Source: cleanenergynews.ihsmarkit.com
India intends to quintuple the size of a subsidy scheme for domestic solar photovoltaic (PV) module makers, pushing forward with the country's Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India) strategy for decarbonizing its economy.
To help counter climate change, the world's third largest GHG emitter is aiming to have 500 GW of renewable energy capacity installed by 2030—including at least 280 GW of solar—before reaching netto-nullutslipp by 2070.
"This decarbonization strategy opens up huge employment opportunities and will take the country on a sustainable development path," Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the country's parliament in den årlige budsjetttalen 1 February.
I budsjettet for april 2022 til mars 2023 vil New Delhi bevilge ytterligere 19 500 crore Rs (2,61 milliarder) til Production Linked Incentive (PLI)-programmet for å fremme innenlandsk PV-modulproduksjon, sa Sitharaman.
PLI, som startet med Rs 4500 crore (600 millioner) i det siste årlige budsjettet, tilbyr subsidier til utvalgte modulanlegg basert på deres salg, produktkvalitet og lokalt innhold.
IHS Markit estimates 80 percent -90 percent of India's solar components are imported, with China the main supplier. Government figures show India currently has annual production capacity of just 2.5 GW for PV cells and 9-10 GW for modules.
But the initial PLI budget will help drive the expansion of India-based manufacturers, according to the National Investment Promotion Facilitation Agency (NIPFA), and India's capacity of integrated module plants that can convert wafer-ingots to modules is expected to nå 10 GW by the end of March 2023.
The government agency expects India's annual module manufacturing capacity to expand by 30-35 GW between 2021 and 2025, in part driven by strong demand and policy incentives.
New Delhi is hoping to generate employment opportunities and attract foreign investment as a result of expanding the PV manufacturing sector, said Amit Manohar, en investeringsspesialist ved NIPFA.
"After a decade of innovation and cost reductions, the solar energy sector has evolved to a major source of energy, and it could potentially serve 30 percent or more of India's electricity demand by 2030," Manohar said.
Atmanirbhar Bharat strategi
Since 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been promoting the Atmanirbhar Bharat strategy in several sectors—including renewables—to boost domestic manufacturing capacity in a post-COVID recovery.
I budsjettet for april 2021 til mars 2022 injiserte New Delhi 1,000 crore (133 millioner) Rs i Solar Energy Corporation of India og 1500 crore (200 millioner) Rs i det indiske utviklingsbyrået for fornybar energi. Enhetene er ansvarlige for å drive ulike statlige-sponsede insentivprogrammer.
Siden april 2021 har bare selskaper på en hel-indisk, godkjent liste over modulprodusenter fått lov til å by på solenergianbud sponset av sentralregjeringen.
Regjeringen planlegger også å innføre en 40 prosent grunnleggende tollavgift på importerte solcellemoduler og 25 prosent på celler fra april.
Kashish Shah, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, suggested the policy initiatives' effects are likely to be compounded by forsyningskjedeproblemer in the global PV industry. "Module manufacturing in India has never been more viable," sa Shah last December.
Med de sterke politiske signalene har noen store indiske virksomheter annonsert store fornybare investeringsprogrammer som setter et sterkt fokus på solenergi.
Etter å ha satt et mål om å bygge 100 GW solkapasitet innen 2030, sa Reliance Industries i fjor at de vil lansere et integrert PV-panelanlegg i Jamnagar etter å ha kjøpt REC Group for 771 millioner. Anlegget forventes å ha en initial kapasitet på 4 GW per år før det til slutt øker til 10 GW.
In January, Reliance, India's largest publicly traded company by market capitalization, announced initiativer for fornybare investeringer totaling Rs 595,500 crore (80 billion), and a substantial proportion of the money will be used to develop manufacturing facilities for PV modules, electrolyzers, batteries, fuel cells, as well as hydrogen and low-carbon energy projects in Gujarat over the next 10-15 years.
Rival conglomerate Adani Group plans to invest 50 billion to 70 billion in decarbonization projects in the next decade, including 20 billion in renewable energy generation. It aims to have a solar manufacturing capacity of 2 GW per annum by the end of March 2023.
While the government's policies are prompting more investment in domestic manufacturing, IHS Markit Renewable Analyst Ankita Chauhan warned of short-term disruptions to solar installations in the country.
"Current domestic manufacturing is not sufficient to meet the domestic demand, and it may take another three to five years to build it up," said Chauhan, adding that the policies favoring Indian manufacturers will push up overall costs, and restrict vendor choices for procurement and project timelines.
Vis meg pengene
I det siste årlige budsjettet sa den indiske regjeringen også at de vil forbedre resirkulering, fremme agroskogbruk, vedta en batteribyttepolitikk for elektriske kjøretøy der ladenettverk ikke er levedyktige, og erstatte 5 prosent -7 prosent av kullet som brukes i termiske kraftverk med biomassepellets, blant andre avkarboniseringstiltak.
Sitharaman said India will issue sovereign green bonds in the coming fiscal year to fund "green infrastructure" in the public sector, without elaborating.
Official data showed India had 150.5 GW of renewable capacity installed in November when large hydropower projects were taken into account. This means annual capacity additions of 40-50 GW will be required to meet the government's 500 GW target by 2030.
"On a very conservative capital funding calculation the investment required for achieving the target is approximately 210 billion," said Manohar, adding that both public and private stakeholders need to contribute.
I et notat publisert i forrige måned anslo IHS Markit-analytikere at India vil trenge mer enn 28 milliarder i årlig investering for å nå 2030-målet, sammenlignet med gjennomsnittlig utgifter på 7 milliarder de siste fem årene.
"Project developers are tapping international capital markets to access low-cost financing, but the government needs to improve regulatory transparency, introduce a uniform green taxonomy, and provide targeted interventions to improve access to low-cost international capital," the note said.
Bortsett fra å bruke penger på lav-karbonproduksjonskapasitet, sa forskere ved Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory i USA at indiske interessenter må investere 40 milliarder i 63 GW batterilagring for å sikre nettstabilitet.
Still, they believe renewable expansion will be the cheapest overall option in meeting India's rising electricity demand.
"Dramatic cost reductions over the last decade for wind, solar, and battery storage technologies position India to leapfrog to a more flexible, robust, and sustainable power system for delivering affordable and reliable power to serve demand that will nearly double by 2030," they said in en studie published last December.
