Here is a recap of the important headlines from India’s solar and other renewable industries from June 2018:

Trading in both solar and non-solar renewable energy certificates (RECs) saw a significant decline in June 2018. In June 2018, 592,401 solar RECs were traded. This was 322,011 fewer than the 914,412 solar RECs traded in the May 2018

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)’s 3 GW Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS)- connected solar tender was oversubscribed by 2.1 GW.

According to the newly released report by Mercom’s India Solar Market Leaderboard 2018,  Sterling and Wilson emerged as the leading solar engineering procurement construction (EPC) developer in the country based on its project capacity commissioned in 2017.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued an order extending the commissioning date (COD) of solar projects that were affected after the imposition of Goods and Services tax (GST) and other related issues.

Indian solar imports witnessed a 20 percent spike from approximately $3.19 billion in FY 2016-17 to nearly $3.83 billion in FY 2017-18. Imports increased toward the end of the financial year as more project developers sought to meet commissioning deadlines.

Indian domestic developers feel that solar projects are getting too big to bid as the government is pushing to meet its target of achieving 100 GW solar capacity by 2022. To meet this goal, the government has started to increase the maximum project bid size.

The MNRE announced the medium and long-term target for offshore wind power capacity additions in India, which are 5 GW by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030. This announcement comes on the heels of high interest shown by stakeholders in the first ever expression of interest (EoI) for an offshore wind project.

Adani Green Energy has been listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). According to the BSE filing, effective from June 18, 2018, the equity shares of Adani Green Energy Ltd (Scrip Code: 541450) are listed and admitted to dealings on the Exchange on the list of ‘T’ Group Securities.

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) approved the tariff proposed by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd (MSEDCL) for the long term procurement of 500 MW of wind power under non- solar renewable purchase obligations (RPO).  In March 2018, MSEDCL had auctioned it to meet its non-solar RPO. The lowest quoted (L1) tariff quoted in the auction was ₹2.85 (~$0.043)/kWh.

The MNRE notified the new benchmark cost for off-grid solar PV systems and rooftop solar projects for the financial year (FY) 2018-19. For grid-connected rooftop solar projects of capacity more than 1 kW and up to 10 kW, MNRE has fixed the benchmark cost at ₹60 (~$0.878)/Wp.

The Ministry for Power set solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO) for FY 2019-2020 at 7.25 percent. The non-solar RPO for FY 2019-2020 has been set at 10.25 percent.

According to Mercom India Research’s newly released Q1 2018 India Solar Market Update report, the Indian solar market had its best quarter to date with 3,269 MW of solar installed in Q1 2018, compared to 2,448 MW installed in Q4 of 2017 – a 34 percent increase.

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer