Schneider Electric, which has established capacity to produce 1.4 giga watt-a-year of solar inverters at its Bangalore plant, said the policy and implementation issues at the State and Central levels have created bottlenecks for demand creation for equipment and components.
After the auction of new capacities of 750 MW in the first batch of Phase II of the National Solar Mission in February, demand scenario for downstream equipment (inverters and other critical components) is yet to pick up over policy issues related to dumping of solar modules.
A number of large State-initiated projects also were stalled for slow implementation issues.
“There are still pending implementation issues for the some projects in a few States. Around 700 MW worth such projects, initiated by one of the southern States, remained stalled for more than a year for absence of PPAs even though LoIs have been issued,” Anurag Garg, Vice-President (solar business), Schneider Electric India Pvt Ltd, told
He said foreseeing the growth potential, Schneider three years ago first brought in the technologies and created manufacturing capacities in the country for equipment such as solar inverters, charge controllers and boxed inverter sub-stations, which can withstand harsh weather conditions.
Since 2011, it has installed solar inverters worth 200 MW in Gujarat and Rajasthan. It also has products in its portfolio for rooftop and off-grid projects such as telecom towers or village electrification projects.
The company, a major in power transmission equipment including grid compliant components and has 31 units in India, possessed capability, which could be extended to the country’s fledgling solar sector, he added.
He said in the solar sector standardisation of equipment specification, particularly for grid unification, was also an issue that needed to be resolved in the country.