Policy

While India’s recent union budget announced steps to create an electric vehicle market, the solar sector still has issues that have not been addressed.

The new budget aims to seize the opportunity in energy storage and EVs through a range of incentives. However, alongside demand, production and export, the government also needs to focus on e-waste management and Li-ion battery recycling to sustain raw material supply and minimize environmental impact.

The annual report has placed EVs at the heart of India’s decarbonization and called for an Indian answer to the U.S. ‘Motor City’ of Detroit, where electric vehicles and the batteries to run them could be manufactured.

To boost electric vehicle adoption in the country, the government has reduced goods and services tax on electric vehicles to 5% from 12%. Further, it will provide additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles.

The high-level committee formed by Andhra Pradesh government to review and renegotiate the signed power purchase agreements with wind and solar power developers has the potential to impair the cash flows of projects in the sector.

Up to Rs7 lakh of funding assistance per megawatt will be available to developers who deploy PV capacity for consumption by public entities. The energy produced will be supplied with a Rs3.50/kWh ceiling tariff and projects will be subject to strict domestic content requirements.

Under an MoU signed with Solar Energy Corporation of India, grid-connected rooftop solar systems totaling 3-4 MW capacity will be installed on more than 200 police establishments across the capital.

Citing the risk to solar projects, lobby group the National Solar Energy Federation Of India has asked the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to exclude flat steel products coated with alloy of aluminum and zinc from anti-dumping duty.

Long regarded as a solar pioneer, the state has now announced grand plans to shoulder the burden of 17% of the nation’s clean energy ambition as India races to install 175 GW of clean energy capacity in just three-and-a-half years.

Proposals by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments, Jaipur to set up solar-based EV charging infrastructure have received funding under the government’s FAME India scheme. These projects will come up at Delhi NCR, Udyog Bhwan, and Delhi-Jaipur-Delhi, Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai as well as Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi highways.