Energetica India nº91 July August 2020

subversion and lower power cost. This will also ensure com- petitiveness in the global market. Vikas Jain, Insolation Energy The Govt has to devise policies keeping in mind the concerns of all the industry stake holders. While imposition of duties are necessary for setting up domestic manufacturing units thus realising the vision of Make in India, on the other hand, it has to support the developers during the transition phase so that the already signed PPA’s sees the light of the day. Overall if we have to realise our vision of 100 GW by 2022 we need to stress on “Make in India” and “Vocal for Local” initiatives. How far is the road towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ for the country’s solar sector? P. Vinay Kumar, Varp Power We have started off on the journey. The government is support- ive. It is for the industry to take up the Gauntlet and deliver the promise of ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’. Manoj Gupta, Fortum India Pvt Ltd ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ is a good idea no doubt about it and bringing BCD is also fine, the only thing is: 1. on commercial grounds, IPP or developer has to be compensated, 2. Under AtmaNirbhar Bharat when duties like BCD etc comes in, there should be a norm that an IPP or developer has to buy from the Indian market keeping in mind that the Chinese products will not be competitive and enough quality products will be avail- able in the Indian market. Besides, the government should also look into that: Not only modules India should be capable of making ingots, wafers and cells as well then only in real terms India will become AtmaNirbhar. These products should not only be capable for supporting Indian market but also competitive enough both in terms of quality and price against Chinese products in over- seas markets. I feel that big industrialists should come forward like Reliance, Adani, Waaree, Vikram etc has already announced their con- tribution. Others should also come forward for manufacturing components like cells, wafers, ingots etc and government has to support them like 5% interest subsidy plan etc. Anil Joshi, Unicorn India Ventures Currently India has sufficient capacity to meet the domestic demand, however almost entire demand is met through im- ports mainly due to cost factor. Considering the current ca- pacity the country is in position to be AatmaNirbhar as far as Solar equipment is considered and is not a major concern. Hence meeting demand with domestic production is not an issue just need to work on providing quality product and rea- sonable price. In fact country is in a position to start exporting, just need to spend on development, which I am sure will be done over a period of time. K. R. Harinarayan, U-Solar Clean Energy With respect to solar module manufacturing India still lacks the raw material that is used to assemble the panels - namely cells, wafers and ingots. Currently there is no plan to make wafers and ingots in India, so that is ruled out. However, as far as cell manufacturing is concerned India is still about 4 years away from meeting the supply from the Indian market at the industry quality standard. As far as Inverters go, even there a huge gap exists as manufacturers are mostly involved in assembly as there are no indigenous electronic makers in India. Having said this, there seems to be a lot of initiative being taken by the Government which shows movement in the right direction. So we are certain that this is possible while the transition would have to be made smooth for all players in the Solar Industry. Shri Prakash Rai, Amp Energy India The government’s idea of an “AtmaNirbhar Bharat” is a step in the right direction but the government has to ensure that the transition from a largely import driven market to a self-sus- tained marketplace has to be carefully phased out. Persever- ance in policies and swift implementation is key to becoming AtmaNirbhar. Vikas Jain, Insolation Energy As per the Ministry estimates the current capacity of the do- mestic solar cells and modules manufacturing meets only half of the country’s demand. Presently the solar cell manufactur- ing capacity is 2.5 GW and another 5 GW is under construc- tion. A further 3 GW has been approved. The solar modules manufacturing capacity is comparatively better at 8 GW. There is a clear need for restricting cheap imports and boosting do- mestic manufacturing. Apart from cells and modules the gov- ernment should support setting up of silicon ingots and wafers manufacturing units hence achieving vertical integration. The total self reliance can be achieved only by having complete control over the entire value chain. We also need to invest in the research and development of new technologies so as to come with new highly efficient innovative products. - Manu Tayal FEATURE STORY 30 energetica INDIA- July-Aug_2020 Vikas Jain Managing Director, Insolation Energy