solar energy boom turns to bust for indian manufacturers
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Solar energy boom turns to bust for Indian manufacturers

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Solar energy boom turns to bust for Indian manufacturers

An employee works at a solar cell production line at Jupiter Solar Power Ltd
New Delhi - Arab Today

Some of India’s biggest solar equipment makers are facing financial collapse, priced out by Chinese competitors as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government prioritizes cheap power over local manufacturing despite his “Make in India” push.
Though President Donald Trump is pulling the US out of the Paris accord on climate change, India is sticking to its huge renewable energy program. That has created a multi-billion-dollar market for Chinese solar product makers, who are facing an overcapacity at home and steep duties in Europe.
India’s solar power generation capacity has already more than tripled in three years to over 12 gigawatt (GW) as Modi targets raising energy generation from all renewable sources to 175 GW by 2022.
Chinese companies have gained the most from that increase, accounting for around 85 percent of India’s solar module demand and earning around $2 billion, according to industry data. The total annual market could jump to more than $10 billion in the next few years going by the government’s capacity targets.
Local companies such as Jupiter Solar, Indosolar Ltd. and Moser Baer India Ltd., however, are struggling to win contracts.
Orders funneled through a domestic-content policy have all but dried up after the World Trade Organization last September upheld an earlier ruling that found the move violated global trade norms.
As a result, Jupiter said it could shut shop by July after delivering their last orders this month; Indosolar auditors have raised doubts over it remaining as a “going concern,” and Moser Baer says it needs support from its lenders to revive its solar business.
Indian solar power plant developers — including companies backed by Japan’s Softbank and Goldman Sachs — are quoting ever-lower tariffs in auctions to win big projects, encouraged by steep drop in Chinese solar equipment prices.
That is squeezing out Indian cell and module makers, many of which have inferior technology, depend on imports of raw materials, have limited access to cheap loans and operate below capacity. Chinese modules are 10-20 percent cheaper than those made in India, company and industry executives said.
“The WTO ruling has torpedoed everything. It’s not a case of one company — we have the largest cell operating capacity — everybody below us will shut down one after another,” Jupiter CEO Dhruv Sharma told Reuters by phone.
Chinese companies were selling solar cells in India at 19-20 cents, around 35 percent below his production cost, he added.
There are more than 110 Indian solar cell and module makers registered with the government, out of which consultancy Bridge to India expects only a handful to survive.
Santosh Vaidya, a senior official in the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, said the government was working on several initiatives to promote the domestic solar manufacturing industry. He did not elaborate.
India’s promise, and need, as a market for solar is obvious. It is one of the lowest per-capita consumers of electricity in the world and more than 200 million of its people are still not connected to the grid, making it crucial for the government to aggressively push for cheap power.
Despite its low labor costs, it is not alone in buckling under pressure from Chinese competition. Earlier this month, Germany’s SolarWorld, once Europe’s largest solar panel maker, said it would file for insolvency.
Indian companies produced an estimated 1.33 GW of modules last year out of the total capacity of 5.29 GW, according to Bridge to India. Total consumption of modules — 60 percent of a solar project’s cost — was around 4 GW.
Solar project developer SB Energy, a joint venture between SoftBank, Taiwan’s Foxconn and India’s Bharti Enterprises, said it had discussed the shortage of local manufacturing with the government.
“Lack of significant domestic solar manufacturing capacity is a concern, as this is a major gap,” SB Energy Executive Chairman Manoj Kohli said, drawing a parallel with India’s huge mobile phone market but negligible local production.
Several company executives said a lack of scale, absence of raw material supply chains and rapidly changing technology were some of other reasons Indian firms were unable to compete with Chinese manufacturers such as Trina Solar and Yingli .
“The government is busy bringing power prices down ... but you cannot build castles on graves,” Gyanesh Chaudhary, CEO of module maker Vikram Solar told Reuters. “Without a domestic manufacturing ecosystem, no public policy can last for a long time.”

Source: Arab News

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

solar energy boom turns to bust for indian manufacturers solar energy boom turns to bust for indian manufacturers

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

solar energy boom turns to bust for indian manufacturers solar energy boom turns to bust for indian manufacturers

 



GMT 21:16 2016 Monday ,27 June

Zaki Badr discusses cleaning problem in Giza

GMT 21:46 2017 Saturday ,14 January

Turkey arrests 60 businessmen for alleged Gulen ties

GMT 22:38 2017 Friday ,24 March

Abbas meets with Merkel in Berlin

GMT 09:02 2017 Monday ,27 March

Tunisian Premier Concludes Visit to Sudan

GMT 15:54 2017 Friday ,01 September

Attorney General Directs Prosecutors to inspect Prison

GMT 09:22 2017 Sunday ,31 December

HM King condoles with Afghanistan President

GMT 10:12 2016 Wednesday ,06 April

Strong dollar, mild weather shrink H&M profits

GMT 17:03 2016 Saturday ,24 December

7 police killed in attacks in Afghansitan

GMT 13:51 2017 Friday ,17 March

Israel denies Syria shot down a warplane

GMT 04:08 2017 Thursday ,05 January

Carbon tax can fund clean energy transition

GMT 19:27 2016 Wednesday ,14 September

Alstom to go ahead with plans to shut down Belfort plant

GMT 01:44 2017 Friday ,15 December

Mennat-Allah underlines importance of landscapes

GMT 04:57 2017 Thursday ,14 December

Trump tells NASA to send Americans to Moon

GMT 21:43 2017 Wednesday ,11 October

Qabil discusses with Swiss delegation improving power

GMT 21:06 2017 Sunday ,17 September

OIC condemns suicide attack in Kabul

GMT 08:27 2017 Thursday ,27 April

Nokia reports another loss as networks sag

GMT 19:41 2017 Monday ,06 February

Elina Svitolina Claims Taiwan Open Title

GMT 09:39 2017 Friday ,03 February

Former Brazilian president Lula's wife dies of stroke
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday