OLIVE EARTH

While solar policy and project pipelines remain robust in India, developers are facing a number of challenges that threaten forecasted growth, claims a new report by GTM research coauthored by BRIDGE TO INDIA. Chief among these threats is project bankability and financing; banks have been reticent to finance a first wave of Indian projects with national- or state-level FITs/power purchase agreements (PPAs), the majority of which are being promoted by inexperienced Indian developers.

“Financing is the number one concern for anyone developing solar in India,” said Shayle Kann, Managing Director of Solar at GTM Research. “To ease that pressure and eventually realize the market’s potential, we expect to see the competitive landscape evolve dramatically via strategic partnerships and joint ventures; India will benefit from the development expertise of global solar incumbents and these incumbents in turn will benefit from having a local partner to navigate the country’s complex energy market.”

To date, first movers such as SunEdison (NYSE: WFR), juwi solar, AES Solar, Conergy (FWB: CGY), Gehrlicher Solar, and Enfinity have employed this strategy to enter India, teaming with local developers or EPC providers to gain early market share or build viable project pipelines. Foreign module manufacturers have also made in-roads, opening initial supply channels in India; included in this group are thin film suppliers, First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR), Solar Frontier and Abound Solar, as well as crystalline-silicon manufacturers, Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) and Suntech (NYSE: STP