Need long-term visibility, investment in renewables

Steps need to be taken to make renewable energy financially sustainable and more centric to the power situation, experts said.

“The most important thing for us is the continuity of policies,” said Sumant Sinha, chairman, ReNew Power. “The path that needs to be taken is very clear. The only concern is that returns have gone down, and new capital will find it a little bit harder to come in.”

The government has brought the sector to the forefront and global stage by spearheading the International Solar Alliance, attracting some of the biggest domestic financial investors, who now want the government to emulate China.

“The industry expects the government to provide longterm visibility for procurement of power through storage-configured renewable projects and policies, to bring new investment towards gigascale factories for manufacturing modules and batteries under Make in India,” said Manoj Kohli, executive chairman at SoftBank-led SB Energy.

Solar manufacturers want safeguards from cheap imports. “It is imperative to consider antidumping as policy or regulation. Lack of a robust policy leads to influx of low-quality products in the market, forcing domestic manufacturers to compete at unsustainable prices, leaving no scope to innovate or increase capacities,” said Sunil Rathi, director, Waaree Energies. The industry also sees the need for better grid management.

The government must ensure that projects in the pipeline are delivered on time by removing bottlenecks, said Vipul Tuli, managing director, Sembcorp Energy India. “Steps also need to be taken to ensure that in an election year, discom finances are not further weakened due to populist measures.”

“The empowered committee led by the cabinet secretary has made recommendations in its report to help improve conditions for power players, such as mechanisms for public financial institutions to discount receivables and make upfront payment to generators,” Tuli said.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes