Energetica India Magazine May - June 2026

41 FEATURE STORY manufacturing across all stages of solar panel production, including polysili- con, ingots, wafers, cells, and modules, which is more than twice its share of global photovoltaic demand. China’s dominance in the clean energy sector has been built on deeply integrat- ed supply chains, massive manufactur- ing scale and access to low-cost renew- able power, allowing it to produce solar equipment at prices few global compet- itors can match. However, this level of concentration poses strategic risks for the global sup- ply chain. Building renewable capacity to reduce fossil fuel dependence while the renewable energy supply chain itself is highly concentrated on one source would mean: Shifting the major- ity of eggs from one basket to another one without really diversifying. To address this, countries worldwide are looking at alternative sources. For ex- ample, the US and EU are pushing poli- cies such as the Inflation Reduction Act and Green Deal to strengthen domestic clean energy manufacturing and reduce reliance on Chinese solar imports. “For countries such as India, this dy- namic presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The confluence of China’s dominance, coupled with intensifying competition and geopolitical risks, un- derscores the need for India to localise its solar manufacturing capabilities. By capitalising on its growing manufac- turing capabilities, abundant human resources and policy initiatives such as the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, India has the potential to emerge as a cost-competitive and re- liable alternative in the global market,” noted a TERI report. Emergence of India as a Solar Manufac- turing Hub Though way behind in terms of total production capacity, India is emerging as a worthy contender with solar mod- ule capacity enlisted in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s Ap- proved List Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) reaching about 194 GW in May 2026. The capacity of solar cells under ALMM List-II has reached about 30.5 GW. The country has ambitious plans in backward integration through the manufacturing of upstream compo- nents like solar cells, wafers, ingots and polysilicon. But can it meaningfully challenge the Chinese dominance and emerge as a global solar manufacturing hub? According to TERI, for India to real- ise its potential in PV manufacturing would require addressing structural supply chain gaps, investing in ad- vanced manufacturing technologies, and ensuring consistent policy and fi- nancial support to build a robust and self-sufficient solar ecosystem capable of meeting domestic and international needs. The government is offering both sup- ply and demand side stimuli to attain self-reliance in solar PV manufacturing. In addition to the PLI Scheme, the gov- ernment also offer 20-25 percent subsi- dy for capital expenditure investment under M-SIPS for electronics manufac- turing, which inter alia also constitutes solar PV manufacturing. Additionally, the government has man- dated domestic content requirement (DCR) clauses mandating the use of India-made solar modules in govern- ment projects and projects under vari- ous government schemes like PM Surya Ghar Yojana and PM-KUSUM Yojana through ALMM. Further, MNRE ruled out a blanket extension of the deadline, i.e. June 1, 2026, for the implementation of ALMM List – II for solar cells for net metering and open access projects. In March 2026, MNRE expanded its ALMM framework to include ingots and wafers under a new List-III, man- dating their use from June 1, 2028. The first list will be published when at least three independent wafer manufacturers with a combined 15 GW capacity are enlisted, and the cut-off date will be 7 days post the initial list issuance. From the demand side push, the gov- ernment has set a target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel energy by 2030, which will include about 292 GW of solar. In RE-INVEST 2024, held in Septem- ber 2024, renewable energy develop- ers pledged about 480 GW of capacity addition, with solar being the largest source. These incentives and policy measures are expected to propel the Indian PV manufacturing industry. As per TERI estimates, India’s module manufactur- ing capacity is projected to surpass 280 GW/year, with solar cell fabrication ca- pacity rising from ~30 GW currently to about 171 GW/year by 2030. energetica INDIA- May-June_2026