India is expected to add 6 GW of solar production this fiscal to take the total solar power generation capacity to 15 GW by March 2017, said a senior official of solar energy equipment association. Speaking to the journalists in Hyderabad on Thursday, Surender Pal Singh Saluja, president of Solar Energy Equipment Manufacturers Association of Telangana (SEEMAT) and chairman of Premier Solar Systems, said, “We currently have an installed capacity of 8-9 GW and will be adding another 6 GW to take the total to 15 GW by March 2017. This is in line with the government’s ambitious National Solar Mission to attain a solar power generation of 100MW by 2022.”
He was speaking on the sidelines of announcement of UBM’s Renewable Energy India 2016 in Noida to be held from September 7-9. India is also likely to double its module and cells manufacturing capacity to 10,000 MW and 2,000 MW in the next couple of years. However, “lack of easy and cheap funding, expectations of a high GST rate and increasing cheap imports from China and Taiwan is hurting the domestic industry,” said Singh.
While the industry, after a lot of tax exemptions, on an average pays 5% tax, the Goods and Services Tax is likely to be over 18 per cent that could sound the death knell for the domes and render it uncompetitive, said another industry representative, who did not want to be named. “We have also been approaching the government for exempting solar from GST ambit,” said Singh.
Source: ET
