India plans to tax solar panels
Posted on 26 May 2017 and read 1396 times
The Indian government has said that it plans to tax parts for solar panels at more than twice the rate of coal as part of a new national goods and services tax (GST). Photovoltaic cells will be taxed at 18% under the new GST, which comes into force on 1 July, whereas coal will face a 5% levy. The solar industry warns the move will drive up prices. The speed of new solar installations has increased in recent months as equipment prices have steadily fallen.
Inderpreet Wadhwa, chief executive of solar developer Azure Power, said: “India is at risk of undermining its own ambitious solar-power targets. Quite simply, this will drive up costs by a large extent. It will create scepticism in the market, and investors will wonder whether the country plans to make it easier or harder for solar in the future. It will definitely slow down the sector’s growth.”
Narendra Modi, the country’s prime minister is aiming for 100GW of solar power by 2022. At the end of 2016 the country had 7.5GW. This is all part of a wider bid to build new renewables capacity, with a target of installing 225GW by 2022. This would put India on course for ‘green energy’ to account for 57% of electricity capacity by 2027, well ahead of its Paris Agreement target of 40% by 2030.