Vikram Solar Ltd., one of India’s leading makers of solar power equipment, is considering making the glass used in its modules to secure supplies and reduce dependence on imports.
Vikram is also mulling options such as technology tie-ups or long-term procurement contracts with another domestic manufacturer, Gyanesh Chaudhary, managing director of the company, said in an interview in New Delhi. While India produces nearly 30% of its solar glass needs and the rest is imported, he said.
India’s efforts to boost domestic manufacturing capacity for its clean-energy transition is spurring investment plans in solar power hardware from state-run companies to tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. Supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic resulted in a spike in prices of key components, such as glass and polysilicon, giving impetus to local manufacturing.
“Glass is an important component for us. We must make sure that our supply chain risks are hedged,” Chaudhary said. “Like other manufacturers, we’re also looking at our strategy to participate in this backward integration.”
Glass accounts for about 7-8% of the value of the finished product and nearly 40% of the weight. As local production of solar modules expands, it doesn’t make sense from a logistics point of view to keep relying on imports, according to Chaudhary.
The Kolkata-based company has 2.5 gigawatts of solar module-making capacity with plants in the states of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where it’s now planning a third facility to make 2 gigawatts of cells and modules.
Source : bloombergquint
