India Invites Public Consultation On ALMM For Solar PV Cells

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is working on bringing solar cells within the ambit of Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) under list II as it expects India’s solar cell manufacturing capacity to increase substantially within next 2 years.  

The final list will come into force from April 1, 2026. The ministry will accept comments and suggestions to the draft amendment till October 6, 2024.  

Currently, there is List-I of ALMM concerning solar modules. All government, government-related solar PV projects in the country need to use modules from within this list. Since there was no domestic solar cell manufacturing capacity when the ALMM was introduced in 2019, ALMM List-II for solar PV cells had not been issued.   

However, since the country’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, there has been a steady rise in domestic solar PV manufacturing capacity. As per Merocm India Research, at the end of 2023 India’s total solar module and cell production capacity was 64.5 GW, and 5.8 GW, respectively. Out of this, 20.8 GW module and 3.2 GW cell capacity was added in CY 2023 (see India’s Solar Module Manufacturing Capacity Exceeds 64 GW).   

Once ALMM List-II is official, all such solar modules will need to use solar PV cells from amongst the models and manufacturers enlisted in this list. The ministry specifies that all projects where the last date of bid submission is before the issuance of this order, shall stand exempted from the mandatory requirement of using solar PV cells from ALMM List-II.  

Solar modules in List-I with a validity expiry date of beyond March 31, 2026 will need to use solar PV cells from List-II from April 1, 2026 onwards or else these will be delisted from List-I.