India's first fully-integrated local production line for solar photovoltaic (PV) modules is scheduled to come up by December 2024. With local production of polysilicon and solar PV modules being incentivised, the government is expecting further addition to production capacity by 2026.

Even as foreign asset management funds, pension funds and investors continue to show interest in India's renewable energy sector, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's Secretary Bhupinder Singh Bhalla told CNBC-TV18 that renewable capacity expansion plans are on track with interest shown by various stakeholders and "renewable energy capacity hasn't been impacted by recent concerns on the Adani Group as there are many players present in the market."

According to Bhalla's projection, that India will be a net exporter of solar PV modules by 2026 with an annual manufacturing capacity of 100 GW of solar modules. Stating that India is on track to meet its target to install non-fossil power capacity of 500 GW by 2030, he pointed out that "solar capacity expansion has been a bit slow in solar parks due to land acquisition/allotment challenges".

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With discoms preferring consistent and dependable power as per their load pattern, the Centre expects 40 GW capacity in solar parks to be fully-commissioned within two years. He explained that "installation of a megawatt of solar power requires around four acre of land." India had achieved 122 GW of renewable energy power capacity by December 2022, short of its target of 175 GW, while 62 GW of solar power capacity was installed compared to the 100 GW target by the end of the last year.

Bhalla added that the "Component A of the PM-KUSUM scheme, where there is no subsidy, is facing less traction due to high cost of finance for farmers", for which the Centre aims to ease credit access for farmers to encourage on-boarding.

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme aims to decarbonise agriculture, reduce power subsidy and aid farmers in getting day-time solar power to irrigate crops.

The Centre has slated over Rs 34,000 crore to spend on making farmers install solar power plants worth over 10,000 MW, under the scheme, which also aims to install 20 lakh off-grid solar-powered agriculture pumps. By the end of the last calendar year, 88.46 MW of solar capacity was added and over 1.8 lakh solar pumps were installed.

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