Ministry of Science and Technology has reissued a plea for overseas solar companies to partner up with Indian concerns to kick-start production lines. Will the latest move do anything to spark PV manufacturing in India? Image: Orb Energy In the wake of this week’s disappointing outcome to the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) much-trailed national PV project and manufacturing capacity tender, it has emerged the Indian government has launched another attempt to attract foreign solar producers. With the vast majority of solar cells and modules used in Indian PV projects still imported – mostly from China and Malaysia – SECI’s attempt to procure the establishment of 5 GW of solar manufacturing capacity on Indian soil finally ended on Monday with just the 600 MW of production capacity offered by Delhi-based developer Azure Power, the sole bidder in a tender dogged by delays and revisions. pv magazine has discovered the Central Electronics Ltd division of the federal Ministry of Science and Technology on November 3 published a call for expressions of interest by foreign solar manufacturers interested in setting up production lines through JVs with Indian companies. The document appears identical to a similar EoI issued by the state-owned body in June, also published under the government’s Make in India initiative. The EoI focuses on securing crystalline silicon cell and module manufacture in India but asks interested companies to describe their experience in polysilicon, ingot and wafer production as well as asking whether they would be interested in bringing such operations to India, as the federal government seeks to establish a domestic solar supply chain. No deadline for submission of EoIs is given on the document. Max worked for between 2012 and 2015 on a part-time basis and returned to the fold full-time in July 2018. An old-school print journalist, he has also worked in environmental consultancy, education, local government, infrastructure, aerospace, forensic science and sport. More articles from Max Hall
Malaysia's Ministry of Science and Technology has issued an appeal for foreign solar manufacturers to create joint ventures with domestic companies, in an attempt to boost the country's struggling production lines. The call for expressions of interest made by the ministry's Central Electronics division follows disappointing results from the Solar Energy Corporation of Malaysia’s recent national PV and manufacturing capacity tender. The scheme aimed to establish 5 GW of solar manufacturing capacity but closed with just one bid from Azure Power for 600 MW.