Challenges Facing the Solar Manufacturing Industry in India

By Debasish Choudhury, president, SEMI India

In a recent interview with Energy Next Magazine, I was asked about the problems facing the Indian solar manufacturing industry.  The short answer may be, India is the same as every manufacturing in the world – we need to have policies in place to support investment in innovation and our solar future.

The longer answer is that India is totally dependent on imports for crucial materials like silicon wafers, encapsulating material, high transmission glass etc. The key challenge is the imposition of import duty on input items in the manufacturing process of solar cell and modules, whereas there is no import duty on finished solar equipment (solar modules).  This immediately puts the Indian manufacturers at a disadvantage vis-à-vis imported solar equipment.  Indigenous capabilities need to begin on the material side in India soon in order to allow for manufacturing innovation and cost reduction. 

Another challenge is the availability of a technically-skilled workforce which is critical for the solar PV industry in order to adopt higher degrees of automation and focus on innovation. The shortage of good quality, industry-ready human resources at different levels of the value chain is a key challenge faced by the manufacturers. The shortage is compounded by high attrition level amongst experienced professionals since the same set of people are being chased by different companies.  To address this critical factor, SEMI India is holding the first of series of “solar workforce development programs” this week in collaboration with the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE)  based at IIT-Bombay, Mumbai in Jaipur, Rajasthan. SEMI has been supporting NCPRE with its programs at IIT-Bombay and will continue these programs at SOLARCON India in November.

Last, the availability of financing at the right rates is a big need for large-scale solar manufacturing growth. Priority lending at lower rates for solar projects would be a major enabler and help to level the playing field for India with other competing manufacturing economies.

Read the full interview in the print version of Energy Next Magazine, August 2011 issue.