The Indian government is going all out to encourage domestic solar PV manufacturing and has announced it will plan future bids to encourage manufacturing using advanced and latest technology. RK Singh, heading the country's Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), said solar PV manufacturing is one of the strategic champion sectors as part of India's vision to become a self-reliant country or Atmanirbhar Bharat.
This he announced at the recently held global virtual symposium India PV Edge 2020 organized by MNRE, Invest India and the country's policy thinktank NITI Aayog, where Indian policymakers addressed stakeholders from businesses and investment firms, while global technology providers, equipment makers presented their manufacturing plans and technology for the Indian market.
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said India has a 31 GW demand from government sponsored schemes to be fulfilled by locally produced solar panels and a large 300 GW target over the next decade. This should act as an encouragement for Indian solar industry to invest in state-of-the-art manufacturing lines and collaborate with startups and research institutions to improve solar panel performance and lower costs. Specific technologies it wants the industry to focus on include direct wafer manufacturing, heterojunction (HJT), tandem cells and bifacial modules.
MNRE Secretary InduShekhar Chaturvedi pointed out that the ministry is implementing a number of supply side interventions including BCD (Basic Customs Duty), Performance Linked Export Scheme and Interest Subvention Scheme to promote domestic manufacturing in renewable energy sector, while on the demand side there are measures like domestic content requirement (DCR) under KUSUM and Rooftop Scheme being implemented by ministry.