India to mandate locally made solar ingots, wafers for clean energy projects from June 2028

NEW DELHI, March 18 (Reuters) — India is proposing that clean energy firms use ‌only locally made solar ingots and wafers ‌from June 2028, the country’s renewable energy ministry said ​on Wednesday, in a move aimed at curbing Chinese imports.

With this, the South Asian country is looking to ensure the usage of ‌domestically made components ⁠across the entire solar panel manufacturing chain.

India currently has a manufacturing ⁠capacity of about 2 gigawatt (GW) for ingots and wafers.

Companies including Waaree Energies, Tata Power and ​Indosol Solar ​have proposed billions ​of rupees of investments ‌to build renewable manufacturing capacity as India aims to double its non-fossil fuel-based power capacity to 500 GW by 2030.

The government has already mandated the usage of locally assembled ‌solar panels in state-run ​projects even though components like ​cells, wafers, ​ingots and polysilicon could be imported.

India ‌currently relies entirely on China ​for its ​imports of cells, ingots, wafers and poly silicon for solar panels.

The country has ​also directed ‌the use of domestically made solar cells ​from June 2026.

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR; ​Editing by Sonia Cheema)