Stakeholder Consultation Workshop with Solar PV Module and Solar Inverter Manufacturers
Despite its large potential, the widespread adoption of rooftop solar in India encounters a myriad of challenge that hinders it’s on ground deployment. One of such challenge is the high equipment cost. India targets to solarize 10 million households with rooftop solar installations as part of its PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana which will require high quality equipment at competitive rates with seamless last mile delivery.
To address these challenges, USAID’s SAREP program, in collaboration with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), is devising potential aggression-based solutions and convened a Stakeholder Consultation Workshop with PV Module and Solar Inverter Manufacturers on April 16, 2024, in New Delhi. This workshop marked the inaugural session of a series of stakeholder consultations across India, intended to deliberate strategies and potential remedies for scaling rooftop solar deployment.
The discourse during the workshop revolved around assessing the demand and supply capabilities of PV modules and solar inverters presently accessible in India, identifying the obstacles encountered by the PV module and inverter manufacturing sector, and proposing potential solutions for managing supply and demand. Over 75 manufacturers and other stakeholders participated in the discussions.
Apurva Chaturvedi, Senior Regional Clean Energy Specialist, USAID India, underlined the need to discuss and navigate the challenges in the domestic RTS, advocating for the formulation of industry standards to ensure the success of RTS initiatives in India.
Vishal Kapoor, CEO, EESL, emphasized the necessity of offering cost-effective and readily available solutions to residential consumers to bolster confidence and thereby escalate the adoption of rooftop solar systems. He elaborated on EESL’s e-commerce platform, EESL Mart. Additionally, to streamline the demand and supply of solar inverter and modules he highlighted about the plans of EESL to support the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana.
Abhishek Gupta, Head, Solar Rooftop, EESL, delivered a presentation on RTS equipment standardization, , pricing strategies, and solution proposed by EESL to serve the EPC players for last mile delivery of solar inverters and modules.
The consultation laid the groundwork for collaboratively establishing industry standards conducive to interoperability, efficiency, and reliability of renewable energy products, thereby facilitating smoother procurement processes, and expediting the deployment of domestic solar rooftop solutions in India.
