate, our commercial focus over the past two years, and our successful use of U.S. Export-Import Bank financing. We have a significant installed base in India and see this growing in 2012," said Craig Witsoe, President and CEO of Abound Solar. "Solarsis is a good partner for us, offering project and local industry expertise." Copyright 2012 Space Daily, Distributed by United Press International Wire News provided by

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48 Solar Cities To Be Developed In India As Per MNRE

BY PMSOLARPV ON 3 MONTHS AGO IN SOLAR ENERGY, CITY:NEW DELHI RENEWABLE ENERGY EXPO RENEWABLE ENERGY EVENTS RENERGY SOLAR CONFERENCE

48 Cities to be Developed as Solar Cities The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy proposes to develop 60 cities as solar cities. So far, based on proposals received by the Government from various Sates, inprinciple approval has been given to 48 cities to be developed as solar cities in the country. Out of these, sanctions have been given to 37 cities which have engaged consultants for preparation of Master Plans. State-wise list of 48 Cities for which In-Principle approval has been given and 37 Cities (with * mark) for which sanctions have been issued is given below:Cities for which in-principle approval given Sl.No. State 1 2 3 4 5 Andhra Pradesh Assam Arunachal Pradesh Chandigarh Chhattisgarh Gujarat 1. Vijayawada* 2. Guwahati*, 3. Jorhat* 4. Itanagar* 5. Chandigarh * 6. Bilaspur* 7. Raipur* 8. Rajkot* 9. Gandhinagar* 10.Surat* 11. Panji City* 12. Gurgaon* 13. Faridabad* 14. Shimla * 15. Hamirpur* 16. Mysore* 17. Hubli-Dharwad* 18. Thiruvananthapuram 19. Kochi 20. Nagpur * 21. Thane* 22.Kalyan-Dombiwali* 23. Aurangabad 24. Nanded 25. Shirdi* 26. Indore 27.Gwalior* 28. Bhopal 29. Rewa 30. Imphal* 31. Aizawl* 32. Kohima* 33.Dimapur* 34. Bhubaneswar* 35. Amritsar* 36. Ludhiana* 37. SAS Nagar (Mohali)

6 7 8 9 10 11

Goa Haryana Himachal Pradesh Karnataka Kerala

Maharashtra 12

13 14 15

Madhya Pradesh Manipur Mizoram Nagaland

16 17

Orissa Punjab

18

19 20 21

Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Tripura

22

Uttrakhand Uttar

38. Ajmer 39. Jaipur 40. Jodhpur* 41. Coimbatore * 42. Agartala* 43. Dehradun* 44. Haridwar&Rishikesh* 45. Chamoli-Gopeshwar* Pradesh 46. Agra* 47. Moradabad* 48. Howrah

23 24

West Bengal

The criteria set by the Ministry for the identification of cities include a city population between 50,000 to 50 lakh (with relaxation given to special category States including North-East States), initiatives and regulatory measures already taken alongwith a high level of commitment in promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy. So far, an amount of Rs.17.23 crore has been sanctioned for 37 cities, of which Rs. 2.75 crore has been released for utilization by the concerned State Nodal Agencies/ Municipal Corporations. So far, the Master plans for 7 cities namely Agra, Moradabad from Uttar Pradesh, Thane & Kalyan-Dombivli from Maharashtra, Indore from Madhya Pradesh, Kohima from Nagaland and Aizawl from Mizoram have been finalized and the development of projects is in progress. This information was given by the Minister of New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabhatoday.