India embracing solar: “A 5kw solar unit, sufficient to power most homes, costs at least 250,000 rupees, or about $3,000. And yet the average monthly household electricity bill in Mumbai, an expensive city, rarely exceeds 5,000 rupees.”
To boost domestic manufacturing, the government slapped a 40% import tariff on Chinese panels and decreed that panels used in most solar projects be sourced from an “approved list” of Indian panels and panel-makers.
To supply solar projects that have been approved with domestic panels would take seven years, the minister of power, R.K. Singh, said earlier this month. “But we can’t wait seven years.”
The government therefore relaxed its procurement rules for two years. That will allow imports of panels from Southeast Asian countries with which India has an FTA. But the tariff on Chinese panels remains.
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