India’s Solar Manufacturing Grows as Exports Surge, Targeting Global Markets and Reducing Dependence on China.

P Tech’s head of research Finlay Colville and Rahul Bhutiani, global chief marketing officer of Indian manufacturer Adani Solar, discussed the 20-year history of solar PV manufacturing in India and plans to increase production capacity and exports of solar modules from Indian manufacturers. The webinar also covered the manufacturing of polysilicon, wafers, cells, and modules in different countries or regions excluding China, highlighting the potential for a global PV manufacturing ecosystem. As of the end of 2023, global cell production capacity surpassed 1TW, although actual cell production was only over 0.5TW. Cell production is expected to rise in the coming years and could reach about 750GW by 2024. The speakers also discussed module supply to the US, with modules assembled in Southeast Asia accounting for about 70% of all solar PV modules in the US in 2023. Module supply to India accounted for over 25% last year. The increase in Indian module imports to US was partly due to excess product availability from Indian module suppliers and a desire for non-China and non-Southeast Asia module supplier options. Module exports have increased due to India’s political relationship with the US and India’s growing market share gains over the past few years.