India must scale up investment in the large-scale domestic manufacture of upstream PV products to avoid the risk of logistics and commodity price fluctuations posed by its current high levels of solar imports, new research has suggested.
India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme is expected to add up to 40GW of additional cell and module manufacturing capacity in the country as it operates in tandem with the country’s upcoming Basic Customs Duty (BCD), according to Indian rating agency ICRA, a Moody's Investors Service company.
Australia and India have agreed to collaborate on solar manufacturing and deployment, aiming to reduce the cost of solar PV, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and new clean technologies in both countries.
The National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), which represents companies from across the PV value chain, has written to the Indian central government raising concerns about the upcoming imposition of a Basic Customs Duty (BCD) of 25% on solar PV cells and 40% on solar PV modules.
Indian state-run hydropower company SJVN is planning to deploy 10GW of solar PV in Rajasthan over the next five years through a INR50,000 crore (US$6.7 billion) investment.
Indian utility Tata Power will aim to take advantage of policy support from India’s government as it sets up new cell and module manufacturing capacity in the country.
Norwegian independent power producer (IPP) Scatec said it has put on hold a 900MW solar project in India due to a lack of supply of domestic modules and the upcoming introduction of a new import duty.
The Indian government’s budget announcement on Monday (1 February) is set to be a “game-changer” for domestic manufacturing following the imposition of a Basic Customs Duty (BCD) of 25% on solar PV cells and of 40% on solar PV modules from April this year.
