We will resume talks with US clients following India-US trade pact: Saluja

Premier Energies plans to restart engagement with US clients after the India-US trade pact, betting on lower duties, rising exports and capacity expansion

After India and the US agreed on a trade deal, Hyderabad-based solar equipment manufacturer Premier Energies plans to explore export opportunities to that country again, managing director Chiranjeev Singh Saluja tells Nandini Keshari in an online interview. Edited excerpts:

 

India and the US have agreed on a trade deal. How do you see this reshaping the renewable energy supply chain?

 

It is great news for the Indian solar industry. The US has been the largest export market for solar modules made in India and many Indian companies have been looking to enter that market. With the reduction of duty to 18 per cent, India-made modules will now be competitive with modules from all the other regions, including from Southeast Asia, Africa, and Middle East. For Premier Energies, our exports to the US constitute less than 0.5 per cent of our order book. We will explore export opportunities in the US again. We will have to reinitiate dialogue with our customers in the US and start working on the cell pipeline. That process typically takes 3-6 months to understand project timelines, conclude commercial negotiations and sign orders. Towards the end of 2026 or in the beginning of 2027, we should see a material jump in the export share.

 

We had also identified a location in the country and partnered with module manufacturer Heliene for a solar cell manufacturing facility. The US has made it very difficult for our customers there to import modules from China, and some other Southeast Asian countries. Thus, we are looking at that joint venture with a new interest and are undertaking some feasibility studies for that.

 

In the Union Budget, the finance minister extended basic Customs duty (BCD) exemption for sodium antimonate used in solar glass but offered limited clarity on incentives for wafer and ingot manufacturing. What is your reading of this Budget?

 

We were hopeful of an incentive scheme for exports and wafer-ingot manufacturing, which is highly capital-intensive, and has far lower return on capital compared with solar cells and modules. We are still hopeful that the scheme will be announced in the next few months depending on the timeline of policy making and government approvals. The government has signalled very strongly it is keen on making India a manufacturing hub for the entire supply chain, not just for solar but also batteries, where we are also present, as well as nuclear and some other new technologies. So, the Budget is very positive for manufacturers. The government has substantially increased allocation for the Surya Ghar Yojana and Kusum scheme to ₹27,000 crore.

 

The demand for these two schemes will have to be met from India-made cells and modules. That is also a big boost to domestic manufacturers like us. As for BCD exemption on import of sodium antimonate, while the measure is helpful, it is not something very substantial, given the total cost of solar glass. The provision will help in reducing the cost of domestically-made solar glass.

 

How are solar companies managing high input costs which have gone up due to rising silver prices and module price volatility?

 

Industry-wide, silver consumption has come down by 68 per cent in the past 5 years and there is a roadmap to reduce this by 30 per cent. Most in the solar industry is looking at alternatives such as copper. We mitigated the impact of silver price rise with savings in consumption, operational efficiencies and scale. 

 

Silver accounts for 10 per cent of the total cost of the module, which is not a particularly a large number. That kind of impact can be easily absorbed.

 

What are your plans to add more manufacturing capacity domestically, in addition to the five existing facilities?

 

We have an operational 3.6 Gigawatt (Gw) of cell capacity, of which 0.4 Gw was added in January. A new cell line of 7 Gw is coming up in Andhra Pradesh, 4.8 Gw of which will be operational in June and the remaining in September this year.

 

We are also operating 5.6 Gw of module capacity and another 5.4 Gw will be added by the end of March. Also, the first 5 Gw of ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity is expected to be commissioned by December 2027, with the remaining 5 Gw to follow around 12 months later in Andhra Pradesh. The total planned investment for the project is ₹5,900 crore.

 

How is Premier Energies planning to upgrade solar module technology?

 

Around 2.4 Gw of cell capacity is Mono passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) and 1.2 Gw is tunnel oxide passivated contact (TopCon). The new 7 Gw capacity will also be TopCon. We will upgrade our PERC lines in around a year. However, since there is demand today, we will not be upgrading them immediately. Out of our total 10.6 Gw portfolio, 8.2 Gw will be the latest technology. In addition to investing ₹5,900 crore in the ingot-wafer business, there is additional ₹6,000 crore of capex ongoing in cell and module plants and all the allied areas like storage, inverters and transformers.