PremiumNEW DELHI: Vikram Solar on Tuesday inaugurated a 1.3 gigawatt (GW) solar module manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu as part of its plan to reach a 5GW capacity.
Even as India is running the world’s largest clean energy programme to achieve 100GW of solar power generation capacity by 2022, the country has a domestic manufacturing capacity of only 3GW for solar cells and 15GW for solar modules. Wafers and ingots—building blocks for manufacturing solar cells and modules—are key to India’s ambitious clean energy plans.
“Vikram Solar, one of India’s leading module manufacturers and comprehensive EPC solutions & rooftop solar provider announced a new solar photovoltaic (PV) module 1.3 GW manufacturing facility located at Indospace Industrial Park, Oragadam, Tamil Nadu. With this unit, Vikram Solar’s cumulative PV module manufacturing capacity reaches 2.5 GW, which is currently the largest in India," the firm said in a statement.
With India’s plans of imposing tariff and non-tariff barriers, the solar equipment manufacturing space has attracted investor’ interest. A case in point being Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries Ltd plans to set up an integrated solar PV module giga factory.
At present, India’s equipment space is dominated by Chinese solar module manufacturers such as Trina Solar Ltd, Jinko Solar, ET Solar, Chint Solar and GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd.
“We believe that the exponential demand surge for solar energy coupled with a clarion call globally to diversify trade markets and supply chain presents a huge opportunity for indigenous solar manufacturing," said Gyanesh Chaudhary, managing director, Vikram Solar.
According to the Central Electricity Authority, by 2030, India’ power requirement would be met from 280GW of solar energy alone.
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