Under the local procurement conditions stipulated for solar photovoltaic (SPV) power projects allotted under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission Phase-I specific scheme implemented through NVVN, it was made mandatory for projects based on crystalline silicon technology to use modules manufactured in India in case of projects selected in batch-1 during FY 2010-11 and to use both cells and modules manufactured in India in case of projects selected in batch-2 during FY 2011-12. No such restriction was imposed in case of projects based on thin film technology and accordingly import of thin film modules was permitted. The main reason for many developers opting for imported thin film modules is their relatively low cost.
There is no laid down Government of India policy for procurement of Solar cells and modules. Power procurement is done by Distribution companies/ Power Utilities and they are mostly owned by State Governments who go by their own decisions in this regard. Government of India (GoI) has so far come up with different Schemes under Phase-I of the Solar Mission to procure power and then supply to the Discoms. In Phase-II, GoI has a target to facilitate procurement of 3000 MW of solar power.
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