Govt to issue quality order on solar modules by this month

The government will come out with policy directive on quality of modules by the end of this month and will eventually cover the entire solar value chain, including wafers and poly silicon, over the next two years, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said here.

Goyal, who is leading a high-level business delegation on a two-day visit to Vienna, was addressing India-Austria Business Forum, organised by industry body FICCI in collaboration with the Embassy of India in Vienna and Austrian Economic Chambers.

"India needs to put entire solar value chain under quality direction. The government will have a policy directive in place on quality of modules by end of May, followed by solar cells in next 6-7 months and on wafers and poly silicon in the next two years," Goyal, the Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Minister said.

Given that Austria is well known for innovations, Goyal said that this experience of discovery can be put to good use in India through scale and cost competitiveness. He also spoke of the trinity of financial inclusion, unique identification and digital penetration that can translate into businesses being able to function smoothly and scale up efficiently.

He said both the nations can leverage each other's strengths to benefit both economies and India can offer better pricing for Austrian products and provide low-cost manufacturing base.

Goyal underlined that affordability is a paramount imperative to be able to change India's energy mix.

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a new dimension to renewable energy and that his vision of scaling up rapidly is giving good returns in more ways than one – a case in point being the latest solar tariff of 4 cents. Solar power tariff dropped to a record low of Rs 2.62 per unit in the auction conducted for Bhadla Solar Park on Wednesday.

He indicated that India can engage with Austria the way it has done with Finland. Goyal said that within six months of his visit to Finland in November 2016 there have been multiple exchanges between the two countries.

Pankaj Patel, President, FICCI and also the Chairman and MD of Zydus Cadila, said Austria s experience in bringing renewable energy to mainstream and successfully addressing the challenges of integrating solar and wind energy with grid offers unique learning opportunities for Indian entities.

Likewise, India s renewable energy target of 175 GW and the scope of smart grid provide enormous opportunities for Austrian entities towards adapting their solutions to India s energy landscape and partnering with India towards evolving better energy technology and economic solutions, he said.

The companies present on the occasion were Edelweiss, The Lalit, Modi Enterprises, Hindustan Power Projects Private Ltd, Indosolar, Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers' Association (IEEMA), PTC India, Sindicatum, Secure Meters Ltd. Torrent Power, Welspun Energy and UJAAS Energy.