MNRE promotes setting up of RE Equipment Manufacturing Parks in India

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has initiated action in a big way towards setting up new hubs for manufacturing renewable energy equipment in the country to meet both domestic and global demand. With this objective in view, the ministry has written to various State Governments and various Port Authorities to identify land parcels of 50-500 acres for setting up such Parks. Tuticorin Port Trust, States of Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have already expressed their keen interest in setting up RE Manufacturing Parks.

Anand Kumar, Secretary, MNRE has already held meetings with RE manufacturing companies. The ministry also got in touch with Trade Commissioners/Representatives of various countries, inviting them to invest in this promising opportunity in India. Kumar also addressed the US–India Strategic Partnership Forum recently through a webinar and sought collaboration and investment by US firms. These hubs will manufacture equipment like silicon ingots and wafers, solar cells and modules, wind equipment and ancillary items like back sheet, glass, steel frames, inverters, batteries, etc. At present, India has around 10 GW of wind equipment manufacturing capacity. In case of solar cells and modules, India imports about 85 percent from abroad. To incentivise domestic manufacturing, the government of India already announced provisions to enable levying of Basic Customs Duty on import of solar cells and modules.

It may be stated that in a time when many companies are planning to shift their manufacturing base from China, it is the opportune time for India to bring policy changes for facilitating and catalysing manufacturing in India. In tune with this, MNRE has set up the RE Industry Facilitation & Promotion Board to facilitate investment in the RE sector. The ministry has also strengthened the clauses in Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to boost investor confidence. The three power and RE sector NBFCs, namely PFC, REC, and IREDA, have reduced their repayment charges to 2 percent for enhancing the fund availability for new projects in the sector. Moreover, IREDA has brought out a new scheme for project-specific funding to promote RE manufacturing in India. Further, the ministry is making special efforts to boost export of RE services like project designing, operations, and maintenance. Today, the practices adopted by the RE sector in India in project and grid development and maintenance are among the best in the world and hence a huge opportunity is available for export of RE services.