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Business News/ Industry / Energy/  Solar module manufacturer LONGi to set up plant in Andhra
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Solar module manufacturer LONGi to set up plant in Andhra

LONGi signed an in-principle agreement with the Andhra Pradesh govt

The plant will have an annual capacity of 500MW and will employ 1,000 people. Photo: BloombergPremium
The plant will have an annual capacity of 500MW and will employ 1,000 people. Photo: Bloomberg

Hyderabad: Chinese solar module maker Xi’an LONGi Silicon Materials Corp. will invest Rs1,554 crore (1.5 billion yuan) to set up a solar cell and components factory in Sri City in southern Andhra Pradesh.

The plant will have an annual capacity of 500MW and will employ 1,000 people. LONGi, as the company is referred to in short, on Thursday signed an in-principle agreement with the government of Andhra Pradesh and Sri City (P) Ltd. to this effect.

This is the largest investment by a Chinese firm in Sri City, an industrial park located 55 km north of Chennai in Chittoor district of AP bordering Tamil Nadu. Chinese solar manufacturer JA Solar Holdings Co. is investing $200 million to set up a 500 MW photovoltaic cell factory in Sri City together with Essel Infraprojects Ltd.

LONGi is among the world’s top manufacturers of 6 inch, 6.5 inch and 8 inch monocrystalline silicon rods and wafers, and currently has four plants in China with annual wafer capacity of 3 GW.

“This plant will manufacture state-of-the-art solar modules with higher efficiency than currently available systems," Baoshen Zhong, chairman of LONGi was quoted in a statement. “This is just the first step, I’m sure we will invest much more and other companies will follow suit," he added.

India has emerged as a hot destination for solar energy companies after the Union government announced its intention to generate 100GW of solar energy by 2022, a five-fold increase over an earlier target.

Matching the Union government’s energy security agenda, southern states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu are aggressively promoting renewable energy to generate power. As companies flock to bid for these projects, it opens up an opportunity for solar manufacturers to set up manufacturing bases locally and provide equipment for the green energy plants.

US-based photovoltaic cell maker First Solar Inc. started operations at a 20 MW plant in Mahbubnagar in Telangana. Japan’s SoftBank Group has committed to invest $20 billion together with Bharti Enterprises Ltd. and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group to develop at least 20 GW of solar energy in the country. US-based SunEdison Inc., which acquired Continuum Wind Energy Ltd. announced plans to set up a $4 billion photovoltaic manufacturing facility in collaboration with Adani Enterprises Ltd, although the partnership hangs in the balance.

Adani Group is setting up a 648 MW solar park in Tamil Nadu for Rs4,536 crore. Andhra Pradesh has set a target of achieving 5,000 MW solar and 4,000 MW wind power by 2019. German development bank KfW has sanctioned Rs515 crore at a concessional interest rate towards a green energy corridor, estimated to cost Rs1,289 crore, state’s energy secretary Ajay Jain said in May. AP has signed an in-principle agreement with the country’s largest utility NTPC Ltd. to set up a 1,000 MW plant in Anantapur district.

SoftBank’s chief executive Masayoshi Son in June said his firm would collaborate with the Andhra Pradesh government in solar and wind hybrid energy projects.

Andhra Pradesh has been trying to attract electronics and solar firms to set up production bases in the state as its chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu attempts to turn the primarily agrarian economy into an industrial one. Naidu’s push is in line with the Union governmet’s Make In India campaign.

“I want to create a solar manufacturing hub in Andhra Pradesh. With the interest in the sector from solar manufacturing companies, I’m hopeful that more than 50% of India’s manufacturing capacity will be set up in AP in the long term," Naidu said in a statement.

LONGi’s Indian manufacturing plans come after the China visits of prime minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Naidu earlier this year.

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Published: 24 Sep 2015, 07:02 PM IST
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