India mulls new solar tender to bolster investor interest

The move is part of India’s goal to achieve 100GW in solar capacity by 2022.

India is studying a new tender to develop solar power equipment manufacturing that does not require electricity generation as it aims to spark further investor interest in the sector, according to a report by Bloomberg.

There has been little interest from solar equipment makers in the previous manufacturing tenders, a hurdle to prime minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plans of building 100GW of solar power capacity by 2022.

India has been struggling to boost its nascent domestic manufacturing industry, which the government estimates can currently only meet just 15% of the country’s annual needs. The South Asian nation has been seeking to boost its capabilities through both manufacturing tenders and a safeguard duty on cheaper Chinese imports.

A tender issued in May 2018 was downsized and delayed multiple times, before being scrapped due to poor investor interest. It was replaced by a smaller version in January, for which the bidding deadline has been extended three times.

Read the full report here.