Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 14 2021

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India’s Borosil to double solar glass

production to 900 tonnes per day

INDIA MUMBAI-BASED solar panel glass manufac- reliant on import for components, especially
turer Borosil Renewables says it plans to invest from China.
INR5bn ($68.2mn) to double production to 900 India currently manufactures solar cells and
tonnes per day (tpd). modules, but not wafers, a key component. Most
The company currently produces 450 tpd of are imported from China, but the government
solar panel glass, equivalent to 2.5 GW of solar plans to impose customs duties on some solar
farms, at its Bharuch plant in the state of Gujarat. equipment from April 2022 in a bit to stimulate
Borosil is planning a brownfield expansion to domestic manufacturing.
enable the Bharuch plant to make enough glass For example, state-owned Coal India Ltd
per day to equip 5 GW of plants. (CIL), the world’s largest coal producer, wants
The new facility is expected to start produc- to move into solar power by manufacturing
tion by July 2022. This would be the second time solar wafers and bidding in the country’s solar
the plant has doubled production in five years, auctions.
Borosil Group managing director Shreevar Khe- CIL and state-run NLC India aim to invest
ruka said. INR125bn ($1.73bn) in 3,000 MW of solar
Kheruka added that the solar panel glass capacity by 2024, with Coal India supplying
business was loss-making for a long time and INR60bn ($850mn), Reuters reported.
had only turned around in recent months. Indian renewable energy reached 92.97 GW
Borosil has a 40% market share in India’s at the end of February, with a further 50.15 GW
solar glass business, and the remaining domes- under development.
tic demand is met by imports from China and However, it is still some way short of being
Malaysia. on course to meet its 175-GW target for the end
Borosil is India’s first and only manufacturer of 2022.
of solar panel glass. Kheruka said the company India aims to meet 40% of its energy require-
exports almost 20% of its present solar panel ments from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030,
glass capacity to Europe, with its primary focus amounting to 450 GW.
being Germany, Spain, Portugal, Russia and Tur- To meet this target, the government has said
key, as well as the US. that the country must install 25 GW per year of
Indeed, India’s solar industry is heavily solar capacity until 2030.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 14 07•April•2021