Two Indian state-owned companies, Bharat Electronics (BEL) and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a gigawatt-scale solar manufacturing site in India.
The companies have yet to disclose any information regarding to the technology used and when it will be operational, with the only information given that it will be a “vertically integrated solar manufacturing unit”.
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The announcement comes in line with the Indian government’s drive to establish a domestic manufacturing base in order to reduce the country’s dependency on solar imports from Chinese manufacturers.
India is set to double its solar module production capacity by the end of 2023 with an extra 18GW of capacity, according to JMK Research & Analysts.
Moreover, the country has been facing a 38% price increase in PV modules since 2020 which most recently has been in part impacted by the recent basic customs duty (BCD) that has been in place since 1 April 2022.
Earlier this year, NHCP established a joint venture (JV) with the Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Ltd (GEDCOL) for the development of 500MW of floating solar PV projects in the eastern state of Odisha.
The state-run power firm currently has more than 2.5GW of solar PV projects in different tender stages across India, with several projects involving floating solar PV.