The Indian government has set a deadline to restrict the use of solar cells imported from China as it transitions to clean energy.
India's Ministry of Renewable Energy said on Tuesday that from June 2026, Indian clean energy companies will only be able to use locally made solar cells provided by an approved list of companies under the government project.
India already requires the use of locally made photovoltaic (PV) modules from an approved list of domestic manufacturers in government projects, and authorities are now extending the rule to solar cells as well.
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The government plans to increase non-fossil fuel installation capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from about 156 gigawatts currently.
At present, India's solar photovoltaic module production capacity is about 80 GW, and its battery production capacity is slightly more than 7 GW. Companies rely heavily on Chinese battery modules to produce modules.
The government will release a list of approved cell manufacturers as the country's solar photovoltaic installation capacity is expected to increase significantly next year, the ministry said on Monday.
Several Indian companies have established or are in the process of establishing solar cell manufacturing plants.
Tata Power recently commissioned a 4.3 GW battery manufacturing plant in southern India.
Reliance Industries aims to commission the first phase of a 20 GW integrated solar cell and module manufacturing facility in Gujarat by the end of this year, where Adani Group already has a 4 GW cell and module manufacturing plant.
Companies such as Waaree Energies, Vikram Solar and Solex Energy have also laid out battery manufacturing pipelines.
“Modules using domestically produced cells may be more expensive than imported cells, which is an important reason to expand battery production capacity and improve the cost economics of battery manufacturing in India,” said Vikram V, vice president of India Company.
- Reuters Additional editing by Jim Pollard
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