India has set an ambitious target of setting up 175 GW capacity of renewable energy by 2022 and 450 GW capacity by 2030. On the basis of techno-economic analysis, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has indicated in their ‘Optimum Energy Mix’ report that 280 GW capacity from solar energy will be needed by 2029-30. To achieve the target, around 25 GW solar energy capacity is needed to be installed every year, till 2030.

But at present, solar capacity addition in India majorly depends upon imported solar PV cells and modules. The domestic manufacturing industry has limited operational annual capacities of around 2.5 GW for solar PV cells and 9-10 GW for solar PV modules. The PLI scheme for high-efficiency solar PV modules aims to provide impetus to the domestic industry to scale up manufacturing in the coming years so that majority of this demand can be met domestically itself and India does not have to depend on imports to fulfill its demands. This will also help build India’s capacity and technological capability to become part of the global supply chain for high-efficiency solar PV modules and cater to the international market as well.