India's Ministry of Renewable Energy (MNRE) has started soliciting feedback from stakeholders on the draft ALMM (Approved List of Models and Manufacturers) guidelines for solar cells, which are scheduled to be implemented from April 2026, according to foreign media reports.

The MNRE aims to issue the ALMM list for PV cells from April 1, 2026. India's PV cell production capacity is likely to exceed 75 GW in 2026, up from just 5.8 GW in December 2023, according to Mercom India in its recently released report, “State of Solar PV Manufacturing in India 2024”.

MNRE introduced the ALMM policy to protect the domestic solar industry from Chinese imports. The policy creates non-tariff cells and allows domestic manufacturers to capture a larger share of the market.

MNRE has released the ALMM list of solar modules that are compliant with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) standards and meet sectoral efficiency criteria. From April 1, 2024, only modules and manufacturers on this list will be eligible to participate in government-supported projects. The list currently includes over 50 GW of module capacity.

Under the MNRE, projects under the ALMM requirement must procure solar PV modules from the ALMM list and use cells from the same list. Projects that have bid prior to the issuance of the order are exempt from this requirement.

Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xRd8btsdD-a9SI9RGIwcDQ