Domestic Manufacturing

Norway’s Scatec, which has a 50% stake in Acme’s 900 MW solar project in Rajasthan, cited a lack of domestic solar panel supply and the 40% import duty on solar panels effective from April as the reasons for putting the PV project on hold.

Hyderabad based Cygni Energy plans to utilize the capital to triple its solar DC solutions production capacity from 4,000 units to 12,000 by H1 2019, develop new technology-enabled products and streamline the product lifecycle, as well as expand nationally and internationally.

The two-year period of the recommended safeguard duty is very short, discouraging any investment in setting up new solar manufacturing capacity, say analysts and companies pv magazine spoke to. At the same time, for solar project developers, the duty will impact tariffs to the tune of 12-15%, posing an immediate threat to viability of projects under execution, they add.

Waaree Energies has set up a 1 GW solar PV panel plant in Vapi, which is in addition to its existing 500 MW plant in Surat, Gujarat. The company intends to further increase capacity to 2 GW. Among other key developments, it has partnered with third-party equipment suppliers to manufacture batteries

As a first phase, Topaz Solar Private Limited has said it will set up a 500 MW solar PV module manufacturing facility in India’s northeastern state of Odisha. It will seek to increase this capacity by another 700 MW, and add 500 MW of cell manufacturing under a second phase.

MNRE head RK Singh delivers a lowdown on India’s current solar installations, recent policies that the government has initiated, and the customs issues with imported solar modules.