Moser Baer commences upgraded Solar Cells line

Hopes for increased demand with 1 lakh mw target

Enthused by the 1 lakh megawatts (Mw) target of the government for solar power capacity addition, Moser Baer, country’s leading manufacturer of cells and modules has commenced operations of its upgraded solar cell manufacturing line.

The company said that its revival plan of cell & module manufacturing comes in wake of government’s programs focused on domestic content requirement (DCR) of solar cells & modules for solar farms. 

“This upgraded cell line operations allows us to participate & supply to DCR projects and further entrench our position as India’s pre-eminent solar manufacturer,” said K N Subramaniam, chief executive officer Moser Baer (solar business) told Business Standard.

He said that the current government has taken lot of initiatives in support of the Indian solar manufacturing industry. "Steps like DCR, request to the government to include solar in core sector list have been helpful in restoring confidence amongst the domestic manufacturers and the financial community alike," said Subramaniam.

He said that the company and the sector is hopeful that the demand pipeline would be good post April-May 2015, once the projects announced in 2014 are tendered out.

The new government has set an ambitious target of solar power capacity to touch 1 lakh mw by 2019. In the upcoming fiscal, around 3,000 Mw has been kept for solar projects to be based on domestically sourced solar cells.

The Indian solar cells market has been reeling under imports; especially due to below market priced ones coming from China.