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Priyanka Vyas

Slovenian buy gives it access to polysilicon

New Delhi April 8 Having acquired stake in the Slovenian company, Solarvalue Proizvodnja, Moser Baer Photovoltaic Ltd (MBPV) is now looking at the possibility of setting up its own unit for manufacturing wafers that would be used in turn to produce solar cells.

The company is also chalking out plans to avail of the benefits under the Centre's recently announced special incentive package for semiconductor manufacturing for its solar cells' facility at the Noida SEZ.

Talking about the company's future plans following the Slovenian investment, Mr Yogesh Mathur, CFO, MBPV, said: "The investment in Solarvalue was to acquire access to polysilicon, which is the raw material used in manufacturing wafers and is currently facing shortages globally. Currently, we have partnerships with wafer manufacturers in the global market. However, having a unit close to our manufacturing facility is more viable. Hence, we would look into having our own wafering capacity for which we are evaluating the options."

More profit

He said that the move would give impetus to the company's plans to make its own silicon-based cells and turning the manufacturing business more profitable. Mr Mathur said that wafering capacity was the next area where the company could fill the gap in the manufacturing supply chain.

Post the acquisition, the company hopes to scale up its manufacturing capacity for solar cells from the current 40 MW to 400 MW. The company expects the supply of raw material to be available only from next year.

Mr Mathur also said that the company is finalising plans to avail of benefits under the Centre's special incentive package for semiconductor manufacturing announced in February. As per the policy, the Government would give financial incentives up to 20 and 25 per cent of the project cost in a SEZ and non-SEZ, respectively, entailing a minimum investment of Rs 1,000 crore for manufacturing of products that form of the "semiconductor manufacturing ecosytem", including solar cells and storage devices, amongst others.

"With the company's initial investment in its thin film project at Rs 250 crore for a capacity of 40 MW and the cost for the entire project expected to be at Rs 1,100 crore over the next two-three years, we are working on plans to avail the incentives," added Mr Mathur.

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