Govt to unveil policy to promote manufacturing in solar energy

New Delhi: The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) said on Thursday that the government would soon unveil a new policy to promote manufacturing in the solar energy sector.

The policy is designed to give a boost to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s Make in India programme to encourage manufacturing and attract foreign investment besides promoting an alternative source of energy.

“Make in India is an initiative of the government of India wherein the government needs the support of manufacturers, associations and various other renewable energy promoters to make the programme a success,” MNRE’s joint secretary Tarun Kapoor said at a conference on solar energy in New Delhi.

The conference, whose theme is ‘Make in India: Opportunities and Challenges in Solar Sector’, has been organized by the Solar Energy Society of India.

Delegates at the three-day conference will discuss what and where to manufacture solar equipment, what policies are needed and standards required. They will talk about how to adopt and absorb modern technology and how to raise finance for startups in the solar energy sector.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing solar energy since forming government in May 2014. The NDA government led by Modi raised India’s target of solar power generation from 20,000 megawatts (MW) by 2022 to 100,000MW.

Ajay Prakash Shrivastava, president of the Solar Energy Society, which has 5,000 members including industry representatives and researchers, said: “The goal of 100 GW cannot be fulfilled unless solar products are made in India.”

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.