China

The contract, for mono PERC solar modules, follows 165 MW of orders supplied by Risen to Indian renewable energy developer Sprng Energy last month.

During the financial year 2019-20, Chinese manufacturer Risen was the second-largest PV module supplier to Indian solar installations, accounting for around 9.9% of the overall shipments.

India imported solar cells and modules worth $1.3 billion from China in FY2019-20. Domestic manufacturers have demanded a level playing field to compete against cheaper imports.

Some 1 GW of utility scale project capacity was added to the end of June.

Chinese PV module maker JinkoSolar unveiled its new 610 W Tiger Pro TR solar modules on Saturday at the SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai. Furthermore, bifacial module specialist Jolywood launched the Niwa Super module series, which has a power output ranging from 570 W to 615 W and a reported efficiency of 22.1%.

The import duty will be levied on Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai solar cells – whether assembled into modules or not – at 14.9% from today and falling to 14.5% in six months’ time. Malaysian products are exempted as their imports have fallen dramatically since the duty was imposed, in July 2018.

The investigating arm of India’s commerce ministry has proposed continuing to apply the duty levied on solar cell imports from the east at a rate of 14.9% from July 30 and falling to 14.5% six months later.

The Directorate-General of Trade Remedies has called a meeting of concerned parties as it considers whether to extend the duty on solar cells.

The levy on modules will then almost double to 40% within a year and cells will see a similar rise, from an initial rate of 15%.

The industry needs to cut a dependence on electric vehicle battery imports from China, according to the road transport minister, who said the government is looking to support research into alternatives to lithium-ion technology.