Govt to tighten noose around import of poor solar products

Toughening its stand on dumping of poor quality solar equipment, the government has decided to regulate imports of such products under the Bureau of India Standards (BIS) Act.
"Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is working on a legal framework to ensure good quality of imported clean energy products in the country," Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said at 'Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL)' Convention 2016 -- organised by TERI with DFID and Smart Villages.
Later talking to PTI, Kapoor said, "There has been instance where the quality of imported solar products like cell, lanterns and panels was very poor. Therefore, the government will soon bring an order under the BIS Act to regulate the quality of such imports."

Elaborating further, he said, "They would have to seek certified test reports of the products under the order. The products would have to meet the standards already in place. This will ensure quality of imports."
He further said, "This order will restrict import of poor quality imports of solar equipment and products in the country."
India has set an ambitious target of having 100 GW of solar power generation capacity by 2022 including 60 GW from grid connected solar projects and 40 GW from rooftop solar.

India's installed solar power generation capacity has already crossed the 5 GW mark earlier this year.

Government has planned to have around 20 GW of installed solar power generation capacity by end of this fiscal. The tendering of solar projects of over 18 GW has already been completed.
The ambitious solar power programme has provided huge market to domestic as well as foreign players. But at the same time, the government does not want to compromise with the quality of equipment and products.
In continuation of its efforts and commitment towards providing clean lighting solutions in rural regions of the country and beyond, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), under its flagship project LaBL is developing pathways and measures to light up 10 million lives by 2018.

Through its solar charging stations, solar micro grids, improved cook stoves, independent home lighting systems and integrated domestic energy systems, the LaBL programme has reached to hundreds of communities in 24 states in India with a global footprint in 13 countries in Africa and Asia, which had zero or minimal access to clean energy.