Solar Tariffs

A US investigation into potential solar tariff evasion will not impact Waaree Energies' investment plans, including the expansion of its Texas facility and exploration of setting up a solar cell manufacturing capability in the high-growth, strategic US market, the company said Sunday. Waaree is one of the largest vertically integrated companies in the manufacturing of solar modules, which convert sun rays into electricity. It has an operational capacity of 13.3 GW in India. It commenced operations at its US solar module manufacturing plant in Houston, Texas, in January this year with an initial installed capacity of 1.6 GW. The Texas facility is being scaled to 3.2GW by FY27. US customs officials last week launched an investigation into whether Waaree bypassed tariffs on Chinese-made solar cells and panels by falsely labelling them as manufactured in India. "The investigation has no impact on our investment plans. The Texas plant expansion from 1.6 GW to 3.2 GW is already underway,

The tariffs for solar power could increase between 25-45 paise per unit (kWh) due to Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on imported solar cells and modules

The tumbling tariffs of solar power, however, have slashed the expectations of returns by investors from 14 per cent to 12 per cent

Files petition with CERC to prevent SECI and Power Grid Corp from encashing bank guarantee and letter of comfort submitted for project

If falling tariffs were pressuring project developers before, the new safeguard duty on panels adds another cloud of uncertainty to the stiff targets the government has set

The Indian solar manufacturing had asked for 95 per cent safeguard duty on imports

Solar tariffs in India made headlines again, dropping to the record low levels seen last year

During 2017, solar power tariff hovered around Rs 2.4 per unit level only in auctions for capacities

A recent tender for 500 MW of solar power projectsin Gujarat witnessed tariff going up in range of Rs 2.65-3.36 per unit. This isa minor correction from the last lowest bidding of Rs 2.44 per unit discoveredin Rajasthan. Impact of new tax regime under GST andincrease in cost of panels coming from China has led to escalation in tariff discoveredin this latest tender. Chennai based GRT Jewellers quoted thelowest tariff of Rs 2.65 per unit for 90 MW of project capacity. It wasfollowed by Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited and GujaratIndustries Power Limited which quoted Rs 2.66 and Rs 2.67 per unit respectivelyfor 75 MW each. NYSE listed Azure Power won 350 MW by quoting Rs 2.67 per unit. The tender was called by Gujarat Urja VikasNigam Limited. Other bidders in race were ReNew Power, Tata Power RenewableEnergy Limited, UK based Lightsource Renewable Energy India Assets Ltd, FortumPower and Torrent Power. "The 5 per cent GST on solar effectivelyincreases the cost by 10-20 ..