Breakthrough Energy Ventures- backed 1366 Technology is planning to invest USD 300 million in setting up a 2 GW solar wafer and cell manufacturing facility in India.
Breakthrough Eene Founder and CEO Frank Van Milero informed that the US-based firm will set up the facility in government production- linked incentive (PLI) Scheme.
Media reports state that the firm is in talks for an Indian partner to handle the module manufacturing part of the production chain. The Indian partner company would use the equipment to set up solar parks in the country.
CEO said, “Capital markets are very friendly to technology plays. In two years’ time, the only solar modules to be sold in India have to be domestically manufactured and everyone understands that. Module making will be the most profitable part of this supply chain and a lot of people are interested because of this underlying market dynamic.”
Currently, the domestic manufacturing capacity in India is only 3 GW for solar cells and 15 GW for solar modules. Abhijeet Birewar, 1366 Technologies’ India representative said that their technology has been perfected over the last 10 years and it can help in 50 per cent cost saving.
Van Milero said, “The commitment to clean up the power supply is clear. It is clear that the government has decided that India will have a role in the global energy transition, and it has developed an extremely thoughtful approach to support and develop domestic solar manufacturing.
Given the combination of factors such as domestic content requirement, ALMM (approved list of modules and manufacturers), custom duty and PLI makes India a pretty good bet for clean energy transition anywhere in the world.”
