India’s installed cell and module manufacturing capacity has reached 1,468MW and 5,848MW respectively as of 30 June 2016, according to figures released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
The figures are up around 250MW each since April this year when cell and module manufacturing capacity stood at about 1,200MW and 5,600MW respectively.
Meanwhile, a Bloomberg report has suggested that the Modi government is planning a INR210 billion (US$3.1 billion) package of state aid for the domestic solar manufacturing industry. PV Tech contacted MNRE, but a spokesperson declined to comment.
The National Solar Mission (NSM) targets 4-5GW of domestic solar manufacturing capacity by 2020. However, India’s attempts to stimulate domestic growth in manufacturing under the ‘Make in India’ programme have been stunted by focus on a local content policy, the Domestic Content Requirement (DCR), which analysts say was a flawed incentive. Similarly, much effort has been spent on an unsuccessful defence against the complaint brought to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the US about India breaching trade rules with its DCR.
Meanwhile, overcapacity in China is likely to push prices even lower in another setback for Indian manufacturers whose products tend to be more expensive.
Domestic capacity is due a major boost next year, however, with Indian conglomerate Adani set to fully complete its 1.2GW solar equipment fab by April 2017.
At the PV Taiwan exhibition last week, Alex Wen, senior vice president of Taiwan-based manufacturer Neo Solar Power, that if India continues to become a huge solar market then most material makers will go to India and make production there. The government has already showed intentions to incentivise the production of polysilicon, ingots and wafers within India.
Source: pv-tech
