With coals getting scare and demands getting high, India is all set to add solar power generation capacity of around 6 GW by the end of this year. India has a current total capacity of 7.8 gigawatts of solar power which after increase will place it at the 4th position globally. On the other hand United States is already a lot ahead for us as its installed capacity sits at a strong foundation of gigawatts.
The tides are with us:the centre taking this decision could not have come at a better time since there is an oversupply of PV [photovoltaic] module manufacturing in China which would lead to falling down of prices unless the European Union decides to remove its trade barriers against Chinese suppliers.
In its light, Morgan Stanley, an investment bank said in its report, “Several major solar manufacturers have announced plans to expand their production capacities ahead of 2017. In total, we expect 15 GW of new module capacity to come online in 2016, across 10 major producers, with the majority (14 GW) added by Chinese manufacturers,"
Bridge to India, an energy consultancy, said in its new India Solar Handbook, judged the current scenario of India stating, “The tailwinds are exceptionally strong with rapidly falling costs and greater environmental agenda in the post COP21 (Paris climate summit) world.”
Problem at hand:while the international situation may look favorable, our own internal predicament shows the greyer side. As India is rapidly trying to boost its supply sector through ‘imports’, the Indian manufacturing firms are asking for safeguard and anti-dumping duties.
Hope for good:However,Tim Buckley, a director at Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis in Sydney, on a positive note, told to a news portal, “Given the likely 10 gigawatts plus annual demand for modules across India going forward, there is scope for a number of new plants to be built to localise the supply chain in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India campaign.”
