Ambani, Adani, others to invest $3-4 billion into solar

India is developing a solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and module manufacturing industry to achieve self-reliance, with over 20 companies, including RIL, Adani, ReNew Power and others, lining up production facilities in the country with investments of over $3-4 billion.

About 19 firms have bid for setting up solar equipment manufacturing units—polysilicon, wafer, cells and modules—under the government’s production linked incentive (PLI) scheme. These include companies RIL, Adani, First Solar, Coal India, ReNew Energy Global, CubicPV, Larsen and Toubro Shirdi and Sai and Jindal Poly. Besides, Avaada Energy, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, Vikram Solar, Tata Power, Acme Solar, Waaree Energies, Premier Energies, Jupiter Solar etc are also bidding for manufacturing solar cells and modules under the PLI scheme, according to sources.

The recently announced ₹4,500-crore PLI scheme for solar module and cell manufacturing targets to add 10,000 megawatt (MW) or 10 gigawatt (GW) of integrated domestic solar equipment manufacturing. The applications under the PLI scheme from these companies are for setting up nearly 55,000 MW or 55 GW of manufacturing capacity.

Until recently, India's domestic solar equipment manufacturing capacity was about 10 GW, and the country was dependent mainly on China for 85-90% of its requirement. It is now targeting 450 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which plans to set up 100 GW of solar capacity by 2030, is developing a Green Energy Giga Complex over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar with four giga factories, including an integrated solar PV one. The company wants to make the entire value chain in solar equipment manufacturing—beginning from raw silica and converting it into polysilicon, and into ingots and wafers to make solar cells and finally assembling into solar modules.

Adani Solar (Mundra Solar PV Ltd.), the solar PV manufacturing & EPC arm of the Adani group, with 1.5 GW of PV modules manufacturing capacity at its factory located in Mundra SEZ, Gujarat, is being scaled up to 3.5 GW of cell and module manufacturing under a single roof. The Adani group plans to invest $20 billion in renewable energy generation and component manufacturing over the next 10 years, and is looking to triple renewable power generation capacity over the next four years—from 21% now to 63%—chairman Gautam Adani said at a recent JP Morgan India Investor Summit.

ReNew Power, India’s largest renewable energy company, is going to set up a 2-GW solar cells and modules manufacturing facility in Gujarat at an investment of ₹1,500-2,000 crore, which will come on stream within the next 1-2 years, chairman and managing director Sumant Sinha said.

Vikram Solar, which has a 2.5 GW of aggregate modules manufacturing capacity—the largest in India following its commissioning of a new 1.3-GW factory at Oragadam in Tamil Nadu, in addition to the 1.2-GW set-up at Falta, West Bengal. “Vikram Solar will expand capacity by 4 GW of modules, cells, wafers and backward integration in Tamil Nadu,” according to CEO Saibaba Vutukuri.

Waaree Energies, which has 2 GW of PV module manufacturing capacity at Surat Tumb and Nandigram, is setting up 3-GW capacity at Chikhli in Gujarat. Besides, it is setting up 4-GW solar cell manufacturing capacity and has filed for a ₹1,350-crore IPO to fund its expansion plans.

US-based First Solar recently announced plans to enter India with a 3.3-GW factory in Tamil Nadu at a capital investment of $684 million. The facility is expected to start production by the end of 2023.

"India is encouraging domestic manufacturers at the right time as imports have helped to bring down prices and make the Indian market more mature. Now we can make the latest technologies and build scale to compete with countries like China to tap the global markets,” Sumant Sinha said during a recent interaction.

According to Saibaba Vutukuri, China is still cheaper by 30% and the proposed trade barriers and incentives could draw a level-playing field for Indian manufacturers.