Developers of solar energy projects are under no compulsion to import equipment from China which has been hit by new coronavirus outbreak, New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said on Tuesday.
The minister was replying to a question if the coronavirus outbreak in China has adversely affected India’s ability to increase clean energy capacity.
“The Solar Industry is under no compulsion to import solar cells, modules and other equipment from China. They are free to meet their requirements either from domestic market or alternative sources,” Singh said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
In a separate reply, the minister said, “The government has already clarified that disruption of supply chains due to spread of coronavirus in China or any other country should be considered as a case of natural calamity and force majeure clause may be invoked, wherever considered appropriate, following the due procedure.”
India has set a target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by December, 2022 which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from Biomass and 5 GW from Small Hydro.
So far, as on January 31, 2020, a cumulative capacity of 86.32 GW has been installed in the country. Further, an additional capacity of 35.09 GW is under various stages of implementation and 34.47 GW under various stages of bidding.
The government is confident of achieving the target, the minister said.
A total of 8,004.64 MW of renewable energy capacity has been installed during the period from April 2019 to January 2020 compared to 5,978.47 MW installed during the same period in 2018-19.