The solar power developers have reached out to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to extend “change in law” relief for the existing power purchase agreements (PPAs) following the imposition of the anti-dumping duty (ADD) on solar glass imports from China, Vietnam.

According to the developers, ADD on solar module components – Aluminum frame, Solar Glass — is causing undue burden on them.

The developers under the aegis of National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) have made a representation before the MNRE to consider providing relief under change in law specifications. The developers have further requested the MNRE to engage with Ministry of Finance to roll back the notification/investigation issued for imposition of ADD.

Recently, the Finance Ministry had notified correction in the anti-dumping duty calculation on “Textured Tempered Coated and Uncoated Glass”. It had come out with the reference price to be used for calculating the extent of anti-dumping duty to be levied on imports of solar glass from China and Vietnam. This decision was made after considering an application filed by Solar Ancillary Manufacturers’ Association (SAMA).

Cost escalation

The developers are worried that it will escalate the cost of the existing projects thus making them unviable. Besides, the domestic manufacturing is not adequate enough to meet the demand, according to the developers.

Pradeep Kheruka, President at SAMA, told businessline that “Everything required for manufacturing glass is available in India — from raw materials; skilled manpower highly trained in glass manufacturing; an extensive range of refractories required to build complete furnaces etc. There is little outflow of foreign exchange when compared to the production.”

“The availability of a level playing field is what the Indian industry requires,” he stressed.

Domestic production to grow

With imposition of provisional reference price for solar glass, the government has given an insight into its decision to protect and grow domestic manufacturing, he said. “We expect domestic production of solar glass to further grow now. In addition to the 13 GW by Reliance which is under commissioning, work on fresh capacity of 15 GW has started soon after the imposition of ADD. This would bring an additional 28 GW of solar glass capacity within the next 30 months making the total availability to 45 GW. Yet, further serious announcements of more capacities from existing or new manufacturers is likely to take the aforesaid 45 GW to over 60 GW,” he added.

The actual production of solar modules is about 50 per cent of the rated capacity, Kheruka said adding, “Hence, the 120 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity expected in the next 2-3 years will have sufficient domestic glass available.”

An upward movement in selling prices of solar modules is on the cards because with the emphasis on domestic manufacturing, certain components are likely to start selling at their real cost, rather than an imported subsidised cost. “We can confidently say that the impact of these increases, whether in glass prices or other components is not significant when viewed in the cost of power generated and sold by developers,” he stressed.

The increase in module prices on account of the imposition of a reference price may be between 2.25 and 2.7 per cent approximately. According to developers, a rough calculation done by industry shows the price hike would be in the range of ₹1 to ₹2.50 per watt calculated at the reference price of $677 per MT (1,000 kg).