EQ in Exclusive Conversation with Mr. Dharshan Kumar Jain – Head of Sales South India At Goodwe

Sub: Mr.Dharshan Kumar Jain talks about the technology roadmap, customs duty, energy storage, manufacturing challenges, and more.

World-leading PV inverter and energy storage solutions manufacturer, GoodWe offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions for residential, commercial, and utility–scale PV systems. “We have supplied inverters to the Indian market for years. The failure rate has drastically reduced. Our R&D team is continuously working on improving the product capabilities, and the technology is improving,” said Dharshan Kumar Jain, Head of Sales South India, GoodWe,in a special talk with EQ Magazine. Hetalks about the technology roadmap, customs duty, energy storage, manufacturing challenges and more. Check the excerpts of the conversation here.

How many inverters have you supplied to India till now? What is the target/expectation for this yearand next year? Please share your technology roadmap.

We have supplied about 1 GW in India. For 2021 and 2022, we are targeting to cross 1 GW of sales by introducing250 kW forutility-scale projects. The inverters we have are for the C&I segment. Now, we are bringing the utility-scale inverters, which start with 250 kW. In the next financial year, we plan to add another 300 kW plus in the utility-scale market. We have a range from 1 kW to 250kW inverters right now.

Budget 2021 increased import duty as BCD on inverters in India. Do you think the government will increase it more in the near future? If yes, is there a Make in India plan?

BCD will increase, and Make in India plans will also be there. We are also planning to open a factory in India which will be over 3-4 GW factory in orderto give more comfort to our existing customers.

What are the opportunities and challenges for manufacturing in India?

For the manufacturing of inverters, we have to depend on the import of items. We face the challenge regarding pricing for manufacturing in India. When we import raw materials, we have to have a concession duty for that. Currently, BCD is 22 per cent, and raw material cost is 16 per cent, all put together. There is only a little difference. Therefore, that is a more challenging factor for manufacturing in India.

The government of India has been voicing concerns about malware in Solar Inverters and its possible effects. What are your thoughts on it?

Our inverters will not face any problem regarding malware effect because it is not directly connected to the grid. The power generated is connected inside the plant only. The customers have their own SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition)systems. So, malware is not the biggest concern for us.

What are the biggest challenges in India’s goal of 175 GW by 2022 and 450 GW? How much can we achieve by 2022, 2025and 2030?

We will achieve 175 GW by 2022, in my opinion. However, the target of 350 GW by 2030 will depend on whether the government comes up with a non-price cap or more such measures. After COVID-19, the raw material prices is going up, and the price of solar power is also reducing. If the price capping is removed, I think we will achieve 450 GW by 2030.

What are your views on BIS(Bureau of Indian Standards) and other tariff barriers?

In India, the market for solar components and the demand for inverters is always said to be growing. Therefore, the government has started paying attention to quality issues and the life ofsolar projects,which is the biggest challenge for the government. Hence, the government has made tests in lab mandatory forcompulsory registration with BIS. However, there is still no clarity on the BIS certification. I hope these issues will be resolved, and we have clarity on that.

Tell us about the various guarantees and warrantees of your inverters.

We give a standard guarantee. On the inverters, we offer four to five years of warranty that can be extended up to 6-25 years. For utility-scale projects, all the customers seek warranty of 25 years. When we provide an extended warranty up to 25 years to the customers, at one point the inverter price will be much cheaper when they buy the extended warranty so that they can replace the inverter after 15 years or later. The only challenge is that technology may improve by then; hence, the availability of the components that are currently used in inverters would be challenging after 15 years.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities in the Indian solar market?

On the opportunity side, we have a lot of projects, and the only challenges we are currently facing are related to raw material. Few IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor)manufacturers have closed their manufacturing units because of the pandemic. Thus, the availability of raw materials is challenging. We have more focus on the Indian market because India is the biggest market for us after China in terms of project sizing.

What are the expectations from the Indian government, policymakers,and regulators?

