22 May 2023
BQ Prime
interviews
The production of cells and wafer capacity will come up by next year, says Sumant Sinha.
ReNew Energy Global Plc is in the process of commissioning the domestic module manufacturing facility under the Production-Linked Incentive scheme by the end of this summer.
The renewable energy firm is setting up an integrated facility to produce 6 gigawatts each of solar wafer, cells, and modules capacity by fiscal 2025 and enter polysilicon manufacturing by fiscal 2026.
"While the company will start the production of modules by the end of this summer, the production of cells and wafer capacity will come up by next year," Sumant Sinha, founder, chairperson and chief executive officer at ReNew, told BQ Prime.
The company is setting up a 2-GW module manufacturing capacity in Dholera, Gujarat, and another 4 GW in Rajasthan.
Given India's dependence on Chinese and other imports, it was an important strategy to become self-reliant, according to the chief executive officer. "The government of India is doing an extremely good job by addressing the industry needs," Sinha said. "I will give them full marks for doing that."
On March 23, the Union government allocated a total of 39.6 GW of domestic solar PV module manufacturing capacity under the Solar PLI Scheme- Tranche II. This was awarded to 11 companies with a total outlay of Rs 14,007 crore. If the awards under Tranche 1 are added, the total capacity awarded is 48.34 GW, with a cumulative support of more than Rs 18,500 crore from the government.
India desperately needed the integrated solar panel manufacturing capacity as more than 85% of the solar equipment were imported. However, after the awards under the Solar PLI Scheme, the country will have 48.4 GW of manufacturing capacity by fiscal 2026, which is well above the 10 GW capacity the government has awarded in any fiscal.
To achieve the renewable energy target of 500 GW by 2030 and the hydrogen generation target of 5 million tonne, India will require 60 GW of renewable capacity every year for the next seven years, Sinha said. The PLI scheme will play a critical role in achieving the set targets in future.
As
part of its commitment to combat climate change and reduce global warming, India
aims to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 and it will include 140 GW
from wind energy and 280 GW from solar.
The capacity addition needed in the renewable energy sector would be even higher to factor in the needs of producing green hydrogen, another focus area of the government, Sinha said.
The central government's target of 5 MT of green hydrogen will require an additional 100–125 GW, which will be over and above the 500 GW target for 2030.
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