Rolling out the red carpet to foreign companies in joining India’s 100-GW solar mission is a smart move, as it can cut costs and bring cutting-edge technology, says Helena Li, President of China’s Trina Solar, which has 20 per cent share in India’s solar panels’ market.
Trina Solar, established in China in 1997, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2006, has installed 19 gigawatts (GW) of photo voltaic modules worldwide.
In India, Trina, has already sold 1.5 GW of solar PVs and will have done business of 2 GW by the end of the year. Total solar panels capacity installed in India is around 8 GW.
Trina’s clients in India include energy majors like Wellspun, Hero Future Energies, ACME and Renew Power. It has, in 2014, supplied 600,000 solar panels for India’s largest solar project of 151 megawatt at Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh.
With the Narendra Modi government’s major thrust on renewable – that resulted in the formation of the International Solar Alliance this year with its secretariat in Gurgaon – private players are entering the solar space in a big way.
Towards this end, Trina has recently signed a MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government for acquiring 90 acres of land to set up a production facility and has also identified the site. However, still lacking manufacturing of scale in the sector costs in India remain high.
By Baishakhi Dutta
