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While the government has announced measures on coal side and RBI is trying to give more elbow room to banks and institutions which have lend money to these projects, real improvement will come up only when PPA bidding opportunities come up.

The humongous amounts of garbage generated in India can very well entitle the waste management sector to claim being an industry. A

The scheme aiming to turn around ailing power distribution companies (discoms) in the country, Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY), has been successful in ironing out some of the edges in their operation and show a direction for regaining their financial health.

Once at the forefront of power generation in India, today hydro power has fallen far behind. We take a look at what ails the sector and the possible solutions to restore its former glory.

Under UDAY, progress in participation in terms of signing of MoUs and implementation of the scheme with respect to debt take-over/ refinancing has been satisfactory so far. Nonetheless, ability to reduce aggregate technical & commercial (AT&C) loss in line with targets as well as adequate tariff hike by SERCs will be critical for distribution utilities which have weak financial position, going forward so as to ensure sustained financial turnaround.

The takeover of the financial liabilities of the power distribution companies (discoms) by the state governments has brought in huge benefits to the cost structure of the discoms.

Just think of power going off while an important surgery is taking place in a hospital and it will not get back for a day or two. The kind of disruption an electricity blackout arising from grid collapse can cause is enormous for different people at various places. Grid collapse is the worst-case scenario for any transmission utility too.

India has a very promising solar resource, with tropical and sub-tropical regions. The DNI map of India depicts that several states in India are suitable for solar thermal projects.

With India eyeing such ambitious targets to magnify its solar capacity to 100 GW by FY 2022, the growth in the sector has been promising, but requires more impetus. On the policy front, although all the states have come up with dedicated solar policies with well-defined targets, there is barely any focus on CSP.