The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has requested comments on a proposal to increase the efficiency of PV modules on the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM).
A document outlining the changes said the aim of the move was to ensure the list was as reflective as possible of the advancements in PV module manufacturing and to keep low efficiency, “obsolete” technologies off the list. The ALMM list of solar PV modules includes models and manufacturers that meet specific performance standards, with the aim of ensuring modules used in Indian projects meet a minimum quality threshold.
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Starting from 2027, the Indian government aims to increase the threshold for enlistment of PV modules in the ALMM List-1 for both crystalline silicon (c-SI) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) based modules. This will affect projects in several sectors, including utility/grid-scale, rooftop and solar pumping, off-grid applications for projects of less than 200Wp and other applications.
For utility-scale projects, the module efficiency would be increased from 20% to 21% for crystalline silicon and 19% to 20% for CdTe starting from 1 January 2027. One year later, the threshold will be further increased by half a percentage point for both c-Si and CdTe solar PV modules.
Rooftop solar’s threshold will increase from 19.5% to 20.5% and 18.5% to 19.5% respectively for c-SI and CdTe, starting from 2027, before also increasing by half a percentage point in 2028. The threshold for off-grid projects will increase from 18% to 19% in 2027 and to 19.5% in 2028 for both c-Si and CdTe solar PV modules.
Finally, the use of solar PV modules for other applications is forecast to see an increase from 19% to 20% for c-Si and 18% to 19% for CdTe in 2027, before increasing by half a percentage point in 2028.
Comments regarding the solar PV module threshold increase in the ALMM List-I can be sent until 27 December 2025.
Once the new PV module efficiency thresholds become effective, any modules on the list or enlisted in the coming months with an efficiency lower than the new threshold will be removed and will not be eligible for government projects or projects under government schemes and programmes, including central ones or those held by public companies.
This new threshold increase for solar PV modules comes only months after the government unveiled that more than 100GW of module manufacturing capacity was listed in the ALMM.
Domestic solar manufacturing has seen an accelerated growth in India in the past few years and is expected to continue in the coming years. According to market research firm Mercom India, 86GW and 182GW of annual solar cell and module manufacturing capacity, respectively, are forecast to be commissioned by 2027.
Moreover, the MNRE recently updated its ALMM for solar cells with the addition of one new manufacturing facility. Websol Energy System was added to the list last week. The solar cell manufacturing plant is located in the northeastern state of West Bengal with an annual nameplate capacity of 602MW.
This latest addition brings the total of annual nameplate capacity for solar cells under ALMM to 18.4GW and is the second update for the list since it was first published in August of this year, with an initial 13GW.
Furthermore, starting from June 2028, solar wafers will also be included in the ALMM, a move that was welcomed by Indian solar PV manufacturers.
