NEW DELHI: Domestic manufacturing capacity of solar cells and modules meets only half of the country’s demand, union power and renewable energy minister RK Singh said.
This means that the dependendence on China for India’s solar imports is bound to continue. The minister recently announced a slew of duties to be levied on them, starting this year.
Presently, the solar cell manufacturing capacity is at 2.5 GW, with another 5 GW under construction. A further 3 GW has been approved, Singh told reporters at a virtual press conference on Friday.
This would mean that imports of solar equipment from China is likely to continue, which currently has an 80% share of the total imports. Singh pegged the total expenditure on renewable energy imports at $2.9 billion.
