White paper on Promoting Domestic Manufacturing of Medical Devices

India’s medical device market is the fourth largest in India and one of the top 20 worldwide; however import dependence to the tunes of about 80 percent of overall sales is an impediment to achieve self-reliance vis-a-vis domestic manufacturing of medical devices and equipments. This high reliance on imports presents a grand opportunity to domestic manufacturers. An enabled ecosystem that promotes indigenous manufacturing of medical devices is crucial for the growth of the health care sector. The current white paper analyses various scenarios for manufacturing capability of different medical technologies and probable recommendations to augment and strengthen production within each scenario.The four scenarios described in the paper includes (1) those medical devices for which there is a high domestic demand that is fulfilled through imports even if domestic manufacturing capacity exists, implying low production in the country (2) relatively low-end technology medical devices for which there is domestic demand with high reliance on imports (3) high-end technology devices which are imported to satisfy domestic need and for which there is no domestic manufacturing capacity (4) medical devices which are being exported to rest of the World. The paper recommends for a comprehensive regulatory overhauls, review of existing taxation structure, calibrated customs duty, fixed term capital subsidy, extended coverage of PLI scheme, strengthening the research and innovation ecosystem, emphasis on technology transfer and building brand India as some of the measures that can potentially favour promotion of domestic manufacturing of medical devices and allow the India Med-Tech sector to grow into global champions.

Techno-Economic Feasibility Study of Net-metering Implementation in Rooftop Solar PV in Nepal

While a plethora of new hydro generation capacity are, being constructed, other forms of energy like solar is still undeveloped in Nepal. As of May 2018, the total installed capacity of Nepal stands at 1060 MW, among which mere 0.68 MW (0.06%) is solar. Solar Rooftop holds potential for development of solar and recognizing this, AEPC had urban solar program with capital subsidy element. In addition, NEA announced Alternative Electricity Connected to Grid 2018, with Feed in Tariff of NRs 7.30 for 3 years paving way for net metering in solar rooftop. This paper discusses the techno-economic feasibility of solar net metering across domestic (both individual and high-rise apartments), commercial and institutional consumers with the FiT offered. The analysis is done in both scenarios; where there is no export to grid and where there is export to the grid possible. Sample data on LCOE and kWh demand for each segment are collected and system size and solar production is calculated using Helioscope. Along with this, rate of return and payback years is calculated with current benchmark pricing and industry wide assumptions. The results of these analyses show higher payback period (6-9 years) and unattractive return (<15%) in the BOOT model for rooftops. Even in segments like high-rise apartments and commercial consumers with minimum 500 kW size where returns are higher (>20%), limitations as rooftop space makes net metering an un-attractive proposition. This paper also provides current policy landscape and envisages addressing policy gaps, and learnings from international arena on success of net-metering including financial incentives and regulations provided to drive the net-metering growth in Nepal.

Assessing the Effect of Incentive Policies on Residential PV Investments in Colombia

As the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) falls, their potential for transforming modern electricity generation increases. Solar PV provides a simpler way of producing clean and affordable energy, which makes it an attractive investment. Great investments in solar PV have occurred in industrialized countries, but government efforts to promote this technology have not been effective in nonindustrialized countries. Despite this, some of these countries may have a high solar PV potential, such as Colombia, where policies to encourage solar PV are only just starting to take place. Therefore, this paper proposes a simulation model to assess different policies—feed-in tariff, net metering, and capital subsidy—to promote solar PV investments in the Colombian residential sector. Policies are assessed considering the criteria of efficiency and effectiveness. Simulation results suggest that (i) net metering is the most efficient policy with a cost indicator of 20,298 USD/MW; (ii) feed-in tariff is the most effective policy as it reaches the highest level of avoided CO2 emissions—4,792,823 million tons of CO2—and a meaningful PV installed capacity of 7522 MW; (iii) capital subsidy is the least efficient policy as it has the highest cost indicator of 509,616 USD/MW.

The Deadweight Costs of Operating and Capital Subsidies

This paper determines the deadweight loss of operating and capital subsidies by extending Tullock's (1998) work. It finds that when both subsidies are received deadweight loss is 6.83% of total cost or $0.861 million on the average, $0.780 million when operating subsidy is received and $0.0503 million when capital subsidy is received. Decomposing the deadweight loss using regression shows that the incentive tier of the federal operating subsidy, federal labor protection, fleet size, and the number of maintenance facilities owned are positively associated with it while leasing maintenance facilities and absence of dedicated funding sources are negatively associated with it.