It would be helpful if the policymakers avoid bringing unexpected things on the project side, BCD and GST parts, where the project will have more problems. For the utility-scale projects, the timeline is 18 months; thus, the bidding for the project is held 18 months ago, and the cost is calculated based on policies of that time. For example, the sudden increase in GST from 5 per cent to 12 per cent on modules and inverters; 7 per cent is a huge cost difference. There should be more clarity whenever the project or tender is introduced.

What are your views on aggressive bidding? The recent aggressive bidding by various developers keeping solar tariffs in the price range of Rs.1.99-2.50 per kWh in various Solar Tenders. What is your view on the viability, costs & timeline pressures, resource challenges (Materials, Manpower, Execution, Grid Connection, Land Possession, etc.)?

Aggressive bidding is going on in the market. Going forward in 2022, I think the prices are going to increase. So, it will not continue because of many challenges such as raw material and other factors. Recently, the bidding is opening for prices more than Rs 2. The cost of the project is going to be a challenge, in my opinion. The raw material cost is increasing, and many challenges exist on the part of resources. The cost of resources has also been increased for future projects. Modules, the biggest chunk of the project, will be the most challenging part.

Please tell us about the performance of your inverters in India as well as in various geographic locations. What has been the customer feedback?

We have supplied inverters to the Indian market for over four years. The failure rate has drastically reduced. Our R&D team is continuously working on improving the product capabilities, and the technology is improving. Considering all the models of GoodWe, our failure rate is less than one per cent in India. Our customers are happy with the product performance. We have around 20 people in the services PANIndia, and we have two service centers which are located in North India and South India. With that, the performance of our inverter is good for the Indian market.

Please describe in brief your company, directors, promoters, investors, its vision & mission.

GoodWe was established in 2010 and launched Asia’s first energy storage inverter in 2014. We are a listed company, and we partnered with GE in 2020. For the past six years, we have been receiving TÜV rewards for the quality and the performance of the inverters. The company vision has always been a smart energy mission to be the main driving force for the global energy transition and the future generation requirement.

Briefly describe the various technologies and their suitable applications such as central, string, micro Inverter, etc.

The trend is moving towards string inverters. Central inverters are continuously upgrading. Initially, the scale of the central inverter was 2250 kW, and now the maximum size of the central inverter is 5 MW. On the operation side, if there is any problem with the central inverter, complete 5MW is down for various reasons. The advantage of the string inverter is that we can replace the inverter, and the generation will resume within an hour. In case of any problem in the inverter, it will generate approx. 200kW less only. Thus, the generation loss, O&M cost and services cost will also be more on the central inverter. However, there is a lot of challenge on the microinverter due to the pricing. The price is very high.

What are the top 5 markets for your company in the past, present and future?

Our top 5 markets are China, India, Australia, Czech Republic, Turkeyand Spain.

Kindly comment on energy storage as a game-changer, its technology, cost trends, etc.

Energy storage will take a little more time. The biggest challenge is on the battery side. For example, if we consider a solar plant with a life of 24 years, nobody can guarantee 25 years in batteries. There will be replaced after six, sevenor ten years. Thus, the cost of the project is very high. Hybrid technology has also been introduced where instead of storing they can use hydro, wind, and solar, which will be more favorable for the Indian market on the technology side.

Kindly highlight your product and technology and its distinctive advantages.

We have the range starting from 1 kW inverter for residential use to 250 kW for the utility-scale. We have various range and we are continuously upgrading our inverters. Earlier in thestring inverter, it was in display mode, and we are upgrading it to non-display mode now, where the performance can be monitored continuously, upgraded directly to smart phones, and connected directly to the network.

Please share information of some new orders in hand.

Recently, we received an order of more than 300 MW this year, and we are working with one of the biggest customers for another 300 MW+. I hope we will easily achieve 1 GW of target by the year 2022.

What is your commitment to the solar sector in India?

We will have more focus on the service and technology part. We will definitely bring world-class inverters to the Indian market. Our plan of the manufacturing setup in India will be an added advantage for us to support our customers for the Indian market.