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India’s Vikram Solar to build

1.3-GW PV module plant

INDIA INDIA’S Vikram Solar is set to build a 1.3-GW production display boards, the Internet of Things
per year solar PV module manufacturing plant at (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reduce
the Indospace Industrial Park in Chennai, Tamil defects to zero.
Nadu State. The digitisation initiatives enable seamless
The Kolkata-based company said the new process like lean manufacturing, reducing and
unit would raise its total manufacturing capacity controlling wastages, it said.
to 2.5 GW per year, making it the largest in India. Vikram Solar is aiming to be a 5-GW per
This plant would be the first utility-scale solar year manufacturing company. Saibaba Vutukuri,
manufacturing facility for the state of Tamil CEO, Vikram Solar, said the PLI scheme for
Nadu. solar manufacturing would also push capacity
Vikram Solar executives said that invest- addition.
ment would reach INR3bn ($40.3mn) would be “The valuation of our 5-GW capacity would
invested in the new facility, Business Standard stand at INR50bn ($672mn). We would be eval-
reported. uating the PLI scheme for adding manufacturing
Vikram Solar also runs a 1.2-GW per year capacity to reach 5 GW,” he said.
facility in Falta, West Bengal, and has to date India’s total renewable capacity reached 91.2
shipped over 3.5 GW of PV modules globally. GW at the end of 2020, with wind accounting for
“This is an extension of our endeavour to 43% and solar 42%, according to a new report
provide high-quality, reliable, technologically from Indian consultants RMK.
superior products and timely delivery to our Solar added 2.6 GW of new capacity, while
customers. It will further contribute as an R&D new wind was less than half of this with 1.118
platform for next-gen module technology. We GW.
have extensively leveraged digitisation to ensure Coronavirus (COVID-19) ensured that new
reliable and efficient manufacturing operations. solar additions for the whole of 2020 fell by 65%
We thank the Tamil Nadu government for their year on year to 2.6 GW. Gujarat, Rajasthan and
continued support and conducive environment Tamil Nadu were the leading solar states. This
to enable ease of doing business within the state,” figure includes 1,172 MW of rooftop solar.
said Gyanesh Chaudhary, managing director, The country’s current solar, wind and hybrid
Vikram Solar. pipeline now stands at 50 GW, all of which is
The company said in its statement that likely to be commissioned in the next three
its manufacturing process would use digital years.™

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