RK Singh Promises More Stringent ALMM Norms For PV Module Makers

Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy RK Singh today claimed that the Ministry would soon make the provisions of the Approved List of Module Manufacturers (ALMM) more stringent to boost the Make in India initiative. He also said that the likely move could boost the efficiency of the solar modules, too. He was speaking to the media today while sharing the proposed plan.

He also directed the officials from the Ministry to make a trajectory of targets for the Indian module makers and make changes in the ALMM in a phased manner accordingly. The trajectory is set to add new conditions for the Indian solar module manufacturers to qualify for the ALMM scheme of the government.

“We are now planning to make the norms for ALMM more stringent. Gone are those days when you can import the maximum of your components and claim yourself as a Make-in-India firm. We have already made changes in ALMM, where we defined the minimum efficiency for solar modules to qualify for the scheme. Now we have planned that only those firms making solar cells in India would qualify under ALMM. We will implement the provision in the coming few years and develop a trajectory for the new targets, too,” he said.

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He said that he also wanted Indian firms to make wafers, polysilicon, besides cells, and after a few years, adequate provisions would be made in the ALMM to include these provisions. He said the move was to bolster the country’s complete production of solar modules to reduce dependency on some countries like China.

The Ministry earlier came up with the ALMM scheme for giving handholding support to Indian manufacturers to boost local production and compete with the rising import of solar cells and modules from other countries. The ministry recently also made changes to the norms and allowed only those firms to participate, which had a minimum efficiency of 19 percent.

Thus, the existing polycrystalline and other modules with lesser modules were weeded out of the list and were thus prevented from getting the preferential treatment in projects. It led to shifting the less efficient modules to rural solar projects like solar pumps, solar streetlights and other projects. However, with the rising adoption plans of Indian manufacturers towards TOPCOn and HJT solar cells, the early adopters are likely to get the benefits of the ALMM scheme.