Friday, June 14, 2013: Solar Direct, the French firm says that the Indian government offers great cost saving options to investors in renewable energy project than anywhere else. The firm had recently won a bid in an Indian project and is already done with its 5 MW plant this February. Gaurav Sood, the MD of Solar Direct Indian unit says that local manufacturers and suppliers are highly competitive and this has also opened up avenues to drive down the project costs in Europe too.
The company is sighting India as an opportunity and will even consider exporting equipment for use in European countries. This was revealed on a telephonic interview with Sood in Delhi.
India’s strategy to push down the domestic solar rates and also lessen the burden of constantly increasing subsidies by competitive auctions, could well mean business for European firms. Solar Direct had won the Indian project last December after promising to provide electricity at the rate of Rs 7,490 for every MWh. This is a record bid and is almost 30 per cent less than the world average. According to Sood, there were several factors that allowed the cheaper installation and include the Chinese components being assembled locally and the favorable paying terms of the domestic suppliers.
For the First Solar project, components from Renesola Ltd, a Chinese manufacturer were imported and assembled by a Ramnagar based firm, Websol Energy Systems Ltd. The finished product was again insured by PowerGuard Specialty Insurance Service from California.
