ALMM Phase III: Is There an ALMM Inverter List?

Search demand for “ALMM Phase III inverter list” is real, and the phrase is wrong. The Approved List of Models and Manufacturers has exactly two published tiers for solar: List-I for modules and List-II for cells. MNRE publishes no inverter list at all. That single correction decides whether a procurement file survives a DISCOM review or gets sent back.

The confusion is expensive. Buyers reject compliant inverters for lacking a listing that does not exist. Sellers advertise an “ALMM listed” inverter and nobody asks which list. EPCs pass a module check and miss that the cell inside the module now carries its own requirement. Each of those is a different failure, and each traces back to treating ALMM as one undifferentiated stamp.

This guide sets out the verified scope. It covers the order that creates ALMM, what List-I and List-II each contain, and the date the cell requirement started to bite. It then covers project coverage and exemptions, enlistment, how ALMM differs from Domestic Content Requirement, the module supply squeeze, and what an inverter buyer should check instead. Every date is attributed to its issuing body.

Short version. ALMM is MNRE’s approved list for solar equipment. It has two published solar tiers: List-I for PV modules, List-II for PV cells, with the cell requirement in force from 1 June 2026. MNRE does not publish an inverter list, so “ALMM Phase III listed inverter” has no official instrument behind it. Check inverters against IS/IEC standards, BIS registration and the project’s DISCOM list.

What ALMM is, and the order that creates it

ALMM stands for Approved List of Models and Manufacturers. It is a compulsory registration regime, not a quality award. MNRE created it through the Approved Models and Manufacturers of Solar Photovoltaic Modules (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2019, dated 2 January 2019, according to the MNRE ALMM page (2026).

The policy logic is traceability. A rooftop or ground-mount asset runs for 15 to 25 years, so the state wants to know which factory built the part, according to AZB Partners (2025). Enlistment ties a model code to a named factory for a fixed validity period.

Two things follow. A listing is specific, naming a manufacturer, a factory and a model rather than a brand. A listing is also dated, and MNRE revises both lists every few weeks.

ALMM is not solar-only. MNRE maintains ALMM-Wind for wind turbine models and ALMM-WTC for wind turbine components under their own standard operating procedure, amended on 1 December 2025, per MNRE’s current notices. That matters because it shows MNRE creates a new ALMM tier by notification, product by product. No such notification exists for inverters.

List-I is modules, List-II is cells, and MNRE publishes no inverter list

The ALMM Order states that the list “shall consist of LIST-I, specifying models and manufacturers of Solar PV Modules and LIST-II, specifying models and manufacturers of Solar PV Cells”, per the MNRE ALMM page (2026). That is the whole solar structure. There is no third tier in force.

Source for every row: the MNRE ALMM page, last updated 16 September 2026.

The claim that an inverter must be “ALMM List-II listed” is false on its face. List-II is a cell list. A cell is the silicon device inside a module. An inverter is a power electronics unit downstream of the array. They are different products under different instruments.

This is the single most misquoted area of Indian solar procurement. The companion guide on the ALMM List-II exemption window tracks the cell deadline in detail.

What “ALMM Phase III” actually refers to

Plainly: nothing official. The phrase appears in no MNRE ALMM order, list or notice that we could locate on the MNRE ALMM page as at 16 September 2026. MNRE’s own vocabulary is “List” and numbered “Revision”, such as the 9th Revision of ALMM List-II dated 21 August 2026.

The term is loose market shorthand. It probably absorbs three unrelated things: the two-list structure, the phased arrival of the cell obligation, and the separate BIS compulsory registration regime that does cover inverters. None of those produces a document called Phase III.

There is a real third tier in play, and it is not inverters. A draft amendment dated 12 September 2025 proposed a List-III for wafers, with compliance proposed from 1 June 2028, according to AZB Partners (2025). MNRE has since published an amendment to the ALMM Order for implementation of ALMM for wafers, updated 17 March 2026, per the MNRE ALMM page.

The ALMM timeline procurement teams need

The current position is the product of a sequence of notifications, not one announcement. Reading the sequence is how you work out which rule applied on your project’s bid date and which applies at commissioning.

The 2021 and 2024 to 2026 rows come from the MNRE ALMM page and MNRE current notices. The 2024 and September 2025 rows are as summarised by AZB Partners (2025).

