The India Solar Weekly  February 16, 2015 Subscribe to our newsletter Power Minister Mr.Piyush Goyal visiting BRIDGE TO INDIA stall at RE-INVEST 2015 Much fanfare and interest, but few specifics at RE-INVEST On Sunday (15th February 2015), India’s first government organised renewable energy investment summit got underway. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the event at New Delhi in the presence of Indian and global industry stakeholders. Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, called it a ‘historic day’ that will pave the way for making India the ‘renewable energy capital of the world’ and the Prime Minister related the ambitions to energy access for all (see Prime Minister’s address here). The country aims for 100 GW of solar, 70 GW of wind and significant additions of small hydro and biomass power. The panels and speeches discussed, in broad terms, the business fundamentals needed for a functioning market place. The main topics were: how to lower the cost of finance, investment commitments in projects and manufacturing and how to bring the states on board for a smooth center-state coordination. Several valuable ideas and suggestions were presented by the panelists. You may want to follow these updates from twitter handles such as @RE_Invest2015 and @MNREIndia and the hash tag #REInvest2015. The Prime Minister collected vague, GW-sized, public commitments from states, public and private sector companies. Those attendees who were expecting the government to announce specific, new policies and a roadmap for the industry to reach the ambitious targets were disappointed. The only concrete policy announcement on the first day came from Andhra Pradesh, which announced a target of 10,000 MW of renewables by March 2019 (refer). BRIDGE TO INDIA met several industry stakeholders to get an industry pulse and their thoughts on the 100 GW target for solar. Most stakeholders thought that it is a desirable and feasible target but very ambitious and will require a step change in policy commitment. One panelist described the situation very well, when he said: "India needs to act quickly to retain the mind space it has attracted." Similar interest was created in the Saudi Arabia and Mexico markets but because of lack of tangible progress, they lost that mind space. The same should not happen in India. Even though it is difficult, we hope that a step change in government action will follow all the enthusiasm, attention and investment willingness that has been seen at the event. IndiaGoesSolar.com - Vendor registrations open India Goes Solar developed by BRIDGE TO INDIA, is a new online solar education and community portal focused on the end consumer. It offers an opportunity to solar solution providers in India to list their services and products. Please click here to register.             Our Reports India Solar Opportunity 2015  In this report, we look at the new 100 GW solar target for India and present an overview of each sub-market (utility scale, rooftop, off grid, telecom towers and irrigation pumps) together with relevant policy and financing issues. Download here Rooftop Revolution: Uncovering the Solar Potential of Patna This report evaluates the potential of rooftop solar in addressing the state’s power woes. BRIDGE TO INDIA team envisages a road map for Patna to become energy self-sufficient by adopting solar. Patna is capable of adding 277 MW of solar by 2025 which is about 20% of the city’s power requirement. Download here Beehives or Elephants? How should India drive its solar transformation?  The report titled, “Beehives or Elephants? How should India drive its solar transformation?” examines the ideal solar road map for India through comparative analysis of four distinct scenarios of solar power generation – residential rooftops (solar bees), large rooftops (solar pigeons), utility scale projects (solar horses) and ultra-mega projects (solar elephants).   Download here Blogs & Announcements Recap 1: 166 GW of solar investment interest in India in the coming years In the build-up to the government-sponsored renewable energy investment summit, RE-INVEST 2015 (refer), the organizers asked participating companies to provide non-binding investment indications for the Indian renewable market. The results show a general willingness to set up a whopping 166 GW of solar power generation capacity and 5 GW per year of solar manufacturing capacity (refer). Read here Recap 2: India is getting its solar fundamentals right but the policy is still a 'work-in-progress' On Saturday (31st January 2015), the Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, called for a meeting with solar developers and manufacturers to discuss various aspects related to structuring of accelerated depreciation (AD) mechanism to ensure a level playing field for developers.  Read here.   Job opening: Consulting position We are looking for highly motivated individuals to join our consulting team based in Delhi/NCR. The candidate should have a Bachelor’s degree in engineering and/or business management and at least 5 years of work experience , preferably in the energy consulting or solar energy. View job discription here Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Copyright © Bridge to India 2014, All rights reserved. unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences