Preface As one looks to the future, India faces significant challenges of energy securit y, responding to the call for

action against climate change and importantly addr essing the issue of inclusive growth within the country. In spite of significant harnessing of the fossil fuel reserves and hydel power, the gap between supply and demand of energy is ever increasing. One of the possible options to bridge t his gap is by making the extensive use of solar energy. Of the sustainable energ y technologies that currently exist, solar power has the most potential for grow th in the long term, and if it is adopted at considerable levels, solar power co uld help overcome the challenge of energy security significantly. As India is in the sunny regions of the world with most parts of the country rec eiving 4-7kwh (kilowatt-hour) of solar radiation per square meter per day, 250-3 00 sunny days in a year; India is endowed with vast potential of solar energy, w hich when harnessed effectively can be addressed to its large-scale deployment. Since India is both densely populated and has high solar insolation rate, solar power can play a significant role in the country s domestic energy supply. Consideri ng over 50,000 villages in India comprising 56% of the Indian population without the access to electricity, solar power has enormous potential to meet rural ele ctrical needs, improving the lives of millions of Indians and meeting critical a gricultural, education and industrial needs. For that matter, urban household or industrial power consumption can also be efficiently administered on solar ener gy. Although solar energy constitutes a minuscule part in India s installed power genera tion capacity (with grid connected solar PV generation at a mere 6 MW as of Marc h 2010), India has a long term goal of generating 10% of the country s electricity f rom renewable sources by 2032. To accomplish these goals, Indian government has instituted few programs and formulated new policies to encourage renewable energ y in general and solar energy in particular. Be it the incentives to attract for eign investment, or a financial support within the special economic zones; with these announcements, solar industry has been the chief beneficiary of the incent ive based economic policy. The recently released Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM) and its gene rous incentives provide a great reason for entrepreneurs and investors to explor e this industry. The National Solar Mission has three successive stages leading up to an installed capacity of 20,000 MW of solar energy comprising both solar PV and solar thermal - by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan in 2022. The solar ins talled capacity target under the NSM is expected to generate 25-30 TWh/annum by the year 2022. Some large projects have been proposed, and a 35,000 km area of the Thar Desert has been set aside for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700 to 2,100 gigawatts.(source:wiki)

Furthermore, In order to encourage indigenous manufacturing of components used i n solar power generation, the Government of India has mandated that 100% of the modules used in solar projects allotted in 2010-2011 have to be made in India. T he Government has also mandated that from 2011-12, 100% of cells used in Solar P rojects should be made in India. In view of the above factors, one of the attractive business sectors opening up is the solar module production. Solar module production forms the last stage of the solar PV manufacturing value chain, before the modules/panels are used in po wer plants. This report provides a comprehensive review of the Indian solar photovoltaic ind ustry, and is targeted towards companies and businesses keen on investing in thi s segment. The report focuses on the market outlook of the industry and a range of opportunities for new players. The same also discusses about the government p olicies taken so far and their impacts on the possibilities of emerging markets. In addition, the technology involved in the photovoltaic system, its components and design and payback action for typical domestic/industrial utilization have

also been talked about thoroughly.