MNRE Orders 80% Reduction In Application Fees Under ALMM 

In its latest notification, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) ordered a sharp reduction of up to 80 percent in application fees under the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) scheme. The order, however, did not give any relaxation to companies having manufacturing facilities in non-SAARC countries in inspection fees. 

A media release from the ministry said that the move was aimed at reducing the cost to solar PV manufacturers, time between application to enlistment besides the compliance burden. The ministry said that it could increase the ease of doing business in the whole ALMM process.

The latest order has listed reductions in application fees and inspection fees for almost all categories of solar module manufacturers ranging from small players to big players. The order said that for the companies with an annual production capacity up to 50 Megawatt (MW), the application fees would be slashed from Rs 2500 per MW to Rs 500/MW for the first model. 

On the other hand, for the other models for companies up to 50MW production capacity, the rate was slashed from Rs 25/MW to Rs 5/MW. It is a straight 80 percent reduction in the fees. The same levels of fee reduction were applied to the big players too. The same rates were also applicable for adding models by manufacturers already enlisted in ALMM. 

” We have already declared the bid trajectory of inviting bids of 50 GW renewables each year for the next 5 years. This includes 40 GW of Solar energy capacity. The bid trajectory is aimed at providing a fillip to the RE manufacturing industry in the country by indicating the demand that would be created. The easing of the ALMM charges and regulations is a step in the direction of enhancing the Ease of Doing Business, lessening the compliance burden and reducing the charges incurred in various processes of listing under ALMM,” BS Bhalla, MNRE Secretary said.

The latest MNRE order said for solar module manufacturers with an annual capacity of more than 50MW, the registration charges for their first model would be slashed from the existing Rs 5,000 per MW to Rs 1,000 per MW. Meanwhile, for the other models in the segment, the application fees were reduced from Rs 50/Mw to Rs 10/MW. 

The ministry also attempted to rationalize the module manufacturers’ inspection fees under the scheme. Under the existing rules, the companies with manufacturing facilities in SAARC countries had to pay inspection fees up to Rs 2.5 lakh for capacities till 50MW and Rs 5 lakh for firms having annual capacities between 50Mw to 100MW. The latest order said that all project owners with annual capacities up to 100 MW would have to pay only Rs 1.5 lakh as inspection fees. Moreover, the price has been slashed to 0.75 lakh for capacities up to 100MW for existing registered players. 

The new order also reduced the inspection fees from Rs 10 lakh (for 100Mw-250MW) to 5 lakh. For companies with annual capacities of more than 250MW, the inspection fees remained unchanged at Rs 15 lakh. However, for companies having their manufacturing situated in non-SAARC countries, the government order did not revise or reduce any inspection fees. Interestingly, the new order has also revised the validity of enlistment under ALMM from two to four years. 

The order has also exempted companies from factory enlistment, in case the enlistment of additional models in ALMM which are similar to those already enlisted by the applicant but having lower wattage.