All posts tagged: solar panel cost

India will soon begin with the imposition of safeguard duty on solar cells and modules which had been put on hold by the government. In a significant order, the Supreme Court of India has made it clear that safeguard duty will be levied effective July 30, 2018. Through this interim order, the apex court of the country has nullified the Orissa High Court’s stay order on levy of safeguard duty on imported solar cells and modules.

According to Mercom’s source at the Supreme Court, “The Ministry of Finance, Government of India, had moved the apex court seeking relief from the stay order put on the levy of safeguard duty on solar cells and modules by the Orissa High Court. This is an interim order and the next hearing is scheduled for October. Basically, this paves the way for levy of duty while the case is being deliberated by the apex body.”

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) had recommended levy of 25 percent safeguard duty on solar cell imports from China and Malaysia for the first year, followed by a phased down approach for a second year. In the first six months of the second year, a safeguard duty of 20 percent will be payable by exporters to India and in the latter half of the second year, exporters will pay a safeguard duty of 15 percent.

Per an industry source aware of the development, “Supreme Court has stayed the stay order by Orissa High Court in case of Safeguard duty. Ministry of Finance had petitioned in the Supreme Court against the stay order passed by Orissa High Court on the order imposing safeguard duty on July 30, 2018. The resulting implication is that solar imports from July 30th may attract a safeguard duty of 25 percent and all the developers who had their solar module shipments released by providing bonds may now have to pay the safeguard duty.”

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : It was five years ago that Dr AP Sreekumar, a staunch environmentalist, installed a rooftop solar power plant at his house in Chengannur in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. Little did he know then that one day it would help save lives during the devastating floods in the state.

When the electricity board had turned off power distribution at Chengannur to prevent further danger following the unprecedented rain and deluge, Sreekumar’s house in the locality remained lit up. It sheltered five families from the neighbourhood.

It became a centre from where the refugees sent SOS messages, everyone charged their phones and remained connected to the outside world. “Even though we had enough power, we tried our best to reduce the usage as we did not know how long the uncertainty would prevail,” Sreekumar said. The doctor could also alert the local youths, who were carrying out rescue operations along with police, fire and rescue personnel, and save the lives of an elderly man and his son stranded in the neighbourhood. Fortunately, the house was not submerged as it is located on a higher plane.

Indukantham Hospital run by Sreekumar, which is again solar powered, had sheltered five other families, including that of two in-patients. Sreekumar and wife Dr Lakshmi Sreekumar had administered first aid to many fishermen who were injured in rescue operations. After the flood waters receded, the couple joined the medical camp at Chengannur.