India. An industrial complex next to Jaipur, famous for its colourful market and historic palaces, has now become a hub for India’s solar industry to compete with China.

India, the world’s most populous country, is investing heavily in solar technology to meet its growing domestic energy demand and counter market share with China.

In a tax-exempt area, the renew company’s factory produces modules that can produce four gigawatts of electricity annually. This is equivalent to the energy needed by about 2.5 million households.

This industry, which employs 1,000 people in two years, has become a symbol of India’s rapid solar growth. India’s solar component production capacity more than doubled in the last financial year.

“It’s a pleasure to be able to contribute directly to clean energy,” said Monisha, an engineer at Renew. However, India still has difficulty dealing with China. China produces more than 80 per cent of the world’s solar components, and many manufacturers in India depend on its supplies. On the other hand, the us, the main market, has imposed a 50 percent tax on Indian goods as per the decision of President Donald Trump.

However, india’s domestic demand will ease this pressure, analysts say. Recently, nearly a third of the panels produced by India in the US were sold. That income has helped Indian companies update the supply chain.

“A big market like India can absorb its own modules, we don’t have to depend only on exports,” energy analyst Charith Konda said. Like Hyderabad’s Vega Solar, companies have started focusing on the domestic market rather than exports after Covid-19. “Earlier, 90 per cent of the exports were done, now 90 per cent of the sales are in India,” said Vinay Kisara, director of the company.

India has set ambitious targets on clean energy. According to the plan to provide 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, projects worth 170 GW are currently in the pipeline.

The government’s incentives, ban on imports and mandatory domestic procurement policy have boosted the industry, said Sanjay Varghese, president of Renew. However, India is still dependent on raw material imports from China. In the first quarter of this year alone, solar cells and modules worth $ 1.3 billion were imported, but this is less than a third of last year. Analysts predict that by 2030, India will produce almost all materials, but only polysilicons will be imported.

India’s solar module generation capacity doubled to 74 GW in the financial year ended March, while sail production tripled from 9 GW to 25 GW.

Although the necessary mining and processing infrastructure in India is still inadequate, the government is taking initiatives to produce and process minerals. Shubhang Parekh of the National Solar Energy Federation said the supply chain is still evolving, but the coming years will be decisive in how far India’s capabilities will reach.