Anti dumping duty _ next burning issue in indian solar industry

   “We will pool our scientific, technical and managerial talents, with sufficient financial resources, to develop solar energy as a source of abundant energy to power our economy and to transform the lives of our people. Our Success in this endeavor will change the face of India. It would also enable India to help change the destinies of people around the world.”

          Those are the words of Hon. Prime minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh at the time of addressing National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). Clear, determinant and encouraging speech by prime minister turns into the action by announcing Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). A mission to transform energy dependency on fossil fuel to the renewable source of power mainly solar energy by creating the policy conditions for its diffusion across the country as quickly as possible. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) started planning to establish strong policy framework for this mission. Before announcement of this mission India had installed capacity of mealy 17.8 mw. It means MNRE has to establish entirely new industry. Even though it was a hard task to develop optional power source which is relatively costlier than conventional sources under the variating global economic conditions. MNRE successfully manage it by implicating various plans. And at the end of October 2012 mission crossed milestone of installed capacity of 1000mw. Since announcement of the JNNSM, Indian solar industry has been facing many hurdles related to the global over capacity, financial backups, loose RPO enforcement conditions and recently born TRADE war.

    The Indian Solar (PV) Manufacturers’ Association on behalf of three Indian cell manufacturers, namely, Indosolar, Websol Energy Systems and Jupiter Solar has filed a dumping complaint against cell and module imports from China, the US, Malaysia and Taiwan. This complaint was first reported on January 2012 to the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) at the Ministry of Commerce. On November 23rd 2012, DGAD announced that it had found sufficient preliminary evidence of dumping in India. And investigation has started from that day. The ‘period of investigation’ has been determined as between January 1st2011 to June 30th2012 (18 months) as part of the investigation, any entity that is directly impacted in any manner by the duties is referred to as an ‘interested party’. Ac-accordingly, an ‘interested party’ can be any of the following: domestic industry on whose complaint the proceedings are initiated, exporters or the foreign producers of the like articles subject to investigation, importers of the same article allegedly dumped into India, government of the exporting countries, trade or business associations of the domestic producers or importers of the dumped product.

Factors, which are reducing the cost of Chinese product

·         Strong governmental support

At the beginning of 2008 Chinese government sense the future aspects of the solar PV industry worldwide, which was the triggering point for them and accordingly they began their massive capacity formula. Govt had given free land to the pv manufacturers, quick clearance for the projects, large benefits in terms of 1% -2% interest rates on loan, tax benefits on large exports, etc. due to all these reasons Chinese companies were thrive to expand their scale and vertical integration model.

·         Scale and vertical integration

China has some of words largest PV manufacturing companies which cover almost half production market worldwide. Suntech has annual production capacity of 2000 MW, while as the total module production capacity in India is about 1.5 GW and cell capacity is about 500 MW. Chinese manufacturer are surviving in this surplus supply circumstance, is because of their vertical integrating chain of supply, so as per market condition they have a scope to shift their margin along the chain. It is maintaining their flexibility in this harsh condition.

·         excessive export volume

Some experts doubting about their export volume. According to them, Chinese firms are selling PV modules below even the cash cost of production. Chinese manufacturers want to show high export numbers so that state-owned banks do not call in their loans and in the hope that they will eventually be given a debt waiver.

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Indian Solar Summit 2013

With aims to accelerate the number of solar installations in the country to reach a target capacity of 30GW by 2017, India has established itself as one of the most attractive renewable investment markets in the world.

In order to make this target a reality, India’s premier solar show – The Indian Solar Summit and Exhibition – is back in 2013.

Start Date : 18th April, 2013

End Date : 19th April, 2013

Place : Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre, Gujarat

Azure Power (Gujarat)

 

Three solar power companies are in a legal tangle with the Gujarat Government over the issue of ownership of the companies that are putting up the projects. All the three – Azure Power (Gujarat), Millennium Synergy and ESP Urja – are wholly owned by American solar power developer SunEdison.

The point under dispute is whether or not these three companies are in breach of a covenant of the power purchase agreement which stipulates that the “power producer shall continue to hold at least 51 per cent of equity from the date of signing of this agreement”.

Azure Power (Gujarat) and ESP Urja have a 5 MW plant each, while Millennium runs a 10 MW plant.

Gujarat’s nodal agency Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd had issued notices terminating the power purchase agreement for Azure Power (Gujarat) and had stopped making payments for the purchased power for the other two companies.

Azure Power (Gujarat) was initially promoted by Azure Power India, a company whose various projects have been funded by the German development finance agency, DEG, the US Exim Bank and IFC (Washington).

The three companies have petitioned the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission. The Commission, in its orders passed recently, has stayed the operation of the termination notice served on Azure Power and has directed GUVNL to make the due payments to Millennium and ESP Urja.

“It is unfair and unjust that the generator is not paid for the power supplied by him to the distribution licensees,” the order says.

In the case of Millennium and ESP Urja, GUVNL had raised the issue of compensation to be paid by the project developers for any violation of the PPA covenants. But the Commission dismissed it saying that was “not a subject matter of the present petition.

”The IFC-funded SunEdison’s contention, as spelt out in the order relating to the Azure Power case, is that it signed the shareholder agreement – for taking over the ownership of the developer – prior to the signing of the PPA.

The question as to whether or not there is a breach of the PPA with respect to the covenant relating to the shareholding pattern is yet to be decided by the Commission.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation ropes in IIM-A startup for LED streetlights

AHMEDABAD: The Gandhi bridge in Ahmedabad will soon get eco friendly streetlights, courtesy a venture by an Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) alumni.

IIM-A alumnus Akshat Khare and his partner Dhaval Shah, a Nirma University graduate, through their startup-Nessa Illumination Technologies, will run a pilot project on Gandhi bridge by replacing 10,000 conventional street lights with LED lights.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) spends about Rs 12-15 crore annually on external lights in the city. Our business model will help them save up to one-thirds on electricity bills. Besides, the lights are maintenance free, which will help them cut additional costs," said Khare, director, Nessa.

The startup will run the pilot project this month. Instead of paying the entire cost upfront, AMC has the option to pay from the savings on electricity bill. According to the company, any organization that installs the LED lights and solar solutions can see pay backs within a year of installation.

Nessa has also sold solar products to the 600 MW solar power park in Gujarat, promoted by chief minister Narendra Modi as Asia's first and largest. Nessa has also replaced 150 watts sodium streetlights with on IIMA campus with 60 watts LED streetlights.

M.TECH course by school of solar energy gujarat

http://www.sse.pdpu.ac.in/downloads/MTechCourseStructure.pdf

consultancy,training and testing services by sardar patel RE research institute

http://www.spreri.org/services-offered.htm

shinning future of Gujarat