Energy Transition On India’s Agenda In Budget

Going by the success of its Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for solar PV manufacturing, the Indian government has decided to pitch in with another INR 195 billion investment to support high efficiency solar module production in the country.

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made the announcement while presenting the federal budget for FY 2022-23, which will run from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. She stressed that priority will be accorded to fully integrated manufacturing units.

Through a competitive procurement process, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) divided a INR 44.5 billion budget to Jindal India Solar Energy Limited, Shirdi Sai Electricals Limited (SSE) and Reliance New Energy Solar Limited (RNESL). There are 13 more companies in the waiting list that were shortlisted for offering to build varying capacities. Increasing the budget from INR 45 billion to now INR 240 billion is likely to win them PLI support for 5 years (see Solar PLI Budget Set To Increase).

Notably, the solar manufacturing PLI is one of the flagship projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government through which India is encouraging domestic vertically integrated solar PV production, from polysilicon to modules. It is aimed at supporting India’s installed solar capacity ambition of 280 GW by 2030.

In other highlights from the budget that stressed on energy transition and climate action for the country, India will also offer data centers and energy storage systems infrastructure status. It will also issue sovereign green bonds to mobilize resources for green infrastructure.

India’s government will also contribute to the R&D of ‘sunrise’ opportunities among which it counts semiconductor and its eco-system, green energy and clean mobility systems. Main highlights of the budget are available on the Press Information Bureau website.