Solar power in 2023: The chronicle of a slowdown foretold

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Editor's note: On the face of it, it looks like good news. In the current financial year, which ends on 31 March, Indian companies have emerged as the top suppliers of solar panels in the country. Chinese firms, which have dominated supplies for a decade or more, have fallen behind. The goal of “atmanirbhar Bharat”, or self-reliant India, appears to have been achieved, at least in this aspect. In reality, this isn’t great news—neither for Indian suppliers nor for India’s self-sufficiency goals. The rise of the Indian firms isn’t explained by a rise per se—their supplied quantities have not surpassed those of China. It is that the Chinese suppliers have dropped out of the race. It speaks of a slowdown that has beset India’s solar energy sector and is expected to play out over 2023. It will put the brakes on solar installations at a time when they should have accelerated, particularly given India’s commitments at UN climate conferences. And it is a situation that is playing out like the plot of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”. In it, …