A gaggle of solar energy producers and builders has approached the Karnataka Excessive Courtroom in search of a keep on guidelines from June 1 that require most new solar energy tasks to make use of solely domestically produced cells. They cite the hole between Indian photo voltaic cell producers’ costs and worldwide costs.
Batteries listed within the authorities’s obligatory ‘ALMM Record-II’ are being offered at round Rs 13 per watt, whereas the import worth is round Rs 5 per watt, the petitioners mentioned. “Rs 5 and Rs 13 is unreasonable. That’s what we’re asking (the court docket to handle),” mentioned Ramesh Shivanna of the Karnataka Renewable Power System Producers Affiliation (KRESMA), which led the petition. hinduism.
ALMM is a authorities accepted checklist of fashions and producers and a listing of home manufacturing firms whose photo voltaic panels and constituent cells are necessary for energy distribution in India. ALMM-1 is a listing of roughly 130 module producers. ALMM-2 is a small group of about 17 firms that manufacture the photo voltaic cells for these modules.
The writ petition filed on June 6 by photo voltaic business our bodies from Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu challenges the Ministry of New and Renewable Power (MNRE) order imposing ALMM Record-II (Permitted Record of Home Photo voltaic Cell Producers) for tasks commissioned from June 1, 2026 onwards. Teams in different states have reportedly filed related petitions in different courts. The petitioners say they don’t oppose the checklist, however need its implementation to be delayed for at the least a 12 months till home cells can be found in satisfactory portions and high quality at aggressive costs.
The petitioners additionally level out that the Ministry of Finance categorized the West Asia battle as a drive majeure occasion, which allowed MNRE to increase its contracts with photo voltaic cell producers. They are saying the identical concerns ought to apply to builders.
Shivanna mentioned the federal government must intervene on costs till home provide matures. “The federal government ought to regulate costs,” he mentioned. “If one thing is on the market at a really low worth within the world market, however right here we’re made to pay (a lot greater) charges, it’s the authorities’s accountability to check what is occurring on the earth and what’s occurring in India.” He alleged that a number of battery producers have been profiting. He calculated that with 30 gigawatts of annual manufacturing and insurance coverage premiums of round ₹8 per watt, about ₹24,000 crore would stream yearly to “4 to 5 producers,” a few of whom additionally acquired production-linked incentives.
In line with MNRE’s database, solely six of the 17 ALMM-2 firms deal in “high-efficiency” photo voltaic cells — Emmvee, Premier Energies Photovoltaic, Mundra Photo voltaic PV, Tata Energy Renewable Power (small 247 MW transmission line), Waaree and Renewsys, Reliance and Jupiter Solartech.
The dispute exposes a structural hole on the coronary heart of India’s solar energy growth. The put in capability of photo voltaic PV has exceeded 144 GW and is rising by about 40% yearly, and the module meeting capability has reached about 210 GW. Nonetheless, the brand new guidelines lined solely about 27GW of upstream cell manufacturing by the top of 2025, in response to Marcom India, a clear vitality analysis group. Rankings agency CareEdge estimates that home batteries solely meet 25-30% of demand, leaving India largely depending on imports from China. “At the moment, the complete capability (of high-efficiency cells) manufactured in India doesn’t meet our necessities,” Shivanna mentioned. “Once we ask for a provide of cells, (many) do not have them in inventory.”Whereas all the businesses that make cells make modules, many module makers do not make cells, and round 14 firms account for 98% of India’s solar energy capability progress.
In its Might 25 order, MNRE rejected an outright extension, saying business consensus favors “coverage stability” to guard investor confidence in home manufacturing, and as an alternative offering case-by-case reduction for substantively constructed tasks. On Monday (June 8, 2026), the ministry established a four-member skilled committee to scrutinize purposes for deadline extensions.
In line with Shivanna, practically 40 to 50 builders who will not be cell producers are designing tasks round TOPCon, however a lot of the home manufacturing capability listed is older Mono-PERC, which generates much less energy per panel and requires extra land, set up buildings, and cabling to get the identical output. Of the roughly 30 GW of cell capability listed, TOPCon is barely 8-10 GW and is working beneath capability, Shivanna mentioned. “Our nation can solely run 10 GW of TOPCon in a 12 months, and the remainder is Mono-PERC.” Being shoved again into the outdated cell was “like asking[the ambassador]to make use of a 4km/litre automotive when each automotive at present is 25km/litre”, he mentioned.
Shivanna mentioned teams in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are collectively in search of to share the fee. “Once I began (the case) in Karnataka, these teams known as and mentioned they’d be part of as a result of the bills have been so excessive,” Shivanna mentioned. Different states have filed separate circumstances: “Rajasthan has utilized by itself, whereas Gujarat has utilized,” he added. Related petitions are pending within the Delhi and Rajasthan excessive courts.
issued – June 8, 2026 10:18pm IST
