India is preparing a production-linked incentive scheme to encourage domestic polysilicon manufacturing, the country’s top clean energy ministry official said on Friday.
Here are some details on the incentive scheme:
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It would extend India’s manufacturing incentive push deeper into the solar supply chain and reduce import dependence, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, secretary at the clean energy ministry, said at a Confederation of Indian Industry event in New Delhi.
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Polysilicon is a key raw material used in solar photovoltaic panels, and India relies entirely on imports from China.
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India is targeting 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel power capacity by 2030.
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The renewable energy ministry has increasingly focused on local manufacturing as developers ramp up solar installations, seeking to reduce exposure to imported equipment and build a domestic supply chain.
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India has previously offered 240 billion rupees ($2.52 billion) in manufacturing-linked incentives for solar panel and cell production.
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The new scheme could cover more than 10 GW of production capacity, Sarangi said, without disclosing the size of the financial incentive.
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The proposed move comes as New Delhi seeks to create an integrated solar manufacturing ecosystem spanning modules, cells, wafers, ingots and polysilicon, segments that are dominated globally by Chinese producers.
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India has already built more than 200 GW of solar panel manufacturing capacity and more than 32 GW of solar cell capacity, while another 100 GW of cell capacity is expected to come online within about a year, Sarangi said.
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The country is also targeting at least 80 GW of solar ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity by June 2028, he said.
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Deeper domestic manufacturing would strengthen India’s clean energy ambitions and industrial competitiveness, Sarangi said.
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Polysilicon also has semiconductor applications, potentially broadening the economic benefits of new investment beyond solar manufacturing, he said.
(Reuters)