India to aid solar manufacturing with USD 3.15bn - report

India plans to introduce a new policy that will support the country’s solar panel production sector with an INR-210-billion (USD 3.15bn/EUR 2.9bn) financing package, Bloomberg said today, citing two unnamed officials.

The planned programme, called Prayas, will seek to create 5 GW of photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing capacity from 2019 and build 20 GW of projects by 2026, the informed people have said. One of the programme's goals is to create a PV export industry, according to the report.

The policy is expected to be presented to India’s finance ministry within a month, Bloomberg added.

Consultancy Bridge to India said at the end of August that Chinese solar module suppliers had reached a 75% market share in India in the past 12 months. Now eight out of the top 10 photovoltaic (PV) module suppliers in India are from China, while last year there were only four on the list. The two non-Chinese suppliers in the top 10 are US-based First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) and India’s Waaree Energies Ltd, according to Bridge to India’s report.

India has set a target to increase its renewables capacity to 175 GW by 2022 from the current 45 GW. Based on Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) estimates, it will need to invest USD 200 billion (EUR 182bn) to meet the objective.

(INR 100 = USD 1.499/EUR 1.365)

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