New Delhi: Gujarat ranks No. 2 nationally in installed Solar and Wind Energy capacity with a total 8,887.72 megawatt (MW) installed solar energy capacity and 9,925.72 MW installed wind energy capacity as on 28 February, 2023. This information was made available by Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy and Power, Shri RK Singh, in Rajya Sabha on March 28, 2023 while replying to a question raised by Member of Parliament Shri Parimal Nathwani.

According to the statement of the minister, the top five states with the with maximum installed solar energy capacities are Rajasthan (16,405.75 MW), Gujarat (8,887.72 MW), Karnataka (8,110.48 MW), Tamil Nadu (6,536.77 MW), and Telangana (4,657.18 MW).  The top five states with maximum installed wind energy capacities are Tamil Nadu (9,983.12 MW), Gujarat (9,925.72 MW), Karnataka (5,276.05 MW), Maharashtra (5,012.83 MW), and Rajasthan (4,681.82 MW), as per the statement.

Shri Nathwani wanted to know about the incentives declared for setting up of renewable energy installations and generation of energy and whether these incentives are applicable for the manufacturer of the equipment, apparatus such as solar panels, aluminium channels, blades of windmills etc., top five States producing solar energy and wind energy in the country and the status of tidal energy generation.

According to the statement of the minister, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, has been consistently bringing out policies for developing and facilitating domestic renewable energy equipment manufacturing in the country. Some of the recent initiatives undertaken to promote solar & wind energy domestic equipment manufacturing in the country, inter-alia, includes the following: Solar Energy: (i) Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for High Efficiency Solar PV Modules, (ii) Domestic Content Requirement (DCR), (iii) Preference to ‘Make in India’ in Public Procurement, (iv) Imposition of Basic Customs Duty on import of solar PV cells & modules, and (v) Discontinuation of Customs Duty Concessions.

The statement of the minister also read that the Government of India is implementing the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme under National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules, for achieving domestic manufacturing capacity of Giga Watt (GW) scale in High Efficiency Solar PV modules, with an outlay of Rs. 24,000 crore. This Scheme has provision for Production Linked Incentive (PLI) to the selected solar PV module manufacturers for five years post commissioning, on manufacture and sale of High Efficiency Solar PV modules, it read.

The minister also stated that under some of the current schemes of the MNRE, namely CPSU Scheme Phase-II, PM-KUSUM Component B and Grid-connected Rooftop Solar Programme Phase-II, wherein government subsidy is given, it has been mandated to source solar PV cells and modules from domestic sources. The statement read, through implementation of ‘Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order’, procurement and use of domestically manufactured solar PV modules and domestically manufactured solar inverters has been mandated for Government/ Government entities.

The Government has imposed Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on import of solar PV cells and modules, with effect from 01.04.2022. MNRE has discontinued issuance of Customs Duty Concession Certificates for import of material /equipment for initial setting up of solar PV power projects with effect from 02.02.2021, according to the statement.

The minister also informed that Tidal energy is still in Research & Development (R&D) phase and has not been implemented on a commercial scale in the country. DeshGujarat