Mint Explainer: India's solar PV manufacturing and Chinese import concerns

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renewable energy capacity by 2030, India is also looking at becoming a manufacturing hub of solar modules and cater to both domestic and global demand. Although the government has come up with incentive schemes and domestic developers have grown up the reliance on China for upstream components continues. Here is a look at how India aims to become a solar PV manufacturing hub.

A. As of March 2023, India has set up a module manufacturing nameplate capacity of 38 GW, against 18 GW a year ago, according to a recent report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and JMK Research. It said that in value terms Indian PV exports increased five-fold in FY23, compared to the previous fiscal.

However, there has not been a major growth in the production of cells, wafers and polysilicon which are used in the manufacturing of modules photovoltaic modules. While India has a nameplate capacity of 6 GW for cell production, there is no notable capacity for polysilicon and wafers. A.

Despite healthy demand both in the domestic and export markets, there are headwinds being faced by the industry, including the continued import dependence for cells, polysilicon and wafers among others. The IEEFA report said that although the quality of all tier-1 Indian manufacturers is comparable to global standards, domestic solar power developers are largely hesitant towards Indian supplies. Further, the lack of skilled manpower to install and operate high-tech machinery, especially for cells and other upstream components, is also a challenge, it added.