Note the gap between publication and obligation. List-II first appeared on 31 July 2025, but sourcing cells from it only became mandatory on 1 June 2026. A list can exist for months before it binds anyone.

Which projects ALMM applies to, and which are exempt

MNRE’s ALMM page states that only List-I models and manufacturers “are eligible for use in Government Projects/ Government assisted Projects/ Projects under Government Schemes & Programmes/ Open Access / Net-Metering Projects” (2026). That wording is the test. Read your own project against it before reading anything else.

In practice that pulls in a wide set. Central tenders, state programmes, PM-KUSUM and rooftop schemes carry the condition, according to AZB Partners (2025). If your customer is claiming central financial assistance under the PM Surya Ghar scheme, the module on the roof has to clear List-I.

Open access and net metering were folded in by a later expansion. That is why a private commercial rooftop with a net-metering connection is covered even though no subsidy is involved.

The carve-outs reported by AZB Partners (2025) include:

• Projects that applied before 1 October 2022, under the open access and net-metering expansion.
• Projects commissioned up to 31 March 2024, during the FY 2023-24 relaxation that was lifted on 29 March 2024.
• Behind-the-meter plants used purely for captive consumption, which MNRE clarified sit outside both List-I and List-II.

The cell requirement carries its own cut-off. Projects with a last bid submission date on or before 31 August 2025 were exempted from List-II, while still needing List-I modules. That is per the updated FAQs of 23 September 2025, as summarised by AZB Partners (2025).

These boundaries move. MNRE has issued clarifications on rooftop solar on government buildings and on the “Give it Up” category under PM Surya Ghar, both listed on the ALMM page. Confirm your category from the connection agreement, never from a sales proposal.

How a manufacturer gets on the list

Enlistment is granted per factory and per model. A manufacturer files an application with type test reports, factory audit material and quality control documentation, according to AZB Partners (2025). BIS certification is a prerequisite, so a model without BIS cannot be listed at all.

Because the grant is model-specific, a change to the bill of materials or the manufacturing process usually triggers re-validation. That is why the list churns: models are added, amended and removed at every revision.

MNRE has reduced the friction. Enlistment fees were cut by up to 80%, validity was extended from 2 years to 4 years, and provisional enlistment with time-bound processing was introduced, according to AZB Partners (2025).

A recent List-I entry shows the granularity. MNRE added Havells India Limited to ALMM List-I on 6 July 2026, for its Surat facility, with 1,221 MW of enlisted capacity and validity to 5 July 2030. One legal entity, one plant, one capacity figure, one expiry date. A quotation reading “Havells is ALMM approved” does not show that the offered model sits inside that entry.

DCR and ALMM answer different questions

These two get merged constantly, and they fail differently. ALMM asks whether the model is enlisted. Domestic Content Requirement, or DCR, asks where the cells and modules were physically manufactured.

The breach column comes from AZB Partners (2025). It reports DCR consequences including a 10-year blacklisting of the developer and forfeiture of the bank guarantee. The reference given is Section 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

A model can be on List-I and still fail a DCR condition. Passing one check does not close the other. Run them as two separate lines in the procurement file, with two separate owners.

The cell bottleneck List-II created

List-II is harder to satisfy than List-I for a structural reason. India assembles far more modules than it makes cells, so a cell-level rule constrains a much narrower base.

List-I launched in March 2021 with about 8.2 GW enlisted. By August 2025 it carried over 100 GW of annual module capacity across more than 100 manufacturers, according to AZB Partners (2025). Cell capacity did not grow on that curve. Industry estimates put approved module capacity near 193 GW against roughly 30 GW of enlisted cell capacity, according to Mercom India (2026).

The market responded exactly as a supply squeeze predicts. Mercom India reported on 17 February 2026 that developers asked MNRE to consider a time-bound extension, citing a shortage of TOPCon cell supply and a price rise. TOPCon is the dominant cell technology in current module production, which is why the pinch showed up there first.

MNRE held the line. It refused a blanket extension on 25 May 2026, then allowed a limited commissioning window to 31 December 2026 for net-metering and open-access projects on 18 July 2026.

The point of the calculation is that a cell-sourcing decision is a line item you can size in advance. Ask for two quotes, one compliant and one not, and price the compliance gap explicitly. The wider duty and domestic-manufacturing picture is covered in the guide on import duty on solar equipment.

