India needs to strengthen domestic wafer and ingot manufacturing and reduce dependence on imported materials, equipment, and technology
Manufacturers must explore upgrades beyond TOPCon, including TOPCon+ and TBC, while focusing on module reliability and production efficiency
Solar exports, energy storage, and rooftop PV deployment could open new growth opportunities for India’s solar industry
India’s solar PV manufacturing industry is expanding rapidly, with companies looking to strengthen their presence across the value chain, well beyond modules. Against this backdrop, TaiyangNews brought together senior industry executives at its PV Leadership Briefing.India (PVLB.I) 2026, held on the sidelines of the Renewable Energy India Expo 2026 (REI 2026). The discussions focused on the opportunities and challenges facing manufacturers, from technology choices and localization to investment priorities and global competitiveness.
Welcoming senior decision-makers from across the PV industry, Michael Schemela, Managing Director of TaiyangNews, highlighted solar’s role in strengthening energy security, providing affordable electricity to households and creating jobs. Schmela noted that while the global renewable energy target for 2030 stands at 11 TW, SolarPower Europe expects cumulative global solar capacity to reach 7 TW. He stressed the importance of supportive policies across markets to help achieve the global target.
Speaking about scaling a competitive vertically integrated solar PV manufacturing ecosystem in India, Sukumar Madugula, Director Sales, RCT Consulting GmbH, said the country is expected to have structural overcapacity in modules by 2030 while wafer supply of around 65 GW is expected to lag behind demand of close to 100 GW. This is likely to strengthen the country’s upstream pricing power.
Meanwhile, China plans to restrict exports of solar manufacturing technology and equipment. This will likely push India to reduce its dependence on the world’s largest solar manufacturing market. According to Madugula, in the short term, Indian manufacturers will accelerate localization of critical BOM such as glass, backsheets, EVA/POE encapsulants, junction boxes, frames, ribbons, flux, silver paste, and specialty chemicals to reduce import dependency.
In the long term, he recommended that Indian manufacturers establish pilot production lines of 300 MW to 500 MW to develop and validate technologies suited to Indian conditions. Strategic partnerships with non-Chinese technology providers and R&D institutions would support IP licensing, joint development, and manufacturing know-how.
The focus should be on customized engineering rather than simply copying Chinese solutions, stressed Madugula.
Zhixin Li, CEO and CTO of Linton Technologies, discussed key technology and design choices for building competitive wafer and ingot manufacturing facilities as India looks to expand upstream solar PV manufacturing.
With more than 500 GW of capacity delivered globally, Li highlighted Vietnam as a manufacturing hub engineered around export compliance. He said key equipment could be assembled in Vietnam and supplied to Indian customers, helping ensure deliveries amid geopolitical uncertainties and China’s solar equipment export controls (see China To Curb Export Of Solar PV Technology Equipment?).
Leadmicro CTO Baochen Liao presented the company’s latest TOPCon and TOPCon+ solutions, with the latter incorporating rear poly-fingers and edge passivation on cut edges. He also outlined upgrade paths from TOPCon to TBC, using PECVD for tunnel oxide and polysilicon deposition, along with laser processing to pattern the n- and p-type regions on the rear side. He discussed the current status of TBC, which remains under process integration. Liao also compared horizontal and vertical wafer loading for LPCVD, highlighting the latter’s simpler process configuration and higher mechanical yield of 99.2%, compared with 97% for horizontal loading.
Liao said Leadmicro has delivered more than 900 GW of atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment globally and has a significant presence in India’s ALD market. While TOPCon manufacturing continues to expand in India, Chinese manufacturers are increasingly moving toward TOPCon Plus. He highlighted the potential to upgrade existing TOPCon production lines to TOPCon Plus and TBC, positioning ALD equipment as an important part of the technology transition. Beyond technical performance, he stressed that equipment design must deliver customized solutions tailored to manufacturers’ specific requirements.
Hangzhou First Senior Manager of Marketing Bo Jin discussed encapsulation techniques that can reduce costs while maintaining solar module reliability. Jin highlighted key failure modes in TOPCon modules, including damp heat-induced corrosion, potential-induced degradation (PID), and ultraviolet-induced degradation (UVID).
For glass-to-glass TOPCon modules, Jin said POE or EPE encapsulants on the front side offer a premium solution. For glass-to-backsheet designs, Hangzhou First recommends its TF4N POE on the front, combined with low-acid EVA and a conventional backsheet on the rear. To address UVID, manufacturers can consider UV-cutoff or UV-conversion films. He also highlighted advanced encapsulation solutions for TOPCon designs, including zero-busbar (0BB), ultra-narrow-edge, and multi-cut cells, as well as insulating and protective inks for back-contact (BC) modules.
Alyssa Pek, Strategy Director at the Global Solar Council (GSC), discussed global solar policy priorities ahead of COP31. She highlighted that solar and storage offer an answer to the world’s energy security crisis amid disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. This was reflected in rising Chinese solar imports across continents, with 37% year-on-year (YoY) growth in H1 2026 to Africa and a 30% increase in sales at major wholesalers in Europe. A total of 50 countries set records for Chinese solar imports in March 2026.
Pek said that this environment creates opportunities for India’s solar industry in international markets. For India, she highlighted the potential to build on the PM Surya Ghar rooftop solar program, expand storage deployment, and improve access to concessional finance, which can significantly influence project returns. Pek encouraged Indian manufacturers to pursue export opportunities in Africa and Southeast Asia, and position energy storage as a new growth driver.
India can share its rooftop solar experience with other markets to make the most of the momentum towards COP31, she added.
Pek also emphasized COP’s role in advancing renewable energy and electrification, citing the proposed global goal of achieving 35% electrification by 2035 and the Global Solar Rooftop Declaration’s target of 300 million solar-powered homes by 2030 (see Solar & Storage For 300 Million Homes & Businesses By 2030).
TaiyangNews ran a live blog during the event. It is available here.