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Highlights from SOLARCON India 2010
Mercom Communications India, Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Mercom Capital
Group, a clean energy communications and consulting firm attended the
SOLARCON India 2010 conference held in Hyderabad last week. Having also
attended 2009 SOLARCON, the difference in the mood was evident, with a
rush of participant interest and enthusiasm. In 2009 participants were
unsure of what the future of the sector had in store for them and relied
on speculation about the future of the industry, whereas this year the
conversation centered on achieving targets set by the ambitious
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).
The Indian Solar industry is trying to figure out the finer points in
the recently released guidelines for selection of new grid-connected
solar power projects. Private investors were looking for the right
vertical in which to invest, be it module manufacturing, developing
solar farms or aligning with companies which have already found its
place in the sector. Foreign companies appear to be evaluating their
positions as the JNNSM mandates the purchase of crystalline silicon
modules manufactured in India for FY 2010-11 and both cells and modules
in India.
There was also concern among some suppliers regarding the pricing that
they are able to obtain in the India market. Suppliers see the
margins in India to be wafer thin when compared to the US or European
markets making scale and potential size of the Indian solar market vital
before large investment decisions are made. Among EPCs, the most
common concern was new market entrants with a lack of experience, which
could result in poorly executed projects, which in turn will slow down
industry progress all together and may ruin the reputation of legitimate
EPCs.
The biggest cause of concern for all industry stakeholders has been
the scale of the projects. Most of the projects announced are of 5-10MW
scale and this is not attractive enough for large developers, foreign
companies, EPCs or module suppliers as it will not result in optimal
project economics.
On the state level, one observer commented that although many states
have announced aggressive plans for solar installation, Karnataka is the
only state which has successfully commissioned two projects of 3MW
each.
On the whole the mood at the conference was upbeat with a dose of cautious optimism.
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