Indian government's Production Linked Scheme (PLI) for solar PV manufacturing has found several takers. As one of the top 5 global solar PV markets, India aims to achieve its 280 GW solar power capacity target by 2030, out of an overarching 450 GW aimed for.
A total of 54.8 GW of PV manufacturing capacity has been bid for by 18 companies in response to the INR 45 billion tender for 10 GW capacity to be established in India, launched by the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) (see IREDA Launches INR 45 Billion Production Incentive Tender).
As per the tender details, proposals will be evaluated basis maximum marks attained with the highest numbers reserved for those who offer to set up manufacturing – covering all 4 stages, namely polysilicon, ingots-wafers, cells and modules, and want to set up a production capacity of 4 GW and above.
There seems to be no dearth of companies that can do just that, as according to a news report by local business daily The Economic Times (ET) a total of 5 companies have offered to build 4 GW of fully-integrated manufacturing capacity covering all 4 stages. These are Reliance New Energy, Adani Infrastructure, Jindal India Solar, Shirdi Sai Electricals and First Solar India.
Reliance New Energy's parent company Reliance Industries Limited was reportedly looking to buy European module maker REC Group of Norway (see India's Reliance Industries Eying Norway's REC Group?).
America's First Solar has bid for 3 GW capacity covering all 4 stages since its module production technology does not use silicon. It had announced its intention to set up a 3.3 GW DC vertically integrated thin film solar fab in Tamil Nadu by H2/2023 provided 'satisfactory' approval of Indian government incentives (see First Solar To Build 3.3 GW Thin Film Solar Fab In India).
Another foreign company in the fray is CubicPV that's a 1366 Technologies and Hunt Perovskite merger, and plans to develop 1 GW ingot-wafer, cell and module production capacity (see US Direct Wafer & Perovskite Producers Merge: CubicPV).
Coal India Limited, that recently launched a solicitation drive to seek prospective equity partners for 4 GW solar PV ingot to module manufacturing in India, is also in the running for 4 GW ingot-wafer, cell and module capacity (see CIL Launches RFQ For 4 GW PV Manufacturing).
Having recently debuted on the NASDAQ, India's ReNew Power too has offered to build 4 GW wafer-ingot, cell and module capacity, as has Larsen and Toubro (L&T).
Tata Power Solar, Waaree Energies, Vikram Solar, Avaada Energy, Acme Solar, Premier Energies, Megha Engineering, Jupiter Solar and Emmvee PV are other applicants that want to build solar cell and module manufacturing of varying capacities.
Final winners stand to win PLI annually for a period of 5 years basis actual production and sales of high efficiency modules. The amount of PLI will go up with increased use of local materials (see India Details Production Linked Incentive Scheme For Solar).