Solar photovoltaic (PV) cell and module maker RenewSys India is planning to grow the capacity of its Hyderabad facility to 1 GW and establish a 500 MW plant near Mumbai, both by next year-end, with an investment of $25 million.
A part of $350 million Enpee Group, most of whose companies are based in Nigeria, the firm graduated from being a manufacturer of EVA backsheets used in solar panels to making solar cells and modules when it acquired the assets of Solar Semiconductor three years ago.
Briefing presspersons at the facility in Fab City on the outskirts of Hyderabad, RenewSys managing director Avinash Hiranandani said the company had acquired the assets, of the sick unit, in June 2015 for around ₹100 crore. With new machinery, the solar panel manufacturing capacity over time increased to the 400 MW. The facility also has 130 MW solar PV cell capacity.
Necessary equipment to add 300 MW of solar panels have arrived, he said, adding by next month the capacity would touch 700 MW. The company wanted to increase the capacity of the Hyderabad plant, located on 50 acres, to 1 GW by end of 2019.
On investments, he said $100 million has been made so far and the expansion proposed by next year would entail $5 million more. The investment on the plant proposed near Mumbai, on about 8 acres, is expected to $20 million. The capacity of the Bengaluru plant where encapsulants and backsheets are made is also to be increased, he added.
To queries, Mr. Hiranandani said profitability in solar panel business, in the face of intense competition from China, is possible only with scale of operations. In 2017-18, the RenewSys’ turnover was ₹256 crore, which the management is targeting to take to ₹600 crore this fiscal and over ₹1,500 crore in 2019-20.
The potential for growth was good, he said, pointing out that only 45% of India’s solar panel requirement is being met by domestic manufacturers.
