“Price is What You Pay and Value is What You Get”. True to this saying government of India mandates compulsory certification under IS Standards all Solar Water Heaters (SWH) for domestic production or imported into India following a Quality Control Order (QCO), 2024 with effect from April 12, 2025. Any entity who contravenes the provisions of this Order shall be punishable under the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 29 of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 (11 of 2016). The Solar Thermal Federation of India played a vital role in supporting this move ensuring quality assurance for consumers.

The IS 16543: All Glass Evacuated Solar Collector Tubes — Specification is currently exempted.

QCO’s are regulatory measures designed to ensure that products meet certain prescribed quality, safety, and performance requirements before they can be manufactured, imported, stored, or sold in the country. The main objective of QCOs is to control the import of sub-standard and cheaper items into the domestic market and ensure that customers have access to quality products that meet the necessary standards.

These All Glass evacuated Tubes Solar Water Heating system as per IS 16544:2016 are grouped as follows:

The highest system capacity (declared by the firm) in that particular group and separately for each of inner tank material of Stainless Steel / Mild Steel / Galvanised Iron, is to be tested. Besides the lowest capacity system combined of all group has also to be tested and separately for each of inner tank material of Stainless Steel / Mild Steel / Galvanised Iron.

Solar water heater is the most established Solar thermal technologies in India, once a flagship programme of the government of India until a decade ago. India continues to rank among the top 10 global markets with an average annual market of 1.5 million m2 of installed area as per survey by Solar Thermal Federation of India. However, with the attractiveness of Rooftop Solar Photovoltaics owing to subsidy this Rooftop Solar system is witnessing a declining trend. Karnataka leads in the country with over 70% installations thanks to it’s earlier policy that mandated using Solar Water Heater for obtaining building completion certificate.

Industry experts have welcomed the government’s decision, saying it marks a key milestone in India’s journey toward a clean energy future and its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2070. It will play vital role in de-carbonising heating. For every m2 of installed Solar collector for domestic heating it abates 3 kWh (units) of electricity for heating water up to 50^OC and is a boon for Electric Utilities in reducing their peak demand besides meeting their Renewable Portfolio Obligations.

“This Order is historic and India joins the rank of select countries that will adhere to strict quality measures and pave way for exports. Indian made  Solar Water Heaters will now be able to compete in the international market as per ISO 9549 standards. With this it is now important the government enacts policies for market acceleration considering India’s potential as 150 million m2.” said Jaideep Malaviya, Secretary General of Solar Thermal Federation of India and a key member of the Steering Committee for this Order.

“Quality Control Order helps promote the ‘Make in India’ initiative by increasing consumer confidence and encouraging domestic manufacturing. It will lead to increased local production, economic growth, employment and help Indian manufacturers compete more effectively in the global market” expressed Devendrappa, Managing Director of Sunzone Solar, Bengaluru