The Adani-SundEdison manufacturing unit proposed at Mundra, Gujarat will create 4,500 direct jobs and over 15,000 indirect jobs.
Pashupathy Gopalan, President Asia-Pacific Region, SunEdison, told The Hindu that the two partners had identified a site within the Mundra SEZ (special economic zone), run by the Adani Group, for the project. He said they had inked only an MoU and the finer aspects of the capital formation would be worked out in the next two-to-three months. The broader scope had, however, been defined now, Mr. Gopalan said.
He said Mundra SEZ was the ideal location for the project, considering the availability of port infrastructure and also access to power in that area.
Mr. Gopalan said the proposed project could yet be the biggest such facility in the world, and could more than rival the Chinese manufacturers.
“This facility will create ultra-low cost solar panels that will enable us to produce electricity cost-effectively so that it can compete head-to-head — unsubsidised and without incentives — with fossil fuels,” said Ahmad Chatila, President and Chief Executive Officer of SunEdison.
“The development of the largest integrated solar manufacturing facility furthers the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make-in-India’ campaign,’’ said Vineet S Jain, Chief Executive Officer of Adani Power Limited, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd.
India has an ambitious vision of building 100 GW of solar power by 2020 and that vision is exactly the same China has for its solar industry by 2020. So, a strong local solar manufacturing base is of strategic importance to the growth of this sector.
Indian domestic PV manufacturing industry essentially comprises of two segments of players — manufacturers of cells & complete modules and producers who import cells and only make modules. The total capacity of these two put together is less than 2,000 MW.
Also, the domestic solar manufacturing industry does not have the scale nor the access to a fully developed domestic supply chain. Domestic PV manufacturing industry was essentially set up to cater to highly subsidised solar tariff markets in the EU. In this context, establishment of an integrated manufacturing unit by a world’s leading firm like SunEdison will be a significant chapter in the Indian solar map.
