Boost To Atmanirbhar Bharat: Domestic, Foreign Firms Line Up to Locally Manufacture Solar Equipment

In a big boost to government's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' campaign, several domestic and foreign companies have expressed interest in manufacturing solar equipment in the country, reports Indian Express.

According to the report, the Renewable Energy Ministry has received proposals over the last couple of months from several companies for more than 10 giga watts (GW) of fresh solar equipment manufacturing.

The proposals for local manufacturing of solar equipment include those from the US-based First Solar, Gurgaon-based Renew Power, Kolkata-based Vikram Solar and the Delhi-headquartered Waaree Energies.

While the Vikram Solar is planning to set up a 3 GW solar equipment facility in the country, ReNew Power and Waree Energies are planning to establish 2 GW and 3 GW facilities respectively.

US-based First Solar has also applied to the ministry for a capacity of around 2.4 GW.

It should be noted that new proposals are in addition to the capacity to be set up by Adani Green Energy and Azure Power through their manufacturing-linked agreements with the state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India.

The development reportedly comes amid the measures initiated by the government to slap additional duties on imports across sectors, including solar power.

The government has also proposed a 5 per cent interest subvention scheme for domestic manufacturing of the critical components of solar panels such as ingots, wafers and cells. The scheme is under the consideration of the Finance Ministry.

Besides, a proposal to designate manufacturing zones for solar manufacturing was also being considered by the Power Ministry.