What an inverter buyer should check instead of ALMM

Since no ALMM inverter list exists, asking for one wastes a procurement cycle. Ask for the documents that do govern inverters. There are three families, and they answer different questions.

Product standards. Match the exact model to the applicable Indian Standards. IS 16221 (Part 2):2015, which adopts IEC 62109-2:2011, covers inverter safety. IS 16169:2019, which adopts IEC 62116:2014, covers the islanding prevention test procedure. A certificate is only useful if the model code and the standard edition both match.

BIS registration. The governing instrument is MNRE’s Solar Systems, Devices and Components Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2025, notified 27 January 2025. It places solar equipment under compulsory registration with the Bureau of Indian Standards. Ask for the registration number against the exact model, and check the BIS certification scope rather than accepting a generic line.

Grid interface and DISCOM acceptance. Trip behaviour is set by the Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Connectivity of the Distributed Generation Resources) Regulations, 2013, amended 6 February 2019. Regulation 11(6) requires tripping above 110% or below 80% of nominal voltage, and at 50.5 Hz and above or 47.5 Hz and below. The same regulation permits a DISCOM to prescribe a narrower range, so the utility list still governs.

MNRE does impose inverter-specific obligations outside ALMM. Its notice of 17 August 2026 concerns compliance with guidelines on inverter-level generation data and storage of inverter-level data for rooftop solar systems, per MNRE current notices. That is a data requirement, not a listing.

A generic “BIS and IEC compliant” sentence is not evidence. Match each certificate to the certificate holder, the exact model or declared family, the standard and edition, the issue and validity dates, the issuing body, and the specific project requirement it satisfies. The inverter regulations guide sets out that matching process.

That rule applies to our own products too. MNRE’s published ALMM lists cover solar PV modules and solar PV cells rather than inverters, and no MNRE ALMM instrument we could locate uses the word “Phase”, so no inverter should be described as ALMM Phase III listed. MNRE publishes no ALMM list for inverters: ask the seller for the exact model’s BIS registration and current certificates, and for PM Surya Ghar confirm the requirements with the DISCOM.

So ask for the exact model designation and the standards, BIS registration and grid-interface documents the project requires. Start with the product range, then request the current certificate set for that model in writing. Until a document arrives, treat the claim as unconfirmed. For the array side, the string sizing calculator carries current module datasheet parameters, which is where module selection and inverter window checks meet.

How to verify an ALMM claim in eight steps

Treat verification as a record you can hand to an auditor, not a conversation you had with a supplier.

1. Open the current List-I or List-II PDF from the MNRE ALMM page on the day you check.
2. Note the revision number and date of the document you opened.
3. Read the order or notice that applies to your project category and bid date.
4. Match the manufacturer’s exact legal entity name, not the trading brand.
5. Match the factory location, because enlistment is granted per factory.
6. Match the full model code character by character, and check the enlisted capacity and validity expiry.
7. Compare the delivered module label and the quotation against that same model code.
8. Recheck before commissioning if the project timeline is long, and file the dated PDF.

If any step fails, record the status as unconfirmed and obtain written confirmation from the scheme, tender or DISCOM authority. A seller’s assurance is not an approval. For subsidised residential work, the empanelled vendor checks sit alongside this file, not inside it. On the equipment side, the inverter procurement guide covers what to ask for and when.

Common ALMM misconceptions

The Bottom Line

ALMM has two published solar tiers and neither one is for inverters. List-I covers modules from 10 March 2021. List-II covers cells from 31 July 2025, binding on covered projects from 1 June 2026. The “Phase III inverter list” is market shorthand with no MNRE instrument behind it, and repeating it costs real procurement time.

The cell requirement is the live constraint. Approved module capacity runs far ahead of enlisted cell capacity, which is why compliant modules are tighter and dearer.

• Split your compliance file into three lines: module against List-I, cell against List-II, inverter against IS/IEC standards plus BIS registration plus the DISCOM list.
• Verify by legal entity, factory and full model code, and record the revision date of the list PDF you checked, then recheck before commissioning.
• Send us the site details, load profile and the exact document list your scheme or DISCOM requires, and contact Qbits for the model-specific evidence set.