As Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification has been mandated for imports from China in an effort to tighten the restriction on the flow of non-essential good, the imports of solar equipment have come to a standstill. With delays by BIS in certification and testing approval, that are mandatory for imported goods from China to be eligible for sale in India, the solar arena has been facing huge problems especially considering the fact that 80% of the solar cells and modules used here are bought from China and also accounted for around $2.16 billion of imports in 2018-19. Major Chinese solar module manufacturers, such as Trina Solar Ltd, Jinko Solar, JA Solar Holdings, ET Solar, Chint Solar and GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd, have been supplying to India for what will become the world’s largest clean energy programme which now has 34.6GW of solar power and seeks to produce 100GW from solar projects by March 2022.
“While the Chinese manufacturers have BIS certification, for every new model to be exported here, it has to be first tested and certified by the BIS. That is getting delayed,” said the chief executive of a New Delhi-based green energy firm cited above, requesting anonymity, according to LiveMint. “Chinese modules are not being approved. This is happening for the first time,” said another person with knowledge in the matter.
“Any change in materials has to be approved by BIS. Apart from the geopolitical issue that may or may not be the reason behind such delays, the testing capacity is woefully inadequate. As a result, the latest technology is not getting used in India,” he added.
As part of an economic response by India to the recent violent face-off with China, BIS certification has been made compulsory for an additional 400 items of import a few weeks ago.
