Window for Chinese PV exports to India is closing
Recently, India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued an updated policy stating that the "Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM)" exemption, which has been extended several times after March 31, 2024, will end, and that starting April 1, the "ALMM From April 1, the "ALMM" list will come back into effect, i.e., Chinese PV modules will no longer be used in government-funded PV projects in India.
This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to those Chinese PV companies that have a large presence in the Indian market. After all, the scale of exports to India has grown rapidly since the second half of 2023, when domestic PV module prices fell sharply.
In the second half of 2023, after the domestic PV module prices fell sharply, the scale of India's exports grew rapidly. By November, the export volume reached 3.9GW, accounting for 22% of the monthly export volume of domestic PV modules.The impact of the ALMM list after it is activated again will undoubtedly be visible in the first quarter of 2024, and it is expected that in the first quarter, the volume of domestic PV modules exported to India will be stimulated by the policy to surge, but after April, the volume of domestic PV modules exported to India will be significantly contracted due to the impact of the policy.
Information shows that ALMM, or called the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers, is a trade protection measure implemented by the Indian government. Its main purpose is to safeguard the quality of solar projects owned, funded or planned by the Indian government by regulating the quality and reliability of PV modules and inverters. PV modules, inverter models and manufacturers on this list are eligible to participate in the Indian government's PV programs. Given that China accounts for a large portion of the global PV market, it could be argued that this is pretty much a trade protection barrier targeting China.