The Centre has received proposals to set up 20GW of solar modules and 15GW of solar cell-manufacturing capacity in the country. But according to Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh, companies that have made these proposals are awaiting the imposition of the customs duty on imports so that they can go ahead with investments.

Speaking to reporters, Singh also said he spoke to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about the demand for the customs duty. The Centre has been planning to impose a 20 per cent Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on solar modules, solar cells and solar inverters. This was announced in Budget 2020.

“Government schemes alone have created a domestic demand and assured market of around 40 GW of domestically manufactured solar PV cells and modules…The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) for manufacturing Solar PV is expected to give a fillip to domestic manufacturing,” he said.

According to Singh, over ₹4.7-lakh crore has been invested in India’s renewable energy sector during the last six years.

“During the last six years, India’s renewable energy capacity has increased by two-and-a-half times. Solar energy capacity has increased 13 times. The share of non-fossil fuel energy sources in our power generation capacity has increased to 136GW, or about 36 per cent of our total capacity. By 2022, the share is expected to further increase to over 220GW.

“India’s plans for renewables for 2030 will translate into an investment opportunity of around ₹1-lakh crore per year,” he added.

Virtual RE meet

Singh also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the virtual third Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-INVEST 2020) that is slated to be held on November 26.

Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Maldives, the UK, EU and US Agencies are the partners in this edition of RE-INVEST.

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