Major interest in solar manufacturing in India: A report in Mint business daily says the Government of India has received expressions of interest or letters of intent from as many as 15 companies that are interested in investing around $3 billion to build a total of 10 GW of wafer and 20 GW each of solar cells and modules in the country. The names include US based 1366 Technologies and First Solar along with Indian players as ACME Solar, Vikram Solar, ReNew Power and Adani Solar, indicate its sources. This interest compares to the current production capacity of 2 GW of solar cells and 10 GW for modules. 1366 Technologies has confirmed to Mint that the company is actively exploring opportunities to build a wafer and cell manufacturing plant in India.
According to the report, from its current annual production capacity of 1.2 GW, Vikram Solar aims to expand its total production capacity to a total of 5 GW over next 3 years including 3 GW vertically integrated fab it is planning for Tamil Nadu (see Vikram Solar To Expand Manufacturing Capacity By 3 GW). ACME Solar wants to build a 1.5 GW module manufacturing capacity while ReNew Power is planning a 2 GW cell and module capacity (see ReNew Power To Enter Cell Manufacturing).
Mint says this interest emanates from a number of policy decisions that the government has announced in recent times including a production-led incentive scheme (see India PV News Snippets: PLI, SWSL, Kerala, Meghalaya). It will also impose basic customs duty of 40% on modules and 25% on solar cells from April 1, 2022, and its plans to build 3 large scale manufacturing zones—1 each in a coastal state, a hill state and a land-locked state.
30 MW solar tender from NTPC subsidiary: The NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) has launched a tender for design, engineering, construction and commissioning of around 30 MW solar PV capacity. This grid connected capacity can be developed as rooftop solar, ground mounted and elevated structures at various locations in Madhya Pradesh. Last date to submit bids is January 7, 2021.
Ayana raises $390 million in funding: Ayana Renewable Power has raised $390 million from the CDC Group of the UK, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and the Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF), according to a Press Trust of India (PTI) agency report. With $284 million, NIIF has become a majority shareholder in the Indian company though the investment is subject to requisite approvals. The remaining $70 million has been invested by the UK Government's development finance institution and $36 million by GGEF.
FMCG launches 7 RE projects: Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) said it commissioned 7 new renewable energy projects, powered by wind, solar and biomass technologies, during the pandemic. All these projects are installed in different factories of the company. These projects are designed to source 23.5 million units of power by way of power purchase agreements (PPA) through various state grids, it added. The company says these projects take the company's total installed annual renewable energy power generation capacity from around 70 million units in 2019 to 93 million units in 2020. These projects include a 1 MW rooftop solar system for each of its its fabs at Sanand in Gujarat, and Wada in Maharashtra. In Telangana, it got a 800 kW rooftop solar system. It also entered into a PPA with Slylandro for 6 million units of solar power for its Vijaywada factory.