Geographically, India is an ideal country for solar energy. We get 300 days of sunshine, our peak power demand is in the evening and not during the daytime (driven by cooling requirements), and we have a seasonal peak in the summer. These are also times when solar energy is at its peak. About 5,000 trillion kWh per year of energy is incident over India’s land area with most parts receiving 4-7 kWh per sq. m per day.
The National Institute of Solar Energy has assessed the country’s solar potential of about 748 GW assuming 3% of the wasteland area to be covered by Solar PV modules.
Solar power in India is a fast developing industry as part of the renewable energy in the country. The initial target of 20 GW for 2022 was achieved four years ahead of schedule. In 2015, the target was raised to 100 GW of solar capacity (including 40 GW from rooftop solar) by 2022. India had an installed capacity of 48.556 GW as of 30 November 2021. Another 36.03 GW of solar projects are under various stages of implementation and 23.87 GW are in the tendering process. Rooftop solar power accounts for another 2.1 GW of installed capacity, of which 70% is industrial or commercial.
In addition to its large-scale grid-connected solar photovoltaic initiative, India is developing off-grid solar power for local energy needs. Solar products have increasingly helped to meet rural needs. India currently has a manufacturing capacity of 3GW for solar cells and 15GW for modules. The plan to augment local manufacturing follows an additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore for the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for high-efficiency solar modules in the FY23 Union budget. This is in addition to the Rs 4,500 crore already allocated to the scheme for manufacturing solar photovoltaic modules. The manufacturing push comes ahead of India’s plan to impose a basic customs duty of 40% on modules and 25% on solar cell imports from April 1. Also, a large manufacturing zone each in a coastal state, a mountain state, and a landlocked state is being set up to produce power and renewable energy equipment.
Since becoming the first country to firmly outline its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), India has taken many rapid steps to augment its renewable capacity and emerged as a favorable destination for clean investments. In the Economic Survey 2021-22, the Finance Minister emphasized that India has witnessed the fastest growth in renewable energy capacity addition among all large economies in the last 7.5 years.
Hearteningly, India’s annual renewable energy addition has been exceeding that of coal-based thermal power since 2017. During the last five years alone, India’s solar power capacity has increased by 11 times. Having stepped up its efforts to harness solar energy, India is now focussing on the manufacturing of solar power equipment solar batteries.
The Government plans to create an additional domestic solar equipment manufacturing capacity of 25 GW each of solar cells and modules, and 10GW of wafers by April 2023. The plan to augment local manufacturing follows an additional allocation of Rs19,500 crore for the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for high-efficiency solar modules in the FY23 Union budget. This is in addition to the Rs4,500 crore already allocated to the scheme for manufacturing solar photovoltaic modules.
The manufacturing push comes ahead of India’s plan to impose a basic customs duty of 40% on modules and 25% on solar cell imports from April 1. Also, a large manufacturing zone each in a coastal state, a mountain state, and a landlocked state is being set up to produce power and renewable energy equipment.
