Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 07 2022

AsiaElec POLICY AsiaElec

India looks to boost solar

self-sufficiency

INDIA THE government of India is preparing to go whom India is in a long-term face-off over terri-
head-to-head with world renowned Chinese torial claims in the Himalayan region.
solar manufacturers by providing huge financial Just last week, Norwegian investor Scatec
incentives to aid the production of solar modules pulled out, at least for now, of a long agreed 900
and cells across the country. MW, US$400 million solar project in India’s
According to sources in the government Rajasthan state, citing in part the introduction
of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, New Delhi of a basic customs duty of 40% on modules and
plans to increase production across a range of 25% on cell imports from the start of April.
solar products to never before seen levels to help Whilst introduced as part of India’s promise
wean Indian solar projects off a long-held over to the international community at COP26 last
reliance on solar materials produced north of the November to cut emissions by one billion tons
border in China. by 2030, as part of the nation moving towards
In the process, it is understood that in just a long-term goal of net zero emissions by 2070,
the next twelve months, India is looking to add a significant factor overlooked in the pledges
around 25 GW each in terms of production made in Glasgow includes a commitment to
capacity of both solar cells and modules. guarantee that half of India’s energy will come
At present, Indian manufacturing capacity from renewable sources by the end of the current
for solar cells stands at just 3 GW per year, with decade.
the figure for modules in the 15 GW range. Nationwide costs linked to cell and module
Solar wafers, currently a negligible percent- imports dropped to just US$ 571.65 million last
age of India’s overall solar production capacity by year, and India hopes to see this figure nosedive
comparison, is a market share now being forecast even further in the next few years.
to increase to 10 GW over the same time frame. A year prior this figure stood at US$1.68 bil-
Speaking earlier in the month, and address- lion, and in 2018-19 reached US$2.16 billion.
ing his overriding “Energy Transition, and To achieve this import cost-cutting goal,
Climate Action” plan, Prime Minister Modi the government will, it is understood, now add
indicated that the budget being set aside to help US$2.58 billion to an already allocated figure of
increase capacity will also serve to increase $595 million in the next fiscal year’s budget to
so-called ‘green-jobs’ in addition to boosting help promote production on the home front.
overall self sufficiency across the nation’s green All new production lines benefiting from
sector. the government’s investment will be operated
Production plants are planned at locations on on a production linked incentive (PLI) pol-
India’s coast, in a mountainous region, likely in icy, producing high quality modules, in part to
the north of the country, and also in one of the guarantee performance quality, but also aimed
nation’s landlocked states in a bid to distribute at improving India’s global standing in Chinese
associated benefits from the project. No specif- dominated international supply chains.
ics on locations or facilities have yet been made In India itself it is further hoped that the PLIs
public. will themselves help remove current geograph-
The move by India to boost domestic pro- ical infrastructure disparities while also serving
duction is long overdue and comes on the back to create start-to-finish solar power ecosystems
of recent bottlenecks in supply from China with in the country.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 07 16•February•2022