Indian solar manufacturing

Clean technology and ancillary equipment offer a cumulative $300-400 billion sales opportunity for Indian manufacturers within this decade, according to a new report by KPMG that says India has the potential to emerge as an alternative in the renewable energy supply chain.

Almost 50% of the PLI bid capacity has come from project developers, who, alarmed by market disruption over last two years and stiff import barriers, are seeking mainly to meet their captive demand.

The Indian solar manufacturing sector is set for a boom in the coming years, due to the country’s enormous appetite for solar and policy support in the form of import duties and local production incentives. On the technology side, a few players are already looking at n-type TOPCon cells, but their embrace by the majority has been slow to materialize, due to the high investment costs that are required. This ensures that the build-out of new PERC capacity will continue over the short term.

Power Minister RK Singh has revealed interest from manufacturers in developing more production lines even before incentive schemes being drawn up by the government are taken into account.

The solar manufacturer will expand its annual encapsulant manufacturing capacity by 1.35 GW and backsheet production by 1 GW.

Indian renewable analyst firm notes that anti-dumping comes at inopportune time with the industry already reeling from a slowdown in new project procurement, extra costs due to GST, import duties and increased module prices. It is expected to come by October 2018 and may affect all stakeholders and projects in the pipeline as well as those awaiting auction.