German-funded photovoltaic cell testing project in Tamil Nadu

German testing and certification company TUV Rheinland will be setting up a facility for assessment of energy yield of thin film photovoltaic cells under different climate impacts and also to improve the yield, said a senior official.

"The facility will come up in Sriperumbudur near here on around 5,000 sq.ft area. The investment will be around Rs.2 crore on equipments and other facilities," Kalyan Varma, general manager at TUV Rheinland India, told IANS over phone from Bangalore.

He said the project PVKlima funded by German government will be spread over in six countries - Germany, India, US, Italy, Japan and China - and is expected to be completed by 2016.

"Post completion of the project, the facilities will be there and industries can use the same for their needs," Varma added.

According to TUV Rheinland officials, the climate of Tamil Nadu has a great potential for generating solar energy throughout the year and hence has scope for photovoltaic panel installations.

Tamil Nadu's solar energy policy also has a vision to establish 3,000 MW by 2015, which will be a huge opportunity for a testing, inspection and certification company like TUV Rheinland to ensure quality and safety of photovoltaic modules.

"With sizeable investments coming into Tamil Nadu we see good business potential in the state. The company will be doubling its head count in the state," M.Bhaskar, director, told IANS.

The company has recently set up a softlines (textiles) testing lab at hosiery hub Tirupur, around 460 km from here.

According to TUV Rheinland, projects such as the Chennai Metro Rail too, which is set to commence by 2015-end has to undergo testing and track inspections offering it good business potential.

Wind energy sector being huge in Tamil Nadu is also an opportunity for TUV Rheinland or testing and certification for export of wind and wind mill components.