Government’s decision to remove solar from ‘project import’ may turn blessing in disguise for home-grown manufactures – EQ Mag
Ahmedabad: The government’s decision to remove solar from ‘project import’ benefits has kick-started a discussion. While some debate how this will impact and pace down the ongoing solar energy projects, many believe that this decision will accelerate the growth of the thriving domestic solar manufacturing industry in India.
India ranks 4th in the world in terms of solar power generation. As per the new report released by the energy think tank Ember, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, India has saved an amount of USD 4.2 billion in fuel costs through solar power generation in the first half of 2022. However, 90% of modules used in solar projects are imported from overseas manufacturers. While India is expanding its solar energy production, the dependence on solar hardware import may affect this momentum.
Mr. Vinay Thadani, Director, Grew Energy Pvt Ltd, said, “This decision by the government will provide much-needed backing to the domestic solar manufacturing industry. A rapidly growing sector, the solar manufacturing unit in India has always strived to fill the demand and supply gap by providing quality PV modules at competitive rates. The demand for domestic PV modules (hardware) will aid the sector’s growth, thereby encouraging new players to foray into the manufacturing sector. In synergy with the ‘Make in India’ ideology, this move will encourage solar project developers to team up home-grown companies, thereby accelerating industry growth. We hope to maximise this opportunity by the Indian government and strengthen the domestic manufacturing market.”
The domestic solar manufacturing industry is a budding industry committed to providing world-class solar hardware to meet the growing demand for solar energy. However, indigenous solar manufacturing companies face a massive challenge while competing with foreign manufacturers that offer PV modules at a much-subsidised rate, thereby hampering their growth. With this decision, the government has created avenues to reduce reliance on foreign hardware to meet the country’s energy needs.
