Dumping duty feared to delay projects

India doesn't have considerable solar glass production capacity and is dependent on imports

- Rituraj Baruah

The imposition of anti-dumping duty on solar glass last month has led to a rise in solar photovoltaic (PV) module prices by 10-12%, raising concerns over project cost escalations and potential delays, industry participants said.

The solar glass duty, largely aimed at supplies from China, has also led to supply constraints that could delay projects critical to India's goal of achieving 500GW of non-fossil power generation capacity by 2030.

"Solar PV module constitute about 60% of the project cost. Because of this anti-dumping duty there has been an increase of close to 12% in the solar PV module cost. This means overall solar project cost goes up by 7-8% and all the IRR (internal rate of return) the module makers had calculated, goes for a toss," said an executive with a domestic solar module manufacturer, on the condition of anonymity.