India needs a robust solar power policy to meet its renewable energy targets by 2030

India is targeting about 450 gigawatts of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030 and, of that, a lion’s share – 280 GW (over 60%) – would come from solar. For the next 10 years, around 25 GW of solar energy capacity is needed to be installed every year, to ensure the sun continues to shine over the country’s sunrise sector.

The target also means India needs to manoeuvre global supply chain issues, irrespective of geopolitical realities and mining concerns, impacting the producers of major minerals required in the solar industry.

The Indian solar industry relies heavily on imports of important components such as solar cells, modules and solar inverters. Every year, the industry ends up spending billions on imports. According to the Indian government’s data, in 2019-’20, India imported solar wafers, cells, modules and inverters worth $ 2.5 billion.

The government has been trying to ramp up domestic manufacturing through various steps including increasing duty on imports. But, at present, India’s domestic manufacturing capacity is not enough to fulfil the demand for the installation of 25 GW solar power capacity every year.