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| Global solar cells body sets up India office | |
| BS Reporter / Chennai/ Bangalore December 17, 2008, 20:24 IST | |
SEMI, the global industry body of the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic (PV) industries, has formally marked its presence in India by setting up an office in Bangalore.
Having the solar photovoltaic market as its initial area of focus out of India, SEMI will form a PV advisory committee comprising executives from major solar cell, module, equipment and material manufacturers to support various SEMI initiatives in India, Paul Davis, executive vice-president of SEMI, said.
PV advisory members include Applied Materials, Signet Solar, Tata BP Solar India, Titan Energy Systems, Moser Baer India and Oerlikon Solar India. All association activities in the solar photovoltaic space in India will now come under the aegis of SEMI’s PV group, which is a global initiative of SEMI.
The PV group has established committees in most major PV regions of the world, including China, Europe, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and North America.
SEMI India president Sathya Prasad said that his organisation’s focus on the solar PV industry coincides with the growing solar PV market opportunities in India. SEMI plans to hold a international PV exposition, Solarcon India, at Hyderabad in November next year to scope out manufacturing opportunities in the PV market.
As more than 15 companies have announced plans to set up fab operations in India, Prasad expected significant growth in the India PV market. “Schemes like the semiconductor incentive policy will help investment flow into the region, which could reach as much as $10 billion by 2010,” Prasad said.
PV cell module installations have grown at an average annual rate of 35 per cent since 1998.
About 90 companies are involved in the $17.2-billion solar PV industry in India, of which nine are manufacturers of solar cells, 19 are solar module makers, and 60 are assemblers and suppliers of solar systems.
India is expected to ship about 130 MW of solar power in 2009, from 30 MW this year, and become the fourth largest generator of solar energy in the coming years. Current growth projections for the Indian market range from 25-50 per cent. On the demand side, India has a long-term goal of generating 10 per cent of its power requirements from renewable sources by 2032.
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